Our hope lies lost and torn

Hope

An unimaginably powerful individual known as the Wizard hosts a yearly event on an island with a promise to destroy the world if not entertained. Twelve souls, chosen at random, are granted the abilities of Knights and must stand against a villain who cannot be killed, knowing they're only buying a single year of safety. The Princess will join alongside them as the host of the Protector, a spirit who sides with the forces of good, to suppress the Wizard.

The Wizard has always lost. The Wizard must be defeated again. Who will be chosen this year? With no way to know, the world can only watch with held breath to know its fate this year.

Premise

Hope is a small plot-driven roleplay that brings heroes together to stand off against evil. Thirteen players will make up twelve knights and one princess who will face off against twelve monsters and the Wizard. The 'DM' will play as the Protector, the Wizard, and the monsters the knights must face.

The story will play out over a series of chapters until it reaches its conclusion. Will the heroes triumph and defeat the Wizard or will the world be destroyed?

What is known

The Princess and the Protector are always on the side of good.
Eight Knights are always free to choose their allegiance.
Two Knights always feel a call to good and will learn who the Princess is immediately.
Two Knights always feel the allure of the Wizard's power and will be drawn to it.
The Wizard will always destroy the world if not stopped and cannot be convinced otherwise.

Chapters

Chapter 1: The Introduction
- Everyone meets and mingles.
- Knights learn their new abilities.
- The Princess meets the Protector.

Chapter 2: The First Monster
- The Knights must defeat it.
- It is the weakest of the twelve.

Chapter 3: The War
- The second through the eighth monster must be defeated.
- Each is tougher than the last.

Chapter 4: The Endgame
- Any knights drawn to the Wizard can join the monsters.
- The ninth through the twelfth monster must be defeated.

Chapter 5: The Wizard
- This is the part where you're killed.
- Or the part where the Wizard is killed.

Interest

Because this is to be a small game, it will have to be driven by its players until it reaches its conclusion. A dedicated Discord server will be made to assist with coordination and plotting. This server will have both public and private channels, public to be used for building CR (character relationships) and private to plot ideas if needed.

It will only be known to the DM which Knights are good-aligned or evil-allured, however interested players can reach out to the DM privately to opt out of these Knight options before they are chosen. It will be known only to the players chosen what their alignment is, but discovery during the course of the roleplay is welcome and encouraged.

I, Skye, will be the DM. This will not be a public game and those involved are folks who have my personal thumbs-up. (i.e. If you're reading this, that's you!)

If you are interested in being a part of this game, please reach out to me with the following information:
- Name
- Interest in Princess: Y/N
- Interest in Knight: Y/N
- Are you in it to the end? Y/N

Interested folks:
1) Persimmon (Y, Y, Y)
2) Delphi (Y, Y, Y)
3) Rama (M, Y, Y)
4) Swirl (Y, Y, Y)
5) Heather (Y, Y, Y)
6) Stu (N, Y, Y)
7) Inka (Y, Y, Y)
8) Sam (Y, Y, Y)
9) Kyle (Y, Y, Y)
10) Pepper (M, Y, Y)
11) Jet (N, Y, Y)
12) Phil (N, Y, Y)
13) Ari (Y, Y, Y)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

OOC INFORMATION
Name: Rama
Discord: ramapi

CHARACTER INFORMATION
Journal: sustainer
Character Name: Red Leaves "Gyre" on the Grey Lake
Gender/Pronouns: male, he/him
Age: 72, looks midlate twenties or so
Race:
⬤ Wild elf - an elf subrace of close to obligate carnivores, they have sharp teeth, nails strong enough to be filed into claws though not everyone bothers, and generally have point style coloration (like in cats: darker or lighter coloration on arms, legs, nose/face, ears)
⬤ Geist - a ghost that's placed its essence into a vessel to become corporeal again, the body tends to have a blue or purple palor and black sclera, no heart beat, doesn't bleed, dies again by shattering the vessel or truly traumatic damage to the body
Home Continent: EMPland
Character History:
⬤ born to a regular pod and lived a regular wild elf life. That is, he was raised by a group of 6 or so adults and the various kids had among them, most of whom were siblings and half-siblings, all of whom were considered his family in wild elf terms. He was homeschooled until fantasy high school age when he was shipped off to public school where he floundered, struggling all the way up until getting his fantasy GED around 17 and dropping out. Being raised by anarchists and thrown into a highly constructed environment is Hard
⬤ was drawn away from his family by his eventual future husband. They were gay and indulgent in the woods for like a year or two. This is where he started picking up survival skills
⬤ met his husband's wife and settled with them. They picked up a second wife after a couple years and had 6 kids between the four of them
⬤ got drafted into the war where he fought for idk like four? years. This was basically hell for him because he had no particular loyalty to his country, didn’t want to kill people, and was truly awful at following directions. Again, being an anarchist in a highly constructed environment is Hard
⬤ then he was captured as a prisoner of war
⬤ then got Fuckin Executed by young stupid soldiers who wanted to show off how much they hated The Enemy. They cut his head off, and were only lightly censured for it when their SO found out
⬤ woke up as a ghost and just sorta angstily wandered around mourning his life until he got close to the anniversary of his death which is when he knew he'd be forced to move on
⬤ got all nervous instead and contracted with a wild elf death witch who made him his vessel and performed the ritual to bind him to it. This took almost a full year, but he returned to the world as a Geist
⬤ his marriage was broken by his death, so he took to the forests becoming intensely hermity. He was only really allowed around other wild elves for quick flings and during festivals, and had to watch his kids grow up from a respectful distance
⬤ over time, he became the friendly neighborhood zombie, bringing extra food to the various pods in his old territory
⬤ heard about the wizard but kinda hasn’t watched or paid attention to any of it. Sorta categorized the wizard as a force of God here to destroy the huge machines of war that the continents have become. He's good with it. He knows he’ll survive so he's good

Personality: Gyre is a man accustomed to loneliness. It is his primary sensation most of the time, and rather then letting that fact eat him up, he's learned to make it a part of himself. He speaks very little, and even when he does, it's very direct, getting to the point first and attending to the emotional tenor of the conversation second. This was partially trained into him as a young wild elf growing up in the anarchic territories of wild elf life. His emotions are his own, and he feels them deeply and fully when they come, but it's no one else's responsibility to help him handle himself. He shares himself when he feels inclined to but never expects sympathy or empathy returned, and he treats everyone else similarly. This can obviously come across as dismissive at best, and extremely callous and rude at worst. He's never been great at adapting to the less isolationist cultures of the world, but he's gotten very slightly less aggressive about it as he's gotten older.

Older and more traumatized. While he learned loneliness as a friend when he was young, he has spent over forty years in semi-exile from his culture, too stubborn to leave for a city that might take his geisthood better but not so stupid as to force his presence into spaces that don't want him. Instead he's become deeply touch starved, desperate for contact even when he only knows how to hover on the outskirts of festivals and watch most of the time. He's learned to repress the furious PTSD from his time as a soldier and prisoner, from his death, allowed himself to become more and more reserved, less and less able to touch the emotional intelligence he still has burning away in his chest.

He has made himself the perfect isolated being, and now he has to work with twelve other people. So that's good.

Appearance: Angular, relatively tall, thin but muscular, Gyre is quite typical for a wild elf. His skin was once a light golden brown with black point coloration in the middle of his face, over his ears and on the lower halves of his limbs. Now that he’s dead though, his skin has a deep purple undertone and his sclera have gone black. He has a fluffy black mohawk that he lets grow long in the back, sometimes braiding it all to keep it out of his face. He’s also got a bunch of body mods: gauged ears and a septum piercing, and thick geometric tattoos that begin on the shaved right side of his head and spread down his back and limbs.

As a general rule, he's quite pretty even for an elf and he moves with a certainty and grace that makes him easy to watch. However, he Does Not dress that way. His clothes are always run ragged and heavily layered, built for utility and function over design. The only even slightly indulgent pieces of his Look are his gold jewelry, a thick collar always around his neck and a thin gold necklace his hides under his shirt. The necklace carries the large gaudy amethyst that holds his soul so he's never without it.

Abilities or Equipment:
*knows Common, EMPland and EMPland’s rivial’s language, as well as sign language. He can also swear in basically every language on the planet.
*knows everything about everything to do with survival: hunting and dressing kills, sewing, first aid, camping skills, etc
*similarly, knows soldier stuff and is particularly proficient with grappling and stealth stuff
*reads people well

Equipment:
*shitty old phone
*big hunting knife
*bow and quiver
*camping shit
*reading glasses
*his Vessel, which is a teardrop shaped amethyst, held in a nest of intricate gold magitech working

Personal Magic:
Animals are calm and friendly towards him, much more so then they might be otherwise. While he's never had this verified in a lab or anything, it is something he's observed over time.

Knight Power:
The wizard gave him a force shield which is a bubble of hard air that he can center on any object or person. He can make it as large as he likes, but the bigger it is the more fragile it is, becoming paper thin and useless eventually. He can shape the bubble to the object or person in question but it takes constant, deep concentration.

Character Meme Answers: (Choose 5-15)
1. How does your character introduce themselves?
He often avoids introducing himself for as long as possible with nonwild elves. When eventually forced to, it's just a clipped, “Gyre.”

2. What is their quest? Is it something they believe in?
Stopping the wizard, like all the other knights apparently. He doesn’t especially believe in it, no. He’d be absolutely fine if the wizard won because he believes that the wizard will destroy society while leaving nature and the world in general intact which he’s totally all for.

3. What is the most identifiable item of clothing they wear?
He always always always has a big collar on. While the style of the collar depends on how fancy or practical he needs to be, it's always there. If it's not, then his head is no longer attached to his body which is identifiable in a decidedly different way

6. What is their preferred way to start a fire?
He carries a matchbook with him at all times, and he can strike a spark with his nail if he has to. His actual favorite method is to relight the smoke of a recently doused fire, but that’s less practical.

7. Do strangers think of your character favorably or unfavorably?
Wild elves hold him at arm’s length because he's dead. While they'll take his help sometimes and fool around with him very occasionally, he's pushed away eventually. He often actively refuses to get along with nonwild elves which can get him in trouble. Basically it's bad all around usually.

8. What does your character think of their own reputation?
Who 👏 cares 👏 what 👏 capitalists 👏 think 👏👏👏

12. When tired, what do they picture as a comfortable place to rest?
Uhhh a lover's lap, their fingers in his hair, sunlight on his face through the trees. Barring that, under like twelve blankets by a fire

13. When did they conceal a love from the world?
He spent a long time deeply in love with his spouses even after he died. While it was fine for him to show at least muted affection to his kids, he couldn't really approach his family without very good cause so he pined after them from a distance

16. What is an apology your character needs to make that they have been putting off?
“It was a mistake to return here after leaving you so long to mourn. I should have passed on and left your hearts in peace.”

21. What humiliating moment from childhood plagues your character in quiet moments?
First day of public school where he was just screamed at by no less then three separate adult figures for refusing to go to class

22. Under what circumstances might your character steal a cake?
Literally just if he was hungry… If he took it from a person, he'd do chores for them or bake a return cake to make up for it. If from a business, he does not care even the tiniest bit. His stomach is more important then anyone's profit.

29. How would your character prefer to die?
Peacefully and on his own terms.

Edited 2018-12-16 23:25 (UTC)