General Discussion Thread

[Damnatus]

This is thread is open for discussing ideas regarding the roleplay.


We decided that we would utilize dark/urban fantasy, as series such as the Dresden Files, Supernatural, World of Darkness and others show that there can be an excellent blend of occultism and modern elements in a world.

A few things to bring up:

The main setting for the RP world would be Providence, Rhode Island. Kat and I felt that a city would be the best place to rp in, as it would offer a significant amount of locales to mess around in. Rather than picking typical choices (Chicago, NYC, etc.), we went for Providence for a few reasons: one, it is a fairly large city but isn't commonly used in these settings; two, it is a New England city, which lends well for the occult theme; three, LOVECRAFT. Of course, roleplay can happen anywhere in the world, but to make it clear: we will be roleplaying on Earth.

There will be multiple factions throughout the world. The primary "magical" organization, which can be considered akin to the White Council from the Dresden Files and the Orders from Mage: The Awakening, is the Agrippa Society. Of course, magic has been around for a lot longer than Agrippa - this is just the modern organization that exerts the most influence upon the metaphysical world. Think of them as a United Nations, so to speak - well intentioned but relatively powerless (or it takes a while to flex their power because of bureaucracy) with some corruption intertwined. "Dark" magics are outlawed, but not heavily enforced - those who practice them safely usually remain under the radar. Instead, the Society focuses its efforts on a counter-organization that is dedicated to the practice of all arts. It'll be the primary "bad guy" organization, but I want to flesh it out well enough so that it isn't a simple good vs. evil conflict. There will be some evil people in it, no doubt, but the primary cause of these people is freedom of practice.

In the world, humans are mostly unawares of the metaphysical communities. When there is a large revelation, the Agrippa Society usually comes in and performs MIB-styled mind wipes/blanks to conveniently wrap up sticky situations. Of course, there are numerous normal humans who are aware of this world, and they are often hunters. There is a loose coalition/guild of hunters, but nothing concrete - their belief is that if they tried to inform everyone all at once at what was going on, then there'd be mass hysteria that would be taken advantage of by the more uncouth metas out there. Most hunters would go after traditional meta "monsters" (vampires, demons, mad sorcerers, etc.), but some would be extreme enough to go after just about anything that had a bit of woowoo coming out of them. I'd imagine some religious groups would have their own hunting as well (Witch Hunters, Iscariot-like groups, etc.)

Psions are part of the world and are usually maligned, as they are more akin to Warhammer psykers - namely, bad things happen around them when they use their abilities. It is a well-known fact amongst the meta communities that psions never die of old age - their powers almost always drive them mad or just simply blow them up, among other nasty ends. Even the most cautious, spare use of the powers progresses a clock that will see the end of that psion.

The Warp won't be in this world; however, I am making a realm similar to it that is my own creation. Elements of Tzeentch, the Warp and the best of Lovecraftian horror will be used for this place. I'll definitely be fine with people making characters who can tap into this place, but there should be a good reason (it's almost unknown in the world) and there will be the DIREST of consequences for that individual down the road.

Okay. These are the few minor details I've come up with thus far. As you can see, while I have a few good base ideas, there are a lot of details to add in. This is where everyone else comes in. Pitch ideas for whatever you want for the world - vampires, demons, seelie/unseelie, elves, whatever. It can't be a direct rip from another established universe, but it can definitely be influenced by such series/universes/etc. Kat and I can't create a fully-fledged world on our own - at least in any reasonable amount of time. Beyond help, we feel that the setting would lend better to group rp, and the fact that it is more structured and controlled than Levi will greatly aid in its development.

Anywho, DISCUSS~  

[Dante Decker]

I'm interested, That's for sure. For a modern Setting though Id need, a new character but that wouldn't be a huge issue.

Edit: Potential NPC groups that might be usable/convertible for use-

The Order of St. Anthony: 'Good' (or at least well-intentioned) Anglican Theurgists whose main purpose is defending the church from 'Evil' (destructive/crazy/greedy) Mages and Psions, Does not see magic use itself as evil but tends to be rather suspicious of those who practice magic not under the supervision of the church.

The Silver Covenant: Scholarly Mages who most likely have a dark connection with the tbd warp analogue, though obviously secretly, probably quite a bit of pull within the society politically to hide their schemes. Generally not good people, nice, helpful and overall wise, but definitely not with Providences best interests at heart.  

[The Charred Satyr]

As Jay mentioned. The guys who go after the paranormal/demonic/faggy vampires should be a government arm who are merely interested in their special tax. I also feel that they should be treated as second class citizens in order to bring about that X-Men/Magneto motivator. Or something.

I dunno, I just feel like shooting a furry in the chest with Spooky's guns. That'll learn 'em.  

[Cthulhu Wish]

I definitely like the taxes idea.

And we all know that there will probably be the Second Class Citizen rebellion group who are plotting against the Influences kindof like the Murlocks in X-men or some craziness.

Also...

Cultists.

Everywhere.

It must be done.

Also, I get to summon Cthulhu. No questions asked.




THERE ARE YOU HAPPY COG!?!  

[Dante Decker]

I promise to get back on task here, as soon as the crippling stomach pain ceases.  

[Cthulhu Wish]

Aw poor Jaybird =<

Also, I has an idea.

Cause I'm a nerd and wanting Lovecraftian aspects (*coughs*CULTISTS*coughs*), cause there is obviously the "DARK ARTS" and wizards and s**t. So I was curious, for religious aspects (cause I wanna summoning stuff).

I know that you were describing Damnatus as summoning Warhammer like Godthings. So I was wondering if there was my cultist loveness, what would be the UNMENTIONABLE HORRORS that would be allowed in this realm. Seeing as I am not entirely sure anything about Warhammer or anything...and with my new concept that I am making for a character, I need to know certain things.

biggrin  

[Dumble Dee]

After reading all this crap, I figured I'd use Lacey, instead of making a whole new character.

The only reason I'm saying this here, is because I had the idea that the whole "Gaia" thing would've still happened. Lacey would be possessed by this demon and sent to Gaia where she would be fighting in HoH and all this crazy unrealistic crap, but at the same time she'd be here in the "real world" also, going crazy. She'll remember bits and pieces of the Gaia escapades, but not know whats real or fake, even in her actual life.

I don't know if any of you have read the Dark Tower series by Stephen King, but I got the idea from like book two. The main character (Roland) has a companion that's a young boy, and the boy dies in Rolands world. Later on, though, the boy, because of Roland, dies in his own world too (before he was sent to Roland's), so it's like he never met Roland and the boy never existed in this other place. Except that Roland and the Boy both remember everything, so it drives them crazy (Did it happen, did it not happen, kind of thing) until they can fix it.

I don't know if that makes sense to anyone else, but yeah, that's what I kind of want to do, but just wanted other peoples opinions on it, or even a "not allowed."

Until then, I'll be brainstorming other ideas to help out.  

[Damnatus]

Dark Conspiracy

Aw poor Jaybird =<

Also, I has an idea.

Cause I'm a nerd and wanting Lovecraftian aspects (*coughs*CULTISTS*coughs*), cause there is obviously the "DARK ARTS" and wizards and s**t. So I was curious, for religious aspects (cause I wanna summoning stuff).

I know that you were describing Damnatus as summoning Warhammer like Godthings. So I was wondering if there was my cultist loveness, what would be the UNMENTIONABLE HORRORS that would be allowed in this realm. Seeing as I am not entirely sure anything about Warhammer or anything...and with my new concept that I am making for a character, I need to know certain things.

biggrin

The Warp-like realm I am developing focuses almost entirely on the Lovecraftian aspects of the original - alien, maddeningly horrific, etc. It will not be known much, even to many of the esoteric researchers in the meta communities - only hints of it by insane scholars in rotting tomes and the like. So, the cults that are aware of its existence and are operating would be extremely dangerous - some ideas would be a cult that has an open/forward front as a demonic cult, a group of individuals with absolutely no connection (completely different backgrounds, personalities and so on - all functional madmen/women), or even a corporation that has no hint of even the slightest bit of meta usage but is still involved in the meta community.

Psions will be tied to the realm, in that their minds would be powerful gateways to either entities within it, or just conduits for the realm's energies. MADNESS BEACONS and so on. However, non-Psions will have the ability to tap into it as well (I will work on the system for this, but suggestions are gladly welcome as well).

@ Dee: That's an interesting idea - in this universe, Jonathan/Raien never wind up on Gaia, but you could definitely have Lacey be all sorts of insane. No one would believe her, of course, but it would be amusing.

@ Jak and Jay - You two should elaborate more on the Government stuff. We need to figure out how much control they have, what relations they have with meta organizations, what the process of taxing power is and so on.

KEEP IT UP, FAGGERTS~  

[Damnatus]

SOME MORE IDEAS.

Everyone here probably knows the linkage of power to names in many magic-based settings. For those who do not, here's the gist of it: when one is created, the name endowed upon them is their True Name - the name that is always theirs, despite what changes may happen later in life. If a mage/sorcerer/wizard/etc. knows the True Name of a person, then they could potentially ******** them over in so many unfortunate ways that their offspring's offspring would likely feel it. Thus, to protect themselves against each-other, they protect their True Names, which can be generally accomplished through two ways: have a really long-a** name and only give bits of it or give yourself a false name/moniker/etc.

The first method would almost exclusively happen to individuals born into meta families/communities/etc. - for instance, Kat's Raien character would utilize this, as her father was the source of her magical bloodline. People can play it up with this - they can have it that the True Name has such power that magical-imbued infants would intrinsically know and protect it throughout their life, or even have their parents willingly have that section of memory wiped as to have their child's identity protected.

The other way would be for those who were born with simple/traditional True Names, or are simply paranoid enough to add another layer of protection to themselves. These could be fake names that sounded regular or even monikers, such as how I've had my Jonathan Faulkner character become "Damnatus". In my history for him, Jonathan was born into a family that worked within the meta community but was born by mundane parents, so they wouldn't have thought to have given him a fancy-pants name; thus, he would have to come up with a false name/moniker to protect himself (even though he is a psion and can't actually mess with people's True Names just yet, he would still need the protection while working for Agrippa and so on).

What do you guys think? Any comments or ideas to add onto this? I really want to have the occult background for the world to be fairly deep, so I want to have systems like this in place.  

[Jedimoose]

The true name lore I've heard about most is that people rarely know their true name. The only way for these people to discover their true name is to have a clairvoyant tell them, or embark on a spiritual quest that results in enlightenment.

Another one I've heard is that a parent will give their child a true name, then call them by another name for the rest of their lives. That method could also explain why one mystically imbued person might be in servitude to another - since more people know their true name, there's a greater chance it will slip out. And 2-3 people isn't a whole lot - it's still a tightly knit group. Parents might even choose to not tell their child, so they aren't tempted to give away their name to someone they trust too much (or while under the influence of drugs, alcohol, etc).

Those were just a couple more ideas to consider.

Have you thought about how magic would function in this world? Does it run on other "names" (like an arcane language used for incantations) or by will power alone? Or does it all depend on the source/caster of the magic? Personally, I like the idea of varying forms of magic. It parallels the idea of different cultures interpreting magical power in different ways.  

[Damnatus]

Thanks for the contribution, Moose!

Yes, I've seen universes where True Names are discovered through years of self-discovery and enlightenment, and in some settings, I think I prefer this. For this setting, I personally prefer the other one, as I want this world to have mages not trust one-another very much, if at all. Knowledge is power, in so many forms, and that power can be used to lord over others.

Fish and I were talking last night in regards to what to do with True Names and mundane mortals. There would definitely be an issue of sorcerers using public records to find the True Names of important individuals, which could lead to all sorts of cray s**t going on. It'd also just be too hard to police, even for Agrippa and their co-Government departments. In Mage: The Awakening, this problem is solved due to the fact that Sleepers (mortals in that world) cause magic to flip the ******** out around them, often causing Paradoxes (which can lead to really, really bad things for the mage). In our world, we figured it should be based around actual power. For a mundane, there would be little to no power to tap into; for a mage, there would be enough to give significant trouble for the individual; finally, something like a daemon holds immense power but is completely at the mercy of someone who knows its True Name. The bigger you are, the harder you fall, something something etc. etc.

Your idea would definitely be plausible for many sorcerers - some parents, especially if they were already in the meta community, would not want their child's True Name getting out at all and thus could easily not tell them it. I'd imagine some mages would go to drastic measures - memory wipes or even killing their parents. Some might not feel the need, too, if they took on a moniker and distanced themselves entirely and utterly from their past.

As for sources of power - both Fish and I are going to be posting some big stuff about that soon. There will indeed be multiple sources of power, but they won't be all over the place - some will be logical, like otherworldly creatures tapping into the power of their own realm, or individuals praying to their god/goddess, whereas the source of power for mages/psions will need to be better defined. It will need to be very flexible and open, as to allow a LOT of different powers/rituals/etc. to be used, but the source needs to be locked down so that there can be actual control over it all.  

[Damnatus]

HUEG UPDATE ALL

After going over to Jay's and brainstorming all of you faggerts' demises, we've decided to potentially change up some stuff and get some focus on others so that we can begin somewhat soon.

First of all, we decided that the actual rp thread will be a closed thread (as in applications will need to be sent in) in Barton Town. The reason for this is because of the...dead nature of guilds. Guilds really tend not to flourish well anymore, due to their isolated nature and bad coding. If we made the rp in a guild, then it would likely die, get very few members, or both. The Barton Town thread would serve as the hub for the rp - posters would include headers that would include their character name, location, time and potentially other miscellaneous information. An OOC thread will be made in the Barton OOC that will serve as the random place to chat, plan rp, plot ideas and so on. Finally, a guild will be used to serve as an index/appendix, which will include threads with information on locations, organizations, races, powers and so on. We figured this idea wouldn't need any deliberation upon, given that it is the best of both worlds, but if you guys have any objections, please speak up!

The next idea will definitely require the input of everyone. We figured that instead of using Providence as the location, we could make our own city. The obvious disadvantage is that this requires more work for it to be successful; at the same time, though, it allows us to be FAR more versatile. Jay brought up the fact that not all areas have to be defined immediately - just major neighborhoods/suburbs/etc.. From there, history can be written for each part and players can fill in blanks for streets, certain businesses/hideouts/whatever and so on. We would need to think of a name immediately as well, but we figured it would be very much Arkham-themed, even so far as being in Essex County, Mass., which is essentially Lovecraft Country. I figured it would be a port town, as all sorts of FISHY fun can be had in port towns in Lovecraftian settings. Of course, this needs input from all the players - first, if they agree with the ide, and two, to start developing it. This will need to be done before the IC thread can go up.

Another subject that we need to talk about are the things people want to play in this setting. The main focus has been around mages, psions, government folk and hunters, but I know there are likely others who want to use different races. We do not want to spend time developing ALL of the races in detail before we start, so we need to do a few things: first, everyone needs to list what characters they'd like to play, including future important NPCs. That way, we can focus on developing background to facilitate these characters; or, if there are any issues with the race (for races like vampires, demons, fey, whatever, I want SIGNIFICANT and intelligent development and playing, due to how bad they are usually portrayed in roleplay), then there can be debate.

The final subject that comes to mind (BUT THERE COULD BE MORE LATERRRR~) is that there needs to be a prioritized development list; this way, we can try and focus on certain aspects that will allow us to start the actual rp somewhat soonish (as if we don't, then interest will fade and nothing will get done).

Here's the list I have come up with:

1) The city (as mentioned above in detail; also, this can change if the majority wish to stick with Providence)
2) The major organizations (Agrippa, government, certain businesses, other mage cabals, etc. - developed nicely but not in extreme detail, as that can be done over time)
3) Magic, power, and the source thereof (Fish and I were talking extensively about this, and it is a subject we need to define considerably)
4) Races/Occupations/etc. (as mentioned above)
5) A beginning story arc (Something everyone can work on to some degree when they start, so not everyone is left floundering in a damn bar).

What do you guys think? Do you think there should be more added here, or some stuff taken out? GONNA NEED DISCUSSION ON THIS, HURRRR.

That's it for now. I will be back later to write some more stuff down.  

[Kraun]

Depending on how original you want to be, and especially since you have the chance if you're gonna be writing in depth details of races, I would suggest taking the horribly portrayed races commonly seen in roleplays and tweaking them into some semblence of originality or something. Like, take vampires for example, organize them into clans or whatever like that vampire the masquerade thing. Or actually, just make them a bunch of lamers that got that skin disorder that makes them allergic to sunlight and a bunch of them got together and formed a cult; pretending to be vampires, drinking blood and crap though they dont need to (and probably getting a whole bunch of diseases), dressing like stupid goth people. Maybe some have psionic powers or something, but generally, leave them more as a cult rather than an actual race or something.