The Gate (OOC)

Thousands of years ago, a race known as the Arkelvani ruled over the lands of Psendus. These grand people pushed the limits of magic and engineering as they used the two in conjuncture with each other to create technologies far beyond their time. However, they enslaved the other races, forcing labor and torture upon them. This continued for generations, the other sentient species having no knowledge of freedom. However, one fateful day, all of the Arkelvani vanished, leaving behind their vast cities, incredible technologies, slaves, and a dimensional rift known as The Gate. It was hypothesized by the more intelligent slaves that this portal was what the Arkelvani had disappeared into for no apparent reason. The races quickly set about taking control of their new territory. It was prophesied that, one day, the Arkelvani would return and conquer the newly found kingdoms, taking back what was theirs. The prophecy was quickly dismissed. However, as a safeguard, the local people established The Guardians - an order of knights that would protect The Gate from anything trying to get into it, or out.

Many years later, in what is now the present time of Psendus, the races lived in an era of relative peace, although the past had been scarred with war. Many had forgot of their ancestors and of the kind that had forced them into labor for centuries. Those who still told the legends of the disappearance had shortened the name Arkelvani to "Elves," derived from the "elv," in the word. One day, however, something had gotten out of The Gate, killing the order of the Guardians and razing the human settlement built around it to the ground. Investigators sent by a local aristocrat confirmed what some in Psendus had been dreading - the Arkelvani were returning. Scholars and kings alike scrambled for a solution, fearing that the elves would enslave them once more. One was found - The Artifact, a mysterious device, the remnants of which were scattered across the land. It is said that when assembled, the Artifact has the power to take down entire armies. Many journeyed the find the pieces, some sent by their respective kingdoms, some freelance mercenaries, and some wanting to make a name for themselves. It is not known what the outcome of these adventures will be.

It is called upon you to take charge, to adventure into the world of Psendus in search of the only object that may be able to save every race from enslavement. It is your time. Will you answer the call to adventure?

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Welcome to The Gate. In this RP, you will take on the role of an adventurer in search of the fragments of The Artifact, in hopes of saving your race and all others from the Arkelvani. First, let's lay down some rules.

Rules

1. No godmodding, metagaming, etc. These are the basic rules of roleplaying in general, please follow them or you will be kicked out.
2. Be courteous. No flaming or trolling. This rule includes following the general Roleplex rules on behavior.
3. Please use correct grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc. Be literate. This is a RP, you're telling a story - you're not texting your friend.
4. I can do whatever I want with this. That means plot twists, denying your ideas because they don't fit the lore, and more. You can question me if you like - feel free to shoot me a PM if you think something would be good. I'm open to ideas, but don't suggest something, do something, or make a character that is completely unrelated to the story at hand. Also, don't alter the story to your needs. For example, "Arcus opened a space-time rift into the Arkelvani ruins and grabbed the artifact, quickly sealing the arcane hole in the fabric of the universe before anyone saw him do it." That's not acceptable.
5. Limit your character's race to those that I give you - Human, Dwenvor, Rhiin, Lenngann, and Nilnorean. That's it. Your character cannot be a furry, a dragon, a robot, or a mix of the former three. I control the Arkelvani race, as well as one character. You cannot make an Arkelvani character, because they're all mine.
6. Your actions in the IC will have an affect on the consequences. If your marauding bandit character assassinates someone in a populated city, then I will send guards after you.
7. Keep this reasonable. Yes, it's a fantasy RP, I get it. But your character is not the Dovahkiin, is not Goku, is not the all powerful god of everything ever. This goes along with godmodding. Also, by the way, magic use in this RP does affect your character. Over time, they may become insane, as it drains your essential brain power. If you're a Nilnorean, it only drains your life force.
8. No overly mature subjects. Drinking, smoking, and the like is allowed. But please do not have sex in your post, and do not swear. We don't want a medieval Fifty Shades of Grey, kids.
9. You're not perfect, and neither will your character be or their actions. I don't want your Mary Sue to be a saint, helping everyone in need and doing everything without fail. No. Everyone has flaws - exploit your characters, make it into something better.
10. Have fun. I know I'm being somewhat harsh, but I'm trying to make this quality. Just... Have fun with it.

Character Sheet

Name: (Try to make this realistic. In the next post I will lay down some ground rules for character naming based off of race, but in general, don't do something ridiculous.)
Gender: (This is pretty self-explanatory.)
Age: (Again, depends on the race. See below for that. Please try to make this realistic as well. I doubt a kid will be searching for the artifact, nor will a century old man be.)
Race: (Remember, restrict this to the five races - Human, Rhiin, Dwenvor, Lenngann, and Nilnorean.)
Appearance: (Once more, depends on the race.)
Biography: (Tell me about your character's history. This doesn't need to be extremely elaborate, but try to make it detailed. Remember, medieval times. See below for race restrictions on what your character should be doing. I doubt your Rhiin was mastering sorcery at age 5.)
Personality: (This is somewhat self explanatory.)
Skills: (This is important. Is your character a skilled, disciplined swordsman? Is she a manipulative spellcaster? Be sure to elaborate a bit, but I may have to correct you a little).
Other: (What else do you want me to know about your character?)

There is more information in the following posts. Please read those before making a character sheet.

Lore

This is a very important part of this RP as the story will implement the lore I'm about to lay down. This includes races, gods, territories, and more details that are absolutely necessary to even make a character. Before you write up a character sheet, consult this first. If you do not, I will know that you didn't look over this. Now, without further ado, let's get to it.

Races/Species
There are several races in this RP. As a player, your character(s) will only be able to be one of five of these - Human, Rhiin, Lenngann, Dwenvor, and Nilnorean. You cannot play as an Arkelvani, although they will be included in this section. This also includes the species you will encounter in the world of Psendus, both sentient and nonsentient.

The Arkelvani -
The arkelvani were a race of humanoids that ruled over the land hundreds of years prior to the events of the RP. Their vast kingdom was highly advanced and sophisticated, and they considered themselves to be the apex race. Highly intelligent, they were also gifted in the arts of the arcane and sciences, allowing them to create fantastic technologies. However, the arkevani were rather brutal and aggressive, ruthlessly conquering the other races and enslaving them to perform their labor. All uprisings were crushed with impunity, destroying all hope for the other races. However, one day, the arkelvani vanished, leaving behind a terrifying legacy and a portal known as The Gate. Arkelvani uses rare metals forged in arcane fires to create mystical technologies. When combined with magic, they are extremely advanced. Recently, many members of the humans, rhiin, and other races have started calling the arkelvani “Elves,” derived from the “elv,” in the word.
Physically, the arkelvani are also superior to many other races. They are a tall people (Average height is around 6 ½ feet tall) with a muscularity that gives them a wiry strength. Their body anatomy is very similar to humans, as they are bipedal, plantigrade, etc. Their senses are keener than that of humans, and they possess slightly pointed ears, typical of fantasy elves. However, that’s when their facial features start to differentiate from humans and the like - The arkelvani have somewhat small eyes and holes for nostrils. They also have razor sharp teeth are packed in human-sized mouth, giving away their carnivorous appetite (They would sometimes eat slaves). Their skin color ranges from a deathly white to a dark gray. Once more, you cannot play as an Arkelvani.

The Rhiin-
The rhiin are a race of bipedal beings that rule over the rugged, mountainous, and rather dry lands of the south. One of the freed races, they are a warlike species, although they do not have more brawn than brain. They are actually extremely smart and cunning - Some of the most highly regarded scholars and intellectuals are rhiinian. Although they have a need for violence, it doesn’t stop them from creating a large, civilized nation much like ancient Greece. However, much of this society is focused upon war. Because of this, their species possess the greatest army in the land, although they lack the patience and planning of the other races. Despite their intelligence, due to their nature, they tend to rush into situations, believing that brute, pure strength can overcome anything. There are some rhiin strategists, however, who disagree with this and tactfully plan attacks. The rhiin have been increasingly aggressive to mankind, as tensions have been increasing since the arkelvani disappeared. They worship a single god - Arus, the Levani god of courage, strength, and war.
Physically, the rhiin are large and imposing. They tower over most other races at around 8 feet tall, and weighing around 500 pounds. Reptilian in origin, they are covered with many microscopic scales - This creates a thick hide, much like the skin of a rhinoceros, which ranges from a dark grey to a light green. This makes it hard to pierce their skin using weapons, nonetheless when they have armor on. Although this may seem to make Rhiins nearly invincible in a one-on-one fight, they can be outwitted when fighting them. This is due to them going into an all out berserk mode in which they think little about tactics and more about smashing everything in sight. However, many rhiin have trained themselves not to be as affected by this. Their heads and other parts of their body tend to have horns or bony spikes on them, such as tusks. Their face is snouted, and their mouth is packed with razor sharp, canine-like teeth. They have nostrils above their mouth on either side and ears much like reptiles. Rhiin are extremely strong, often being able to bulldoze through their enemies with pure might. They also use weaponry such as Battle Axes very effectively. Magic is extremely rare among Rhiin. When one has such talent, they are prized and become top fighters in the army - An immensely strong Rhiin with destructive/manipulative magic at its side is not something you want to go up against. Common Rhiin naming conventions are short names, often with double consonants. They have a last name pertaining to their job in society. For example, a Rhiin who wields a mace as a weapon can have the name Gratth Skullcrusher.

The Nilnoreans
The Nilnoreans are human-like beings hailing from the snowy mountains and tundras of the north. They are very similar to humans and dwenvors in both size and appearance. What makes nilnoreans stand out is their uniqueness in terms of magic. The arcane arts come naturally to the nilnoreans, and instead of affecting their minds like the other races, it affects their very life force. Without using magic, one could live for around 250 years. For this reason, their government has barely changed in the past couple hundred years, and lines of kings last for very long times. The average magic user in the culture lives around 80 years, which is the average lifespan of a human. Their government is a constitutional monarchy. As part of being so long lived, nilnoreans don’t make too many technological advancements like Rhiin and humans do to account for their lack of magic. Instead, their pioneering into the fields of the arcane have opened up new types of magic.
Like said, this race is, appearance wise, very similar to man, dwenvorkind, and the arkelvani. This is because the four species all descended from one common ancestor race. The nilnoreans gained large amounts of control of magic. Appearance wise, they look like nordic humans - They have blonde, brown, or red hair, with a burly build and pale skin. They are slightly bigger on average than humans, measuring around 6.5 feet tall on average and weighing around 225 pounds. Nilnorean names are very similar to nordic human names, an example being Hrothgar Snowfist.

The Lenngann
The Lenngann are a race of amphibian creatures hailing from the southwest lands of Psendus. They have an oriental-esque culture that is very traditional and nature based. They hold nature as being extremely important, and are the only sentient race that does not worship the Levani, the gods of the Arkelvani that they were forced to pray to during their imprisonment. In comparison to the other races, the Lenngann have a rather small kingdom, around half the size of the human and rhiin nations. Although they are their lands are diminutive, the biology of these creatures and their abilities at restoration and earth magic sets them apart. The Lenngann kingdom is a democracy, unlike the other races, with a council of three elected every three years. This is extremely important to their society being that they only live for around 30 or so years on average, and monarchs that rule for a long time can be hard to establish. Their culture can change rapidly due to the amount of elections, although most are very tradition based. They do not have very advanced technology, opting to use bows and arrows as well as having architecture similar to ancient chinese architecture. However, they can and will use iron based weapons like katanas.
Lenngann are, like stated, amphibian creatures. They hold water as very important due to having to spend part of their childhood in it. Biologically, they look similar to large salamanders, around five feet long and three feet high. What makes them unique in these terms is that they have six limbs, usually used as legs. However, they can stand up off the back two pairs of legs, using the front pair as arms. In addition to this, the skin of this race excretes a highly poisonous substance that, when put in the bloodstream of other races, can be deadly. Thus they often coat their weapons with this toxin. The skin color of the Lenngann ranges from a bright red to a deep blue hue. Lenngann names are short, with double consonants. They do not have last names.

The Dwenvors
The Dwenvors are a humanoid race hailing from the eastern parts of Psendus, much like humans. The Dwenvor are a dying kind - after the liberation of the slaves due to the Arkelvani's disappearance, they set about making villages, towns, and cities much like that of humans. The two cultures are very similar, with the same governing systems and worshiping the same Levani. However, the dwenvor were driven from their lands by the expanding rhiin in a long and bloody war. The rhiin unfortunately came out on top, forcing the dwenvor into exile. In their victory, they dubbed the race "Dwarves," as they are supposedly dwarfed by the rhiin in both fighting and size. There are rumors of dwarven strongholds in the mountains in the east - grand cities carved of stone where the dwenvor thrive, farming mushrooms and secretly trading ores to the human empire. However, it is not known if these are true. Note that in the RP these strongholds DO exist.
Like stated, the Dwenvor are very human in appearance, albeit slightly smaller and bulkier (It's still hard to tell the two apart). Their skin color, like that of humans, ranged from a dark black color to very pale. No, they do not have to have beards. Dwenvor names are similar to human names, so use of a human name would be acceptable.

The Humans
The humans in this RP are similar to those in other fantasy stories. Ruling to the east in Psendus, the human has a vast monarchy, with a powerful army and grand cities. However, relations with the rhiin have not been stellar, which may be a problem for the humans. They have late 15th century technology, as do the Rhiin.
Humans are, well... Humans. The names should be anything European. Try to be creative, though.


This post is under construction. If you need anything else for your character sheet, shoot me a PM.

Accepted Character Sheets

Darklord99:

Name: Talabask
Gender: Male
Age: 19 in Lenngann years
Race: Lenngann
Appearance: Talabask looks like the typical Lenngann but has a large scar over his right eye and usually wears long robes. He usually stands on his bottom limbs to make himself seem much taller. He drenches all of his weapons that he carries with him in poison for extra damage. His skin oddly has a darker shade to it because of some unhealthy curses that happened to have gotten their hands on him in time.
Biography: Talabask was once a member of a bandit group along with a few Rhiin and humans. A tragedy happened after many years and the group betrayed him, taking all of the things he owned. It took him a long time to realize that his friends were no longer on his side and began to seek them out for revenge. However he never found them and has been satisfying his taste for their blood on weaker victims ever since. He lives in solitude and acts as a thief among the cities he visits.
During Talabask's childhood, he was also abused by his uncle whom he lived with after his parents were slaughtered by a gang of Rhiin. After he reached maturity he delved into the sweet taste of rebellion and murdered his uncle. He then went off to become a crook.
Personality: After many years of abuse, turmoil, and sorrow, Talabask has become somewhat dry and numb to feelings such as sadness. He's rarely even seen smiling and has a gloomy, and somewhat mysterious personality. He's never really seen laughing and usually is seen either angry or completely emotionless.
Skills: After learning a huge deal of magic and power from members of the gang he was once a part of, he now has a great skill of sorcery yet there are limitations to how much power he can use and he has never really mastered healing magic. He is excellent in combat also because of his past and is a valuable fighter you would want on your side.

This looks great! I will happily join this as soon as the race and lore stuff is up.

Hot CENSORED Zaroas, what are you doing here?

I'll join if I can find the time. It sounds really fun.

Nice Zar! This will be fun, I'll make a sheet when you get the lore post done.

The races section of the Lore post is done. I feel that the races are absolutely necessary for character creation, thus it is up there. You may make your character sheets now, but if you need anything else, PM me or wait until it's done.

@ Lieo: I just decided to join. What's your Sporum name? I might just be blanking out.

@ Everyone else: Thank you for the interest! I hope this RP becomes a success, although time will tell.

Name: Talabask

Gender: Male

Age: 19 in Lenngann years

Race: Lenngann

Appearance: Talabask looks like the typical Lenngann but has a large scar over his right eye and usually wears long robes. He usually stands on his bottom limbs to make himself seem much taller. He drenches all of his weapons that he carries with him in poison for extra damage. His skin oddly has a darker shade to it because of some unhealthy curses that happened to have gotten their hands on him in time.

Biography: Talabask was once a member of a bandit group along with a few Rhiin and humans. A tragedy happened after many years and the group betrayed him, taking all of the things he owned. It took him a long time to realize that his friends were no longer on his side and began to seek them out for revenge. However he never found them and has been satisfying his taste for their blood on weaker victims ever since. He lives in solitude and acts as a thief among the cities he visits.

During Talabask's childhood, he was also abused by his uncle whom he lived with after his parents were slaughtered by a gang of Rhiin. After he reached maturity he delved into the sweet taste of rebellion and murdered his uncle. He then went off to become a crook.

Personality: After many years of abuse, turmoil, and sorrow, Talabask has become somewhat dry and numb to feelings such as sadness. He's rarely even seen smiling and has a gloomy, and somewhat mysterious personality. He's never really seen laughing and usually is seen either angry or completely emotionless.


Skills: After learning a huge deal of magic and power from members of the gang he was once a part of, he now has a great skill of sorcery yet there are limitations to how much power he can use and he has never really mastered healing magic. He is excellent in combat also because of his past and is a valuable fighter you would want on your side.

Zaroas wrote:

The races section of the Lore post is done. I feel that the races are absolutely necessary for character creation, thus it is up there. You may make your character sheets now, but if you need anything else, PM me or wait until it's done.

@ Lieo: I just decided to join. What's your Sporum name? I might just be blanking out.

@ Everyone else: Thank you for the interest! I hope this RP becomes a success, although time will tell.

It doesn't matter, we never talked much.

@ Lieo: Ok then...

@ Dark: Great character sheet! I'll add it to the third post as soon as I'm finished with some of the lore and my character sheet.

Lieo is...

*gets shot in the neck with a poison dart*

*goes through anaphylactic shock*

*dies*

Just kidding. I don't know, honestly.

StinkyPachem, it's no big secret, really.

In any case, the rp. I just have to figure out which race to shoot for.

I'm going for the Nilnorneans. I have an idea for a bunch of awesome magical abilities that I found while searching through a superpower wiki (and a few I made up myself).

@ Maxx: Awesome, dude. Be sure to consult me on any ideas you have - The kind of magic you have in mind may not exist in this RP.

@ Lieo: Ah, ok. We never did talk much, although I believe I made a signature for you at some point.

I may join this if I have the time. But, do you still make sigs, Zar?

Awesome, can't wait to see everyone's sheets! I still do make signatures on my DeviantArt page, and if you want I can send you the link (Don't want to advertise or anything on here).

sending you a pm with all of my character's abilities Zar.

Sent a PM back to you. I'll probably elaborate on what I sent in the Lore section later.

Ok. It makes pretty good sense to me though. Do you want me to post those and any other spells I think of in the OOC so that other magic characters can use them? I'm fine with it so long as nobody copies my character.

Think I'll name him Zachbell. Where that name came from I don't know. Wasn't it from some old manga show or something?

You can go ahead and do that. I'll specify spells in the Lore section, but I'm completely open to suggestions.

You can name him Zachbell if you'd like, just remember that Nilnorean names are very nordic. This may help to come up with a surname or, if you'd like, the full name. However, it's completely up to you to decide a name.
http://www.nordicnames.de/wiki/Main_Page