Beggar's Ride - Fantasy RP Signup
 

If wishes were horses then beggars would ride.

Alternative title: FREE WISHES HOLY SHIT!

In the town of Sonelheim, some found or newly made weapon was accidentally triggered. This so called Wish Hex, activation flawed, granted wishes at random, throwing the town into chaos. It was carried off by unknown forces and the pursuit forbidden, the kingdom wanting it for its own purposes.

Even so, many are after it, some already touched by its power and others hungering for a first taste.

Backgroundly stuff
Since I have gone quite mad, I thought I'd try running two RPs at once. I've always been wanting to play around with something involving wishes.

As my random mutterings about magic and races have proven to be a bit wordy, I thought I'd summarise the basics here first to see if people are interested.

The setting is a high fantasy world. In the typical pattern of such things, there was a first age that had marvels of magic which still can't be replicated entirely, including the modification of races by the First Ancestral Race.

Sonelheim is on the northern borders of the Kingdom of Lothrung, nothing more than scattered tribes and poor land on the highlands further north. It is a moderate sized land that has had tensions with the magocratic Throne Confederacy to the southeast.

Magic
Magic is based upon a rough trifecta of body, mind and soul. Body is elementalism and transmutation. Mind has, obviously enough, mental based powers and illusions, which can approach solidity if sufficiently complex. Soul is manipulation of life and death so essentially healing and necromancy, with some elements of naturalism ala your typical fantasy druid.

Mana is generated by geomancy. While true spellcasting is something you have to be born with, an understanding of the forces involved allows all sorts of interesting little tricks with the right pattern or ritual.

Races
On to races, humans are the most common. All but the most stable of the created races have diminished with time; humanity itself has a number of odd leftovers. Oddities of colouration and form are far from unheard of. Humans are typically the longest lived of of all the races. This is because the magical engineering present in other races tends to be higher maintenance and subject to flaws that have emerged with time. For similar reasons, there can be issues in using beneficial magic on other races.

These part races are often called demihumans or chimerics, as they combine human features with something else. The stable varieties are such things as centaurs, lamia, harpies and merfolk. There's also a 'beastman' race who are more homogenous - they're partially degenerated races who have interbred with time. They're prone to extreme variance.

A more recent reminder is the dragons. They were actually the youngest race, created by someone in the second age. However, they are already functionally extinct. There's perhaps six left, as the changes did not pass perfectly to their offspring. These dragonkin are thus part human, part dragon, each generation less draconic than the last.

There's also some more borderline races, such as the necroma (a lifelike undead covered in runes to keeps its soul inside its body) and faeries (small illusionary simulcra that have souls).

Wishly info
Something to consider is what changes the Wish Hex caused if your character was affected by it and why they'd be after it. It's possible someone may have been modified by someone else's wish, but I'd prefer those to be in the minority.

Because it was triggered randomly, the nature of the wishes granted is unpredictable. It would have been a bad day to go "I wish I was a bird." As the magic was malformed and unfocused, its also possible its fulfillment was warped or incomplete. It's also possible the effects of the wish are still unfolding. A wish can not create knowledge.

If you're having trouble coming up with an idea, perhaps put up a wish thought for something you'd like to try and people can suggest twists.

Motivation, I'll just run off the obvious ideas as suggestions:
You want to undo what the Wish Hex did to you.
You believe the Wish Hex is too dangerous to be allowed to exist.
It would allow you to fulfill some cherished goal.
You're in it for the power. The glorious, absolute power!

Well, I have already managed to ramble a bit with my attempt at a quick summary, so I'll end it now.

Quick profile skeleton:

Name:
Age:
Sex:
Species:
Appearance:
Abilities:
Equipment:
Personality:
Backstory:

Any questions?

((Not really, since I assisted Arhra!))

Name: Vaeri Vuthiarthos
Age: 27
Sex: Female
Species: Lamia, as a result of the wish hex.

Appearance: As a human, she was a smally built woman of fair complexion, possessing raven-black hair, self-adorned with streaks of white to give herself a "properly becoming" appearance. Now larger, she possesses most of her upper body intact, though her legs have been replaced with the body of a snake. Her hair has turned inexplicably red, and is resistant to any attempts to change it, as if taunting it's mistress. Her eyes have also changed to a predatory slitlike violet.

Abilities: Soul Magic, Necromancy Specialization.

Equipment:
Witchblade: A serrated, single-edged straight longsword with a prominent sapphire gem embossed in the hilt. This gem contains the lower soul of one of Vaeri's victims, now used as a resonation device to allow her to modify the sword to strike incorporeal targets, aswell as the souls of corporeal beings.

Crucible Wires: Due to the highly intricate nature of soul magic, certain spells are very difficult to cast with a simple wand, staff, or hands. The Cruicible Wires are a set of thin alloyed silver and gold metallic wires similar in use to a jacob's ladder. With proper finger-flicking and a the use of levitating needles to "pin" the wires to the air, they can create a very complex geomantic pattern required to cast such spells.

Staff: Because every respectable mage has a staff. Vaeri's is a simple steel rod with a metallic claw clutching a ruby-red glass orb.

Personality: A nice person might describe Vaeri as "beautifully twisted", as might a terrified person. An honest person might call her a stark raving madwoman. In either case, the majority of her eccentricities arise from the circumstances of her education and her own macabre eccentricies.

Backstory: Vaeri's highly unusual familial structure quickly saw her on the fast track toward the forbidden arts of soul magic, thanks to her father's obsession with eternal existance. The majority of her tutelege under the wing of her now quite-insane paternal influence is not something she wishes to divulge to anyone. This is primarially because Vaeri is a state-sponsored necromancer operating within the town of Sonelheim. Rather than illegally steal corpses and murder innocents, actions that were terribly unbecoming of one's own good health and social stature, the enterprising mage allied herself with the local government. From there, she proceeded with her research on the bodies of executed convicts, experimenting in torture techniques on spies, and overseeing the good health of the city's ruling body. This quite shaky proposition quickly turned downhill when the "Vitamancer" found herself walking home after a particularly grueling day, lamenting to herself that she wished she were fitter, as so her feet would no longer be so sore. Imagine then her suprise when she found herself without feet, and far more sore for the experience. Imagine also the reaction of the town's mayor when he discovered his already questionally moral vitamancer was discovered to be a flesh-eating snake-woman, and it quickly becomes clear why she's motivated to find the wish hex.

Ideas/Questions.


Firstly, could you explain the faeries a bit more. It seems like an interesting concept. I highly doubt I'll play one, I'm just curious.

Also, how does a character who said "I wish I were immortal" in random conversation... say talking about how he'd like to see how the world would progress or whatever, and got his wish. But twisted.

He can't die and doesn't age, but any wound he receives doesn't heal naturally. So you could stab him through the stomach, and it wouldn't kill him, but he'd also have a hole in his stomach forever, short of powerful healing magic.

Or would that be a bit too severe of a drawback?

Basically the fairies tie into how illusions generally work. A sufficiently powerful illusion can affect real things. It's also possible to make simulcra of living creatures, but they're dependant on an external source of energy to stick around. Another aside - this means many spirits and minor 'gods' are actually very old spells that are feeding off the worship given to them. Illusions can be vulnerable to special materials, such as high purity iron, due to its magical properties of being very 'real'.

Faeries are unique in that they possess a soul. This allows them to be reasonably self contained. They vary in size between a few inches in height up to a little over four feet and size is often a sign of power since larger forms are more complex and take more energy to sustain. They're all winged, though the larger ones fly much less. They're short lived, typically living only a few decades due to the instability of their bodies. No-one's quite sure where they get the souls to make more faeries from.

They're good at mind magic, especially illusion, but also very vulnerable to it - because they're slightly less than real, unreal things can affect them more. This also means such things as they cannot break their word. While their illusionary forms and skill at glamers make them very good at impersonation, they have a uniquely identifying mark somewhere on their body that they can never get rid of.

I think people can see why I decided to only give the basics in the intro now...

The wish sounds fine, though the drawback could potentially become a problem. To get a similar effect, perhaps he does heal like a regular person, but healing magic is almost completely ineffective? It's up to you.

Would a familiar or 'monster buddy' be possible? Like, my guy got sad or whatnot and thought "I wish I had a real best friend" and next thing he knows a fully grown creature-protector pops into being?

(Left empty until I can think of a better idea.)

Lumenskir, that would be fine.

RMB, this is my fault for not mentioning it, but to create a necroma, you have to start while the person's still alive. I thought I'd just mention some of the unusual options that I didn't think would be picked in passing and then people might ask for more detail. It's simple enough - you can't trap the soul inside the body if the person's dead and the soul's already gone. Admittedly, there's some fudge room, but you'd need a pretty good necromancer.

Necroma have the benefit of retaining most of the advantages of being alive, but need to feed on other life to sustain themselves. The 'formula' for making a necroma varies, so there's a fair few versions of them.

Secondly, why did they bother bringing him back and then immediately kick him out? Wouldn't it have been easier to just leave him dead?

Name: Fallister
Age: 27
Sex: Male
Species: Human
Appearance:
Abilities: Can not die. This functions through a variety of effects including ludicrous luck and ridiculous regeneration. Additionally, can manipulate the flow of time to a limited degree while performing actions such as reading. If he ever actually managed to learn, see, and do everything in the world, he would immediately die, but that's not likely to happen for the next few hundred years.
Equipment:
Personality: Magically compelled to be curious about everything.
Wish: "You know... there's not enough time in the world. I wish I could see, do, and learn everything there is to observe, experience, and know before I die. Of course, I'd probably just get distracted if I could, so I wish I had the drive to actually follow through, too."
Backstory:


The actual hard parts forthcoming when I'm told whether this concept is okay or not!

Fallister is seeking the leaky wish thing because he's compelled to find out how it works.

I kind of wanted to create an FMA type alchemist-mage, who can change one thing to another and change the shape of things, etc.

Name: Gabriel
Age: 31
Sex: Male
Species: Human
Appearance: Thin but muscular appearance. Pale skin and light eyes, but very dark black hair. He stands at around 6'5 tall, with shoulders a little less broad than the average person.
Abilities: Body Magic, specializing in transmutation. Can transform compounds and elements into other substances and change the shape of those substances to a reasonable degree of complexity. Also has some talent with elementalism, especially fire.
Equipment: Dark oak staff and a long dagger
Personality: A selfish person who always used his gifts for his own gain. Very aggressive when the situation calls for it, but capable of a lot of self-control as well. Cynical.
Backstory: Born with a gift for magic, Gabriel always used it for his own gain, transmuting scraps of metal to look like money and shaping walls to allow him entrance to wherever he wanted. He is very capable of murder or theft if it will benefit him, but sees no reason to kill or steal otherwise. He pursues the Wish Hex in pursuit of infinite power.

Could I get a more specific description of Body Magic? Specifically elementalism, and transmutation if I have it wrong.

Name: Koru Teizo
Age: 48
Sex: Male
Species: Human

Appearance: Despite his older age, Koru maintains the body and appearence of a 20 year old male in peak physical condition. He is around 5'11" tall and completely bald. his body, while not large or bulky, is very muscular and defined. His eyes are a piercing blue and his eyebrows are pitch black. He also has a tattoo on the back of his head of three interlocking circles. In addition, he is always seen wearing loose white pants and long-sleeved shirt, both made from a thin but durable material that's almost like a mix between cloth and silk.

Abilities: Koru, like many of his order, has achieved a state of focus greater than the natural mind by creating a near-perfect balance between his mind, body, and soul. This 'True Mind' (as it is called by the order) grants Koru heightened reaction speed, senses, and strength. His True Mind also increases the rate at which his body heals, which is the reason why he maintains his younger physical appearence (explained a bit more in background).

Equipment: The only item Koru carries with him is a featureless staff. The staff is a perfectly straight cylinder made of metal, polished and tampered to a pure white. When one end is placed on the ground, the staff reaches to Koru's chin.

Personality: Koru is rather quiet most of the time, preffering to consider the options and possibilities before opening his mouth. His words are rather wise, albeit a bit stern the majority of the time. He is always willing to do what is right and is ready to put himself in harm's way to help a friend or ally.

Backstory: Koru was born and raised as a monk of a sacred order simply known as The Brotherhood. He grew up learning of the balance between the three forces of mind body and soul, and he began training himself at a very young age. While not necesarily the greatest of his order, he held true to the beliefs of The Brotherhood and worked hard to complete his training.

At the age of 36 he completed his training by gaining his True Mind, and his body began the slow and painful process of healing itself to the state of a younger age. After three weeks of lying in bed, his body changing the entire time, Koru began training once again to perfect the harmony of his body, mind, and soul.

Now, twelve years later, The Brotherhood has gotten wind of this mysterious Wish Hex. They, along with Koru, see it as an abomination to the natural world and the destruction of such a device as the only answer to restore the balance. And so, they sent several volunteers, Koru among them, to search for the Wish Hex with the intention of destroying it.

----

Hope that works out alright. If the True Mind seems overpowered I'll tone it down a bit. Also, in addition to that, Koru's True Mind isn't fully develloped so there is a chance that throughout the RP he unlocks a new ability of his True Mind. If that happens I'll make sure to run the new ability through you first before I give it to him.