Stradia: The Fourth War - Book 2 "Jorluke's Quest" - Interest, Signup, Discussion
 

By flatterness and popular demand of the old players, I’ve decided to continue the Stradian tale onward into “Book 2.”

It’s a little late into summer, I should have started it earlier. And of course, every time I get coaxed into GMing, there’s a billion other RPs that pop up at the same time (including the ever-popular Avatars).

For a synopsis of Stradia RP, I will quote myself:

Stradia has an established history, and this RP is a continuation of Book 1. As such, I doubt there will be any new players. However, to new folk that are interested, you are of course allowed to jump into the fiction and kill some baddies. I take pleasure in welcoming new folk into the fray that want their characters to really become part of the lore.

History of Stradia:

Book 1 occurred over a period of sixty (Earth-equivalent) days. Stradia is a large, relatively narrow continent, spanning a great distance from polar northern regions to desertified southern regions, and all climates in between. There are two countries that inhabit the continent, Kenshuria (southern regions) and Venuria (northern regions). There is significant geographical isolation between the two countries due to the Border Forest, an absolutely massive temperate forest in the upper-middle of the continent.

Venuria has invaded Kenshuria, for reasons only hinted at and completely unknown to the populace up until this point.

For more information:

Stradia “The Fourth War” Sign-ups and Information

Stradia Book 1 "The North Falls" Thread 1

Stradia Book 1 "The North Falls" Thread 2

Stradia Book 1 "The North Falls" Thread 3

If any of you happen to read all of that, well, you know exactly what’s going on. The threads are quite long.

Returning Characters/Reserved Spots

Returning characters will be lavished with all the experience they had in the last RP, and then some.

Loki Noclan – TheBlindMime
Penn Balthiere – Mintaro
Ariosto Cantare – Lumenskir
Vincent Runeheim, aka “Father” or “The Voice” – Loki, The Fallen

Important Note: Please PM me with all outstanding personal story arcs/side quests/what not your characters have going! I began integrating SOME of these into the main storyline, but not all, and my PM box with notes on your stories got wiped.

New Characters/Unreserved Spots

I’m not sure how many players I want to GM, but if there’s some genuine interest I’ll take it. As with most RPs, people tend to get busy/bored after a while and drop out. As such, new characters will be at a significantly higher experience level than Book 1 characters, but not as high as returning characters. Consider it a probationary period until you prove your RP-fu.

Choose Your Side!

Players may choose which side of the conflict they fight for, Kenshurians or Venurians. If you consider yourself “freelance” or “for hire”, you MUST still pick a side you’re being hired by.

Kenshuria: You could be from anywhere in the country, but you find yourself in the grand city of Midgaard. It is the economic powerhouse of Kenshuria, second only to Kenshura City in population. Each Kenshurian city has a “Lord” deemed as its overall ruler (like a mayor). Midgaard’s Lord is Hebridean, a powerful magician. The greater Midgaard area is home to close to one and a half million people. HUMAN, ELF, or DWARF races ONLY!

Venuria: You are part of the armies invading Kenshuria. The northern villages, including Gole, have been conquered with ease. You are on the war path, heading south. There are many more villages and a few towns along the way, but the true jewel will be Midgaard. Your precise role will be determined at a later time (through PMs or discussion), but you will either be serving under General Gorak, Captain Mithik, or Captain Ariosto Cantare. HUMAN, TROLL, or GARGOYLE races ONLY!

Character Skill System

Melee
Ranged
Any of the Magic Schools

A hero has several points to allocate to skills, and receives more during the course of the RP. More points in one skill means greater and greater proficiencies. This will help gauge the “level” of allies and enemies alike, and will be directly reflected in my (or our) responses to encounters, actions, and so on.

For more information on the mechanics, see Azisien’s RP System.

***

Character Sheet

Name:

Age:

Race:

Allegiance: Kenshura or Venuria (you can be Neutral, such as a freelance mercenary, but you must still side with one country)

Appearance: When I look at you on any given day, what would I see?

Personality: Just rough. You can develop your personality in game.

Bio: Nice and detailed please. If you need information about the world, just ask.

Equipment: Clothes, travelling supplies, weapons, armor. May also include things like mounts (ponies and horses only, please). These are probably integrated into your appearance, but if you need to be specific about what kind of armor or weapon you use, etc.

Skills: New players begin with 8 skills points. Returning players have gained 4 skill points to distribute on top of their old characters skill sets (that’s 12 skill points total).

This is the same sheet as last time, and I think Mintaro had an “existing character list” somewhere, so perhaps old players could dig that up and mostly avoid repeating their characters. Though, a Bio update is still in order.

I think this is the last update of Minty's char sheet. Though it seems a bit outdated. I could be wrong though. (Prove me wrong minty.)

I'll have Loki Noclan's sheet up sometime tomorrow.

But just for kicks, a quick synopsis of the story for the newbies.

Synopsis

Venuria has begun a vicious and unwarranted attack against their neighboring country, but is this a simple matter of war or a quest for something much more dire.

The outlying Northern cities of fallen, one by one each found retreat or death the only options available to them. A sea of Venuran's is washing across the Kenshuran plains and no force can stop them, not the Border Patrol, not the people, perhaps nothing at all can.

Our heroes (in the case of Kenshura) have valiantly held Gole, one of the final Northern villages for a day. No easy task. Still there was no victory in this, only a third of their original force is still in fighting shape, the second third are too wounded or exhausted to fight and the final third is dead. It was with heavy hearts that the Kenshuran's retreated through scry-holes (a magical portal of both communication and teleportation) and returned to Midgaard.

Our hero(es) in the case of the Venurians have successfully taken Gole but the costs were great. While the general ranks were hardly wounded (in the grand scheme of things) two of our great soldiers have fallen, one a legendary gargoyle General the other a Troll of magical powers nearly equal to Gorn Altreas. Nearly.

This is not the end, but a step after the beginning.

And done. Specifics if desired can be found in the aforementioned threads.

I'll try to concoct Ari's downtime after work and schoolwork. But really, more people need to join this RP, and they also need to join the cool side. Currently, Venuria is leading 1-0 in the "Decapitated Heads of Major Players" category.

Ah, I forgot to mention it in the first post I think.

You can assume for your own preparation that one month has gone by since the Fall of Gole. This puts the length of the war at 90 days so far.

If there's something rather specific you wanted your character to be doing in this downtime, let me know. One month allows some events to pass and all characters to fully recover from that whole Book 1 ordeal.

And yes, we need some Venurian (re: EVIL) characters. It's poor old Lumenskir all along against three Kenshurian PCs.

Join!!!

Name: Loki Noclan (Swordforger)

Age: 43

Race: Dwarf!

Allegiance: Kenshura

Appearance: A stout young dwarf of admirable width, with short red hair, a light tan, dark emerald eyes and a strong jaw line. He has a thick new beard -which is still somewhat weak by Dwarf standards- he’s quite proud of it. He stands tall for a dwarf at an impressive four foot eight inches and commands a heavy sense of respect from others. His armor shows no dents despite its many uses and shines like silver.

Personality: Friendly and more then willing to make new friends in his travels, he's always especially nice to elves (oddly) and goes out of his way to help others (especially elves). It’s only since the final battle of Gole that he’s begun communing with his fellow dwarves.

Bio: See prior history here.

The events of those sixty days left Loki a changed Dwarf. His beard has since returned and a grim but realistic view of warfare has been etched painfully into his mind. He has seen war for what it truly is and is ready to continue fighting no matter the costs to himself.

The past thirty days: Loki's absence in the Swordforger home was big news for the last few years until the beginning of the war it was the rumor that kept on churning. Now all anyone can talk about when you mention dwarves is Orson Swordforger, Loki's brother and new Steward of all Swordforger holdings. Torin, their father took ill soon after the beginning of the war and most folk now consider it an omen of fel tidings. Loki however has managed to stay far from those he knows and unknown to those he doesn't. Mingling only amongst his fellow refugees it has been hard to get news of Midgaard's goings on but ever since he heard that his father is ill, he spends every night wondering if Torin will see the sun rise tomorrow. It has been a long time since Loki left, and he did not part amicably... would he be welcomed home at all?

Equipment: Clothes, travelling supplies, Blacksmithing tools, Two single hand war hammers with back side picks; named Cain and Abel, Cain is etched with a Cross and Abel is etched with an Ankh, full body plate mail that shimmers like silver and a brown leather cloak. He also carries with him a few mementos of the fallen, a small chain of prayer beads and a set of melted arrowheads to name a few.

Skills: Melee VII
Shapeshifting V

Placing interest and asking a question.

What skills should I have for a character to create, temporal, magical weapons and shields, using a different object as a "frame"(ex.: A sword around a staff)?

By temporal do you mean temporary, or time magic? Time magic doesn't really exist in Stradia aside from the scry-holes I suppose, which are ripping spacetime if you're into that kind of thing.

But what you want sounds like Conjuration. The ability to magically alter and create objects. Altering is easier than creating, and having a frame or component to morph is easier than not. Imbuing impressive magical qualities and enchantments onto items is, naturally, also more difficult.

If you've seen or end up seeing Loki or other shapeshifters in action, then you'll know some leeway is given such that there's some enchantment of the gear you wear when you shapeshift.

But as a rule of thumb, shapeshifting=self-altering, conjuration=other-altering, enchantment=mind-altering, healing=teddy bears.

If you plan on carrying around a mundane staff and turning it into a giant flaming greatsword on a whim, then I imagine you will want to invest at least half of your points into Conjuration. Depending on how well you want to fight with said sword, you'll want to invest in Melee.

Sorry for my English, I'm still far from where I would like to be at it.

I meant something that lasts for a while.

My point is to make energy around or between objects into weapons and shields. Like let's say I'll have simple stick, Instead of changing it's shape, I'd like to attach energy to it, so that as long as I hold it, it is, for example, a energy sword.

Oooooh, you want lightsabers? Well in that case I think my suggestions on a mixture of Conjuration (lots) and Melee (whatever's left) would apply. Conjuration to summon the magic around the stick and make it a +1 Energy Sword, and maintain it, and Melee to swing the stick.

Question pack V2

When/How are you planing to cover the difference between newcomers and veterans?

Can someone "trade" skill points for special abilities?

How would doubling the mass affect a rock being already thrown?

What would it take to make plants move or grow faster?

How dose the weapon size/mass affects it's efficiency?