The Riders of the Storm

Valen

Valen

Well-Known Member
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Behind the walls of an impenetrable mountain range, deep within the Unapproachable East, there lies a kingdom of unimaginable beauty. A kingdom where the walls are set with beautiful rubies, and where the streets are lined with gold and inlaid with glittering gems. There, inside this lost kingdom, the streams run with silver, and the people that live within.....they live lives of idyllic tranquility.

It was not always so.

Once, many hundreds of years ago, there dwelt an evil warlord by the name of Tan Chin. The ruler of a fell realm of demonic oni, the warlord travelled down the Great Silk Road, deep into the mountains of this mysterious realm, and he spied the hidden kingdom of unearthly beauty. Tan Chin, desirous of this kingdom, vowed to conquer it and bring its subjects under his rule. Returning to his realm, he raised an army of demons and hurled them against the kingdom in his obsession.

This hidden kingdom, this Shangri-La of humankind was not defenceless though. Inside its walls, the fiercest monks and martial artists gathered, and with the courage and blessing of the Padhrasattava, stood against the approaching demon army. Standing at their head was the blessed of the gods themselves, Tsenya Garbo, their leader. Tsenya, realising that hundreds of thousands of lives would be lost in the battle, instead challenged the warlord Tan Chin to single combat. If Tan Chin won, he would have Tsenya's realm for himself. If he lost, he would have to take his army and leave, never to return for five hundred years. In his pride, the warlord accepted the terms, so convinced was he that he would win the duel.

The two of them battled with both sword and spell for three days and three nights in a war that seemed that it would never end, so perfectly matched were the two. Yet at the end of their bloody conflict, Tsenya Garbo finally emerged victorious.

Defeated and bloodied, the warlord nevertheless honoured the terms of their battle -- the gods themselves demanded no less. Taking his army, Tan Chin retreated to the empire of Solon, and there he consolidated the grip on his throne. As he did so, he kept his jealous eyes on the beautiful realm he so desired for his own, even as he once more built up his power. And as years rolled into decades rolled into centuries, the warlord remained patient, for the time would come when the terms of their conflict would pass, and the time would come to strike once more.

And as the years passed, Tsenya Garbo grew old and complacent. So certain in his belief that he was protected and beloved by the gods, he became nothing more than a shadow of the man that he once was. And as the armies of Solon gathered their strength once more, and the warlord began to dream his dreams of conquest, his victory seemed all but inevitable......

Five hundred years have passed since that fateful battle, and whilst Tsenya Garbo has forgotten that which came before, the warlord once again turns his gaze eastwards.....

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Soon, the Unapproachable East will erupt into the bloodiest and deadliest conflict that the world has ever seen. And into the middle of this conquest, a group of adventurers will stumble into the centre of this deadly situation. Lost and alone, they are tasked with averting a war between two kingdoms. Soon however, this mission will become one of deadly import for them.

And thus begins an epic quest set in a mystical and beautiful part of the Realms that has only been seen by the luckiest few. This will be a tale of life, of love and heroism against almost unimaginable odds. This is a tale of beautiful princesses, a tale of fearsome dragons, of demons and the living dead, and of knights in shining armour. It is a tale that will live on, both in this world and the world beyond. It is a tale that you will carry in the deepest parts of your heart and soul for forevermore.

Will our heroes become the destined champions that fate would decree them to be, or will they be lost in the shadow that sweeps over the land?

Come forward my champions -- come be the protectors of the weak, and the heroes you were always destined to be.

This is an epic quest the likes of which the world has never seen before....and will never see again.
 
Hello all, my name is Valen and I am proud to be the storyteller of a game set within a little explored region of Faerun called the Unapproachable East. You will begin the adventure on the outskirts of the region, in a city called Shou Lung. For more information on the region and of Faerun in general, please click on the preceding link and also here.

From there, you will begin the adventure of your lifetime.

In terms of the tone of the game, think a cross between Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and the Neverending Story and you will not be far wrong.

For those brave and stout of heart to stand against an unstoppable evil warlord, here is a quick guide as to what I am looking for in an application:

Name:
Race: You can select from the following :- Human, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, Halfling, Half-Orc
Class/Occupation: You can select from the following broad archetypes: Warrior, Rogue, Wizard, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Monk
Gender:
Age:

Provide me with more detailed information on the following:

Appearance:
Personality:
Backstory: Tell me how you came to Shou Lung, and what your life has been like since you arrived.
Strengths/Weaknesses: Provide me with three of each
Aspirational Powers/Abilities: These can be anything you can think of - however I'm thinking along the lines of abilities such as Pick Lock, Find/Remove Traps as a Rogue, or spells for a Wizard/Cleric/Druid you would like to gain during the course of the game. Be as creative as you like. I'm looking for a list of ten such powers from you and you will gain these abilities at certain story milestones throughout the game.

I will be looking for five people to join a character of my own for the trip. If I receive more than five applications for the game then I will review each of these before making my selections.

I'll be looking to close the advert and start the game by Monday 18th September at the latest, though I might close this earlier if I receive enough applications to go ahead with the game. If that is the case then I will let you know in advance before I close the game.

Good luck all, and I look forward to seeing what you all come up with :).
 
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

I thought I'd post a small excerpt of my writing to give you an idea of what to expect from me when the game starts:

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Praise the purple-handed queen
The gold and the green I give to her
From this broken heart
By nail and by tooth
The blood of my youth flows over her
Falling like the rain.
Praise the truth come to light
The valley of night she gives to me
From her empty heart
By silence and shame
The poison and pain flows over me
Falling like the rain.

Darkness.

There is nothing that can be seen save the impenetrable swirl of velvet night, blanketing the area and all those within it inside its black confines. The dark miasma is all-encompassing, obscuring everything and everyone under its gloomy veil. Here, in this blackness a single, solitary figure stands. He is swathed from head to foot in thick, coarse robes, obscuring his features and every inch of his form. Beneath him, this never-ending swathe of darkness is pierced by glittering pinpricks of white, flickering in and out of existence like twinkling white moondrops.

The figure kneels, and places a gnarled and withered hand down. Although it appears that he is suspended high up in the sky, this was not the full truth. The man, the observer, he watches the stars, and the myriad realms of existence pass him by beneath his feet.

The man is not human. He is Tai-Sui-Xing, the Chronicler. He is one of the silent few tasked with recording the events of the world gone by. Through his eyes, he sees civilizations rise to glory and crumble into ash and dust. He sees the world as it is, and all the people in the world pass through it. They are as shadows, living for only a moment and a blink of his eye, here one second and gone in another.

Yet, today is different. Today he pens a story of a different kind. Parched, ancient lips open to speak, and as he speaks, he engraves his words in the very stars of the universe themselves.

"I am the Chronicler. I am as eternal as the sky and the heavens themselves. Today, I speak to the universe of the story of the Riders. The Riders of the Storm. The Riders of the Great Purple Waste. Alone they stand, as the Guardians of the Hidden Kingdom. They are the only ones that stand against the tide of darkest night. They will fight the great shadow as it looks to engulf the lands of Ra-Khati. They are the only ones that can."

The figure casts his hood back. An old man casts his eyes from beneath over the heavens and the stars above the Endless Waste, watching over the land for an eternity and beyond. His eyes sparkle with white light, bathing the sky and the stars with their luminescence. The corners of his mouth crease upwards in a slight smile.

"I pity them, those that are chosen. They will be tested as they have never been tested before. They will be pushed to the very limits of their beings and far, far beyond. Into their hands will fall a terrible burden. Not all of them will see this through to the other side, yet their loss will save countless millions from the shadow of evil. Their sacrifice is a necessary.....sorrow."

If one could see into the old man's eyes, they would see the sorrow in them reflecting back.

"The story begins as it ends. With the elements, and with fate and destiny intertwining in mysterious ways."
 
Knowledge of the Realms isn't necessary for this game. I'm more than happy building in any background lore in my role plays as we go along.
 
We following DnD rules with the classes, like Druids can't wear metal, wizards needing prep material, yadda yadda?
 
Only at a very basic level. Spellcasters cannot wear armour. In terms of Mage/Cleric/Druid spells etc, although you will be drawing them from the powers you select for the character you can fluff the learning of said abilities however you please.
 
Non metal armour and take quarterstaff as a weapon, as long as you're comfortable as fluffing it that they aren't as good in combat as the melee based classes during the game
 
I'm also interested. Seems very D&Desque, which is always nice. I'll go write a char sheet now.
 
Go for it :), looking forward to seeing what you come up with. Re: spots, if I get more than 5 apps in I'll review them each individually but it might not boil down to first come first served in that case.
 
Actually, I just reconsidered the wisdom of joining another roleplay... probably won't be making a character after all. Good luck, though!
 
Name: Ganidurk Zevabar
Race: Half-Orc
Class/Occupation: Druid
Gender: Male
Age: 32

Appearance:
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Personality: Ganidurk has a lot to prove, and the strain from this oftentimes shows when he's talking. He's serious and to the point, sparing little time for chit chat unless he's especially good friends (they think). He often has to reel in the more savage desires of his orcish half, which can lead to some of his choices when dealing with problems to be rather brutal. His care for trees and plants is... lacking, should you compare him to the average Druid. He make sure up for this with a fierce love for the animals of nature, easily able to step forward to protect the life of one.

Backstory: Ganidurk arrived at Shou Lung as a child with his human father. Entrance door by the tales of Tsenya Garbo, he wished to be a monk. Unfortunately it was discovered not too far into his monk training that he had an unnatural aptitude for the Druidic magics and was quickly spirited away by the Druidic cabal, to be trained in the ways of 'musty old men who wouldn't know what to do if an enemy was within hitting distance', as he put it.

Even though he was unable to become a monk, Ganidurk quickly found that he had little tolerance for standing back and allowing magic and others to do the dirty work of combat, as those around him were content to. So he trained himself in the ways of armed combat. He took what he learnt from his short time as a monk, combined it with his Druidic learning and went from there.

He had very little to go off of, in fact as far as he was aware he was the first of his order (or possibly even Druids) to try to learn the way of combat. He studied the warriors, the rogues (when he could catch them) and the monks, adapting their techniques as best as he could while keeping up to date on his training. It wasn't perfect, and in a purely melee contest he was sure that he couldn't beat anyone important. It was fortunate he didn't need have to rely upon just melee then, wasn't it?

Strengths/Weaknesses:
Strengths:
- Strong: His orcish blood and strict training regimen give him an advatange in all things requiring brute force.
- Druidic Magic: He has received training in the ways of the Druidic order, and is capable of calling upon nature itself to aid him.
- Self taught martial ability: He has trained his body to be able to match that of any warrior although his skill may not be up to scratch (considering he taught new himself through books and watching) to the more experienced fighters.
Weaknesses:
- Not a talker: He's pretty bad at conversing, and typically has a hard time trying to convince anyone of anything if they require more than the basic facts.
- No metal: In accordance with his Cabal's code, he wears no metal. No armour or weapons.
- Heavy: Ganidurk is not light on his feet, which reflects in combat as well. He is slow in general, the lighter enemies capable of running rings around him.

Aspirational Powers/Abilities: (In no particular order) (Took a few from DnD, sue me.)
Stone skin: Ganidurk's skin becomes as tough as stone, blades merely chipping hwerenthey would have sliced. Lasts for two minutes.

Natural aspect: Ganidurk take some on the qualities of a nearby living creature, i.e. A bear will grant him grater strength, fur, teeth and claws while an Elf will slim him down, granting better vision, hearing and agility.

Grow weapon: Ganidurk is capable of creating a weapon from surrounding natural materials in seconds. The weapon lasts as long as combat is required.

Nature's blessing: Ganidurk is capable of healing for a moderate amount, fixing broken bones and knitting flesh together.

Beast Bond: Form a Druidic bond with a beast, gaining their instant trust and linking the two of them in a telepathic link as long as long as they exist on the same plain.

Mountain's strike: Imbue Ganidurk's weapon with the rock of nature. The weapon becomes far heavier, more durable and its strike a lot more vicious.

Magma's embrace: Ganidurk becomes wreathed in armour of molten magma, the armour not affecting him but burning all those around them from heat alone.

Shapeshift: Ganidurk transforms into an animal of his choosing. He must be familiar with the animal to do so.

Land stride: Ganidurk is able to enter a natural object and reappear from another of the same type within 500 feet of the original. E.g, he enters a wall of stone and emerges on the other side.

(Last) Nature's Rise: Ganidurk summons the very forces of nature to combat an enemy alongside him. Trees erupt from the ground in a 500ft radius, speeding upwards to tower above and block out sunlight within seconds. Animals and plants alike claw and lash, appearing from seemingly nowhere to combat those that Ganidurk deem his enemies.
 
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Another small sample to whet the appetite?

***

In another time, another place, ancient granite doors opened to a dark tomb, and light from the outside world spilled inside it. The light illuminated a cavernous chamber rising up inside the highest peak of Ra-Khati. A thick layer of dust coated the granite floor, and at the approach of the light tiny spiders scuttle away back into the shadows.

The atmosphere within this massive chamber buried deep beneath the earth is one of rot and decay. No human has penetrated these halls for many decades. And as the mass of writhing, screaming shadows enter the halls, it is fair to say the tomb remains unspoiled by humanity. At the center of this writhing cacophony of darkness, a single pair of glowing, golden eyes cast their baleful stare over the dark interior. Terrible demons, the scourge of the netherworld, guardians of the tomb, gather at the presence's approach. They take one look at the approaching being and flee back into the darkness.

They will not face this one, the master of life and death itself. For the dark emperor is terrible beyond all reckoning.

A booming voice echoes across the cavernous depths.

"It is time, Gaumahavi, scourge of the purple wastes. Your child has been sighted within the Hidden Kingdom. It is time once more to rain death upon our enemies."

The shadow's incorporeal stare encompasses the center of the massive interior. For a single, brief moment, it appears that the dark emperor speaks to nothing but the darkness itself. And then, the silence is shattered by the sound of a behemoth. The darkness is pierced by one baleful orb of red, then another. Then, moving forwards, the sinuous, serpentine neck of a titan stretches forwards into the light to look upon the emperor impassively. It opens its mouth, revealing rows of razor sharp teeth and a mammoth, forked tongue flickers out from its cavernous maw.

"You waken me with words of hope,
Or is this a false illusion spun by serpentine words,
The great worm Gaumahavi,
Stirs from her sleep once more."

The deep, booming voice would fill most with dread. Not so the dark emperor, master of life and death. The golden eyes glitter even brighter as they regard the great worm. "The time is now, great worm. To crush the Hidden Kingdom beneath our heel. To free your child from imprisonment. My power is almost restored, and it will allow me to fulfil your heart's desire."

The serpentine head raises as the great dragon, Gaumahavi, steps forward, allowing the dark emperor to see her in all her splendour. The massive, titanic bulk stretches upwards until her head is almost engulfed by the hollowed out mountain.

"Tonight, after decades uncounted I fly once more,
To pass purple death on my enemies,
My wrath unabated, my cause just,
All will fall before my passing."

Flexing her wings, the great purple dragon Gaumahavi flies once again. She flies out of the tomb into the light once more, wakened from her decades long slumber. Behind her, inside the tomb, the dark emperor watches impassively.

Tonight, a purple fire would rain down from the heavens on the Hidden Kingdom.
 
Name: Hrothulf Talins
Race: Elf
Class/Occupation: Warrior
Gender: Male
Age: 20

Provide me with more detailed information on the following:

Appearance:
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What he looks like (above) what he wears (below)
drow_specialist_complete_by_sharpener.jpg

Personality:
Hrothulf has a difficult personality to get along with. Despite being an elf, he is extremely abrasive. His movements are graceful, but only in battle. He drinks mead like any true human warrior, gaining a name for himself, "the Dark Void," in many a tavern. The only problem, he typically doesn't have enough coin for his habits.

Hrothulf hides his elven identity. He never removes his armor around strangers lest his face become known.
Backstory:
Hrothulf once lived in the Elven forests of Chondalwood. He grew up there, happily surviving his childhood. However, shortly after reaching adulthood, the young elf, then known as Eleithron Tolomir, was convicted of treachery against his elven brethren. Falsely accuse, Hrothulf could not stay in Chondalwood. Thus, making his way out, Hrothulf obtained his family's ancestral armor and took the Human name of Hrothulf. Venturing far and wide, Hrothulf finally made his way over to Shou Lung. While he shies away from other elves, Hrothulf has found that many of those on the outside world do not know anything of elven politics, as such, he has begun to let his guard down.
Strengths/Weaknesses:
Hrothulf is able to use a variety of hidden weapons effectively, he is quick of foot and hand

Hrothulf has terrible aim when it comes to long ranged weaponry, failing to hit a tree with a stone from ten feet away.
He does not trust other elves.
Hrothulf is absolutely unable to use magic.
Aspirational Powers/Abilities:
Hrothulf Wants to have a bunch of hidden weapons adorning his armor, however, they are a bit hard to find.
He wants a pet dragon, though no one really knows why.
If not a pet, then he wants to be friends with a dragon, once again, no one knows why.
Hrothulf, one day, wishes desperately to be accepted back into his homeland.
Hrothulf most definitely wants to be a father, and a good one at that.
He wishes to see the homes of the Dwarves.

(honestly I need a bit of help for powers when it comes to warriors, can you think of any ideas?)
1) ability to sense dead souls
2) ability to speak and understand draconic languages
3) ability to speak with the dead
4) ability to bind the dead to my will
5) ability to summon forth the dead that are under my will
6) ability to become a shade
7) ability to raise corpses
8) Dragon Blood (anything that accompanies an infusion of dragon blood will take up the next two slots of abilities)
 
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