I believe however, that the reason it was a flop was because the author last time tried to use a time period for which events and actions were already written by Anne Bishop, and therefore instead of coming up with a story from scratch, they were trying to rewrite what had already been written, and that never works. So instead, I have chosen a time period long before the novels were set, and I have decided that no one will be allowed to play characters who appeared in any of the novels, if any of them must appear I will write their parts, but they will in no way play major roles in our story.
To make things interesting, we will be playing in a time period about 5000 years before the novels took place. For those of you who have read the novels you will know that this means that the first war between the realms has not yet taken place, and we will get to roleplay the events leading up to and including the war.
Those of you who have read the novels will already know everything you need to, but for those of you who don't, I will quote the info that was posted in the OOC last time, only moderately amended.
The world this story is set in is ruled by a race of people known as the Blood. What separates the Blood from people from our world is that they wear special Jewels that give them special powers.
The Blood society has people broken down into separate castes, groupings which signify their place in society. These groupings are broken down between Males and Females.
Males
landen: non-Blood of any race.
Blood Male: a general term for all males of the Blood; also refers to any Blood male who does not wear Jewels.
Warlord: a Jeweled male equal in status to a witch.
Prince: a Jeweled male equal in status to a Priestess or a Healer.
Warlord Prince: a dangerous, extremely aggressive Jeweled male; in status, slightly lower than a Queen.
Females
landen: non-Blood of any race.
Blood Female: a general term for all females of the Blood; usually refers to any Blood female who does not wear Jewels.
witch: a Blood female who wears Jewels but isn't part of any other hierarchical levels; also refers to any Jeweled female.
Healer: a witch who heals physical wounds and illnesses; equal in status to a Priestess and a Prince.
Priestess: a witch who cares for altars, Sanctuaries, and Dark Altars; witnesses handfasts and marriages; performs Offerings; equal in status to a Healer or a Prince.
Black Widow: a witch who heals the mind; weaves the tangled webs of dreams and visions; is trained in poisons and illusions; must only defer to Warlord Princes and Queens.
Queen: a witch who rules the Blood; is considered to be the land's heart and the Blood's moral centre; as such, she is the focal point of their society.
Alright, now that we know the castes, we'll move on to the other division of the society, which are the Jewels. There are 13 different Jewels of darkening color from White to Black. They are:
White
Yellow
Tiger Eye
Rose
Summer-sky
Purple Dusk
Opal*
Green
Sapphire
Red
Gray
Ebon-gray
Black
*Opal is the dividing line between the lighter and darker Jewels because it can be either. A Fire Opal is light, and a Blood Opal is dark.
A person gets new Jewels at two times in their lives. At age 5 they make their Birthright ceremony and get their Birthright Jewels. These can be no darker than Red.
At age 18 (or whenever a person comes of age), they make the Offering to the Darkness and receive their second set of Jewels. These can be up to and including three ranks below their Birthright Jewel. For example, Birthright White could descend as far as Rose, but it could also become Yellow or Tiger Eye.
There is one more way to divide the Jewels, and that is darkness among the specific Jewel ranks. They are:
Very Light
Light
Medium
Dark
Very Dark
Therefore, while two people may wear the same colored Jewel, one might still be stronger than the other.
There are two ways to receive a Jewel at the Birthright or Offering ceremonies: Preset or Uncut. A Preset Jewel has already been worn by a member of the Blood who had died and faded into the Darkness, and it is already set in either a ring or a necklace. An Uncut Jewel can be cut and set into one ring and one pendant with some tiny Jewel chips leftover which can be used for a multitude of things.
Ok, onto some more complex stuff.
Communicating
Besides just speaking, a member of the Blood can use a form of telepathy to communicate with others. They do this using threads of communication that can be focused or unfocused in various ways. They can send out a general thread in a vicinity and anyone will hear it, kind of like shouting in a crowd. They can narrow it down so that only members of a certain gender can hear it. They can narrow it down to a specific Jewel rank. They can even narrow it down to a specific mind.
Traveling
Besides walking places and riding in coaches, the Blood can travel using the Winds. There are 13 different Winds, one for each Jewel rank. There are radial lines and tether lines, which make them look like spider's webs. The darker the Wind, the more radial and tether lines there are, and the faster the Winds move. A person can ride Winds equal to their Jewel rank or lighter unless they are shielded by someone who can ride a darker Wind or are in a shielded coach driven by someone who can ride a darker Wind.
The Realms
There are 3 Realms in the world of the Blood. They are Terreille, the Light Realm; Kaeleer, the Shadow Realm; and Hell, the Dark Realm. They are all identical in physical makeup, and some places have the same names, like Dhemlan, which is in both the Realms of Terreille and Kaeleer.
There are several other things which exist in all the Realms, like Ebon Askavi, the Black Mountain; the 13 Dark Altars, which allow travel between the Realms; the Blood Runs where the Winds meet and create a dangerous obstacle course that Eyriens use for training.
The Races
There are many small races, so I won't go into them all. What I will go into are the three long-lived races.
Hayllians: Hayllians have dark skin, black hair, and gold eyes. They live for about 5000 years normally. They usually live in Hayll, but are known to be the most expansive of all races.
Dhemlans: Dhemlans have lighter skin than both Hayllians or Eyriens, but they have the same black hair and gold eyes. They also live for about 5000 years. They usually like to keep to themselves, but some are known to travel quite frequently.
Eyriens: Eyriens have the same dark skin as Hayllians and the same hair and eyes of the other two long lived races. They also live about 5000 years. They have large, bat-like wings. They make excellent warriors and are usually very strong. Because of this, the tendency for dark Jewels is less than that of Hayllian or Dhemlan races.
Powers
The Blood Jewels give their wearers the power of the Craft. This allows them to do thousands of things, so I won't go into too much depth.
Basic Craft allows people to do simple everyday things like levitating things and manipulating small objects.
Hearth Craft is used for things you might associate with a kitchen, like cooking, or cleaning, or smoothing wrinkles in clothing.
Healing Craft is used by Healers and is pretty self-explanatory.
A Black Widows Craft centres around creating the tangled webs of dreams and visions which allows them to see into the future, or interpret current events in ways no one else ever could. It also allows them to create illusions and manipulate people's minds. It is very complex and very dangerous.
Craft can also be used to make custom spells, this will be done at the character's discretion, but I reserve the right to veto anything that gets out of hand.
Craft can be used to create four different kinds of shields. Craft Shields, Psychic Shields, Sight Shields, and Auditory Shields. Craft Shields protect against physical attacks, but someone wearing a darker Jewel could break it. A Psychic Shield protects your mind from being attacked, though someone with a darker Jewel could break it. A Sight Shield makes you invisible, but someone with a darker Jewel would be able to see you. An Auditory Shield blocks all sound, but someone with a darker Jewel could still hear everything.
Craft can be used to attack as well. It can be released in short bursts of energy that damage a person physically. It can be used to attack a person's mind and shatter their inner web and Jewels.
Death
There are several different classifications of death among the Blood. There's the body's death, which happens when the person is killed, but their minds are still strong, in which case they become a demon and they live in Hell. They cannot go out in sunlight or they die, and they must consume blood in order to survive. Basically, they are kinda like vampires.
There are also Guardians, who are kind of dead, they need to consume blood occasionally, but they can still go out in the sun. A Guardian will live forever unless he chooses to allow himself to die.
Then there is the Final Death. This happens when a person's mind finally gives up its last ounce of strength and fades into the Darkness. This can also be forced by someone who wears a darker Jewel than you.
Alright, that should do it. Now for some ground rules for the purposes of this particular RP.
1. No one can use a birthright Jewel darker than Sapphire.
2. No one can have a Jewel darker than Red at any time. (This is because there are only a few people who wear Jewels darker than that and they are all very famous in the Realms). I might allow a Gray or two, but only if you e-mail me first and ask very nicely.
3. I would prefer if no one was a Black Widow without first showing me that they understand how their magic system works by e-mailing me with a detailed description of the system.
4. Post a character in the format I use.
Now for my character, I know he is more powerful than my own rules allow, but not by much, and it is for a very good reason, which will be revealed:
Name: Gabriel Knight
Age: 21
Race: Dhemlan
Birthright Jewel: Sapphire
Jewel Rank: Ebon-Gray (He has not yet made his Offering to the Darkness, so this is just what he will be when he does)
Caste: Warlord Prince
Appearance: Gabriel is very handsome, with the light brown skin, long black hair and golden eyes that are inherent to all members of his race. He usually wears well tailored clothing, as befits a member of one of the most influential Dhemlan families in the realm of Terreille, and always keeps his long black hair pulled in a tight ponytail.
History: Gabriel was born into one of the most influential families in Dhemlan, Terreille, one of the only three territories in any of the realms to be ruled my a male. His father, Philip Knight, was a good friend of Saetan SaDiablo - the ruler of the Dhemlan Territories in Terreille, Kaeleer, and Hell - for many years, and Gabriel had even met the man several time when he was very young. That was before Saetan became the High Lord of Hell. Gabriel made his birthright ceremony when he was 7, and walked away with an uncut Sapphire, the darkest Jewel any member of his family had ever worn. Gabriel's parents were very proud, and lavished affection on him for many years, even though he didn't want it. When he was legally an adult at 17, he moved out. He was already a successful businessman, and personally had more money in real estate and investments than his entire family. He moved into one of the apartments that he owned and has lived there since, not even bothering to communicate with his famliy. He decided not to make the Offering when he turned 18, he didn't feel rushed, he was going to live for thousands of years, surely there was no point to rush something like that. But something dangerous is looming on the horizon, and while Gabriel doesn't know it yet, there may come a time when he will be forced to make the Offering in order to survive.
Well, that's my character, and there should be enough in his history for others to build on. I do have one role for a female I need someone to play, I could do it myself, but it'd be more interesting if someone else did it. She is Gabriel's "lover", for lack of a better word. That is all the detail on her I have so if someone decides they want to play her, they can completely make the character themselves.
We'll wait until a couple of people join before I make the first post, that way if this is going to flop I won't have wasted my time in making a lengthy first post.
