Fantasy Cradle of Desire: Interest Check [Closed]

[Nano]

Cradle of Desire

Interest Check

A

Discord

Lore

CS

IC

Prologue .

Screams of terror cut through the dead of the night as a once magnificent tower shakes and groans. Its sin-stained walls crumble and burn, leaving only scars signifying the wrath of the gods. From a distance, a lone spectator watches the play with pure, unadulterated delight. He revels in the plight of the night’s main actors and offers up a chalice of wine to the moon, its gaze cold and unresponsive to his invitation. His little game has come to an end, and there is no longer a need to respond to the incessant squealing of mortals. In their final moments, many begged him for mercy. Others cursed him in their hearts, believing that the treacherous god had purposefully driven them to dive headfirst into a terrible fate.

Their admiration, fear, and loathing all tasted the same on his tongue—sweet and ending with a raw, bitter note. Even as he watched the fall of a civilization instigated by his own hand, his love for humanity endured all the same. He’d always believed in the potential of mortals, and it was this faith that spurred him to grant them the Cradle of Desire. When the world believed this was its final act, he knew it was merely an intermission. When the gods believed they had quashed the greedy hearts of mortals, only he knew that their ingenuity would force them back on their feet to dance for him once again.

For he was

Syr, the God of Technicians.

Overview .

During a time remembered by none who remain within the mortal realm, the world of Lithos was a land blessed by countless gods. Bearing great affection for the creatures of Lithos, the gods kept the world’s fields plentiful, blessed mortals with bodies resistant to disease, and carefully managed the balance of mana to maintain a safe and sheltered environment. Of these gods, Syr was the sole deity to descend to the mortal plane, magnanimously providing his guidance to his followers.

It was Syr who taught mortals how to infuse magic, the residual power of the gods’ blessings, into tools they could use to harness it. His followers who closely studied the god’s teachings came to be known as the Technicians, and they produced one brilliant invention after the next under his guidance. These mystical tools, referred to as relics, impressed the gods with their ingenuity and swiftly earned the support of the divine powers above. Particularly distinguished Technicians were granted fragments containing a small portion of the divine essence of the gods who recognized them. These fragments could then be fashioned into a core to create even more powerful relics called vestiges.

These relics paved the way for the Age of Magic, a period of rapid advancement led by the Technicians. Combined with the blessings granted by the gods, the relics of the Technicians fulfilled every need and desire of mankind. However, even in times of peace and prosperity, greed is a cardinal sin ever present in the hearts of mortals. The world as they knew it was nothing short of a paradise, yet an era of peace could never quench their thirst for power. All it took was a small push from a devious god. It was nothing more than a half-baked promise that the potential hidden within their mortal shells destined them for greater things so long as they cast aside their humanity. However, when Syr dangled the figurative forbidden fruit above their heads, few could resist the seductive pull of his words. The land’s abundance was borrowed from the divine, but what heights would mortals achieve if they could attain a power above the gods themselves?

Thus, the Technicians built a grand tower to serve as the site within which a new era would be born. To outsiders and those whose aspirations had yet to be tainted by greed, the tower was an institute for would-be engineers from all walks of life to begin their journey as a Technician. However, underneath the halls of the academy, the Technicians carried out all manners of illicit experiments. Whether it be dismantling the fragments of power bestowed by the gods or human experimentation, those who worked within what the Technicians referred to as the Cradle of Desire feared no boundaries. Even when cries of agony echoed throughout the Cradle at night, the Technicians closed their eyes and covered their ears, driven mad by a thirst for knowledge and the concept of human evolution.

When the desperate prayers of the Cradle’s test subjects finally reached the gods’ ears, they became enraged at the depraved acts of the Technicians. Some felt pity when they gazed upon the mangled bodies of the Cradle’s victims, but most were filled with the desire to punish the arrogant mortals who dared to covet the power of the gods. The Cradle of Desire was reduced to a pile of broken walls and distorted dreams overnight, and the mangled, lifeless bodies of the Technicians and test subjects alike littered the grounds of the tower. Amidst the chaos, Syr was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he had been eviscerated by the gods alongside his followers. Perhaps he had moved on to a new world to toy with. Whatever the case, both mortal and divine would swear to never forgive his transgressions.

Disgusted by the arrogance and greed of humanity, the gods abandoned Lithos one-by-one.. Without the divine to guide it, the mana in the world grew turbulent, creating ashen wastelands out of once lush forests and violent storms that tore through peaceful plains. Life in Lithos lost their divine blessings, becoming susceptible to the diseases and poisons of the world. As the world’s mana and resources gradually dried out, nations began to wage war against their neighbors to sustain their own citizens. Entire countries fell and faded into wastelands, while the ones that survived struggled just to meet their basic needs.

The Queendom of Vestry fared better than most, possessing the power of the handful of abandoned relics they successfully harvested from the Cradle of Desire. However, relics inevitably break and the mana stones they rely on gradually run dry. Though the nation has managed to sustain itself relatively well, increasing animosity from its neighbors resulted in the government confiscating all relics, heavy taxation, and the lockdown of its borders. Rampant poverty and military abuse triggered the rise of various rebellions, but no movement got very far. At least, not until the appearance of Arcana.

To the public, they’re terrorists disguised as a self-proclaimed vigilante group. In such tumultuous times, it’s strange for your hands to be completely clean of another’s blood. However, Arcana’s goal isn’t always clear, and the fact that some of their targets and destruction seem indiscriminate has struck fear into the hearts of many. It doesn’t make it any better that all their identities have somehow been kept tightly under lock and key and each member appears to possess strange powers.

In truth, they’re an organization borrowing the power of the Cradle of Desire’s magnum opus: The Deck of Fools. Led by Owen, more commonly known as The World by Arcana’s members, they seek to overthrow Vestry’s current reigning monarch, though many of its members appear to have agendas of their own.

OOC .

Come one, come all! Welcome to Cradle of Desire, a semi post-apocalyptic roleplay where we play as terrorists vigilantes in an underground organization called Arcana. Some inspiration was taken from the Dusk Trilogy of the Atelier Series and Ys IX but more in an “oh, this idea is cool” way. No knowledge of the aforementioned games is required to experience Cradle of Desire in its fullest!

I hinted at this in the overview, but not every character in Arcana joins the resistance to make Vestry a better place. Some members fancy themselves heroes, true, but others seek complete anarchy while one entire faction is more interested in the Cradle of Desire than the state of the government. Heck, there are also some people who are in it just to fool around in their own sick, twisted way. Despite calling themselves a vigilante organization, morals actually don’t have much of a place in Arcana. Basically, feel free to go hog wild when coming up with your character’s reasons for joining Arcana and their general motives. Of course, I’d strongly advise against creating characters who are there purely for the thrill of the kill with no other purpose in mind (this "purpose" can be as simple as revenge or some megalomaniac shenanigans) as they're very unlikely to be trusted and accepted into the organization. We don’t want anyone backstabbing us, after all. Circumstances may vary, but people are generally recruited into Arcana by chance. Sometimes you happen to get dragged into one of their messes, or The World might sense that you’re compatible with a specific arcana and kidnap convince you to join.

Players are allowed to stake their claim on a specific Arcana in the #role-reservations channel in the Discord, but you MUST submit a brief 3-4 sentence blurb introducing your character in #character-introductions within 24 hours for the claim to be valid. This intro will be used on the roster page, so all players are required to submit one before their CS can be officially accepted even if they opt not to reserve a role. I’ll be providing a list of reserved roles that I’ll hopefully keep updated in the post directly below this one.

Hope y’all enjoy your stay!

Rules .

1. Joining the Discord chat is required. Sorry. You don’t need to actively chat in the Discord, but any and all announcements/general communication will be hosted via that platform.
2. Please read the glossary and all other sections necessary for understanding the roleplay’s setting and events. IC posts unrelated to your character are not included in this requirement, but it’s highly suggested to read those in full as well. It is highly recommended to read through all CSs as well, but a tldr will be provided for all characters on the roster page otherwise.
3. Don’t worry too much about accidentally asking a question that’s already been answered in the glossary or the FAQ channel. I’m not going to bite or snarkily mention that it’s already in the lore, because I also forget parts of my own lore from time-to-time. However, if one person asks such questions VERY frequently, I’m going to assume you haven’t been reading.
4. No metagaming, powerplaying, etc. You know the drill.
5. Characters must be part of Arcana and possess a Stigma as it’ll be difficult to justify their existence in the main plot otherwise.
6. Later on, I’ll be letting players add NPCs that help out here and there. Lmk if you have a cool idea for one! I’ll do my best to make sure they’re implemented into the RP.
   

Questions .

I figure there’s a high chance certain questions will be asked, so I’ll be answering them beforehand.

Faceclaims?

Just about any drawn media works. Try to stay away from anything hyperrealistic.

What length do you expect posts to be?

Length ≠ Quality. Some scenes require a bit of exposition while others are best written in short and snappy posts. I don’t care if you write one paragraph or twenty as long as it gets the job done. Just note that I’ll be judging you if it takes 1k words to describe that your character swung a sword once.

How often do you expect people to post?

Players will be required to write their first post within seven days of the IC opening except in the case of extenuating circumstances. After this initial check-in, posting schedules will depend on how fast the current posting round is moving. As a general rule of thumb, I’d prefer that each round span no longer than two weeks. I won’t kick you because you missed one round, though. Just make sure to let the others know when you can or can’t post so you don’t hold them up. For the time being, I’ll state that a month of inactivity without prior explanation will result in a boot.

Conversely, please don’t post five times in the span of a week if you’re going to have your character go off solo or monologue the entire time.

What kind of magic does this setting have?

Humans themselves cannot cast magic spells, but relics and vestiges are fairly in line with what you can expect of magic technology in most fantasy settings. In terms of the powers the main cast will be utilizing, each character will possess a Stigma corresponding to a card from the Major or Minor Arcana which grants them one ability related to their Stigma’s “concept”. The specifics are explained in the lore, so go and take a look!

What’s the technological level of the roleplay?

The power of electricity has yet to be discovered, and much of the world’s technology collapsed after the Age of Magic abruptly ended. Sorry, you’re stuck with using a chamberpot and carriages. Most communities also need to draw water from a well, though the capital city of Vestry is rich enough to possess a vestige that powers a water system that works similar to what you have in the modern day.

Gunpowder exists as it was used in preliminary designs for many relics, but it’s limited to simplistic muskets/bayonets that take forever to reload and things like fireworks/signal flares. Bullets are also unreasonably expensive due to the resource drought. More sophisticated firearms do exist, but these are rare relics and tend to not use traditional ammunition.

Can my character possess a relic?

You’ll have to explain how your character got their hands on one, but I’m allowing one relic per character at the start of the roleplay if you want one. Just remember that relics run on limited batteries that can only be scavenged or bought off the black market. They’re also illegal, so you can’t just wave them around in public. Vestiges will be judged on a case-by-case basis, though I’ll most likely say yes as long as you don’t claim your character found it in a random alley. Is it possible to find a rare item that way? Maybe. But it’s an incredibly lazy explanation (unless you put some comedic spin to it idk), and I’m not keen on letting you carry an artifact around if that’s what you’re giving me.

Why is it illegal to own relics in Vestry?

The real reason is that the government is greedy and also wants to remove power from the people (no surprise there). The reason they tell the public is that relics—or rather the manastones powering them—are dangerous. The lore page will have a more in-depth explanation, but now that humans are no longer protected by divine blessings, mana is harmful to mortal bodies. If manastones crack or break and leak or release the mana inside, this can cause illnesses that current medicine can’t really cure. Mana also spreads and lingers for a long time, so accidents and improper handling of manastones can cause incidents similar to radioactive contamination accidents irl.

How strong should characters be? Are members new to Arcana allowed?

Feel free to play a useless loafer or a senior member respected for their strength or smarts. Everyone will have a role to play in the story, including recent initiates. Just don’t go around saying that your character can defeat entire armies unassisted. Remember that magic is very limited in this RP.

How many characters are players allowed to make?

One character per person, please.

Are races other than humans allowed?

No, sorry. If you want a special exception, you can try your luck by DM/PMing me your idea but there are very few scenarios I can think of where this would work.

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Code by Nano

 

[Nano]

Reserved/Unavailable Roles:
0. The Fool
VI. The Lovers
VII. The Chariot
XII. The Hanged Man
XIII. Death
XVI. The Tower
XIX. The Sun
XXI. The World
Ten of Swords
Ten of Cups

 

[OldTurtle]

Wowie this sure does look real interesting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Nano]

Wowie this sure does look real interesting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shush. You got in through nepotism :c

 

[SavannahSmiles]

I am looking respectfully

 

[SavannahSmiles]

I’ll join the discord in a bit, need to do some things first before I can sit down at my computer ^^

 

[ThatWhichShouldBe]

hit me with the discord nano

 

[Nano]

hit me with the discord nano

it's the first link to the right uwu7

 

[nios]

 

[606]

def looks super interesting but i am a SLOW reader and am working on reading the lore i love it so farr

 

[Zariel]

This sounds absolutely brilliant!

 

[Midrick]

Keep cooking, nanomachines

 

[Nano]

Hello! Thanks for all the interest! With the last batch of players who trickled into the chat, we have 18 people, so I'll be closing recruitment for now. >__< Will most likely reopen during scene 3, so stay tuned :')