Fantasy ~Fire Emblem Reverence: The Insurrection of Etalus~ [Rules & OOC]

[SkyGinge]

Image credit: serenesforest.net​

This thread is for all out-of-character discussion, including group planning, announcements, and asking questions!

Rules​

1. General Behaviour: Don’t break site rules, don’t get overtly sexual, don’t control other people’s characters for them. Don’t approach the RP like a game to be won, but as a story told in collaboration with others, where the most interesting outcome may not be what your character wants. And don’t be a dick in the OOC – we’re here to have fun writing, and everybody should feel free to be themselves as we do so. No hate speech will be tolerated.
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2. Post Detail: I don’t really like the usual detail labels, but I guess this fits roughly into the category of ‘adv-lit’. There won’t be a strict post-length restriction as I’m always looking for quality over quantity. No one-liners obviously, but please also don’t fluff out your posts with endless introspection just to fill space. Nobody wants to read about how the sun sinking beyond the horizon reminded your character about their dead goldfish Geoff. Overall, I expect posts to give at least one other writer a clear springboard to reply to. Sometimes this can be done in a paragraph, but other times will call for much more description.
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3. Grammar: Write in third-person, past tense. We all make typos but please make sure your post is comprehensible.
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4. Post Frequency: You are expected to post once every five days. If you do not think you can manage this, please be considerate and do not apply. I have seen far too many RPs die a rapid death because everybody pushes the boat out and takes longer to post than the GM asked.
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5. Communication: You don’t have to be mega active in the OOC, but please please please let me know if you’re going to be away for longer than a week. We’re here to have fun and we all understand that real life must take precedence sometimes. If you’re struggling in general, don’t worry, chances are I’ve been there – I’m not going to judge you and I haven’t unlocked the ability to bite your head off through a computer screen (yet!) If you fail to inform us, we will just have to move on without you.
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6. BBCode: If coding helps your creative juices flow then feel free to pretty up posts, but I want this to be a no-coding friendly space where people are more interested in writing posts than spending forever making things look nice.

Join the Discord OOC Here!​

 

[SkyGinge]

Hello everyone!

I should probably explain what I'm planning on doing for a character. I'm actually not going to decide on a character for myself until near the end of the application process when we know which roles people are applying for. I have like four different rough character outlines in mind and am able to be adaptable with them too

 

[GamerKitty205]

Very nice variety of classes! And weapons too, It's a shame knives aren't used more often in modern fire emblem.

Is it okay if I submit two seperate characters? I've got a good idea for a nortalis retainer and well as the Duplicitous Doctor. Both of the ideas feel pretty setting specific so it'd be nice to apply both of them in case say... someone else has a take on the roles u think would work better for the rp.

 

[Stickdom]

Heya, glad to be invited, working on a character now. Have a few thoughts, I’m a sucker for staff-users, but in the event of combat, having a healing staff seems like a pretty big disadvantage without any other sort of weapon available. Can classes use other non-proficient weapons with some kind of disadvantage, or are, for example, Priests and Clerics just stuck taking blows and relying on constantly having a weapon-wielding ally around to protect them? Just wondering about the balancing of classes, and how true to the game mechanics themselves we’ll be sticking.

I guess my question would rather be, if a character has a weapon proficiency, and then punches or chucks a rock at another character, is there any chance that damage will be done? XD

 

[SkyGinge]

Heya, glad to be invited, working on a character now. Have a few thoughts, I’m a sucker for staff-users, but in the event of combat, having a healing staff seems like a pretty big disadvantage without any other sort of weapon available. Can classes use other non-proficient weapons with some kind of disadvantage, or are, for example, Priests and Clerics just stuck taking blows and relying on constantly having a weapon-wielding ally around to protect them? Just wondering about the balancing of classes, and how true to the game mechanics themselves we’ll be sticking.

I guess my question would rather be, if a character has a weapon proficiency, and then punches or chucks a rock at another character, is there any chance that damage will be done? XD

Yeah, great question. Even though I've introduced stats and stuff I still want combat scenarios to be freeform where possible, using the stats as a guide rather than a strict 'this is what must happen in a combat scenario'. One of us might think it's much more interesting narratively to have a character get injured in a combat scenario they'd be statistically forecast to win, for example. Being able to heal others on command is a pretty big plus, but yeah it does lock a cleric character out of basically being able to be useful in combat, and I don't want to fully limit your creativity by saying they wouldn't do the rational thing and try to defend themselves. So your suggestion of allowing different classes to use different weapons but at a disadvantage makes good sense to me!

Very nice variety of classes! And weapons too, It's a shame knives aren't used more often in modern fire emblem.

Is it okay if I submit two seperate characters? I've got a good idea for a nortalis retainer and well as the Duplicitous Doctor. Both of the ideas feel pretty setting specific so it'd be nice to apply both of them in case say... someone else has a take on the roles u think would work better for the rp.

Thanks for the compliment! Yeah doing two submissions sounds good to me, if you have the time and creative energy to spare on that. Whichever character we don't use you could always repurpose into a side-character as part of a side-plot if you wanted.

 

[Stickdom]

Yeah, great question. Even though I've introduced stats and stuff I still want combat scenarios to be freeform where possible, using the stats as a guide rather than a strict 'this is what must happen in a combat scenario'. One of us might think it's much more interesting narratively to have a character get injured in a combat scenario they'd be statistically forecast to win, for example. Being able to heal others on command is a pretty big plus, but yeah it does lock a cleric character out of basically being able to be useful in combat, and I don't want to fully limit your creativity by saying they wouldn't do the rational thing and try to defend themselves. So your suggestion of allowing different classes to use different weapons but at a disadvantage makes good sense to me!

Thanks for the compliment! Yeah doing two submissions sounds good to me, if you have the time and creative energy to spare on that. Whichever character we don't use you could always repurpose into a side-character as part of a side-plot if you wanted.

Sweet! Even slightly implementing the Weapon Rank system from the games in a very basic sense (i.e. having a higher rank means using stronger, more powerful weapons), and whatever your classes proficient weapon is can increase with use, while non-proficient weapons are permanently at Rank E/lowest rank, that might make some good sense, especially since classes like Cavaliers traditionally get access to at least two weapon types, it at least makes a character have some thematic options, even if they’re not entirely optimized.

Very nice variety of classes! And weapons too, It's a shame knives aren't used more often in modern fire emblem.

Is it okay if I submit two seperate characters? I've got a good idea for a nortalis retainer and well as the Duplicitous Doctor. Both of the ideas feel pretty setting specific so it'd be nice to apply both of them in case say... someone else has a take on the roles u think would work better for the rp.

With the above post from Ginge clarifying some things for me, I’m starting working on a Nortalis character too, I’m considering either the Lord or the other Retainer, if we want to collaborate on a backstory/character connections for your Nortalis character with mine? Just a thought, would love to have some character cohesion if you feel like it!

SkyGinge On that note, I was interested in looking at the different nations’ goals and schemes, and they all seem a little… aggressive. For Nortalis especially, the Church using their religion as a ploy to gain finances and to force people to go to church seems.. well, sacrilegious? It just seems to fit a very specific “Churches are always up to something nefarious” trope, and wanted to make sure that’s the direction you intended. And how much agency do our characters have as the story progresses? Is there any room for the characters to alter their goals or change their minds or the minds of others, or does each nation have no choice but to remain rigid in their track through the entire campaign?

 

[GamerKitty205]

With the above post from Ginge clarifying some things for me, I’m starting working on a Nortalis character too, I’m considering either the Lord or the other Retainer, if we want to collaborate on a backstory/character connections for your Nortalis character with mine? Just a thought, would love to have some character cohesion if you feel like it!

I think Ginge wants us to figure out connections mostly after we get our cast, but I would still love to hear about your concepts, maybe bounce some ideas off of each other.

And as kind of a side note, I think the policies are aggresive mostly bc we're encouraged to have characters who are conflicted about those goals. Distasteful duties vs personal interests and morals, etc etc.

 

[Arcanist]

Sticking my head in to say hello!!! I'm not sure what role I'm going to look at yet, but I'll be sure to put it in here when I figure that out ^^;

*Two seconds later, looking at the Spying Scion*..... or else maybe a retainer~

 

[ThatGuyWithSouvlaki]

Initially idea: female thunder mage thunder mage retainer of the "princess" of Ditania. She is one of two survivors of a noble family that supported the Duke of Etalius during the civil war. The family was betrayed by another family and had the castle raided, killing the then lady and Duke and capturing her and her sisters. She spend the rest of the war in a dungeon being used and abused until the castle was liberated by the Duke. After the war, the family lands were restored to her elder sibling who was in the front lines during the castle raid. She trained to become a mage and became close friends with the dukes daughter (unconfirmed rumours claiming they were lovers). She is sick of the instability that the current system of nobility rule barely barely changed by the civil war she suffered in and is desperate to find an alternative. Also has a grudge against the Duke regent despite his rescue of her for failing to protect her parents.

 

[Yakov011001]

I've got plans to stick in for one of Ditania's retainers, but I'm holding until I can get some questions answered.

 

[ThatWhichShouldBe]

Hm. It may be tough to do my ideas with the classes list- one of my concepts don't quite fit any of the classes really. But then... someone else wants Duplicitous Doctor anyway, so I might stick with the Proposing Prince... and run with something other than a Wyvern Knight, perhaps.

 

[GamerKitty205]

Expanding a bit on my two ideas

Disquieted Disciple (nortalis retainer) - A low ranked member of the clergy and wind mage who has a strong devotion to the Divine dragon, and a unexpressed but not quiet hidden dislike of the church. She hopes to find a way to remedy the church's materialistic ways... or the power to usurp it if more subtle means are ineffective
Duplicitous Doctor - A savant from the desert tribes of Meridania. Seen as an affable fool and rumored to have gotten where he is more as a fluke than anything. He uses his ditzy and simple guise to his own benefit-- even as the act grates on him, hurting his pride. A beast tamer! (at least for the duration of this mission)

Hm. It may be tough to do my ideas with the classes list- one of my concepts don't quite fit any of the classes really. But then... someone else wants Duplicitous Doctor anyway, so I might stick with the Proposing Prince... and run with something other than a Wyvern Knight, perhaps.

If you want to apply for the Meridania Noble, don't let me stop you. It's app based, so the best fit will get in regardless. Also! Ginge did mention weapons aren't strictly class locked, but they will be less effective if they don't match.

 

[SkyGinge]

Sweet! Even slightly implementing the Weapon Rank system from the games in a very basic sense (i.e. having a higher rank means using stronger, more powerful weapons), and whatever your classes proficient weapon is can increase with use, while non-proficient weapons are permanently at Rank E/lowest rank, that might make some good sense, especially since classes like Cavaliers traditionally get access to at least two weapon types, it at least makes a character have some thematic options, even if they’re not entirely optimized.

I'd strayed away from implementing weapon rank stuff for simplicities sake... but then I ended up adopting and mansplaining the basics of Fire Emblem combat anyway lol, and most of us should be familiar with how weapon rank works anyway. I'll ponder over implementing it when my brain is a little less frazzled. I did think about letting Cavaliers have two weapons, but Cavaliers tend to be overpowered anyway (that sweet mobility tho) so for balancing's sake I stuck to lances. If somebody wants to play a cav who uses axes or swords instead though then that's cool with me.

SkyGinge On that note, I was interested in looking at the different nations’ goals and schemes, and they all seem a little… aggressive. For Nortalis especially, the Church using their religion as a ploy to gain finances and to force people to go to church seems.. well, sacrilegious? It just seems to fit a very specific “Churches are always up to something nefarious” trope, and wanted to make sure that’s the direction you intended. And how much agency do our characters have as the story progresses? Is there any room for the characters to alter their goals or change their minds or the minds of others, or does each nation have no choice but to remain rigid in their track through the entire campaign?

The aggro from all of the nations except Jussane was intentional - the Draconic Oak being this uniquely valuable resource means the nations are clamouring to try to get the best out of the situation in Etalus.
For the Church, I guess broadly I adopted the trope you mention, but as with everything else in the lore it is malleable and we can tone it down and tweak that scheme a little bit. I envisioned it more as a flawed/gray organisation as opposed to a big old bad, kinda like the Church of Seiros in Three Houses. However, there is still a lot of good that the Church does across the continent, spreading a genuine message of kindness and hope, and offering generous unmatched healthcare through the clerics. They are still seen in favourable terms by most of the masses. From my experience though any large organisation eventually turns inwards, and so I'm envisioning that though the Church started off with good intentions, there's now two different sides to the Church. One side is corrupted by power, leading to the more obviously greedy practices like paying for an audience with the Archbishop (which probably has some kind of religious justification), and the capitalistic vices. The other side is far more genuine, still sticking to the good principles the Church was founded on, and perhaps disagreeing with the capitalistic vices but being powerless to change it, especially because the Archbishop holds such authority. The holy crusades mentioned in the lore page are 'divine instructions' from Xios to the Archbishop, which would have both support and opposition from both of these sides. An interesting angle to play with for a cleric character could be that perhaps they are a pure-hearted, well-intended cleric, but they disagree with what is being asked from them. This could cause a moral dilemma, because whilst they don't want to do something they believe is inconsistent with their own teachings, they are bound by faith and creed to obey.
As for character agency, yes characters can change their plans, and I'm hoping we'll be open as writers to having our characters change their ideas based on what other characters say/do. Depending on the nation though there will be consequences for disobedience - consequences the character may just choose to accept if what they're being asked to do is against their creed. One of the secret missions that the nobles is going to be given is almost certainly not going to sit well with them (though we'll have to see what the character is like)!

And as kind of a side note, I think the policies are aggresive mostly bc we're encouraged to have characters who are conflicted about those goals. Distasteful duties vs personal interests and morals, etc etc.

Yep this exactly. I'm open for tweaking the schemes though because I'm sure some of you can come up with other, slightly less morally dubious forms of scheme that will conflict with other character's goals and schemes.

Initially idea: female thunder mage thunder mage retainer of the "princess" of Ditania. She is one of two survivors of a noble family that supported the Duke of Etalius during the civil war. The family was betrayed by another family and had the castle raided, killing the then lady and Duke and capturing her and her sisters. She spend the rest of the war in a dungeon being used and abused until the castle was liberated by the Duke. After the war, the family lands were restored to her elder sibling who was in the front lines during the castle raid. She trained to become a mage and became close friends with the dukes daughter (unconfirmed rumours claiming they were lovers). She is sick of the instability that the current system of nobility rule barely barely changed by the civil war she suffered in and is desperate to find an alternative. Also has a grudge against the Duke regent despite his rescue of her for failing to protect her parents.

Sounds intriguing! I like the idea of fleshing out what happened in the civil war a bit more through your character's backstory. The 'used and abused' you'd need to treat very carefully given the sensitivity of the subject and also the site-wide rules. A retainer being close to the noble (potentially lovers like you mentioned, though you'd have to talk to whoever is playing the Duke's daughter to confirm that) and yet having a grudge against their family is quite a fun, conflicted dynamic too.

Hm. It may be tough to do my ideas with the classes list- one of my concepts don't quite fit any of the classes really. But then... someone else wants Duplicitous Doctor anyway, so I might stick with the Proposing Prince... and run with something other than a Wyvern Knight, perhaps.

I'm interested in hearing that concept anyway if you'd like to drop me a PM? I don't want the classes (or stats, or any of the data-y stuff really, as much as I love me some data) to be a barrier to creative ideas.

Honoured to have so much interest and hopeful that this will turn out great. Sorry if the application process is a bit brutal with the lack of reservations, but it's the only really fair way to do it, especially with trying to find a new, suitable and reliable group. Even if somebody else gets the nod ahead of your claim to a certain role, I'm certain there will be ways of adapting characters for slightly different roles. Retainers don't have to all be servants/warriors, for example - they could also be other nobles who are sent as dignitaries, just given the responsibility to lead the delegation like the noble roles are.

 

[SkyGinge]

Heya, glad to be invited, working on a character now. Have a few thoughts, I’m a sucker for staff-users, but in the event of combat, having a healing staff seems like a pretty big disadvantage without any other sort of weapon available. Can classes use other non-proficient weapons with some kind of disadvantage, or are, for example, Priests and Clerics just stuck taking blows and relying on constantly having a weapon-wielding ally around to protect them? Just wondering about the balancing of classes, and how true to the game mechanics themselves we’ll be sticking.

I guess my question would rather be, if a character has a weapon proficiency, and then punches or chucks a rock at another character, is there any chance that damage will be done? XD

I also thought of another remedy to this whilst I was playing a boardgame with my family (any other board-gamers in the chat? ) - what if we just give staffs a Might stat? Because in the event of a crisis, a big old sturdy stick should still do some damage in at least incapacitating an attacker. There are also things like quarterstaffs which are straight up just melee weapons in real life, so that could also be covered under staff proficiency. That way, we don't have to introduce weapon ranks, and any clerics do have potential to do some damage in combat, though their natural low strength base means they're still weaker in combat than most other classes.

 

[ThatGuyWithSouvlaki]

The 'used and abused' you'd need to treat very carefully given the sensitivity of the subject and also the site-wide rules

No worries will leave it mostly vague what happened exactly.

potentially lovers like you mentioned, though you'd have to talk to whoever is playing the Duke's daughter to confirm that)

Of course that is what I kept it as a rumor and gossip. I had a thought that their was a general belief that she is manipulating the daughter and combined with the fact she hadn't married and seemed to dislike men after what happened to her... You can imagine what stories such details would inspire.

 

[ThatWhichShouldBe]

I'm interested in hearing that concept anyway if you'd like to drop me a PM? I don't want the classes (or stats, or any of the data-y stuff really, as much as I love me some data) to be a barrier to creative ideas.

- The Duplicitous Doctor: This humble man stands head and shoulders over most everyone else- built like an iron tower, with the strength to match. He carries a massive bow that only he can use with its absurd draw weight, and a pair of heavy cleavers. He seems to be a simple hunter, and indeed, he was born as such. But behind that lies one of the most brilliant alchemical and medical minds of the current generation, easily missed. A FEARSOMS marriage of brawn and brain… if hampered by a humble background.

The second one in particular- these are just broad strokes summaries without going into the details of anything that'd be secret OOC.

An archer who is capable in melee kinda goes against the whole way the class/weapon system works, lol

I got some ideas now for what to do though

 

[SkyGinge]

An archer who is capable in melee kinda goes against the whole way the class/weapon system works, lol

Fire Emblem breaks its own rough rules when it comes to weapons all the time. We have axereavers which best swords, levin swords which use magic instead of strength and all sorts, so I'm up for having an archer-like weapon which is ok at close-quarters combat as a character's 'special weapon'. As much as it's nice having all those classes laid out, I don't want to have them be a detriment to creativity. Cleavers might be veering a little close into the Wits category, but you could always shelf that idea until we get to class promotions, where I'm intending for there to be a lot of freedom to take classes and proficiencies in different directions.

 

[ThatWhichShouldBe]

Fire Emblem breaks its own rough rules when it comes to weapons all the time. We have axereavers which best swords, levin swords which use magic instead of strength and all sorts, so I'm up for having an archer-like weapon which is ok at close-quarters combat as a character's 'special weapon'. As much as it's nice having all those classes laid out, I don't want to have them be a detriment to creativity. Cleavers might be veering a little close into the Wits category, but you could always shelf that idea until we get to class promotions, where I'm intending for there to be a lot of freedom to take classes and proficiencies in different directions.

cool beans

 

[Stickdom]

I also thought of another remedy to this whilst I was playing a boardgame with my family (any other board-gamers in the chat? ) - what if we just give staffs a Might stat? Because in the event of a crisis, a big old sturdy stick should still do some damage in at least incapacitating an attacker. There are also things like quarterstaffs which are straight up just melee weapons in real life, so that could also be covered under staff proficiency. That way, we don't have to introduce weapon ranks, and any clerics do have potential to do some damage in combat, though their natural low strength base means they're still weaker in combat than most other classes.

I thought of a simple solution in place of weapon ranks similar to this, and that is that Staffs and any weapon the character is not proficient with just has a Might of 1 (the Path Of Radiance game, I believe, did this with Staves, so they had some defensive use, but it was mostly based on the characters Strength rather than the might of the weapon itself)

Another solution, that could be used at the same time is that using a weapon not proficient is treated as if it has disadvantage against anything, so the -1 MT/ -15 Accuracy, and can’t double hit, so it’s not practical to use all the time, but in the event of an emergency, or desperately needing to use a weapon’s special abilities, you can attempt to make something unwieldy work at a severe disadvantage. Obviously, this wouldn’t apply to magic, since not anyone can just pick up a book and read a mystic language to cast spells on it XD

Also, as you said, Cavaliers should totally get the choice between being proficient in Sword -or- Lance, gotta have the Christmas Cavalier duality in there

All just suggestions, of course, take and use/discard as you see fit!

 

[ThatWhichShouldBe]

SkyGinge , does a shield take up a weapon slot?

 

[SkyGinge]

SkyGinge , does a shield take up a weapon slot?

I don't think it should, no, though it also won't make any difference stats-wise, it'd just be something for you to play around with in combat descriptions.

 

[SkyGinge]

I thought of a simple solution in place of weapon ranks similar to this, and that is that Staffs and any weapon the character is not proficient with just has a Might of 1 (the Path Of Radiance game, I believe, did this with Staves, so they had some defensive use, but it was mostly based on the characters Strength rather than the might of the weapon itself)

Another solution, that could be used at the same time is that using a weapon not proficient is treated as if it has disadvantage against anything, so the -1 MT/ -15 Accuracy, and can’t double hit, so it’s not practical to use all the time, but in the event of an emergency, or desperately needing to use a weapon’s special abilities, you can attempt to make something unwieldy work at a severe disadvantage. Obviously, this wouldn’t apply to magic, since not anyone can just pick up a book and read a mystic language to cast spells on it XD

Also, as you said, Cavaliers should totally get the choice between being proficient in Sword -or- Lance, gotta have the Christmas Cavalier duality in there

All just suggestions, of course, take and use/discard as you see fit!

Ah really, that's in Path of Radiance for staves? You sure it's not like that in Radiant Dawn instead? I recently brought Path of Radiance in a particularly expensive moment of depression-induced impulsiveness - I won't share how much it cost aha but you'll probably know how expensive they are to get nowadays, even second-hand. I got it sent over from Portugal and had to pay the post office an extra sum because of its value, which was a shame. Fun game, anyhow.

I did think about a disadvantage like that too but probably with an even greater negative might than that. All good suggestions anyhow, now to just decide on one of them. As long as it makes sense narratively then that's the main thing.

 

[ThatWhichShouldBe]

SkyGinge , what kind of weapon properties are reasonable for our personal special weapon? I imagine that having the +infinity blade of Dragon-God Slaying isn't acceptable, but idk if we're 'just' thinking of like, a Brave weapon, or something

 

[Landsharks]

SkyGinge Broad strokes concept for Spying Scion: knightly, ruthless younger child of the king sent on the surface because they have experience putting down rebellions before. Problem is they're also a very direct "solve it with force" type and despises court intrigues. Which is why they don't so much have a problem with their assigned task as they do with the methods they're going to have to use to accomplish it.

Can probably have it up soon, my own personal deadline is before Space Marine 2 launches. Just need to figure out whether to go lance cav, sword cav, or mercenary (foot knight).

 

[ThatWhichShouldBe]

I COOKED

SkyGinge Broad strokes concept for Spying Scion: knightly, ruthless younger child of the king sent on the surface because they have experience putting down rebellions before. Problem is they're also a very direct "solve it with force" type and despises court intrigues. Which is why they don't so much have a problem with their assigned task as they do with the methods they're going to have to use to accomplish it.

also oh god this is going to get on with my Jussane App like a house on fire