Multiple Settings Into the Realm of the Yama Kings

[Sarevok]

​

I cannot tell you the truth behind the end of the world when it came, for I was not there.

I have read stories though, stories from those who claimed to have seen the end with their own eyes. Accounts from those who were there when death came for them, and they committed what they could in hurried scribblings before they left this mortal coil.

They speak of the hubris of humanity. Of one in particular, a woman by the name of Fan Lang-Wung. It is said that she approached the Lord of Diyu, King Yen, with a proposition.

“Grant me immortality,” she asked of the ruler of the underworld.

“In return for eternal life, I will do what you cannot. I possess the key to the portal of Yinjian, the Land of Shade. I will unlock the portal. The Yama Kings and the spirits you control will be free to walk the realm of mortals.”

Intrigued by the woman’s temerity to attempt to bargain with the Lord of the Dead, King Yen granted the woman her wish even as she unlocked the door to Yinjian, though perhaps not in the way that she desired. Even now, Fan Lang-Wung dwells as a permanent resident on top of the Mountain of Knives, her agonised screams an example of what happens to those who dare to try and bargain with the King of the Underworld.

On the night of Dongzhi, the seals between the mortal and spirit realms were shattered through Fan Lang-Wung’s folly. Through the breach came King Yen, and with him came the dreadful entities known as the Yama Kings, accompanied by the spirits of the dead and the damned. The empty, soulless cadavers known as the Jiangshi came through, and with them came the spirits of greed, the E Gui, and the ghosts of the Jian amongst other fell spirits and demons. In a single night, humanity fell as the spirit world mercilessly and completely subjugated the unprepared mortals, brutally slaying all those who did not flee the cataclysm.

***​

Hundreds of years have passed since the coming of King Yen and his Yama Kings. In that time, cities and towns alike have fallen into decaying ruin. Demons and spirits wander the surface world openly, and while there are still isolated pockets of humanity cowering within the shadows of dilapidated skyscrapers and amidst the skeletal remnants of once proud and majestic stone buildings, organised society has long since dissipated into the ethereal void.

The age of mortalkind is gone. This world, and the underworld, have become as one, partitioned neatly between the ten Yama Kings. Ghostly spirits roam both the over and the underworld, callously murdering all living beings that they come across in the name of their merciless masters.

Sitting over them all, King Yen watches his subjects and minions in amusement as his hungry gaze turns upwards towards the Celestial Heaven......

Spoiler: About the Role-Play

Hello everyone, I think its time for me to step out of the shadows a little bit here and offer you this — a post apocalyptic road trip adventure with supernatural and horror elements.

In terms of the role-play itself, each characters will know each other prior to the start. You will all begin as part of an enclave in the shattered city of Tsau-Tien. Given the world is overrun by marauding spirits, life is certainly hard, but you have so far been able to eke out a living despite everything working against you. You have lived amidst the ruins of Tsau-Tien all of your life — if there is a world beyond the skeletal ruins of the city, you certainly do not know of it. You will come to learn of a mystical place that lies outwith the grasp of King Yen and his Yama Kings, a place that you will have the chance to weigh up whether or not it is worth braving a trek across this terrible haunted realm to find.

Or perhaps that choice will be taken out of your hands......

In terms of myself, I will be playing the roles of several characters in the role-play who may (or may not depending on how events unfold) accompany you on this dangerous journey:-

• Ai-Ling: A scarred, somewhat cowed young woman in her mid twenties who is defined by the scarring on her face
  
  
• Feng Luai: A spirited man in his thirties, he believes there to be more to life than this ceaseless struggle. He will not be cowed by his situation.

This role-play is set in an alternate reality version of China. Prior to the coming of King Yen and his minions, the world held a technology level similar to modern day Earth. Although technology has since been lost amidst the rise of the Yama Kings there are still modern day technology items available from scavenging, such as firearms etc, albeit vehicles will have long since ceased functioning. You will not start the game with these items but they may be available to find if you are lucky.

Magic and mysticism will play a part in this role-play but you will not begin play with these abilities, they will need to be discovered as the role-play progresses.

My expectation of this role-play is that it will take us between 12-18 months to begin and wrap this up based on the material I have prepared for it.

Spoiler: CS Details

If you are interested in participating then I would like a CS with the following details:-

Name:
Age:
Appearance: Please include a face-claim as part of this please.
Personality: Provide me with a couple of paragraphs describing your characters personality. What motivates your character? What are their hopes/fears?
Backstory: I don’t need a novel for this. 2-3 paragraphs is more than sufficient although you can write more if you desire
Strengths and Weaknesses: Give me three traits your character is good at, and three weaknesses for your character.

If there are any questions or queries then please don’t hesitate to let me know.

 

[Sarevok]

Bumping this back up the chain.

 

[Lillian_4]

This sounds awesome, how many people were you trying to get before start?

 

[qingwa]

very cool ! what are the post requirements? :0

 

[Sarevok]

Hey there, I was perfectly willing to run this as a 1x1, so I'm happy to start taking people on board and if more turn up then its all good .

As far as post requirements go, I'm definitely not able to commit to 1/day on this so I think 2/3 posts a week sounds reasonable to me if that's ok with everyone else?

 

[Lillian_4]

Awesome, I'll start brainstorming some character ideas then!

 

[qingwa]

same here!

 

[Lillian_4]

Since I do not see a separate thread for character sheets, here it is below:

Spoiler: CS

Name: Suying

"Are you an idiot?"

Age: 27



Appearance: Suying stands at 5'4, with a wiry and toned physique that comes from having to shift through rubble and physical exertion. Her most notable feature would be her bright golden eyes, which can make her seem rather intimidating. Of course, it is often hidden behind a pair of sunglasses she once found in the rubble of a boutique. Suying has her hair cut short for practical reasons, her curly hair somewhat unruly. She wears a qipao she also scavenged years ago and took a liking to despite the once bright colors now fading, pairing it with a trench coat, some thigh highs, and sturdy boots for running around.

Backstory: There is not much to be said about Suying's childhood. Much of it passed by in a blur of hunger, determination, and anger for her. At a very young age, Suying's parents left her to fend for herself, seeing her as a liability and another mouth to feed. It was a miracle they had even begrudgingly lugged her along for so long. It wasn't as if the life she had with them was much better; even with her family, more often than not, she spent her days counting each hunger pang, connecting herself with whatever little morsels or scraps they deigned to throw at her. Even so, the scraps had been better than nothing. When they first left her, Suying was at loss for what to do, spending a few days sitting beneath an underpass, drinking from puddles to satiate her hunger, until at last, even the child had to concede that was not working out. So she began to learn how to scavenge food from the ruins of the city, slowly moving her way up to learning to catch rats or fish by watching others from a distance.

There was a brief period of time Suying spent with an old man, having come across him by accident while trying to avoid spirits, the two of them choosing to hide in the same spot. After seeing how scrawny and grubby she was, the old man felt some sort of pity for her, opting to take her on for a bit and teach her what he knew of survival. At first, Suying was against it - too used to hiding from other adults. But she did have self-preservation. And seeing that the man was so old - quite a feat for one to live so long in such an environment - Suying tentatively agreed. From him, she learned how to fight - to hold her own against others, she learned what sorts of plants growing amongst the ruins were safe to eat, she learned how to trap small animals, she learned how to skin and properly clean her caught food, and she learned from him how to read and write, the old man explaining to her that his parents and his parent's parents, and so on, had kept teaching their offspring literacy, claiming that even if the world were to fall to hell, at the very least they could keep their minds free. Like this, time passed by quickly, the old man eventually fall ill and passing away. And soon, Suying was fully grown and capable of caring for herself.

Personality: A product of her environment, Suying is one that values competence and results above all. As a result, she is cold and strict with others, oftentimes pushing others away for her need to keep the situation within her grasp. She is also prone to lashing out at others when things go awry, perceiving it as a result of the incompetence of others. Thus, it is common to hear disparaging comments from Suying. In short, she has a prickly personality and is difficult to get along with. Not that she particularly wants to get along with others. However, she is human and there are things that may bring forth a less prickly side of her, though no one around her is aware of such a side, nor what would even evoke it. Besides her prickliness keeping others away, Suying is also someone who does not hesitate to take more unconventional solutions to things. To put it more specifically, if there is an obstacle in her way, Suying may be more likely to destroy said obstacle than go around it.

Her motivation is primarily human preservation. She simply does her best to survive till the next day. And during this time, she spends it trying to find more efficient or better ways of doing things, harboring a secret hope that maybe someday she would be able to live a slightly better life than this. But then again, this had always seemed futile to her when she logically thought about how many years humans had been living in such conditions. And so she sets a slightly more realistic goal: to at least live as long as the old man that took her in briefly. In terms of fears, Suying does not have much, besides dying. But then again, many things in this world were capable of killing her, so perhaps it would also be apt to say she had many fears?

Strengths:
+Literacy
+Her physical strength
+Resourcefulness

Weaknesses:
-Sociability
-Diplomacy
-Stubborness

 

[Knight boi]

Ooo interesting!

 

[Howl]

Interested! ^w^

 

[Sarevok]

Soooo, this is my bad, but when I first put this interest check up, there was little in the way of response. Since then I've started up a good number of roleplays, which means that I'm probably going to overstretch myself if I try and take this on in addition to what I have going on already. Apologies everyone, but I'm going to put this on ice until at least I'm in a better place to pick it up again.

 

[Lillian_4]

Soooo, this is my bad, but when I first put this interest check up, there was little in the way of response. Since then I've started up a good number of roleplays, which means that I'm probably going to overstretch myself if I try and take this on in addition to what I have going on already. Apologies everyone, but I'm going to put this on ice until at least I'm in a better place to pick it up again.

Please lmk when you do pick this up again!

 

[Sarevok]

Ok, it’s been a while since I first posted this, but since I just returned to the site after an absence and am trying to get back into roleplaying I feel now is the time to give this another go.

If you previously posted interest in this and are still interested let me know, or if you’re coming into this afresh then I’d love to hear from you.

 

[Ayama]

Intrigued ouo

 

[Celestial Water]

I’ve been craving a Ronin Warriors type RP for a long time so I’m interested.

 

[EbonChevalier]

Well I’m interested

 

[Sarevok]

Hey all I’ve been ill the last few days but I intend to post threads for characters and an OOC thread once Christmas is out of the way.

 

[Sarevok]

Alright folks, we have a character thread here: Fantasy - Realm of the Yama Kings - Characters

And an OOC here: Fantasy - Realm of the Yama Kings - OOC

If you are interested then please post your CS in the aforementioned link. I still have room for 2-3 more characters of anyone else is interested?

 

[Wake]

Heyo would this be a good space to experiment with bilingual roleplay? I've been trying to integrate Chinese language practice into everyday activities i.e. creative writing, would that be welcome here?