I came to this community solely to try and RP. As such, I am posting this RP thread, as I generally tend to abhor massive group role-plays (unless done with rulebooks and dice and the such).
If you want to know a little bit about me, I'm a (relative to most of the people on this site) older college student who really does love RPing with all his soul. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find an RP companion worth a damn in about four or five years. When I saw this site and how robust the community was, I figured I would be able to find at least one diamond in the rough.
So here's my shot at finding that diamond, although I'm sure that I will get few (if any) responses.
First, I guess I will follow the tradition of briefly discussing my interests and the kind of role-player I am.
First, I guess I should say that I am not the kind for very juvenile stories. I much prefer more mature and adult (note: do not read this to mean 'erotic') sequences. Role-playing is like a good game of cards: it's most fun when all involved parties take it seriously. If I wanted a kiddy slapstick comedy, then I would pretend to watch a Jim Carrie movie. I wouldn't waste my time role-playing.
Second, to say that I hate vampires and werewolves would be erroneous. It would not be erroneous to say that I absolutely despise the direction those sorts of things have taken in the last few years. If you want to know precisely what kinds of Vampires and Werewolves I do like, then I would suggest you look into the products of a company called White Wolf.
Third, I obviously am going to post in a literate fashion, as most everyone else claims to do. etc etc etc. The only interesting note I will make is that my posts will be as long or short as the situation requires. Having an arbitrary length system is ludicrous. If my post needs to be half-a-line, then so be it. If I find myself needing to sit down and hammer out a ten book series complete with an atlas, a reader's guide, and cliff notes, then it happens.
Fourth, I will not, generally, do any sort of RP involving canon characters from any game/movie/comic/etc. If I wanted to enjoy fan-made stories about canon characters, then I would write (or heaven-forbid, read) fanfiction. It had no place in my RPs.
But now that I've said what I don't like. I'll say what I do like.
I love fantasy. I love fantasy so much that I study and read it all the time. I also enjoy sci-fi and modern supernatural (although fantasy is much preferred). This is very broad because I am making it so. If you have an idea that does not easily fit in here that you would like to pitch to me, then do so.
As far as specific settings/etc go, I do not watch anime nor read manga, so no dice there. I enjoy Harry Potter, although I will probably not RP it. My preferred settings are Warhammer (Fantasy and 40k) and Warcraft. Wanting to RP in either of those will probably net a "yes" from me.
I also have my own fantasy setting (don't we all?). It is quite large, however, and I am in the process of writing a lengthy primer on it so that I could potentially RP with people in it. I will be posting this primer as I write it. The first chunk of it will be directly below this. If you are interested in RPing in my setting, I will probably be particularly eager to accommodate you.
And on a final note, please contact me either on this thread or via pm. I will only RP over IM or through PM. You may be able to wrangle me into RPing on a private thread if you really insist.
Without further ado: my primer.
SPOILERX
Greetings, reader.
If you are reading this tome, then no doubt you either have enough wealth to actually purchase a book or are a student at a university or college of some variety that has many books within it. I assume that you did not stumble on this particular volume by chance and was purposefully either drawn specifically to it or was directed to it to advance your learning and education.
I will further assume that you are seeking to expand your sociological, historical, philological, cultural, and political knowledge of the world in which we live. If this is not true, then I suggest you put down this erudite work of didactics and move on with your life; there is nothing for you to see here.
If you are indeed seeking to expand your scholastic knowledge, then please do continue to read. I am positive that you will find this work to be very educational and enlightening. I would not waste my valuable time scribing anything less.
First, I would like to begin by speaking briefly about what this book isn't.
This book isn't a religious text. It is purely a work of objective secularism. I will not be going over topics such as how our world came into being. I will also not be going over history that goes back far enough to where our records are unreliable and potentially suspect. I will be talking mostly about the here and now and history that directly affects how we got to where we are today. If you are interested in history that goes back further, there are plenty of volumes that discuss this topic (some of which have been penned by myself).
Further, going back to the point of “this is a work of objective secularism,” I will be discussing a few of the various religions of our world, but know that I will not be advocating any of them. I will merely be discussing them in a logical, objective manner, without going too deeply into any individual one. If you wish to know more about the theology of these various religions, there are volumes dedicated to this topic (once again, some of which have been penned by myself).
And so, without further ado, I will finally advance to the bulk of this work and discuss the various nations and cultures of our varied world.
May you be enlightened.
Mal'thazar
SPOILERX
Firstly, I would like to talk about the non-human races of this world (which number quite a few), beginning with the exotic and far-western bi-pedals known colloquially as the Jackulians.
The Jackulians are, as I said, a race of jackal-like (hence the name Jackulian) humanoids that live to the west, in the great and barren deserts of our world. They generally stand around the height of a man, but are more lithe and not as prone to gaining weight or fat. Their faces share many similarities with dogs or wolves. They all have a snout (tipped with a sensitive, wet nose), two tall and pointed ears, and a long, thin tail. Fur covers their entire bodies, and it is generally a shade of black or brown, although rare white-furred Jackulians do exist. Their arms and torsos look very much like that of any human, but their legs look like those of a dog. Because of this, Jackulians tend to be more swift than humans and can run at greater speeds than most other races.
I would like to note that the term “Jackulian” is entirely human in design. The Jackulians do not have any word that even remotely sounds like it, and they certainly don't refer to themselves in this manner. There are several large Jackulian nations/empires that exist and have existed over the course of history, and each major family of nations shares a language, but each family has a different language than the other families.
What I mean by this, of course, is that each Jackulian nation has a different language than the other Jackulian nations (much like the human nations). This may seem intuitive, but it becomes more complicated. You see, all of the human nations have a common root language. Despite the fact that the modern nations all speak different languages, all of these modern languages can be traced back to a single common root language.
This is not the case for the Jackulian languages. The Jackulian languages, for whatever reason, are split up into three families: the Misri, Par, and Sem families. The cause of this is unknown, but the fact remains that there are three completely different and unrelated Jackulian language trees that developed independently of one another.
Long ago, before the humans developed themselves from primitive tribes into what could be construed as their first nations, the Jackulians established their original empire, which was both large and robust. It's standard of living and amount of scientific and arcane knowledge rivaled (or, in some cases, surpasses) that of many modern-day countries. This ancient, powerful Jackulian nation was known as Misr, after the tribe that originally formed it's bulk.
It ruled the region for a great many years, even though the actual ethnicity of Misri was only a minority (there were far more Par than Misri). Eventually, the nation of Misr began to fold in on itself and gave rise to the nation of Par, which would itself eventually break up into many different nations (hence why they are referred to collectively as the Par nations). Misr never vanished, however. It always continued to exist alongside Par in all of its incarnations, and even continues to exist to this day. So, for many years, the ethnicities of Par and Misri were all the outside world knew.
Sometime relatively recently, however, a last ethnicity of Jackulian rose up from the sands of the desert. For many years, various nomadic tribes known collectively as the Sem wandered the great deserts, eking out a living amid the vast empires surrounding them. These clans were substantial in number, but they were always too preoccupied with survival and too fractious to ever bother or gain the notice of the kings around them.
Then, quite unexpectedly, one small tribe led by a man now known as Talib ibn Maimud al-Farooq claimed to be touched by religion and proceeded to conquer or subdue all of the other nomadic tribes. Suddenly, overnight, al-Farooq had amassed quite an army of religious fanatics and assaulted one of the smaller Par nations. The war that ensued was swift and brutal, with al-Farooq claiming victory. Suddenly, not only did he have a large army of zealots, but he had the resources and populace to support himself.
You see, regardless of his intentions, al-Farooq had created a monster that caught on like a wildfire. The Misri government proclaimed staunch atheism, and the Par nations followed an incredibly esoteric religion that did nothing but validate the existence of the Par nations themselves. Al-Farooq's religion addressed the needs of the common man. It spoke about common people's issues and addressed the world in such a manner as to make it relevant and sensible to them. For this reason, al-Farooq's religion (which does not have a formal name and is simply referred to by academics as Alhandranism, after their goddess Alhandra) spread quickly and was adopted by many people from all walks of life.
Therefore, when al-Farooq (and his predecessors) moved on and continued to conquer more and more nations, the people in these conquered nations gladly let themselves be ruled by the conquering Alhandrans. This is how the Alhandran nation grew to be the absolute monster that it is today. It completely overshadows its neighbors and has reached heights of power that completely surpass the pinnacles of old Misr. The human nations (which mostly ignore it, since it is so far away) have every reason to wait in bated breathe to see exactly what happens when the Alhandrans finish conquering their cousins.
If the Jackulians decide to turn their eyes on human lands, then woe betide any nation that they decide to raise arms against. We will be very hard-pressed to resist them.
This, of course, is nothing but grim thinking, as there is no (strong) evidence stating that the Jackulians would ever decide to begin invading human lands. Even if they did, it would not be for some time (for the nation of Misr and a couple Par countries still stand). As such, I would like to briefly discuss their culture, government, and (by extension) their religion, since it is not terribly unlikely that you will one day deal with an Alhandran Jackulian.
Their system of government superficially resembles that of many human nations', but it is quite different in many ways. Academics have classified their system as a “Theocratic Fascism.” Their entire nation is ruled by their current military general (which is a life-long post, by the way), and his immediate inferiors (which traditionally has been five lesser generals). This is greatly indicative of the rest of the society, because it is completely ruled by the military.
The Alhandran religion, you see, is very war-like. The entire society obsesses with war and wallows in it. It is every family' dream to send their sons (and daughters, but I'll talk more about that later) to go join the armed forces. For this reason, the military receives a very large potential pool of officers and soldiers. Because of that, only the best get to join (except in very dire times of need, where more sub-optimal candidates may also be chosen), and this makes the Alhandran military very fine indeed. Every individual officer and soldier was chosen from a large group of candidates, insuring that every man (and woman) is of the highest caliber.
Members of the military (and the government, to a lesser extent) are the sole benefactors of first-class citizenship. Everyone else is a second class citizen and does not enjoy the full rights given to a soldier. A regular citizen must always obey an order given by any member of the military, regardless of the situation. To do otherwise is tantamount to treason and is punished by execution. Citizens cannot even raise their voices to a soldier, lest they be dealt with.
Which brings us to the topic of Alhandran justice, which is very brutal. The Alhandrans do not have a traditional police force. The military fills this function. Instead of having a complex court system, squads of Jackulian soldiers (called “cohorts”) roam the streets in patrols. These cohorts are led by special military officers called street judges. These judges know the full extent of Jackulian law and how to punish violators. When a crime is reported (or witnessed), the cohort expends its full resources to catch the lawbreaker and punish him. The street judge acts as judge, jury, and executioner all at once. He assesses the situation, recites the crimes to the accused, then enacts retribution. Most crimes, unsurprisingly, end in either death or maiming.
The government also condones the institution of slavery (which is also still practiced by some human nations, I would like to add). Slaves are usually brought en mass from conquered cities and kept by the government or sold to private entities for profit. A slave is the full property of its master and has absolutely no rights . High-ranking military officers normally own at least a couple slaves.
It is interesting to note, however, that a master is absolutely prohibited from doing anything immoral with a slave, which includes sexual acts. Pre-marital sex is a crime punishable by death in Alhandran society, and this includes sex with one's slaves. It is possible to marry slaves, at which point the slave...remains a slave unless the master wishes to give the slave citizenship.
I bring this up because it is an excellent example of how fully the Alhandran religion rules the Alhandran nation. Even a slave is safe under the tenets of religion, and not even a man who owns a thousand slaves will break the laws of the goddess Alhandra. Alhandran shrines are set up all around any cities that hold even a few Jackulians, and all believers make very regular visits to these shrines.
You may be wondering what exactly some of the tenets of this pervasive religion are. Alhandra is, foremost, a Goddess of War. It is for this reason that the Jackulians so fanatically fight; even citizens not in the military know how to wield and weapon and fight. Consequently, she is also a Goddess of Death. She demands strict obedience from all of her worshipers, and she mostly gets it. Her laws and rules are numerous and harsh, and the Jackulians, as a nation, follow them.
An interesting note to make is that Alhandra is a Goddess and not a God. Because of this, women are viewed as the equals of men in Alhandran society, which is unheard-of in human societies. This has several unique side-effects in Jackulian culture, one of which is the relativity of feminism and masculinity. In Jackulian society, it is not infrequent to have a woman assume to role of a man in a relationship and be quite masculine (by our standards) and for the man to likewise assume the role of a woman and be quite feminine.
The Alhandran religion is led by an individual known as the Caliph. The Caliph is, unsurprisingly, always one of the five generals under the command of the supreme general himself. The Caliph, however, does not doctrinally bow to the general in any way; he only bows to him militarily. Alhandrans do not have “priests” in the sense that many human nations have priests. Their 'priests' are called Dervishes, and every single one of them is a special officer in the military. Consequently, dervishes undergo very harsh and special training, and all of them are absolute terrors on the battlefield.
Once in battle, a dervish will enter a kind of dangerous trance and scream exultations to Alhandra and do a kind of spinning dance, furiously laying into his opponents. It is quite difficult to describe; you would really have to see if for yourself. Because of their fanaticism, the dervishes actually inspire the soldiers around them to greater deeds, which further sends the dervish spiraling into his trance. It is a very deadly cycle that usually ends in a great deal of bloodshed.
Oh. And on a final note, it is a great insult to call a dervish a 'priest.'
Hello, I thought I'd let you know that I would like to try an RP with you. If you would like to RP then just message me or you can post it in this thread I'll check back ^ ^
If you decide to RP with me then we can set up a plot and characters, I think it'll be fun. I am usually on every day, though I may not be on sometimes during this month because of exams and since this is my first year giving an exam..you can guess how I feel. RP with you soon? (hopefully?) ^ ^
I very much like the idea of your spoiler. It would make an amazingly interesting roleplay and very likely be one that would last a long time. The world it explains is the perfect kind of fantasy. At least in my mind. War, conflict, strict rules, they aren't often what you find nowadays. Normally one finds peace, complete freedom, no real structural boundaries at all in most fantasy today. Quite frankly, it's overdone and not interesting at all anymore, but, I digress.
If you'd like to do a roleplay about or concerning your spoiler, that'd be perfect for me. If you'd like to do something different but still with as much interesting and abnormal (relative to most modern fantasy) sort of fantasy that'd be fine too.
I don't claim to be an amazing role-player but I will say that I'm literate. I greatly enjoy role-playing but it is very rare that I find a partner/companion who will match my literacy, continue a story, and keep away from cliche's and overly seen/done areas. I despise it when I write something and another replies with something completely common. As for post length, it doesn't concern me much. I'm a happy camper as long as I'm given something to work with. Whether that be a single line or a book ,as you said,it doesn't matter to me. I won't say that my posts will be perfect, as occasionally even the best of us make mistakes. A few spelling or grammar mistakes may be seen but they irk me and I do my best to keep them out of my posts/replies. If you'd like a sample of my roleplaying I'd be happy to oblige.
If you're interested, feel free to PM me or, as X---AznCo0ki3 said, reply here. I'll check back.
You are a really....really....really....really...ect.ect.ect . Good writer.
I'd love to role play with you but I have to say I'm not the best at grammer and, well anything to do with english although I try my best.
So if you don't want to then I completly get it.
Well then, I assume I caught you as you were just signing off for the night. I say this because it has shown you online when I started reading. It no longer shows you as online, thus I am left to assume. I started reading your post and found my self intrigued by the time I got to dislikes, number three, subject of post length. There are few people who I have met that will let one go by that, there are few people I've met that will care to admit they don't care. I like you, dearie. This fact that you interest me makes me feel like smiling.
So, I will ask you here, if you would like to role play with someone as poorly skilled as thyself. I will understand if you feel/find no interest in this request, and, be this the case, I shall tip my hat and bid ado to you. Though, if you find interest in a random roleplayer requesting partnership in a rather uncommon form of word play...due to lack of sleep and overwhelming thoughts that exceed the limited capability in which my brain has give it room to function. I would love to continue on to the question of if you would have interest in a plot with some planning. Preparation for it is temporarily messy and a bit unorganized. Being that it is made to be a off sketch rough background and setting it would easily be manipulitable to your liking via later conversations. More details on said requirements on your part for such role play lay below.
The only real things you would need to bring for this setting would be in the fallowing list:
-Some kind of main character idea created after hearing the setting theme;
( Includes: + name + general age + appearance + personality + temperament
+ traits friend for said main character + hobbies/things(c)likes to do when not working
+general add on appearances (physical traits that may differ a certain times)
(ex. changing of height, eye color via moments/emotional changes/ect., skin color, look in age, what not.)
(note: If your character were by any change able to shift between ages it is no need to say he shifted to *descriptive, unneeded paragraphs that could easily be shortened up as a yay foot high x year old boy.* If there is a shorter way to say it feel free to take the shorter way. As long as it leaves no questions in my mind about what you are trying to say you will be fine though this is most likely not needed in this role play I have plotted. It may come in handy when describing certain parts of a character as well as sub characters if you feel the need to have them during the role play.)
+Unique characteristics
(Unique characteristics can be anything from glowing appearance that is rare for the people he is from, unusual behavioral patterns ex. OCDs, unusual hates, strange obsessions, not so common reactions, ect., basically if you feel that there is something that made your man character unique in anyway, behavioral, physically, unique skills or what not and has no category they fall under this one.)
(I am going to assume your main character will be male so it is not needed. Though you are welcome to female sub characters I would like your main to be a male.)
Those are the majority of the things I request you have set before starting a role play in any setting / theme / genre. Though it is not required that you send me the answers just make note to introduce appearances, clothing, general appearance of age or some small reference to age near the beginning of the role play. It is always nice to know who i am role playing with. The rest of these requests can be introduced as slow or fast as you see fit being that they are not under my control.
(That is the main point of this portion of my post. It's not that I demand them but it's things YOU will need to think up being that I have little interest in how your character is played after it starts, mainly because it is YOUR character not mine and I love the creation of someone else's mind. Always makes me happy.)
Just to let you know what you would be creating when we start. I gave your character role in the role play setting I created though it can always be changed as most things in the role play if you find interest in this.
I would be requesting a Futuristic Fantasy mixed with such messes as war and crime, with unpractical twists like demonology. All mixed into a romantic theme being female and a mental mess up war demonology and romance all sound perfect but if you find no interest in one or more of these I will skip to the 'thank you's' and 'good luck's'.
I do hope to hear a reply to you soon though I don't mind if it's here instead of the PM system giving you a view of the post (I being here for role play one on one requests don't normally use pm quotes strangely so I have yet to find out if it's plausible. I have saved your thread as a favorite and shall keep it so until I hear your reply.)
Good (enter word referring to the time of day in which you are reading this post here.),
As well as, thank you for your time in reading this (Being as I feel it might be to long to spare patients...).
May I hear word from you soon my dear,
Dearie, yes, to long for patience. I have, as I feared, made post longer then your original request.
I apologize for this fact being that the majority of it is rather more of a rambling state, the request reply.
My deepest apologies, I will try to be more precise and not so much a producer of Rambling Jibber Jabber.
Ah, I see we are kindred spirits. And being a fan of the White Wolf games, I am sure you get the double meaning there.
My roleplaying career began with a little yellow box that I convinced my sister to go in halves with me on when the Federated Department Store was going out of business in 1981. I was 11 years old when I first cracked open the pale blue plastic dice out of the "Dungeons and Dragons" game.
And I was hooked.
I currently, and have for the last decade, do volunteer work for Steve Jackson Games (They call such operatives MIBs, or Men In Black). I've played in and run both the White Wolf and GURPS versions of Werewolf: The Apocalypse, and Vampire: The Masquerade.
I ran an online community based on the World of Darkness for about seven years, in one continuous chronicle. I came to Menewsha for the same reason you did, to find a good roleplaying partner.
Take heart, there are indeed diamonds among the cubic zirconia and other costume jewelery here on Menewsha, and I've discovered a few.
Rambling a bit myself, but I am just delighted to find a mature and well-developed roleplayer with a similar background to my own.
