Blood & Magic: Interest and Recruitment (http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=132044.msg5866553#msg5866553)<br/>Blood & Magic: Character Thread (http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=132613.msg5897461#msg5897461)<br/>Blood & Magic: Reedland (http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=132617.msg5897564#msg5897564)<br/>Blood & Magic: Murphy's Tavern (http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=132621.msg5897645#msg5897645)<br/>Blood & Magic: Gas Station (http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=132620.msg5897613#msg5897613)<br/><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_u"><strong><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: Impact;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 36pt;">Blood &amp; Magic</span></span></strong></span></div><br/><strong>Genre:</strong>Dark Fantasy<br/><br/><strong>GM and Co-GM:</strong>Narianna and Elf<br/><br/><strong>Setting:</strong>Present day Earth but the tavern is located off the road near a barn on the outskirts of town in the middle of nowhere, Utah. This area will be the general starting point. Between the towns of Green River in the east to Salina in the west lies a 105 mile stretch of highway with one town, and only six exits. There is only a single gas station, posted a mile east from the tavern. Most of the route travels through Emery County, which is more than half the size of New Jersey, but with only 10,000 residents.<br/><br/><strong>Season:</strong>Middle of Summer (Around July)<br/><br/><strong>Plot/Objectives:</strong>This will be a sandbox RP. There will be an overarching plot stated below but the creation of your own plots is encouraged.<br/><br/>In this world there are three species in existence: Vampires, Witches, and Humans. The overarching plot has to do with the long standing feud and power struggle between the witches and the vampires. Each species has their own account of how the war got started, but there has been discord ever since.<br/><br/>More on the background information is listed below.<br/><br/><strong>Starting Point(s):</strong>The tavern is attached to a motel. Beside the tavern/motel is a large parking lot. Behind the tavern/motel and parking lot is a silo, two huge barns, a few scattered sheds, various animal pens and gardens. The gravel road leading to the tavern also leads past it, hinting of a small community dispersed about the area.<br/><br/>I will be making a thread for the tavern, outside the tavern, and the gas station. If there is a need for it, I’m always open and willing to make other threads.<br/><br/><strong>Major Background Information:</strong>At the beginning of time for humans, vampires were made as a curse on humanity by the Gods. Witches were then made to police them. At least this is how the story goes. This is one thing that the majority of both witches and vampires agree upon. Very little probable truth (there is much speculation) is written about the beginning times. It is possible at some point in the game your character will run across one of these texts.<br/><br/>In the beginning there were very few witches and even fewer vampires. A few hundred thousand years after their creation, there was a rise of vampires. The vampires say they were being oppressed by the sadistic witches. The witches claim they did no such thing and were merely keeping order of the ferocious vampires. The rise of vampires nearly wiped out the population of witches. Thus, the war between species was generated. This also gave rise to the differing factions. The factions were built up over many years and have evolved and changed to what they are today.<br/><br/>Vampires and witches are both made of two separate factions. The vampires are made of the Asecia and the Vorusia. The Asecia is an ordered organization of vampires that have rules and laws to run their faction. There is a King of Vampires, and much like the President of the United States, he is a figure head representing this faction. There have been Queens in the past but currently it is a King. Beneath him are the Princes and Princesses. They reside over a particular region. The regions are usually made up of continents. Below them are Dukes and Duchesses. They rule over smaller regions. These smaller regions are usually made up of states and small countries. Below the Dukes and Duchesses are Lords and Ladies. They rule over the smallest of regions, generally consisting of cities and towns. Not all cities and towns have a ruling Lord or Lady. Lords and Ladies have a right hand that handles the duties of policing their population of vampires. They are known as Sheriffs. King or Queen select the Prince or Princess, who select the Duke or Duchess, who select the Lord or Lady, who select the Sheriff. You do not have to be of actual royal decent to hold any of the above titles.<br/><br/>Much like the government of the United States, the King and all those beneath him are kept in check by an Order known as the Inner Circle. The Inner Circle is a completely secretive number of vampires that make the rules and laws as well as pass judgment where they see fit. Those they’ve hired to carry out their word, as well as hold trial when necessary, are called Justicars. Those that act as secret spies for the Inner Circle are called Archons. Lastly, secret assassins for the Inner Circle are known as Alastors.<br/><br/>The Asecia uphold what they call the Veil. That is the blanket term for the charade they put on in front of humans to conceal their identity.<br/><br/><span class="bbc_u">** Asecia Rules and Laws**</span><br/><ul class="bbc_list" style="list-style-type: decimal;"><li>Do not reveal yourselves to humans. This is called a breach of the Veil. Doing so will result in true death.</li><li>Respect will be shown to all rulers of the domain in which you reside. If you are to stay in a particular domain for an extended period of time, your presence is to be announced to that domain’s Lord or Lady. An extended period of time is longer than three days.</li><li>Once a human is turned vampire, he or she must be presented before an audience with the local Lady or Lord in order to put the Childer’s name into book keeping. Failure to do so will result in true death for both Sire and Childer.</li><li>Once a Childer is created, it is the responsibility of their Sire to teach them all things in the ways of the vampire.</li><li>You shall not kill another vampire. That is left to the responsibility of the Justicars or Alastors.</li><li>Unless in violation of the First Rule, any vampire has a right to a fair trial in front of the Justicars. These trials are referred to as Quickenings.</li><li>Vampires are to coexist peacefully with witches unless outright threatened or attacked. Vampire law does not deal in trials for witches.</li></ul><br/>The Vorusia are the second faction of vampires in existence. These are the rogue vampires. They are all the vampires that have decided to not follow the rules and laws set forth by the Inner Circle and all those beneath them. They are outlaws and are actively hunted by the Alastors. Most of their names have been recorded over time and placed on what is called the “Red List.” There’s a rebel group of secret witches called the Enichs, which work with the Inner Circle and have cursed each vampire whose name is on the Red List. Somewhere on the body of the cursed vampire is an identifying mark of a red cross. This is very helpful for the Alastors.<br/><br/>The witches are made up of the Indoths and the Naleths. The Indoths is an ordered organization, much like the Asecia, that also have rules and laws to run their faction. They are, however, much less organized than the Asecia. This has a lot to do with the fact that they have spent most of their time rebuilding their species, rather than working on an organized faction. It’s only within the last couple hundred thousand years that they’ve had the chance to pursue this endeavor.<br/><br/>In the Indoths there are a group known as the Oracles. Their names are kept secret to protect against their fear of vampires. The Oracles are made up of the oldest and most powerful of all witches. Working as their voice is a group known as the Messengers. This group of Oracles is the keepers of secrets and prophecies and offers security and protection where and when able. When an Oracle passes away, it is the duty of the other Oracles to seek a witch to take his or her place. This is the highest of honors amongst witches.<br/><br/>A separate group, rumored to have been put into place by the Oracles, therefore identify themselves with the Indoths, are called Moryth. This is a quite large but secret group of witches that consider themselves keepers of knowledge. There are three physical branches of Moryth located throughout the world. There’s one located in the United States in Washington, D.C., one located in Paris, France, and one located in Tokyo, Japan. In these immense, mostly underground, buildings are heavily guarded vaults. These are more heavily guarded than the Louvre or Vatican Library, not to mention lined with a multitude of protection spells. These vaults contain many sacred texts on a variety of the paranormal, powerful artifacts, and accounts as far back as the beginning of time. Inside the Moryth is a unit of investigators that fancy themselves detectives of the paranormal. They research any and all sightings and accounts of paranormal activity throughout the world. This covers a wide variety of subjects. There’s also a sect of the Moryth that deals with covering up paranormal activity from the human’s eyes. The Moryth work with a few humans in sections of elite groups such as the FBI and their European counterparts and whatnot, as well as keeping humans around to further the impression of the cover businesses run over top of these buildings.<br/><br/>The rest of the Indoths is a fairly unorganized grouping of Tribes throughout the world. Each Tribe has a Chief (can be male or female), a Second in Command (can be male or female), a Priest or Priestess, a Healer (can also be male or female), and an Enforcer. Each seems self-explanatory but if you have any questions, feel free to ask. The Second in Command is usually an advisor of sorts. The Enforcer is usually the Chief’s Third in command and carries out punishment.<br/><br/>The Naleths is made up of all rogue witches that don’t belong to a particular Tribe. They are not hunted per say, but if anyone, be they Indoth or Naleth, get out of hand, they will be dealt with accordingly by either Tribe or Messenger.<br/><br/><strong>Other Background Information and Rules:</strong><br/><br/>~Please check back often as these rules are updated when relevant questions are asked. Any new rules will be added to the end of these rule sections.~<br/><br/>While my particular character may be a young adult, have no doubt that this will NOT be a teenage drama. This is a dark, gritty, gory RP. Please be prepared for that.<br/><br/>Yes, many titles for the vampires have come from VtM/White Wolf. There’s a reason they are the leading vampire table top gaming system.<br/><br/>I would like to encourage the players to bunny the NPCs all you want and make your own NPCs as well.<br/><br/>All the normal roleplaying rules apply with the exceptions marked below. If any of these need more clarification, please feel free to ask.<br/><br/>You can have as many characters as you can keep up with. The only playable characters are vampires, witches, and humans. There may be other paranormal activity in the world but it will be scarce and not offered as a playable character race.<br/><br/>There will be a minimum of 2 paragraphs per post. I expect detailed and grammatically correct posts as well.<br/><br/>This will probably start out quickly but will most likely end up being a fairly slow game. I don’t want posters feeling rushed.<br/><br/>I don't care how often someone posts as long as there isn’t a significant time gap between other players. Also please allow for everyone involved in your particular scene to post their responses before you continue on without them.<br/><br/>This RP won't be purely combat but there will be combat situations. This also won’t be purely sex. Vampires and witches are sexy, I get that. There will be sex. But this is going to be a mostly plot driven game.<br/><br/>Each post needs to have a header post stating the name of the character, location, time of day, and who all is tagged. I usually add a link to my character's profile and a pic of them, but those are not necessary.<br/><br/><br/><hr/><br/><br/>Tribes are usually nomadic in nature, though some have lived in the same area for hundreds of years.<br/><br/>Humans do not know vampires and witches exist.<br/><br/>Respect and honor are held very highly for vampires. They have been around a long time and many have nothing left but their respect and honor. A Lord or Lady may have your head for not showing them enough respect.<br/><br/>Vampires can die only by fire, extreme trauma, tearing out their heart, or having their head cut off. They can roam about during all hours of the day and night. Sunlight weakens a vampire’s abilities but does not destroy them. Their eyes are more sensitive in the sunlight but also have better vision in the darkness. They cannot shape shift nor move things with their mind. They can see their reflection and garlic does not harm them, nor do crosses. Religion has no effect on a vampire. Each vampire can have one special ability such as telepathy or flying. Only. One. Ablity.<br/><br/>Vampires have heightened senses (taste, smell, touch, hearing, and seeing), above human speed, above human reflexes, and above human strength. Their skin is also harder to penetrate and they heal at a far superior accelerated rate.<br/><br/>They must drink blood in order to survive but it doesn't matter what kind of blood and whether the being they drink from is alive or dead. Vampires can still taste anything and the effects of alcohol and drugs still apply. They may eat and drink human food and liquids, though it stays in their system and rots over time, eventually passing through the intestines as would regular food and drink.<br/><br/>Vampires still have the same amount of sperm or eggs inside them as they had at the moment of being turned. It is exceedingly rare but still possible for a vampire to get pregnant or impregnate. A vampire Childe (as the birthed ones are called) stops aging at the moment of their first full intake of blood. The body must die and the life force taken inside of them.<br/><br/>When turning a human to vampire, the vampire is called their Sire, while the turned one is called the Childer. The addition of the “r” is the distinguishing factor between ones that are turned and vampire offspring. It is customary, though not law, to receive the blessing of one’s Sire before turning a human. Witches are not capable of withstanding the vampire transformation and merely die upon ingestion of vampiric blood.<br/><br/>To change a human, the vampire must first completely drain the human of blood. Moments before dying, before their soul is released, the human must consume an absorbent amount of vampire blood. The human’s body then dies in a long and painful manner.<br/><br/>If a soul is released before the intake of vampire blood, that fledgling becomes known as a Ravenous. Hopefully, these are killed on sight and not released into the world. The Ravenous have no conscious mind or morality.<br/><br/>A vampire looks the same as he or she did at the moment of death. They don’t get prettier, thinner, uglier, ect. Their flesh is slightly paler due to lack of oxygenated blood but when they feed, it blushes back up for a period of time.<br/><br/>Witches don't ride on broomsticks and they don't wear pointed hats or have long noses with warts. They can practice most forms of magic but they cannot fly. Most witches specialize in a particular type of magic such as herbalism, etc. They are either very good at one type or mediocre at all types. I’ll leave that up to the player’s discretion but it must be verified by a GM first.<br/><br/>Witches tend to have a specialty but it doesn't necessarily have to be any type of elementalism (fire, wind, water, earth, ect.). It could be specializing in scrying or communicating with the dead or telepathy or telekinesis, ect. They don't have to specialize in anything, of course. However I don't want to end up with massive displays of all types of magic. If one doesn't specialize then they will be just mediocre in all forms of magic.<br/><br/>Most humans don’t believe in the supernatural. The world is just too big for the Moryth to be able to reach everyone. Thus, there are still some that have personal accounts of the supernatural. There’s even more that have heard stories of the supernatural. But it is not a widely believed phenomenon.<br/><br/>Vampires have heightened senses and sometimes tend to be telepathic where as witches also tend to be telepathic. All supernatural entities have a particular smell to them. Yes, vampires can smell these individual scents. Witches can't smell vampires or other supernaturals but they may be able to sense telepathically if they are near.<br/><br/>When a vampire dies, they don't burst into a pile of dust or ashes or anything. They just leave a corpse like a normal person. Therefore the corpses must be destroyed so they are not found by humans who decide to autopsy them or poke around and find out they aren't human. If a vampire is ever studied, they will find they have a mixture of all types of DNA due to their consumption of blood.<br/><br/>When a human mates with a witch or vampire, the witch or vampire gene is the completely dominant gene and the offspring may only be a vampire or witch, not human from such a mating. Vampire and witch combined offspring have never been successfully carried to term.<br/><br/>Currency is the same as it is around the real world.<br/><br/>Holding rank/title as a vampire or witch will be a big responsibility but could also garner you more insight into the game.<br/><br/>Vampire fangs are retractable. The canines slide down at will or when unable to control hunger.<br/><br/>How do the Moryth handle humans finding out about the supernatural? They try to wipe their minds. How do the Inner Circle deal with humans finding out about the supernatural? They kill them. Better hope the Moryth find you first...<br/><br/>A particularly risky vampire, highly wanted by the Inner Circle, is declared for a "Blood Hunt." The Inner Circle, via the Justicars, will announce a bounty on the head of said vampire. The Inner Circle are the only ones that can call for a Blood Hunt.<br/><br/>Witches will more than likely know very simplistic forms of magic, such as lighting a single candle without a match, ect., even if they have a particular specialty. Also, use of their powers, depending on the severity, weakens them and they must meditate or rest to regain full strength, once all is depleted.<br/><br/>A vampire's power either comes directly from their Sire/Mother or Father or it is an off shoot of said power. For example: The NPC Sebastian Alexander has the ability of presence, taking hold of attention from a room and being able to get them to do damn near anything. Now his ability is more powerful because he's been around so long. However, his Childer has the ability to cloud a person's mind. They both deal with a play on the mind.<br/><br/>I'm putting an age cap on vampire age. There can not be a vampire older than 2,000 years. If you have decided there's a really good reason your vampire should be older than 2,000 years, please message me and try to convince me.<br/><br/>As GMs, we’ll be strict but not unapproachable. If there’s anything you have a problem with or have ideas, suggestions, comments about the game, feel free to message us. We don’t bite. Hard…