Clockwork Lords

I'm looking to generate interest in a fantasy genre game involving twenty foot tall mecha constructs called Lords.

The world of Miccon is a diverse and mixed land filled with a vast number of sentient species existing in varying states of peaceful coexistence and inevitable war. Centuries ago a monumental discovery propelled the various primitive states into an era of advanced arcane and clockwork technology; the first Lord was uncovered. Unearthed from the remains of a long-forgotten and ancient tomb of alien and unknown design, the god-like machine was not only fully-functional but also somewhat self aware. Through the study of the powerful core of arcane energy that kept the clockwork construct 'alive', one of the original researchers stumbled upon something even more amazing; a cabin contained within the chest cavity, designed as a sort of cockpit. With the addition of a 'pilot' the machine's potential soared even more as it's power and abilities vastly increased. The discovery of more and more Lord frames scattered all across the world, each unique and different than the last, allowed separate civilizations to blossom and prosper under an age of radical research and discovery... And war.

Only an original Lord, with an original or uncovered core, was capable of the divine-like abilities associated with the amazing machines. The process of replicating and harnessing that same arcane magic for mass production was developed, but it was little more than a poor and incomparable copy; manufactured cores, while fully capable of powering a wide array of common and simple machines, lacked the impressive 'ooomph' to reproduce the awe-inspiring capabilities of the ancient, uncovered cores and Lords. Commonplace mecha, named Serfs by sheer irony, lacked the self-awareness and sheer might of their clockwork forefathers. Simple models are used in a variety of civilian roles from cargo-lifting to expensive entertainment. Military models swell the ranks of every nation's assembled militia, wielding super-sized weapons of war. Still, even these so-called Soldiers are insignificant examples when compared to the high-performance expected from Lords and their elite operators. And so the struggle to obtain more and more of these original machines continues, with mixed victory and defeat from all sides resulting in a swaying and ever-changing balance of superiority. Now, on the eve of this Great War's bicentennial anniversary, something new and even more terrifying than the highly-prized Lords emerges to not only tip the scales of power, but destroy them completely.....
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Welcome to my brain-child! This is similar to one of the first rp's I ever played on a different site, and I've spent time tweaking and refining things to present it here now to all who might be interested. I'm looking for able-minded individuals to play the role of a wide assembly of Lord Pilots, each with their own unique machine. And to make things a little more interested for all those involved, the various details of the world of Miccon will be influenced by the players themselves. For example, if one writer includes something in their post about fresh water being scarce on Miccon, then that is the new norm for continued gameplay (Certain such things might have to be cleared by me so they do not affect the general storyline that I have in mind, but I can't see too much disrupting the basic outline so dream away!). This ensures that attention and detail are payed to each and every post, not only by the reader but writer as well. For this reason, I ask that interested players be able to put a little extra effort and wow into everything they contribute. Also for this reason, something of a lax posting order must be recognized so that some of the included players who are not on FOG as often as others have a chance to play without being left behind. This should also ensure that we give enough stuff and substance to our own posts to keep things detailed and interesting.

As far as characters go, the sky is the limit when developing things such as race and history. The wide array of offered species will be as diverse as the individual imagination, but keep in mind that the choices will not give those players advantages over others; humans will be just as abled as say, lizardmen. Supernatural strengths and abilities will be avoided to prevent characters from attaining an edge over others. Of course, a fighter character would obviously be stronger than a studious book-worm type, but not more so than if this were real life. For this reason, there will be no species capable of flying unless a suitable weakness is included and cleared by me.

As far as the individual Lords go, have fun but keep some things in mind. Without a pilot strapped into the cockpit, Lords are capable of operating themselves on a basic level, and have one weapon or ability available. With their pilots linked to their cores, Lords become faster, stronger, and even more deadly; a hidden weapon system might emerge, or two new abilities might manifest to overwrite and cancel the unmanned ability to result in a more powerful war-machine.

Anyone interested post here or send me a PM. I'm super-stoked to get something like this started, so first come first serve for the six or seven character slots I have planned. There might be room for more, but I'd prefer to see how things start out at first.

I am interested, but also need more the parameters of the world we will be using.

Okay, lets see if we can get a little more detail into the world here. The technological status is an off-shoot inspiration of the industrial revolution, where the relatively new discovery of arcane energy has been adapted to provide something akin to electrical power. If anyone is familiar with Losy Odyssey, the world is something similar; a collaboration of engineers and mages have meshed to create engines and industry. Such things are relatively simple still and have yet to progress to say, computers or something of the same. The different civilized states are a plethora of different governmental bodies, though most are semi-feudal kingdoms with an established class division between nobility and commoners. A few republics have emerged, but the cities essentially remain the same; renaissance era stonework construction , marketplaces full of temporary wooden stalls in front of established shops. Anything specific you are asking for?

The character party will consist of representatives of different city-states and kingdoms drawn under the banner of a temporary alliance in the face of an awesome and seemingly unstoppable world power. Their histories can vary wide and far from established royal knight to infamous privateer, but all will be in positions of power afforded to those who can pilot a Lord. Linking with these machines is a rare and wide-spread ability shared by an elite few, so naturally any pilots would be elevated somehow in their homelands.

I'm up for it.
:3

Ana! You're always on automatic-include status in anything I get set up to scene out. I'm all set and ready to put the final finishing touches on an OOC to set some things in concrete, I just need a few more people to toss in their tickets on this train first. Drag your friends on in, kicking and screaming if you must; I have my brain-ray primed and ready to zap... Erhm, I mean coax and coerce them into playing XD Oh, and any questions to tackle in the meantime?

Looks like an awesome story. I like the traditional mecha theme with some steampunk flare thrown in. Consider yourself as having one more player.

What is the technological level of weaponry and abilites for the Lords?

Oh! ::raises hand:: I think I might be up for this! I'm not usually into the whole mecha thing but I'm a sucker for a good steampunk story.

I am still hanging on the bandwagon here.

Alright! It's a shame that Ana isn't going to be able to make the original introduction, but it's great to have you three on board. I'm working up an OOC while waiting for one more entry of interest, but four people might be good enough to get this thing going in the meantime.

Mustakrakish: Nice to have you on board. The technological level for the allowed weapons can range from Energy-wreathed melee weapons to 'cannons' or such capable of shooting out arcane effects, for example short-range flamethrowers or orbs of pure energy. Abilities are included in the same arcane range, from shields and invisibility to flight or, with a suitable fault and weakness, short-range teleportation. Hydraulic claws, a mecha-sized maul and chain, etc. The focus is less on guns, though rudimentary models might and can be cleared by me. Have some fun with it and show me what you got.

Ine: Great to see you in steampunk land, gal. You and your super-stretchy spandex. If you're more for the steampunk angle than actual mecha, you can always opt to play the maniacal mechanic role. IT's up to you, but I'd love to see ya have a hand in this.

Kalaam: Thanks for sticking around, bub. I hope I gave you enough of an idea about the world being made-up here to get those creative juices flowing.

I'll go ahead and add in the character sheet outline so those of you interested can start brainstorming.

Character Creation
Character profiles are required, here's the sheet:

Name:
Race: (May include any race or hybrid that you want that can logically fit into the cockpit of the 20 foot Lords. No race has any advantages over the other in game terms, this is only cosmetic preference)
Age:
Appearance: (What your character looks like, what (s)he wears, etc.)
Personality/Quirks:
Skills: (Non offensive skills that your character is good at. i.e. tracking, woodworking, fishing, etc.)
Weapon(s): (Include weapon special traits here)
Bio/Background:


Lord sheet:
Name:
Appearance: (How your Lord looks like. Go wild.)
Weapon (unmanned): (This is the basic weapon that the Lord has if it is unmanned. Only put one here that doesn't have more than one special ability.)
Weapon unlock (piloted): (If your Lord has hidden weapons, or if their main weapons have an extra ability (or two), put them here. These extra weaponry or power can only be used if the Lord is piloted.)

##Note: Substituting Lord weaponry for magic is allowed. Only one spell in unmanned mode and more in piloted. Usually these spells are projected via spell cannons.

You read my mind man! : D
I may make two characters, just because I can. >> But mostly for the gender balance.

I think I may be interested in making a second character as well. Maybe an officer in the conventional military or navy. Or a politician. Do we have free reign to design different nations and their political and military structure? Is there any form of aircraft? Also, what would the weapon tech be for regular ground forces? I assume they wouldn't have arcane capabilites of the Lords.

Also, what other proffessions would their be regarding the Lords? Probably a mechanic, or maybe a tech-mage type person?

I'll allow second characters. Mostly because Ine will place a pox 'pon my house if I don't. Ahhh, just kidding Due to the lack of interested players and because it might be useful to have a 'throw-away' role to up the drama this thread is bound to induce, feel free to give me the outline of a second character. Considering the open-world roleplay I'm trying for here, I'm open to as much influence as possible from all of you.

Mustakrash: Give me one main-player character and, if you'd like, one more suited to a support role. Ine's got dibs on mechanic, but we -would- need a mage type character to opposite her since Lords are a mix of both clockwork technology and the arcane energy powering them and their self-aware personalities. Of course, since Ine is less inclined to make a pilot and I'd like to see a Lord from you, I'm thinking she will be given first priority on anything related to mechanical mojo during gameplay. I was going to have an NPC as the mage-support role in charge of voodoo-hoodoo like that, but handing off -that- ball gives me one less worry really. Next point; aircraft have not been developed; the only airbourne vehicles are the few Lords that have the capability, though simple tanks and ships do exist. Weapon tech for regular infantry are simplified versions of what the Lords are capable of handling; melle weapons are still the focus of foot men and are completely mundane in form and function, and small units of spell-cannoneers are present. The unpredictability of such arcane energy makes these units rare and paltry compared to what Lords posses. Keep in mind that it has been impractical to have any ground based infantry that are not mounted in Lord-like Soldier units; unarmored individuals would be massacred by the larger clockwork creations.

Free reign for your character's nation state is allowed and encouraged, but keep a few things in mind. The largest and most powerful kingdom has already been brained up by me and will be the main antagonist in the roleplay's plot. Political and military structure is up to you, though the focus is less on the background nations and more on the characters themselves. We're creating an elite unit formed under the final act of desperation and collaboration of smaller states that are suddenly becomming even more overwhelmed by the superstate's sudden rise in resources and power. This isn't a worldwide strategy rp; once established, the characters homeland won't serve much of a purpose. Of course, since the last two-hundred years have been dedicated to war between these separate countries, ingrained animosity might play a role in how our characters interact with each other.

I will post my character up in a bit, but I am going to play a used angle. The kid is going to stumble into it, and then have to deal with the responsibility. That was about fifteen years ago, and he still hates authority.

Hey, hey! *Raises hand.* I wish to join the ness in this place. Pick meh too, pick meh too.

Well, I would actually like to be from a larger 'country' than the main. It could be easily gobbled up as it would be like the Germanic States, and warring city states of Italy. Lots of territory, squabbling, but not much power, war torn, and hires lots of mercenaries in desperation. If this is not possible, could I go ahead and say it did exist, and the majority is now under the aegis of your country?

UNCOMMONER!
I still wanna play!
D:

I'll just post like...once a week.
>3<

Kana_Takashi wrote:Hey, hey! *Raises hand.* I wish to join the ness in this place. Pick meh too, pick meh too.

*High-fives upthrust palm* Come on in, Kana. Any question right now before I get the OOC up? (Should be up a little later today. Fingers crossed, peeps.)

Kalaam: Feel free to make your character from a territorially large, if somewhat weak 'state'. Most of the gameplay will be taking place in the enemy territory of the super-power state anyways, just give me a basic build-up of what you're thinking.

Ana Dahling: I still want you in too, gal Once or twice a week or so is fine by me, I wanted to keep things a little slow-posting so I don't mess up along the way. First thread I'm trying to run here, and I bet that's obvious to all of you XD

8D

yay!
i'll start working on a profile soon.

Raises hand as well.

Would be interested if there is still room for one more.

Is there?

So do we post our profiles here or do you plan to make an OOC?

Aaaand that makes seven. A good number, the original ammount I was hoping for. First come first serve rule is in effect, so come on in Raptor. I'm gonna cap this for right now and see how the game goes with the seven of us and the characters we get developed. Maaaaybe there will be room for plenty more if I want to up the scale and size of this, but I think that's... Eight character all together, since Ine is playing too. Since she's opting to not play a Lord pilot (and trying to even out the gender difference), and all. All of you remember as well; the Lords have personalities of their own, so Lord and Pilot are like having two characters to control. OOC still planning on coming around tonight once my daughter goes to sleep.

Feel free to share the profiles here now and we'll move them to the ooc once it rears it's ugly head tonight, lol.

I will get a CS up tomorrow most likely. My apologies but I like to put time into it and I don't have enough time to get it written out tonight.

Is that ok?

You're witnessing first-hand how I procrastinate and juggle. Take your time

Okay! OOC is up and running. Feel free to post your characters on the thread, I will review them there.

Can I make some islands? I was thinking of having a palace or two, for the former mage-ruler of my territory. Not truly necessary, but it would be cool to have it haunted and contain some secrets about my Lord.

Go right ahead. The landmass is mostly one main continent, but numerous small islands dot the coastlines and stretched along the main ocean in a sort of belt, like the South Pacific Islands.

So, while working on my idea, I got a back story for the region. This includes a couple of myths that date back to the original lords, but are still myths and blown out of proportion. However, one of the races in the myth still exists.

Back to the history of my region, after Lord Cyan of Ides recovers a lord, he sets out to conquer the immediate region in search of some of the legendary places in the myths. The two lords are very similar to the 'forms' of the gods in the ancient myths, so there will be a connection there. The second lord is discovered in a dried out in-land sea, with a few deep lakes remaining. Some of the building seem to have been built while under water which is a mystery that puzzled the archeologists before the region was swarmed with war. The two lords fight, and Cyan wins, creating a giant empire of the course of ten years.

Cyan retires about thirty years after the age of war begins, retiring to an old island and building a palace and workshop there. Five years later, the mainland loses contact, and the few surviving members of the voyages over there say the place is haunted. His son takes over and is a complete incompetent, drinking and fathering bastards by the dozens. His brutal reign lasts for eighteen years, and is cut short by an outraged woman he was raped and fell asleep next to. She cut his throat, and due to the multiple progeny, many factions fell to warring over the rich lands. No individual lord manages to gain much power before being cut apart in a brief alliance of other local lords.

There is a mountain range containing a high plateau and several higher valleys rich in ore, and minerals, including some very rare metals only found in large quantities in the mountains. The two most profitable and needed are Asiroen, which is able to be enchanted and holds magical charge better than anything else, and smaller amounts of Lorisoen, which absorbs magical energies. Another third ore is also present but not marketed at all, instead sent up into the heights of the Iron Valleys for the protection of the diminished but remaining Tairen. No one but they, and Lord Cyan who conquered the region for that know what it does.

So, also, the land powers on the edge have been swallowed up by other kingdoms over the years, but the huge amount of troops in the resource rich area would be enough to conquer the rest of the planet, but belong to many different factions, powers, and foreign countries.