It is dark. Like the void.
It is empty. Like the vacuum.
It is warm. Like the stars.
Then a rip. A rip of light tears through your emptiness, and true light and warmth coats your skin. You are born. You are pulled out by two Animals; they walk on two legs, they grab you with two arms, they have a face with an expression of awe and disgust. You stand on your feet, wobbly at first, but with their help you regain balance. You look back down at your Mother; a big rip in her giant womb, her face lifeless, but with a fixed expression of happiness.
"It worked! It has sent us a Prince! The ritual worked!" the Animals screech in an ugly tone.
Your naked body is carried into a room with elderly Animals. They make you kneel, say a few screams of ugly, guttural words, and adorn you with a robe of varying colors. They explain to you what is happening; you are only hours born, but you already appear like an adolescent version of the Animals, albeit more beautiful. You also understand everything they say, even though you did not exist moments before. You are wiser, stronger, better.
After they dress you in clothes and dress you, you feel a strong longing to leave the area. You look directly in to the Sun, and it does not harm you. You stare at it straight, and long to be with it. It feels like it wants to commune with you, be with you, be you. And vice-versa. You are taken to a large monolithic tower, made of beautiful silver and adorned with ornaments of fine craftsmanship. You board it, and are greeted by an entire crew of animals, numbering in the thousands.
They inform you that you are free to take the craft and crew to any place and to do as you please. All they ask in favor is one task.
What have they asked you?
You are a newborn Prince: a being whose exact nature isn't exactly known in science, or rather, science in the Animals' eyes. You have been created to do a task for the planet that has birthed you. After that, the galaxy is in your hands. The task they have asked you to do could be anything you want: finding a lost artifact, protecting them from a great trouble, or conquering in their name. You are much more powerful than the Animals; you are born grown, you have never felt the weakness of infancy, as you've never needed it. You have the strength of five men, the intellect of fifty, and the will as fiery and intimidating as the stars. You are born with the knowledge of many things; craft guiding, Animal command, divination.
You are allowed to do anything in this game, as long as it does not negatively interfere with another player's stoyline (unless it progresses both your characters stories). You must, at one time or another, fulfill the Animals' wishes. Make your goal something to be remembered, such as conquering an entire sector of the galaxy, finding a lost ruin of a derelict craft or empire, or ascending into godhood and place yourself back amongst the stars.
The setting this game takes place in is 100,000 years in the future. Humanity (referred to as Animals by the Princes) has conquered the Milky Way Galaxy in three parts: The Inner, the Commons, and the Outer.
The Inner: This is the inner rim of the Milky Way Galaxy. It is where the important, the wealthy, and the loved reside. It resembles a heavily industrialized Greek/Roman type area, with pillars of marble holding up factories of pure silver and gold. Statues of heroes adorn the street, all of them bearing weapons of such glory. This is the place where the Aristocrats reside, tended to by an ocean of swarming slaves and menservants who fulfill all their biological, social, and psychological needs.
The Commons: This is where most of humanity resides. The largest sector, it's denizens comprise of artisans, merchants, nobles, warriors, and those of higher stature. It resembles a Renaissance-like era; with many artists on the streets painting the artificial beauty of their planets. Many craft are built, so that they might discover new areas not yet explored, and gain knowledge and riches.
The Outer: This is the outer rim of the Galaxy. It is inhabited by savages who live among caves and trees. Some have literally went down the evolutionary ladder, resembling cavemen. The ruling faction that maintains the savages is an empire of scholar-warriors. They resemble a futuristic Aztec empire. They are the only one in the Outer to know how to create, maintain, and guide craft. They check up on the tree men to see that they are put in line.
All the sectors are disconnected from each other; the gap between their planets is too far for craft to travel through without running out of supplies and they will not be able to track their location. Therefore, every ten years, they spend massive resources to participate in a ritual that sends messages and reports of all their progress between each other. This ritual is kept closely guarded by the highest officials. However, this gap between the sectors will not impede you and your specially-designed craft. Therefore, you are an invaluable asset for trade or combat between sectors.
All of them have different languages and dialects, but you are able to understand their words. All have different cultures, but all worship the same religion. It is an omnitheistic religion; with an omnipresent deity who is said to be everything, although It is most represented as a sun-god. They all worship the stars, which they find mysterious and awe-inspiring as very few get to leave their planets and see the stars without an atmosphere denying its glory.
It is said that the Princes are part of the sun-god. The ritual to create them is said to involve taking the soul and mind of the stars and put into a woman host. After the rites and preparations, the woman quickly grows in size, so much so that she is unable to move and has to be chained to keep her vertical. As the sun sets, the woman screams as a grown man is created inside her. They must cut her open, killing her and releasing the Prince, but the feeling of the moment of birth grants them unspeakable happiness for as long as she can breathe.
Princes are scattered far and wide, they command vast planets and craft. Princes sometimes band together and even create more of them. One particular band of Princes built a massive craft named the Tower of Babel. It is so large and so self sustaining that it can provide food and comfort for the population of an entire planet's population. This Tower was created to be the first of a line of giants, to challenge the sun-god. But the Tower fell, as the swarm of slaves and workers banded together to rebel against the hundreds of allied Princes.
Many artifacts are scattered through the cosmos. Who left them, it might never be known. There are no aliens on this game; only strange subspecies of human. Many ruins of empires long gone are scattered everywhere, waiting to be replaced with yours.
Name: (What you named yourself)
Sector: (Which sector you came from. This affects the type of planet you were created in)
Goal: (Which goal they have asked you to complete. Make it grand, but not impossible. It will help me to give you encounters that you want to be involved in)
Appearance: (Most Princes have beautiful, terrifying, or inspiring characteristics)
Bio: (What you have done in the short period between now and your creation. Also list: name of ship, particular crew such as captain, friend etc. and info on the planet and their culture)
Gender:
Stats: (I'll be using the D&D 4e system. Cuz I'm lazy) (You have 20 points to add to the base 10. To find the modifier, it is *-10/2.For example, (14-10)/2= +2 bonus)
Str 10 (How buff and how much you can carry, etc.)
Con 10 (How healthy you are. Including sanitary health, sanity, and social needs)
Dex 10 (How good you are at acrobatic feats, slight of hand etc.)
Cha 10 (How smooth you are, how well you bargain)
Int 10 (How fast you learn, how good you are at memorizing things, and how good you are at solving puzzles)
Wis 10 (Your empathy, social reasoning, common sense etc.)
Name: (What you named yourself)
Sector: (Which sector you came from)
Prince: (Which Prince you are affiliated to)
Appearance: (What you look like)
Bio: (Why have you volunteered to be a consort to a Prince. Your life before, goals for the future, etc.)
Gender:
Age: (14-25)
Stats: (You have 10 points to spend instead of 20)
Str 10 (How buff and how much you can carry, etc.)
Con 10 (How healthy you are. Including sanitary health, sanity, and social needs)
Dex 10 (How good you are at acrobatic feats, slight of hand etc.)
Cha 10 (How smooth you are, how well you bargain)
Int 10 (How fast you learn, how good you are at memorizing things, and how good you are at solving puzzles)
Wis 10 (Your empathy, social reasoning, common sense etc.)
I'll take 4 characters. You can signup here to be a consort (whose character sheet I will post tomorrow) to aid a player whose goals you favor. They must accept you, and you may have any number of consorts unless it imbalances the game too far. I will either randomly choose the four, or pick the most interesting characters. Six more applications will be put on waitlist, in order of who signup-ed first. The rest may make a consort character as stated above.
Also, please give me comments on the game while I run it. I just like to hear the bad points and good points in my games. If you think something should be added here, please tell me. This system isn't done yet, as I'm really tired and I need to sleep.
IC Thread