OOC: Times of Turmoil

[Fehrant]

A single, small country willing to fight for independence triggered a chain of events that would change history forever. From ancient times, the ruler of the land was decided by the gods, whichever the country's gods were. While the gods changed from country to country, the system was homogeneous in most of them. However, as mankind thrived with evolution and worldly knowledge, the existence of such gods were put into question, and the number of people who discussed the validity of the system in which the ruler was decided in this fashion steadily and rapidly increased within each year.

It was 1380 when a small country, known as Auena, started a coup d'etat which succeeded that very same year, leading to a severe change in government structure. It was a small country indeed, but the ideology behind the event inspired many other countries to change the way things had been done since early times. In subsequent years, many rebellions exploded, some successful, and some utter failures which ended up in nothing short of a massacre.

An exception to this was the five top countries in the world. Being the economical leaders of the world, they saw no reason to change the way things were done. But eventually a group of anti-old-government activists took root. At first considered no more than a petty crime organization, its work in the shadows eventually proved to be a serious threat. The group is named Shinseidan, and is composed of shady characters and not-so-shady characters alike; from people in high-political positions playing a subtle role, to lowly assassins.

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That's about the backbone of the plot. Things to keep in mind:

The story will take place in one of these top countries. The world is pretty much like ours around year 1400-- basically, it's medieval.

This is a fantasy world, however, we'll keep it as much sci-fi as we can: everything has a (fantastical) explanation.

There is no magic, fairy creatures, and the means to take advantage of gunpowder in a portable fashion (aka guns) have not yet been devised.

The particular country where we will start will be like Japan. Basically, imagine a samurai anime and you should be set. This doesn't mean you gotta stick to katanas if you don't want to. Use huge swords, or simple longswords if that fits your style.

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There are going to be three main factions, and you'll have to pick one.

- Shinseidan. Anti-government force. They mostly work in the shadows, but there are several people who secretly belong to the Shinseidan and don't work in the shadows. If you are Shinseidan, you can be a samurai, a ninja, or a person involved in politics.

- Seifugun. Government army, and overall forces. Samurai who chose to serve the government split into several roles: guards, investigators, patrol groups, etc. The government has ninja as well, but of course doesn't openly acknowledge their existence.

- Ronin. Ronin are samurai who don't particularly serve anyone, and wander on their own. Those ronin who need some coin either start working as mercenaries, or become thieves or pillagers (when several ronin group together, anyway). The ronin are considered disgraceful because the samurai class originally was created to serve [someone], and ronin are the total opposite to that. Either because of personal choice, or because of circumstances (perhaps their lord was killed) the ronin ended up as such, and now struggle under society's pressure, even though society does need mercenaries from time to time. Moreover, ronin are often target of Seifugun suspicion because usually the Shinseidan masquerade as ronin.

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As you can see, two factions are opposite to each other, and the third might be, depending on the stance your character. Expect players to fight against each other.

Profile information has to include name, age, appearance, background, and weapons/fighting style (in this last, you state how your characters fights briefly, and what she/he uses to fight, even if it's barehanded fighting).

Rules are pretty redundant; don't godmod, don't use other characters without their explicit permission, try to post as often as you can, etc.