Separate Guild

[Shark a' Pult]

Me and Kuro have been talking about this for awhile.

Basically we had an idea for something of a side guild to run, not unlike the side threads with the OP RP.

Normally we would just focus our effort and ideas into the main guild for this RP, however the ideas and themes we had in mind would probably not fit well with the tone of it. Inspired by that idea for a blood mage character I had, yet would not really "fit" with the main guild storyline, our intent was to create a side guild in a bleak atmosphere with a more grim tone. The idea is not "OH SO MATURE AND EDGEE", just more serious in general.

As such, one of the things we discussed was the concept of character death being a largely possible and real threat, as well as things like crippling injuries. Even the guild itself, was intended to be barely clinging to life after a bloody guild war wherein the majority were killed or imprisoned.


So with that aside, would anyone actually be interested in such a thing as this? I think we'd need at least 3 people, but more would always be welcome. Keep in mind, the general idea here is a side-guild, so we probably won't expect people to seriously commit and forsake the other RPs to post in this one. We'd just ask that the players try to keep relatively active, and we'll try to make things as interesting and fun to provide an incentive for that.

[CJ]

I'd love to support this. The character I'll be introducing in the current thread soon will be the one I would enter into this one. At that time I'll probably put up a profile.

[Shark a' Pult]

Cool! If Kurp posts as well, I'll give some information about the guild, and what we've come up with so far.

[Kyubey]

I miiiiiiiight do this.

[Kuro]

I will do it.

[Shark a' Pult]

Neat. So the general idea for the guild then, is;

- An old guild in the far north of the country, at the mountainous coast on the border of Fiore and Seven
- The guild was founded a fairly long time ago, and initially was just a defensive castle for the town it's at
- Eventually when the major countries formed (Fiore proper, Seven proper, etc...), there wasn't a need for provincial protection since the new government could/can patrol and protect the country
- At that time is when the castle was handed over to the guild and it was formed
- Being on the border though, the guild helps maintain and patrol the border alongside the national troops; while the soldiers can deal with the conventional threads, the guild lends assistance with the more magical problems they face
- Up until recently the guild itself was quite large and prosperous, however a bloody guild war all but eradicated the guild; the opposition was outlawed and labeled a dark guild, however the damage had already been done
- Now the guild itself is little more than a ruin of its former self, both figuratively and literally. It totals only a mere handful of members now including the reluctant guild master, only two of which were even with the guild before the war, all of them residing in the ruins of the former guild building
- As always though, the guild limps along and functions, performing the duties it always has. Important duties, which there are always openings for new people in.


So basically, this guild more or less will be "Adventures along the perilous border of danger and mystery.", and the characters will generally assist in the defense of the northern flank of Fiore as well as the town it resides in.

For the people who are playing then, if you are interested, I just have a few questions;

- What should the guild be called? Given the main one is called Fable, I figured to keep with the tradition and call this one Legend or something, however I'm open to suggestions. We can even go the canon route and do something like "Animal Adjective". Also a name of the town would be nice.

- If at all possible, I would *like* to avoid a small problem we have whenever we start RPs, which is that suddenly, all the characters miraculously just crop up for no reason at all and are all joined together thereafter. I'd prefer it if things were paced out, but I don't want to make anyone wait either. If anyone has any ideas of how we can introduce people in a spaced out manner, that'd be great. Anything is viable in this case, even if all the characters want to be as a group of friends or mercenaries that all join up together after having traveled around for awhile?

- How is your character going to join/be involved with the guild? Are they a wanderer who happened into town and heard about the guild? Are they a resident of the town who has just come of age and wants to join the traditional local guild? Perhaps they were a soldier stationed for border patrol duty, but discovered or developed magical abilities and got forwarded to the guild? Or maybe even, they were part of the guild before the start of the RP? All of these things are viable concerns and possibilities. It's even possible that they aren't part of the guild at all and just help out from time to time, like they remain stationed with the border patrol, or they just have a job in town?


Something to keep in mind, that I have a general idea for the guild, but I welcome people's input and ideas. Kurp helped me to make this, and I'm wholly supportive if anyone wants to also help shape the setting here. I'd like it more if this was a player-shaped thing rather than people are just players in the thing.

[Kuro]

Keeping along with the Fable trend might mean that this guild could be called Dirge or Timely Tragedy.

Keeping with the animal adjective route might mean that this thread could be called Owl Eye or Owl's Wing or Crow's Wing or maybe even something like King's Stand. Maybe Raven Bone?

My character doesn't have any money to his name and at this point, he can't do anything but magic. He heard of this guild and wanted to join it in particular because he heard of it as the ruins of a guild that only has a few members. The idea of a quiet, not-lively guild appeals to him for various reasons, so he basically walked from his location to the guild.

On that matter, when it comes to not having everyone meet up at once, my guy would probably be one of the later ones to show up. While he is already intending to join the guild, he is an old man literally walking miles and miles to the guild's castle. It could be that the Guild group that forms up at the beginning of the thread to tackle a mission would come upon him on the road as they go to their objective. With the guild people going down the road to the guild and the old man going up the road to the guild, it wouldn't be too strange for the two of them to eventually meet up on the same road.

With other characters, if the characters were people who had heard of the guild and wanted to join, then the guild could have a custom of only recruiting people on certain days, so there would be a reason as to why a bunch of people would join at the same time. If the character had never heard of the guild before, then it could be that the guild only recruits one day per week or month and the unknowledgable character comes in one week and hears of the guild through the people who are waiting for the day when they can be recruited.

At that point, the characters interact with each other and wait for the recruiting day, where they get recruited. From that point, the Guild group takes on a mission and meets characters there who had not been in the town at the day of recruiting and these characters tag along for the mission for whatever reason.

[Shark a' Pult]

Well keep in mind that the Guild wasn't always supposed to be terrible. It's not supposed to carry some negative connotation even if the Guild itself is that way.

I like those other names though, even if the Guild doesn't become them I'd like to use them for stuff.

All those other ideas for recruitment are viable suggestions though, lets see if we can't find a way to work them in.

[Shark a' Pult]

So after some time, and talking to Mise, I'll finally be putting up at least some basic, relevant details pertaining to this whole thing, so people can get a better idea of what they'd be doing, so they can decide if they want to make a character and play. Expect the details later today.

[Shark a' Pult]

A splendid map indicating where the guild was intended to be, as shown by a red dot. May need to enlarge;

i1144.photobucket.com/albums/o490/Max_Welinder/side_guild_map_zpsc6473df9.png

Basic details after some time deliberating;


The place;

- It is situated in the town of Dunwald, a coastal town on the border between Fiore and Seven
- A small town, Dunwald is best known for the wall spanning the northern border between the two countries, which it supplies and keeps manned
- Situated in a fairly remote place, the town lies on the coast, with wilderness to the north, sheer mountains to the east, and vast expanses of forest to the south
- There are a couple of noteworthy noble houses in town as well as various organizations and guilds (none of the magical variety), mostly dedicated towards various aspects related to the maintenance of the border
- There's really only two roads in and out of town, so traffic is scarce save for travel by sea


The backstory;

- The guild was founded some time ago before the surrounding nations had clearly established borders, and it was only by chance that it ended up on the Fiore side
- What came first is unclear, the town or the guild, but effectively they grew hand in hand, though the town understandably more so
- For the longest time the guild served as a defense against northern threats and aggression, be they from bandits or illegal migrants, or worse
- Roughly ten years prior, the guild was the victim of a bloody guild war, of which virtually all members perished. It was a surprise attack during an unexpected time, so the guild was caught off guard and as a result, few members survived
- After this time, the royal commissioned border guard was officially established to take the place of the now crippled guild and to carry out its duties. Since this time, the relevance and importance of the guild has waned, and few people would know it beyond being the victim of a bloody civil war
- Since this time, the guild has been left to the leadership of the handful of members whom survived the war, guiding and maintaining the establishment until the child of the former guild master came of an age to properly rule, or at least officially ordain a new guild master


The Guild;

- It's called Legend, as a nice little contrast to Fable
- The de jure Guild Master is the daughter of the former Guild Master, who was killed in the guild war
- The de facto Guild leader is an S-rank mage, and one of only four survivors of the guild war
- The guild headquarters is an old cathedral that was granted to the guild in times past by a local lord. Unfortunately the building itself has fallen into disrepair over the years, largely due to the guild war in which the building was nearly destroyed, but also because of the sheer lack of members to maintain the building
- The building itself is located a short way up the biggest mountain which Dunwald borders, along a pass leading up into the mountains
- For the most part, the building is often if not always simply deserted (entirely so in the wintertime), and the guild typically just uses the town hall or local tavern for meeting places
- The guild performs various functions for the town as a payment for being allowed to obtain resources when needed, as well as being allowed to maintain its presence. These functions include providing magic services for the townsfolk, dealing with magical problems that might beset the town, and acting in conjunction with the border guard in defense of the region.
- Because of this last service, the guild has tended to be fairly sparsely populated over the years, regardless of the civil war. Having to maintain a quota of able bodies for the border leads to a high dropout or mortality rate
- Occasionally the guild can be expected to receive actual requests from the capitol for jobs pertaining to Fiore and border security, and in this respect, the guild serves more in a political capacity than a magical one, serving the crown and country before the magic council


The RP;

- The intention behind this one was to create a more gritty, realistic feel, and story. While conventionally characters in shounen manga settings can perform impossible feats and cheat death, that should not be something that is a rule here. Rather, it would be looked on as unreasonable behavior.
- The idea was to create an RP a bit more like traditional tabletop. The feel here was something akin to medieval hired swords, but magical instead, and in the Fairy Tail setting.
- To help with this, the location and the backstory is sufficiently bleak, and the sort of problems and plots the characters may encounter, might be suitable for that
- The characters themselves can be made however anyone wants, and certainly I wouldn't discourage anyone from making whatever kind of character they want, even if it was a typical shounen protag with a loud personality, a cheery disposition, and a penchant for the impossible. Just realize that they might have a bit of trouble adjusting to this setting here, though that only provides an interesting challenge!

As a subset of the larger FT RP, I don't expect this to be as active. I would be happy though if people could make an effort to post maybe once or twice a week? If that's too frequent, or infrequent, feel free to suggest something otherwise and I'll be happy to change it.

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Lastly, I don't expect everyone to join, what with the abundance of other RPs. I just had an idea for all this with the help of Kurp and Mise, and thought it would be an interesting little side RP to try out, not only to test this intended new style of RP, but also to just expand upon the FT RP verse like with do with the OP RP.

If you don't want to join, you don't have to. If you don't want to be active, you don't have to. But if you're interested, and have the time to post every once in awhile at least, with your help I'd like to try and make an easy and fun experience for everyone involved (and even those who aren't involved, if perhaps we ever cross paths with the other RP guild, Renascence).

If after reading this you are interested, feel free to post here about it, with any interests or ideas or changes you'd like, as well as feel free to make characters or whatever you'd like. I could always use help fleshing out the town and the setting after all.

If people would like, I could also make a more formal, more organized synopsis of this whole thing, as well as an actual sort of character sheet for the guild and npc mages involved.