Welcome to Gaia! ::

Alright folks, so a bit of an OOC chat up thread I've got going on here. So, for those of you unfamiliar with Dalcaria, time to do some reading and more reading.

I'm looking to start another roleplay in everybody's favorite semi-Fascist, minimalist-Victorian-Steampunk world! And I'm seriously hoping you people are interested in this, because I've become virtually obsessed with this world I've created, and I'd be really sad if the culmination of years of creativity was overlooked by people! Plus, I'd go even more crazy than I already am!

So, here is kind of what I'm proposing, a couple of ideas to consider, and I'm going to do it in order of time periods.

1) Pre-Empire Dalcaria: The story takes place a few thousand years before the creation of the Empire. This is very much an EARLY medieval/Roman/Druidic style roleplay set at a time when Tavastia (the capital province of Dalcaria) didn't even exist, so in case you don't know, that's a LONG time ago for these people! There will be monsters, legionaries, and barbarians galore!

2) Unification of the Empire: Set in the days of when the Empire was being united by the Clarion royal family. Kind of obvious how this ends, but it's a tale of war, of heroes, and of a land united together! Also set in a medieval era, but with knights and such, no Roman legionaries sorry to say.

3) The great demon war: Set when the war against the Demons was. This is a very primitive steampunk type tale, set in the early days of steam technology. Best description I can give you to describe it is American Revolution era, complete with Dalcaria's own version of Red Coats! War, fancy dress, Inquisitors, and the first Royal Guards of Queen Jessamine Clarion herself!

4) The Dictators: Dalcaria's civil war. A brutal time period, very much like Dishonored mixed with WW2 mixed with game of thrones. The one problem here is the vast amount of factions you'll have to fight.

5) The Inquisitors: Already did this one and it slowed to a stop sadly. Open to trying again, but we'll see. The information on this one is in the OOC above.

6) The Kings: Spoiler alert, Grand Chancellor James Tiberius Byron Bond had a son who also became Grand Chancellor, and then he had a son who became Grand Chancellor as well! However, James #1's Grandson doesn't stay Grand Chancellor for much longer than a few sentences as members of parliament come to him with a plea from the people. No one can sit upon the throne of Dalcaria as King or Queen unless they are of the Clarion family, so the people ask him to sit on the throne as Dalcaria's first Emperor. He accepts, and not long after (a few weeks say) Dalcaria is faced with another war. An enemy from the past seeks to conquer the throne of Dalcaria and sit upon it as King, and he's bringing an army to do it.

7) The Oppressors: Emperor James just finished wiping up the mess of the last idea only to have what happen? Ambracia goose step their racist rumps into Dalcaria and take over as horrid oppressors. Everyone thinks the Emperor is dead, innocent men, women, and children are being executed to "purify" Dalcaria of the non-Ambracian inhabitants, and the only slice of land that still belongs to Dalcaria is the Lishundan Isles. Can Dalcaria survive this? For the record, this is a very rebellion heavy tale, in case you didn't already guess.

Well, those are all my ideas for now! Let me know what you think, and hopefully we'll work something out.

I'm glad you caught it! I was thinking about maybe messaging you, but I wasn't sure if you were busy in the Gaia forums or not. But I'm stoked you found it after all! blaugh That certainly would be one to look at though, the Tavastia area is going to be a lot like Rome if you will, but Whitehaven will be more like Roman era Scotland. The Provinces more to the West will end up being somewhat like Druid and mage provinces, the central provinces will be probably along the lines of Knights and Battle mages, and the Southern Provinces will be men of the sea, trying to think of how to get them a cool way of fighting. Also, Kraigdarroch (I must have spelled that wrong, but I can't remember XD) will be kind of like a "Dwarven" territory based on their knowledge of armor making, but they'll be more like Scots, Britons, or the ancient Irish in terms of culture and such, though I suspect more like the Scots. I also thought it would fit Aydan pretty well too, so I'm glad it caught your interest!

Also worth noting, this is a time when Dalcaria was far from being civilized, so beasts and monsters will be virtually everywhere, even perhaps a giant or two! For reference, I got inspired to do this idea by having watched a movie on Beowulf, the one they did that was CG.

WHA! You graduated already!?!? Well, I'm still needing to finish my courses to get into uni, but I'm close to being finished. However, I still need something to do in my spare time it feels like. So you're getting into the landscaping business?

Very cool! I should check on my family genealogies sometime too. I believe my family worked under Clan Buchanan (think that's how you spell it), and I believe they fought for Robert the Bruce (ironically since I'm more proud of Great Britain). Well, I'm thinking Kraigdarroch will be a sort of "sect" of Scots if you will, like one branch off of the larger family. I'm thinking the furthest West provinces will be kind of like the Irish (possibly Druids in terms of style, if you will). I do think I'm going to allow Whitehaven to have more access to armor though, somewhat similar to the Norse (the Northern provinces are like a Scot/Irish/Norse hybrid, though more to the Scot side), but it will be much more limited compared to the people in Kraighdarroch, they're pretty much the masters of armor!

Ah, actually might be more than 5 generations. sweatdrop Keep in mind, the Empire is almost 1500 years old, and the story may take place 1000 years before the Empire was even created, so what is that, almost 75 generations? rofl That would be a LOOOOONG time to live! xp But yeah, I like the sounds of that! This also might give me a chance to fill out some legends and background info for other creatures and enemies in the empire. In fact, my main good guy character in this will be VERY important to the story, though let's just say his importance comes much further in the future. wink

Yeah, I do believe I recall it being pretty off the original story (from what I remembered reading of the legend, we studied it in literature), but what mostly appealed to me about the movie was the art style and the action. It painted a picture (albeit it an inaccurate one) of Beowulf that was more tangible for me, so I took the artsy stuff and threw it into my story with some other historical influences to really make the mix work.

Ah, I see! Well you could always try looking out of town as well, try and do as much landscaping during the good seasons to make up for not being able to landscape in winter, not sure if that would work better or not, but it's a thought.

Yeah, seems to be the same case for me. xd Scots fighting the English on one side, English doing whatever my English family did on the other side, and then the French were doing who knows what before they decided to throw themselves into the mix. xd Well I'm not trying to make them exact to the Scots, I want all the "races" of Dalcaria to be like their real world counter-parts, but to have my own flair to them. For most Whitehavenans, it'll be more minimalist armor (bits of chain mail here and there, some shoulder pauldrons, and maybe a chest plate), but probably nothing too serious. Weapons and movement are more there thing. But yeah, I'm going to try and avoid the totally naked bit for this for obvious reasons and then the fact that that kills the heroic mood for me in some ways. rofl I don't usually think of hairy nude men as heroic, personally saying. xp

Yeah, I'm not sure myself. I just averaged it at 3 generations per century, times 25 centuries. My math may be horribly off, but that's just my rough guess. But yeah, we're OLD, especially if you compare it to Earth standards! Ah yes, my character is going to be an interesting one to go with. 3nodding You see, this story takes place when the Clarion family didn't rule much more than a few properties. Tavastia itself is jumble of small kingdom's, but the most important is the Kingdom of Durelieus (I'm sure you can guess where that is if you remember the locations at all). That said though, this story will be setting the ground work for the Clarion's, so yes, you will get to see a bit of that. wink Sadly for James, his family hasn't even made it to Dalcaria yet. That won't be for another 1500 years, give or take. They arrive a few hundred years after the Empire was already built, so they're late comers.

Yeah, fair point. xd

Ah, I see. Well, that's good, but I do hope more work comes your way!

xd Yeah, my family line is a little more clear cut I think. Very true, and on that note yes, the reactions to Aydan were certainly interesting, though I suspect if you're doing a female character again, you may want to put on a degree of clothing. rofl Oh yes, no doubt. Actually, now that you mention it, one of their more famous weapon's makes it into the hands of one of my characters! 3nodding Certainly, and the people of Whitehaven will definitely do that, but I'm going to allow them to have armor too, but in smaller amounts than the other regions. Compared to the Western provinces though, they get even more. Those people typically just go with robes and magic. xp Well I suppose it must have worked to some degree! I know I would have gotten killed if I was fighting against that! xd

Yeah, I think I do remember something like that. xd And fair enough, this is at a time when they had a totally different calender year from us too (since our years in modern Dalcaria are based off of the age of the Empire). Yeah, Durelieus is the capital city of Tavastia and the Empire (Tavastia being the capital province). However, in this roleplay not even Tavastia exists (for the record, it did exist when the Empire was being united, and for a few hundred years before that too, but this is before Tavastia united). And you're correct, Queen Jessamine was around for the steam era and the Demon war. This will be a new character to the story, but still a Clarion.

By the way folks, for the roleplay I suggested for the great demon war, Dalcaria is also semi-sorta at war with another country called Pays, a smaller island nation that strongly mimics a mix of France, Italy, and the Venetian Republic. They're a kingdom full of the romantic style you would expect from France and Italy, but they have a hunger for an empire of business like the Venetians. They aren't nearly as powerful as Dalcaria in trade, but you better believe they'll put up a fight!

Bump! whee

Oh, two other things folks! One; I have plans drawn up for a Sci-fi roleplay if anyone is interested, two in fact, both taking place in the far future (so space ships, new planets to colonize, and space marines! Everyone loves space marines!). Two; if anyone is interested in H.P. Lovecraft, hit me up about it, because I may have the means to do a Lovecraftian inspired tale right here in Dalcaria! It won't be exact to Mr. Lovecraft's work, just very heavily influenced by it. And on that note, also got plans for potential horror rp's in the future, but they will be "short" ones, and when I say short, I don't mean they'll actually be short, just that they will have a definite ending, whereas you could (essentially) keep going with Dalcaria forever, and ever, and ever.

Food for thought though! Just please give a nibble! xp