Interest Check - Realm of the Shifters

The large continent of Idris was a beautiful and sprawling home to the hundreds of shifters that remained, even as the human empires failed. Two large Kingdoms, Stratham and Aramore, reign over most of the land in Idris. Recently, the two have set shifters from each realm against one another in a battle of power and moral standings as the reigning rulers wage a war. Both economies are slowly falling and lives are becoming harder, not only for the commoners, but for the wealthy and high-classed as well. It is a disaster thought to befall only the naïve humans. And now it befalls the greatest continent known to Shifter kind.

You, whomever you have chosen to be, are stuck somewhere in the middle of this war. People are doing what they can to survive, banding together and fleeing some areas while others get together to raid smaller villages and towns in hopes of finding supplies before things get tougher. Some stay put, either out of necessity, fear, or a faith that their Kings will settle their disputes. There are laws about killing and thievery, but of course, none of that matters when all of the higher-ups and officials are too busy fighting an unneeded war. The laws of the land have fallen to the hands of those in it.

Setting/Plot Elaboration

Idris is located in a medieval, fantasy world where humans, shifters, and a wide variety of other sentient and non-sentient animals coincide together in a forested, mountainous region. There is no electricity or vehicles, mostly just wood and stone structures (picture something kind of like Rome/Greece but with a lot less fancy columns in most areas), but there is also magic and witchcraft. Sometimes one might spot a unicorn in the forest, or a Pegasus in the sky just as one might see a herd of wild horses; most fantasy creatures are not impossible to find here, but it must be remembered that the land they exist in is one at war. Groups of raiders destroy settlements and sometimes kill civilians, less-than-stellar knights are known to invade homes and take people's belongings or otherwise harass them, and most people are struggling to find food as it is. Will you have an impact in what happens, or will you avoid the war at all costs?

Where the War Began

Stratham and Aramore have had a rocky relationship since their creation, together, in 3201. Two brothers, grieving after their father’s death, deigned to rule both halves of the kingdom by themselves instead of together. They quickly realized it was much harder to make decisions on your lonesome, but instead of reconciling, they put everything they had into pushing the other down - into being the best, having the best. The Kingdoms were economically unstable for nearly two hundred years until the new rulers forgot the “family feud” the two Kingdoms had been in and started anew. That was until the recent unnatural dry weather, leaving most crops to wither in the sunlight and the people to struggle for resources as the lands suffer through a seemingly endless drought.

The King of Stratham in particular has had a rougher time acquiring much-needed items for his kingdom, being walled off on most sides by mountains, and has sent small stealth groups into the low-land borders of Aramore to find what he cannot acquire himself. These short raids have come to the notice of Aramore’s royalty and their pride won’t stand for them to be stolen from, leaving them to send more scouts and knights to patrol their borders day and night.

Guidelines

2. Godmodding/powerplay is unacceptable. Be realistic in fighting, and remember, the only character(s) you should be making decisions for are your own.

3. Have as many characters as you can handle, but each must be accepted by myself or my co-mods.

4. Try and be diverse with your species! Do NOT keep creating only tiger shifters and expect them to be accepted (of course, more common species will be expected to have more characters than uncommon and/or rare).

5. Just because I haven't said a species doesn't mean you can't create one! If you have a question, just ask. I'll do my best to help.6. There ARE were-dragons available to be created! (Only 3-4 roles will be open, and you must audition for them: basically meaning you need one other, more common species before you can ask to create a dragon shifter).

7. Any ranking above the Head of War must be accepted by me. I may ask you to change your ranking based on if I think you're active/experienced enough for the role. Feel free to create your own ranking!

8. Mature content- excessive violence/gore, graphic death scenes, and/or breeding- needs to fade to black or be taken elsewhere.

9. This is intended to be an intermediate/advanced RP. Replies are required to be 5+ sentences and you must practice proper spelling/grammar.

10. Be active. If you'll be gone for 4+ days, please message me or let us know in chat.

11. You may use photo-references for your characters, just please remember to source them correctly (photobucket, tumblr, etc. are NOT original sources). Try not to use artwork unless you have proof it's yours/was given or sold to you/etc.

12. No same-player romance. If you want your character to have a significant other, then try and form a relationship IC.

13. Limit 1x1. Generally wait until 2-3 people have posted after you before replying again.

14. If you read and understand all the rules, please tell me your favorite mythical creature in the other section.

Thanks for your time!

Interested?: (yes, no, possibly)

Literacy: (semi-lit to literate is the goal)

Typical Response Length/Time: Preferred Server: (here, Lioden, Discord, etc.)

Character Count: (how many characters you normally play per RP)

Ideas/Suggestions/Etc: Anything about the plot you'd change? Any conflict to add? 

Interested?: Yes

Literacy: Literate

Typical Response Length/Time: Preferred Server: No more than a few days at most, usually around a couple hours.

Character Count: Any amount needed

Ideas/Suggestions/Etc: What if we rolled back a little, to when things just started to fail? What happened to make things start to crumble, where is all of the money going to cause even the wealthy to struggle? Other kingdoms, nature disasters, hoarding? Idk it sounds fun regardless! 

DUDE, I remember this from LD! So down! 

Wolvden User: Woodkin (#13826).

Interested?: Hell yeah!

Literacy: Semi-Literate to Literate.

Typical Response Length/Time: 2-3 paragraphs. Sometimes more. Never less. I can post several times a week, but probably not every day. Will do my best though. 

Preferred Server: Here or Discord. Would love to be part of an on-site roleplay to be honest, but wouldn't say no to Discord either. 

Character Count: 2-3. Sometimes more, but I'll limit myself here.

Ideas/Suggestions/Etc: Not at the moment! Will also shoot you a dm if I come up with anything interesting. It's late here so brain is currently running on empty.

Wolvden User: MuddMutt 15073

Interested?: yes

Literacy: semi-lit

Typical Response Length/Time:1 paragraph (haven't done rp in a while.) Will respond every day or if busy ever other day.

 Preferred Server: Any server preferably discord 

Character Count: 1 character

Ideas/Suggestions/Etc: I'm kind of curious on how the hierarchy works. Is it the usual European kind or is it a mix of other types?

Thank you all for answering my questions! Now to answer some of yours!

@Monstera - The backstory of the war is addressed in a smaller subsection of the thread :) Long story short, two brothers over two hundred years ago let their emotions get the better of them and ran their empires into the ground trying to better the other, so much so that the subsequent two hundred years, the economy struggled. The only other settlements, those across oceans, had sold both Kings all they wanted - but at hefty prices - and both Kings basically put both Kingdoms into debt (in modern terms).

At the present day, two hundred years after the split of Idris, there is a drought pushing the lands into a famine and causing a lack of prey and resources for both Kingdoms, causing the current rulers to become uneasy again - there are rumors of Stratham's king sending scouts and knighting parties to recover resources, by less than favorable means, on Aramore's lands.

If there are other conflict ideas you'd want to mingle or throw into the plot, I'm all ears, but those are the tensions I have pre-set for this world. This allows for all high ranks to be at odds and have roles to follow, as well as opens Knights to choosing between good, bad, or neutral in their actions, and also gives commoners plenty of things to worry about in their already stressful lives. :")

I might consider taking it back to the original fued though - just after the death of Idris' last king and to the point of the brothers splitting the continent. That could prove interesting, but there would have to be other minor or major conflicts for those of lesser classes as well, because that focuses on the royalty.

@Muddmutt - It is honestly a mix. I don't follow one in particular, since this is a unique world, but if you have a suggestion towards a certain ranking system from the medieval period, I'd be more than open to changing certain things. As of now, I have - in order of power - Kings/Queens, Heirs, Royal Advisors, Head of Wars, Knights, Shamans/Medicine Men, and Commoners (though they can come in different classes, such as Metal/Blacksmith, Leatherworkers, Ranchers, Farmers, Business Owners, Traders, etc.).

Wolvden User: Kefi #16769
Interested?: Yes!
Literacy: Probably semi-lit
Typical Response Length/Time:  I try for 2+ paragraphs, but might write less depending on the ic situation. I could also probably reply every day or every other, though I will be considerably less active during my exam weeks
Preferred Server: Here or Discord; I enjoy on-site rps, but will likely be more accessible on Discord
Character Count: I'm most comfortable with 1, but can do 2 if necessary
Ideas/Suggestions/Etc: I was wondering if the shifters could maintain a semi-shifted state, or if they had to strictly be either in their human or animal form. For example, if there was a cat shifter, would they be able to utilize the eyes of their cat form to gain enhanced night vision while staying human?

Thank you for checking us out and asking questions Kefi!

As to answering them, I believe that yes, they would - however, it would depend on their age and how much control they'd already garnered over their shifts. For example, they begin shifting at a young age, which might leave them vulnerable to emotional shifts and trouble holding form - they might end up with a tail in human form for a few hours, or the eyes of their animal, or even the teeth. Mostly small changes that don't hinder the physical activity of the shifter. As they age, those inconsistencies go away, so a twenty year old won't typically be seen with dog ears or a tail, wherein a younger teen or child would be seen as normal with their animal quirks on display in human form. 

As the shifters age, say past puberty and into adulthood, they control their shifts much better - lose their tempers less, become stressed less - and don't let their bodies control the shifts. When they have that complete and seemingly flawless shift with their animal counterpart - because each shifter in this verse is only born with one - then yes, they can utilize certain features by bringing them to the forefront. Like their eyes, if their have night vision, or birds-eyes vision, etc., or even their hearing if they're skilled enough, and more!