Idea for new roleplay

[Eddren]

So, this is the idea for a war-RP, because I've been getting bored of being unable to use my strategies to their fullest.

1. Setting

Obviously the setting will decide everything in a game like this. It will start off in what is known as the Eighth Era, or the Age of Wings. As the name denotes, this is a time of flight. This is not, however, an era of advanced technology. Rather, they are powered by a special magic that has come to be known as Encephalon. While in today's world, it would be a term more common for ones' nervous system, this relates instead to the control of the flow of magic around it, making it the 'nervous center' of a body of magic. This power, which was originally used to create any number of flying contraptions, has now been used to wage war in a previously peaceful land. No longer do lesser craft rule the skies, as it is now seen as too dangerous. The world is dominated by hulking citadels of magic, waging war against one-another. Encephalon is considered wasted if used on lesser craft.

It should be noted that this war is fairly recent, and at the time does not appear to be even. The four factions who are vying for dominance have different resources and specialties--And some of those specialties may prove to be the most worthy in the long run. The continent they fight for is one that has been long-established, but isolated since the slaves--Who have now organized as the nation of Kru'a--first repelled their masters. Encephalon has seen turmoil in the land again, as a long-growing resistance movement makes its' move, a king attempts to keep the peace, an empire tries to reign over its' lost land, and the criminal elements simply attempt to destabilize things further in the name of profit.

But the true thing driving this war is the advent of unparalleled defensive technologies. Four years after the rise of the first Flagship, the destruction they could rain down upon a settlement became fearsome. The people feared this would mark the rise of tyranny, and so the people called for these flagships to be brought down. The government, fearing outside invasion, refused, stating that it would be better to have such weapons at their disposal should an outside threat occur. The people were dubious of these intentions, as there had been few outside battles before. This unrest gave birth to a rebellion, which in turn sought to create a counter to the destructive capabilities of the Flagships. In just another four years, eight years after the rise of the first Flagship, they had created a new sort of magical device, also powered by the Encephalon: Projectile Reaction/Rejection. Given the nickname "PR," it did just as suggested, using magic that acted almost like water upon contact with objects moving too quickly: It solidified, turning into a wall upon which any projectile would bounce off. Since it was a field, bows were rendered essentially useless within towns holding this technology, making only hand-to-hand combat viable.

The government soon realized the power this magic contained and quickly adapted it to their own Flagships. They were an unstoppable power to all but their own people, and soon they sought to reverse the position their former masters--The Veritah Republic--Held over them. They began an invasion. It began well enough, but as the Kru'a advanced, they found the Veritah Republic beginning to adapt, until one fateful day saw on of their own flagships boarded by their enemies. No match for the Veritah's superior numbers, the flagship fell. It was the first of many. The expeditionary force was forced to turn back and return to the Kru'a in defeat, with a total of a third of their forces destroyed or captured. It would be difficult for the situation to worsen. That was, at least, their opinion shortly before the Veritah Republic showed up, using the Kru'a's own flagships in order to stage an invasion of their errant State.

The Rebels, having been relatively quiet up until this time, took the opportunity to stage their own advance, using the expedition's absence to produce flagships of their own. Caught between these two advancing forces, the Kru'a government supported one last, desperate plan in order to attempt to balance the board. They hired criminals to fly the Veritah flag in order to raid the rebels, placing the blame of the attack on the Veritah and forcing the rebels to divide their forces. The Kru'a was hoping to force the Veritah into a trap, using the rebels to bolster their own numbers. It did not necessarily backfire, but as the criminals raided the ships, they grew more bold, believing themselves to now be experts in the field. They called themselves simply Sky Pirates, and worked together for only one goal--To conquer everything, and eventually be the king of the world. Which would be decided, of course, by destroying all of their former allies.

2. Factions

While this gives an introduction to the factions, it does not describe their more important aspects--Ranking, society, beliefs, customs, and battle strategies. We will start off with oldest to newest.

Veritah Republic - The Veritah Republic was a splinter off of an even larger, now-forgotten Empire. It was named after the hero-general who freed the people, Jeryk Veritah, and has always held to the tradition of electing Generals as heads of the nation. It is, of course, open to any that the people see as fitting to represent them, but they have been forced, as a State that exists primarily in plains that are often heavily sought-after, to fight each and every day of their lives since their independence, and such have always seen the generals, who are regarded as highly honorable, as the most fit to rule a nation with such war-torn surroundings. As a result, they have a very powerful military force. Their Flagship count is weak, as they have had little time to research creating them themselves, and their territory in the Kru'a region is nonexistent, but their soldiers are highly disciplined, their magic extremely comprehensive, and their chain of command is very structured. At maximum power, as they are currently, they are in a prime position to invade the Kru'a region. Whether this invasion will succeed depends on if they can gain a foothold in the nation, however. They are the most likely to begin a ground battle, believing in the tradition of capturing towns rather than ships, and are known for their excellent footman formations. Their tactical magicians are the most common form of officer, meaning that most strategies involve at least some hint of supporting magic, and as they prefer to do battle outside of a defensive field, they are the most likely to be able to utilize their ranged arsenal--Consequently the largest of the factions.

Kingdom of Kru'a - The Kru'a started off as a slave race, sent to the continent to begin the long and extremely perilous task of developing it into an inhabitable region for their Veritah masters. There was a strong Veritah military presence. However, as they grew to understand the land and as the Veritah had not sent enough experts to keep up with their rate of understanding, they came to be more confident. Eventually, they pulled deeper into the Continent, gambling on their ability to out-survive the alien continent's dangers against their military oppressors. The Veritah republic, having realized that they were, indeed, superior at surviving in these climates, pulled their soldiers back to the towns constructed by their slaves. The Kru'a, however, were able to use these structures against their former masters, and after a long and bloody war achieved independence. They vowed never to live under Veritah rule again, and so crowned a King, a Veritah official who had been instrumental in their defeat of the Republic, and began a policy of rapidly developing new technologies and tactics to better prepare against the Republic. The Kru'a are widely regarded as dishonest in their tactics, but brilliant in everything they do. They strongly promote intelligent decision, no matter their cost, and have what is widely considered to be an extremely corrupt government. However, the Kru'a view this as an inevitability, and simply use it as an opportunity to further their own ends. It is extremely inefficient, and as such harbors an equally inefficient and underfunded army. However, each Kru'a official has a military force of their own and is always willing to utilize to further their own glory. They are the most likely to go on the defensive, and as such are the most reliant on the PR field technology. Their ranged capabilities are practically nonexistent, and their officers are each far too valuable to field in each battle. However, their tactics are impeccable and they can often make up for their disadvantages with unorthodox maneuvers.

Rebellion - With no official name, the Rebellion exists with the sole purpose of putting a more pure government in place. The current ruler of the rebellion, Tylen Berfore, is of the belief that this would be a dictatorship, and so the Rebellion reflects his beliefs: It is to the point where the encephalon, modeled after his own Magical Signature, is specially designed to be capable of acting as a tactical guide. It can be said that Tylen himself leads every battle, though the reality is that even the encephalons can only assist to such a degree. The result is that they fight in very similar manners, with the differences primarily emerging only on an individual scale. There are few true officers: Instead, the encephalon-granted abilities of their fighters are more common than those of their opponents. They are the most likely to adapt to any situation and choose the best manner of attack, though they almost certainly will attack.

Sky Pirates - The Sky Pirates have as many different names as they do techniques. Each Captain has his own method for raiding a Flagship, but that was the one thing they could always agree on--They had to be raiding an opponent's flagship. A battle with sky-pirates meant a battle in the sky. They had no care for towns beyond pillaging for supplies, and then only when the prey was weak. The current most powerful Sky Pirate--Charismatic enough to convince other Pirates to listen, and rich enough to bribe them to act--Was Lyric, a name he'd gotten from his previous occupation as minstrel. They prefer raiding Flagships directly, are extremely unorganized, and are limited to a Flagship's capacity for their number of soldiers, as they are largely incapable of working together.


-- Rough idea: The Republic is your British Empire, so to speak. They fight risky battles outside of protection zones. They don't look to board ships or invade cities initially, instead preying on armies moving from one place to another. Keep in mind that Flagships are relatively new and as such are unlikely to be everywhere at once. Many armies still move the old-fashioned way. Especially Rebel armies.

Keeping that in mind, the Kru'a is likely to stay in key cities and wait for attack. They have garrisons everywhere, of course, but you can rest assured, at least one battle every round will be Kru'a on the defense. It's just their primary strategy. Either that, or a counter-attack. It's sort of a cycle.

The rebels are likely to attack cities and ships alike, and having a base of operations is a must for them. So there will probably always be a ship to board. Similarly, that ship will probably have more than half their fighting force nearby, to make sure that their encephalon, which allows for commands to be given on a more rapid scale, remains safe.

Finally, the Sky Pirates will always have a ship of their own, but will rarely defend it with anything more than the required crew. On the upside for them, their crew is as good at fighting as their frontliners.  On the downside, they will rarely have reinforcements. Their battles are rarely more strategic than 'take that ship,' and to be perfectly honest, unless they take every ship in the game, or at least the majority, they're unlikely to be anything more than your standard bad guy.

3. Powers

Magic isn't just a gift--It's a resource. Or rather, it requires resources to breed within a person. Magic is one part organic and one part material: On one hand, organics are capable of producing an infinite amount of magic. So long as they live, magic allows them to control their existence. On the other hand, in order to utilize it, one has to have special materials implanted within them, and rare fruits ingested in order for their bodies to be capable of sending that magic over long distances. And each body reacts to magic differently. There is no one established method for harnessing the power, though once the power is harnessed, it is universal in its' application. As a result, due to how a magic is harnessed, it may be more efficient for a magic user to apply it in a certain way--Although the application is the same as for any other Magician, some may be harnessed in such a way that already meets the requirements of a spell, making it a more convenient spell to cast.

However, due to the difficulty of harnessing magic, it is considered to valuable for the common footsoldier, and is instead reserved for the officers. And officer, therefore, is also not allowed to directly participate in a battle, as their death would mean a loss of an important resource. They must use their magic to the benefit of their soldiers, and must also command their soldiers proficiently in order to be of use in battle. They are known as Tactical Magicians.

With the advent of the Encephalon, the availability of this power has somewhat broadened. It was discovered that an Encephalon can even manipulate the magic of living beings--Indeed, a ship cannot maintain a stable altitude without a sufficient crew, meaning that only the most powerful of magicians could pilot an entire Flagship without any help. In return, humans may use the Encephalon themselves in order to manipulate magic. This, however, requires what is known as an 'encephalon heart,' which is a sort of crystallization of magic which occurs whenever the encephalon recognizes an especially strong beacon and begins channeling disproportionate amounts of magic through that particular being. The result is a manifestation of powers. Often, these powers are subconsciously manifested and then in turn programmed into their encephalon hearts. Their development is impossible to consciously control, though their application is freely available to their owner.

-- What this means in gamer-speak is that true magic is reserved for Officers. You can start off as or build up into one, but if you do, your days of charging into battle are over. You'll be expected to stay behind friendly lines and give commands. Fighting the enemy yourself is a last resort, and usually determined by your GM. However, true magic is also extremely powerful and as long-ranged as your soldiers: You're sort of 'tuned' into the soldiers under your command, so you can channel their magic, too. That means that wherever your men are, your magic can be as well. The more men there, the more powerful the magic.

However, players want to be cool, too. So there's the Encephalon heart. This means that for every feat accomplished in battle--A feat recognized by the GMs, not just one you believe is a feat--You'll gain some sort of ability. At first, it'll be having a heart. The thing is pretty powerful on its' own, and allows you to conceivably survive some pretty crazy stuff. You'll need one, and in order to gain it, you'll have to survive your first battle. As the players are special, I'm making the requirements for this thing pretty low, but if you want to get strong, you're going to need to find your role and excel at it. Remember: You're not impressing the soldiers, you're showing your ability to a magical force which recognizes nothing except for the strength of its' beacons. Even if you're never so much as seen by your allies, all you have to do is impact the battle in some significant manner.

After that, you'll talk it over with your Faction GM(Yes, there will be one,) and then once you've designed a power, you'll send it to me for confirmation and balancing. From there on, you can either develop that one, or gain new ones, dependent on your own preferences. Your meta self is, after all, the 'subconscious' of your character.