Shipwrecked on a Strange Shore OOC

Idea or loose plot:
The merchant vessel Sea Breeze gets hired by the elders of the Ustter city of Raerith to ship four half tamed Gryphons and a clutch of eggs to them from the Vor city-state of Omilia. They will also be bringing two of the Raerith Riders and their Gryphon’s back to the city. During the trip, they get forced off the trade route and into the open ocean. Once out there, a strange storm swept the ship up and get wreak on a strange shore with even stranger beings living there. The rest of the rolepay will be about the struggle to survive and get home.

World:
The known world of Aresia is made up of the continent of Mersia. There are three islands and then the continent proper. Then known nations stop at a pair of mountain ranges, the Foothill Mountains and then The Wall mountain range. The Wall mountain range is near impassable and has a massive desert on the eastern side. The desert continue for hundred of leagues and ends before the lush, isolated Eastern Nations. A small number of merchants go from Delen and Vors for the rare goods found there. The merchants only get to visit one small port and learn nothing about the Eastern Nations. The technology and culture of the Western nations is roughly about the same as Earth in the 1700s.

Across the Ameroth Ocean lies an unknown, a medium sized continent of Bloosia. Temperate in climate with acres of tall trees and multiple kinds of wildlife. One hundred miles inland from the coast a tall mountain range raises, filled with passes and tunnels leaded to the lands beyond. The interior of the continent is a steamy rainforest, with most of the storms that form within getting trapped by the mountains.

Counties (from the known world):



Crebel: a large island nation off the southern part of the continent. Their king’s family has ruled since the nation was formed. Crebs pride themselves on their swordsmanship. They also have a great hatred of the Elmsmen and a standing rivalry with them over their navy. The Crebs have lunched several attacks on Elmdelem and have lost each time.

Tordard: the largest nation on the continent, Tordard sits right in the middle, stretching from sea to the foothills. For reasons lose to history, the rules and people of Tordard have had long standing wars with Crebel and Elmdelem that never really end, just had a truce for a few years. They have some of the best infantry in the known world, lead by a regiment known only as The Guard.

Delen: A medium sized nation at the northern edge of the continent. Delen stretches from the northern sea to the foothill of The Wall mountain range. The Del are merchants not soldiers, so the Delen military is mostly made up of mercenaries and most of the mercenaries come from Swiden. The king has to compete with the merchants of Vors for mercenary contracts.

Usttor: An island off the northern part of the continent and is the smaller northern one. Usttor is not a nation, as it has no king or government. The people of Usttor, called Usttormen, live in towns with a few small cities, each ruled by a board of elders. The Elms have made several attempts to take over Usttor but have always been driven back or called back to fight in a civil war. Unlike the rest of the know world, the people of Usttor have an equality between men and women. It’s not unusual to see women as town leaders or in the local militia.

Elmdelem: An island nation, one of two islands off the northern part of the continent and is the larger southern one. When not fighting wars on the continent, Elmdelem suffers from almost constant civil war. About ten of the civil wars have been stopped, right in the middle of battle, by the threat of foreign intervention, even if the foreign army is coming to help one faction, all the factions band together and fight as one. During the civil wars, it’s normal to have several factions to lay a claim to the throne. The current king’s family has held the throne for five generations. The Elms or Elmsmen, as they are normally called, have never totally taken over the Usttormen of the northern island. The Elms also have one of the best navies.

Vors: Not a unitified nation but rather a loose collection of city-states. A noble family heads each city-state, most of them have heavy ties to the merchant family that true run the cities. The cities of Vors compete with Delen for mercenary contracts, in peace or war. The nation of Vors lies on a peninsula on the southern tip of the continent.

Schunno: a nation on the southern end of the continent, right above Vors and under Tordard. The kings of Schunno have always tried to take control of Vors but because of the mercenaries that Vors hires, the armies of Schunno have been driven back. The kings of Schunno have normally allied with the kings of Crebel and normally follow the orders of the Crebel court.

Rilnyi: a small nation above Tordard, to the right of Admmor and under Delen, lies on the coast. Like Admmor, Rilnyi often gets into wars with Delen. The lords of Rilnyi favor Elmdelem and often ally with them against Tordard.

Admmor: a small nation above Tordard, to the left of Rilnyi and under Delen, lies against the Foothill Mountains. Like Rilnyi, Admmor often gets into wars with Delen. The lords of Admmor favor Tordard and often ally with them against Elmdelem.

Swiden: a nation running down the Foothill Mountains of The Wall. A thin and narrow kingdom but easily defended from the high mountains and small passes. Most of the money coming into the country is from mercenary contracts. Any Swid that enters a mercenary company needs signed papers from the government of Swiden. Any Swid found with out papers is to be arrested and shipped back to Swiden and the captain of the mercenary company gets a heavy fine. Very nation enforces this law, as Swids are some of the finest soldiers.

Races
Human: your standard human, with no particular powers or abilities. Any other being on Mersia has been driven to extinction long before living memory.

Native to the continent of Mersia.

Elf: humanlike with long pointed ears and slanted eyes. Most elves have blond hair but brown and black are not uncommon hair colors. They stand about as tall as humans do, maybe a little taller. Women but more specificly female priestess, who worship the sun, dominate Elven society. Were the males take professions like building or farming, females become leaders and warriors.

Much like the Maya and Aztec cultures of Earth, the Elves believe that unless blood is paid to the sun for the life it provides, the sun will never return and doom the world to eternal darkness. They raided other races for sacrifices and cut their beating hearts out for the sun every evening.

It is rumored that the priestess get strange powers from completing these rituals and that they use the blood from the sacrifices in the forging of their iron weapons. Helping these rumors are strange happenings when Elven Priestess are around and wounds that wont heal from their weapons.

Native of Bloosia.

Troll: A very large and lanky race, most standing seven feet tall. Their arms are almost too long for their bodies, with their palms reaching their knees. A trolls hand is composed of two thick fingers and a thumb, each tipped with a broad nail. Their faces are roughly humanoid, with long broad noses and a pair of short tusks jutting from their upper jaws. Their cunning is equal to that of a normal man’s and their cruelty greater. Trolls live in separate tribes, warring with each other and all other races. There are two kinds of trolls. Southern Trolls and Northern Trolls, both of which will eat anything they can catch that isn’t another troll. They make no weapons or tool but do them from their meals.

The Southern and more common trolls inhabits the forests of the continent, on both sides of the mountain ring and their skin is normally a dark green color. The Northern Troll is founding the northern part of mountain ring and the frozen tundra in the far north, their skin ranges from a light blue or white.

Native of Bloosia.

Cheich: A humanoid canine, resembling the Red Fox, Fennec Fox or Corsac fox. Native to the planet Precaran, which is far outside the outer rim. Their hands and feet resemble humans more then fox paws. Their bodies are covered in soft fur, ranging in color; from red, to white, to tan to a gray-reddish with silver. There are three subgroups with in the Cheich race; the Tont, the Cred and the Mosr. The Fennec fox resembling Tont tribe is the smallest in size, standing about 3 and half feet tall, with very large ears. Their fur color is normally tan and white. The Cred, resembling the Red fox, are the tallest and most numerous, standing around 6 feet tall, their fur ranging from red and white to silver or black. The Corsac fox resembling Mosr tribe is in the middle for height, normally reaching 5 feet tall. Their fur is a mix or patterned coat of tan, silver and white. All three tribes have the same golden colored eyes with distinctive vertical-slit pupils, similar to those of domestic cats.

Like the Native Americans of North American, the Cheich live in tribes, each with ancestral territories that they live in. Most tribes make a living by farming, hunting and fishing with their clothing made of leather. Most of the weapons, tool and jewelry comes from flint or bone with some bronze produces being acquired in trade with the Dolster. Their spiritual leaders are said to be able to control the weather and storms in particular.

Native of Bloosia.


Dolster: Reptilian humanoid, standing sorter then most humans and elves and cover in small scales ranging in color from green to brown. Where neither sex grows hair of any kind, the next best option in checking the sex of a Dolster is by the chest. Like humans, elves and cheich females, Dolster females have breast but because of the long loose robes each member of the species wears, it’s still hard to tell. No one really knows what their society is like, as no one has ever saw more then six together at the same time. Most travel around by themselves or with a partner and act as traders.

Elves rarely capture Dolster but when they do, most are tortured for information about where their homeland is or how to find others of their kind.

Native of Bloosia.

Other Creatures:
Sea Serpent: large snakes with dragon like heads and scales. Most rarely grow larger then sixteen feet but some of the deep-water species can grow large enough for four of the retiles to threaten a sperm whale. Most are even tempered and can been seen around coastal villages and following ships. They eat scraps thrown into the water or hunt for fish and crustaceans. The large ones are uncommon and mostly seen as young serpents. The teeth and scales of the large deep-water ones are prized. It is not uncommon to see sea serpents forming “hunting pack”.

Found in all waters, be they ocean, lake or stream



Gryphon: One of the stranger creatures in the world, a gryphon appears at first to be the bastard offspring from a lion mating with an eagle or maybe the rear half of a lion attached to the front half of an eagle. Whichever way it seems more plausible, a Gryphon has the forelegs and talons of an eagle, a lion's hindquarters. Its eagle's head has very prominent ears, much like a horse’s but feathered. Their tails are also an oddity, it appears that they have both a lions and an eagle’s tail, with the lion’s tail sticking out of the middle of an eagles.

Gryphon’s are common to the continent of Mersia and are somewhat domesticated by humans. Most nations have either an Air Cavalry or Aircore made up of Gryphon riders armed and dressed like Hussars, save for the shako. Some male gryphons can be temperamental and will only let women ride them, so most Aircores have women riders. While the tamed Gryphon’s will mate and produce young, most nations hire trappers to capture and break wild ones to enhance their bloodlines or steal their eggs.

There are no Gryphons on Bloosia.



Rules and little extras
1. The crew of the Sea Breeze is human
2. The only firearms are slow loading, single shot flintlocks
3. There are only two Gryphon Rider positions
4. Female sailors are rare, so female characters will have to either be pretending to be men, take a Gryphon rider spot or I will allow players to have their character be related to mine (the Sea Breeze’s captain) and have him be bring them home.
5. Weapons aboard the Sea Breeze (save for knives) are stored in a locker and they need to be unlocked by the captain.
6. Maps are forth coming.

Human Weapons
Musket
Blunderbuss
Carbine
Pistol
Musketoon
Volley gun:
Cutlass

Character Profiles
Name:
Age:
Gender:
Race:
Appearance (pic okay):
Profession (or position aboard ship):
History:


Mine
Name: Cerann Hosam
Age: 29
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Appearance: (make the pants black)
Profession: Captain of the Sea Breeze
History: Cerann's father was the captain of the Sea Breeze for many many years before passing the ship on to Cerann upon his death two years ago. Since Cerann was five, he was aboard the Sea Breeze with his father, either as a cabin boy or standing the dog watch or any of the other duties that his father required. This is his third voyage as captain.




The IC can be found here: shipwreaked-strange-shore-needs-players-t11875.html

Name: Troy Ruggeson
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Appearance: On all outward appearances, Troy is a fit young man. Compared to many of his more burly ship mates, one might describe him as short, just reaching 5'7, and perhaps slender. His slightly feminine features, such as the feathery blond hair that falls just below his ears and his wide green eyes, brought much ridicule when he first joined the crew, as did his voice, which might well have been the voice of a boy just before hitting puberty. But enough time on board spent in hard labor earned him the callouses on his hands, the sun and wind hardened skin, and enough respect from his ship mates.
Profession (or position aboard ship): Able Seaman
History: According to Troy, he grew up in a sea side town, led an uneventful life, then decided to join a ship's crew in order to see the world. However, were you to ask a young woman by the name of Alecia Lauten, she could tell you the story of an adventurous girl who disguised herself as a man in order to escape a boring life of being a housewife. She could tell you that this girl has successfully passed herself off as a young man and signed up to crew the Sea Breeze. One last thing she might mention if pressed; she could tell you that adventures at sea are nothing like what you read in books.

Looks good, welcome to the crew.

Oh and I forgot to mention that there are boarding pikes (spears really) stored in racks around the masts.

Name: Captain The Honorable Beren Quicksteel
Age: 21
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Appearance: Beren is tall, dashing, and always well-dressed, even aboardship. His hair is immaculately styled, and his sabre-scabbard is kept polished to a dazzlingly bright sheen.



Profession: Captain of the Elmdelem Royal Gyphon Corps, first squadron, second troop.
History: Despite his young age, a combination of factors, foremost among them his bloodline, which links him to a dozen or more kings of the last 200 years, his father's position as a Count, and his own skill at courtly graces, helped considerably by his natural affinity for military matters and his lightning-quick reflexes on the back of a Gryphon, allowed him to progress quickly through the ranks. It is commonly whispered about court that he stands an equal chance of becoming king or general before his 40th birthday.

Looks good Ice, welcome to the fun

Name:Tarrell
Age:20
Gender:male
Race:human

Appearance (pic okay): Tarrell is a built young man. Standing in at 6''6, he towers over most of his shipmates. He has muscles mass for two, and isn't shy about showing it of. Usually shirtless, you can catch him in his pants, boots, and his cutlass most of the time

Profession (or position aboard ship):Crewman

History:Tarrel always wanted to travel the sea. His father was a sailor, and traveled the world, bring back stories of different kinds of people, monsters not even the imagination could have created, and endless valuables. Yes his father made it seem like the perfect profession. That is until one day, he never returned. First days, then weeks, months, finally ending in 10 years when tarrell got tired of waiting. All this time he trained with his fathers cutlass, worked out, helped around the town, and when he was old enough he joined the seabreeze crew. He was a dedicated sailor, but his main agenda was finding out what became of his father.





Name:Black(given by the humans for the color of fur)
Age:18
Gender:male
Race:Cheich

Appearance (pic okay): Red is a cheich male, native to the Cred tribe. He resembles any other Cred, but with one distinctive difference in his appearance. The scar across his left eye.

Profession (or position aboard ship):Mercenary, but specializing in assassinations.

History:Black has a harsh history, a history that begins with the scar on his face. A scar that was given to him by the leader of his tribe, his father. One day, the tribe attended a meeting that they had every month to discuss what was best for the tribe. Black, a young male, spoke out against the leader's descision, and provoked his anger. Driven by rage and animal instinct, the leader lunged at black. Black hesitated as he didn't prepare for a confrontation from his father, and was brutally attacked. After, he was exiled from his tribe. His wounds healed, except for two. The wound you see now on his face, and the scar in his heart.

After wandering from place to place, looking for a set home, he found a run-down town, filled with low lives, murderers, thieves, and anything else you can imagine. After some time here, Black joined a local gang, and quickly became an asset for it. They taught him the trade, and cut him in on some of the profits in the beginning, but now he was there main source of income, stealing the most valuables, and killing those who probably shouldn't have been. He was on a hit when he snuck aboard the seabreeze and figured he get a free ride, hiding amongst the gryphons.

May I join as a female [don't have time to make a profile tonight]

sure, just keep in mind the three rules about female characters.

I have REMADE this PROFILE


Name: Xena Liast

Age: 26

Gender: female

Race: elf [hides this from many for fear of being attacked or engaged]

Appearance (pic okay):
Xena is usually found in a tight black sleeveless that buttons up and has an elegant collar upon it. Her bottoms are usually a beige tight slacks, accentuated by darker brown knee-high boots with a good three inch heel on them. Around her waist is a faintly blue belt made of gemstones, a gift from her sister. On her wrists are several red bangles and on her inner wrist of her left hand is a black nautical star for a safe trip home. Upon her head is a matching red bandana that easily hides her ears from everyone else- which is usually unquestioned.
Her height is strangely tall, standing a clean six feet with her boots on. Her figure is indeed leaner than others, but she holds equal strength to a youthful man, being a warrior for a good decade or more now. She has soft jade toned eyes, and long black hair to the center of her back. Her voice is somewhat deep yet feminine, holding an elegant accent that cannot be pinned to any one place.

Profession (or position aboard ship): Member of the Elmdelem Gryphon Corps, first squadron, second troop/ Philospher [runs under the command of her captain played by Icehart]

History: Xena grew up with her sister as an Elven Priestess. She was at an early age when she was shown a world of sacrifice and strange ritual. Though Xena never proved herself, to be material enough for the Priestess ways. Instead she became a warrior, and soon the leader of her village- a small society in Bloosia's coastland. But as time continued, she chose to leave- disappearing to her people suddenly. To her, it was time to quench an unthinkable curiosity for what else lay out there for her.
But as she went on and out to learn of these things, she realized how society beyond the elven ways deemed women incompetant. In such a way, her philosophical desires were crushed. But she continued onward, trudging forward valiantly. In such a way, did she find out about creatures called Gryphons. They were completely new to her, and sparked instant curiosity. Thus, she searched for her own, and found one. Now, she is travelling with a crew of humans to carry hers, and others, across the sea.

Umm. . .there's something in the rules about the ship's crew being entirely human.

Alright, well I have to get ready for my team to get on stage, so I will edit it later. I had originally planned it like she were to hide that she was an elf too, but I'll go through and see what I can adjust or tweak.

Xena Liast is in, I've had a little chat with Eternity about her. Iceheart, if you would give her a rank befitting the accompanying officer to your captain on these diplomatic mission.

Oh and if the question is raised about how she got across the ocean or even learned of gryphons, she started training to be an Elven Priestess and would have been in at least one blood ritual, which leads to strange powers. I never said they would kick in right away, every time. They might have shown her an image of gryphons and a one time only across the ocean.