The land of Arcania has been at peace for nearly a millennium, or so the public would like to believe. Governed by the Arcania family, this dynasty has done its best to maintain order. In these days however, it's an effort that's become increasingly difficult. Crime, murder, poverty, famine, and drought have plagued the less fortunate. In the slums of each city, and numerous towns, they have essentially been rendered places that many people would ignore and avoid. This issue became increasingly apparent to the royal family, especially King Zartum of Arcania.

Transport

The main mode of transport in the land of Arcania is Trains. The Trains run on railways made of magic, which must be maintained at all times by those proficient enough to cast it. They run on the ground, they go up in the air, and eventually they'll be above the clouds. The Train business is a free market, so each Train is owned by a different manufacturer or crew. As such, each Train has a different set of rules, regulations, and ways of doing things, making one Train experience very different from another.

Each Train in general has a kind of staff you can usually expect regardless of which you are on. There is always a captain who runs the whole thing, engineers who keep it working, guards who protect the passengers from danger (whether it'd be from the inside or an attack on the out, often by pirates), a mage to lay out the tracks, and female servers/maids who are often used to provide sex appeal as much they are to serve and clean.

One of the biggest threats that citizens face when outside of town are pirates. These pirates fly on advanced hot air balloons, with the biggest ones flying in zeppelins. They often attack and rob people for their possessions. They often attack Trains, which is why each Train has their own weapons and defense force to fight back. They are also very interested in bounties, and if someone of interest is on a Train, they'll be sure to try to board it in order to capture them.

The Train of particular focus in this roleplay is the Rooster. This Train is... unique, to say the least. It's run by a ragtag crew that's highly differentiated from the normal posh, clean experience that the other Trains offer. As the Rooster is used as a means of exploration and adventure more than a means of transporting citizens around, you'll have very different experience riding this Train over any other. It's perhaps fitting then that the runaway Princess of Arcania would board this Train after the schism of the Arcania family.


Arcania

There are six major cities in the land of Arcania;

- The Sky City of Aeros

- The Forest City of Oakhorn

- The Mountain City of Eisridge
Eisridge is the largest manufacturing center in Arcania, but it isn't the primary center for the kingdom. It's independent, hard-working population suffers from a multitude of respiratory diseases and degenerative conditions, from raspy coughs to pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. It's name, rather unimaginatively, comes from the fact that most of it sits on the ridges of the Eisr mountain chain, rich in coal, minerals, and rubber trees. The technocratic local government is a web of competing business interests and inventors or political bosses scrambling for patents and suing one another out of office.

- The Desert City of Sunsted
Sunsted, surrounded by forty miles of punishing desert in all directions, sits on a huge deposit of copper, tin, and salt, and utilizes a primitive array of solar collection devices for electricity. Water is imported, or drilled from subterranean aquifers and refined. Sunsted proper is encased in a large biodome that helps deflect the sun's heat and protects it against invaders (not that invasion is a large threat; the miles of flat land are perfect for manufacturies, and Sunsted is the largest exporter of firearms and ammunition in Arcania).

- The Island City of Clear Blue
Clear Blue started as the private island of an eccentric woman who struck rich in the early days of Eisridge. Large extensions were built onto the island as she invited other rich, eccentric friends. Some additions were sand and rock collected from elsewhere and dumped adjacent to the island; raft-towns were formed with wooden boardwalks connecting them; finally a wide metal expanse was built to ring the island, extending it to the 12 miles it now has. Less eccentric people came as investors, building hotels and casinos to make Clear Blue the only tourist destination in all of Arcania. Workers came in droves, preferring low-wage service jobs to factories or manual labor. Most were paid in paper funds and deposit notes refundable only by the businesses for which they worked, usable only in the grocery stores and restaurants (and, if lucky, hospitals) owned by the same trust. For the last three decades, the majority of its working population has been more-or-less slaved to their clocks.

- The Royal Kingdom (located in the center of Arcania)

The Trains travel through the vast land and air of Arcania from city to city, along with many of the towns in-between. Each city looks extraordinarily promising. With schools, libraries, theaters, and many opportunities abound. Each city however, also has a dark side. There are slums where the poor and diseased are relegated to, there exists brothels where men (and women) court female (or male) prostitutes to serve their 'mortal' needs. Crime exists all around, and those born into wealth are known to get off free of charge. This isn't something the Royal Family was proud of, especially the King. He wanted to put an end to this, but it's even more difficult now.

Plot: Past

Over one thousand years ago, Arcania was attacked by magical race of beings known as The Silence. They're were very human like, the only real difference in appearance was their dark blue skin. They were extremely proficient in magic, a field that humans to this day have only barely scratched the surface of. They could cast fire out of one hand, and ice out the other. With both hands, they could annihilate large quantities of human beings, before the humans could even take out one of them. Their goal, so it seemed, was to wipe out humankind. They would have succeeded too, if it weren't for a forbidden romance.

Princess Syrin of the Quiet, held a power unlike any other. Her father, The Silent King wished to keep her away, fearing the possibility of it turning against him. He abused her, he degraded her, he tried to take away her spirit, all to make her feel weak and to make her afraid of him. In reality, he was afraid of her. One day, she escaped from his clutches. Wandering the desolated land of Arcania, she was discovered by Beterov Arrins, leader of the human resistance. While there was tension as first, given the circumstances, they discovered a love for each other that most would find impossible. This changed everything. After the victory, the Arrins family became the Royal Family of Arcania, and each member was from then-forth addressed as "of Arcania".

Syrin, with her great power, single-handedly sealed away The Silence back into their own dimension, included her father. This came at a great cost, however. The amount of energy it took nearly killed her, and made her days in life numbered. There was only one way to keep her, and her magic alive; by sealing her soul and energy into a human being. This would occur each generation, as a secret tradition within the Royal Family. The magic would be sealed within the sons or daughters of kings, and they would not know of it until adulthood. Outsiders didn't know of this, so as to protect those carrying it. For a millennium, it worked fine. Now, not so much.

Plot: Present

Over one thousand years later, King Zartum of Arcania was prepared to do everything in his power to make Arcania a better place. The state of decay had become an embarrassment for him as he grew older, and when he claimed his spot on the throne, his goal was to get rid of rot that the citizens had become so accustomed to. It wasn't met with difficulty however. Many resisted his ideas, because it would involve putting more taxes on the public, which he held as a necessary evil as it was needed to raise more funding for the cleanup. He also wanted get rid of brothels, which crossed a line with many people. Zartum also had to deal with his rather troublesome family life, such as dealing with his rebellious daughter.

Unfortunately, everything came to halt when his younger brother Orphelius of Arcania built up an army of followers to overtake his older brother. Many were against his controversial decisions to tax citizens in order to help people who aren't worth it, and to eliminate brothels from the public. Of course, these were all convenient ploys for Orphelius to rally up followers behind him in order to get what he really wanted; Syrin's magic sealed within the Princess of Arcania. If he could control that magic, he would be the most powerful man in all of Arcania. No one would be able stand up to him.

Once he made his move, it went without any setbacks. Zartum was overrun, cornered, and arrested by Orphelius and his followers. In a matter of hours, the Kingdom of Arcania was successfully taken over with Orphelius of Arcania being crowned King. There was one problem however; The Princess had escaped. The Princess managed to sneaked out of the castle before the raid even began, not knowing of what was about to happen. She boarded the Rooster in disguise of a normal person. Now she's got the world after her, and the only thing keeping her safe are the Rooster and the ragtag crew that runs it.

Unbeknownst everyone, the seal that kept The Slience away from Arcania for a millennium is now starting to deteriorate. With no one to stop him this time, The Silent King is gathering his forces to desolate the lands once the seal finally breaks. When that happens, King Orphelius will be nothing compared to what will be in store.

Roles:

Please reserve your roles in advance in either the OOC thread or by contacting me through PM:

Train Crew

Train Captain: Kovas Scarmanka (reserved)
Navigator: Terrance Lesner (FamishedPants)
Engineer: Mackenzie Mahrone (Byte)
Combat Force: Nathaniel Kain (RCJJ23)
Alexander "The Doc" Atreides (Eisenhorn)
Mage: William Caeronvar (MayContainPlagiarism)
Staff: (Unlimited)
Passengers: (Unlimited)
Princess of Arcania: (Kirsche)

Opposition (unlimited)
Alexander "The Reaper" Castion (Darkferret)
Gerald "Bugsy" Seigal (MCP)


Character Skeleton

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[b]Name[/b]
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[b]Age[/b]
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[b]Sex[/b]
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[b]Role[/b]

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[b]Appearance[/b]
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[b]Height[/b]
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[b]Weight[/b]
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[b]Personality[/b]
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[b]Likes[/b]
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[b]Dislikes[/b]
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[b]Sexual Preference[/b]
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[b]Abilities[/b]
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[b]Equipment[/b]
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[b]History[/b]
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[b]Additional Notes[/b]
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