OOC - A Roleplay Idea

Hey everybody,

It's me, Hosea *awkward wave*. This idea was actually inspired by a writing project I have been working on recently, and I just wanted to share it on here and see what you guys think. Here goes:

Hindu philosophers called it "Prana". The Chinese called it "Chi". Before existence, the life-force which manifested the reality we live in now had existed in it's pure form. Ocorah.

This pure life force was wielded by astral beings, called Arcanae (singular "Arcana"), who used the Ocorah to build realms of existence. There were two different Arcanae: those who manifested with positive Ocorah (called "Aether"), and those who manifested with negative Ocorah (called "Dark Aether").

Arcanae who used Aether were able to transform the Ocorah into this positive life-force, and then use it to build their realms. The realms built from Aether were idyllic, radiating with light and beauty. But there also existed realms of darkness, which threatened to taint the beautiful realms of the Aether. These realms were created from Dark Aether, and consumed any form of life that thrived in the Aether-built realms. Arcanae who built these dark realms consumed the Ocorah and contaminated it, manifesting dark and twisted planes of existence that leeched off of the Aether-built realms.

For eons, these realms of light and darkness co-existed. But slowly, the darkness had begun to spread. Many Aether-built realms were abandoned by their creators as they fled from the destructive realms of the Dark Aether, and their realms were wiped out of existence. Only a few Aether-wielding Arcanae have managed to stand against these dark forces, but they would not be able to fend it off for too long.

As a by-product of the opposing forces of Aether and Dark Aether, another realm had manifested. This plane of existence was wedged between the fringes of Light and Darkness, and it served as both a barrier and a channel. On it, other beings emerged. They were neither of the Light, nor were they from the Darkness. They were called Nomads, travelers who could physically venture between realms, and their plane of existence was called Earth.

Billions of years later, the Nomads had evolved, becoming what we now know them to be. Humans. Their plane-crossing abilities had been suppressed to strange visions and supernatural out-of-body experiences. As vestigial traces of their abilities slowly diminished through the generations, so did their perception of reality. But not all Nomads had remained on the Earth realm billions of years ago. Some of them stayed in the realms they had traveled to, and after witnessing the loss of their kind, they have finally returned to the Earth-realm, in hopes of saving humanity from causing their own extinction.

There it is. Let me know if this is roleplay-worthy in the comments below, and you're most welcome to make suggestions and/or changes to the concept.

Keep in mind that this is just a sneak-peek on the actual story. I've already laid out the structure of the roleplay, and will post a draft on here once I get a decent number of interested members who are willing to participate.

Update: I'm just going to add on to my post (since I'm bored and I feel like I need to explain more on this concept) but y'all can just scroll through.

What I'm planning for this roleplay is something around world-building and open world adventure. Players could create their characters based off of the categories listed below:

1) Human - thought you were highly irrelevant in the past? Well, don't worry! This game is all about you, and I can assure you that taking part in this roleplay will make you love your normal humanness. As a human in the roleplay, you live a life that is better or worse than the average human. I do not encourage you to add a background story of your character, but if you want to, then just remember that your history is totally unrelated to the actual story. You're just a normal human being in a certain part of the world, just living life one day at a time. Nothing major, no secret life, no crazy powers or mutations or what-not.

Warning: things may get hashtag "Relatable" and you will be experiencing everyday Human problems. Like waking up late for school.

2) Nomads - you are the most important part of the story. Previously, you had been living in another realm, learning about their ways and acquiring unique skills. But now, you're on the Earth-realm. Which means, you'll be demoting yourself to being an ordinary human. Let's call you Human-ish. The reason why you've decided to come back to the Earth realm is because you've noticed that humans are becoming less and less Nomad-ic. And you want to change that. Being a Nomad though, you don't have to travel by plane or car or boat or any human-made transportation. Why? Because you know the secrets of travelling between realms dummy, and that's what makes you different from the ordinary human being! With that experience you have as a Nomad, you will have to choose a human that you can teach and train to utilize this lost knowledge. As you might've guessed, the human you'll be choosing will be one of those from the first category above.

3) Sentinel - you don't need a character sheet for this category. Just pick a name (preferably weird, preferably pronounceable) and jump right in. The whole point of being a sentinel is to just explore the realm that you or others have created. So instead of the boring and unattractive info dumps that come with world-building, you can simply create multiple sentinels in one or more realms and start playing. Easy as eating apple pie. If you however, want to create a sentinel that you think could be effective in driving your own subplots and arcs, then go ahead and immortalize them on the character sheets, and keep reminding everyone that they should not die. Please. Do keep in mind that sentinels can only wield the elements in their home realm. If you're in another realm (besides Earth and the Dark Realms), then you're just as ordinary as humans are in their own realm. If you're planning to travel to the Earth realm for vay-cay, please don't. The Ocorah in that realm is impure, so expect to get sick and feel horrible during the rest of your stay. You can control elements in the Earth-realm, but you might as well wipe out the entire human population (just kidding. But please don't come to Earth.). The realms of Dark Aether are out of the question. Maybe come back when they're not sucking life out of everything?

4) Phantoms - you're mean and scary, and you drain the life-force from your surrounding environment, as well as living beings who dare come close to you. You're also an active conduit, meaning you have been put on Aether-built realms to consume the life-force there and feed your creator (think Wi-Fi hotspots. You're the anchor that tethers your dark realm to it's host, and you continue to channel all the life-force you've consumed back to your Arcana, so they can stay sustain the realm). Since the manifestation of the barrier that is the Earth realm, realms of Dark Aether have struggled to keep their planes of existence from fading out. The Arcanae of these realms then created you to go out to other realms, corrupt their life-force, and channel the corrupted Ocorah back to the Arcanae who created you. You always leave a trail of barren desolation in your wake, and you use fear and darkness to intimidate your opponents. Do keep in mind that you can only consume the life-force of the host realm, not wield it. Also, you're free to roam wherever you please, but if the Arcana of the host realm catches you (which is almost always), you're dead. So don't create a character sheet unless necessary. You can have multiple phantoms everywhere, and even build an interplanar realm within the host realm (I'll show you how that works later). Earth realm isn't out-of-bounds for Phantoms, and they can easily blend in with the human population using their awesome shapeshifting skills (bonus power when in the Earth realm). Your life-drain passive will not kill anyone, but will wither the plants and trees around you. People who come close to you often always feel fear or depression, or both. You're the reason why there's a high suicide rate in most countries. Don't let the Nomads catch you, though. They may not be able to wield elements on the Earth-realm, but you're not from the Earth-realm, so expect death or a deal.

5) Arcanae - finally, the moment you've been waiting for (I always save the best for the last). What better feeling is there than to create a world of your own and have complete control over it? As Arcanae, you are the gods and goddesses of your realm. You have used either forms of Ocorah (Aether or Dark Aether) to build your realm, and are now overseeing everything that is happening on your creation. In your realm, you're omnipotent. In other realms, it depends. If you're one of the positive Arcanae who manifests with Aether, then you must consider staying in your own realm. Leaving your realm will cause it to fade from existence. Why? Because you are the only source of the Aether that sustains your entire realm. Your Aether is unique, because it evokes a certain positive emotion: joy, love, inspiration, courage...whatever this emotion is, it is reflected on your realm. If your Aether is Joy, then every being that thrives in your realm will always be joyful, no matter what. Also, you are the most beautiful being in your realm, aesthetically appealing in every way. No other Arcana can replace you in your realm, certainly not one of those dirty, Dark-Aether-wielding ones.

"Oh," you say "But that's exactly who I am." Well, congratulations, I hate you! (Jokes) As an Arcana wielding Dark Aether, you're the epitome of desolation. You corrupt the Ocorah, contaminating it and using that corrupt life-force to build your realm. Your realm is what horror movies live for: it's dark and grotesque, with no sign of life. Think Hades' lair, minus the souls (you can add that if you want to, though), or the realm of Anubis from the Gods of Egypt. Your realm is a soul-sucker. Literally. Before the Earth-realm manifested, sustaining your realm was as easy as building it over the realms of Aether and watching gleefully as the darkness consumes the entire realm and wipes it from existence. Thanks to the Earth-realm though, your only hope of sustaining your realm is creating conduits to corrupt and consume the life-force of the realms of Aether and channel the corrupted energy back to your realm. There are two types of conduits you can create. Passive conduits appear as objects or structures that are either damaged, broken or shaped grotesquely. They can be rocks or trees or any natural structure. Your passive conduits have the sole purpose of sustaining the realm itself. This allows you to roam freely outside your realm, without it fading out of existence. Passive conduits can only be destroyed when the host realm ceases to exist. Your active conduits, however, are your Horcruxes. They're called phantoms, and the Aether they corrupt and consume is channeled straight to you. Imagine how powerful you must feel right now. Unfortunately, active conduits are easily vanquished by the Arcana of the host realm (something about being omnipotent), so don't get your hopes too high. Being able to leave your realm is an advantage you have over the Aether-wielding Arcanae (just be sure to mention that you have a passive conduit anchored somewhere before you visit your Darth Vader friend next door), but don't stay away for too long. Passive conduits are weaker than active conduits, and will not be able to sustain the entire realm in your prolonged absence. Also, if there was no Earth-realm, you could probably march over to the host realm and just build your realm over it. Unlike Aether-wielding Arcana, you can walk into their realms with ease, though if they came to your realm they might cease to exist. Since the Earth-realm has ruined everything for you, you take pleasure in bringing chaos and destruction into the realm, infecting humans with hatred, anger and greed. Be wary of Nomads, though. They can't kill you, but they're a threat nonetheless.

So that's it on characters. Keep watching this post for more info!

Happy roleplaying!