Dark Dreams: A Napoleonic AC

You are one of several mages on the planet Earth. You don't know your past. One night in 1775, all of you awoke in different places across North America and Europe to a full moon above you. You have no memory of how you got there, or how you gained your powers. Only 2 things are certain for you: You are not of this planet, and you are growing more powerful than you can imagine.

Time has passed. Some of you were only mere children when you awoke on this planet. Others were already 'wise' elders. But now, in 1803, you have found your way into the halls of power, into the walls of the great countries of this Age. Some of you have joined Napoleon in his quest for an enlightened Europe. Others among you have grouped together in Great Britain to aid the coalition defend against Napoleon's new weapons. Both groups are extremely powerful, and grow their power by the day. Both groups are organized into the Order of Nelson (Coalition) and the Order of Napoleon (France). Led by a mysterious master mage, these groups have prepared to aid their respective factions in any way they can.

Either way, in wake of the destruction about to be dealt and the devastation created, some have begun to hope that this is merely a Dark Dream. A Nightmare. But thats all it is: A hope.

Just one other thing: Dragons have recently come out of hiding. They have apparently been hibernating and resting in mountain ranges such as the Rockies, Alps, and Himalayas for thousands of years, and the wide use of magic by mages have awakened them. They are typically intelligent and have also chose sides in this great conflict.

ACTION CHATROOM: http://darkdreamsANAC.chatango.com/


CHARACTER CREATION NOTE: Male only chars. 1803 Europe after all.

Name:
Age:
Physical Description:
Background:
Order:

Combat

You can carry 4 weapons at any time, 1 set of armor if you wish, 1 magical item separate from the other slots, and an unlimited number of Misc in your inventory.

Weapons available:
Blunderbuss
Carbine
Musket
Rifle
Pistol

Officer Rapier
Cavalry Sabre
Bayonet
Knife

Grenade

Transportation

All mages can take their pick of the following, but be aware that certain missions will not allow you to take certain creatures with you. An example is that on an infiltration mission, you won't be able to take a greater dragon, but you may be able to ride a horse or a raven. Also, dragons are intellectually smart, and have their own morals. Normal animals aren't and don't.

Horse- A normal horse, normally faster than a warhorse, but performs better on roads.

Armored Warhorse- A horse bred for the blood and gore of a battle.

Enlarged Raven- A Raven enlarged by the magic of a mage.

Lesser Dragon- Smaller, slimmer, can't breathe fire, but can turn itself and its rider invisible and is more comfortable in and around water.

Greater Dragon- Larger, powerful, breathes fire, and virtually indestructible by any non magical means short of an artillery barrage.

Blood Dragon- An evil, intellectually cunning, and very vicious dragon, although smaller than a greater dragon a blood dragon can use Psionic abilities in great need and can breathe both fire and magical energy. Can also use magic at will.


Magic

Magic is divided into 8 elements. Each mage is allowed to choose a mastery of 1, and the ability to use 2 more. A Mastery is what it says on the tin. You can do just about anything within reason in regards to that element. Use Ice to freeze the channel over, allowing the French Army to invade Southern England. Use water to sink enemy ships of the line. To have 'ability' over an element means you can use that element to do your bidding and accomplish your objective, but there are limits to your control over it. For example, having the Earth Element ability will not allow you to create an earthquake, but you can throw moderately sized pieces of earth at enemies. If you have no ability or Mastery of an element, you can still use it, but only in minor tasks such as using water to breathe underwater or to create a cup of water form the moisture in the air. So it goes:

Limited (Minor Tasks) All begin at this.
-
Ability (Moderate Control) Allowed to start with 2
-
Mastery (Complete control) Allowed to start with 1
-
Imperium (Godly Control, but is exhausting and its use can possibly kill you) Has to be taught by somebody or something that already has knowledge of it (Leader of your Order, Leader of the Dragons, artifact from your home planet, etc)

After every mission, you may or may not be given magic points. Each magic point will allow you to upgrade an element from Limited to ability or ability to mastery. Once you have 3 mastered elements, it will cost 3 for the next mastered element, and 5 for the next after that, then 7, etc. Magic points can also be found in the mission from a magical artifact discovered.

ELEMENTS:

Water
Earth
Air
Ice
Light
Darkness
Fire
Psionic

And now, let the fun begin!

PS: I am looking for an assistant GM if anybody is interested. You will essentially run missions when I am unavailable, allowing for a regular flow of missions. Contact me if you are interested!

NPCs

Order of Nelson

Lloyd Trapt
26

2 Blunderbusses
2 grenades

Enlarged Raven

Ice Ability
Fire Ability
---
Tango Twahn
44

Rapier
Rifle

Greater Dragon

Light Ability
Fire Ability

Order of Napoleon

Jean Leclerc
71

Rifle
2 Pistols
Officer's Rapier

Horse

Psionic Ability
---
George Trynair
34

2 Rapiers
1 grenade

Kraken

Water Mastery
Fire mastery

With the note that I'm short on time and might not be able to make many missions for a week or two, I'll join.

Name: Dirk van Atta
Age: 29
Physical Description: Tall, almost 6' 3", with brown-blond hair and blue-gray eyes. He's not muscular, but handsome in a cheery sort of way. He isn't utterly beautiful, but he is definitely more than capable of wooing ladies should he desire.
Background: Dirk awoke in Holland as a child of only one year of age. He was raised by a few Dutch merchants, but upon discovering his power he struck out for France, the center of culture in the Enlightenment world. When he arrived in the City of Lights, it didn't take long for him to hear of the Order of Napoleon, even then loyal to the would-be Emperor . . . the rest, as they say, is history . . . .
Order: Napoleon

Equipment:
Rapier
Knife
Pistol

Animal: Horse

Magic:
Fire Mastery
Ice Ability
Earth Ability

-L

I should note however, that once you are in your 20s, you do not appear to age as fast as humans. As in, if you were 22 in 1775, then you probably have the physique of a 25 year old or so. This change in aging does not occur until your late teens or 20s however, and the effect increases as you get older and you age even slower.

Name: Signan Origanam
Age: 35
Physical Description: 6'2, Red Hair, Green Eyes
Background: Will Edit
Order: Nelson

Weapons:
Rifle With Bayonet
Officer's Rapier
Knife

Companion: Lesser Dragon (Shael'Tuum)

Magic:
Light Mastery
Air Ability
Darkness Ability

Question: What exactly do 'darkness' and 'Light' consist of? Are they 'white and black magic' style, or 'the movements of light' style?

DT

Well they are sort of a combination. Light for example can make you or other objects glow, redirect light rays to make things invisible, among other things, but it is also the natural counter to 'dark magic' and in the hands of a well meaning person can be used to heal and create shields of 'magical energy' to combat dark magic.

Dark Magic can involve a kill spell in which if you succeed, your target automatically dies or sustains high amounts of damage. It can also bring out the evil in the hearts of other men or mages. Use your imagination with this one. Darkness and evil are pretty much one and the same at the moment.

You can use either to attempt to enchant one of your weapons with a special ability or bonus damage or for a sword to burn with flames, whatever you want. But its a good idea to try with mastery and above because these types of magic can backfire badly, and the higher your skill, the better your result will be.

I'm highly interested in this. Alternate history is always fun.

Working on a character, possibly a Mamluk.

Cool! Looking forward to you joining.

How is everybody with a mission tomorrow night, thursday, sometime in the afternoon/night EST?

Name: Balam Paal
Age: 48
Gender: Male
Culture: Mayan
Allegiance: Order of Napoleon
Description: Of average height, with an unusually shaped head to signify his status. When trying to blend in, he wears the clothing of a French Burgher, but dons traditional Mayan clothing when in private.
Backround: When Balam awoke, in a remote Maya village nestled in the mountains of Guatemala, he had not only lost his memories, but his entire personality. He was a blank slate, a mental infant, not knowing who or what he was. The locals, astounded by his sudden appearance in their village, consulted the local priest on what to do with this strange being. After some deliberation, it was decided that the best thing for them to do would be to take him in & attempt to reeducate him as one of them. This tactic worked, and as Balam's mind matured, he began displaying some rudimentary magical powers. These bursts of supernatural energy were mostly uncontrolled & emotional; when he noticed his head was shaped differently than the heads of those around him, he unconsciously used basic magic to reshape his skull. Later on, he unknowingly altered the color of his skin when he realized it was of a hue separate from that of the villagers. Within ten years, the process was complete, & Balam not only considered himself fully Maya, but had gained a respectable level of control over his powers. In 1787, seeking to better the treatment of the natives, Balam approached the Spanish Colonial Authorities in Guatemala. The colonial governors refused to listen, however, and attempted to arrest Balam. He was able to escape & return to his village, where he informed the villagers that he had heard of a movement known as the Enlightenment, which promoted reason & equality, while among the Spanish. Seeking to gain support for his people among the great men of Europe, he traveled to France in 1789, and shortly afterward was caught up in the chaos of the French Revolution. He spent the next several years in Paris, where he heard of the exploits of a Corsican General by the name of Napoleon. Upon learning of Napoleon's tolerant treatment of the Muslims in Egypt, he became convinced that Napoleon could help his people, and set out to meet him. He had his chance after the coup d'état that put Bonaparte in power, & has been a loyal member of the Order of Napoleon ever since.
Equipment:

• Weaponry:
  • Macuahuitl (Cavalry Sabre)
  • Blunderbuss
  • Rifle
  • Grenade
• Armor:
  • None Yet
• Magical Items:
  • None Yet
• Miscellaneous:
  • None Yet

Animal: K'aax Amigoo (Enlarged Vampire Bat)
Magicks:

• Mastery:
  • Earth
• Ability:
  • Light
  • Fire
  • Water

I think I can make that if it's 5:00 or after.

Name: Badr Ajam
Age: 38
Physical Description: 5'9, tough but with an agile build. Dark, thoughtful eyes and short black hair, with a Van Dyke style of facial hair.
Background: Ajam "awoke" when he was around ten years old in the shadow of the Sphinx near the grand city of Giza. Shortly after he befriended and was later "adopted" into a band of Mamluk cavalrymen under a wealthy Emir in Egypt. He became renowned for his skill with the blade and was nicknamed the Wind Rider for his swiftness in battle and his quiet, contemplative demeanor.

After he and his Mamluk brothers struggled to expel the French forces from Egypt, Ajam was approached by a mage from the Order of Nelson and asked to join them in the fight against French domination. While he was interested in continuing the fight against the French tyrants, he initially declined, stating that he did not have the mastery of the elements that other members of the Order had. To his surprise, the mage pointed out that he did have such abilities, and it was his mastery of the element of Air that gave Ajam his skill with the blade. Despite no evidence to support the statement, Ajam felt compelled to believe him, and accepted the invitation.

Order: Nelson

Weapons:
Carbine
Scimitar (Cavalry Sabre)
Knife

Companion: Lesser Dragon (Alim)

Magic:
Air Mastery
Light Ability
Psionic Ability

Two additional questions: May I write a short biography for my dragon, and can I replace my officer's rapier with a scimitar for the sake of historical accuracy?

I should note that none of your characters will have a true nationality. As far as you know, you have no idea where you have come from prior to waking up with no memories in 1775. So KA, you can leave the whole mayan thing, but I just want to make sure you don't try and include anything in your backstory that might conflict with the canon memory loss.

Yes, you can write a short backstory for your dragon. And while you cannot replace a Rapier with a Scimitar, you can replace a Sabre with one, as a Sabre and a Scimitar were relatively similar in build while a Rapier was far slimmer and suited to a different style of fighting.

My apologies guys, but I'm going to have to postpone to tomorrow. DO is having a mission tonight and I don't want to conflict. Can everyone make 4PM tomorrow EST?

Sounds good to me.

arya126 said:

Can everyone make 4PM tomorrow EST?

Click to expand...

*would kill to be able to hold missions that early*



DT

Updated sign-up post; I don't think my character's history conflicts with canon, but please inform me if it does.

------

Can an Enlarged Raven be another flying creature instead, such as an Enlarged Bat or an Enlarged Owl, or does it have to be a Raven?

As far as I know the canon so far, it doesn't convict. And yes, I suppose you can if you want, but most enlarged animals that fly will be ravens for other mages (you aren't the only ones you know!)

Mission postponed to saturday at 4PM EST instead due to the GM being an idiot and sleeping in then forgetting about his all important mission.

-Hey wait I didn't forget! I was nearly eaten by a pack of wolves and then LH showed up and tried to make me a SSlave!

-Shut it Arya and give these people an awesome mission tomorrow!

So, when's the next mission? I was watching TDKR with a friend yesterday and I couldn't attend.

No problem. But as for the next mission.....shall we say Nelson mission 3 PM EST Monday, and Napoleon mission at 8 PM EST Tuesday. Sound good for everyone?

Also, tell your friends! We need more people, mostly for the Order of Nelson.