Welcome to Aurora Sky! We are a Sword and Sorcery roleplay. Check out the area above this box if you're interested in making a character, and check out the cbox below if you have any questions! Hope to RP with you soon!
Have you said hello in the cbox? We'd love to hear from you!
So, what is the plot?
Avarka is very much a sandbox, although there are world events and the like. Current world affairs at the moment:
The Nation of Ballena (midwest coastal nation) is at war with pirates that are being backed by Orl Island. The latter, mist-shrouded island, continually disappears and reappears at random locations within 50 miles of the coast. The island was a part of the empire, it wants to be a sovereign state.
The old crime families of Ballena were revealed to be working with the pirates, and have been swiftly dealt with by the ruling oligarchy. The resulting power vacuum has created an absolute mess of Ballena's criminal underworld - more than one gang dreams of filling the gaps the devastated old families have left behind.
Tensions between the Kuanepi cities and the Parjev mountain towns (both northeastern mountains) are high after everyone in the far-north town of Vaember was found dead a year ago. We recommend reading Kuanepi's full history if this interests you.
There currently isn't much going on (nationally) in the other nations, aside from an ongoing iron shortage due to the issues plaguing the two main sources of metal (Ballena / Kuanepi) on the continent. This is particularly a problem for the independent city-state of Verto, which was planning to unveil some sort of machinist transportation system. Something about animal-less wagons and rails?
There are countless other things to do on Avarka! Players can make up and run things as well, see the "Site Rules" on the sidebar for the rules for that. Also, check the active threads or just ask what's going on in the cbox!
What is the setting's tech level and general cultural feel?
Although the nations are quite different from each other, Aurora Sky's setting is somewhat reminiscent of the mid 18th to early 20th centuries. A notable difference is that pistol technology is magic oil based, rare, expensive, and about as useful as pre-modern revolvers (quite survivable). There is generally less discrimination as well.
Relations between races?
Are generally fine. The Kuanepi-Parjev tension* and the cast system in Delvena are pretty much the only race-based divides in the world. Granted, a few of the older elves in Manofaide remember the Saventa-Manofaide war all too well**. Some nations/regions are more racially diverse than others.
*These societies have starkly different racial makeups with little overlap.
**Saventa mostly consisted of shifters.
Style of Play?
We use free-from resolution. For example, if Bob swings a sword at Joe then whoever is controlling Joe says if Joe dodges, tries to parry, etc.
Mechanics describe what something is and what it does. For example, your character might possess an iron shield that can magically create a strong blast of repelling force once every three posts. Mechanics also deal with learning more spells, improving items, etc.
To summarize: Succeeding at something is purely RP, the mechanics just describe the resources at your character's disposal.
I want to start playing! What should I do?
You can, of course, do more, but we recommend doing at least this:
Read the Site Rules, they're right below "Are you new? Click here!"
Click one more line down on the sidebar - "Roleplaying Tips", and quickly glance over the bolded bits (Start of each section). If anything interests you check it out, otherwise continue to the next step!
Click one more line down on the sidebar - "Character Creation" and read all of it (well, the first part anyway. Maybe just skim the example character).
Skim the Races section. Read whatever race(s) catch your fancy in more detail.
If you haven't done so already, register your Out of Character (OOC) account.
There are a ton of options for new characters, not to mention the ability to make up minor abilities/items. At this point, you might want to simply describe what sort of character you want to play and have the staff suggest specific Aspects/LT's and backstory elements you might want to look at. "Oh, that sounds like [city X]" or "Going Fire Branded as your aspect and choosing Infusion Sage would allow you to do XYZ, which sounds like what you are looking for?" You can do this in the cbox, put up an unfinished char sheet and ask for help, whatever. We're happy to be setting lore Google for you.
Alternately, you can just check out the other sidebar links to learn about the nations and such! Or anything in between - perhaps you want to read the nation and timeline lore but have no desire to go through the (admittedly massive) spell list. We understand.
In any case, Avarka is a large continent - someone not knowing every spell or much about Kuanepi affairs when they've never been north of Manofaide is completely reasonable IC. Don't worry about it.
Create your first character account.
Create your first character sheet as per the Character Creation page.
Get approved.
And then you're ready to go! There is no limit regarding how many characters you can make.
