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Masquerade - These Masks We Wear


Zephrun’s Imperium

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Greetings and salutations, people of the Shard! My friend Robin came to me with an RP idea that she wanted to flesh out and I think it is absolutely fabulous. It's sort of a Robin-Hood spoof, set in medievalish times.

Life in the kingdom of Mendahar is unstable and members of court hide under a mask of paranoia. The citizens' loyalty is easily swayed and they haven’t been able to keep a king because of constant assassinations. The current king is very paranoid and has no issues with committing atrocities to protect his reign. It has become a tradition for kings of this land to hire noble ladies who are trained from a young age to be assassins and bodyguards. In addition to these King's Ladies, there is a mysterious dungeons master who has served the kings for as long as anyone can remember. She is referred to as "The Raven" and her identity is kept secret to everyone but the king himself. (She will be played by me) Court is a pit of vipers and full of enemies. 

As for the details of the plot... Our main character will be Robin herself: a King's Lady who ran to the woods after her whole village was massacred for her loyalty. When she turned in her father for acts of treason, the king brought death to the village where Robin and her father resided. The king seeks to hide her escape from the rest of court. Meanwhile, Robin and her friend Biana - another King's Lady defect - are trying to figure out who they can trust and who must be brought to justice. 

So, some ideas for characters y'all could play as: We need someone to play the king, but other than that, it's super open. Members of court would be fun, as well as castle servants. There could also be a foreign princess set to marry the king in order to legitimize his throne and hopefully produce an heir so that things might be more stable (this princess role has been taken by Connie). If you're more into the Robin storyline, Robin has a band of children and teens whom she saved from the village's destruction. Bounty hunters going after Robin would also be a great addition. In terms of magic... we want to keep things on the low down. There can be witches and soothsayers and whatnot, but I would try to keep any "magic" to fortune telling or potions and the like.

Anyway, if there's any interest, anyone can join! I think this'll be super fun! If you post your character sheet, I'll add it to this intro post. Happy RPing!

Character Sheets

Spoiler

Star:

Spoiler

Name: Riva Thadel (yes, Rose's aunt from Oakenwey) otherwise known as "The Raveness"
Appearance: 5'5'', black hair, deep blue eyes, and freckles
Details: Has been the dungeon master for the king for as long as anyone can remember. She often disguises herself as a maidservant and only the King knows her true identity. She always makes appearances at balls with a magnificent midnight blue gown and a raven mask. 
Personality: Closed off, quiet, keeps to the shadows, but commanding when she's in her element
Skills: Skilled potions master, knows a lot about anatomy and human behavior. She has sociopathic tendencies, because torturing is part of her job and she's learned to not care that people are in pain. 

Name: Nicolae Kimby 
Appearance: Extremely tall - 6'6'' - with a mop of messy brown hair, a toothy grin; always manages to wear clothing in a disheveled manner 
Details: 17 years of age. King's manservant, was appointed to the position because his parents were friends of the king
Personality: Will flirt with literally anyone, extremely friendly, not very hard-working, but quite loyal
Skills: Good at origami I decorated your room, sir!

Name: Maverick Oakenwey
Appearance: 6'3'' with grey eyes like his younger brother and auburn hair.
Details: He is a scholar that specializes in history and a member of a reputable group of scholars that publish their work together. 
Personality: A very quiet man, often with his nose stuck in a mystery novel. He is generally very kind to people, but never talk about his family and generally avoids his past. (Ironic, considering his profession ;))
Skills: Critical thinking/problem solving, gardening

Name: Darrin Oakenwey
Appearance: Tall - 6' - with an imposingly muscular build. He has thick dark brown hair and matching brown eyes. 
Details: Was originally a noble from a relatively powerful house until his home burned down with his parents in it. He and his older brother Maverick each took a different path after this tragedy, Darrin becoming a mercenary and Maverick working his way up the social ladder again. Maverick is 29 and Darrin is 26
Personality: Generally not really spoken unless spoken to. He has the heart of a lion and - despite his cutthroat profession - is a very empathetic and charitable person.
Skills: A master archer, he'd much rather take down a target from far off. But he's also not above stabbing someone with a dagger if needs be. Bravery is his real strength.

Bonus: Arvis, Rian, and Igor, a trio of guards imprisoned for following the Raveness' orders under a lockdown. 

Robin:

Spoiler

Name: Robin Curos
Appearance: 5'8'', 19 years of age. She has red hair (always in a side rope or fishtail braid), vibrant purple eyes, freckles across her nose, and leans muscles due to her work as a kings lady. Dresses slightly like pirate wish a hooded coat, usually wears greens and browns to blend in with the forest. 
Details: Her father sent her to train to be a King's Lady (body guard/assassin) when she was 10. As such, she's a master in the art of subterfuge and death. She caught her father trying to assassinate the king, and told the king about it. In response he killed the village her father ruled over and Robin escaped with the children. Her best friend, the Darling Thief joined her. They are the main leader over the children due to survival training as King's Ladies. Robin didn’t have a good family relationship as she was sent away when she was 10, and thinks of the band of children as her family. 
Personality: Has a hard time hiding her true self like everyone else, so she can come across as intimidating. She is quiet, but motherly. 
Skills: Very good with daggers a bow and acrobatics. The only weapon she has trouble with is a sword.

Name: Biana (The Darling Thief)
Appearance: 5’4'' and 18. Brown hair and eyes. Prefers disguises with fancy dresses and often is seen in warm gold. Hides scars on her back.
Details: Orphan that was left with the Kings Ladies, and she acts like Robins sister. Often gets Robin to talk and be social. She dreams of being a princess and loves fancy dresses. She is a well known thief and called the Darling Thief.
Personality: Always says "darling". Bubbly, but proper. Loves Robin and is like a sister to her.
Skills: Pick-pocketing and disguises. Good with hand to hand combat but awful with weapons.

The Unknown Order (inactive):

Spoiler

Name: Arthin Mahim
Appearance: Dark brown hair and eyes. Grizzled look with a relatively short stature and broad shoulders from using bows all his life. He wears a very dark green cloak with black lining.
Details: (is this essentially backstory? If so) Arthin was born a rich noble in far kingdom, but when a rebellion happened he ran with most of the younger nobles. He was able to keep them alive with the wood skills he had learned in the forest near his home, but they slowly died off because all of them had lived pampered noble lives. Eventually there was only Arthin and his oldest friend left and he was able to adapt to the wild. However when some people went hunting a stray arrow caught Arthin's friend and after a time he died. Arthin was driven to the forest living his life in the woods as a hermit. He still helps children whenever he can out of a sense of honor he feels to the noble children he couldn't save long ago.
Personality: Grim and sensible, he was raised with a strong sense of honor growing up and tries to protect children out of a sense of honor to the noble children he couldn't save.
Skills: He is a excellent hunter and archer, he learned to use an axe out of necessity and was taught with a sword in his youth.

Vapor:

Spoiler

Name: Arabella Byrne
Appearance: 4'4'', dirty blonde hair, and gray blue eyes. Small in all ways, cute in a little sister way. Looks about 8
Details: Is one of the children rescued from the village. Both parents were killed in front of her, and she was just barely rescued in time. She loves to wear dresses.
Personality: Generally a very peppy girl. She's the kind of innocent girl who most people would want to hug.
Skills: Not super skilled at much, good at cheering people up and has a big imagination.

Connie:

Spoiler

Name: Princess Aliénor Lumen Baudelaire
Appearance: Petite, with long, wavy, very dark brown hair. Her eyes are dark as well, with olive skin and small features. Often wears long and elaborate gowns, but she keeps leggings on underneath. Age TBD.
Personality: Has been trained to be ladylike, and she looks the part. However, she's got strong opinions and will do things in secret to achieve them.
Skills: Acting, diplomacy, subterfuge, and flattery. She keeps a small dagger (that's actually what Baudelaire means, it's a habit for their family), but she doesn't know how to use it.
Backstory: A foreign princess set to marry the king in order to legitimize his throne and hopefully produce an heir so that things might be more stable. She has no real affection for her parents or anyone back home, she figured it'd probably be at least a little better here. It wasn't even really her choice. She's from a kingdom mostly like France named Jolie.

Bearer: (inactive)

Spoiler

Name: Laurence Biladeau.
Description: Tall, pale, blond hair, pale blue eyes, not in shape, super smart, and very, very, rich. He likes to order people around and play mind games, and he has a very rational fear of assassins. 
Details: Is a rich member of the court, is close to the king, absolutely hates poor people, and is very secretive. 
Personality: Hates poor people, is very secretive, has fears of assassins, plays mind games, and likes to eat cookies. (If he eats cake, he explodes)    
Skills: Very, very, smart, is a bullseye shot with a knife, can ‘disappear’, and is very good at the Irish goodbye. 

Itiah: (inactive)

Spoiler

Name: Jassir Avander (mostly just known as “Jester”)
Role: Royal Court Jester
Appearance: Tall, always dressed in flamboyant and colourful clothing with a uniquely unfashionable hat to tie it all together. Very unimposing Green eyes and black hair.
Details: Ever since the previous Jester was tortured and executed two kings ago, he’s been in service, always allowed to say and do the things normal nobles can’t. The reason he hasn’t been executed yet is because he also doubles as a spy on the nobles to let the king know if anything suspicious is brewing. Since people underestimate him he can often intercept conversations.
Personality: He puts on a loud, energetic, and mischievous show so that people underestimate him. In reality, he’s quite observant. He’s also hopelessly in love with the mystery and danger of the Raveness and the King’s Ladies. :P
Skills: Skilled orator, able to weasel himself in or out of situations, not afraid to speak his mind because he isn’t afraid of the king or assassins, very skilled at acrobatics.

Ward's Guard:

Spoiler

Name: Caden Praetorium
Appearance: Fairly tall at 6'4, although he walks with a feint slouch. His most distinctive feature is the scarring on his face, which if not for the scaring, it might have been considered handsome. His hair is black, and he has golden amber eyes. He can typically be found in military style clothing along with selective armor plating meant to intimidate because of its sharp edges and pale white coloring. One can typically hear him approaching because he wears bots with metal supports that come out of the sole of the boot. 
Details: The King's trusted military commander, commonly known for being a ruthless and often times callous brute who cares very little for collateral damage. On the battlefield, he has a great deal of disdain for the lives of his soldiers, preferring to get his objectives done in the direct ways. In every conflict and scenario in life, he prefers to have the odds stacked into his favor as much as possible, refusing to engage in a "fair fight."
Personality: Quick to anger, but he seems to be in good control of himself while he's angry. He seems defensive whenever people refer to him as the King's Dog, or other similar titles that belittle him for his service to the king.
Skills: His military prowess comes from his superb ability to organize both the military and the logistics needed to supply it. In parallel with his battlefield tactics, he has a blunt and straightforward approach. An above average dueler.
Note: Loosely based off of the character General Grievous from Star Wars. Not sure what title he should have, I guess that's up to our noble King.

Random Bystander: (inactive)

Spoiler

Name: Seraphina Bennett
Description: Short black hair, light green eyes, pale skin, Tall and skinny. Is 16.
Personality: She is an ADHD teen. She is usually cheerful, and doesn't care about social norms. 
Skills: She is skilled with martial arts, broadsword fighting, knife fighting, and can fight exceptional well with spears and rapiers. She is also stealthy, and regularly uses her sleight of hand skills. She can also cook.
Weaknesses: Very messy and disorganized. Is bad at multitasking. Is hopeless with a bow, even though she practiced for years. Is also hopeless with subtlety and politics.
Backstory: She started training at age 5 to become a King's Lady. She progressed quickly. She started to love cooking and reading at age 10. She finished her training a month before she turned 16. She was sent to become a King's lady 3 months later. (She arrived this morning, and will probably arrive at the ball at some point.)
Family: Mother- Louisa Bennett, Father- Christopher Bennett, Brother- Joshua Bennett. They are all alive.

Fadran:

Spoiler

Name: King Ivian I
Occupation: Being the king
Personality: Very paranoid, but adept with political intrigue nonetheless. He enjoys dropping little rumors here and there to make things more tense.
Age: 30s?
Appearance: Ask me not, mortal, for I do not know
Bonds: He actually cares about his little brother, and he might be a little bit addicted to political intrigue
Flaws: Addicted to political intrigue, again. Also, he's paranoid.

Fallapade (inactive):

Spoiler

Name: Jasper D'Artan
Personality: Charming, steadfastly loyal, and dumb as a rock
Age: 19
Appearance: Tall, blond hair, green eyes. Thin but well muscled.
Skills: Trained in both foot and horseback combat, skilled at maintaining and repairing weapons and armor, expert scout
Bonds: House D'Artan, from which he is only somewhat banished
Flaws: Sucker for a pretty face, easy to trick, and as previously mentioned an overall himbo
Backstory: Shall remain secret for the moment totally have come up with one, why would you even think I haven't?

Null: (inactive)

Spoiler

Name: Will Dellré
Appearance: Slightly below average height and slim build. Dark hair and bright eyes with a spark of... something in them that makes people uncertain how to behave.
Details: The eldest son of one of the important nobles of the court, and widely considered to be the most desirable bachelor in the land, not just for his money and title, at least. He spends every ball and party dancing and carousing, and has enough friends that throwing a shoe will probably hit someone he's bought a drink for. He is beginning to operate some of his family's estate and interests, but his father is a long way off from passing it to him. Unknown to most, Will is also a somewhat infamous assassin. A select few know that contacting The Second Shadow is best done through Lord Dellré, but even fewer know why. One of those few is the Ravenness, who supplies him. While Will cannot compete with the King's Ladies, his liberal usage of potions, poisons, and the little magic he can dredge up lets him hold his own.
Personality: Cocky, but with enough charisma to make him likeable instead of arrogant.
Skills: Skilled with a number of weapons, methods of disguise, and poisons.

Lecky (inactive):

Spoiler

Name: Aelyon Hvenkar
Appearance: A striking 5'10 female with hip length straight black hair, dark eyes and a slim figure. She has thin lips, high cheekbones and prefers immodest clothing. 
Details: She married the Lord of House Hvenkar who, despite being new to the court, ran a fairly powerful household. That was until Lord Hvenkar became an addict and forgot how to function as a human being. Aelyon is now trying to lift House Hvenkar out of the rubble by riding the tides of politics, trying her hardest to not get stuck in a rip. 
Personality: She is an a woman of intellect, confident and trustworthy. She has been trained from birth on how to be a lady and run a proper household. 
Skills: extremely good with makeup and more than proficient with disguise. She is also a trained assassin. 

Jay: (inactive)

Spoiler

Name: Denton Anda
Age: 17, Height: 5’8”
Role: Servant
Personality: Denton’s clumsy, both literally and that he tends to stumble into and out of sticky situations. He’s softspoken, yet well-respected by those who know him. He likes to avoid confrontation, but when he can’t avoid it, it’s time to watch out. Despite his clumsiness, he’s quite good at sleight of hand tricks.
Backstory: Denton was orphaned at a young age when all of a sudden, his parents up and left. They left him nothing but a note—in a language lost to time—and a simple, fedora style hat, which he wears constantly. Instead of going to a traditional orphanage, he was raised in the servant life, trained to carry a platter and clean a table; though due to his clumsiness, they rarely let him carry the platters anymore. On several occasions, he’s made deals and had conversations with rich visitors who might help him find his parents and translate the note, but to no avail. Unexplainable things keep happening to him, and he’s determined to find out why.

I Don't Know: (inactive)

Spoiler

Name: Rui Lounde
Appearance: Lanky and tall. Tan skin, brown eyes, unruly curls of short brown hair
Details: Her village was destroyed by the king, and now she's one of the children Robin rescued. She sticks around mainly because she has no idea where else to go or what else to do. 14 years old
Personality: Not scared to speak her mind when it really matters, but normally quiet and detached
Skills: Working on archery, can speak multiple languages (but if there aren't multiple languages in this world then I swear you never read this)

Venture: (inactive)

Spoiler

Name: Ivy (Incorrectly pronounced Oi-Vey by Ivy herself) Frumgin
Appearance: Stout woman in her early fifties, heavily built and quite a bit muscular. Grey hair she swears come from having to deal with the king, and idle servants. Commonly wears a dark grey dress, and a stained smock. Won't dress up, even for a ball.
Details: The cook/head maid/head servant, self-proclaimed Queen of the Servants. Being a holdover from the last King to rule the castle, and her mother being the head servant for the king before that, Ivy knows a great deal about the castle. Few are willing confront her head on, as she's quite skilled with a knife. Has a vice for gossip, and a penchant for bribes.
Personality: A grumpy, no nonsense leader who isn't scared to put anyone in their place, and tell anyone what she thinks.
Skills: She's handy with a cooking utensils, for both cooking and weaponization. Knows quite a bit about the secret passages of the castle. Privy to far more secrets than anyone should be.

Frustration

Spoiler

Name: Brother Tomad
Age: Early twenties
Personality: Incredible devotion to the Church and it's doctrine, and due to this bares a burning hatred of the Nobility and the King for their assaninations and decites.
Extra: Possesses the ability to determine if someone is telling a lie.

Queen

Spoiler

Name: Leina Calmori
Appearance: Medium length choppy dirty blonde hair, impish grin, 5'1," piercing brown eyes (brown eyes are typically soft, but her glare  could bore holes through iron). She has freckles, but they're very faint and only noticeable if you're close to her face. She usually wears very simple clothes that accentuate her slim but fairly curvy figure.
Details: A waitress. Dunno what else to put here.
Personality: Very, very sarcastic. If you say anything to her, you can expect a snarky response about 78% of the time. However, she can and will be serious if needed. She avoids gossip AT ALL COSTS and doesn't judge anyone until she's talked to them herself. She doesn't trust anything she hears unless it's a direct source from someone she already trusts, and even then she's likely to do a little more research before fully trusting it. She teases everyone she's close to, so once she starts teasing you, you know she accepts you. She often comes off as flirty, but the chances of her actually liking those she "flirts" with are very low, and she doesn't view it as flirting; she's just trying to be friendly.
Skills: Avoiding gossip, glaring at people, and getting to know people.

 

 

Edited by Zephrun's Imperium
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Just now, Shard of Thought said:

 

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Ok, here's a character sheet.

Name: Riva Thadel (yes, Rose's aunt from Oakenwey)
Appearance: 5'6'', black hair, icy blue eyes, and freckles
Details: Has been the dungeon master for the king for as long as anyone can remember. She often disguises herself as a maidservant and only the King knows her true identity. She always makes appearances at balls with a magnificent midnight blue gown and a raven mask. 
Personality: Closed off, quiet, keeps to the shadows, but commanding when she's in her element
Skills: Skilled potions master, knows a lot about anatomy and human behavior. She has sociopathic tendencies, because torturing is part of her job and she's learned to not care that people are in pain. 

Name: Arthin Mahim
Appearance: Dark brown and and eyes. Grizzled look with a relatively short stature and broad shoulders from using bows all his life. He wears a very dark green cloak with black lining.
Details: (is this essentially backstory? If so) Arthin was born a rich noble in far kingdom, but when a rebellion happened he ran with most of the younger nobles. He was able to keep them alive with the wood skills he had learned in the forest near his home, but they slowly died off because all of them had lived pampered noble lives. Eventually there was only Arthin and his oldest friend left and he was able to adapt to the wild. However when some people went hunting a stray arrow caught Arthin's friend and after a time he died. Arthin was driven to the forest living his life in the woods as a hermit. He still helps children whenever he can out of a sense of honor he feels to the noble children he couldn't save long ago.
Personality: Grim and sensible, he was raised with a strong sense of honor growing up and tries to protect children out of a sense of honor to the noble children he couldn't save.
Skills: He is a excellent hunter and bowsman, he learned to use an axe out of necessity and eas taught with a sword in his youth.

 

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Oooh, this sounds really interesting, but I'm not sure who to play... I'll be back with an idea.

Name: Arabella Byrne
Appearance: 4'4'', dirty blonde hair, and gray blue eyes. Small in all ways, cute in a little sister way. Looks about 8
Details: Is one of the children rescued from the village. Both parents were killed in front of her, and she was just barely rescued in time. She loves to wear dresses.
Personality: Generally a very peppy girl. She's the kind of innocent girl who most people would want to hug.
Skills: Not super skilled at much, good at cheering people up and has a big imagination.

@Shard of Thought (is this okay?)

Edited by Vapor
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Sweet! Character sheet...

Name: Princess Aliénor Lumen Baudelaire
Appearance: Petite, with long, wavy, very dark brown hair. Her eyes are dark as well, with olive skin and small features. Often wears long and elaborate gowns, but she keeps leggings on underneath.
Personality: Has been trained to be ladylike, and she looks the part. However, she's got strong opinions and will do things in secret to achieve them.
Skills: Acting, diplomacy, subterfuge, and flattery. She keeps a small dagger (that's actually what Baudelaire means, it's a habit for their family), but she doesn't know how to use it.
Backstory: What Star said. "There could also be a foreign princess set to marry the king in order to legitimize his throne and hopefully produce an heir so that things might be more stable." She has no real affection for her parents or anyone back home, she figured it'd probably be at least a little better here. It wasn't even really her choice. 

I'd like a name for the country, preferably something that sounds French. :P And I don't know how old she should be.

 

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Fadran, I'm sure you could be a male assassin. :P I was thinking you might like to play the king, but you can do whatever you choose. Maybe you could be the one training the young assassins? 

Oooh, Baudelaire, have you seen A Series of Unfortunate Events? Love that show. ^_^ I would say you can base the age of your character off of what the age of the king will be. How about Lounde for the name of her country?

@Condensation @Channelknight Fadran

Edited by Shard of Thought
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9 minutes ago, Shard of Thought said:

Fadran, I'm sure you could be a male assassin. :P I was thinking you might like to play the king, but you can do whatever you choose. Maybe you could be the one training the young assassins? 

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AHHH I WAS TOO AFRAID TO ASK FOR THAT ROLE

Sure, I'll... play the king, I guess.

 

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Oh, you don't have to if you don't want to. Were you afraid to ask for it because it would be a hard role to play or because you would feel self-conscious asking for such an important character role?

I have not read the books, I'm afraid. And do whatever you want with the country name.

 

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Just now, Shard of Thought said:

Oh, you don't have to if you don't want to. Were you afraid to ask for it because it would be a hard role to play or because you would feel self-conscious asking for such an important character role?

I have not read the books, I'm afraid. And do whatever you want with the country name.

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Self-conscious

READ THEM. NOW.

 

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6 minutes ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

Older than Janice but younger than Nathrangking.

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Well, that's helpful. :P

Edit: Editing my character sheet. 

Spoiler

Name: Princess Aliénor Lumen Baudelaire
Appearance: Petite, with long, wavy, very dark brown hair. Her eyes are dark as well, with olive skin and small features. Often wears long and elaborate gowns, but she keeps leggings on underneath. Age TBD.
Personality: Has been trained to be ladylike, and she looks the part. However, she's got strong opinions and will do things in secret to achieve them.
Skills: Acting, diplomacy, subterfuge, and flattery. She keeps a small dagger (that's actually what Baudelaire means, it's a habit for their family), but she doesn't know how to use it.
Backstory: What Star said. "There could also be a foreign princess set to marry the king in order to legitimize his throne and hopefully produce an heir so that things might be more stable." She has no real affection for her parents or anyone back home, she figured it'd probably be at least a little better here. It wasn't even really her choice. She's from a kingdom mostly like France named Jolie.

 

@Shard of Thought

Edited by Condensation
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