Golden Lore OOC - Closed

[Requiem]

In the land of Riordan, magic has touched the people. For centuries, armies rose and fell through the power it brought them. Technology flourished, bringing new and devastating forms of destruction into existence. Now, after millenia of battle, an age of warfare is ending through the stroke of a single pen. Peace will come to Riordan whether it wants it or not.

- - -
​

So yeah, I'm doing this shit. This is actually happening. This is really real. I plan to be active. Maybe not a post every single fucking day active, but still active nonetheless. Fair warning, there is a very possible chance that this game will become entirely inactive in the summer as I'll most likely be working at my summer camp as I have been the last two years. We'll play it by ear when we get there.

So, first thing's first, you might have noticed the opening story thing is a little smaller than what you older guys might expect. The thing is, I always intended GL to be rather simply in terms of setting up and I've all but lost all of the plot lines and schematics and shit I might have had at some point. I never really saved anything. So, with that said, here's a quick rundown for the new people:

Riordan is a fantasy land that is in a more or less modern setting. It's not Shadowrun or RWBY, but it isn't LotR either. It's a fantasy world in our own time.

For the sake of keeping things as simple as possible, Riordan is the main country. There are others, sure, and if you want to make up a name for a country for your character, feel free. Riordan is where everything is going to happen though. Only one other country matters, but I'll deal with that in the opening post of the main thread. The general starting plot is roughly the same as the other three thousand times I've run the game: small country gets taken over by big empire, the emperor and the previous leader of the little country sign a treaty, it becomes part of Riordan, yay boom explosions.

If you want to know anything more, let me know, but for now, here's the character sheet:

Name:
Gender:
Age:
Race: (Fantasy races. If you want to make something up, ask me first. You've got your humans, your orcs, your elves, lizardmen, halflings, etc.)

Appearance:
Personality:

History: (Where did your character come from, who were/are their parents, do they live in Riordan or are they visiting when the Treaty Signing happens? If you're not sure what to put here, PM me, but it's fairly self-explanatory.)

Magic: (What kind of magic does your character use, if any at all? You can settle with something simple like "fire magic" or get more technical if you like, but if you try to create an OP character, I'll just have you edit it or not accept you. Remember, the best characters have limits in conjunction with their badassery.)

Misc.: (Feel free to leave this section blank if you want to, but this is where you'll put whatever non-magical abilities your character has. Do they fight with guns? Are they a mechanic? Do they know first aid? Are they a pacifist? Can they pick locks? This is a good section for filling out your character in ways the other sections don't let you. You can also put any negative stuff your character has, like a bad leg, scars, bad vision, etc.)

- - -
​

Game play will be broken up into three separate types of scenes, as seen below.

​

Story Scenes: These moments in the game usually involve the Last Iteration and no one else (save maybe an NPC or surrendered enemy). Rolls generally won't be used during these scenes except for important moments or where necessary. Most actions can be auto-completed unless specified otherwise. Usually this is just where narration and plot happens.

Skill Scenes: These scenes usually involve some sort of investigative rolls, feats of strength, persuading an NPC to give up information they don't want to give up, or other things of that nature. It tests your characters' skills and ability to get through specific situations that aren't necessarily combat, though could be dangerous all the same, meaning that anything is possible during these scenes.

Combat Scenes: These are self-explanatory. Combat is happening in these scenes. Rolls are used for most, if not all actions and modifiers are taken into account (injuries, buffs, superior weaponry, magical advantage, etc). No actions can be auto-completed unless given GM authorization (basically if a soldier clearly gets his arm blown off but wants to still fight back, you're practically cleared for just ending her right then and there).

Note - When a specific type of scene comes up, I will make a note of it in an OOC notice.

 

[Tirin]

on a scale of one to ten, how likely is it that this will finish

Name: Kanin Vikona
Gender: Male
Age: 63
Race: Elf

Appearance: A lean and handsome man standing no more than an inch over most (human) citizens of Poria, Kanin is fortunate enough to get the absolute best out of his heritage when it comes to his appearance. Each and every one of his motions contains the fluidity and grace of his elven lineage, further accentuated by his fair skin, lean build, and fine facial features, as well as a complete inability to grow a beard and cold, intimidating amber eyes. However, Kanin possesses an inordinate amount of power and muscle in his build for an elf, as well as dark brown hair, with bangs ending shortly above his eyebrows, that cast lingering doubts on the purity of his blood. Despite his age, he looks no older than his mid-twenties by human standards, putting a long lifespan clearly among the advantages his race affords him.

The most striking and recognizable aspects of Kanin's appearance, however, are those that he actively chooses, particularly his state of dress and the weaponry he carries with him. Outside of his home, or whatever other accomodations his job might require him to stay in, the discerning killer for hire constantly wears a black two-piece suit, the jacket single-breasted, with a white dress shirt underneath and laced dress shoes, crafted to be as comfortable and suitable for fighting as is possible (however, he refuses to wear a tie of any kind). At all times, Kanin not only carries a loaded 9mm machine pistol and extra ammunition hidden within his suit jacket, but has a five-inch switchblade engraved with elven text concealed within his trousers. When called upon to complete a task that warrants it, he may wield firearms with greater power; of course, such weaponry is not practical to keep on him. He also keeps a cell phone and a small, generic lighter within the inner pockets of his jacket.

Personality: With a demeanor as bitter and sardonic as one might expect from someone doing his job, Kanin is rarely anything close to a pleasant person. Not only is he rude and domineering, often demanding others to do things for him - demands which are not often denied, given his reputation as a killer - but he is more than content with intimidating or threatening others into doing what he wants. This dominant, threatening personality makes Kanin a very strong-willed individual, who will resist - usually quite violently - any attempts to cow, threaten, or intimidate him. Unsurprisingly these aspects of his personality earn him few friends, many enemies, and more terrified obedience than the average man in his already-fear-inspiring position would receive.

That unpleasantness aside, however, when left alone - or even mostly undisturbed - Kanin doesn't come across as anything more than an average, if apathetic, person, taking little interest in the affairs of other people unless they have something to offer him (or get in his way). What few friends he makes are usually people he is forced to put up with by his employers or those intelligent or lucky enough to keep on his good side during repeat visits to the Brigand's Barroom, a dive bar located in southeast Poria. Those that get in good with Kanin note that, when it comes to his friends, he is fairly generous and loyal, and willing to protect them or their interests without payment if it's not far out of the way. They also note a surprising (though, given his longevity, perhaps not) level of intelligence, claiming that when it comes to Poria's criminal underworld, Kanin is one of the best people to go to for assistance or advice; after years of such work, he is quite aware of the many intricate relationships between criminals, seems to have connections with every major syndicate, and is more than savvy enough to change sides if there's enough profit in doing so. In short, he's one of the most valuable friends or allies one could have in Poria's slums, but any such friendship or alliance is by nature built upon terra infirma.

History: Born in the slums of the East End, the bastard son of a long-dead, good-for-nothing drug addict he never knew and a frail, beleaguered elven mother, the early years of Kanin's life were anything but easy. He was derided as a weakling, coward, and crybaby by his human peers, an ugly, stupid brute by his elven ones, received only a basic formal education, and fought often. These fights, almost always provoked by the aforementioned insults (or truly awful comments about Kanin's mother) often ended with broken bones for other boys, until the beatings escalated into fighting young gang members and small-time criminals with knives at the age of eighteen; at twenty-one, he graduated to firearms, and conflicts that had once sent his detractors to the hospital began to, with increasing regularity, put them underground. It wasn't until he was twenty-six that he met, and made a surprisingly positive impression on, a human sorcerer named Fayrin Drakkan; soon after meeting the man, he was offered an apprenticeship as a young spellcaster, with Fayrin quite confident that Kanin would prove himself a more than capable sorcerer.

Working for three years under the mage made Kanin more knowledgeable than most on a few subjects; he was trained quite well in the use of the telepathic magic he was born with (and was only now becoming aware of), learned how to craft spells of his own - though he very rarely had the patience to do so - and was enlightened to various sources of power he could tap into. Willpower and magical energy in the surroundings were some such sources - but so too were darker sources such as the life energy of one's self or others. All of these Kanin took to well, both in theory and practice, but he failed when it came to the slow, methodical processes and ingredients of more traditional ritualistic magic. After repeated failures and refusal to learn from his mistakes on Kanin's part, Fayrin regretfully ended the apprenticeship, immensely disappointed that such natural talent would go to waste. Returning home to burden his mother, and both without any job and severely lacking in any skills that were both useful and legal, Kanin immersed himself in the one option that was always available in East Poria - a life of crime.

Lacking the necessary skills or knowledge to work as a burglar, racketeer, or information broker, Kanin started out as a debt collector for the Graggor syndicate. While he wasn't especially physically intimidating, his magical abilities came in handy when it came time to fight or to draw information from debtors, and he still had a number of serviceable knives from his violent youth. For the most part this debt collection service was standard; a few shakedowns here and there, but rarely any serious violence - until about a year in, when the Graggor family started to clash with the all-goblin Duende association. The next time Kanin went to collect from a goblin "client", said client wasn't alone - there were two Duende hitmen with him, set on ending the elf's life then and there. Surprisingly to all parties, Kanin left with not only his life, but no apparent injuries, the money of the now-dead hitmen and target, and a feeling of raw fulfillment. Those higher up in the Graggor syndicate took note of this - including old Ezra Graggor himself - and put Kanin on the fast track to the top, giving him the duty to collect from increasingly violent people before finally offering him a position as a hitman. Within eight years of joining the syndicate, Kanin had gotten respect, power - both "political" and otherwise - job satisfaction, and wealth, to a degree he had never before imagined; his mother, who had long toiled at a job she hated to support him, was sent to live in a pretty coastal village, blissfully unaware of her son's wrongdoing. Around this time, he began to make himself recognizable, wearing his suit constantly in public and making sure to always present the image of a cold, capable killer.

Ironically, Kanin's troubles began then, as he began to kill less discriminately, certain that the amiable Ezra wouldn't turn on him and doubting that any other groups would dare to draw his ire. Jobs he was employed on became more violent, with collateral damage a commonality; at first an extra body or two, but slowly building up to entire households murdered, the buildings burned to the ground, and the corpses rendered unidentifiable without magic. Between the time he turned thirty and forty, Kanin had significantly increased the murder rate in Poria solely through his own work, and while it was common knowledge within the underworld that he was responsible, law enforcement never seemed able to pin it on him. Witnesses were killed, and evidence to link him to the scene never found, in large part due to the Graggor's continued interest in keeping him out of prison. The final straw, however, was Kanin taking the life of a young woman outside of a job; Ezra then explained to the killer that he was simply too dangerous to continue to employ on a permanent basis. While the reasoning was sound, Kanin could hardly have been called thrilled at being fired; he impassively accepted his termination, but butchered a young orcish man the night following. Callous in his choice of location and the manner in which he killed the man, Kanin was brought in by law enforcement for the first time, and thus began one of the most controversial trials in Riordan's recent history.

Despite a clearly inordinate level of force used on Kanin's part, he was able to successfully plead not guilty of murder by way of self defense, it being readily apparent that he had killed the man, but the reasoning behind doing so much less so. Further, in a final favor for his longtime friend, Ezra collaborated with Kanin to send dozens of perjurious (and, shockingly, several sincere) character witnesses to the stand for the defense, as well as still more testifying that the man Kanin had killed had been extremely drunk, violent, and dangerous - not to mention significantly larger than the elf. These arguments and more were successful insofar as keeping Kanin from a decades-long stint behind bars, and he was found guilty only of the lesser charge of manslaughter, and sentenced to a mere eight years in prison; however, an expert's analysis of the killer's mental health recommended he be put on antipsychotic medication for the remainder of his life. Kanin ended up spending four years in a medium-security facility where he was constantly medicated, and his behavior improved greatly; further, he was allowed to spend much of his free time on the study of magic, provided that he was very strictly supervised, and received the benefits of a more complete education as well. His conduct was such that he was transferred to a minimum-security site halfway into his sentence, and given a much broader range of privileges while there; he developed a keen interest in a variety of strategic tabletop games and in his own fitness as a result of having so much time to spend on both.

However, like any good thing, Kanin's time in prison eventually came to an end, and the day he was released he retrieved his weaponry, bought new clothing, and returned to the East End to do the job it felt like he always had; however, he did not stop his course of antipsychotics. Though now taking on a much greater variety of jobs than his "cleaning" duties, Kanin was and continues to be recognized as one of Poria's - and, quite possibly, all of Riordan's - most prolific and deadly killers, and he is the man many go to if they can't afford any errors involved in their jobs. In the decade and a half since he was released, the elf has matured into a much more stable and precise individual, and has thus warranted trust and respect from his employers where he used to only merit fear and wariness. Further, he has taken a much more vested interest in magic than at any time before in his life, using a great deal of money to provision his home with a well-stocked library of the arcane arts, which he often peruses in his free time.


Magic: Though he studied under Fayrin for years, and put a great deal of effort into understanding magic while in prison, Kanin's principal strength lies in telepathy. He is capable not only of reading people's minds and projecting information to them without a word, but also of altering their perception and mental state, either subtly or (with a great deal more effort) overtly. While his raw potential is vast, having barely used his power in the first half of his life thus far has kept him from exploiting it fully - no doubt a good thing given his previous volatility.

One very useful trick Kanin did pick up from Fayrin, however, is the ability to draw magical energy from his surroundings to fuel his spellcasting - and, thus, often avoid using his own reserves on his magic. Thus, in the presence of a strong magical field, Kanin's strength in the supernatural is greatly amplified; in a "null" zone, however, he must greatly exhaust himself to generate stronger sorcerous effects.

Kanin's magical ability serves him very well in his line of work, both with the acquisition of information and in completing the more wicked aspects of his business unnoticed and unhindered.

Misc.: Kanin puts a great deal of importance on making sure he takes his medicine regularly, and to this end always keeps some on his person while remaining very well-stocked at home. He is a frequent and (unusually for an elf) fairly heavyweight drinker.

Kanin regularly corresponds with and sends gifts to his mother, though does not let on to the criminal activities which fund them, instead giving off the impression that he is a successful business specialist. If she is aware of his misdeeds, she is quite good at hiding as such.

Finally, the knife and pistol that Kanin carries with him are for much more than show; he has proven to be lightning-quick and deadly accurate in the use of both, whether his targets are expecting him or not; he is also a brawler of considerable repute, though avoids fighting unarmed wherever possible. His non-combat and non-magical skills include, unsurprisingly, great familiarity with forensic evidence (and the destruction thereof), breaking and entering, and technical and practical knowledge of a wide variety of firearms (and some explosives).

 

[Requiem]

Finish? Not sure, but it'll keep going as long as there seems to be interest. Barring the two months I'll definitely be inactive during the summer, the game should keep going just fine.

 

[Tolvan]

Name: Nyria Seagrove
Gender: Female
Age: 26
Race: Dryad
Appearance: Long, dark green hair, sea-blue eyes, smooth amber skin. Wears a suit when doing business, but dresses casually otherwise. Suits are generally black or dark blue, with bright green ties. Clothes often consist of basic jeans with blue-green shirts. Nyria has a habit of wearing hiking shoes with her casual clothing, rather than regular sneakers.
History:
Beginnings: Nyria's first memory is of awakening in a park as a young child (around two years old). She spent the first few years of her life in a homeless shelter in a poor part of town, and learned to use magic - and to fight - out of necessity, from an early age, figuring out how to craft an ice spear using magic alone. She attended school, albeit a rather poorly-funded one, and did somewhat well without standing out much.

Adoption: At the age of 11, Nyria was adopted by a couple made up of a nymph and a satyr. She was initially distrustful of her adopted parents, but grew to love them within a year. No longer needing to fight, Nyria decided to keep her skills sharp as a hobby and little more, though this helped refine her self-taught skills. At the same time, her educational prospects greatly increased, and she started to stand out in math and science. Interested in her origins, Nyria began to study biology in-depth, and while she enjoyed it, she came to realize in high school that her true passion was for architecture, which she later got a degree in.

Adulthood: During college, Nyria began to display a gift for designing environmentally-friendly housing, and after graduation joined an architecture firm that built such houses. The leading such firm in the city, Nyria often finds herself busy with work, but finds time to develop her other interests even so. She dreams of one day creating her own firm.

Personality: Nyria usually retains a rather calm, business-like manner, but occasionally displays a warm (if sometimes sarcastic) sense of humor. However, this calm veneer belies the personality buried by years of safety and warmth - the personality she developed before being adopted. When desperate, Nyria will grow almost... savage, even primal. At this point, her only focus is survival, to the exclusion of almost anything else.
Magic: Water Magic: Freeform control of water, extending to both ice and vapor. She needs water to control, but once it's there she can manipulate it freely, heating or cooling it or even creating rather complex shapes out of water or ice.
Misc:
Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering)
Spear-Wielding (Developed as a hobby, amateur)
Cooking (Amateur)
Viola (Mediocre)
Sculpting (Average)
Biology

 

[Jeroth]

Name: Diarmuid Dempsey
Gender: Male
Age: 20
Race: Halfling

Appearance: Standing at 3'6", Diarmuid has always been looked down on. As a result, he's attempted to slick his dark hair up into a pompadour to gain a few extra inches. Dressed for the job and representing his bar, Diarmuid wears a red dress shirt and black tie and a set of cream-colored vest with matching pants and suspenders.

His hands are rough and scarred from his frequent bouts in the alleyway when his patrons or rivals get a bit too rowdy with a jagged scar running along his cheek. His green eyes frequently darting around the room.

Personality: Diarmuid is short-tempered, so much so that the very joke about his temper being short provokes a bout of yelling, threats and overall nasty things that would make his mother ashamed. Along with this, Diarmuid is self-conscious about his height, attempting any trick in the book to gain a few inches. One of the few things that keep him on a leash is the establishment that he represents. Aside from this, he can be a bit of a Momma's Boy and frequently checks in with his parents, insisting that they treat him like an adult as he has his own job.


History:

Early Life: His parents had made a lengthy trek to make it to Riordan where he was born. Diarmuid was born from his parents: Bree & Duncan Dempsey. Duncan would go to work as a laborer for the city, helping in construction while Bree would raise Diarmuid. The family grew up in a smaller house until Duncan had earned enough to reach the dream that he and his wife shared: Owning a bakery.

Teen-Years: Growing up, Diarmuid would help his parents with baking during the day before stumbling around the city with his friends and finding trouble at night. While his parents would worry about his late night adventures out of love, he lashed out at his parents, seeing them as strict and trying to limit his fun.

On one of those nights, Diarmuid and his gang of friends had gotten swept up in a round of fisticuffs. It escalated swiftly when the gleam of steel could be seen - A knife had been drawn on Diarmuid. His assailant charged towards him - the pointed edge of his blade getting closer. Diarmuid's small hand reached out to attempt to stop it, thinking that his hand would need to be stronger than steel to actually stop it.

Tink.~

It was a bizarre sound and sensation that was quickly met with a yelp from Diarmuid. His hand had done more than catch the knife - his hand actually broke the knife. Diarmuid's cheek felt warm and burned as his once-armed assailant was left shocked that his knife broke. Lunging forward, Diarmuid grabbed the stunned man by his shirt. Diarmuid wanted to launch him as far as he could. To this day, Diarmuid could remember the sound of gasps and surprise as he picked the assailant up with ease. He felt as light as a feather to him! Throwing the poor fellow over his shoulder, Diarmuid was shocked when his make-shift projectile flew farther than he expected. The assailant's body careened into the window of a tavern, landing on a table as the sound of yelling could be heard. Touching his hand to his cheek, he felt something warm smear along his fingertips. The scent of iron and sigh of crimson rested on his finger tips as his hand trembled. When was he ever that strong?

Now: Nothing in life is ever free. Diarmuid refused to endanger his parent's fresh business to pay for his business and decided to work for the owner of that bar. When asked what he could do, his only reply was: " You saw who I threw into your bar. Imagine who I could throw out." Needless to say, he started as a bouncer for the business until he had finally repaid his debt and could leave. However, the patrons seemed to like him and he seemed to like them, so he was hired by his boss. To stretch out, he started to work as a barback and work his way up to a bartender. He became the esteemed employee of his manager and moved out of his parent's home to live at a small room on the bar's second floor.

Magic: Physical Augmentation/Enhancement.
What can he do?

• Harden portions of his skin. (E.g.: Hardening his hands/forearms)
• The ability to enhance his muscles/focus his strength? The best way to describe it is a "Super Strength-Lite".

What can he not do?

• Grow Taller.
• Shift his form at all.

What are his limits and is there room for him to improve his grasp on his magical powers?

• Self-imposed limits so that he doesn't start breaking his arm with each punch.
• Currently, he can only use one facet of his power at any moment.

Does he even care to? Are his powers instinctual?
Yes


Misc.:

Skills: Smoker. Drinker. Plays the Trumpet. Bartender & Bouncer.

 

[Tirin]

Outta curiosity, there room for any kind of elemental-ish dudes in this setting? Can I just straight-up make up a race?

 

[Requiem]

It has to be within reason. Shoot me your idea here or in a PM, maybe do a small write-up if you like. I'm mainly hoping for humanoids. Like an Orc is fine, but an Ogre might not be unless they were written well. It just depends on how you do.

 

[Requiem]

Name: Soren of Blackwood

You've used this name/character before in other games, right? If I'm mistaken, let me know, but if I'm not, make a different character. Branch out, try something different.

 

[Requiem]

historically speaking its about as likely as rondait ever getting laid

You're not wrong.

 

[coolpool2]

I'll make a character later. For now though can you help me give me an idea of what races are good and not? I'll make a list and just tell me which are viable. Keep in mind I don't necessarily want to make a character of all of these races, I just want to get an idea of what we can do. Might just go human or elf. I got an idea for a human already.
-Lycanthropes
-Undine (Or other elemental type beings)
-Harpy (maybe a more intelligent variant)/Tengu
-Mermaid/merfolk
-Fairy/Fey
-Dullahan/Nukekubi
-Kitsune

 

[Requiem]

There are no good or bad races. If you could somehow make a slime character make sense and work well, I'd be all for it. It just depends on how you write it.

That said, I have a history of working with people on making their sheets better. You specifically coolpool, I'm gonna challenge. I really, really want to see what you can do, so an average human isn't going to cut it. I'll accept an Elf from you, but I want them to be good. I wouldn't pick a werewolf as in this lore I'm treating them exactly like werewolves. You'd be a human almost all of the time, so that's a no go for you (unless it's like a reverse Lycan and you're a wolf-man most of the time, and then a man during full moon, but that would be difficult to make, I'd think).

You're gonna want something that isn't limited on where they go. Riordan's Capital City is going to be a mostly urban setting, so a Mermaid might have trouble. Most other races could work, however. Harpy sounds like a fine idea, same for a Fairy, though you'd get to choose if they're like True Blood fairies where they look human, but have powers or they're small like Tinkerbell.

Anyways, play around with different ideas, have fun with it. Just no humans from you Coolpool, no, no, no.

 

[Jeroth]

You specifically coolpool, I'm gonna challenge.

Challenge @Tolvan too.

 

[Requiem]

Tolvan's already gonna be challenged based on how he answers my question. I could swear I've seen him use the name Soren before.

 

[coolpool2]

There are no good or bad races. If you could somehow make a slime character make sense and work well, I'd be all for it. It just depends on how you write it.

That said, I have a history of working with people on making their sheets better. You specifically coolpool, I'm gonna challenge. I really, really want to see what you can do, so an average human isn't going to cut it. I'll accept an Elf from you, but I want them to be good. I wouldn't pick a werewolf as in this lore I'm treating them exactly like werewolves. You'd be a human almost all of the time, so that's a no go for you (unless it's like a reverse Lycan and you're a wolf-man most of the time, and then a man during full moon, but that would be difficult to make, I'd think).

You're gonna want something that isn't limited on where they go. Riordan's Capital City is going to be a mostly urban setting, so a Mermaid might have trouble. Most other races could work, however. Harpy sounds like a fine idea, same for a Fairy, though you'd get to choose if they're like True Blood fairies where they look human, but have powers or they're small like Tinkerbell.

Anyways, play around with different ideas, have fun with it. Just no humans from you Coolpool, no, no, no.

Damn I had this idea for a fast talking short human. They would be able to manipulate shadows, but not make them tangible. So they could throw their shadow onto fog and look like a giant, but it would do nothing in actual combat. Well I've been wanting to play a more out there race for a while. Kitsune is a bit weeby so I might not choose that as much as I want to. I've been wanting to do a slime or undine character for a while, I have one of those in a fairy focused CYOA story I have had on the back burner for a few months. Then again I could do something like a harpy or crow person like a sort of tengu.

Also I second that challenge to Tolvan. I feel like my character have been a little bit more creative than yours, no offense. It really feels like you're trying to make the same three or so characters over and over.

 

[Requiem]

Well you could make a halfling. Hobbits are fine. Same for Dwarves. Those two are different enough from Humans that they're like Elves. If you wrote them well enough, you could do it. Humans are just a baseline though, they don't have anything going for them. Dwarves are hardy and can take a beating, Elves are just "better" than you, and halflings are little, nimble people. Humans are just... numerous.

 

[coolpool2]

I don't really care about doing a human that much, but I really liked the shadow idea. Being able to have shadow magic without being super dark and edgy. Although I feel like dwarves are elves are too "normal" when it comes to fantasy races. If I'm going to do something different, I'm going to go all the way. Not even just a half-orc or something.
So I have this idea for a slime who manipulates ice or cold. They could freeze part of themselves into blades or shields in combat. Although the part I'm struggling on are: how intelligent they would be being a sentient blob, why if at all they would take a humanoid form, and why they would interact with other civilizations. This could also be an undine character with a bit of variation, but at the same time, "why would an elemental be going to this civilization" is something I would have to think about.
As for a fairy if I made one of those I would think about being a sort of naive character, maybe a rash or hot headed one. Interpretations of fairies vary widely though, I'm not sure how you would handle them. The idea of a tiny fairy making projecting their shadow to the size of a mountain during heavy fog is very enjoyable though. I don't have anything interesting for a harpy/tengu character. Maybe they're a painter or something. Another idea I could do is a magical entity that looks human but can separate their head from their body like a Dullahan but not some sort of reaper creature. They might also be able to copy their head and chuck it at an enemy, then fuse it back with the other head. I actually kind of want to make a humanoid spider character, who is a gentleman but is really off putting because of his appearance. I could really go out there and be a living object or robot/doll/golem thing.
As for possible powers/magic other than shadow manipulation. I have thought of: Ice manipulation, poison body (maybe for a slime or special fairy), ability to refract light, power to take away misfortune, ability to always tell time, and ability to manipulate rain.

I'm going to need some time to sift through all of my ideas and just decide on one.

 

[Requiem]

That's pretty much exactly what you need to do. Just pick something and stick with it. And remember, since this is a modern fantasy world, your reasoning for a character having a specific history could literally just be, "He wanted to go to college" or "His family needed money" etc. It can be some mundane thing. Magic isn't some amazing, awe-inspiring thing, everyone has it. Some people ignore it entirely because of this fact. Everyone's got magic, but not everyone can balance a check book in under an hour. You get what I'm saying?

So a slime or any other archaic race wouldn't have your usual Fantasy tropes and problems. They're not stuck in caves with no connection to the real world. At least not unless you write them that way and write them well.

You don't need to make ordinary people, I'm not looking for janitors and handymen only. You can have soldiers and mages, cool guy stuff, but try to make them normal people with aspirations, goals, redeeming and damning qualities. They're people, no matter what their race. Maybe your slime character just really likes reading classic novels. Maybe you have a minotaur who secretly loves Hentai. Maybe you want a Harpy who is a struggling painter. Whatever you want, just stick with it and go for it. It can be anything, within reason of course. I don't want actual angels or demons running around, but an Aasimar or a Tiefling? Those could work, they have in past versions of the game.

Just experiment, have fun.

 

[Tolvan]

I don't think I've used the name Soren before... Well, whatever. Currently I'm thinking a water mage dryad, but I might switch to a living statue with rune magic.

 

[Requiem]

A dryad could work, just depends on what that would mean. A living statue is a bit out there, but... maybe.

But yeah, no humans for you either, Tolvan. Human is open to other players though.

 

[Tirin]

I already went for T-800 before, I'mma test out something a little different.