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Keys To the Kingdom

STORY INTRO:

Imagine a place where fairy tales are real. Where magic is commonplace and the characters from the pages of our storybooks become flesh. They live, breathe and go on - far beyond the words 'the end'. This place is Grimmaria.

In the kingdom of Grimmaria, peace has finally been achieved. Twenty-five years ago, the Great War rocked the kingdom. Good and evil was pitted against one another in a struggle for absolute power. Eventually the tides turned and the forces of good triumphed. The forces of evil and all it's minions were banished to an island off the coast. This place would come to be known as Malus Reliqua. Evils rest.

Reliqua (as the locals know it) was cut off from the rest of the world. It was warded by a spell that made magic inaccessible on the island. It was a prison. But time passed and people adapted to life on the island. That was, until a proclamation came.

High king, Arthur the second, declared a chance at royal pardon be granted to a group of 100 of the progeny of those sentenced to the island. Feeling that the children should not be punished for the crimes of their parents, he is willing to give them this second chance at a full life in Grimmaria. Though not all his citizens feel as strongly as he does, the motion did pass and the island was informed.

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WORLD INFO:

I am encompassing all kinds of lore here; Disney, Grimm, Folklore, Legend etc. How this will mesh is an easy answer. It won't. Let me explain -

Grimmaria is comprised of provinces, each with its own king and/or queen. This gives the players the ability to create their own backstory on that province and   put their mark on the setting. Say, you chose to be the daughter of Ursula the sea with. You could invent the kingdom in which Ariel and Eric lived happily ever after, within Grimmaria.

The continent as a whole is presided over by a high king, in this case, Arthur the second, son of the original King Arthur. He does not have absolute rule and oversees a council of the other kings and queens whom he hears out at a (you guessed it) round table.

The current tech level in Grimmaria is that of high fantasy or the the wizarding world. They communicate over long distances but they do it via magic mirror, not telephone. Some continents are far more developed but they are currently off limits. Don't worry though; interesting things will come into play. This just gives us room to expand.

At start of story, you are going to play the role as one of the progeny of the people banished to the island. You do not necessarily have to have a major villain as a parent, if you don't prefer. Also, mixing 2 villains as parentage will only be allowed by request as I want to keep it limited.

One hundred of the people born on the island (as selected by the villain council) are being sent aboard a ship bound for the mainland to start a new life. This is an outstanding opportunity and a welcome one, I should think, for people trapped on an island of hell ruled over by Chernabog. :-p

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CHARACTER BUILDING:

OK, on to some technical stuff. You will be starting at PL6 (90 pts). I will not be accepting trade offs greater than 2 levels. All characters are college age (think 18-24). All starting characters should be statted as an exceptional human, meaning no powers, but you MAY have exceptional abilities such as increased swim speed etc. No attributes lower than 10 or over 20 prior to powers please. Feats from supplemental books are acceptable with approval.

Characters will have no experience with powers or abilities since the ward on the island would suppress these. Once they arrive on the mainland, their powers will start to manifest. You will then have a 2PL bump (30pts) to work with to give them their amazing abilities such as magic, transformation etc. Feel free to have these already statted out on the sheet but know they are not yet accessible to your character.

As far as gadgeteering type characters, they won't really work yet in the setting so don't worry about buying tons of equipment, unless of course you want something like a handheld magic mirror etc.

HOUSE RULES:

Climb and Acrobatics are combined into one skill - Athletics

Intimidate can be based off either of 2 attributes, not both at once. You may use Charisma as your bonus but you must be able to speak to the target. Or you may use Strength as your bonus but you must be able to physically intimidate the target.

For now, the only language you need to worry about is Common, unless of course you want to add a language that is native to your characters origin story province. That's completely your decision, but be aware that something like speaking to fish etc is a power, not a language.

Characters who are born to a villain with king or queen status may take wealth as a benefit as well as influence. Alternatively, characters who are born to villains with no title may take the benefit of overlooked as well as enterprising.

Wealth - You won't need to roll to try to afford normal luxuries such as a new dress etc.

Influence - Your successful diplomacy rolls move attitude an extra level, but a failed one might move it one more in the opposite direction.

Overlooked - You get a +2 bonus to stealth and disguise versus people who are 'above you'.

Enterprising - Get a +2 bonus to bluff against the upper class and make them suffer a -2 penalty to sense motive against you.

The off limits power list so far - Mimic (without approval), Metamorph, Boost higher than 6, Datalink, Complete Insubstantial and anything to do with Teleportation over 50 feet and Dimensional/Space travel.

Maximum of 5pts in Flaws/Drawbacks please.

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DISCLAIMER:

Player on player violence without the consent of both players is strictly prohibited. Any OOC squabbles can get run by me. My word is the LAST WORD. Everyone here is a grown up; act like it.

Furthermore, no lone wolfing is allowed either. It's one thing to be gruff or grumpy, but if your character simply can't get along with the party and you feel the need to run off on your own thinking I'm going to run a solo campaign for you - you are going to be sadly mistaken. Tension is good. Stupid is bad.

Every character will get a plot arc that I am going to design to let them get their 15 minutes in the spotlight. If you feel like there's too much focus on one character, just talk to me. I might be able to assuage your feeling left out. I'm never going to just favor a character for no reason.

Do not talk over my NPC's please. They might be telling you something important and I might just be slow to post and won't appreciate coming back to find my NPC was talked over and you guys are already in another thread. Bear with me.