The Fall of Oriel

Original

Welcome to Quenquerre, the seat of a sprawling magical empire on the verge of collapse.

Quenquerre is the capital of Oriel, an empire established thousands of years ago by supernatural interlopers who call themselves thaumaturges. No one knows where they came from, not even the thaumaturges themselves. Nor does anyone remember a time when the native human population did not live either under their thumb or, at the outskirts of Oriel’s holdings, in fear of encroaching colonization.

But the empire is waning. Slowly, the spirits of magic are fading, either dying out or going somewhere else. Other forces press in at its edges, and unrest simmers. It's a time of great turmoil and social — as well as technological — change.

For the ruling thaumaturges, this brings unrest and uncertainty. Will they be able to hold onto their dominance? For the humans of Oriel, this brings opportunity and uncertainty in equal measure. What does a future look like free from thaumaturge rule after all this time?

The Fall of Oriel is set in Quenquerre in the year 1227, as the empire begins to decline. Welcome to a new 18+ fantasy play-by-post role play, set in the original, late-19th century-based world of Arret.

Unique Features:

• Four playable classes of character. Will you play a human or a thaumaturge? Or an obliviate, those thaumaturges whose bodies reject symbiotes, leaving them incapable of magic and prone to dangerous side-effects? Or a maledict, a life cursed — or blessed — to “steal” the life of someone else?
• A creative magic system. Everything in the world, including living things, is made up of spirits. Thaumaturges literally ingest these spirits, taking them on as symbiotes and using them to command other spirits. Humans, who see this as abominable, have their own ancient tradition of magic instead.
• No activity checks or word count. Our priority is on ensuring everyone is having a good time, at whatever pace and length suits the writers involved. Whether that’s 1+ per character per day or 1+ per month, as long as everyone in the thread is happy, so are we.
• No dice, no stats. The “game” — though we hesitate to call it that — is mostly just focused on collaborative writing. If you happen to want some randomness or external motivation, or want a mod to take on some NPCs in your thread, you have options, and you’re welcome to organize something yourself. But whatever you want, if you want a storytelling “sandbox”, you’re in the right place; there’s only as much structure as you want there to be.
• Lore contributions welcome! Oriel is a new site, and we want to build and grow it with you, the players!