In this world there are three Goddesses; Maerura, Gliira, and Lith. Maerura first created all of the inanimate materials. Lith then created almost all of the life inhabiting it. Finally, Gliira observed the life forms that Lith had created and then created the first humans. The human race proved to be the greatest of the species and quickly gathered vast influence, power, and resources, much to the dislike of the other Goddesses. Lith was especially angry, and was about to start a war over it when Maerura brought the three of them together to form a treaty. They combined their magic to create large, Sacred Trees, from which all humans are now born from inside the buds. Obviously, to stop women from being able to give birth normally, the Sacred Trees were prohibited from producing men.
After the already existing men died out, humans quickly stopped their territorial expansion and formed into the first nations centered around the Sacred Trees. After around a thousand years passed (still in the medieval period), men are considered to be just a myth. Humans have long finished a war that had resulted in each nation solidifying power over a single Sacred Tree at it's center. The balance of power was well maintained during this time, but suddenly some irregularities came about that upset this. One of the Sacred Trees got sick and made the decision to ignore the prohibition and created some male children so that it's population could sustain itself later on, should it die. For multiple reasons, these children had to keep their a gender. Due to nobody ever seeing a man before and most not even believing that there were such a thing, the secret managed to be kept safe for some time. Another irregularity was the increase birth rate of humans, first from that tree and then others in response, resulting in another need for territorial expansion. Is the era of these Sacred Trees coming to an end?
Sacred Trees
Some consider the Sacred Trees to be the Goddesses greatest creation due to all three of them working together. Also because of this they are a symbol of compromise and often the place where treaties or any other agreements are made. The area is considered Holy Ground for as far as the roots extend. A special white rob with red markings must be worn and shoes removed. Preferably the clothes underneath should be removed as well, although as long as they're completely covered by the robe then that's fine.
The Sacred Trees are all sentient to some extent. Most of them spend their time in a dream-like state, although they can become more alert and thoughtful on occasion. They can even communicate telepathically to humans and animals alike, mostly through emotions and images with few spoken words. Like humans, they each have their own personality, so the explanation above is simply for the majority of the them and does not hold true for all of them.
The Sacred Trees range in size, although most tower over the other trees. They're large enough to contain around 10,000 buds at once (or enough to keep the population constant), each one allowing the baby a snug fit. Inside these trees are hollow, with structures allowing people to climb them and get out onto the branches. This is very important for the retrieval process of the buds once they become "ripe", when the leaves around the bud turn from green to pink. Should the buds fall, they're well cushioned and the baby could survive, but it's quite disrespectful to allow one to fall and considered to give that baby bad luck for the rest of her life. The people responsible for collecting these buds are the Sisters, who dangerously climb out onto the branches to collect the buds. They're also supposed to catch falling buds should it come to that. Women are allowed to adopt the child if they catch a bud that falls from the Sacred Tree (Sisters don't count. They'd all simply get punished for allowing such a thing to occur). These sisters are usually from around twelve to twenty, from which point they can be promoted to the title of Mother. Mothers also work inside, are usually much older then the sisters, and are responsible for caring for all of the babies produced by the tree up until school age, should they not be adopted before then.
Religion
While different religions do exist, a vast majority are related to the three Goddesses, Maerura, Gliira, and Lith. Most humans follow the Tridea religion, which involves worship of all three Goddesses equally. They pray in the morning to Maerura, usually for the land on which they live and work. Around noon they pray to Lith, usually for providing the life that provides their food. At night they pray to Gliira, usually as a thanks for their own life, family, and friends that they had met during the day. Additional prayers can be made to any or all of them at various points. There aren't many strict laws involved in the Tridea religion, although they're expected to live virtuous lives and respect holy things, such as the Sacred Trees. Their religion doesn't believe in an afterlife, but instead their life's energy is said to be placed into the Sacred Trees to allow for new humans to come to life within the tree buds. Reincarnation is said to be possible, although unlikely. In order to due so, someone's life energy is said to have to pass into a bud in one piece and not be mixed or corrupted by any other energy along the way, from when the roots absorb their energy all the way up the trunk and through the branches. Being virtuous increases your chances.
The second most common religion is the Gliirean religion, which worships only the Goddess Gliira, and thus have a more humanistic approach to things. They acknowledge that the Goddesses exist, but humans are able to behave how they wish and realize their full potential (although still shouldn't trample on other innocent humans along the way). The Litherian Religion worships only the Goddess Lith. They use human sacrifices and the people are much more oppressed. Dark robes cover their body during rituals. The least common religion involving the three Goddesses is Maerian, which involves the Goddess Maerura and is a more nihilist approach that doesn't take a side. They seem more detached and pacifistic in nature, settling disputes logically whenever they get involved.
Some humans are atheistic and worship beings other then the three main Goddess, although they are vastly outnumbered. There are also other religions found in some other mythical species, which rarely make their way into human society.
Magic and Mythical Creatures
While most humans don't have magic, magic does exist to some extent in roughly 20% of them. The ones who can use magic effectively are less then 1%. The spells are basically limited to creativity and energy cost. If it's really powerful, then it takes more energy from the caster to use. Spells involve vocalization unless the caster is so in sync with magic that they can simply think it, or for the best or luckiest, have the magic anticipate his or her needs or activate on it's own accord.
For mythical creatures, there are some intelligent life outside of the human race. You can get creative about what kinds of mythical creatures there are. A lot of the mythical creatures want to stay away from or attack humans, although they have individually been involved with the humans from time to time. As the plot continues they are more likely to have to get involved.
Setting
The continent that this story takes place on is called Mae, named after the Goddess Maerura who created the continent. Humans occupy the center of the continent and are surrounded by the lands inhabited mostly by wildlife and mythical creatures. There are eight know Sacred Trees, so there are eight human nations. The nation is named after the tree. I will explain more in detail about the countries later on. You don't need to know all of them, especially at the start. The ones at the top of the list are more involved in the plot, so know those first.
Queendom of Eliorre-To the west is the Queendom of Eliorre. This is the second largest human nation. They're often times the good guys, although with a militaristic society. Their military is quite large and is made up both of volunteers and conscripts. Their Sacred Tree, despite being in one of the most powerful nations, is growing sick and set off the chain of events leading to the plot. The most common religion in Eliorre is Tridea, followed closely by Gliirean, which is growing in influence far faster then the rest.
Empire of Lurall-To the east is the Empire of Lurall, the main bad guys of this roleplay. They're experiencing a lot of corruption from the Litherian religion, and atheism is at it's highest here. Still, the Tridea religion has the highest percentage, but not by much. The Empress has ordered the military to invade their surrounding nation in an effort to gain control over their Sacred Trees. Lurall is the largest of the human nations and has a military both powerful and large.
Republic of Pharee-To the northwest is Pharee, the "nation of many lakes" and is one of the smaller nations but with very good resources. They have a lot of mythical creatures visiting their nation compared to the others, who help fight for them due to Pharee itself having a weak military. Unfortunately, due to the surprise attack by Lurall and Reitrilia, they lost the war within a year and the visiting creatures ended up wiped out, a majority of them in a single battle that turned out to be a massacre. This defeat caused other mythical creatures to think twice before getting involved in this war. The people of Pharee are now in hiding. Without control of the Sacred Tree, their population cannot last long. It's a shame because they were once great trading partners with Eliorre and many others.
Reitrilia Monarch-Located to the southeast. They teamed up with Lurall at the beginning of the invasion, agreeing to help attack Pharee. Their soldiers are not trained or equipped well, so they rely a lot on swarm tactics while fighting. After the battle with Pharee, a lot of their more experienced volunteers were killed due to being sent out first, so most of their soldiers are now conscripts. Reitrilia has a very high population density, so finding such replacements was very easy. People from here often have the stereotype of being rough and tumble country girls who are not elegant and talk with strong accents.
Ornaara Autocracy-To the southwest. It's quite hot year round and the vegetation looks like it's constantly autumn. They are the main ally of Eliorre during the war, supplying a lot of soldiers. However, around half of them are tied up with fighting the armies from the mythical creatures who sided with Lurall. They also have Reitrilia to deal with, so at the moment not many of their soldiers are able to group together. The humans here have darker skin then found elsewhere.
Empire of Kunarei-Nestled above Lurall, in the northwest. They have a mountain chain protecting them a bit, but that didn't stop an invasion. So far they've been able to fend them off well enough, even though they were attacked at around the same time as Pharee. They've always tried to isolate themselves from the other nations, so they're hesitant to join up with the others in the war. They're similar to Asia, so their soldiers are like samurai and are really tough despite being outnumbered.
Queendom of Ileae-Located to the far north. They are the land of snow and ice. Their soldiers are dressed in tough armor shaped like animals such as wolves. Their magic users are known to be very skilled. Combine this with the frigid landscape, and any invasion attempts will be met with stiff resistance. So far they have not gotten involved in the war, although have a strong dislike for Lurall. The Queen is wise but cautious, not wanting to join the war unless the situation demands it. The humans here have very pale skin.
Theocracy of Surrah-Located in the southern lands, Surrah is largely remaining neutral in this war. Due to being in a large desert, the Sacred Tree is starting to wither and the population is decreasing as a result, rather then increasing like a lot of the other Sacred Trees. They are considered a loose cannon and could join any side, or remain natural, although that will be increasingly difficult for multiple reasons. The Maerian religion is more common here then anywhere else, although still not enough to overcome Tridea. The Litherian Religion Cult has a lot of small groups spread out around the empire, causing trouble for the government. The humans here look Indian or middle eastern.
Plot
It's now been two years since the opening attacks, and Lurall is now in the opening stages of invading Eliorre. Some of the boys born in the Sacred Tree of Eliorre have now grown up to be young men, and a prophecy has began to spread saying that mankind will soon be able to survive without relying on the Sacred Trees. The people that know better can't help but think that the Lith worshipers of Lurill wanted to avoid that fate by capturing the Sacred Trees, stopping the males from being born. The men's existence would ruin the status quo that was, in their opinion, needed to maintain the balance of the world.
Rules
1. Standard forum roles apply unless otherwise stated.
2. You may have more then one character if desired.
3. You should post at least one decent sized paragraph per post, preferably more.
4. Keep this PG-13. While there will probably be some relationships going on, nothing graphic. Keep swearing to a reasonable amount.
5. I can add rules if necessary, but I will be fair with this power.
Character Sheet
You may format the character sheet however you want, but be sure to include all of the information below:
Name-
Age-
Gender- (You can be male, in case you were wondering. Be sure to plan accordingly)
Race- (If a mythical creature, explain about them)
Appearance-
Personality-
Homeland- (such as Eliorre)
Occupation-
Power/Abilities- (such as if you have magic)
Biography-
Cast
(None yet)
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