This is an idea that I had five years ago. It didn't really take off then, but enough time has passed that I decided to give it a second shot.
This game is a spiritual successor to Bleach in the Playground, Naruto in the Playground and Dragon Ball in the Playground. It is not in continuity with any of them and no characters are intended to carry over, either from them or any other freeform game here on GitP.
Quit blabbering. What's the big idea?
The idea is to reimagine and play out the history of the Bleach setting, starting from the very beginning: the founding of the Royal Guard and Shinoreijutsuin.
I, specifically, want this game to answer the following questions:
- Who was the Soul King?
- The manga leaves this question almost completely open. We know he came to being to regulate flow of souls and to keep balance between worlds, but his personality is unknown.
- Why was he sealed?
- It's claimed Shinigami are enemies of the Soul King, but what does this mean?
- Who founded the five great Noble Families?
- The known Great Noble Families are Shihoin, Kuchiki and Shiba. Two are yet to be named.
- Who founded Seiretei and built its walls?
- In canon, nobles live in the city, but why did they choose to seclude themselves from common Pluses?
And once those questions have been answered, I want to move 1100 years forward, to the time of the First Quincy War, and the founding of Gotei 13. And, if this game lasts enough to get that done, move another 1000 years to the future, to contemporary times, and move into urban fantasy like in the beginning of the original Bleach Manga. Ambitious, I know, but a man can dream, right?
Still, that's the goal to keep in mind: to retell history of and recreate a status quo similar to the Bleach setting we know and love, and then move on from there.
The starting point for this game, as noted in the above text, is 2100 years in the past. This means the following elements do not exist yet:
- Canonical characters, save for the Soul King, who is borderline non-character in the manga. The reason is simple: they have not been born yet. They might never be born in this continuity.
- Yamamoto, Unohana and Royal Guard members are maybes. Even then, they would be much younger at this point and not have their canonical rank and powers.
- Shinigami: as counter-intuitive as this may sound for a Bleach game, neither Shinoreijutsuin nor Gotei 13 have been founded yet. The people who will later be called "Shinigami" are known as "Balancers" at this point of time. This will, obviously, change fairly soon. Just keep in mind when making a new character. You can't introduce a character as having always been a Shinigami, because Shinigami haven't always been around.
- Japan. Another counter-intutive thing, but neither Japanese culture nor nation exist yet at this point of time. Of course, the same goes for all other modern nations and inventions, including some world religions (Christianity and Islam, for example.)
- I do not expect total historical accuracy from anyone. This is a fantasy game at heart, after all. So you can use Japanese names and spirits can have access to anachronistic technology. Still, keep in mind that it's a premodern setting. If I see guns, computers or mentions of genetic engineering, I will cry blood.
- Quincies, Vizards, Arrancars, Zanpakuto, Mod Souls, Espada, Las Noches, Hogyoku etc. do not exist either as no-one has invented them yet. This will, obviously, change as the game progresses.
So what does exist?
- Pluses exist.
- Pluses with significant spiritual powers are expected to become Shinigami, of course.
- Hollows exist.
- Vasto Lorde, however, do not exist... yet.
- Humans exist.
- Fullbringers may exist.
- Soul Society exists.
- Hueco Mundo exists.
- Hell exists.
- People who were cursed to be animals in life and retain bestial traits as Pluses exist. (See: Komamura)
- Togabito (Sinners who escaped from Hell) exist.
- Kushanada (Wardens of Hell) exist, though they aren't really suited for player characters.
The list will get updated as the game progresses.
To get off the ground, I'm looking for players to play the following sorts of characters:
- Someone to found the Shinoreijutsuin (AKA Spiritual Arts Academy AKA Shinigami Academy).
Someone to found the Royal Guard.(Wao Shen, played by Razade)Someone to make the first Zanpakutos.(Qiu Tao, played by igordragonian)Someone to play a head or heir to a Great Noble Family.(Kuchiki Ichiro Takehiko played by Frozen_Feet, Kane Shiba played by Toxic_Mind, and Shihoin Yuuka Saki played by Lord Raziere. Two more spots to go.)- Someone to play the Soul King.
I will cross roles off the list as soon as they are filled.
I, myself, am a veteran to several long-running Bleach freeforms, and have played almost every possible role within the setting. As such, I don't want to reserve any of these roles for myself. Instead, I ask the next five posters to vote or suggest which sort of character I should play. It can be one of the above, it can be none of the above, it can even be a canonical character. Just throw an idea at me.
. . .
So, yeah. Any takers?
Link to the IC thread is here.
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Rules:
- Do not control other people's characters without permission.
- No fighting or bullying people in the OOC. If you can't stand someone's face, hold that discussion elsewhere.
- It's polite to ask before jumping into fights or other personal scenes. Not every event is meant to involve every character. Of course, you can also pre-emptively inform other people about whether your scenes are open or not.
- Related to the above: Shunpo is not teleportation, Garganta are not wormholes, Reiatsu sense is not plot detection, and the world is big. If your character is on the other side of the world, you really shouldn't even need to ask if they can participate. It should logically follow they can't.
- Fights are decided by agreement between players, not by whose character is most powersome. If you want to maintain the surprise to other players, talk it through privately. If you really can't decide, flip a goddamn coin already.
- The game starts when I have a character idea and there is at least one other active player to play with. It ends when the last two active players lose all interest in it.
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Character Roster:
Kuchiki Ichiro Takehiko, 3rd head of the Kuchiki clan
General Qiu Tao, the Blade Heart
Sunyi Tao, vengefull ghost of Qiu former wife
Ezekiel Bellitus, prodigal son of the Soul King
Yan Wao Shen, the Necromancer
The Carrion King
Shiba Kane, Head of Shiba clan
Lady Ana Shiba, Kane's wife
Kuang, Yan Wao Shen's roadie
Shihoin Yuuka Saki, 2nd Head Of the Shihoin Clan
Nanami Fong, Saki's Bodyguard
Tasnim Abdulrashid, the Demon
Roster key:
[KIA] : Killed-in-action. This character has bit the dust, kicked the bucket, thrown in the towel, went to a better place, rests in pieces, yadda yadda. Their place is now in our fond memories and flashbacks.
[MIA] : Missing-in-action. A player vanished and left their character off-screen, but the character was too important to be retconned out. Referring to these characters (and wondering where they are) is allowed, but their fate is left undisclosed unless their player returns.
[Retired] : The player chose to stop playing the character and moved them off-screen. As above, you can continue to refer to them and they are considered to have existed, they just won't make an appearance anymore.
[NPC] : Non-player character. A character who can be controlled by anyone in need.
[WIP] : Work-in-progress. A character is incomplete and not ready to be played yet.
(Currently played by X) : informs if a character is being played by someone else than who created or made their registry post.
Crossed-over:This character has been retconned out. They are considered never to have existed in the story. Don't refer to them.
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Empty character template:
<Your character's name here>
Spoiler
Age: Exact number or rough estimation.
Gender: Male, female, etc.
Height: Centimeters and/or feet and inches.
Weight: Kilograms and/or pounds.
Species: What kind of creature your character is?
Station: Your character's current lot in life.
Description:
SpoilerWhat does your character look, feel, smell and sound like?
Personality:
SpoilerHow does your character think? What drives him and what kind of a fellow is he?
History:SpoilerWhat has happened to your character before the game and made them who they are?
Story So Far:SpoilerYou can summarize and update here what has happened to your character during the game.
Abilities:
Spoiler
What is your character good or bad at? What special things can he do or knows?
These could include anything from martial arts to ki blasts to magic and shapeshifting abilities.
Other information:
Spoiler
Anything you can't fit to the brackets above, such as equipment or property your character owns.
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On character power:
SpoilerBleach has no powerlevels nor any way to easily compare character abilities. Here is a rough guideline on how you can eyeball where your character stands:
Characters can be divided into following tiers:
- Human; someone with no spiritual ability.
- Plus; someone who can see spirits but is otherwise untrained in fighting them. (See: Chad at the start of series, Ichigo's sisters.)
- Unseated: someone who has both ability to see spirits and basic ability to fight them, but who otherwise is not significantly above human ability. (See: Shinigami mooks.)
- Seated: someone with extensive combat training and spiritual powers. Could achieve Shikai or equivalent. (See: Rukia at the start of the series.)
- This also where normal Hollows are at.
- Lieutenant: someone with extensive spiritual powers and significant superhuman ability. Could achieve Bankai or equivalent. (See: Renji during Soul Society Arc, Ikkaku, Yumichika.)
- This where mindless Menos Grande and Gillians are at.
- Captain: someone with extreme spiritual and superhuman powers. Has mastered Bankai or equivalent. (See: Byakuya Kuchiki during Soul Society arc.)
- This where Adjuchas and Vasto Lorde are at.
- Superman: someone who eats people on the previous levels for breakfast. Can pull powers no-one else has from their posterior. (See: Yamamoto, Aizen, Ulquiorra.)
- This is where Arrancars made of Vasto Lorde were supposed to be, but they didn't really deliver.
The ranks are just for reference; your character doesn't have to hold a rank to be powerful, and vice versa. So your character doesn't have to be a Captain to be Captain-level, and someone with rank of Captain wouldn't need to be Captain-level.
Bleach wiki uses some descriptors for abilities which roughly correspond to the above tiers. They are, in order: poor, normal, enhanced, practicioner, expert, master, grandmaster. F.ex. a Lieutenant-level would be expected to be an expert in some skill.
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On keeping track of time and place:
To avoid confusion, you can use location tags to indicate shifts in time and place. Like this:
[Earth; Pacific Ocean; Noon]
<Stuff happening.>
[Soul Society]
<More stuff happening.>
This way, we can keep track where everyone is, since it's not economical to make a new thread for every little place.
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Resources:
Bleach Wiki (for additional setting information)
Behind the Name. (For names.)