You are the seedling shinobi in a world complex and ruthless. Will you be crushed under its heel or rise above it all?
The Village Hidden in the Sky
A swirling mass of putrid smog envelops the sky—an inkblot to an otherwise unmarked heaven. Jotting through this dome of pollution stands a cluster of monolithic structures; each one consisting of a uniform arrangement of steel as black as the dark clouds above. At intermittent levels, bulges of construction glow from the fires within and spitting out vapors of smoke from packs of chimneys located at oblique angles from the main structures.
Rising above the defiled skyline reveals a majestic realm of glass and metal reflecting the sunshine. Here, the monuments of metal and craftsmanship are unmarred by the soot and waste of the levels below; instead, it seems the architects devoted their entire efforts to aesthetics with attention given to every nook and cranny. Unlike the constructions of other shinobi villages, which limit the number of windows on their buildings; the spires that make up Soragakure are riddled with them. To a foreign eye, one might guess that the buildings, themselves, were made only of glass at these nosebleed heights.
A web of rails connects the edifices with one another. All of these slim bridges offer only room enough for one man to balance on, but at angles too steep to travel upon. Most of them have been made with the idea of l'art du déplacement in mind—using the fastest and most direct routes possible between places; while others swirl all around buildings taking whoever is on it for a fantastical ride. One can always see movement at these heights of Soragakure, shinobi of all types use their chakra to balance and push themselves through the labyrinth of monorails while the muggles of hidden village traverse by ingenious locomotives driven by manpower.
History
Spoiler
History is a sham. This is a fact more so for the entirety of the ninja world, which has constantly sought out to relegate even the most important events into the shadows of myth and legend. Whether distorted in the forms of fairy tales, written upon stone tablets only certain eyes can see, or simply forgotten by all—the actuality of historical moments are left abandoned, waiting for those curious enough to seek them out; however, the stories of contemporary history (especially after the transition from clans to nations) are slightly more preserved.
Though most hidden villages would rather keep their own personal histories hidden from outsiders due to how highly ingrained their pasts are with their own national secrets, the most obvious and thus well recorded of events come from the aftermath of the Shinobi World Wars. While the results of the last war brought upon the current state of militaristic tension, so did it also help sow the grounds for the fruition of new nations during this stagnated time of peace: one of which is the Land of Rivers.
Being a land full of natural resources thanks to the mineral-rich earth titular multitude of rivers, the Land of Rivers has always remained in the periphery of the Five Great Nations due to no one power (mainly the Fire and Wind who border Rivers) being able to wrench control over its vast resources long enough before rival nations fought to expel the land of its foreign occupiers. The land continued to balance between being destroyed by invaders and being "rescued" by greater powers who wanted to stop rivals from gaining the precious gold deposits at all costs.
Fortuitously, the local population's Katabami Kinzan was able to not only secure enough gold to pay off their would-be protectors from other nations, but also hired a small, private army of mercenary ninjas to protect their mines. Because of the Land of Rivers' lack of a shinobi village, the Village of Artisans sought out the protected mines of Katabami Kinzan and created their own quasi-shinobi village full of only well-paid mercs. The communion of the artisans and the miners resulted in a not only a small, powerful shinobi village but one that sought to match their might with beauty that extended into the heavens—Soragakure.
Years have passed since the founding and construction of the skyscraping village, and their newly created academy has just graduated genin native to the Land of Rivers. Of the minor nations, the Land of Rivers seems to be on track of rivaling even the greatest of the shinobi world with their propagandized limitless supply of riches and upcoming genin poised to take this year's Chuunin Exam by storm. However, the high hopes of Soragakure cannot wipe away the decadent bonds between the nations surrounding them. Years of stagnation have only left the Wind starving of resources necessary to fend off any invasion and the Fire is looking to reclaim their superiority in the eyes of the other Great Nations. Other lands have taken up strict forms of isolation biding their time for something or anything to set the world into chaos. Even locally in Soragakure, the politics of higher-ups are at odds over the first steps into creating a native-led village instead of relying upon the powerful yet expensive foreign ninjas. Indeed, it is a time of approaching change for all.
Demographics
Medium Village(Minor)
Average Wealth (Civilian): +8
Civilian Population: ~2,500
Shinobi Population: 165
Academy Student: 60
Genin: 45
Chuunin: 60
Special Jounin: 20
Jounin: 16
Elite Jounin: 2
ANBU: 22
Notables Kamisaka Kai: One of the three that make up the triumvirate, which administrates not only the hidden village but also Rivers in place of the more authoritarian system of the Five Great Nations, Kamisaka Kai is a relatively young woman who has made her way up the political ladders of the Land of Rivers to oversee the education of genin and act as a diplomat for the nation. It has become common knowledge that Kai managed to rig the voting system given no one knew of her previously, but the native population has little ill will towards her because of the many acts she has done to deregulate the shinobi population from the foreign hands of first and second generation mercenaries such as herself. This of course means she has made enemies who are now waiting for the popular opinion to wane so they can oust her.
Sonia the Deathless: The second of the triumvirate representing the ninja sector like Kai, Sonia the Deathless embodies the militaristic side of Rivers and Soragakure along with the police enforcement. While no one remembers Kai before her election into the triumvirate, no can remember a time without Sonia the Deathless protecting their fledgling hidden village; some argue her moniker comes from her longevity without a sign of age, but others respond with the fact that she has always been known as Sonia the Deathless. Whatever the conspiracy theories are, everyone knows she gets the job done with a ruthlessness gained from her time in the Land of Iron so long ago. Out of the three, Sonia the Deathless mirrors the ninja with mercenary roots and their apprehensive and sheer disdain for the newest graduating class seeing this as the beginning of the end for their long-term and well-paid careers.
Yamada Taro: The final member of the triumvirate, Yamada Taro represents the common man of Rivers: no training in the ninja arts but rich because of the gold mines (even more so given his ownership of a few). Like Sonia the Deathless, Taro's characteristics are easily elucidated: he wants nothing more than to see the Land of Rivers rival the stagnated great nations and sees pushing out all foreigners and their offspring as beneficial to the pockets of his people.
Teams
Team 1 Jounin Kaede: "Describe myself, huh? Hmm. I guess... Maybe... Hm... Is that... Uh-uh, that's... No, classified... Ah-ha! I know exactly what I can say now. Wait, what do you mean we're out of time?"
Three unknown genin: They're genin. They're unknown.
Team 2 Jounin Ryu: "What do you want? Get out of my way. No, I won't answer your questions. Move or I'll move you!"
Girl with lots of hair: A girl with lots of hair.
Nondescript Boy: A boy of vague description who would be easily lost in a crowd.
Misaka Saicho: A boy with very large bangs. To date no one has seen his eyes.
Team 3 Jounin Maaya: "Describe me? Ha! I am who I am, and there's nothing more to say! Oh, you need something to say? Well, when I walk, everyone watches!"
Ozawa Hideki: Withdrawn from team and placed on another.
Sengo Iyasumaru: Withdrawn from team and placed on another.
Habu Manabu: An eight year old prodigy in ninjutsu. The boy is a living testament that hard work and natural genius can combine to create ninja of a level where age is irrelevant. Manabu is much the same as any other eight year old. He likes bugs and other gross stuff, he likes candy and sweet pastries and he doesn't care too much for taking a bath when he thinks he can get away without it.
On the flip side, Manabu is also a very skilled ninjutsu specialist. He can be quite serious and dedicated when the situation calls for it. But not much farther than that. He is still an eight year old, after all.
Kuroda Takuya: A ninja with a noticable tendency to avoid learning Taijutsu, Takuya still prefers to be a secondary fighter despite being a little on the weak side physically. Nonetheless, he is a little on the brainy side and prefers making a plan instead of just rushing in, but will gleefully follow that lead.
Usually cheerful, but prone to brooding and over-calculating, he hangs around with Atusuhi and Yuno in his downtime a lot.
Uchiha Momo: A 15-year old kunoichi from a clan that's supposed to be big in Konohagakure, Momo is mostly known to the inhabitants of Soragakure as "Kaede's sister". Nevertheless, as a skilled genjutsu user herself, she takes care not to remain in her brother's shadow- a fact that sometimes pushes her out of her usually sensible mind to dare do things most people would shirk from.
A generally easy-going person, Momo's actual character is a bit harder to pin down than just that, though, as she adapts from situation to situation with surprising grace, swinging from coquettish to shy, friendly, or even dangerously aggressive; leaving the observer confused as to think whether they are acts she uses to her own ends, or merely different facets of her genuine character.
Team 5 Jounin Cybele: "D-describe myself? I-I... Um..." *Blushes and fidgets furiously* "Kaede-sama, help me."
Konpaku Yousuke: With a sword always at hand, Yousuke is the sort of kid who comes to class with cuts and scrapes and hastily wrapped bandages on a periodic basis. If this sort appearance doesn't scare the young kunoichi and shinobi of the class, then it's his constant glares (mostly targeted at the girls when they're talking) that does the trick. Along with this rough presentation, he speaks in a clipped and officious manner; though, sometimes coming off as quite respectful.
Everybody knows Yousuke doesn't have any friends within the school and during lunch or break periods, he is often found in the academy training area. People tend to avoid him during these free periods because Yousuke always scowls at people who try to talk to him while he is training.
Kita Eisen: Withdrawn from the team due to personnel differences.
Yamana Amon: A 14-year-old latecomer. Amon was part of a ninja team two years ago, but suddenly dropped out of the program for unknown reasons. No one from her old team seems to be around anymore, and a lot of genin whisper that her rich parents--the Yamanas who own Yamana Metal Industries--had them "taken care of". Whether that's true or not, Yamana hasn't needed to work a day in her life, but chose to do so anyway out of a sense of self-reliance. Her parents are extremely rich, but she refuses to use their money as a crutch for herself or others.
Amon's a techie and mechhead. There's nothing she'd rather do than breaking things apart and putting them back together. Often times what she rebuilds is better than it was before, but it's just as likely to just not work. Amon's blond hair, blue eyes, and tall stature looks nothing like her squat, dark-haired, dark-eyed parents, but no one would ever admit that openly. The last guy to question Amon's whereabouts ended up a beggar after her parents crushed him financially then black-listed him from ever getting another job. Rumors are that the guy killed himself shortly afterward.
Takeada Houshi: The tallest kid, possibly person, you've ever seen, Houshi is already six and a half feet tall, only twelve years old and he's still growing! He's not from a long line of shinobi or anything of the sort. He doesn't talk much or at all really. On the few occasions he did speak, he's was known to be very polite and well-mannered. He always carres a fullblade on his person, which he has shown to be quite proficient with.
He has shaggy black hair, deep brown eyes, bulbous nose and caramel skin. He wears baggy gray pant that still seem like they shouldn't fit. A black, long sleeved shirt with three, thin white lines running down the top of the arms. Then, on the front, white below the chest.
Rumors
Politics: "The Fire Daimyo met the Wind Daimyo in private this week."
"Why?"
"Peace talks they said. Something about the Exams bringing the two countries together."
Haha! Peace. The Wind Country has always hated the Fire after the second great war.
"Even so grandfather, I can't believe the people would stand for something like a war after this long."
"It doesn't really matter what the people want. It's up to Konohagakure and Sunagakure as to whether they fight or not."
Gossip: "Did you hear? Sonia got arrested this morning."
"What, really? I can't believe that. She's always protected us."
"Mh-hm. Rumor has it that Taro had her arrested for conspiracy to commit treason. Treason!"
"No... Has Taro gone crazy? Sonia would never betray us."
Maybe he has... Who knows what's going on anymore?
"They say that Uchiha boy is leaving."
"Really? Huh. He's such a nice boy. I hope he'll be okay, wherever he goes."
"Bah! You've both gone soft in the head. Taro would never let that boy leave."
"Mh. Maybe so. But Taro can't hold him here forever."
"That's what you think! Taro has that girl of his... whats her name now... Mami? Momu? Well, whoever she is, he has her! And he ain't the type to abandon her."
"I saw another one of those little purple-haired girls today."
"You mean like that one ANBU we used to see a lot?"
"Ya, just like her. You think that's her daughter?"
"Don't be foolish. ANBU don't have lovers. Can't, or else they wouldn't be 100% loyal."
"Well, I know she was around. Crying her eyes out about somethin'."
Enemies - Team Maaya:
Gonzou: No known last name. Powerful gangster in Sunomou, and potential crime lord for the entire city. He's driven solely by how much profit he can make off something, and is worth hundreds of millions of ryo.
Enemies - Team Cybele:
Yusa of the Black Sand: A powerful doton-user from the Wind Country. She's the daughter of a Kazekage from the past, and was set up to become the next Kazekage after her father passed. But agents within Sunagakure had her branded as a criminal. Refusing to be exiled, Yusa attempted a coup from within Sunagakure, but the loyalists of the village defeated her tiny rebellion. They cast her out, and recently she had been captured by Soragakure. She was freed by Hisagawa Hinami, Suzunabu of the Wind, and an unknown third party.
Human Princess Suneko: A powerful oni summoner from Soragakure. She came to the village as one of the mercenaries under Sonia's command. She recently abandoned and betrayed the village under an unknown person's orders.
Allies - Team Cybele
Suzunabu of the Wind: A dragon spirit called from the great Mount Amatsugoten. She had been summoned in the ancient past, bound into a pot, and forced to attempt to remove the curse from the Eurayle Clan. Her inability to do so resulted in the clan sealing her for years, until she was sealed within the body of Hong Meiling of Konohagakure.
Blue Princess Obana: An oni with the body of a small child. Her immense physical strength and endurance betrays her supernatural status. She's a servant of Suneko, but seems extremely reluctant to fight.
Jounin rumors, preserved for posterity's sake.
Spoiler
Euryale Cybele: "Have you heard about that Cybele? There's rumors goin' around that she only got a genin team 'cause someone higher up had the pull and was sweet on her."
"I heard she's some kind of servant to the Uchiha clan members hiding in Soragakure, or at least spends a lot of her time there and frequently plays with the youngest Uchiha."
"Supposedly, she's extremely sick, to the point of being a liablity to her ninja team."
"That's not right. She's supposedly extremely mercenary, even killin' the child of her target for a few extra yen."
"You sure? I always heard she was secretly very sweet, giving candy to young children and helping the elderly, poor, and sick in her free time."
"All lies! She's a horrible monster who poisons young children, wears tiny miniskirts in front of old men, steals from the poor, and physically assaults the sick!"
Maaya: "Maaya? Oh, yeah I heard of her. That crazy self-styled master of the shuriken and mid-air combat woman trying to forcefully create an advanced chakra type, right?"
"No, no, no. That's not right. You need a kekkei genkai do that. No. She's just got some genetic disease she's too proud to admit to."
"Yeah, that does make more sense. Especially with how she keeps clutching her chest."
"Yup. Can't blame chest pains out of the blue on training too hard. It also explains why she's only a special jounin too."
"Yeah, it does. She was such a gifted student afterall."
House Rules
Spoiler
Fractional BAB.
Shinobi Archetypes as seen here including the afterword.
Hostage Maneuver Variant (page 34-35).
Reflex Saves and Movement Penalties Variant (35).
Free Bonus Feats: Genin, Chuunin, and Jounin. Of course you only receive these when you are promoted. (E.g. Players start fresh out of the academy so they all have Genin, and they can receive Chuunin after the Exams. Jounins get all three.)
Due to Soragakure's unique locale, academy students are required to learn specific techniques before graduation besides the Duplication, Transformation, and Body Substitution Techniques: Jumping Technique, Tree Climbing Technique, Minor Harmless Fall Technique, Warmth Shield Technique (5th Mastery), and The Art of Grinding (a technique that allows movement on Soragakure's rail system without vehicles; rules to come).
Jounin gain a number of masteries equal to their highest mental score before all modifications. Example: Toshio has 16 masteries because his player rolled a 16 in Charisma and his Wisdom and Intelligence scores are only 14 and 15 respectively. Genin do not have the sort of training regimen that allows for mastery (Warmth Shield excluded).
There is a limit to the amount of techniques you can learn per rank. Any character may have up to 2 techniques of the highest rank available to the character, 3 of the second highest, 4 of the third highest, 5 of the fourth highest, and any number of those below. Example: Toshio is level 13 and can have 2 techniques of rank 13, 3 of rank 12, 4 of rank 11, 5 of rank 10, and any number of those of rank 9 and below. This helps characters have a balanced repertoire to select from, but this rule can be flexible given a decent explanation of how a different ratio of techniques reflects your character.
Due to how isolationist most countries are, some bloodlines will be highly restricted to the players. Examples: Sharingan and Byakugan are very protected by Konoha, so there will not be many good reasons why sky-nin would have one.
Stolen verbatim from The Unborne here. I don't know where he went, but I've been away for awhile. I came back recently, and noticed that the game(s) were still dead. So I'm stepping up to restart them. This post will be edited as need be, so watch it often over the course of the game.
New OOC thread since the old one hit 50 pages.
Last edited by ZeroNumerous : 10-06-2012 at 07:26 AM.
Re: Soragakure OOC III - Why Do We Have 3 Of These?
On digging a pit trap: I dunno. How long do you think it'd take Amon to dig a 20ft pit without a shovel or earth techniques? 'Cause if it's less than 20ft they'll take no damage on the fall and just jump out anyway.
On Yousuke's father: He had Youki as a father figure anyway, so any abandonment issues would only develop from wondering about the man's identity rather than the actual lack of a father figure.
Re: Soragakure OOC III - Why Do We Have 3 Of These?
Well like I said, I mean finding an already existing pit and then covering it such as to convert it into a pit trap. Not that it matters; I have two trap notes left and I intend to use them somehow. Although, how do you feel about kunai traps?
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Re: Soragakure OOC III - Why Do We Have 3 Of These?
But of course. Amon will maintain a distance of 100 feet at all times. If she managed 5 minutes with nothing new occuring, then I shall have her try something riskier involving makeshift traps and such - trap notes, sunburst tags, freeze and high pressure smoke bombs - all the good stuff.
I'll roll IC, but first:
Plan (1d20+8)[14]
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Re: Soragakure OOC III - Why Do We Have 3 Of These?
Well, 7 people have a facing of about a Huge character, so really there should be a size bonus to my spot there, I would contend. Also +2 plan bonus to checks might help
Wait, i can make my Plan bonus last until I finish stalking these guys, right?
Can i take 10 on the MS?
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Re: Soragakure OOC III - Why Do We Have 3 Of These?
God dammit, plan is so lame - it's only use seems to be for combat, what else takes place over the course of, like, 4 rounds? Fine, i won't bother using my Plan then.
The Spot/Listen penalties for 90 feet distance are...?
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Re: Soragakure OOC III - Why Do We Have 3 Of These?
Sorry for waiting literally all day to post, guys. I was trying to think up some awesome, winning strategy Amon could accomplish herself. I have a few ideas, but I've decided to take it one step at a time.
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Re: Soragakure OOC III - Why Do We Have 3 Of These?
I don't like my odds with those archers for some reason. Maybe I should action point to bump up my move silently... hmm... Bad, what do you think? Eh, screw it, I'm going for it.
Action Point to augment my Move Silently roll (1d6)[2]
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Re: Soragakure OOC III - Why Do We Have 3 Of These?
Quote:
Originally Posted by ZeroNumerous
On Yousuke's father: He had Youki as a father figure anyway, so any abandonment issues would only develop from wondering about the man's identity rather than the actual lack of a father figure.
Yousuke's father is a somewhat timid man who owns a shop on the border of Earth and Rivers.
Spoiler
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⑨Strongest Ice⑨
Last edited by Bad Situation : 09-29-2012 at 07:11 PM.
Re: Soragakure OOC III - Why Do We Have 3 Of These?
Hmm... Bad, Zeone, I don't think you can contribute like this. The only fix I have so this doesn't turn into a solo adventure is to wipe the floor with these 6 guys myself then regroup everyone back in town and hope for the best. Unless you'd be willing to wait until Amon does the entire adventure with Kaede herself, which i think would be unfair since it would probably take a week of you OOC and IC doing nothing. On the other hand, if the Red Eyes doesn't care to save anyone, those villages are dying... hmph. Decisions, decisions. Of course, we could always go back to town and let Kaede handle this himself, but that would be really boring and it presents the very real chance things will go really badly.
I guess mind Transfer is the quickest way to do this - quicker even than doing the combat, perhaps, but i dunno... nothing seems foolproof. No matter what happens, Yousuke dropping has thrown our beat off entirely.
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Re: Soragakure OOC III - Why Do We Have 3 Of These?
Oh god, that's a point... at least he wouldnt' take a size penalty. You guys are sitting ducks there - Houshi can't protect himself AND Yousuke if whatever is on the way happens to be sadistic. I would recommend surrendering if you get in a fight, but that's just me. Hopefully they're followers of the Suzunabu philosophy - don't **** with it if it doesn't **** with you first.
What range can one sense killing intent at?
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