Ashen Marches - OOC Thread

[Username: required]

ASHEN MARCHES – OOC THREAD

Hello everyone, and welcome to Ashen Marches.

Roleplay Name: Ashen Marches
Roleplay Genre: Dark Fantasy / Post-Apocalyptic Epic
Roleplay GM: Username: required
Style: Round Robin (5 players)

Setting:

The world of Vaelarith is broken.

Years ago, the Hollow Sovereign purged the capital city of Knuckle in a single day -- an event known as the Day of Reasoning . After that, continents fell. Monsters known as World-Poisons spread across the lands, destroying cities and waging war for no reason beyond chaos .

Civilization collapsed and now only fragments remain.

One of those fragments is The March: a massive, moving city made of wagons, steel, salvaged stone, and stubborn hope. It never stays in one place. It searches for the Throne of Ruin, where the Hollow Sovereign is believed to sit. Some want to destroy him. Others want to replace him.

Reality shifts. Roads move. Forests rot in hours. Maps lie. This story is not about heroes destined to win, but instead it is about survival. It is about whether something broken can still move forward.

Basic Story Lore:

• The Hollow Sovereign reshaped the world through conquest and chaos
• World-Poisons roam Vaelarith, each embodying a different aspect of ruin
• The March is a moving city seeking the Throne of Ruin
• Many factions exist within the March: soldiers, scholars, scavengers, prophets, engineers, refugees
• Magic exists, but it is unstable and often dangerous
• The world itself is not stable -- geography, memory, reality can shift

Characters:

Each player may create one primary character. A second is optional but must not overshadow others.

Use this template:

Name:
Age:
Role in the March (Guard, Scholar, Scout, Engineer, Civilian, etc.):
Physical Description:
Backstory:
Personality:
Strengths:
Flaws:
Other Information:

Send character profiles to me by PM for approval before posting.

We will begin the official story once we have at least 3 approved characters.

Let’s build something heavy and unforgettable.

 

[Username: required]

ASHEN MARCHES – RULES

Please read carefully.

All general WritingForum rules apply.

This roleplay is a ROUND ROBIN GAME.

Posting Order:
A posting order will be listed in the Official Roleplay thread once we have players. Turns rotate in sequence.

Word Count:
Minimum 350 words.
Maximum 1,750 words per post.

Timing:
Each player has up to 7 days to post once it is their turn.

Style:
• Third-person past tense
• English only
• No images
• No AI-generated entries

Content:
• PG-13 tone
• No gratuitous violence
• No real-world politics
• No master/slave or distasteful content

Important Conduct Rules:

No God-Modding
Do not make your character immune to harm or override established lore.

No Self-Indulgent Tango
Do not dominate the spotlight at the expense of other characters.

Major character deaths or life-altering events must be discussed in OOC first.

In Round Robin format, all players may write all characters, but stay consistent with established personalities and backstories .

Respect each other.

We are building a shared story, not competing.

 

[Username: required]

THREADS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS ROLEPLAY

OOC Discussion – This thread (all out-of-character discussion goes here)

Official Roleplay – Ashen Marches - Official Story
(Only in-character story entries posted here)

Character Index – ASHEN MARCHES – Character Index
(Approved character sheets will be listed here)

Settings and Lore – Ashen Marches - Settings and Lore
(Expanded worldbuilding, research, geography, factions, etc.)

Roleplay Rules 2025 – Roleplay Rules 2025

Please ensure you have read all rules before submitting a character.

 

[Louanne Learning]

Wow, this is all sounds like a writer's dream to participate in! A regular tour-de-force for the imagination.

Thanks for setting it up so well, and hopefully you'll have players before long.

 

[Luxuria]

Hey, I am in college full-time. But was curious if you might consider lowing the minimum wordcount to 250. Because I feel I might be able to do that in a week. In the meantime, I would love to brainstorm with you as I think this could be really fun. I think at the moment, I am curious as to why the machines are seeking the throne. Are the machines sentient? Also, why did the Hollow Sovereign decide to wipe out the city of Knuckle? What types of plagues and other disaster travel the world? Are there several different types of disasters? How do people live on the March?

 

[Louanne Learning]

@Luxuria - excellent questions for @Username: required - I'm interested in the answers, too

I feel I might be able to do that

Fantastic! if you join, I will join, too! Lol, my posts will probably be short, too, since I am already in 2 role plays.

Also - @Username: required - would the first entry to the story have all the characters together in the March?

 

[Luxuria]

Fantastic! if you join, I will join, too! Lol, my posts will probably be short, too, since I am already in 2 role plays.

Awesome. Sounds like fun. Just know I won't be able to do much more than 250 words. (Speaking of, let me know when you think I should begin working on that post for Tavern. Because it may be like a month to write it.) I also want to brainstorm and flesh out this world a bit more, so we have goals of HOW we can overcome the bad guys.

 

[Louanne Learning]

on that post for Tavern.

best to ask ps102 on the thread since he is the GM

Awesome.

Great!! We'll soon get the story started. Time to start thinking about my character!

 

[Homer Potvin]

Ever read The Scar by China Mieville? There's a floating city called Armada which is a bunch of ships all tied together that circles the oceans looking for this supernatural thing. I'd be curious as to how the physics of the March work. Is it an actual city-city with buildings on wheels or just a miscellany of vehicles traveling together? An ocean is one thing where the "terrain" is synchronous, unobstructed and kinetically self-powered, but how would that work on land? How is it powered and if linked, how does it account for terrain? Or does is move from place to place, setting up and breaking down?

I would also want to know what the logic behind the war is. No other reason but chaos isn't very narratively compelling.

 

[Luxuria]

best to ask ps102 on the thread since he is the GM



Great!! We'll soon get the story started. Time to start thinking about my character!

Will do and I think I want to flesh out the world more before I begin creating a character.