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.

 

[Pending]

so we have goals of HOW we can overcome the bad guys.

Maybe we can pit the world disasters against each other and hope some die off? Poison might also work on them.

I'm also planning on joining and I'm willing to mold my character's role and backstory to take some villains out.

 

[Username: required]

Actually just saw all these posts, so as I've been world building this plane of existence for at least 5 years, I will GLADLY answer all of the above (and below) questions.

Are the machines sentient?

Every machine is given human sentience when built by sucking the essence of the humans who build them into the machines themselves. Almost like an echo-machine, but the type of metal they use is how spirits of humans get trapped within them. It is dubbed "Erikon".

why did the Hollow Sovereign decide to wipe out the city of Knuckle?

It really comes down to what the city represented. Knuckle wasn’t just another place on the map. It was the center of literally everything human. Politics, military command, religion, culture, all of it flowed through that one city. So if you wanted to make a statement that humanity wasn’t as stable or as in control as it believed, that’s exactly where you would strike. Destroying Knuckle wasn’t just a random destruction, but rather, it was symbolic. He wasn’t just attacking people, he was attacking the idea of human certainty itself.

There’s also the whole thing with the Day of Reasoning. The name sounds calm and hopeful, like it should have been a day of discussion or reform. Instead, it became a day of complete annihilation. The irony is intentional. He wanted to prove that reason and structure don’t actually protect anyone in Vaelarith. You can build systems for centuries, but they can still fall apart in a single afternoon. Thats kind of the point.

On a more practical level, it was smart but in a cold way. Knuckle had the strongest defenses and the best soldiers. If even that city could fall so quickly, then everywhere else would start to panic. Once fear sets in, then resistance starts to weaken. People second guess their leaders, armies hesitate, and conquest becomes easier when no one believes victory is possible. So it wasn’t just a massacre, it was psychological warfare on a massive scale.

And then there’s the deeper possibility. Knuckle may have been built over something connected to the Shattering Night. If that’s true, the purge might have served some ritual or ancient purpose, not just a military one. There’s usually something older and darker underneath it all, even if most people dont realize it yet.

What types of plagues and other disaster travel the world?

1. Ashblight, which makes its recipients that are vulnerable to it weak, have brittle bones, and cracks and dries their skin. Most people die quickly to this plague.
2. Veilrot, located primarily in the Veilmarsh, literally just turns its victims into fungus. Not moving fungus. Not sentient fungus. Just fungus, a basic, needy plant that represents its victims in one way or another.
3. Fractures. The event known as the Shattering Night where the world was plunged into darkness quite literally made fractures in the sky. These things warp time, space and reality, and Fracture-Storms occur frequently. People are lost, they forget what they were doing, or simply cease to exist.

Are there several different types of disasters?

Depends on what you mean by disaster. Clarify a bit more and I'll respond with a better answer, but if what you mean is natural disasters, then no, only Fractures.

How do people live on the March?

Solemn, simple, and hopeful. These three tenets make up the marches core beliefs.
1. Remain solemn. Grieve for your brothers and sisters in the march. Never stay happy, because it wont last.
2. Simplicity. If there is an easy way, it is better than the smart way. If there is a smart way, it is better than the reckless way. If there is a reckless way, it is not better than anything.
3. Hopefulness. Always hang onto hope. Never give up, lest you end up just like those before you: broken, dead, or tortured.

would the first entry to the story have all the characters together in the March?

Yes, it would, for some reason or another, even if they are against the March.

Is it an actual city-city with buildings on wheels or just a miscellany of vehicles traveling together?

It is a miscellaneous mass of power generators, travelling merchants, moving shops, homes in caravans, and walking houses on literal engineer legs. So, not wheels, but legs. LOL

An ocean is one thing where the "terrain" is synchronous, unobstructed and kinetically self-powered, but how would that work on land?

There are more scouts in the city than there are merchants, workers and soldiers combined. They are some of the most important people in the March because they must make sure everyone knows where to go, when to go, how to go, and what to go to.

How is it powered and if linked, how does it account for terrain?

It is powered by "arcane generators" that channel the power of the unpredictability of magic. Some generators also get their power by shooting a beam of light into the sky into a Fracture and sucking the energy of chaos from it to power anything from stoves to the walking buildings. It accounts for terrain like mountains and rivers and lakes via the scouts, as mentioned above.

Or does is move from place to place, setting up and breaking down?

Above.

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

Chaos is not very narratively compelling, yes, but the Hollow Sovereign is the manifestation of corrupt power, chaos and loss combined. His followers therefore carry out one of the three goals of his, and it is typically chaos since people do not like to listen to rules by very nature. This causes even more chaos in and of itself, and therefore governs the complete and utter CHAOS of war, death, bloodshed, and loss all in one. It is an endless loop.
Characters are set apart from these people because typically, they do not believe in chaos. In fact, only the "bad guys" fight for chaos: everyone else would like order, like a sane person. Very good question!


Great questions everyone! I took a while looking at my books and lore documents to find the exact answers, so I hope they are helpful.

 

[Louanne Learning]

I'm also planning on joining

Fantastic! Welcome! we should have the details ironed out within a couple of days

 

[Username: required]

Maybe we can pit the world disasters against each other and hope some die off? Poison might also work on them.

I'm also planning on joining and I'm willing to mold my character's role and backstory to take some villains out.

Ah, if what I'm hearing by "disasters" from you all means the World-Poisons, then yes, they can certainly die off. Each one is extremely powerful though, so good luck. I am very, very excited to hear that people want to kill them though! If you all want, I can roleplay as them in the roleplay in fight scenes, mysteries, all of that. I like to be the DM of my stories, but I CERTAINLY don't want to control the story, at all. I want you guys to do what you want, and I want to explain how the actual Evil's of the world respond. So really I just want to roleplay the bad guys XD

 

[Pending]

if what I'm hearing by "disasters" from you all means the World-Poisons

Yep! I got the name twisted, thank you for the clarification. This is good information to know.


Have humans been modified in any positive way to help them survive in the world? Can they use magic? In addition to this, what are the consequences of imbuing something with Erikon?

 

[Louanne Learning]

I took a while looking at my books and lore documents to find the exact answers

I am really impressed, and have a much better idea now how the setting and lore proceed. Thank you!

 

[Louanne Learning]

but I CERTAINLY don't want to control the story

But, as the GM, you will have some say in the plot, and it will also be up to you to make sure the story stays coherent.

So really I just want to roleplay the bad guys

I am pretty excited, too. So, we are going to write a collaborative story together, taking turns adding to the story in segments, keeping the plot and character threads consistent from one entry to the next. We certainly have enough details to go on, and if my past experience is any indication, it's in writing the actual segments that the story unfolds. After all, we all like surpises.

@Username: required - the first entry in the official story will be up to you to write. I would wait until all character profiles are in (using template) and approved. How about if we give everyone a few days to come up with them? (A reminder to everyone to PM you profiles to the GM)

In your first story segment, you might mention the other characters in passing, but do not yet develop them. Leave that up to their creators to do in their first segments - introduce their characters.

Does anyone have any other questions?