Forum:Awakening Demons

Introduction
''The year is 2574. The Interspecies Union remains locked in a bitter war with the Path Walkers, a powerful army of extremist Sangheili still devoted to the religion of the Great Journey. Humanity and the Sangheili, along with the rest of their allies within the Interspecies Union, are now threatened not only by this bloody stalemate but also dozens of other threats both foreign and domestic. The Path Walkers are not the only hostile faction in the galaxy, and now the Interspecies Union's enemies can smell blood in the water. Now new demons emerge from the darkness; some are old, some are new, and some are foes many in the IU would just as soon forget.''

''A new chapter opens in the Against All Odds universe. This may be an age of villains, but it is also an age for heroes. Those with the will and dedication may plant their own print on galactic history in the turbulent times to come. The galaxy needs those brave enough to answer the call to step forward to not only defend the principalities and powers of the galaxy but also shape the future of their galaxy.''

About
With Sona's go-ahead, I am officially announcing my intent to launch and moderate the next AAO RP. For those new users who have never heard this term before, an RP is essentially a giant community story collaboration. As moderator, I will use my characters to drive a larger plot while those involved will bring their own characters to bear in responding to that plot or maybe even influencing it in some interesting way.

As more veteran writers here will know, HFFW RPs are notorious for falling flat on their faces about a month out of the gate. Contributors just stop writing, the moderator throws up his/her hands in disgust and that's that. While I can't promise the same thing won't happen here, I can promise that I will be taking extra steps to ensure that it doesn't. But I also need to stress that the success or failure of this story is just as dependent on your involvement as mine.

That being said, RPs are a great way to get your characters more publicity and help you expand on their stories and personalities. If a moderator (in this case me) finds the character interesting, they will likely pick up on him/her and incorporate them into the larger story. In fact, that's the mod's job. Sure, we have our own characters that we're using, but if I just wanted to write a story solely about my own characters I'd go write it myself. I got my first big start here when I joined the Beyond Veil's Azure project and had one of my characters become someone other people gave a damn about within the course of the story. The same thing happened two years ago when I shrugged and joined the Against All Odds RP. Now, thanks to a mod's incorporation of my characters I've found an enormous venue for my writing in AAO.

Beyond that, I can't say much about the RP as of yet. Right now I just aim to generate some interest and encourage people to either think up ways to use their existing characters or come up with new, interesting ones that I want to work into the broader story. What I can tell you is that the initial phase of the RP will begin in a human colonial city that is (*gasp*) not under attack by rebels or an alien menace. I'll probably have some thugs for you bloodthirsty kids to shoot, but my focus at that point will be on establishment and character development rather than Bay-esque carnage (that comes later). So bear this in mind: there is just enough room in this story for criminals, mercenaries, rebels, and even civilians as there is for Marines and Spartans. In fact, if anyone has read my stories they'll know that things will probably be more interesting the more we have of the first category than the latter. I'm not saying I don't want Spartans in this RP, but let's be honest: an entire cast of them is downright boring.

More details will follow soon once I've measured how much interest this announcement generates. I'm hoping to start in either November or December, but if things look ready to get off the ground sooner I'm game for it. Sound off in the comments section below if you're interested and also include some links to any characters you plan on using; it will give me a jump-start at figuring out how to make them important to the plot. If you are interested in creating any of those criminals and co. kinds of characters, don't hesitate to ask me. I've built a lot of my AAO writing on the galaxy's criminal elements and I'll be happy to help you out.

As the initial setting will be human, I'm also putting a cap on the number of Sangheili characters allowed here. Not including any that I bring to the table, I don't want any more than five of them from prospective participants. First come first serve, but you should actually have a Sangheili character before you start claiming slots. I may impose the same rule for Spartans if they get really out of hand.

The Death Rule
Having discussed the general failure of RPs at length with Sona, I have a new rule that I will be implementing in this RP. It's pretty simple: you stop contributing, I kill your characters. All of them. And they'll stay dead, or at least is far as the AAO-verse is concerned.

That being said, I won't start dropping bridges if you go a week without posting. If I think you're in danger of running up against this rule, then I'll give you a quick head's up and maybe some suggestions about what to do with your characters. This will be followed by a couple warnings, but after that you're done. I will inventively and mercilessly kill off your characters and that will be that.

Now if there's a genuine problem (i.e. the real world) preventing you from writing, either message me or talk to me on the IRC and we can work something out. This rule isn't here to punish you, just encourage people not to drop their commitment to the project just because they don't feel like writing anymore.