Tablelands MEGA ROLE CALL

[Rathustra]

Known as the Tablelands in Sirihish and the Abi'li Pah in Allundean, the region of lowlands that borders the Vrun Driath in the south and the Gol Krathu in the east has never, since the time of the Dragon, known the lash of human 'civilisation'. Wild and free, the land is home to a wide variety of flora and fauna not found anywhere else in the Known. Hulking braxat stalk its canyons above the burrows of anakore and dujat and cunyati boughs cling to the buttes and mesas, their roots festooned with a plethora of species of cacti. A flat expanse of barrens, canyons formed from split earth and desert-strewn wasteland, the Tablelands are home to the largest concentration of tribal peoples in the Known. Desert elves rule here - the Blackwing, who claim the most distant reaches in the north-west and the Sun Runners whose grasp encompasses the tallest spire in the middle canyons and, by their reckoning, whatever the light touches. These are the largest, but there are others - the Soh Lannah Kah, the N'Kala, the Fleeting Winds - which divide up the rugged terrain into an ever-shifting patchwork of territories and inter-tribal tensions. In times past these differences have been settled and a confederacy of tribes erected in its place - a Pah forged from disparate, proud and mutually suspicious peoples. But even these stories have turned to just more fuel for the politics of the desert tribes.

Human tribals such as the nomadic Baizan, the long-suffering Al'Seik and the Arabet criss-cross the wastes alongside these elven neighbours along with just as many smaller tribes struggling to survive. Slower and less well adapted to desert life, these humans face life at the bottom of the food chain, relying upon their wits, strength and traditions to eke out an existence. The desert is littered with the bones of those tribes that fail to survive - that draw the ire of their stronger or more numerous neighbours - or simply succumb to thirst or famine. But the Tablelands aren't only home to those who have never knelt to a Sorcerer King. Many outcasts - escaped slaves, criminals, mutants and the bounty hunters that pursue them - ply the sands, taking what life they can without attracting the ire of those who claim the lands as their own. Isolated and hardened by their harsh surroundings, these outsiders face an endless struggle against the attrition of the wastes and competition for what scant resources can be eked out of the land. Some savour this isolation - especially rogue mages, or those who pursue the power of sorcery. Others wither away in exile, nurturing a hatred for home.

Finally - squatting at the heart of the Tablelands - is the Mesa. Rising from the blasted barrens its flanks are cut with ancient, faded engravings and festooned with the rotting corpses of every thinking species. Blood, offal and other waste is spread into jagged shapes that warn away those not deterred by the ashen desolation of the place. This is the land of the gith - ringed by the shattered and defiled wagons of the civilised world. Unloved by all, the gith of the mesa are a malignant sore that stabs at and sickens the Pah, ravenously devouring whatever they can reach, killing indiscriminately and destroying without mercy. For a blissfully long time the gith have been in decline, the bent-backs pushed back into over-hunted lands where they've been left to starve and dwindle. Cruel and vicious, the claw-footed gith have warred with humans and elves for as long as any records can account. Constant in their brutality and hatred for their neighbours, they have never been reasoned with. They have never made peace or ceased in their aggression towards all others. A gith only knows how to destroy - the gith have rarely, if ever been seen to create tools or weapons of their own. Low and loathsome, a gith could stand as tall as an elf if not for the bent back and habitual stoop, which gives them their immediately recognisable silhouette.Their oft-concealed countenances possess solid black eyes, slit-like noses and sharpened teeth. Their hands are humanoid, with long, narrow fingers each tipped with the same blunted claws as their feet.

Hello and welcome to the TABLELANDS MEGA ROLE-CALL! - to support ongoing plots and excitement in the Pah we're advertising the various clans and character concepts that the wild spaces between the Known's outposts and cities can support. Applicants will be offered hooks to get them involved with ongoing plots and tie them into the stories of other PCs. This is not however an exclusively 'new PC' set of plots and happenings - anyone with IC reasons to be in the Pah will likely find themselves drawn into it! So let's get started with what you've all been waiting for:


THE GITH -

You are gith.

You creep and crawl through the filth. You bake beneath the cursed sky, beneath the pitiless eye of the burning orb. You curse and hate and ache at the world, trussed into it by your stinking, emaciated flesh. Your bent, crooked bones beg wordlessly and without end for a succor you derive perverse pleasure in denying yourself.

There is only one pleasure in this existence - only one thing above the base experiences of rutting, eating and drinking - one thing that dulls out the misery of life - to extinguish the life of others. To take their grotesque, straight-backed bodies and break all hope out of it. To carve and cut away their -wrong- faces and forms and leave them with no future except the death you keep from them with relish.

It makes the beatings and the fear worthwhile.

We have the opportunity for a number of players to portray gith PCs over a limited period as resource PCs. As an antagonist role, you'll effectively be pitted against the entire playerbase. You and your warband would work to bring the gith, their unique mindset and position in the game to life in a visceral and engaging way.

Here's the nuts and bolts of what the role will involve:

• You will be able to store your current PC and unstore them when the role is over. We will work with you at the end of the role to help your PC fit back into active life.
• Your character will be adjusted to a survivable level.
• You'll be presented with clear plot-based objectives for you and your warband. Pursuing or presenting your own ideas for moving forward will also translate into real consequences for you, your pack and warband.
• You'll be provided with full racial and cultural documentation and staff support in making your character and playing them to the hilt in game.
• You'll be required to be in constant communication with staff to cover your role as a (possibly fatal) antagonist on the Pah, to co-ordinate the animation of your wider warband and the mesa gith.

Here's what we need from you in a role application:

• A few months of your Armageddon time - this role will end when the Tableland plot ends. You can store early and you may die early - but at the end of the role period you will be stored.
• Your play times, including your time zone - a good coverage of time zones will make for more gith fun for everyone - so don't be shy if you are not peak.
• What sort of things you imagine doing as a gith in the Tablelands - how you feel you can make the most out of being a PC antagonist - how you can spin your filthy githness into Armageddon gold with the other PCs on the Pah.
• A run-down on a past PC that you feel has prepared you for life as one of Zalanthas' most despised creatures and how.

Karma will be considered no further than it usually is in terms of player reliability. Previous experiences with players will also be considered. Both of these are surmountable by a passionate application.

Submit your role applications, selecting 'Unclanned' before the closing deadline of the third of January (3/1/16). Applications past this point may be considered. All applications we approve will be added to a list to possibly be called up in case of githtastrophe.

May the odds always be in your favour.


The Gith aren't the only faction taking on newcomers in this ongoing plotline. You can also throw your lot in with these clans through role applications as detailed in their previous introduction posts:

THE ARABET AND AL'SEIK:
Two peoples pressed into one through misfortune and need. The wastes are unkind  to these human nomads - but their strength and drive for survival cannot be denied.
> Previous reveal and info on applying.

THE SUN RUNNERS:
Self-appointed kings of the tablelands. A tribe entirely consumed by their self-assured supremacy and claim to divinity. But a flame needs but one gust strong enough to be extinguished forever.
> Previous reveal and info on applying.

THE SOH LANNAH KAH:
Out of the heart of the Tablelands, the Soh are a small tribe that has stood the test of time. Ferocious and wise to the ugly heart of life in the wastes, the Soh are beginning to look outwards - seeking to play a bigger part in the world. Hope and aspiration are precious things in the desert. Too precious.
> Previous reveal and info on applying.

SLAVES, OUTCASTS AND WASTELANDERS:
The wastes have their own trash, their own scum - those who can't or won't live in cities or tribes that spawned them. Alone and often hunted, these dregs of the wastes cluster together around a place known as the 'Mul Outpost' at the extreme South-West of the Tablelands. As likely to be hunted and killed by the denizens of the Pah as they are by the slave-takers and bounty hunters of the Vrun Driath, these marginalised outcasts face an unenviable future.
> Additional info on applying.



Questions and reactions can be directed to the reaction thread!

[Mordiggian]

About a week left to apply for those of you interested in playing a dirty, violent bentback gith!

[Mordiggian]

Less than a week left!

If you feel like you might be interested in this role but not right away, feel free to mention that in your application and if you fit the bill, we'll add you to the list of interested persons to call up if we decide we need to fill more spaces!

[Mordiggian]

Clock is ticking, folks!

Lots of interest so far! Today is your last day to toss your name in the hat.

[Mordiggian]

Any applications submitted after midnight (two hours from now!) PST will be added to an interest list in case we need to rally more troops.

Everyone else should be hearing from us soon! If you applied before the deadline and you aren't in our first wave, your name is on the reinforcements list as well. We've received 30~ applications so far and while it would be hilarious to unleash 30 smelly gith PCs on the world simultaneously, the world probably isn't ready for that!

[Rathustra]

Don't worry if you've not heard anything yet. We'll be getting back to everyone soon to let you know the status of your application!

[Mordiggian]

I believe I've sent out responses to everyone who applied. Thanks again for all the excitement and interest. I think this was our largest role call response ever!