Grand Battle (S?) (Round 1: SUDDEN DEATH)

Something stirs in the corners of space.

A whisper on the extrasolar winds. A call to vicarious arms.

Bring to me your soldiers. Your survivors. Your beasts of war.

Let them raise their dukes, their flags; pay their dues, raise the roof.

For a grand battle is about to take place.



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woah wait shit fuck what
That's right! After an long and admittedly-ludicrous freeze on new Grand Battles, we're starting fresh! This Grand Battle will, if active and successful, be the start of a new season of Grand Battles.

Cool ok but what is this Battle business
Grand Battles are collaborative stories about people and creatures fighting to the death, in a series of rounds where each is a new setting offered by the GM. You submit a character, and write with the other writers about what your characters get up to. This might not actually be fighting! In fact, you're not allowed to just run up and write your character cleaving another's in two.
At the end of each round, the host (me!) chooses the weakest link amongst the players. The eliminee chosen, their character's death is written in the story, the round ends, a new round (with a new location) begins, and the game continues in this fashion until we have one winner.
An alternative explanation can be found here. Examples of Grand Battles can be found here. A throng of helpful folks can answer your questions here, on #grandbattle Esper IRC. Note: Old Grand Battles are not required reading to join this one, though the intro posts will reiterate the above information and more.

Ok I'm out of town next weekend, will that be a problem
Probably not! Grand Battles are slower-paced than most roleplays, and if you're planning to win you could be at this a while. An ideal time investment would be enough time, at least once per week (preferably more), to sit down and write something short-story or short essay length. Round 1 posts can be much shorter, though, so don't worry too much. You'll get into the swing of things as we go.

Dang! Sign me up
Cool! Post a profile following this format:

Code:

[u]Name:[/u] A useful substitute for "Oi, you!"
[u]Gender:[/u] Whatever you and they prefer.
[u]Colour:[/u] A [color=#hexcod]text colour[/color] to distinguish between players. Keep it readable, black is reserved for the GM.
[u]Race:[/u] AKA species. Give a brief description if it's especially weird.
[u]Equipment/Abilities:[/u]Tools of the trade, where the trade is survival in their harsh world.
[u]Description:[/u] A brief overview of their appearance and personality, to give other people a feel for how to write for them.
[u]Errata:[/u] any additional information you'd like to include. A writing sample is not necessary.

The Players
Brom - Volter St. Kepral (#4B0082)
Elize - Sari (#0000CC)
MeltingBard - Krugrug the Barbarian (#FF4300)
myw - Tom(e) Jones (#483d8b)
SupahKiven - Doppelganger (#9400d3)
Cat - Kaylee Joule (#F56E00)




Additional notes for the curious, and those longer in the Battling tooth:

Show Content

SpoilerSo Schazer is this you starting Season 4 or what
Nope!

But hang on you were supposed to-
Yup! The caveat that S4 would start when Season 1 All-Stars began is still tentatively in place. This "season" (S?) is a chance to try out a less rigidly organised series of Battles, something less daunting for newcomers to get into.

You keep saying "season" in those quarantine-quotes, this worries me
If you've heard about Grand Battles and the system of seasons and All-Star battles and need that to motivate you, rest assured that (pending good performance) this battle will also have one. (S?) is labelled as such to distinguish somewhat from the existing canon of Seasons 1-3. It's still the same Multiverse, just in a further-flung corner of it so we're not having pre-existing Grandmasters popping in all the bloody time. This also makes reading old battles purely optional to participate in (S?).

Does that mean I can host a battle?
Sure can! If it makes good progress, we can float the idea of adding its winner to a future (S?) All-Stars roster. I'll figure out how to handle (S?) All-Stars when such a thing becomes more than a distant pipe dream. In the meantime, go ahead! You can set your own rules about whether to give newbies preference, have eight, six, or twenty players, or do what you please. (S?) will be a chance to experiment!

Were you serious about cockblocking oldbies?
This will only apply to my battles in the (S?) canon, but yeah. I'm aiming to wrap up loose S1-3 threads before I start new characters, and my selection choices will reflect my wish that other oldbies do too. If other people start battles, though, it's their call who they choose or don't.