The Order of the Moon is a third-person narrative, pg-13 and disclaimers must be used with possibly upsetting material. Use the rule - when in doubt fade to black.
JP's may be done on the Discord server.

The Order of The Moon is set in an Alternative Earth of the Victorian Era. Technology and magic have worked together to make advanced technology from what you would find in the real-world Victorian Era. All technology is steam-driven or clockwork based. In order to design your character you must pick a race, class, skills, if they will be gifted magically, and a religion.

All players may have two PCs and one NPC. It's recommended to make one PC to start with and then add as you get to know the game.

The classes are upper, middle, and working class.

The only races currently allowed for PCs are:

Eldren

Lifespan: 300 years

Height: Females: 5'7" - 5'10"
Males: 5'9" - 6'

Appearance: pointed ears (not exaggerated)
Attractive, fine features
They basically look like an attractive human with pointy ears

Skills: all Eldren are magical. (To play an Eldren who doesn't have magical abilities, you must note the character is immune to magic). They have excellent memories. Increased stamina.

Class - most Eldren are upper-class

Flaws - Can only have one offspring. The only race that is susceptible to Falker's disease.

Other - Eldren are usually very adventurous. It is very common for males and females to travel, once they are out of school, for some time before settling down.

Eldren are known (it's pretty much expected of their race) to be generous and charitable.

Eldren are a dying breed. Due to the fact that half-eldren tend to be more human than Eldren, Eldren doesn't produce many offspring and The Falkers disease wiped out a good percentage of the population about 100 years ago.

History: Eldren have been on Earth for at least as long as humans have, and for the most part, have gotten along with other races. There might have been an issue here or there but overall Eldren have lived as much of a peaceful coexistence as possible.

Fast forward - King Arthur (a human), has become the King of England. Sorry, no sword in a stone here. He was simply the heir to the throne.

Arthur was a benevolent ruler and the people loved him. His closest advisor was an Eldren named Merlin Yeovil, who had the title of Court Magus (Latin for magician), which was the highest office appointed by the King.

Merlin was a gifted seer and could not only look into the future but also had distant sight, the ability to see things happening across the land. He would advise the King of these things and the King would, normally with a great deal of input from Merlin, would decide what to do.

Arthur got together, some Knights, a round table, and together with these Knights traveled around helping people or fighting their enemies, whatever was needed at the moment.

Arthur eventually died, he had never married or bore any children. Before he passed, Arthur decided to implement a rule that he could appoint whoever he wanted to take the crown. He appointed Merlin.

Merlin became known as an even greater leader than Arthur. At that time, Eldren could have many children and that's what Merlin did. First with Guinevere and then with Morgana, both Eldren. Having twenty children altogether.

Merlin however had made some Eldren landowners mad when he decreed a set amount they could charge for rent. The landowners turned to the Dark Arts and cursed Merlin. The curse left Merlin very ill and he suffered for years before his death.

Scared of retribution, the landowners fled the country and separated to France, Russia, Greece, and by some accounts, Africa. Though the last one is highly debated.

The children of Merlin remained the ruling family, and through a series of marriages, births, wars, and treaties eventually, future generations' distant relations to the royal family of Britain, became the rulers of France and Russia. That remains true to the present time.

Fast Forward a few hundred years and, for unknown reasons, the birthrate of Eldern went completely downhill. Eventually, all the Eldren could only have one offspring.

The Inquisition happened - see religion

Then about a hundred years ago a female Eldren, named Delese Falker became very ill. It became known as Falker's disease and spread throughout Europe, then moving into other parts of the world but only affecting Eldren. No one ever found a cause or cure but eventually, the disease disappeared. (Or so it's believed.)

Presently the Eldren are wealthy, and nobility. They are welcomed and some are admired in Europe. However, there are other parts of the world that might not be the case.

Eldren don't have issues with other races but prefers for Eldren to marry and have offspring with their own kind. This is because half Eldren, is very much not the Eldren and much more like their other half. The race is trying to preserve itself.

Humans:
Lifespan: About 70 years
Height:
Average Males: between 5’5” and 6’3”
Average Females: between 5’ and 5’9”

Appearances: varies - Victorian Era so most are more conservative
Skills: Varies greatly. They are very versatile characters to create. Can have magical abilities but it's rare.
Class: Depends on skills, employment, and heritage
Flaws: They are susceptible to more diseases than most other races.

There are more humans than any other race on Earth. It is believed, by most that when/if the Eldren dies out, the humans will take over as the race in charge.

Dwarves:
Lifespan: About 200 years
Height: no taller than 4'
Appearance: Both males and females have similar short stocky builds. Both often grow beards. Pointed ears in all sizes.
Skills: Immune to magic (the only PC race that cannot be magic users). Extremely high tolerance for poisons. Gifted with stone and metalwork. Stronger than they appear
Flaws: Their scent is very attractive to werefolks (primarily werewolves) and they are often attacked. Because they are immune to magic, wards, amulets, and spells (including healing) don't work on them.
Class: Middle

Gnomes:
Lifespan: About 250 years
Height: no taller than 4'
Appearance: Petite. pointed ears
Skills: Highly gifted with science and technology. Though tend to work as assistants in that field because people, wrongly, think of Gnomes as being weak. Nimble, allowing them to work in tight places

Flaws: they are likely one of the worst races when it comes to fighting. They are an average speed for their height which makes them slower than many other races.
Class: Middle

There is no clear history as to how the Dwarves and Gnomes came into existence. It is known that for thousands of years, both hid in woods, mostly in Germany or Sweden and Norway, away from humans and Eldren. One day they were found and brought back to areas populated by humans and Eldren.

They were seen as novelties, captured. As slaves, they were put on display for long hours or made to do menial tasks. Until the practice of enslaving them solely due to race was banned.

Many believe that both predate the Eldren and Humans. There is a story that the Dwarves were an offshoot of the Gnomes, or the Gnomes were an offshoot of the Dwarves, depending on who's telling it. However, there isn't much accounting for the differences, if that's the case.

The Araunda

Lifespan: unknown (at least 100 years)
Height:
Males: 5'6" - 5'10"
Females: 4'9" - 5'8"
Appearance: delicate features, all Araunda have green eyes and greenish hair. Webbed feet and, less noticeable, hands.
Class: varies greatly

Skills: Araunda have the ability to breathe underwater. High stamina, increased speed in the water. Araunda tend to be very artistic. That can be in music, fine (studio)arts (such as drawing or painting, or writing (poetry is particularly popular with them) but most have talents in more than one of the artistic pursuits.
Flaws: They must spend at least 24 hours submerged in the water every six-months (the water can be from any source) or risk developing severe breathing problems. They aren't particularly fast on land.

The Araunda are amphibious humanoids, because they can be on the land or water, they are not merpeople. Some people believe the stores of merpeople were really the Araunda.

The Araunda were first found by sailors, then King Arthur and his Knights heard about the Araunda and went on a voyage to find them. At the time they lived on an island off the coast of Greece.

Due to their isolated lives, their Queen, Nimueh was fascinated by other races. Arthur spent some time there. A definite mutual friendship that arose between the races. After about a month, Arthur and his Knights left.

A few months later a terrible storm went through a good portion of the Mediterranean, hitting the islands particularly hard.

The Araunda went to the water and arose in at first in England, but eventually spread to France, Italy and other places in Europe. They prefer to live in coastal or areas with lakes, but with the ability to have running water in their homes, more have moved to other areas.

Note: When Araundas reach 100 years old they must go into the sea and spend the rest of their lives there. Because they are never, knowingly, seen again it is unclear if they die or change form.

Orcs
Lifespan - 80 years
Height: Both males and females no shorter than 6'9" - 8 ft
Appearance: Grey, sand or green skin color, ears are pointed. Large, burly build. All Orcs have tusks.
Class: Middle (an upper-class Orc would not be accepted by their own kind)
Skills: exceptionally strong, excellent fighters, high stamina
Most orcs live in more rural areas. They tend to either join the military on their own or are rounded up and forced to serve. They are also guards, lumberjacks, blacksmiths.

Flaws: Orcs tend to not be very agile or flexible. They do not adapt to change easily. Orcs tend to lose their tempers easily. Orcs do not swim or float well in water.

Orcs are originally from mountainous areas in northern Europe or Iceland and Greenland. There is still a large group of Orcs in Iceland. They love cold weather.

Orcs are one of the few races in Europe that have kept their own language. All Orcs, as children, along with being taught other European languages, are taught the old Orc language known as Orcon.

Mixed Raced - referred to as halves, or half-breeds by the general population.

Lifespan - with the exception of half-Eldren, the life span is usually the average between the two lifespans.

Talents: Talents can be from either side. The more predominant race tends to win, many times but the mixed race character won't have as strong of a skill in naturally born abilities.

How to determine mixed races:

Eldren: any half Eldren will have the primary characteristics of the other race. Magical ability is rare.

Eldren and Dwarves: can't produce offspring.

Most common paring: Eldren and Humans.

Dwarves:
Dwarves and Humans: Usually produce an offspring more human in looks but no taller than 5'. Stocky in build and heightened strength. They are not automatically resistant to magic. Cannot produce offspring with Eldren.

Most common pairing: Dwarves and Gnomes

Other races: Have mixed results when offspring are produced. If you want to play one of these. Make the character using traits from both, but include flaws for, at least one race.

You may choose your own skills as long as it makes sense for the character.

For information on Religions and Magic, please app your character and join the Discord page when you get the invite. There is a lot of information on the Discord page. JPs can be done on the Discord page.