Roleplay

The humans and selkies have been enemies for centuries. Sailors and fishermen steal the female selkies coats and force them to marry them. Selkie men, angry at losing their wives and sisters, use their magic to destroy boats that sail to closely to their territory. But the war has gone on long enough. After decades of discussion and treaties, the two kingdoms have finally agreed to put aside their differences. The kingdoms will be unified by the marriage of the human king's heir and the heir to the selkie lands. But much like their ancestors, they hate each other. Forced to get along and spend the next year together before their wedding, the two grow closer and realize there's a conspiracy surrounding the war. With assassination attempts and secret enemies, they quickly learn they can't trust anyone but each other.

@Suffer Here ya go!

im subbed!

Me too! I'll get some info up for my characters in a minute or so (or 20). First I gotta find pictures for them XD

[columns][img]https://i.pinimg.com/200x/86/d2/c8/86d2c834c2a75f5c5e6ba29af5c0ba74.jpg[/img][nextcol] [b]Name:[/b] Karina [b]Age:[/b] 19 (can be adjusted) [b]Family History:[/b] The only daughter of the selkie king, Karina grew up sheltered. At a young age, her mother's selkie coat was stolen by a fisherman when she went on land to help a human village after a natural storm. She'd always been like that. No one heard from her for 15 years, but they later learned that her coat had been destroyed and she had drowned in an attempt to return home. After causing a fierce storm that destroyed the village, the king realized that his actions needed amended. Tired of the warring and death on both sides, he began negotiations with the human king. Previously his wife had handled the attempts of healing the relationship between the kingdoms since she had been a young princess, but now he took over, and a solution was finally achieved. [b]Magical abilities:[/b] Hydrokinesis (can control water). Underwater it manifests as control of the ocean currents, while on land she can weave water (just imagine water bending). [b]Viewpoint on humans:[/b] They're thieves with nothing better to do than steal what they don't need and never earned. Making peace with them will only lead to the selkies losing more of their hard earned wealth and territory. She doesn't see much chance of them getting anything in return. [b]Personality:[/b] Naturally curious, which can sometimes get her either in trouble with her father or with Niko. She's always been curious about the humans and though she's tried to close herself off and appear cold and distant, it still seeps through. She's somewhat shy around new people, and humans make her nervous, especially males. Once someone has given her reason to trust them, she gives them everything. There are no secrets and no doesn't doubt them for any reason; however, it generally takes a life-saving gesture to earn that trust (hint hint). [b]Seal form:[/b] Snow-white coat, no spots or blemishes (all selkie royalty have this same coat) [b]Other:[/b] Before she realized how cruel the humans appeared to be, Karina had been fascinated by the human world. She would sneak to the shore to watch the humans before her bodyguards would find her and drag her back to the kingdom. She wanted to walk among them and learn more about their culture, but those dreams were dashed pretty quickly.[/columns] ----- [columns] [b]Name:[/b] Niko [b]Age:[/b] 21 (can be adjusted) [b]Family History:[/b] He comes from a long line of warriors who protect the royal family. The youngest of four brothers, they began to train him at 14 to be a warrior, and at 17 he was admitted into the royal guard. At 18 he was put in charge of protecting the princess and they became close friends. When her father sent her to marry the human prince, Niko offered to follow and protect her before the king could ask. [b]Magical abilities:[/b] Storm-caller. Much like other males of the selkie species, Niko can call up strong storms ranging from sprinkling to tsunamis. Though his powers work better in the sea, they are still quite strong on land. Includes rain, wind, lightning, and thunder. [b]Viewpoint on humans:[/b] Though well cultured, they seem simple minded. While humans are focused on riches and power, selkie culture is more rooted in their relationship with the sea and their gods. He views them as uncivilized for this very reason, but understands that they are still meant to be respected and carefully watched. [b]Personality:[/b] The opposite of his brothers, Niko is very talkative. He loves to share stories of the sea with anyone who'll listen, even if they've heard them all before. Though he appears to trust easily, like all selkies his trust of humans takes longer to develop. He loves to spar and test out new weapons, frequently sailing to sunken ships to look for human weapons to use. Selkies typically use spears when hunting and fighting, but he's become adept (for a selkie) at using a sword. [b]Seal form:[/b] Black with gray and white spots. [b]Other:[/b] [nextcol][img]https://i.pinimg.com/200x/ca/a6/3f/caa63f3b95a5dbd8db2b8571cc566cdf.jpg[/img] [/columns]

these two look awesome! ill get my characters up in a bit, i just got home from something and im a little tired ^^;

No worries, and no rush! Take all the time that you need

ok so i just ended up using art breeder for these two, ill probably draw them later! and also uhmm pardon any typos. this was completely word spewing on my end. lmk if you need clarification or want anything changed :D [b]Name:[/b] Kai [b]Age:[/b] 19 [b]Appearance:[/b] Red-brown hair and skin scattered with freckles. He has blue eyes and stands at around 5'10. His collarbone is tattooed with the crest of the royal family of humans (something like [url=https://selftattoo.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/265336982_647858916350986_7989473338847137535_n-1024x1024.jpg]this[/url]), which often serves are a recognizable feature for all members of the family. Each member of the royal family has a different flower tattooed to their collarbone, it's a sort of 'purpose' thing in a way. It's very important to each person, and they often go through huge ceremonies and parties when the tattoo is first given. (I believe the tattoo I linked is a heavily stylized sakura blossom, which represents the the impermanent nature of life, which is something I wanted to focus on with Kai! (which I'll explain in family history haha)) [img]https://artbreeder.b-cdn.net/imgs/ae2ddec20a004fc8df50b0204a6d.jpeg[/img] [b]Family History:[/b] (Okay, so prefacing this, I thought it would be very interesting to have both of our main-ish characters have experienced some sort of loss due to the other kingdom. After some thought, deciding that Kai also lost his mother would be kind of ironic but also really interesting to explore once the two get a bit closer!) Kai is the first-born son to the Human Kingdom (might come up with a name for them later). He has a younger brother and sister, but being the eldest-born, Kai is expected to take on many responsibilities, as one day, he will be the ruler of the kingdom. On the day of his Flourishing, (which is the word that is used to refer to the day that a member of the royal family is given their tattoo), his mother, the queen had happened to be out of town, working with some people near the coast to see if she could calm any quarrels between the selkies who lived near the coast and fishmen whose boats were being sunk. Due to recent disappearance of the selkie queen (around two years after the incident), many selkies were still on edge with concern for the whereabouts the queen. These selkies held massive distrust to any boats nearing their homes, often sinking them out of self-defense. However, this only caused more aggressions between the two people, and in an tragic accident, Kai's mother drowned out at sea in a sinking boat. Kai's father was originally wracked with grief, however, after some time, he realized that fighting would only bring upon more death and destruction to innocent people, leading him to come to terms with the selkie king in attempts to stop further wars from rising. [b]Viewpoint on selkies:[/b] Having grown up far away from the ocean, near the center of the kingdom, Kai originally held no fear towards selkies. As a child, he heard stories, but he never really saw any proof of how selkies may be 'dangerous' or 'aggressive.' People around him didn't inform him that many selkies were actually hunted for their coats, instead using twisted lies to manipulate the selkies into looking like monsters. Kai never truly believed them, however. He felt that he needed to learn and meet a selkie before he judged them. However, at the passing of his mother, Kai's life was finally effected by a selkie. His world turned completely upside-down, Kai still holds grief and anger around his mother's death, but has had enough time to stay true to his mindset of ignoring other people's judgements. However, due to the fact that his mother was still killed by selkies, if he wasn't before, Kai was completely shut off from any form of communication with Selkies. As he aged, he began to lack trust and gain caution instead, making him a rather guarded, wary person when it comes to selkies. (Tldr; he doesn't hate them, he's just scared of them). [b]Personality:[/b] Despite his caution, around trusted friends and family, Kai is a warm, fun-enjoying person. He's sly and likes to joke around with people. Sometimes, it takes him a long time to warm up to people, but he holds strong to his values and always makes an effort to not judge or completely cut off someone before he's felt as if he has met them. However, his wariness can often make him overthink and causes him to put up walls to protect himself. [b]Other:[/b] - After the incident with his mother, Kai has been terrified of swimming. - He doesn't like his collarbone tattoo simply because he can't find it in himself to completely accept his the passing of his mother yet. - When learning of the hunting that many people partake in for selkie coats, Kai was (and still is) completely disgusted. Many official royal family robes are made up of selkie coats, and Kai refuses to wear them. --- [b]Name:[/b] Belladonna (Bella) [b]Age:[/b] 22 [b]Appearance:[/b] Bella has light-blonde hair that she sometimes dyes. (I'm not sure how primitive we're going here, so either she just uses normal hair dye or some sort of fruit-plant mixture to dye her hair!). Her eyes are light blue and her the bridge of her nose is covered in freckles. [img]https://artbreeder.b-cdn.net/imgs/29177c380fa2b038159aa00a03bb.jpeg[/img] [b]Family History:[/b] Bella worked in the castle alongside her parents since her birth. Her parents raised her to be aware of others and to take in the whole of a situation before picking sides or deciding who is right and who is wrong. Because of their similarity in age, and Bella being the castle 24/7, she and Kai became quick friends. Bella fell into the role of an older sister that Kai never had. Despite only being three years older, Bella was always a lot more mature than Kai, and was there for him when his mother passed away. Bella was sympathetic for Kai, but was also one of the people who pushed him to not harbour hate towards the selkies. Bella's father worked in the kitchen and did cleaning work, while her mother was part of the royal guard. Given parented from both of them, Bella grew increasingly productive and skilled with the sword. She was never given an official guard title, but she still works in the castle as Kai's personal assistant, and she finds that she is prepared to protect him as well. [b]Viewpoint on selkies:[/b] The selkies react accordingly to how humans treat them. It is both the humans and the selkies responsibility to find peace. However, fighting without prompting or for the sake of riches is immature and needs to be prevented. [b]Personality:[/b] Bella is a calm, supportive, driving force to people around her. She's not afraid to push people to do things they don't want to, especially if she knows that said things will ultimately help them. Bella treats herself with the same diligence, which often earns the respect of many people around her. [b]Other:[/b] - Her father passed away from old age when she turned 19. - Her mother has retired from the royal guard, but she and Bella still spar often.

Oh my gosh! Your characters are *chef's kiss* gorgeous! I love them and am so excited to see how everybody interacts together. I realized that I forgot to include personalities for my characters, so I'll get those up later today

Added their personalities! So [url=https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D7G43B8XsAIO6BE.jpg]this[/url] is what I imagine the underwater castle to look like, and then the image below is the kingdom as a whole. It's in a spherical dome so that they can use their human forms as well as their seal forms. [center][img]https://i.pinimg.com/550x/64/09/86/640986959788d58cfccc66c4e5968bbc.jpg[/img][/center] I was also thinking that the selkies can put on their seal coat entirely to enter the seal form, or just put it on partially and be more of a mermaid version of a seal, if that makes sense? That way they can still talk and communicate and everything. What are your thoughts on the Bella and Kai visiting the selkie kingdom at some point? To show that the humans trust the selkies, like how Karina and Niko are going to the human kingdom as a show of faith.

their personalities look so perfect!! i adore them!!! i feel like niko and bella will get along better than karina and kai at first.

and yeah, that makes sense and the kingdom stuff sounds sounds lovely!!

were pretty close to starting, where do you think we should start?