What a wonderful response! Thank you all so much for that, it's encouraging and invigorating to see people's interest being piqued.

The roleplay is a when, not an if! I was working on it as a summer project, with the intent to launch it anyway, but since a few of you seem particularly intrigued, I figured I'd clean up the little discord server Hannah and I were using, and open it up to those that want to sidle in and chatter there.

Here is a link to the Discord, if people wish to join! You can consider it a sort of lounge/waiting room where we can start fostering a community, with the option to engage in pre-launch RP and offer input - with the caveat that the site and content is WIP. There's also a 'Ping me when it's done' role, if you prefer that approach, as well as an Audience one, for those that just want to spectate without actively participating.

I'll be posting lore updates in there as they come, though I will also likely put the tidied up versions in this thread, when I feel there's enough substance to warrant it.

TO DEVOUR IS DIVINE | HUNGER IS HOLY
18+. Mature subject matter.

"To want is to worship. To be satisfied is to sin. To consume is to consecrate. To devour is divine. To hunger is holy."

This will be rambling, disjointed, a bit unhinged, and long - but it should convey the general gist of things. Excuse the raving and horrid lack of organisational structure, it's late, and I wanted to slap this out before going to bed.

It's an original setting, and I hestitate to slot it into fantasy or modern fantasy, because it doesn't quite fit in the usual connotations of either. It is exceedingly saturated with weirdness, magical/mystical elements, there are gods, monsters, and so on - but they use magic and bioarcana in the way we do technology. There are equivalents of modern ameneties, just manifested via the bizarre setting lens - a camera equivalent might be a cluster of eyes linked to a purpose-grown network of semi-organic matter, the internet could be a gestalt consciousness people link into via nodes dotted around the city, or something else.

It's weird. Humans were the base stock, way, way back, but they're effectively extinct now. Monsters of every stripe and shape are the people of the setting.

---

Quick'n'Dirty Themes & Vibes:

• Cannibalism as a metaphor for love and also in a literal sense. Consumption is holy, baby~
• The divine as monstrous and the monstrous as divine.
• What is monstrous within is not always monstrous without, and vice versa.
• The gods were absent and neglectful, so we rose up and ate them. Our new gods are much, much more present and involved.
• Hunger. Love as hunger. Worship as hunger. Loneliness, greed, ambition, everything as HUNGER - and hunger is holy, exalted, the pinnacle of virtues.
• Expression of the inner self via the external vessel of the flesh, and the implications and significance of such.
• Bodily autonomy and lack thereof. Lots of vibes of dysphoria, sex work analogies, societal expectations and judgement of the flesh, the body as a holy vessel, etc.
• Power. How it changes people. What they will do for it. What they will do with it. Does power corrupt, or is it simply a revelator?
• The precarious tension between restraint and excess. Control of the self and control of others.
• Authority and how it can be expressed, how it is handled, and how it impacts the people that wield it and those subject to it. Rightful rule, tyranny, all that fun stuff.
• Very liberal society. Hedonism central.
• Puritanism is bad.

POLITICALLY INTRICATE. INTRIGUE. BLACKMAIL. POWER PLAYS. HOUSES. COURTS. CHAMPIONS. DUELS. BLOODLINES. GENETIC MATERIAL AS A COMMODITY AND SACRED SUBSTANCE BOTH. RITUAL RITUAL RITUAL. RELIGION IT UP. SACRED MONSTROSITIES.


Setting Rambling

Bioarcane body modification and mutation is a core concept, accomplished via magitech/arcanoscience/religious rites. It is a status symbol, a source of power, utility, vanity, piety. To become monstrous is to make yourself in the image of your gods, the first monsters, the primogenitors, the Divine Devourers.

There are two methods of intaking genetic material.
1) The magitech method, with gene-sorcerors/priests and the like doing the work etc, very reverant and ritualised.
2) The purer, ancient way of the Sacrament of Devouring - just straight up ingesting it, in whatever way so takes your fancy. Eat the flesh, suck the marrow from the bones, more lascivious means, etc. The is how the god devourers did it, so it's got a ton of cultural and religious weight behind it, but it can be massively risky and unstable.

High society fashion is revealing because it's designed to show off how awesome and sexy your bioarcana'd body is. It's minimalistic in style and cut for the same reason - the simplicity of the garment is supposed to highlight the physical form that it frames, not draw the eye away from it. In contrast, lower classes have more covered styles with far more intricate (and real world fabulously stylish) fashions, to give the eye something pleasing to look at, as their alterations aren't refined and can be unsightly.

Focused on one big city/area, melting pot/holy city style. It's a place of great religious importance, as it was the home of the former panthron (think Olympus), where the Great Devourers tore down the old gods and consumed them in the feeding frenzy known as the First Feast.

Everyone is telepathic, to varying extents and manifesting in different ways. It enables people to play with more surreal and dreamlike interactions, as desired, and can make for a fascinating aspect of communication and expression.

LGBTQ+ & Poly Inclusive Society: Gender, as a societal norm, is far more fluid than in our world. Given that all but the poorest can afford some form of body modification, and that gender changing procedures are relatively cheap (or can be prayed for and secured via a number of the Devourers), altering your biological sex isn't much of an issue. Anyone can conceive a child or bear one, with the right preparation; Wombs can be placed outside the body, in bioarcane incubators, and can be constructed from genetic material of anyone, regardless of the reproductive organs they were born with, and so on. Masculinity and femininity are still recognisable, though less rigidly defined than IRL. A number of the more prominent Devourers exemplify traits and aesthetics that are associated with either, and androgyny is common, as well as varying shades across the gender identity spectrum. There will be setting specific pronouns for those that don't want to be referred to as he, she, or they.


Debt, favours, pacts and promises are common, and are mystically enforced by the more order aligned Devourers and their followers. No currency, as the culture functions on a barter system.


The Devourers

Each of the Divine Devourers is believed to exemplify a particular brand of Hunger, though there are certainly overlaps, and some have changed over time as they devoured other things or evolved due to other reasons. Hungers are, broadly speaking, desires, wants, or needs - Sustenance, companionship, safety, freedom, and so on.

The Devourers are unanimously unmistakable as being what they are. They're deific, to varying degrees, but all them are blatantly greater powers made separate by virtue of their nature. They exude an aura relating to their Hunger, which influences people and creatures within it, the specifics of which depend on the particular Devourer and their primary Hungers. They are not subtle. They blaze with power and hunger, radiating both in a tangible manner. They're intense, to a degree that nobody could ever pretend to be one with even the faintest hope of success. They tend to be direct, overt, extremely visible, and very, very involved in the day to day lives of the citizenry.


Courts and Houses

Houses are, generally, all pledged to a particular Court. Courts have Devourers patrons, though the more prestigious Houses have patrons as well. A fledgling House drawing the approval of a Devourer is a huge boon, and a massive risk, as it paints a target on them. There are greater and lesser Houses, and many have risen and fallen, eaten by other Houses. The oldest Houses are generally viewed as the most dangerous, as they have endured endless challenges to their existence, and managed to survive when their contemporaries did not.


House culture and society vary enormously, but they are broadly aligned under their Court's values.


Houses, Courts, and other organisations with sufficient resources all keep standing military and security forces. They offer bioarcana augmentation and other boons in exchange for service, which allows the guards and soldiery to generally receive the benefit of bioarcana that is more advanced and of superior quality to the common people. They are deadlier, better trained, and far more well equipped than mercenaries or warriors without equivalent sponsorship.


They pale in comparison to Knights and Champions. These two groups are upheld as the pinnacle of what can be achieved with bioarcana, in terms of combat efficacy, sophistication, and sheer might. Culturally, Houses, Courts and so on will view Knights and Champions as living avatars of their potency and prestige - to look at upon a Knight or Champion is to behold the measure of their sponsor's threat made manifest.


Knights and Champions


The role Knights fill is a far more personal one than their counterparts. While they are loyal to the House and Court that their charge is a member of, a true Knight's fealty will ultimately lie solely with the one they are sworn to. Why this is varies from Knight to Knight. Sometimes it is due to encoded bioarcana psyche conditioning, sometimes the bond is secured via skillful manipulation, sometimes it is pure and true devotion, and at other times, it is something else entirely. Whatever the case, while many strive to be exemplars of the Knightly archetype, precious few are acknowledged as being true embodiments of the noble ideal.

Champions are similar to Knights, in that they are combat-orientated individuals dedicated to the service of others. What distinguishes them is that a Champion often represents a group, rather than an individual. A House, a family, a cult, a neighbourhood, a Court, and so on. They are more often dedicated to the abstract, the overarching whole of cause and collective, the greater good.

---

Site Culture, Policies, Other Musings

I've been browsing around 18+ roleplay communities for quite a while now, and I've grown concerned at how sanitised and puritanical most of them are when it comes to the topics, themes, and subject matter that they allow. I am a firm believer in engaging with darker and less 'wholesome' topics via writing, so long as it is done in a responsible and thoughtful manner. To that end, Hunger is Holy (name pending) leans into them, without quite straying into grimdark territory, or being an ERP focused community.

Massive emphasis on honest, open, clear, calm and prompt communication. A great deal of RP culture issues stem from poor communication and conflict resolution skills. Clarity is the killer of that little voice that tells people they're not welcome or aren't liked, and can help defuse tension before it festers into something worse.

Accountability, enforcement of behaviour, cultural betterment. Transparency. Openness. Maturity. Open mindedness. Understanding.

IC/OOC separation and boundaries. Players will need to be comfortable with their characters coming into conflict with others, with other characters thinking or saying awful things about theirs or their friends' characters, and so on. You are not your character. You should be able to happily (excitedly, even!) chat with a player who is writing a character that is being absolutely vicious towards yours in a thread, due to maintaining an awareness that it is a collaborative storytelling experience, and not a personal attack. This also feeds into cultivating a culture where writers are comfortable playing antagonistic or villainous characters. A character shouldn't have to be attractive, charming or tragic in order to be permitted to be antagonistic.

Enforcement of rules and preservation of community health without being a horrible tyrant about it. A difficult line to walk, but sites suffer when admins, for whatever reason, are reluctant or unable to be diligent in enforcing their rules.

'Canons'. Positions of power and prestige. Not first come first serve. Due to the culture of the setting, individuals come and go, rise and fall within the stations of privilege. There are also a lot of such positions, so there shouldn't be much of a need to scrabble desperately to lock down Head of X House.

Writing standards & word count. I don't quite know when the definitions of literate, semi-literate and so on transitioned to being about length rather than quality, but it makes it exceedingly difficult to find somewhere to write that upholds standards to a degree people are seeking to engage with. The site will emphasise quality rather than quantity, though a vague, paragraph-ish baseline will be encouraged - naturally it will be fine to writer shorter, snappier responses in action or dialogue heavy scenes, and so on.

Content Notices: CW/TWs in profiles and threads, up front, preferably with a 'skip to here if this X makes you uncomfortable' link, or similar, so people don't have to avoid profiles or threads entirely due to not wanting to n. This way, the onus is on the reader to avoid subject matter that will negatively impact them, blah rephrase this nicer. It's easier for everyone if people look out for their own topic sensitivities, rather than each individually trying to manage those of everyone else.


Socialising. Even if a member doesn't have the energy to chat, it would be good to toss a react to someone that pops in and says hello, so people don't feel ignored. We all have quiet or low energy periods, but it's important to communicatethat, and let people know so nobody worries or grows concerned about being ignored etc.

Site plots! Big and small, planned and organic.

Staff NPC engagement. I find that this helps to make the world feel alive, facilitates feeling that everyone's character is a part of the world, helps members feel significant and as if their presence and contributions matter - and so on. It can be a wonderful feeling to have a staff NPC interact with your characters unprompted, jumping in to meddle, or have your PC being mentioned elsewhere, etc. It's a nice tool if a thread is feeling stale or the players aren't sure of what direction to take it. It will be opt out rather than opt in - if people don't want staff sticking their nose in for a certain thread, they can post as such when making it.

Focus on engagement with players and characters outside of the usual, comfortable circles. A consistent encouragement to play with others, to nudge new players for threads, the ability to sign up for staff assigned playdates, etc.

No FCs. I feel that there's far too much importance and emphasis placed upon face claims and aesthetics. Finding them takes too much time, people can become overly attached to them, and it can cause tension for no real good reason. While some window dressing or a mood board is nice, roleplay should focus primarily on the writing. The site will not have face claims for this reason, and because it would be a nightmare trying to find images that match more monstrous or outlandish characters - which would lead to most characters being far more humanoid than they otherwise might be.


People want to feel secure in investing time, energy and passion into a roleplay site, without feeling that it's a gamble. Sites don't tend to last all that long now, and many will close, only for the people to make a new one, close it within a few months, and on. Personally, it makes me leery of joining anywhere new - I always find myself weighing whether it will be worth joining at all, or if it seems likely that I'll get a decent amount of roleplay in before it shuts. I've noticed the same on the flipside; existing members are tired, made wary of expending energy on new members that might not stick around, or fail to even finish a profile. I've been searching for a site where I can settle in, put down roots, and be comfortable in believeing that it will persist in the long term. I've not quite found that, so I want to channel that feeling into making HH.

Lax activity requirements, but still required activity - hiatus and such are fine, but someones people can let things slip, and then it can be a case of 'oh it's been weeks since I was supposed to reply', and then the anxiety gets bad, and that can lead to causing them to ghost, or what have you. We want to avoid that. Members can request to be set to lurk/reader mode if they wish, so they don't feel pressured to leave because they're not in a place where they can actively write. Life happens! Mental health happens. Sometimes you're just not in the right space, and have to take a step back - it happens. I left more than a few RPs over the years because I unwittingly had undiagnosed ADD, so my attention span was awful, along with other life issues - there's tons of valid reasons.

Hybrid forum/discord format for RP, potentially.

Public Plotting, via a general plotting channel as well as Character Plotting/Intro forums, or similar. The intent is to discourage private/DM plotting, and encourage members to plot where others can see - it generates interest, and helps make the place look more alive, plus it allows others to potentially hook into or build upon the plots.

A Discord channel where people can roleplay out concepts without committing to applying with them - try before you buy. Sometimes you get super enthused about a character, write up their app, do some posts...Only to discover that you're just not as into them as you thought you would be. This should help with that.

---

Here is a link to the Discord, if people wish to join! You can consider it a sort of lounge/waiting room where we can start fostering a community, with the option to engage in pre-launch RP and offer input - with the caveat that the site and content is WIP. There's also a 'Ping me when it's done' role, if you prefer that approach, as well as an Audience one, for those that just want to spectate without actively participating.

I'll be posting lore updates in there as they come.

An Elden Ring roleplay would be fun, if probably a bit further back in the timeline so there was a bit more civilisation still kicking around. Or AU!

My kingdom for a quality D&D roleplay. I've always enjoyed the idea, but Baldur's Gate 3 has me foaming at the mouth for one 😩

A The Locked Tomb (Gideon the Ninth etc) roleplay would be absolutely stellar, I'm really surprised that I haven't been able to find any at all, considering how popular the series is online.

A Gundam: Witch From Mercury site. It ticks a lot of boxes for RP, I'm surprised nobody has capitalised on the popularity yet! Academy setting, multiple external factions and school houses, slice of life aspects blended with the horrors of political manipulation, looming war, the ethics of technology, human-machine interface...Tons of powerful hooks!

This sounds like a lovely, interesting concept! How is it progressing?

People are free to fill out apps and make their characters, and get roleplaying!

Some of the site is still being tinkered with, so don't mind any technical issues or the like. If you find typos or missing information, though, let me know in the #bug-reports channel in the Wonder Comics Discord, please!



I'll be posting a proper ad for this up in the directory as soon as things are 100% ironed out and finalised.



Here's the forum link. Go forth, and be Wonderful!

Wonder Comics is something I've been tinkering with for a long time, on and off; An original superhero setting that fully embraces the incredible variety and imagination found in comic books. What does that mean? Well, as much as I adore comics, I've always thought that the rest of the setting wasn't changed as much as it should be, with all this crazy tech, magic and general super stuff that goes on. The heroes and villains always felt a little tacked on to the normal world. So I designed this setting, with the concept that all of that weird and wonderful impossibility filtered down through all layers of life!


It's still Earth, just very different. History is not as we know it, as superpowered entities have existed since the dawn of time, to one degree or another - though there was a massive increase due to the meddling of The Imperator over a century ago. Alien food, culture and media are as prominent as those from other countries native to Earth. Visitors from other dimensions or alternate universes are an everyday occurrence. Costumed individuals streak past multiple times a day, and clash in the night sky routinely. A group of kindergartners of wildly varied appearance and origin may be taught by a hyper-intelligent Tyrannosaur with robotic arms and a knack for childcare - the examples are endless, but the point is, the Wonderverse is super for everyone, everywhere, not just those who dress in spandex.




The Wonderverse leans towards the upbeat side of the spectrum. The central tenet of the stories that take place here is hope. Let’s face it, the real world can be pretty disheartening. Wonder Comics exists as a place to escape within, to live vicariously through miraculous characters in a fantastical setting, and to have fun. There will, naturally, be conflict, drama and risk - but by and large, at the end of the day, our writers should feel uplifted. We're here to have fun, relax, and enjoy superheroic adventures and slice of life.

Given all of this, people in Wonder Comics generally won’t bat an eye at fantastical goings on unless it’s really out there. Your character will, generally speaking, have been exposed to the full spectrum of weird from infancy, so they won’t freak out unduly if their friend is revealed to be an alien superhero that can outrun bullets. The usual attitude towards the Wondrous is blasé, much as we have become accustomed to video calls to the other side of the planet.




In addition to driving lessons and licences, there are equivalent processes and qualifications for Wondrous modes of transport, or other powers. Flying, super speed, reality manipulation, and other abilities all necessitate lessons and exams on proper conduct and safe practice.

Children are educated on the Wondrous from a very early age - and many will have powers or inhuman parentage themselves! There are classes on how to deal with your budding superpowers, the cultures of other dimensions or alien languages, and all manner of Wondrous related topics, on every curriculum.

Travel to other worlds is incredibly easy, and it is not at all unheard of for families to holiday on the other side of the galaxy. Most Earth natives have experienced field trips to neighbouring dimensions, or visited alternate Earths as study excursions. The opposite is just as true, with Earth boasting an impressive amount of traffic from off-world.

Powers play a significant part in careers; a Wondrous individual could be more effect by far at certain jobs than a vanilla human. Examples include;

• A therapist with empathic abilities and emotional manipulation.
  
• A service animal with the ability to share senses and possessing a calming aura.
• Super strong construction workers, or those with geokinetic abilities.
• A living reactor powering their neighbourhood for their 9-5 job.
• Delivery services that employ speedsters, teleporters and chronomancers.

[/ul]
There are, of course, many people that possess powers that do not play a large part in their lives, for whatever reason. Perhaps the abilities are simply cosmetic, largely nonfunctional, or the individual in question simply chooses not to utilise their powers.




So yeah! I don't know how much of a market there is for original superhero stuff these days, with the plethora of Marvel/DC sites, but I'm hoping that I'll get enough interested parties to at least get some interactions going. Let me know if this tickles your fancy! I have discord, and I have a dinky little server for interested folk to chatter and ask questions and give feedback, so feel free to ask for either!