Oschon's Journey
A semi-private, 21+, mature/dark/all RP group located on Halicarnassus.
Focuses primarily on an IC Free Company of the same name.
Who We Are
We're a home for the outcast and the oppressed, for the outsiders and the downtrodden. Operating from a custom model of airship, Oschon's Journey goes wherever the wind blows, providing aid and reliable adventuring hands to people all across the star.Employees are given access to top of the line healthcare via a clinic called the Athena, receive base pay even if they're unable to accept any jobs, and are also given the option of taking a non-combat or non-dangerous role within the company.
What We Do
There's no job too big, small, or unwanted for Oschon's Journey. With the exception of those rejected on moral or ethical grounds, you'd be hard pressed to find a job we won't take. Between our new blood and our experienced adventurers, we're more than happy to consult with any prospective clients to find a company member who meets your needs. While we accept any job, below you'll find some of the things that our more experienced membership excel in.
Hunting dangerous individuals, beasts, voidsent, and the like.
Tracking down slavers and dismantling slaving rings.
The investigation of ancient ruins, crypts, and all other manner of dangerous locale.
Dealing with ancient or forbidden magicks, particularly those of the Fifth Astral Era.
Where We Work
Anywhere and everywhere! If we can get there, we can work there! Oschon's Journey is based out of an airship of the same name, upon which members are offered room and board should they so choose! Generally the airship remains docked in one location for several weeks -- unless a job requiring its presence is accepted by the company's leadership.
IC Rules
Please don't seriously maim or injure your fellow company members without their express permission. Yes, this also extends to killing them.
We refuse to hire anyone who still holds loyalty to the Garlean Empire, particularly radical loyalists and extremists.
Don't destroy the airship or the furniture within. This is your home, please respect it as you would any other home.
We're all adults, please act like it. Relationships between members are common and welcome, but please don't allow any resulting drama to interfere with your work.
Treat clients and guests with respect. These people are how we keep the ship afloat.
Look out for one another.
Please report completed jobs and new requests promptly. Efficient recordkeeping is of the utmost import.
Please don't add unaffiliated individuals to the company group chat.
If you bring a guest onto the ship, you are responsible for their actions while aboard. Please take care in who you bring aboard and what they do.
-=WIP=-
Gallery
General Hooks
Oschon's Journey is always accepting new clients! Schedule a meeting with an officer today to discuss your job or request!
Are you an individual of ill repute? Inquire about being an antagonist or rival today!
Oschon's Journey employs a fair number of freed slaves and former experiments (usually of the Garlean variety). You don't have to be one of these to join, though!
Looking to join? Hit the big Apply button on the homepage!
Faction Hooks
The Kratos Institute: A now defunct Garlean research institute, dedicated to the development of living weapons and other machinations to aid the Ascians. Run by a pair of Ascians named Kratos and Hypnos.
The Socratic School: A spiritual (and literal) successor of sorts to the Kratos Institute, the Socratic School is based in the far north of Xak Tural. Masquerading as a school for those with the Echo, aetheric oddities, or strange abilities, it is in truth a breeding ground for unethical experiments and loyal soldiers for its headmaster, Harkyn Izunia.
The First Rung: Descendants of Mhach dedicated to seeing the voidal society rise once more. Dangerous, ritualistic, and cultish.
The Inheritors of Purity: Descendants of Amdapor who would see the blight of the void (and all they deem impure) purged from this world.
Garlean Extremists?: We're still cooking on this one. Sit tight.
OOC Info!
Some OOC notes! First: this company is run by a dumb little T4T gay couple. By extension, this group is primarily queer/LGBT+ focused.Oschon's Journey encompasses a wide range of writers with various interests. Various allied and antagonist factions exist within the "Juiceverse" as we call it, and each one has thought and care put into it. We heavily rely on lorebend to play around with the undefined or ill-thought out spaces in FFXIV canon, and any member is free to run a plot as they see fit -- though some members may take on a sort of defacto GM role more frequently. As a note, our personal timeline places the calamity as having happened 10-11 years ago as of Dawntrail, but timelines... shmimelines.We're friends who write fun things together, and we're currently looking for a few more writers! We'd love writers with antagonist characters or who are willing to write antagonists right now, but there's also nothing wrong with more allies! Check out the apply button on the main page!If you're interested in external collaboration (ie. not being part of the group proper, but still wishing to write with us), please contact caeltheythem on Discord.
Themes
In line with catering to a wide range of writers, we make use of a wide variety of themes. We're a dark/mature group first and foremost, so please expect violence, sexual content, gore, drugs, alcohol, slavery, and other similar topics to come up. We ask you to respect your fellow writers' boundaries regarding these (and all other) sensitive topics.
Character Limits & Power Levels
We see no real reason to limit the number of characters someone can play -- so long as they aren't entirely abandoning a character once said character faces consequences for any sort of IC actions. This makes it hard to run cohesive plots and keep narratives stapled together.In terms of power level, there's very little we don't allow. If the bent lore can be explained with even a modicum of canonical grounding, we're very lenient in that regard. The major stipulation with this is that we don't allow characters to be written as the Warrior of Light. This is in the interest of fairness and administrative logistics, as well as not tangling the group's plots directly up in MSQ shenanigans. We'd prefer it if characters were still fallible, capable of mistakes, and had weaknesses that could be exploited with enough work, too.
Plots & Expectations
Plots, mini-events, and in-game gatherings are the bread and butter of a group like this. There's never any obligation or pressure to participate, but they make an excellent way to push character development and thread narratives along. Anybody who wants to run a plot can run a plot, and as long as the GM has space available, anybody who wants to participate can participate -- assuming a character fits in.Likewise, if someone would like a plot or event run as a method of developing their character but don't want to run it themself, just ask! Roleplay is a collaborative act, and someone will be happy to help you achieve this!As far as what we expect of you, we ask that you communicate openly with other members about what you want from roleplay. Even if you're not able to RP for a time because of RL or burnout, that's fine! Just make sure to let us know. Additionally, if you ever have questions or concerns, please raise them to a group admin. We're here to help, not to be weird RP police.
OOC Rules
No real world/OOC bigotry. In line with the point below, please check in with people to see if they're okay with IC bigotry, even if it's what your character would do. To that end, right-wingers of any sort, be they neo-nazis, conservatives, republicans, tories, or TERFs are completely and wholly unwelcome. This list is non-exhaustive, and it is non-negotiable.
Please check with people about their boundaries if you're ever unsure. Don't be afraid to ask. Please.
There's never an obligation to RP or to write a scene you're uninterested in!
Please be polite to people OOC. We're like... all normal people here and shouldn't have any issues, but a reminder never hurts!
Please keep IC and OOC bleed to a minimum. We are not our IC characters, and an interaction or belief espoused in character doesn't necessarily reflect that of the writer.
No NSFW of minors.
We are incredibly lorebend friendly here. If it can be reasonably explained and makes a modicum of sense, we'll probably let it fly. Exceptions to this do apply, and will be appended as a separate message.
With that said, please keep interaction with canon characters to a minimum. Canon structures are fine (excluding things like the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, who are the focal point of the narrative), and alluding to canon NPC characters is also acceptable. The key thing is that we don't want characters calling in major favors or active assistance from canon characters -- we find that this reduces agency on the part of other writers and can make roleplaying more difficult.
Please consider the ramifications that permanent character death can have, and if you're struggling to write a character consider reworking them or setting them aside instead of killing them off! We're all writers here, and we should be more than happy to help one another workshop.
We are affirming and friendly to those with pluralities, systems, and so on. Please be so as well.
This server is meant to be a positive space. While it's totally fine to complain about your day or something going wrong, please refrain from intense venting in here. We intentionally don't have a vent channel because that's not something we as moderators feel capable or comfortable handling, and it tends to create a feeling of unease when it goes on in public channels. This is an FFXIV RP group. Life updates are fine, but please try to keep things appropriate as such. If you're experiencing mental and emotional distress because of RP, it's also alright to take a step back. It's a hobby, it should be fun.
There are 3 optional DM roles: Open, Ask to DM, and Closed. The obvious exception to this is if a moderator needs to reach out to you on a 1-on-1 basis.
Please refrain from direct messaging a moderator about moderation issues (unless it's about another moderator). Open a ticket.
There will be no shit-talking people who have left or been removed in this server, FC chat, or other semi-public channels. If you need help figuring out what to do with a plot or character arc that involved a writer/character who is no longer in the group, please open an RP ticket.
Addendum to Permissible Characters
We're making some changes to what we view as acceptable power levels! To this point we've been exceptionally permissive, but a few months of discussion have led us to making some changes. We want to first place limits on ancient/unsundered/pseudo-ancient/pseudo-unsundered characters. If a character does fall into this category (such as, for example, Ichor,) we're willing to permit this should there be a sort of operational limit (ie. Ichor's aetheric requirements). This is not the same as an Ascian, and I want to be clear on that front. An Ascian is still beholden to most of the same limits that another Source (or shard) resident are, which is fairly important in our assessment. Similarly, we don't want creation magicks or pseudo-creation magicks to be utilized. This is a quick way to a character being able to instantly/immediately solve any problem, even if it comes at a heavy price. High power is fun, of course, but we want there to be tangible stakes. Similarly, I really want to stress that even if your character can "solve" a plot or problem immediately, please have restraint. If the person running the plot hasn't expressed a desire for the pace, please check with them. It can be frustrating to have a plot or character arc derailed because of an immediate "fix".Similarly, please continue to refrain from metagaming (using knowledge you have OOC that your character wouldn't have IC), powergaming (focusing on power above narrative coherency, characters being The Strongest in Every Situation), and no godmoding (taking control of someone else's character in a scene, or saying something happens to another character without discussion). Characters need to struggle, have weaknesses and shortcomings, and be able to fail. This is, of course, all negated by any pre-existing OOC discussions, though. Communication is key! In a similar vein, plot devices and antagonists for GM plots can have these rules be bent, so long as they're run by moderators first! Something an RP ticket can be made for!