Dark Shines

The year is 1646...

A civilization showed itself...

They pose a threat to the Western World...

There is no need to be afraid. We only have managed to catch up to your date of technology. Why don't you take a step back in time? Come to a mysterious group of islands of which a history waits for you. Take part of a history in the making. Step into our world.

You are invited to join our world. We are awaiting your arrival.

+ Four islands
+ Each take their side
+ Free Action
+ Choose your path
+ What will you make of yourself?

Cities

The Land
Each city of Dark Shines is also an island. The cities below are listed in order based on importance to the history of Dark Shines. For right now, four cities is enough for the RPG of Dark Shines, perhaps if this takes off and grows a colony can be settled and a fifth island introduced. Until then, this is what we have. The history of each city.

Kiu
Kiu is the current capital of Dark Shines and has been so for the last seventy five years (roughly). Kiu is known for their peace and prosperity of all the islands. They are strong supporters of education, free will, and capitalism. These people are always happy to see improvement in technology.

Kiu is the city of water in Dark Shines. The island has very little land, is actually in fact the smallest island. There are few walkways connecting everywhere. Streets are water, and boats must be used to travel around most of the island.

The very center if the island is where most of the land mass is at. The libraries, museums, homes of the teachers, bards, and government are on the land mass, as well as any government buildings. Kiu has a great divercity of marine life around their island. Because of this a top of government and education they became known for their great exports of sea food and boat building. Nearly all meterials they use on the island is imported, as of now the island is bare of many resources.

Edek
Edek was twice the capital of Dark Shines. They always lost the title to Kiu. Edek was the only other city besides Kiu to ever have been ruler of all the islands. Edek is known for being the largest island, with vast amounts of wood and game (animals).

It is interesting that the people of Edek don’t build their houses directly on the land, but rather near or on the beech. Nearly every building they have is on the beeches of the island. This city is broken into five main sections. The center of the island is the government and the documents of the island’s histories and one of the most protected and hardest places to get to.

There are four main beeches each which have a branch. Though however the northern beech is known for industry of ports. Most cities send their ships to the North of Edek. The West and East sides are mainly the mass of the population. The southern side is mainly the shady part, these are the people who think Edek should rule the world once again.

Each five parts of the great island city once had walls around each of them. As of now a few of the walls are standing, the standing structures are important to the history of Edek and is a reminder that the power of Kiu can break their defense. Edek once was the powerhouse, but no longer.

Zinr
Zinr is more of a quiet city, forgotten about during several of the wars between Kiu and Edek. Their island is the second largest. Their main output of resources is raw material, such as precious metals, etc. Zinr doesn’t host a large population, which leaves several citizens whealthy off of the raw materials they bring forth from the earth.

Zinr is also known for being more of the farming place as well. Thousands of acres of farms can be found. Cattle as well. Zinr is basically the “country” island of the four.

Kaso
Kaso is the second smallest island. They are roughly the same size of Zinr. There are really no cities or towns on Kaso, just a banding of tribes and villages. They are known for their many resorts and is a popular vacation spot. The entire island is a forest, or plains. This is the island where a majority of the lumbar in Dark Shines comes from.

Great hunters come here to seek game, and most of the island hasn’t yet been explored. It is believed to be rich in resources other then wood and game. Though however it should be known, a lot of the modern technology doesn’t exist or work well on Kaso.

History

The history of Dark Shines can be traced back to roughly 4500 years ago. The people became known for documenting several of their events, thoughts, ideology, religion and much more of their culture and way of life. Even bards existed singing and writing songs of history. Songs of family history are usually taught to the children. Below are some highlighted events of the history of Dark Shines.

Creation
About 4500 years ago, the first tribe of Dark Shines came into history. The tribe was small, basically cavemen. They moved from cave to cave following the migration of animals, which they hunted for their source of food.

Boats
The first boats begun to appear roughly 4000 years ago. As soon as the people of Dark Shines realized the potential of the boats and the near by islands, they begun to travel and expand their knowledge of the sea. So far to date only four islands ever were discovered. The development towards boats increased and great feats such as increasing size has begun.

Today they are used for leisure, business and travel. However, small boats are very common on the island of Kiu as most of it is accessible by water. Kiu is the city of water, boats and bridges are used for day to day activities.

Darken Times
At a time Edek, Kiu and Kaso formed a large alliance, leaving Zinr out. After years, roughly 1000 years ago, Edek betrayed this trust. They quickly conquered Kiu then Kaso. Held Zinr off for years then quickly took over the forth island. The government of Edek has long wanted world domination, and soon had control of the world as they knew it.

For years the citizens became skeptical of the government which now controlled them all.

Revenge of Kiu
500 years ago, Kiu, the first island to be taken over was quickly rebuilt as they suffered the most from the attack from Edek. Over time Kiu slowly built secret military and funded projects which Edek never had an idea about. Their great city was soon rebuilt and their military was launched out. But, carefully planned out. They went straight for the capital of the islands, the city of Edek.

Nobody suspected what was going on until Kiu begun their attack. Kiu won the quickly lasted war which only spanned a time of two and half weeks. Upon the fall of the great city of Edek, the people of Kiu named their island the capital. Upon the time Kiu took over the people of Dark Shines knew peace and grew in terms of knowledge, technology and prosperity.

The Revolution
Soon after the Revenge of Kiu, a civil war broke out. The people of Edek tried to revolt against the ever growing kingdom. Kiu and Kaso were the only two islands to fight in this war against Edek. They soon crushed the numbers, and burned the great city of Edek to the ground.

Edek quickly rebuilt themselves a top of their ruins and became a major destination in trade. Over a period of seventy five years they have became trusted leaders in the commerce world. Slowly their ideologies crept out across the island system. Soon the islands of Edek, Zinr and Kaso spoke in private, holding meetings. They discussed a revolt against Kiu.

They slowly worked out the plans, and careful they were at that. Soon the islands had people infiltrate the city of Kiu. Years later they launched an attack directly on the city from the inside and outside. The revolution ended 297 years ago. The winning side was the kingdom of Edek. Upon the fall of Kiu, Edek claimed Kiu for themselves and took Kaso over. Zinr was taken over a few years later. As of 293 years ago all the islands were under the control of Edek once again.

Reconstruction
The largest war the people of Dark Shines ever faced was the Revolution. They developed great weapons of war and nearly destroyed every city. Edek rebuilt themselves within a few years. Just 225 years ago all three of the great cities, Kiu, Kaso, and Zinr finally rebuilt themselves to nearly their former glory.

The old government failed. There was no growth in the kingdom. Nobody had the will to do anything anymore. Soon all four of the islands agreed to have a meeting. Nothing was decided. The economies of the islands of Kiu, Kaso and Zinr collapsed. Edek closed their island off trying to save only themselves from falling in power. Soon Edek collapsed themselves, though years after the other cities.

175 years ago the island of Zinr became the first to rebuild their city and their economy begun to come up again. Slowly they helped their ally Kaso rebuild. Edek was the third city to be rebuilt. The island of Kaso finished their reconstruction 168 years ago. Edek finished their 158 years ago. But, Kiu, the beloved city for their beliefs was left out.

Finally with the help of the three cities once their economies were up and stable, Kiu was rebuilt 100 years ago. 75 years ago all the cities met and agreed to allow Kiu lead the islands how they once did. It wasn’t a mistake, Kiu begun to rebuild the educational system and worked on capitalism. The cities never knew better growth or debt since Kiu retook over.

Dark Shines: Culture

The culture of the people of Dark Shines is different then most cultures of it’s time. Their culture is their way of life, their believes, rules with slaves, technology, children and teenagers, sexist issues, and more.

Children/Teens
Children in Dark Shines are usually raised under strict rules. No children has any say or rights until the age of fourteen (14). The teenagers of Dark Shines are becoming more and more rebellious in equivalent to those of the twenty first century. Now and then a teenager may be seen as a parent, but these cases are still rare.

Less then five percent of all teenagers are homosexual or bisexual. Their sexuality isn’t a great thing the people usually talk about as roughly half of the Dark Shines population looks down upon it. Teenagers can be heard cussing a lot, not listening to parents, drinking, etc. The curiosity of children and teenagers can get the best of them.

Technology
The technology of Dark Shines is ahead of its time, they hold the technology known to us as the 21^st century. That technology in the 1600’s is a bit unique, but keep in memory that they don't have "iphones" etc, nor satelittes. They never ventured into space. It is o wonder they have more power then the Western World, and pose a threat to them if they were ever discovered. Also note, there are a few planes, but they never have left Dark Shines.

Nobody has ever left Dark Shines alive.

Slaves
Slaves have been around for as long as anyone can remember. They make up the second largest class of people in Dark Shines. However as of now most slaves are not prisoners of war but people who broke serious laws in the past.

Some people are born slaves and kept that way. Some of them are "bred" just to have a slave class. A person having a slave in their household is uncommon unless they are a professional in their class. However a lot of people are starting to see slavery as wrong.

Slaves are despised in Dark Shines. They are basically "vermin".

Economy
Each island of Dark Shines has it's own economy of imports/exports. But the monetary system is as follows:

• Gold - The most valuable smelted coin in Dark Shines.
• Silver - Second most valuable smelted coin in Dark Shines. One hundred of these is equal to one gold coin.
• Copper - Least valuable coin in Dark Shines. One hundred of these is equal to one silver.

Each post on this board mainly in role playing boards awards 3 gold, 7 silver, and 13 copper coins. Later in the game they may be used for shops depending on direction. Until then stock up.

Religion
There is more then one religion in Dark Shines, they are as follows:

• Sahain - One of the largest branches of religion in Dark Shines. The complexity of it is basically every element, resouce, animal, and plant has a god just for it. The amount of followers of this branch is dropping.
• Huis - Huis is a smaller religion. These people believe in reincarnation. Just live life as it is now. Live for fun and make the world a better place, as you'd be back. The numbers of followers is skyrocketing. Within years Huis may be more popular then Sahain.
• Unis - If you are a practicer of Unis, you believe in one God, they are a small group, and trying to get bigger, but not much success.
• Roaw - These people believe in no religion. Live life how it is.

There are the social classes of Dark Shines. Each class is its own rank in the government.

Hok
The Hok are the highest governing branch of Dark Shines. In the culture of Dark Shines they usually don’t have children. The Hok meets regularly to discuss affairs in Dark Shines to help keep the place from falling apart once again. However in the culture of Dark Shines this is usually a life election. They are chosen by the current Hok chair holders. The people however can call for one to be removed.

This is as well the smallest class of Dark Shines.

(In this role play this group are the administrators)

Los
The Los is the second highest governing group of people in Dark Shines. These are usually the military minds, leaders, and the law enforcers. This is as well as your “professional” class among the chief officers of education, medical and else. These people are there for the people and usually do the interaction with the people of the Dark Shines. Children in this class is more common then the Hok class. They usually have one through two.

This is as well the second smallest class of Dark Shines.

(In this role play these are your global moderators).

Kek
The Kek class is usually your working people. These are the voters who can call for a nomination of a Los. These people can come together to try and get a Hok member or a Los member out of office. The Kek people usually have as much children they can afford. As of late the average is being between two and four.

The education in this class is usually just the basic of Dark Shines sometimes a bit extra to their job. These people know some life of luxury.

As well this is the largest class of Dark Shines.

(In this role play these are your average members).

Sra
Slaves are the lowest class of Dark Shines. These are usually the serious outcasts or prisoners of war. As of late their numbers have been dropping. However to the people of Dark Shines they are just "toys".

This is the second largest class of Dark Shines.

(In this role play these are "lower then members" by choice, or are our warned/banned groups).

Note to self: This should be rewritten for clarity. Remove table format and make a click to see type way of seeing this.

Key	Temporal - Humid - Rainy
Hom	Days	Description
Shanks	71	The end of the rainy season, it becomes worse. It still rains in only the afternoon, but is much harder. The rain doubles from the previous season. The nights are also much colder, and very damp. The crops are harvested in this time. The days are now growing longer.
Glak	33	The dry season has just come to an end. The weather becomes very moderate, with light showers in the afternoons. This season also has notably warm nights. A majority of the spring crops are now being planted.
Sapphi	69	The afternoon rains are very short, and not that hard. The leaves start to turn yellow and brown. It is hard to grow food now.
Lunksi	63	The nights are growing a little colder. Nothing else has really changed since Grak. Also, the afternoon rains become longer.
Behins	57	The afternoon rains now are harder than both Lars and Grak. The night is much colder, but not that unbareable.
Sek	65	The start of the rainy season isn't very different than a temporal season. There is slightly more rain than the normal season, and the temperature slight drops.

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What is this site about?

Dark Shines is a Role Play Game (RPG). It is clearly fantasy with a unique theme and world setting. This RPG is targetting to be easy to catch onto a complicated world.

Dark Shines should be crossbrowser, meaning it should display correctly in several browsers. So far Internet Explorer, Opera, FireFox, Mozilla, and Safari have been tested.

Credits

The creator of the wonderful layout we are using is Kate.
VirtualForums for being a wonderful host and helpful with the site's coding.

Nothing is linked here as of yet.

The Laws of Our Land

These are the laws of our land. It is liked when they are obeyed or you may have to suffer the consequences. The ‘basics’ part of this page covers the basic rules of our role play. The second list ‘Our World’ are general laws of the culture of Dark Shines we would like for you to keep in mind.

BASICS:

• You are not god, or the strongest being in the world. (No god modding.)
• Crude language is fine for some times, but others not. (Swearing is fine once in a while.)
• Acts of love is fine, but keep it from the public's eye. (Kissing, hugging, but not sex.)
• Do not kill a fellow citizen. (Don't kill other players.)
• Act in a manner of good will. (Be kind! Respect other players!)
• Do not be a fool, for fools cause downfall. (Basically, don’t be an idiot.)
• Mind the council, and other rulers. (Listen to the staff. If you have a question feel free to ask the staff.)
• Respect the position of life that is given. (Mind your rank/class. If you created your character to be a poor slave then they won’t have the nicer luxurious items all the time.)
• Magic only rests upon your mind. (No magic on the site! No elves, dragons, etc.! Keep this realistic.)

OUR WORLD:

• All children up to the age 14 have no rights.
• All slaves cannot argue with their master, or they'll suffer the punishment.
• Slaves are toys. Remember that, if you role play a slave, your character can be beaten by their master, and you can't do anything about it.
• No one person is allowed to live if they are an outsider, they might be allowed to become a slave, but not always (so you must be a citizen of Dark Shines).
• The Western World (Europe, Early America) doesn’t know of Dark Shines, you know nobody there, and they know nobody here.
• Men and woman are equal; there is no discrimination because of gender in this world.
• The people of Dark Shines accept any sexuality. Straight, homosexual, bisexual or asexual. They’re all accepted.
• In our world our leaders are “nominated”.
• Every child in Dark Shines attended school, failure to do so would break the basic laws of the Educational System set up by Kiu. No home schooling is permitted either.