Thorns: Uprising

Thorns: Uprising is a now-defunct Web Original play-by-post RPG, set in a steam-era fantasy world called Vita, in a kingdom under the strain of impending civil war. The ruling class, known as the galdori, are becoming increasingly fearful that their stranglehold on the lesser races is weakening, and a burgeoning resistance has cropped up in the capital city, threatening to undermine the government and endanger anyone in its path in the pursuit of freedom.

This RPG focuses mainly on plot/character development and story building rather than combat, and players are encouraged to make realistic characters rather than awesome, unstoppable heroes. Amid social drama and political intrigue, crime and violence, their struggle could be to topple the galdori, quash the resistance or merely to survive.

A Wayback Machine archive of the game site can be found here.


 * Alternative Calendar - 10 months, 30 days each. And the days are really long.
 * Bazaar of the Bizarre - Hollow Street. Old Rose Harbor is practically one big one.
 * Boarding School - Brunnhold
 * Busman's Vocabulary - pretty much every social group; the resistance have their own code words, the pirates and mob have their slang, and the wicks have Tek. Even the galdori students have their own slang terms.
 * Code Name - everyone in the Resistance gets one.
 * Crap Saccharine World
 * Culture Police - censorship of the media is rampant in Vienda.
 * Dragon Rider - the drake tamers of Hesse.
 * The drakes aren't exactly dragons. They have fur.
 * Elaborate Underground Base - the Citadel in Old Rose
 * Evil Teacher - Freja Lux seems to be one of these.
 * Eyes of Gold - some galdori have yellow eyes.
 * Fantasy Gun Control - averted; guns are available, but are expensive, rare and illegal.
 * Functional Magic - Magic is a genetic ability, and spells are cast by speaking to the mona (sentient particles that make up the universe).
 * Ghost Town - a literal town of ghosts, called a phasmonia.
 * Gorgeous Period Dress - galdori are just plain fashionable.
 * Grey and Gray Morality
 * I Don't Like the Sound of That Place - Soliloquy Lane, Hollow Street, and Old Rose's "Rape Alley"
 * It Is Pronounced "Tro-PAY" - The town of Muffey is pronounced "muh-FAY".
 * La Résistance - Lots of these; the freedom fighters. The Drain. To some extent, the Roek fighters.
 * Left-Justified Fantasy Map - inverted.
 * Low Fantasy - apart from the "magic is evil" bit.
 * Magic Versus Science - inversion. Magic is studied scientifically.
 * Man of Wealth and Taste - Silas Hawke. Also, some galdori men.
 * Motif - notably clocks, birds and roses.
 * New Neighbours as the Plot Demands - These crop up every now and then.
 * NPC - the game has a huge cast of these.
 * Opium Den - The Toy Lantern, most bars in Old Rose
 * Oh My Gods - "Oh my gods" is not specifically used, but the variation "godsdamnit" and "good goddess" as well as many other god-specific curses are.
 * Our Ghosts Are Different - Ghosts are about three feet tall and eat people from the inside out.
 * All the mythic beasts, too.
 * Purely Aesthetic Era - No one's quite sure what this time period is supposed to be, even the creator.
 * Reincarnation - the afterlife leads to the antelife, which leads to another life. A tenet of both Vitanism and Circlism.
 * Sky Pirate - a lot of these operate around Old Rose.
 * Steampunk - some have accused Thorns of being this.
 * Lots of airships, lots of Victorian-era technology, and LOTS of clocks.
 * Vita seems to be hovering between Steampunk and Clock Punk. With other stuff.
 * Subculture - the wicks.
 * The Lost Woods - Wraithwine Wood
 * The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized
 * The Professor - several examples at Brunnhold, notably Professor Devlin and Professor Moore.
 * Universe Bible - the Thornswiki, also known as Vitapedia.
 * Witch Species
 * Wizarding School} - Brunnhold University, which also teaches the usual subjects
 * Wrong Side of the Tracks - Old Rose Harbor