Nether

Nether is a play-by-post roleplaying game that appears to have become defunct by 2012. It was moderated by TVTroper Roland. Nether is set in a preindustrial fantasy world.

An archived copy of the forum can be found here on the Wayback Machine.

Has a character sheet.

Tropes used in Nether include:

All There in the Manual: Roland's signup is over forty pages in Word and contains a wealth of broad information on the broad strokes of Shade's culture, racial characteristics, and some example organizations.
- Much of the information related thus far on this very page can be found only in the characters' signup biographies or Word Of God, since the current iteration of the roleplay is still early in its story arc and the previous iteration, which is canon, involved only a few characters and was lost.
- The campaign now has its own wiki despite being remarkably short thus far.^[when?]
Another Dimension: The Nether, the namesake of the game
Archive Binge: The old thread^{[dead link]} of the current iteration (formerly hosted elsewhere) runs 110,000 words.
Aristocrats Are Evil: Partially subverted, as the Trueborn have developed into an efficient and effective ruling class. Played straight in the case of certain corrupt families.
Artifact of Doom: The Grimoire
Badass: Cardinal Abigail
Bloodstained-Glass Windows: The monster-haunted chapel.
Broad Strokes: Most of the prior iteration's general plot and details (not the one hosted on the wiki's former forums but the one before that) are considered canon.
The Chick: Cassandra.
- Also Zizi, who has no attack spells and generally uses her magic to shield or heal, but will use an Improvised Weapon if desperate.
Church Militant: The Church of the All-Mother has several Orders Martial of paladins; two of the active characters are from such orders. The Inquisition takes this a bit to extremes, and aren't recognized as an Order Martial, but consider themselves the true church.
Collector of the Strange: Ayani's necklace of Trueborn teeth.
The Corruption: At least three sources!
- The Grimoire and its dark power do this to people, often imposing More Than Mind Control.
- People can also fall victim to overuse of Nether magic in this fashion, as normal humans and demihumans aren't really meant to utilize such power.
- Warbound infection does this as well.
Crystal Dragon Jesus: The Church of the All-Mother.
Dark Action Girl: Ayani.
Dark Is Not Evil: Reskeis.
Deal with the Devil: The Grimoire's stock in trade.
Defector From Decadence: Reskeis. Though it's more like he was kicked out, and he would rather die than admit that any Lightwalkers had a point about his own species.
Demonic Invaders: Netherspawn
Eldritch Abomination: The Grimoire, again.
Epic Flail: Ayani.
The Empath: The entire Houri race, though it's actually got some useful aspects and it makes them very powerful bards. The drawback? They don't like hurting people.
Enemy Mine: Reskeis' alliance with Lightwalkers is practically unprecedented.
Evil Counterpart: And arguably in this case both of the people involved are evil; Bertram and Ayani, at first by total coincidence, inhabit certain extremes that are diametrically opposed to those of the other. Their players ran with it, resulting in a bitter, violent rivalry between them.
Even The Girls Want Her: Devyn.
Expy: Virgil is basically the vampire aristocrat version of Dexter Morgan, right down to using science to assist in his work. Cassandra was (visually at least) inspired by Princess November of No Rest For The Wicked.
Extended Disarming: Implied with Virgil, done with Fari.
Fantasy Gun Control: Averted. Guns are a common sight in Shade alongside older bows and crossbows, since it's roughly late-Renaissance-era technology.
Flaming Sword: Reskeis' dagues burn with an unnatural flame.
Friendly Neighborhood Vampires: The Trueborn are still psychologically human for the most part and thus somewhat uncomfortable with feeding upon other humans. They're generally fairly benign or even benevolent, and have realized that offending the vast human population of peasants and commoners is a recipe for disaster.
Gender Bender: The Houri, a race of angelic shapeshifters, can shift gender at will.
Girl with Psycho Weapon: Ayani. Just...Ayani
I'm a Humanitarian: Imps have no problems with devouring the flesh of other humanoids, or for that matter their own kind. They generally avoid feeding upon people they care about though.
I Owe You My Life: Zizi to Virgil, Reskeis, and possibly Chreef less directly. For that matter, several other characters have saved each other's lives, but don't tend to comment on it.
Involuntary Transformation: When Nether energy bleeds into the normal world beyond a certain extent, its inhabitants become confined within the form of their race's Nether counterpart.
I See Dead People: One of Cassandra's natural skills.
Jerkass Facade: A basic element of imp psychology; displaying "weakness" is generally a bad idea.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Okay, not so much a heart of gold, but Reskeis isn't actually implied to be that bad, and most of his jerk tendencies are cultural.
Knight Templar: Much of the Inquisition. Ayani skirts the edge but hasn't crossed over quite yet.
Kryptonite Factor: Practically one for every race. Generally, abuse is HIGHLY frowned upon.
- Trueborn suffer horrible burns when they come into contact with the alchemical substances aqua vitae and carmot.
- Houri, being quasi-Energy Beings, are devastated when they come into contact with strong magnetic fields, and are particularly effected when near a lodestone.
- Silver and gunpowder burn Wildkin.
- Sulfur and rust are extremely painful when they come into contact with the Seelie.
- Arkaesi, Imps and Warbound suffer when they come into contact with holy water.
Lady of War: Devyn Navarre, a beautiful and glamorous houri paladin (and an unusual combination in the setting). Cue lots and lots of...
Les Yay: Played with between Cassie and Devyn.
Light Is Not Good: The Inquisition.
Magic From Technology: Alchemy.
Magic Music: Harmony
My Greatest Failure: One of Virgil's greatest motivations is to make up for his.
Our Vampires Are Different: The Trueborn aren't harmed by sunlight, aren't undead or immortal, and require blood in addition to other foods. They're mostly haemavoric demihumans.
Our Werewolves Are Different: Wildkin. Word of God has admitted they were probably the race he's least satisfied with.
Powered Armor: Warbound are cursed and restless warriors fused within their now-living gear.
Power Nullifier: The Seelie are the only race immune to the effects of the Nether.
Retired Badass: How Virgil is generally viewed by others. In reality, though...
Schedule Slip: The story moves in fits and jerks as players find the time to post; this has kept it from moving very quickly.
Smug Snake: Bertram toes the line here frequently, but the fact is that he's never satisfied with himself.
Spin-Off: The Dresderie Campaign, also called Nether: Dresderie.
Stripperiffic: Bertram hasn't worn a shirt for longer than he'd care to admit, and the flimsy, too-small vest he does wear has gotten him mistaken for a prostitute before.
Upper Class Wit: Virgil, in public.
Vampire Bites Suck: Part of the reason for Trueborn institutionalizing the blood tax.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: A fair bit. Houri can take any humanoid form they choose, Wildkin can assume hybrid lycanthropic forms. Certain imps can take a human appearance, though this is technically something in between shape-shifting and illusion. Bards have a technique called Mirroring.
Weapon of Choice
- Ayani's chains.
- Virgil's bow and various hidden daggers.
- Reskeis' twin dagues (short swords)
- Cassandra's rapier and tome.
- Devyn's holy sword.
Wacky Wayside Tribe (A practical, if unfortunate result when players drop, as various ones have, and plotlines go nowhere.)
Wholesome Crossdresser: Many houri who don't think of themselves as "strongly" masculine (and some who do) adopt a female persona for certain public situations just because people tend to treat them differently.