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Octacore - the world!
The Look and Feel of the original-setting locations, aka Orochi's world
A minor cataclysm shook the world around a little after the demise of Orochi X. Some of the Three Kingdoms and Sengoku territories that were available during the storyline became blocked or cut off, and others have been overrun by the scattered remnants of Orochi's demon army. Now, only a handful of territories are still in the control of the kingdoms and factions that have existed in this dimension up until then.
Even then, some of the warlords and their generals have gone missing, their whereabouts unknown. There will be gamewide plots involving the reclaiming or reopening of some of those territories, as time goes on, though this can be sped up if someone applies for a faction leader from an unclaimed territory. To start with, the available locations of Orochi's realm include:
Central Main Camp
Chengdu
Ueda Castle
He Fei territory and fortress
Yamazaki
Tetorigawa
Osaka Castle
Hasedo mingled with a 21st century beach (the DOA beach)
The Wuzhang Plains
The Wuhang Mountains
Koshi Castle
The overall world is around half the size of China, give or take – not all of the land that belonged to the Three Kingdoms was physically brought in, but then various pieces of Japan were added back to it. At the start of the game barely a third of this land will be open to characters, due to the cataclysm and the demon armies. As time goes on, most of it will be opened back up, plus new territories will be continually added thanks to the way Orochi's power drags chunks of worlds along every time it reaches out to try to grab a new warrior to fight. Information on new territories will be expanded on the New Canons page, and the worldbuild team will add them to the map. Here we've included information on what is considered the "base" world, the lands of the original Warriors Orochi setup.
Worldbuild Setting: The Three Kingdoms Era
The lands of the Three Kingdoms come from a time period of roughly 160-220 A.D. (C.E.), post-Han Dynasty of China. There are some well-built castles of stone with inner and outer courtyards, and more primitive outposts or garrisons made with wooden palisades and mud-brick buildings. The peasant towns are also made up of less elegant buildings, some stone and some wooden, and here and there one might find a temple built more in the style of the stone palaces with pagoda towers and tiled roofs. In between are grasslands, forests, and far in the south, jungles. There are some mountainous areas, a few wide rivers, and the ocean can be accessed along the coast of the Wu Territories.
Many of the open country areas have plenty of game for hunting, and there are tigers in the jungle. Yes, there are pandas in the bamboo forests, too. Transportation is mostly done on horseback, with some wheeled carts pulled by oxen, dogs, or people. In terms of battle technology, only the siege weapons and curious inventions of Zhuge Liang and Yueying exist – fire-breathing juggernauts, catapults, arbalests, and battering rams. Weapons are mostly along the lines of swords, spears, and bows, but in keeping with the fantasy stylings of Dynasty Warriors, one may find some bizarre weaponry like giant mallets or chain whips.
There are plenty of fine things to be found in the palaces, but don't go all Indiana Jones on them unless you want Cao Cao to take your head and mount it on a spear before his gates. The silk hangings and garments, the jade and pearl jewellery, the fine porcelain pottery, and all the gold implements belong to living warlords and their courtiers and generals. They do some monetary transactions with gold and copper coins, but also use precious metal ingots and sacks of rice as currency, and will also do trades.
Worldbuild Setting: The Warring States (Sengoku) Era
The territories of Sengoku-era Japan have come in from a time period spanning the late 1500s into the early 1600s, namely 1560-1615. This Warring States period featured the heyday of the samurai and involved many of Japan's most famous historical figures. Technology is more advanced than that of the post-Han Chinese, but still primitive by some standards. Firearms were introduced at the battle of Nagashino, though they were mainly in the form of flintlock rifles and pistols. Cannons were standard fare on the battlefield, pulled by horses. Many armies maintained strong cavalry, and the samurai specialized in fighting on horseback, particularly archery.
The castles are large and expansive, with multiple courtyards or wards separating sections and tall keeps made up of many floors. Inside, one might find panelled walls, shoji screen doors, and silk-painted tapestries. The homes and shops of commoners inside the towns protected by castles are well-built of stone or wood, but those out in rural areas are more primitive. There are fewer mountain areas, mainly forested lands and some plains, and several territories abut the ocean, such as at Osaka Bay. The castles of the warlords have many fine things, and their treasuries are full, but commoners are more likely to have very simple belongings and residences. Inns and taverns are more frequently found. As the daimyo often paid their retainers and samurai in bales of rice, there might be more bartering done than outright monetary transactions. Out in the open areas there are often rice paddies, and wild game of all sorts, though be on the lookout for bears. Fishing is great in the ocean.
Worldbuild Setting: Warriors Orochi specialties
The most noticeable and important difference between the original territories of China and Japan versus how they appear in Orochi's realm is the lava – Orochi did create this world by essentially pulling up lands and smashing them together, so where they meet and wherever the land itself is weakest, veins of lava have bubbled up, thrusting up spars of half-melted rock into jagged formations, uprooting whole buildings, and leaving small fields of burned, smoldering ground scattered across the countryside. Wherever you look you may see a beautiful landscape marred by some glowing red rocks or a pathway blocked by a field of lava. Buildings may be teetering on the edge of a melting outcrop, and small eruptive geysers may appear in some far-flung fields. It separates some territories more than others, and chances are good that when new territories are thrown into the world, they, too, will be disrupted by earthquakes, glowing rock formations, and lava pits. There are few roads connecting the territories to one another, as they were all pulled up and set down at random, but the dirt roads running through the towns and across provinces are well-maintained, and some new pathways have been hastily created so that the armies can travel from one territory to another. The mountain passes are a little more treacherous, and one must always be on the lookout for enemy ambushes.
If one were to travel to the furthest western edge of the dimension, they would come across an area where there is no longer any green space or living trees at all, nothing but miles and miles of blackened rock, cooled lava basalt plains, and still-burning cracks in the ground where lava still flows. This is the area surrounding Orochi's castle, Koshi. The castle is enormous and protected by a moat of lava, and there are eruptive geysers in the fields surrounding it. It's not a very nice place at all. Orochi's minions are still in control here, the land is guarded by legions of snake-demon troops, and Taira no Kiyomori sits in front of the altar in the depths of the keep, working on his plans to resurrect Orochi yet again. Visiting here is probably not a good idea, but it's on the map and most characters from the WO canon will have been here at least once before, and can tell you not to go play in the lava.
Because these lands were uprooted and transplanted into a mystical realm, there is magic in the air and sorcery in its very veins. This means that gods may occasionally walk among mortals disguised as fellow warriors, and in addition to the more traditional communications routes of sending written or verbal notes via messenger (horseback, pigeon, or on foot), characters belonging to these lands may be able to come into possession of a magic scroll or mystic calligraphy brush that allows them to write communiques that can be seen by all on the "network." Magic mirrors may allow them to see who they're talking to long-distance. Dark sorcery of the kind Kiyomori, Da Ji, and their minions can perform is also present – they have been known to hypnotize and mind-control people, as well as teleport themselves, create barriers and seals, and perform other feats with their magic. Perhaps the lingering mystical energy is why everyone can automatically understand one another no matter what language they should be speaking.
Worldbuilding Aspect: Adding New Canon Territories
There are two ways the world of Octacore will be expanded: through events and plots involving the overall premise, and through new characters apping into the game from new canons.
Event-based: from time to time, an event or minor plot will involve a territory that has existed all along as part of Orochi's world, but has been closed off or inaccessible due to a brief moment of upheaval following the death of Orochi X. These locations are most likely to be other well-known cities or battlefields either from the Three Kingdoms era of ancient China or the Sengoku era of historical Japan, as seen through the eyes of the Koei canon. Once these new territories are open, they are available to be used as battle locations, claimed by the Resistance warlords, claimed by Orochi's forces, or explored. If a friendly faction or warlord is able to claim territory, they can move their base or some of their forces there, including affiliated PCs.
New canon: in this game, whenever a character is apped from a canon not previously represented in-game, a small piece of their home world comes with them! This piece can be as small as a single building or a large ship, but no larger than five square miles. Keep in mind that a linear mile usually translates to about 13 city blocks, give or take. The demon Orochi created this world, and its magic is unstable now that he's gone. It still continually reaches across time to grab a small chunk of world in the hopes it will bring along some powerful warriors to fight. Sometimes this chunk of world - referred to as a "territory" - gets planted down at the fringe edges of the mystical realm already existing. Sometimes it bubbles up between previously-established territories. Sometimes, it even erupts spontaneously inside another territory, creating a bizarre mashup of two worlds.
If you are bringing a brand new canon into this realm, you will need to fill out a special form to help the worldbuild team incorporate your character's piece of home into the greater realm. At minimum we need links to location wikis and images, but the more information provided, the more fleshed-out and incorporated this new territory will be. The first person apping from that canon will have a special ability to influence what this territory will contain - the size, appearance, special locations contained within, technology, special items, weather, flora and fauna, etc. The more specific information given to the mods, the more likely they will be able to approve what the territory contains so that future castmates will be able to easy find the place familiar and accommodating.
What is or isn't included in a territory is ultimately up to the worldbuild team to decide, based on what would be best for the good of the canon character and all future castmates, good for the overall game, be a good fit and not interfere with the Warriors Orochi premise and worldbuild. Anything prohibited generally under other rules will not be able to be obtained during new-canon worldbuild. Some vehicles, technology, magic, and large or mythical beasts will require mod approval.
If the cast reaches a certain size, we may be able to add new zones from that canon by request. If players want additional changes made to their canon territory, they have to be requested and approved by the worldbuild team, to make sure it isn't being done to give certain characters unfair advantages, extra special items or powers, or obtain special favor over other casts or characters. This form is linked to you when you first join the game.
NOTE: Whenever a certain number of new canon territories have been approved, they will be added to the world in batches rather than one at a time. Characters will know that something is happening because there will be a noticeable (but not cataclysmic) earthquake, and bursts of light and energy in the skies, whenever a group of territories bubbles up or slams down into the dimension. OOCly, the worldbuild team will post a notice that an earthquake has just happened and link to maps of where the new territories have appeared, so that any characters in adjoining territories can instantly notice and report if they desire. Of course, this means that, depending on app frequency and variety, new canon characters may arrive in the Main Camp before their territory "appears," which we're just going to chalk up to the quirks of mystical energy. It happens.
Transportation limits: no planes, no tanks, no aircraft carriers, no functional spaceships. Nothing larger than a modern minivan. There will be limits on number and types of vehicles that get brought in with modern cityscape areas - not every car parked on that square block will be a Mercedes. While allowances will be made for characters who can hot-wire vehicles, most vehicles will be background dressing - specific personal vehicles must be requested in the character's app; e.g. Kotetsu's Lonely Chaser motorcycle or Emma Swan's yellow VW bug. Be reasonable when taking vehicles outside their home territories, because there are no gas stations at Odawara Castle! They can be used on roads, only, but please keep in mind the reasonable use of a modern wheeled vehicle on primitive roads and the fact that you won't be able to get more fuel except from a compatible territory.
Planes and anything else that flies are right out. If your canon's setting takes place primarily in or involving outer space, you may request a grounded spaceship of a certain size limit as your canon territory. If the ship is large enough, it will constitute the entire territory and likely be crash-landed in the middle of another territory. These things are up to mod approval.
Flora/fauna limits: there will be naturally-occurring creatures roaming freely in their territories, such as herds of deer in forests, schools of fish in the ocean, flocks of pigeons in the cities. Larger animals will be scarcer but still exist within the appropriate territories. Hunting them, or alternately attempting to tame them, will not need mod approval (though, no mass extinctions, please). For example, there are pandas and elephants in certain Three Kingdoms territories! But anything humongous, mythical, or potentially dangerous to the setting will have to be mod approved when the new canon setting is approved. There may be Sea Kings in One Piece territory, dragons in Storybrooke, or chimaera in Ancient Greece! Hunting/attacking these will also require mod approval, because they may make for fun events for the whole class!
Technology limits: this dimension is a mystical realm so the fact that the electricity and plumbing are still working in territories where such things are commonplace is just something that happens. Within modern cityscapes or anywhere that has canonly established the existence of electricity, indoor plumbing, and internet, these things exist and stay functioning. By magic! However, there is no way to run electrical wiring into neighboring primitive territory, nor extend the sewer systems and piping. There are no cell phone towers in ancient China, either. Cell phones and internet not being powered via mystical means to access the Mystical Network may not work outside any modern territories. For vehicles, the only gas stations are in those modern areas, so if you run out of gas elsewhere, you'll have to literally hoof it back.
A minor cataclysm shook the world around a little after the demise of Orochi X. Some of the Three Kingdoms and Sengoku territories that were available during the storyline became blocked or cut off, and others have been overrun by the scattered remnants of Orochi's demon army. Now, only a handful of territories are still in the control of the kingdoms and factions that have existed in this dimension up until then.
Even then, some of the warlords and their generals have gone missing, their whereabouts unknown. There will be gamewide plots involving the reclaiming or reopening of some of those territories, as time goes on, though this can be sped up if someone applies for a faction leader from an unclaimed territory. To start with, the available locations of Orochi's realm include:
Central Main Camp
Chengdu
Ueda Castle
He Fei territory and fortress
Yamazaki
Tetorigawa
Osaka Castle
Hasedo mingled with a 21st century beach (the DOA beach)
The Wuzhang Plains
The Wuhang Mountains
Koshi Castle
The overall world is around half the size of China, give or take – not all of the land that belonged to the Three Kingdoms was physically brought in, but then various pieces of Japan were added back to it. At the start of the game barely a third of this land will be open to characters, due to the cataclysm and the demon armies. As time goes on, most of it will be opened back up, plus new territories will be continually added thanks to the way Orochi's power drags chunks of worlds along every time it reaches out to try to grab a new warrior to fight. Information on new territories will be expanded on the New Canons page, and the worldbuild team will add them to the map. Here we've included information on what is considered the "base" world, the lands of the original Warriors Orochi setup.
Worldbuild Setting: The Three Kingdoms Era
The lands of the Three Kingdoms come from a time period of roughly 160-220 A.D. (C.E.), post-Han Dynasty of China. There are some well-built castles of stone with inner and outer courtyards, and more primitive outposts or garrisons made with wooden palisades and mud-brick buildings. The peasant towns are also made up of less elegant buildings, some stone and some wooden, and here and there one might find a temple built more in the style of the stone palaces with pagoda towers and tiled roofs. In between are grasslands, forests, and far in the south, jungles. There are some mountainous areas, a few wide rivers, and the ocean can be accessed along the coast of the Wu Territories.
Many of the open country areas have plenty of game for hunting, and there are tigers in the jungle. Yes, there are pandas in the bamboo forests, too. Transportation is mostly done on horseback, with some wheeled carts pulled by oxen, dogs, or people. In terms of battle technology, only the siege weapons and curious inventions of Zhuge Liang and Yueying exist – fire-breathing juggernauts, catapults, arbalests, and battering rams. Weapons are mostly along the lines of swords, spears, and bows, but in keeping with the fantasy stylings of Dynasty Warriors, one may find some bizarre weaponry like giant mallets or chain whips.
There are plenty of fine things to be found in the palaces, but don't go all Indiana Jones on them unless you want Cao Cao to take your head and mount it on a spear before his gates. The silk hangings and garments, the jade and pearl jewellery, the fine porcelain pottery, and all the gold implements belong to living warlords and their courtiers and generals. They do some monetary transactions with gold and copper coins, but also use precious metal ingots and sacks of rice as currency, and will also do trades.
Worldbuild Setting: The Warring States (Sengoku) Era
The territories of Sengoku-era Japan have come in from a time period spanning the late 1500s into the early 1600s, namely 1560-1615. This Warring States period featured the heyday of the samurai and involved many of Japan's most famous historical figures. Technology is more advanced than that of the post-Han Chinese, but still primitive by some standards. Firearms were introduced at the battle of Nagashino, though they were mainly in the form of flintlock rifles and pistols. Cannons were standard fare on the battlefield, pulled by horses. Many armies maintained strong cavalry, and the samurai specialized in fighting on horseback, particularly archery.
The castles are large and expansive, with multiple courtyards or wards separating sections and tall keeps made up of many floors. Inside, one might find panelled walls, shoji screen doors, and silk-painted tapestries. The homes and shops of commoners inside the towns protected by castles are well-built of stone or wood, but those out in rural areas are more primitive. There are fewer mountain areas, mainly forested lands and some plains, and several territories abut the ocean, such as at Osaka Bay. The castles of the warlords have many fine things, and their treasuries are full, but commoners are more likely to have very simple belongings and residences. Inns and taverns are more frequently found. As the daimyo often paid their retainers and samurai in bales of rice, there might be more bartering done than outright monetary transactions. Out in the open areas there are often rice paddies, and wild game of all sorts, though be on the lookout for bears. Fishing is great in the ocean.
Worldbuild Setting: Warriors Orochi specialties
The most noticeable and important difference between the original territories of China and Japan versus how they appear in Orochi's realm is the lava – Orochi did create this world by essentially pulling up lands and smashing them together, so where they meet and wherever the land itself is weakest, veins of lava have bubbled up, thrusting up spars of half-melted rock into jagged formations, uprooting whole buildings, and leaving small fields of burned, smoldering ground scattered across the countryside. Wherever you look you may see a beautiful landscape marred by some glowing red rocks or a pathway blocked by a field of lava. Buildings may be teetering on the edge of a melting outcrop, and small eruptive geysers may appear in some far-flung fields. It separates some territories more than others, and chances are good that when new territories are thrown into the world, they, too, will be disrupted by earthquakes, glowing rock formations, and lava pits. There are few roads connecting the territories to one another, as they were all pulled up and set down at random, but the dirt roads running through the towns and across provinces are well-maintained, and some new pathways have been hastily created so that the armies can travel from one territory to another. The mountain passes are a little more treacherous, and one must always be on the lookout for enemy ambushes.
If one were to travel to the furthest western edge of the dimension, they would come across an area where there is no longer any green space or living trees at all, nothing but miles and miles of blackened rock, cooled lava basalt plains, and still-burning cracks in the ground where lava still flows. This is the area surrounding Orochi's castle, Koshi. The castle is enormous and protected by a moat of lava, and there are eruptive geysers in the fields surrounding it. It's not a very nice place at all. Orochi's minions are still in control here, the land is guarded by legions of snake-demon troops, and Taira no Kiyomori sits in front of the altar in the depths of the keep, working on his plans to resurrect Orochi yet again. Visiting here is probably not a good idea, but it's on the map and most characters from the WO canon will have been here at least once before, and can tell you not to go play in the lava.
Because these lands were uprooted and transplanted into a mystical realm, there is magic in the air and sorcery in its very veins. This means that gods may occasionally walk among mortals disguised as fellow warriors, and in addition to the more traditional communications routes of sending written or verbal notes via messenger (horseback, pigeon, or on foot), characters belonging to these lands may be able to come into possession of a magic scroll or mystic calligraphy brush that allows them to write communiques that can be seen by all on the "network." Magic mirrors may allow them to see who they're talking to long-distance. Dark sorcery of the kind Kiyomori, Da Ji, and their minions can perform is also present – they have been known to hypnotize and mind-control people, as well as teleport themselves, create barriers and seals, and perform other feats with their magic. Perhaps the lingering mystical energy is why everyone can automatically understand one another no matter what language they should be speaking.
Worldbuilding Aspect: Adding New Canon Territories
There are two ways the world of Octacore will be expanded: through events and plots involving the overall premise, and through new characters apping into the game from new canons.
Event-based: from time to time, an event or minor plot will involve a territory that has existed all along as part of Orochi's world, but has been closed off or inaccessible due to a brief moment of upheaval following the death of Orochi X. These locations are most likely to be other well-known cities or battlefields either from the Three Kingdoms era of ancient China or the Sengoku era of historical Japan, as seen through the eyes of the Koei canon. Once these new territories are open, they are available to be used as battle locations, claimed by the Resistance warlords, claimed by Orochi's forces, or explored. If a friendly faction or warlord is able to claim territory, they can move their base or some of their forces there, including affiliated PCs.
New canon: in this game, whenever a character is apped from a canon not previously represented in-game, a small piece of their home world comes with them! This piece can be as small as a single building or a large ship, but no larger than five square miles. Keep in mind that a linear mile usually translates to about 13 city blocks, give or take. The demon Orochi created this world, and its magic is unstable now that he's gone. It still continually reaches across time to grab a small chunk of world in the hopes it will bring along some powerful warriors to fight. Sometimes this chunk of world - referred to as a "territory" - gets planted down at the fringe edges of the mystical realm already existing. Sometimes it bubbles up between previously-established territories. Sometimes, it even erupts spontaneously inside another territory, creating a bizarre mashup of two worlds.
If you are bringing a brand new canon into this realm, you will need to fill out a special form to help the worldbuild team incorporate your character's piece of home into the greater realm. At minimum we need links to location wikis and images, but the more information provided, the more fleshed-out and incorporated this new territory will be. The first person apping from that canon will have a special ability to influence what this territory will contain - the size, appearance, special locations contained within, technology, special items, weather, flora and fauna, etc. The more specific information given to the mods, the more likely they will be able to approve what the territory contains so that future castmates will be able to easy find the place familiar and accommodating.
What is or isn't included in a territory is ultimately up to the worldbuild team to decide, based on what would be best for the good of the canon character and all future castmates, good for the overall game, be a good fit and not interfere with the Warriors Orochi premise and worldbuild. Anything prohibited generally under other rules will not be able to be obtained during new-canon worldbuild. Some vehicles, technology, magic, and large or mythical beasts will require mod approval.
If the cast reaches a certain size, we may be able to add new zones from that canon by request. If players want additional changes made to their canon territory, they have to be requested and approved by the worldbuild team, to make sure it isn't being done to give certain characters unfair advantages, extra special items or powers, or obtain special favor over other casts or characters. This form is linked to you when you first join the game.
NOTE: Whenever a certain number of new canon territories have been approved, they will be added to the world in batches rather than one at a time. Characters will know that something is happening because there will be a noticeable (but not cataclysmic) earthquake, and bursts of light and energy in the skies, whenever a group of territories bubbles up or slams down into the dimension. OOCly, the worldbuild team will post a notice that an earthquake has just happened and link to maps of where the new territories have appeared, so that any characters in adjoining territories can instantly notice and report if they desire. Of course, this means that, depending on app frequency and variety, new canon characters may arrive in the Main Camp before their territory "appears," which we're just going to chalk up to the quirks of mystical energy. It happens.
Transportation limits: no planes, no tanks, no aircraft carriers, no functional spaceships. Nothing larger than a modern minivan. There will be limits on number and types of vehicles that get brought in with modern cityscape areas - not every car parked on that square block will be a Mercedes. While allowances will be made for characters who can hot-wire vehicles, most vehicles will be background dressing - specific personal vehicles must be requested in the character's app; e.g. Kotetsu's Lonely Chaser motorcycle or Emma Swan's yellow VW bug. Be reasonable when taking vehicles outside their home territories, because there are no gas stations at Odawara Castle! They can be used on roads, only, but please keep in mind the reasonable use of a modern wheeled vehicle on primitive roads and the fact that you won't be able to get more fuel except from a compatible territory.
Planes and anything else that flies are right out. If your canon's setting takes place primarily in or involving outer space, you may request a grounded spaceship of a certain size limit as your canon territory. If the ship is large enough, it will constitute the entire territory and likely be crash-landed in the middle of another territory. These things are up to mod approval.
Flora/fauna limits: there will be naturally-occurring creatures roaming freely in their territories, such as herds of deer in forests, schools of fish in the ocean, flocks of pigeons in the cities. Larger animals will be scarcer but still exist within the appropriate territories. Hunting them, or alternately attempting to tame them, will not need mod approval (though, no mass extinctions, please). For example, there are pandas and elephants in certain Three Kingdoms territories! But anything humongous, mythical, or potentially dangerous to the setting will have to be mod approved when the new canon setting is approved. There may be Sea Kings in One Piece territory, dragons in Storybrooke, or chimaera in Ancient Greece! Hunting/attacking these will also require mod approval, because they may make for fun events for the whole class!
Technology limits: this dimension is a mystical realm so the fact that the electricity and plumbing are still working in territories where such things are commonplace is just something that happens. Within modern cityscapes or anywhere that has canonly established the existence of electricity, indoor plumbing, and internet, these things exist and stay functioning. By magic! However, there is no way to run electrical wiring into neighboring primitive territory, nor extend the sewer systems and piping. There are no cell phone towers in ancient China, either. Cell phones and internet not being powered via mystical means to access the Mystical Network may not work outside any modern territories. For vehicles, the only gas stations are in those modern areas, so if you run out of gas elsewhere, you'll have to literally hoof it back.