Hello, all!

[Leala]

Hi, I'm Gio's wife.     Nice to meet everyone!

I've been roleplaying for a long time, and I'd like to give this place a try.

The thing is, because I've rp'd in so many WoT settings that are more in the Third Age, I'm having trouble wrapping my head around what's going on, and even making a character.  It's a "Can't see the forest for all the trees" kind of feeling.

Can someone point me in a couple of threads to read, maybe some key characters to check out to help me get started?  Just to kind of help break it down.

[Giovanni]

Oh hai!!!

<3

I’m sure others will come in - but here is a recent thread that’s kinda good for a dreamworld setting (I write both Marisol and Cal). I’m sure others will pitch in some too!

[Giovanni]

Link would help lol!

https://thefirstage.org/forums/thread-16...l#pid19593

[Nox]

I can certainly point you to threads. We have a few big ones that have a few characters in them.

Masquerade has a lot of different characters and it's basically a big party, but not much really going on except some political intrigue type stuff. The Russian mafia and the Syndicate and probably a few others in play there.

House Party is another with several characters in it. Also a party, but more down to earth (normal people, if any of those people can be considered normal) going on. It's wrapped up, there is an on going side thread.

But Basically the First Age is set in Moscow Russia the home of the CCD empire where the Ascendancy just recently revealed the existence of magic and essentially monsters hunted by the Atharim. It's a whole new world.

We have lots of different character types, and lots of plots going on if you want to work something in to anything specific. We can help out.

[Jaxen Marveet]

Hey hey. 
You lucked out with snagging that handsome devil, Gio. *wink.

If you're looking for key characters...

.... *Bows and mightily flourishes

You're welcome. 

*Grin

[Giovanni]

And that’s Jaxen lol

[Nox]

Yes there are purple sequins and capes all around

[Thalia]

Welcome! Excited you have you here

There is lots of info about the setting on the main website (https://thefirstage.org/ or click on “Home”). I would start there for a general overview. This page https://thefirstage.org/options/ is also handy to get an idea of character options, and how 3rd Age things like channelers or wolfkin etc fit into our First Age world.

In a nutshell, we are currently in 2046 and much of the world has joined the Custody, led by Nikolai Brandon – also known as the Ascendancy. He is the first channeler to be reborn in the First Age. Channeling is still new and being rediscovered, but has been announced to the world. So the most important character to read up on would be him

Nik’s bio: https://thefirstage.org/forums/thread-196.html
The thread where he demonstrated his power to the world for the first time: https://thefirstage.org/forums/thread-345.html?

If you have a particularly beloved 3rd Age character, you can always give them a reborn life in the First Age if that is helpful as a starting point.

I will add that there is a LOT of additional info and worldbuilding to explore on the wiki, but I think that would be overwhelming to dive into straight away.

Oh, and if you click on our usernames, you will see that person's linked accounts -- it's an easy way to see what characters someone writes. Most of us have, uh, a lot of them.

[Nox]

Some of us more than others lol.

and if I didn't say it before Welcome to the First Age we love having new people to come play with us. We are here to help.

[Ascendancy]

We are happy to have you! I completely understand it is a bit of a learning curve. So please ask as many questions as you want. We all still ask questions of each other, too. 

I always recommend people review the basics on the main website pages, then read my (Nikolai's) bio first. I specifically wrote it in such a way as to serve the dual purposes of introducing Nikolai as a character but also to introduce the world and how things have evolved from what we (IRL) know as modern society into the urban fantasy version that exists in 2046. 

• Nik's bio sets the stage for what was happening in the early 2000's (pretty much the same as IRL). 
  
• It introduces channeling back to humanity.
  
• It introduces the notion of world-wide secret societies and monsters. 
  
• It explains how the empire known as the CCD (Central Custody of Dominion) came into being and how Nikolai basically named himself the emperor of such an empire. 
  
• Catches us up to the world events of the 2040's. 
  

The end of Nikolai's bio coincides with the beginning of the RP site, and events that have occurred since then include the "coming out" of magic-users (channelers) and some of the secret societies (but not all) to the public. Nikolai's empire has expanded significantly since the RP began and he now rules almost everywhere except China, USA, and Africa. There are PC characters to get to know, some super character-driven and others more politically-driven. But I recommend starting to read on the forums with Nikolai's bio. 

Hopefully that sparks some ideas of what type of PC you'd like to play. You can always start simple and add more complex PC's later. Heavens know we've all done it.

We are happy to have you! I also started with traditional WoT RPs and had to expand out of my comfort zone to do a modern setting. So you're not alone in that regard!