'".....doesn't....the Cat deserve to be happy too? With everyone else?"
— Opening narration in the OOC thread.
Fire Emblem on Forums: Chains of Horai
is one of the many installments in the series of Fire Emblem on Forums roleplays on the Bay 12 Forums. Set in the Wutai-like setting of the Five Kingdoms, the story focuses around the party comprised of three groups; friends and bodyguards of the pharmacist Rin Rengoku, following a mysterious letter sent to her, the mysterious Cursed, and wandering adventurers caught up in the middle, all the while the mad Empress Genmyo moves things to try to collect all of the Cursed.
The IC thread can be found here and the OOC thread here.
Tropes applicable to Chains of Horai:
- Always Chaotic Evil: Shiryo, demonic beings that do nothing except eat humans. Gnosis wielders (and certain Badass Normals) can fight them, however.
- Bandit Clan: The Hiruma Clan, a clan of murderers and assassins. Two of them attempt to assassinate Rin, only to have their attempts foiled by Yusuke.
- Big Bad: Empress Genmyo, God of the Zodiac and the main impetus behind the main plot; her obsession with the Zodiac caused the decay of the Five Kingdoms, and the consequences of the Summoning Decree are still being felt.
- Dark Is Evil: Shiryo, beings of shadow that love to devour humans. However, Nox Gnosis wielders avert this, as they can occupy anywhere on the moral spectrum.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Nox Gnosis wielders are not necessarily driven to evil, given that they can be whatever moral alignment so long as Mao, the god of shadow, likes them enough to grant them a Gnosis.
- Downer Beginning: The prologue set millennia ago, ending with the beginning of the Binding Curse and the death of the God of Life after the Gods of the Land tried to defeat the God of Curses.
- Cast of Expies: The game's NPCs are primarily based on characters from Fruits Basket, with Rin being Tohru, Yusuke being Kyo and the majority of the Cursed being based on various Sohma family members.
- The Chosen Many: Gnosis wielders are granted their powers by the Gods of the Land, based on how impressive (and within their domain) the feats of the person who is awarded a Gnosis were.
- Even within this group, the Cursed are unnaturally attuned to gaining a Gnosis, to the point that most of a generation of Cursed can possess a Gnosis without it being unusual.
- Eastern Zodiac: This exists In-Universe, and the legend this comes from is depicted in the prologue. This is also tied to the Binding Curse, as the Cursed transform into animal spirits from the Zodiac.
- Eldritch Abomination: The God of Curses, the "foreign god" the Gods of the Land were attempting to seal off.
- Elemental Powers: Ten of them: Flamma, Mare, Aura, Terra, Fulmen, Glacies, Lignum, Lumen, Nox and Ferrum. Each of them corresponds to one of the ten Gods of the Land.
- Fantasy Pantheon: The Gods of the Land, the gods that protect Horai and preside over various aspects. The God of Life used to be part of them before their Heroic Sacrifice to defeat the God of Curses, and the God of Curses is a considered a God only in being an equal to the Gods of the Land; otherwise, they are more feared than worshipped.
- God's Hands Are Tied: The Prohibition, put into place as a result of the damage caused by the Gods of the Land trying to dispatch the God of Curses, prevents the Gods of the Land from directly intervening in Horai's affairs. This is the reason they award Gnoses to people.
- Hereditary Curse: One applied to an entire country; anyone born in Amatsu, with the exception of the Misaki, can be born as one of the Cursed.
- Elemental Personalities: A Gnosis often links to the goals of the person to whom it is awarded to. For instance, Todoroki, a Flamma user, is a Hot-Blooded Blood Knight passionate about swordsmanship, while the Fulmen-wielding Madoka seeks to break boundaries by proving her mettle despite being a Pint-Sized Powerhouse. This also extends to the animal forms of the Cursed, which match their wielders (Miyako is shrewd as the Rat, while Yusuke is quick-tempered like the Cat, for instance).
- The Federation: The Five Kingdoms, despite being ruled by an Emperor and having Amatsu nominally in charge, is one of these. However, due to the Empress' growing madness, the Five Kingdoms are slowly decaying.
- La Résistance: Naturally. They are split between a political arm, working in the Imperial Diet as an Internal Reformist faction through sympathetic nobles, and a military arm preparing to fight the Empress directly. They are led by the elusive Noriaki Kiritani, and they are behind the prison break in the prologue.
- The Kamisato Clan are also this, having openly invaded the Imperial Palace to take back Kensuke. Fittingly, they are also allied with the Resistance, housing them in their clan's ancestral grounds.
- Little Bit Beastly: The Misaki, humans born with animal features and said to bring luck. Misaki are never members of the Cursed, fittingly.
- Master Swordsman: Quite a few in the setting, but the Kiryu Clan and the Tokiwa school are known for putting them out. The Tokiwa in particular produced Todoroki, one of the main characters and a Master Swordsman in his own right.
- Magic Pants: Averted with the Cursed, who lose their clothing upon transformation....except for Momo, for some unknown reason.
- Odd Job Gods: The Gods of the Land have some odd gods, such as Mao, the god of hedonists and pleasure and Ozen, the god of money.
- Proud Merchant Race: The inhabitants of Izumo, the island nation that trades with foreign domains.
- Proud Scholar Race: The inhabitants of Ryukyu, the nation of mages. Also, to a smaller extent, Hokuto, the northern kingdom that specialises in educating healers and pharmacists.
- Proud Warrior Race: The inhabitants of Amatsu, with the largest army. Many of the setting's martial arts schools and greatest fighters are from Amatsu.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The God of Curses, whose final curse is the Binding Curse that recurs in every generation, which remains in the modern day.
- Wutai: The Five Kingdoms is an entire setting full of this.
- Wham Shot: The prologue ends with the reveal that Noriaki Kiritani, leader of the Resistance, is one of the Cursed.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The entire story is this to Fruits Basket, with elements of the Inazuma Archon Quest from Genshin Impact. Many of the characters are thusly based on their counterparts from Fruits Basket.
- Wizarding School: Mitakihara in Ryukyu, and the Mizuno and Kobayakawa Pharmacies. The Yuuna Pharmacy is less focused on magic than the Mizuno and Kobayakawa, focusing more on alchemy.
- The Worf Effect: What happens when a highly skilled mortal goes up against a Gnosis wielder, as the Kiryu swordsmen found out trying to fight the protagonists. Only a few select Badass Normals can match a Gnosis wielder in sheer skill, such as Hitoshi Tokiwa.
