Setting Information Here is where you find information on Nindomonogatari's setting, themes, and context. Naruto and Nindomonogatari Here you'll find information about Nindomo as it compares to Naruto, the IP from which we are based. Definitely give this one a read, as it will answer a lot of your questions about this AU! World Creation This is the information on how Nindomo's world was created. We differ from Naruto, even though we use the same concepts. Much of our content is derived from this world creation story. Backstory This short story describes some of the major events that have happened in Nindomo's past. This will bring together the world creation and the current setting. Many things in here are reflected in the game's content and drives the current timeline. Current Setting This is the current plot and setting of the game. It starts simply, picking up where the backstory left off. As large events happen in the NM world, the timeline will be updated with a link to the thread and a short piece explaining the event and the new current state of the world. Technology and Taboo on Nindomo Through the years, we have developed a need to describe the current technical environment on Nindomo. This also encapsulates content that doesn't appear on the board because of creative taboo.
Naruto and Nindomonogatari Nindomonogatari is an alternate universe from Naruto. We are -not- canon; we are based in the canon world, but the events from the series did not occur verbatim. This includes the entirety of the Naruto mythos--from world creation and backstory, to key events, to all the things that transpired in the series. When Naruto ended it provided a nice closure, something that we don't wish to "overwrite" by saying something like we are in that same world but in the far-flung future. We have no desire to attempt to fit ourselves into Kishimoto's structure, and we don't want to find ourselves bound by the events that transpired in the story. Why Naruto then? Because we still love it. We have a vision for making Nindomo a unique entity that fits along with the spirit of the series. We want to make our mark by proving that we can be unique inside and around the canon that was presented. It may seem erroneous, but to many the fact that we're Naruto, but also not Naruto is what gives NM its charm. Remember that many people can connect with Naruto, but at the same time want their own creativity to blossom; that is the feeling that we strive to connect with. What we use Although our setting and structure is different from canon, we do use many pieces of canon material. Most of our core is pulled from canon material, and of course our structure and entire concept of how we run is right out of Naruto. We are fans of the series, and it's our perogative to want to use as much as possible, as much as makes sense for us to pull in. You can be sure that -everything- presented in canon has at least been considered, if it's not already present in a form on the site. What we add Of course, there are many things that the canon just doesn't have. There are things that they present that they don't go into very much, such as different kinds of weapons; things that make a game like this more unique and deeper than the series could be. We want to provide you with many opportunities and options for your character, so there are holes that we choose to fill. Some of these are expanding on canon things, and some are just completely new! What we don't use With the above said, there are definitely things we don't use. Because we're AU, with our own origin, history, and timeline of events, there are many parts of the series that just wouldn't make sense to include. This is especially true of things presented towards the end of the series; there's just so much that Kishimoto presents in such a a way that influences -his- story, -his- world and -his- characters that we just would have no way to replicate it here on Nindomo. What we change As you can see, there are many parts of canon that we've included on NM, but have changed to some degree--sometimes radically. We do evaluate all the parts of the presented canon, and sometimes a thing is just so cool or just so much fun to give the opportunity for our players to experience that we want to include it, but something about the actual Naruto aspect wouldn't work on NM. In these cases we've made alterations, added some things, altered some flavor, changed some implementation; the like. Design Insight - READNaruto is an action series that follows a 'chosen' main character. This provides a key challenge when trying to make a game--a multiplayer game--based in that world. Anime (manga, single player games) are inherently designed to be broken in favor of the main character. Even if they're defeated, or if their enemy is stronger then them at the present, they are (almost) always presented with the tools/power to overcome that enemy. We don't have that luxury; we are a game where many people create their own 'main' character, and none are more important than any other in the eyes of the system/roleplay. So things that are okay in the series (omniscience, resurrection, grossly high power) are things that we simply can't replicate if we want to keep some manner of balance between the playerbase. You can see this in single player games, and most pen and paper games as well. Since the enemies are NPC controlled (or DM controlled, which replicating the "NPCs"), they are there to present challenge, but are inherently weaker than the player character. Although we do replicate this to some extent with how our world, setting, and NPC game systems are built; there are instances where PC combat will happen, and sometimes it's encouraged and fostered. In order to allow those things to still happen, you have to remember this thought when you see some of the changes we make to canon material. It may seem strange; like we've misinterpreted it, or that we've just left it out because of oversight. 99% of the time though, we change or leave it out because it's overpowered, and would bring about imbalance to the players in a way that doesn't generate fun.
World Creation In the vastness of space there exists many beings; beings that range from minuscule to grand gods. Among these beings there were six dragons that floated through the cosmos and possessed powers beyond those of world-creating gods; powers that skirt around the abstract comprehension of human minds. The Abstract of Above loved openness, freedom, listlessness. The Abstract of Terra loved the solid, the concrete, the stable. The Abstract of Winding loved flowing natures, reacting natures, fluid natures. The Abstract of Desolation loved ultimate extinction, ultimate barrenness, ultimate solitude. The Abstract of Flourish loved teeming life, teeming fertility, teeming spirituality The Abstract of Thought loved deep concept, deep connection, deep unison The Dragon Aspects met at a point in space; their powers merging and melding in different ways to form a new world. They swirled and combined in ways that the human mind could never begin to fathom as new existence cropped up around the nexus. A solid world, an open sky, flowing seas, life and death were united in a cavalcade of mysticism and creation. A corporeal realm was reflected by a shimmering land of spiritual energy. The planet grew and shaped in a seeming random but perfect design to harbor the magic that began to permeate. The magic started to take form, merging into a set of new lives that blossomed. This life morphed into ten entities, ten beasts of carrying power. They were denoted by their number of tails, ranging from one to ten. After the ten beasts grew, more beings came into existence. These beings were smaller and with less power, but they represented the true nature of this world, they would be the future. And thus this new world was born along with its inhabitants. The nature of the Aspects were represented in this existence, but they themselves were never seen by any of their creations; if they still exist in one of the world's realms or if they moved on is neither here nor there.
Backstory Lead by the ten tailed beast, the dectet of tailed beasts took it upon themselves to watch over the other beings. They were to present themselves as peaceful caretakers to the rest of the world, but something began to happen. A deep evil began to set in upon the first nine of the beasts. A mysterious outside force was poisoning the hearts of the beasts. The ten tailed beast saw the corruption begin to set, turning its kin into monsters that set their sights upon the future of this world. The first attempt was a purification, a ritual to drive the corruption out of the creatures. Despite the ten tails being the most powerful of them all, the ritual was unsuccessful, and the nine began their assault on the world. Disheartened and out of options, the ten tailed beast chose to sacrifice itself in order to seal away the other nine. The ten tails chronicled the world's origin, the natures of the beasts, the corruption, the ritual, and what it knew the effects of the ritual would have and hid the information away before beginning the process. The ritual was complex, powerful, but mercifully short. The ten tails burst into pure magic as the sealing began. The nine beasts were quelled and contained throughout the land, hidden away from the rest of existence. In addition, the dispersal of the ten tails magic also had an effect on the other beings, granting them some of its power and deep knowledge. Free will was bestowed upon many of the beings, and they developed the utilization of this magic. The humans began to learn about their magic, dubbing it 'chakra' and growing across the world as the dominant power. Nobody knew of the events that transpired to bring them to the situation they now blossomed in. Time passed as humanity prospered. Nations began to form across the largest continent on the planet, and a structure arose. Certain people became skilled in the craft of chakra and utilizing the magic in different ways, calling themselves 'shinobi'. Groups of shinobi formed hidden villages, which eventually became large groups of a diverse set of peoples. These nations bloomed and flourished as more timed passed. It was one day, early in the morning, when the first sign of true terror arose. It was a wolf that seemed to bleed chakra out of its teeth, swirling with unnatural colors. It killed a small caravan before approaching the nearby shinobi village. It was taken down quickly by the village guards, but it was brought to the Kage and the intelligent minds of the village for interpretation. It was chakra of a unique, ancient, and evil nature. It was dangerous, and it was spreading. More accounts of similar poisoned wildlife began to flood in from the other shinobi villages, and it became a world-consuming crisis. This corruption needed to be investigated and discovered. For a while there were nothing but minor attacks from corrupted wildlife against the major village; it was manageable while research was done. That is until a large creature was discovered off the coast of the island-rich Water Country. It was unnatural and gigantic, and headed straight for Kirigakure. It did not attack, however, instead diving into the ocean and crashing itself into the giant island. It seemed to mold its corrupted chakra with the very earth, unsettling a dormant volcano that the village had unknowingly been built upon. The planet itself was affected by this poisoning, causing the volcano to erupt a chakra-infused ice that consumed the entirety of the village and the country surrounding it. The unnaturally evil ice took the lives of everyone unable to leave the village in time, leaving them encased in the thick sheeting and pillars of frozen landscape. Thanks to the corruption, the entire location is now the known hub for the most evil sightings.
Current Setting Nindomonogatari opened shortly after the destruction of Kirigakure and the Water country on four active shinobi villages; Hidden Leaf, Hidden Cloud, Hidden Sand, and Hidden Stone. The corrupted chakra has infected many animals and locations. The shinobi villages are in the process of investigating and dealing with this poisonous magic. Although there are not currently any widespread attacks, the wildlife is more aggressive than usual; chakra-infused 'monsters' are relatively commonplace in the outskirts of the villages and the countries that surround them. Timeline No events have transpired yet.
Technology and Taboo on Nindomonogatari So basically, if you haven't directly seen it in the manga or anime (canon anime), don't use it here. However, there are a few additions to that as well: Dragons This is for dragons as creatures. Dragons as concepts or spirits are okay, as we have a few moves that have a dragon theme. Nindomo's plot and development reserves the right to break this rule as they see fit. Flight There are very few exceptions to this, certain jutsu produce a flying-like effect, but that's as far as it goes. No machines or magic flight spells. Advanced technology This includes things like rockets, cars, computers, etc. In canon there is some computer-like technology; think of it less as a computer and more of a chakra-augmenting machine. Basic machine technology that utilizes chakra is okay but be conservative with it; nothing too far out there. If you have questions, it's best to just ask. Space, time, or dimensional travel We have one world, and it ends at the sky. The moon and stars exist but we cannot get there, and we are just one dimension with a straight flow of time forward. The -only- exception to this rule is the land of the dead and ghosts/spirits, but even still there is no travelling there--we just make reference to it. Guns Guns are a controversial topic with the setting we have. We do allow them, but they have special qualifications and rules. Creating Guns Since 'gun' is a very broad term, we have decided to specifically call out the types of guns that are thematically allowed on Nindomonogatari: Rifles Pistols Revolvers Shotguns Carbines "Early" firearms "Early" firearms in this context are things like muskets, flint-lock pistols, blunderbusses, derringers, etc. Here is our list of guns and gun-themes that are not allowed: Semi-automatic firearms of any kind A semi-auto firearm is defined as one that uses the force of firing the weapon in order to get the next shot loaded. This is not allowed with the 'exception' of a double-action revolver. This is because a revolver uses the trigger's pull to cycle the cylinder rather than the shot's force. Automatic firearms of any kind An automatic firearm is defined as one that will fire more than a single bullet with a single trigger press. These are not allowed in any form. Modern-themed firearms Sleek guns with aiming or loading technology not covered above are not allowed. Futuristic/sci-fi weaponry Laser guns or ray guns are examples of high-future or science fiction-type firearms, and are not allowed. "Chakra Powered" weaponry to circumvent any of the above Chakra is magical by nature, and can do a lot of thing, but we're not allowing a laser-style blaster with "it fires chakra" as the explanation. Better safe than sorry, ya'll. As per the standard weapon creation policy, the theme of your gun will be reviewed by your council. If need be, someone will be pulled in to attempt to work with you to get your gun's theme toned into something that can be used for your character. Guns in Combat Having a gun as a weapon provides no additional bonuses or abilities, it is simply a theme on a ranged weapon, just like a bow is a theme on a ranged weapon. Having a gun is treated no different than having a bow, systematically.
