Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Seraph

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Seraph is an anime role play series created by Seraph Staff member Oz. It is based in part in an alternate universe called the Cosmic Era. The series is set in an alternate version of the Bloody Valentine War, following a rag-tag crew of ZAFT rookies aboard the experimental LCAM-00XA Seraph, the boards titular ship, as they experience the harsh realities of the war.

Overview
Developed concurrently with the original Archangel-class assault ship by Orb, the LCAM-00XA Seraph remained unused in the chaos created by the Heliopolis tragedy. Due to the state of world affairs, development was scaled down in favor of producing more time-tested vessels and units, subsequently pushing back the Seraph's completion.

Despite the skeleton maintenance and construction crew, the LCAM-00XA Seraph was officially completed several months later, including the addition of sub-aquatic capabilities (similar enhancements would be introduced to the LCAM-01XA Archangel following the Bloody Valentine War). In addition, the completed Seraph would be the first Orb vessel to house a full compliment of prototype MVF-M11C Murasame mobile suits.

Merely days after completion, the Orb Union fell under attack and the subsequent destruction of the Mass Driver and primary facilities would seem to leave the Archangel-class ship lost to the ages. However, Orb refugees flooding the PLANTs brought word of the hidden vessel to the attention of ZAFT Supreme Council. Just as rumors of an impending Alliance surge for the Victoria Mass Driver began to arise, ZAFT Chairman Zala authorized a secret FAITH operation to investigate the existence of the missing Archangel-class vessel.

The Seraph was successfully recovered from one of the Orb Union's hardened dry dock facilities and transported to the ZAFT Carpentaria Base. With a majority of ZAFT's active forces gathering in space for the final confrontations against the Earth Alliance, securing a seasoned crew for the Seraph proved difficult, with the search culminating in a series of transfer orders from units that could spare it and a good portion of the crew straight out of the ZAFT Military Academy.

Themes and reactions
The role play utilizes basic Gundam forum role play mechanics. Players register on the forum and create characters, becoming the "cast" of Seraph. Given the one sided nature of the game, all characters are ZAFT soliders, serving as either students at the Icarus XIII Academy or serving aboard one of two new ZAFT ships, the LCAM-00XA Seraph or the FFMH-Z102 Transcendence. Characters interact with one another in a post-by-post format, occasionally taking on a post order to keep things together.

Mobile suits on the board, as with the characters, are hugely ZAFT based. With the Seraph ship originally being an ORB Union vessel, characters aboard that particular ship have access to the Astray mobile suits as well as prototype Murasame units. All mobile suits have been posted on the board for convenience, with posting for them only required for customization.

Characters are created following a simple template. Players include basic information with a service history background. Players also have the option of selecting "faceclaims", using characters from animes or other sources, to give others a clear picture of what the character is to look like.

The general response to Seraph and it's rules has been generally well received.

Cast

 * Alex Davis
 * Houou Yoshimoto
 * Kenji Isaiah Crane
 * Malum Eruo
 * Selphy Ikaros Stark
 * Toriera Rune Maxwell