l i t a n y :: a song of worlds. [PG-16, OOC / Sign-Up Thread]

[Cirrus]

Preamble

When one of my friends suggested to me that I should write a roleplay, I was astounded by the idea. "I'm really busy!" I said, and thought about declining; but then I considered the idea for a little while, and decided to go for it anyway. This is the result of my haphazard decision.

Without further ado, I present to you...

Litany

A high fantasy RP.

In an age before the memories of modern man, before any of the present countries were established, there existed a girl who made her home in the lofty Aenaean Mountains. She was born from the elements, and lived as the voice of nature. Every thousand years, a cataclysm follows in the wake of her death – destruction, then rejuvenation. Her appearances were manifold and varied, but her way of life was always the same; she lived and died in solitude. One day, a timid but idealistic young man came to train himself at the peak of the highest of the mountains, so that he could gain enough power to cease the wars across the continent below. The girl had never seen anyone from the outside world before, and so out of curiosity asked him to take her along on his journey. The man, astounded by the girl's very existence itself, readily agreed. The two travelled across the continent together, gathering companions and followers under the banner of the man's dreams of a peaceful world. A decade and a half later, after the dust from the long years of warfare had settled, the man had transformed from an incompetent adolescent into a warrior of legendary skill. His name was Helvenn, the founder of the empire of Helvenand, and he named the capital of his nation Arianne, named after his perpetual companion.

[Beginnings of a Tale]

The plane of Lunicia is but one of many in the infinite multiverse; upon first glance, it does not seem like anything other than yet another temperate, undeveloped world – magic vastly outpaces technology, monsters still roam the countryside, and myriad horrors are hidden within the depths of the earth. The priorities of civilization, however, are slowly shifting. Legend and legacy are being forgotten in favor of advancement and progress. The ancient empire of Helvenand, encompassing the northeastern half of the landmass of Khellius, has grown to become the greatest superpower on the continent. To its southwest is the mercantile nation of Perinth; its northwest, the republic of Nemaesus; to the south, the tropical monarchy of Salantira; and beyond that, to the east, is the theocracy of Teucrion.

Countless millennia have passed since the age of the heroes, and their exploits have since passed into legend. Most famed among the band that travelled forth with Helvenn is, of course, Helvenn himself, a man whose courage was admired even moreso at times than his prowess. At his side stands Arianne, a muse-like figure with great artistic ability and a graceful, calming presence. Four of their companions gained great renown also: the grand magister Kyre, possessing intellect beyond compare and a mastery of magicks that have since been lost to time; the silent protector, Marcell, defending the companions with unwavering loyalty; the soundless enforcer, Ciefe, meting out justice from the shadows; and the eloquent diplomat, Varras, whose rhetoric and seasoned discourse were unsurpassed.

The year is 1019. The six nations of Khellius have lived in harmony for nearly a thousand years, and both commerce and the study of magic have flourished. This long-standing peace, however, is broken very unexpectedly; the massacre of thousands of Helvan innocents during the festival of Caspenalia as well as arson and property damage, committed in the capital, no less, is too much to ignore. Following the discovery that the perpetrators were Perinthian and Salantiran terrorists, Emperor Terreus thus issued a decree for the nation to go to war. Needless to say, the military might of Helvenand crushed Perinthian resistance, despite the latter's fierce efforts.

This particular story begins near the conclusion of the Helvan-Perinthian war, just after the fall of Tyrovion, the capital of Perinth. It accompanies a band of adventurers, or perhaps mercenaries, under the employ of the Empire of Helvenand. Following the conquest of Perinth, it has become painfully clear that the extremist force behind the initial attack on the capital have not been eradicated in any effective way whatsoever, and the band has temporarily been relegated to bandit extermination in the ravaged countryside. As the story unfolds, however, the adventurers will find that perhaps the current political climate is not simply man's doing, after all…

The winds of change are upon the world. Only time will tell what the future holds.

[Whispers of the Earth]

Khellius, 1019

The continent of Khellius is not very technologically advanced. While ingenious mechanical devices powered by wind and water exist, much of the innovations in Khellius is powered by magic, from glass firearms charged with elemental energy to advanced automatons, capable of comprehension of complex commands given by their creators. Miracles are dispensed by clerics and priests of St. Elendra, though there are a number of secret cults in the land as well.

Relevant world information in the spoiler below.

Helvenand

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Spoiler:

The empire of Helvenand is governed by Emperor Terreus Menenius Agrippa, a man known for his kindness towards his own people if not for his wisdom; three generals serve as his advisors, selected for ten-year terms. The empire is separated into four provinces: the province of Raetia, encompassing the Vaeln forest and known for its special varieties of lumber as well as skilled bio-arcanists; the province of Galatia, containing a large section of the Iberian forest as well as the Florentian and the northern Cyrenaic mountains, possessing skilled craftsmen of a large variety of trades due to the natural abundance of both lumber and minerals in the region as well as its proximity to the coast; the province of Moesia, by far the largest province, spreading from the Iscan Plains to Magador Swamp, a large percentage of the population of which are farmers; and the administrative province of Illyria, located in the heartland of the empire and a bustling centre of commerce as well as the exchange of knowledge.

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Histria, wellspring of life – capital of Raetia

The city of Histria is a tangle of narrow streets and row buildings, usually built of an artistic combination of wood and stone. The alchemists' guildmaster Enher Lyson has a certain degree of influence over the city, backed by an order of sorcerers and arcanists dedicated to research on bio-arcana. Moreover, due to Histria's abundance of magically altered plant life, the air is wondrously pure and fresh.

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Placentia, heart of the Florentians – capital of Galatia

Built into the Florentian Mountains themselves, Placentia is most remarkable for its numerous towering spires and ancient statues. Well-protected by wards and magical constructs from natural disasters such as earthquakes, it is lighted by ardelyte, a special glowing crystal found in the nearby quarries in abundance. Placentia is also famous for its bustling subterranean town, in the deepest parts of which it is said there are wellsprings of power.

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Ticinum, land of intoxication – capital of Moesia

Built on the shore of the Lesse River, Ticinum is a sprawling city, a labyrinth of narrow, winding streets, with an intricate network of canals and aqueducts interwoven into the maze. It houses a host of secondary industries, largely involving the processing of agricultural goods, as well as the famous Ticinian Market, a chain of marketplaces set up on the riverbank. Drunken brawls often take place in the city streets at night, the result of the multitude of brewery businesses there.

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Arianne, crown of the Empire – capital of Illyria

The capital of Helvenand, Arianne is well-defended, boasting three layers of walls – the innermost of marble, the middle of masterfully worked stone and steel, and the outer of ensorcelled quartz. A consortium of guildmasters, known as the Arianne Trade and Services Association, in charge of management of major topics regarding economics, is based here, and several major roads run through the city. The Collegium Magiae, the most prestigious school of magic (arcane or otherwise) in Helvenand, makes its main branch in the central district of Arianne, and the church of St. Elendra has a significant presence here. Other important buildings are the Forum Helveni, a large public square in which the court of the emperor often assembles for daily discussion of the nation's affairs, and the Amphitheatrum Marcium, an ancient amphitheatre where dramatic plays as well as great games are held.

Perinth

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Spoiler:

The mercantile nation of Perinth is ruled by an oligarchy; a council consisting largely of wealthy merchants votes on resolutions, and the ones that pass become national decrees. As a nation, Perinth utilizes a justice system of trial by a jury of peers, instead of by civil authorities. Perinth holds freedom as a fundamentally important right; as long as the basic laws are obeyed, the nation's citizens are free to do whatever they please, leading to a progeny of famous satirists and critics taking refuge in its borders, as well as less savory individuals. Perinth is known for its skilled illusionists and conjurers, and takes pride in the intricate contraptions that its inventors design.

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Tyrovion, civilization arisen – capital of Perinth

On the eastern edge of the southern Umbric forest, Tyrovion is a city enclosed in walls of stone and iron. Able to travel into the wider sea as well as Lake Sinope, it harbors a flourishing shipbuilding and shipping industry. Its proximity to the Aenaean Mountains means that it is a popular tourism site. Since the city is built on the ruins of an older civilization and ruins can still be found in the undeveloped outskirts of the city, it is a hub for treasure hunters as well. Having converted the nearby lake to a fish farm of sorts, Tyrovion exports large amounts of fish that are used for food as well as bred for entertainment.

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Calis, city of artistry

Situated at the edge of the Julian forest and nearby the source of the Senian River, the city of Calis is renowned for its numerous colleges dedicated to the study of the arts. The Academia Caliae is based here, and is one of the most famous schools of fine arts, possessing a long-standing rivalry with the Universitas Artificium in Naranum. The city itself is laid out in a grid-like fashion, and many of its buildings are constructed from large blocks of granite. Another defining feature of the city is its production of textiles of astounding craftsmanship, and Calian silks are among some of the most valued fabrics on the continent.

Nemaesus

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Spoiler:

A republic situated in a more northern locale, Nemaesus is essentially governed by its own people. Two consuls are voted on annually to represent the nation, and a senate of hundreds serves as the guiding political force of the state. Common plebeians and wealthy patricians alike are able to become senators, as long as they rise through the ranks in due republican form by ascending the ladder of the magistracies. A large part of the agriculture takes place in the southern part of the republic, but some food has to be imported. Most notably, Nemaesus is home to the Ancient Circle of Druids, an organization with continental influence dedicated to furthering the interests of nature and preventing harm to it.

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Resapha, arboreal reprieve – capital of Nemaesus

A city constructed out of living trees, Resapha is an example of a harmonious fusion between civilization and nature. Swinging bridges and vines link the treetop villages to one another, and short-distance public teleportation circles exist, allowing convenient travel across large distances of the city. Resapha is defended by a shimmering forcefield, which is fueled by stored solar energy, and is known for its fearsome female-exclusive sniper brigade, the viragos. Resapha is known for its eloquent orators, taking after the footsteps of its founder Varras, and men and women from the entire continent gather here to engage in the practice of rhetoric and debate. The Maxentian Square, a meeting-place for the Nemaesian Senate, is situated in the heart of the tallest tree in the centre of the city.

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Naranum, sleepless metropolis

Located at the base of Mount Paranceus, Naranum is a city dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. Lit by imported Helvan ardelyte and magical flame in equal parts, the city's brilliance does not dim even with sunset – and indeed, some varieties of research must be conducted in the night-time.The city's architecture is a jumbled, chaotic mixture of innumerable styles, and large quantities of arcanists and manifesters alike make their homes in the city; even the church of St. Elendra has established a branch of their research and development division in Naranum. The Naranian Universitas Artificium, a renowned school of the arts, is a long-time competitor of the Academia Caliae. The city is especially well-known for its floating quarter, situated in the sky directly above the ground level of the city and sporting an enchantment that allows light to filter through to the buildings below.

Salantira

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Spoiler:

A monarchical government presides over the tropical nation of Salantira. Due to the higher temperatures here, headgear is often worn by Salantirans to provide comfort, as well as generally lighter clothing. Domed architecture is very popular in Salantira, and the climate allows for the survival of unique species of life that would have developed differently under a colder environment. Though a large number of Salantirans live in cities like the rest of the world, some wander the desert of Gerasa, preferring to preserve the customs of their ancestors. Salantira is a significant naval power, due to its possession of almost the entire Leucarian coastline as well as a part of the Messanian coastline, and its ships are unparalleled in their speed and maneuverability.

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Estaren, ninefold bastion – capital of Salantira

Walls of stone, spreading outwards in nine concentric rings, make up the layout of the city of Estaren. Located in the centre of the city is the royal palace, the paths to which are lined with trees of gold and silver; elaborate hanging gardens intermingled with key administrative buildings dominate the second ring. The third ring houses the residences of royal servants and viziers alike, and the fourth ring contains a multitude of shops and manufactoriums, providing Salantira's acclaimed tea and spices, among other specialty items. The fifth and seventh rings are residential districts, while the sixth houses the service industry, including but not limited to schooling, health care, banking, and consultation services. The eighth ring, similar to the second, is also meant to be a location where leisure and relaxation can be found, and includes facilities which meet that end accordingly. The ninth is a ring relegated to the defense of the city, and furnishes Salantiran troops stationed at Estaren with accommodations.

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Velchis, town of mercenaries

A town at a fork of two rivers, Velchis is distinguished for its military prowess, and Velchian sellswords are some of the most coveted in the known world. Velchian blacksmiths hone their skills across the Teucrian border in the Patavian Mountains, learning the arts of bending the flame of the earth into flashing steel, and Velchian weapons are, if not necessarily the best in Khellius, at least highly prized as a result. As for the town itself, the structure of the municipality, though it does not appear at first to be extraordinary, allows the citizens to quickly rush to its defense by creating locations on the rooftops and in the houses that allow defenders to strike at their assailants while being shielded from the brunt of the counterattack.

Teucrion

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Spoiler:

The theocracy of Teucrion is ruled by the church of St. Elendra; taking a very positive outlook on humanity, it is unhesitant of accepting refugees from other countries, providing a safe haven provided that those who take shelter swear an oath to not harm others during their time in the country. Bishops and cardinals are religious leaders as well as public servants, and the Luminarch, Micaelis Reval, serves as the official head of state. Teucrion's economy is mostly based on the processing of resources into various useful objects, and Teucrian wine is valued for its medicinal properties, brewed with a secret formula of herbs.

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Noviopolis, sanctuary of light – capital of Teucrion

Built around a core of brilliant corundum, shimmering in a multitude of colors, the city of Noviopolis is meticulously clean, and the urban poor that are usually present on the seedier districts of a city are conspicuously absent; even the city's sewage system is abnormally free of detritus and dross. Exactly how the city is kept in such spotless condition is a secret that has been passed down through generations of Luminarchs, but it is widely rumoured to be the result of a blessing placed upon the locale by St. Elendra centuries ago. Needless to say, these feats are envied greatly by other nations. Being the religious capital of the church of St. Elendra, Noviopolis also draws uncountable pilgrims and tourists alike, and the city has been greatly enriched as a result. The Citadel of Light, where the Luminarch presides, is located on a hill in the northeastern part of the city, guarded by the Crucesignati, an elite faction of priests experienced with war, nicknamed the Fighting Arm of the church.

The Church

Spoiler:

Sidebar: The Church of St. Elendra

History

The main extant religion on the continent of Khellius is, of course, the church of Saint Elendra, whose font of holy power and object of worship is its namesake, a winged goddess of incredible purity and strength attended by three flights of angels; how she came to have the prefix of "Saint" before her name is a hot topic of debate within the church itself, with one part of it maintaining that she was initially mortal and the other that it was a posthumous title affixed to her name. Regardless, however, her name is constant and unchanged everywhere on the continent, and very well known.

A goddess of victory and cleansing with many titles such as the Merciful, the Healer, the Beautiful One, and the Champion, her divine symbol is a six-petaled flower, dyed alternately white and red. Although her wrath usually takes on the form of fire, it is not the same sort of flame that is usually found in life, being thousands of times hotter and more powerful - even creatures normally immune to fire will take a severe beating from a flame strike channeled by a petitioner of St. Elendra. Though the force of her miracles are seen everywhere in the land, she usually only interacts physically with extremely accomplished members of her clergy.

Nobody is quite sure how the goddess came to exist; she has been a part of humanity's memory since the dawn of recorded history. There are, once again, numerous theories about her - whether she is the greatest power on Lunicia, or there is someone mightier, as well as how she came into being.

The incentive for people to worship St. Elendra are twofold - first, it is evident that she has actual power, and the common people rely on a mixture of their faith and holy symbols to protect themselves in the occurrence of a malevolent attack; second, the concept of rewards after death exist, and if a follower is especially pious, there is a possibility of ascension into the ranks of her angels, which are separated into three flights (as is the church itself, somewhat), described below.

The Flight of the White Lotus
The flight of the White Lotus is associated with healing, light, sacred cleansing, barriers, and protection. Angels from this flight have wings of pure ivory and very light hair, and associated clergymen are often apothecaries, inventors, and healers, working for the benefit of the church as well as the wider world.

The Flight of the Crimson Lilium
The flight of the Crimson Lilium is associated with flame, righteous anger, struggle, and victory. Angels from this flight are more heavily armored and possess a more warlike bearing, and usually have wings tipped with a warm color, though this can range from light orange to deep carnelian. Associated clergymen are usually inquisitors and militant members of the church, actively seeking out and eliminating ancient sources of evil as well as darkness within.

The Flight of the Twin Fantasia
The flight of the Twin Fantasia is associated with joy, music, good news, and encouragement. Angels from this flight are often dark-haired, with cheerful expressions on their visages, and their wingtips are tinged with a pleasant blue. Associated clergymen are usually artistically gifted, and are accomplished writers, orators, preachers, and capable leaders and administrators of the church.

Hierarchy of the Church
The Luminarch holds the highest position in the church, and is elected by a council of archbishops and cardinals. Accompanying the Luminarch is a gathering of the aforementioned high-ranking members of the clergy, who serve as a source of valuable advice as well as the governing body. Below the archbishops and cardinals are the bishops, who act as municipal leaders in Teucrion and leaders of large congregations elsewhere, and below that are the priests and clerics who propagate the teachings of St. Elendra.

Special Divisions of the Church
The crucesignati (sing. crucesignatus) are an elite faction of priests, mostly from the flights of the Crimson Lilium and the White Lotus, who are skilled in warfare and are tasked with the defense of Noviopolis as well as select important tasks around the continent. The exorcistati sancti (sing. exorcistatus sanctus)are a group of petitioners alike that act in the interests of the church as well as educate the members of the wider public in the art of performing miracles. The cognoscentes (sing. cognoscens) are the inquisitors, in charge of routing corruption from the ranks of the church and the keeping of laws.

Customs

The teachings of Saint Elendra are passed down in a few holy books, with little to no commentary attached; inspired by Saint Elendra, the books are a narrative of holy acts and struggles in ancient times, as well as her principles of faith. The religion's deadly sins include avarice, thoughtlessness, apathy, sloth, and irresponsibility, while the books extol the virtues of moderation, bravery, and temperance. The priesthood accepts members from either gender, and theological study is not required, though it often occurs with potential clergymen. Worship includes, besides congregation in designated sacred buildings (i.e. churches), private meditation as well as solemn prayer.

The most important holidays are Caspenalia, during the winter solstice sometime in Dairmen, celebrating the goddess's sweeping away of the overpowering frost of winter; Sanctalia, on the eighth day of Eulis, commemoratingthe traditional date of when the goddess first came into full divinity; Viritalia, a holiday devoted to extolling the virtues of the goddess, on the twelfth of Zanatria; and Messalia, three days of thanksgiving between Meselo and Camasto to the goddess for the bountiful harvest and her continued protection.

Important Miscellany

Spoiler:

Calendar

Aquerin (mid-winter)
Dairmen (late winter)
Eulis (early spring)
Sylvaeris (mid-spring)
Panoris (late spring)
Itana (early summer)
Zanatria (mid-summer)
Rethica (late summer)
Thonoro (early autumn)
Meselo (mid-autumn)
Camasto (late autumn)
Viodion (early winter)

Months are not separated into weeks, and each month has only twenty-four days. In colloquial language the later days of the month are sometimes referred to by the number of days remaining until the next month, though this is never done in writing.

[Rules of Engagement]

There is always this inevitable section; better that it comes before the sign-up sheet than after, lest no one read it. The rules, then, are as follows:

- Please follow the rules of this forum. This should not need to be said, but I will say it anyway. Go read them if you haven't already.

- Please be intelligent. Use your common sense first and foremost. This will help avert many of life's difficulties, and it is no less true when applied to this roleplay.

- Please listen to me. As the creator of this roleplay and someone who has spent a great deal of time crafting this setting, I would like to make my life easier by saying the following: please don't argue with me when I ask you to do something nicely. I usually have a good reason.

- Please don't godmode or take control of others' characters without their permission. Life is never devoid of challenges. Roleplays shouldn't be, either. Plus, if every encounter was solved in an easy and painless manner, this roleplay would quickly become extremely boring. As for the second part ... try not to do it unless you're a telepath. Otherwise it would make no sense.

- Please be active. Amendment: I suck at posting once a week sometimes, so just stick to not ditching I guess. If you need to take a break, tell me when you are going to become inactive for a good reason so I won't be confused. I do not want this roleplay to die any time soon, and eventually I want to see the plot come to fruition, so do not sign up if you cannot commit.

- Please read my setting notes carefully. (When applicable.) A roleplay is a co-operative enterprise, and while I encourage you to be creative, don't trample on my creations when you're doing so. Regarding cities and such: The cities I mentioned are only the major ones, so there's plenty of room for you to include smaller-sized cities and towns in your backstory or in the main plot.

- Please do not be overly explicit. Since the roleplay is rated PG-16, there is a certain degree of freedom that one has. However, do not exceed the PG-16 rating with the severity of your writing, or everyone will get in trouble.

- Please have fun. Personally, I wrote this roleplay in order to have fun, but hopefully it's not too much to ask of you, the player.

[Makings of a Legend]

Nota bene: Acceptance does not hinge on reservation or priority of signing up, but rather on strength of writing.

Sign-Up Sheet:

Name:
Age:
Gender:
Personality: About 2 paragraphs as a minimum.

Appearance: About 2 - 3 paragraphs as a minimum.

Background: About 2 - 3 paragraphs as a minimum. A lot of the map is up to your interpretation, though if information is wanted on various locales it can be provided.)

Legend: See below on how to fill out - one of five available choices.

Statistics: Mouse over the name to see what a statistic governs; see below on how to fill this out.
Strength -
Dexterity -
Constitution -
Intelligence -
Wisdom -
Charisma -

Abilities: See below on how to fill this out.

Roleplay Sample: Please give me a general idea of the style in which you write and the quality of your writing.

Statistics

Spoiler:

The mechanics system is heavily inspired by D&D, and thus will take the same system of buying points; all six statistics start from a base of 8, and a player has 32 points to distribute. It costs 1 point to raise a statistic by a single point until the statistic reaches 14, beyond which it costs 2 points to raise. Statistics cannot be raised beyond 16, unless a specialization is selected that would do so (see below).

A handy calculator can be found here.

Abilities

Spoiler:

Generally speaking, a character that is able to both fight and cast magic is not going to be as good at magic as a character that has chosen to exclusively focus on magic, and thus a helpful table is provided below of possible specializations; a character can assign up to four points, and a major specialization is worth 3 points, while an intermediate and a minor specialization are worth 2 points and 1 point respectively. If a character selects only minor specializations, he is eligible for an additional point (for a total of five). If a character gains "free" minor specializations, it is possible for him to upgrade the specialization to intermediate (by investing 1 point) or major (by investing 2 points).

Some specializations, with enough advancement, grant other specializations.

If you feel uncomfortable with the mechanics presented below, simply write your character and I will assign a mechanics profile to your character after discussing it with you.

​

Edit: Everyone is able to wear armor. Armor will, however, interfere with the usage of arcana and miracles - mindcraft is not affected, since it does not involve freedom of movement. Moreover, if you have a low Strength score it is more difficult for you to wear armor, and if you have a low Constitution score you might get tired more quickly in heavy armor. (Apply liberal amounts of RP rule #1 - common sense.)

As for Endurance - intermediate specialization now grants minor blunt weapon mastery or minor edged weapon mastery.

Legends

Spoiler:

With the sign-up submission, each player will also select a legend; note that the legend's characteristics do not have to correspond with the actual character in any way, though generally some sort of slight semblance will be useful ability-wise.

The legend you take means that you act as the incarnation of that initial role in this cycle of the story. You get to determine the personality of your legend as it was initially as well, since it will be very similar to your character's personality.

Choices are listed below:

Helvenn, Heroic Champion – taken by Cirrus
Arianne, Exalted Muse - taken by Cirrus
Kyre, Sublime Archmage - taken by parallelzero
Marcell, Stalwart Guardian - taken by Loki
Varras, Ardent Orator
Ciefe, Reticent Shadow - taken by Ray Maverick

[Workings of Magic]

This is a quick sidebar on how magic works in Khellius. There are three types of magic available to the general public: arcana, miracles, and mindcraft.

Arcana

Alternate Names: arcane magic, invocations, arcane spells
Expressions for Practitioners: arcanists, sorcerers, wizards, conjurers, evokers, illusionists, abjurers, transmuters – artificers: alchemists, enchanters

Arcana is the art of bending the world to one's will; by carefully infusing the aetheric network that the world is laid out on, one can produce extraordinary effects in reality. There are five schools of arcana: abjuration, conjuration, evocation, illusion, and transmutation. Though even a novice practitioner is able to produce some form of advanced effect, the breadth of that effect varies with experience, power, and specialization – for example, a sphere of flame produced by a tertiary evoker will not nearly be as explosive as a sphere of flame produced by a primary evoker. Arcana is also a form of magic that is most likely to produce dramatic results, being able to do a variety of useful and miscellaneous things; remarkably, however, it is not able to heal wounds in any efficient manner whatsoever. Alchemy is a substudy of arcana, and involves imbuing the qualities of invocations into objects to be activated at a later date – alchemical objects of varying amounts of utility are often produced by skilled inventors.

Specifics

Spoiler:

Preparation: Though arcanists can utilize the aether in familiar or fairly simple ways without any preparation – for example, an arcanist acquainted with fire can shape it in almost every way imaginable – additional preparation is needed for very complex usages of arcana, often involving long incantations. Since most combat usages of arcana are uncomplicated, usually calling on some form of energy to annihilate an opponent, they will take little to no time to deploy, but fabrication of intricate objects, specific usages, or spells that are large in scope will require more time.

Components of Spells: An arcane spell is composed of two parts – the verbal component, which is the incantation spoken by the arcanist, and the somatic component, which is a series of exact hand gestures that must accompany the incantation. It is the somatic component of arcana that prevents most arcanists from wearing heavy armor, if they even choose to wear any. The somatic component must be executed without any errors in its precision, lest the energies in the spell fail and be lost. Sometimes a third part is necessary as well: material catalysts can be utilized to produce a more powerful result than normally possible or to narrow the intent and boundaries of a spell.

Schools:
Abjuration (abjurers)
Abjurations are protective spells. They create physical or magical barriers, negate magical abilities, harm trespassers, or even banish the subject of the spell to another plane of existence. Abjuration spells are also often used as a way of countering spellcasters and manifesters alike, since much of the school's repertoire is focused on restricting and dispelling.

Conjuration (conjurers)
Conjurations are spells that involve the manipulation of matter into something more useful, be it transporting it from one locale and then spontaneously recreating it in another, bringing a manifestation of a creature to the spellcaster, or the creation of objects or effects on the spot. Conjuration effects merely use magic as a tool of assembly, and their results are not inherently magical.

Evocation (evokers)
Evocations manipulate energy or tap into the boundless energy of the Plane of Aether to produce a desired end. In effect, they create something out of nothing. Many of these spells produce spectacular effects, and evocation spells can wreak large amounts of havoc, though they differ from conjuration spells in that the entire manifestation is magical from start to finish.

Illusion (illusionists)
Illusions deceive the senses or minds of others. They cause people to see things that are not there, not see things that are there, hear phantom noises, or remember things that never happened. Illusion spells can also influence or control the behavior of others through magical means.

Transmutation (transmuters)
Transmutations change the properties of some creature, thing, or condition. Depending on the intent of the spellcaster, transmutation spells can strengthen or weaken, and are often very versatile. However, they are also usually more time-consuming than other schools of magic, since the process of transmutation is usually gradual. Transmutations are almost always temporary.

Theurgy

Alternate Names: miracles, divine magic – see also: nature magic, druidism, dark magic, rituals
Expressions for Practitioners: petitioners, clerics, priests, bishops (etc.) – other flavors: druids, shamans, ritualists, cultists – artificers: runechanters, faith-smiths

Unlike arcana, theurgy draws its power from a divine source, most commonly St. Elendra. Commonly available theurgy tends to focus on healing and protection, and its destructive usage, though potent in its own right, is much less flashy in its dispatch. A very different sort of magic, originally practiced in the northern Umbric forest in Nemaesus and based on the whispers of Nature, exists, but its capabilities are not much different from standard theurgy. A third variety, rumoured to stem from the forces of evil – demons, malevolent spirits, forgotten deities of great evil, and other such entities – also exists, though its utilization is largely forbidden; extremely destructive in design, it feeds off the very life of its wielder, and though it might offer great power, it is never without a hefty price. Generally miracles are freeform, but a list of useful standard theurgy effects is below, as well as how they operate.

Specifics

Spoiler:

Prayer: Since theurgy takes the source of its power from a supernatural source, no preparation is necessary before its usage. However, a petitioner still relies on his own pool of inner strength for its exchange into miracles, and the former has a limit – by extension, the latter thus has a limit as well on its usage.

Components of Theurgy: Theurgy usually consists of a phrase from a hymn or a short verbal exultation, accompanied by a gesture of spiritual importance; the petitioner must also possess a symbol of faith, though the exact form this symbol takes is up to interpretation and widely variable. After a short interval of time (usually a second or so, though it can take up to three or four seconds), the miracle is made reality. Extremely powerful miracles that require more involvement may take up to ten minutes, but usually not beyond. Surprisingly, nature magic and dark magic do not differ very much from conventional theurgy in their framework of necessary parts, only in their actual form.

Examples:
Examples of minor theurgy are: cleansing food and water, blessing a weapon for a small amount of time, healing small cuts and bruises, and warding off mindless undead.

Examples of intermediate theurgy are: removing common diseases, walking on water, consecrating objects, channeling light to attack enemies, and healing more serious wounds.

Examples of major theurgy are: smiting foes with divine fire, breaking enchantments, absolving misdeeds, transforming into a more divine form for a brief period of time, and healing near-fatal wounds.

Mindcraft

Alternate Names: psionics, mental magic, powers
Expressions for Practitioners: psions, cerebremancers, metaminds, telepaths (telepathy), seers (clairsentience), shapers (metacreativity), nomads (psychoportation) – see also: constructors

The reshaping of one's environment with one's mind is perhaps the most dangerous and enigmatic form of magic; the strength necessary for mindcraft springs from the very basis of sentience itself. To a practitioner of mindcraft, nothing about reality is certain save for their own mind, and by exerting enough mental force, their thoughts become manifest on the plane of the Material. While arcana and theurgy both have clearly defined limitations, mindcraft does not – it feeds off the energy of the manifester. Thus, it is entirely possible for the manifester to overexert himself, since the manifester can theoretically utilize powerful effects an infinite amount of times (as long as he has the energy to spare). Mindcraft also has the possibility of backfiring, and though the chance of this occurrence is minimized through experience and practice, it never completely goes away. Mindcraft is sorted loosely into four categories: metacreativity, clairsentience, psychoportation, and telepathy.

Specifics

Spoiler:

Manifestation: To manifest mindcraft, one must concentrate. If something threatens to interrupt the manifester's concentration during an attempt at manifestation, the energy involved is sometimes lost. Interruptions may include injury, opposing magical effects, vigorous motion, violent motion, or excessively violent weather and natural phenomena. The more distracting the interruption, the higher the possibility of failure becomes, and the strength of the effect also dictates how much additional concentration is required.

Displays: When a power is manifested, a display sometimes accompanies the power. This secondary effect may be auditory, material, mental, olfactory, or visual. No power's display is significant enough to create long-lasting consequences for its viewers. If multiple powers with similar displays are in effect simultaneously, the displays do not necessary become more intense. Instead, the overall display remains much the same, though with minute spikes in intensity.

Categories:
Clairsentience
Clairsentience potentially allows the manifester to tap into the collective minds of all creatures in existence, regardless of where the creature is on the fabric of spacetime. Thus, it is used to learn secrets long forgotten, to glimpse the future, to find hidden objects, and to gain knowledge that is otherwise impossible to gain. Potential symptoms of clairsentience backfiring may include temporary insanity, the spewing of gibberish, or the muting of all senses for a short period of time.

Metacreativity
Metacreativity is classified as the act of creation of objects, creatures, or energy through drawing raw aetheric energy from the Plane of Aether and shaping it into desired form. As a result, metacreativity is very flexible, and can be used to aid as well as destroy. Creatures that are created through metacreativity generally lack sentience, but will obey the commands of their creator. Potential symptoms of metacreativity backfiring may include sudden uncontrolled surges of energy which turn back on their creator or the spontaneous production of large amounts of useless aether in the form of ectoplasm.

Psychoportation
Psychoportation involves the distortion of, and movement through, the uncertain fabric of spacetime. They may alter the relative time flow of a certain creature, place, or thing, as well as push individuals as well as objects through vast distances. Using the malleability of the Plane of Aether to its advantage, psychoportation's most potent manifestations have the ability to cross planar boundaries. Potential symptoms of psychoportation backfiring may include a peculiar slowness or quickness in one's actions, sporadic bursts of aging (either forward or reverse), and impromptu disappearances (only to reappear a few seconds, minutes, or even hours later).

Telepathy
Telepathy can spy on and affect the minds of others, altering their thoughts in sinister or benevolent ways. From changing the way a victim views the world to compelling others to take specific actions, telepathy is a category profoundly different from illusion in that it plants thoughts that the subject assumes are his own; it can manipulate the manifester's own mind as well, strengthening it in desirable ways. Potential symptoms of telepathy backfiring may include entering a brief coma, experiencing hallucinatory effects, or developing panphobia.

[Words of Parting]

A few acknowledgements:

- A friend of mine who isn't registered with PokeCommunity, for giving me the idea for the myth.
- NBOS Software, for making the excellent Fractal Mapper that was used to make the map
- Various pixiv artists, whose work I acquired off of safebooru (...)
- Dungeons and Dragons 3.5e, from which the statistics system is directly taken and the magic system is heavily inspired
- Typechart.com, without which I would never have been able to get the fonts right
- And finally, me, for being the madman who dedicated literally four entire days' worth of free time to writing all the associated content for this roleplay.

Enjoy the game.

Accepted Players

I. Helvenn's successor, Lyrian Sileres Morianus.
II. Arianne's successor, Fiora Lucilia Cenelys.
III. Kyre's successor, Fayus Celianne Filament de Crea.
IV. Marcell's successor, Nobelus Rhys Dieterre.
V. Varras's successor,
VI. Ciefe's successor, Isaac Aristos.

 

[Skymin]

I just want to say that this is such a fantastic looking roleplay. I won't be joining as I have enough on my plate but I'll definitely be following this when you start! You have my support and my thumbs up!!

 

[Quest]

Just like all of your SUs that I have seen, this RP is positively splendid. Would you be kind enough to reserve Ciefe's successor?

 

[Yuukihime]

Credit to Cirrus for the Banner.​

Name: Fiora Amarel

Age: 21

Gender: Female

Personality:
Fiora's personality is something to be marveled, she is constantly dancing on the fine line between sanity and insanity. Never fully there, although not quite lost enough to be considered insane. When one first meets Fiora they see an out doorsy type of girl and a girl who loves to laugh. She's out to make the world smile, so she's always seen with an optimistic attitude. Fiora will always find the silliest reason to laugh or find something to be happy about, this is not saying she's childish. No, Fiora is not childish, although quirky by nature she has the ability to be a serious character, so don't discredit her immediately and think of her as a ditz just because she's the type that is extremely optimistic, Fiora does in fact take her job as a mercenary for the Helven Empire quite seriously. Fiora originally started being an incurable optomist when she realized just how sad of a place the world was, so in an attempt to brighten everyone's day just a little bit she took on the persona of an optimistic girl, aiming to make people laugh and smile and forget their troubles, even if it's just for a little while.

Although her intentions to be optomistic started well enough, excessive, unmentored Mindcraft practicing has in fact distorted and twisted her personality and psyche. Fiora is a very disturbed person when it comes down to it, not because she wants to be but because this is what her magic does to her. Too many backfired Clairsentience castings have cause Fiora to grow increasingly unstable, not to the point where she'd ever harm anyone but to the point where she's one step away from completely losing herself to her own insanity. Although one would never guess looking at her normally that she is so twisted. Normally she's a sweet, innocent and naive girl but when death is involved this instability manifests through her own dark musings. Fiora does in fact hold a morbid fascination for anything grotesque or macabre in nature, which shows a complete lack of any type of empathy, although it isn't just death that brings out these dark and often disturbing musings, casting Clairsentience can manifest this side of her personality as well. Clairsentience has also caused her to disassociate herself from human morals as well, her sense of right and wrong is completely different from most humans, and because of the mental toll her Mindcraft specialization takes on her psyche she rarely performs these spells, preferring to use long ranged weaponry instead.

Fiora also doesn't like to brag about her intermediate specialization in Mindcraft, preferring to keep it a secret from her companions, not that's she's ashamed of it, but she fears people might be afraid of her if they found out about her specialization, and that's something she does not want at all. Fiora may be disturbed on many levels but she still enjoys companionship and if anyone ever knew just how disturbed she was, she fears that may leave her alone in the long run, although Fiora does realize that if she ever truly lost her mind then she would want to be alone, because she would fear hurting anyone she is close with.



Appearance:
Appearance: Fiora body frame is small, even for someone that's in their early 20's. She stands about 5"1 and weighs in at probably less than 110 pounds, don't let her dainty body frame fool you though, she's built for long-range weaponry, and in fact she often uses her small body figure to her advantage. Her body is built for stealth and dexterity, or at least that's how she was trained to use her body anyway.

Clothing wise, Fiora doesn't like to overdo it, practicality over aesthetics. She keeps her light brown hair pulled back into two long neatly done ponytails, with her bangs falling into her face nearly covering her two light brown-colored eyes which compliment her lightly tanned skin (a result from training outside so much) nicely. Her clothing is meant for easy travel, while still managing to be practical for battle. A red-colored dress hand-made by her mother when Fiora decided to take up long ranged weaponry. In an attempt to accessorize, Fiora has made it much more than a simple dress, she's adorned it with many small and probably impractical accessories, the largest being a belt that hangs loosely on the dress with a large golden accessory meant to be the buckle. The dress itself is adorned with many sown on ribbons, and although they may not be the best for combat, Fiora considers them fashionable, or a sad attempt to cover up holes in the fabric that have resulted from normal wear and tear. On her arms, two brown archer gloves to protect her small hands from any injury that might result when she uses her Longbow.

Under the dress is a pair of thin white paints, only worn because she hates wandering around the wilderness in anything else, and for shoes a pair of leatherskin boots, used for stealth, although they aren't the most durable when it comes to wandering in the wilderness for long periods of time, Fiora has had them patched in several places because of wear and tear damage.


Background:
Born to a small but well-off family in Histria, Fiora had an ordinary childhood, so much so that she looks back on it and thinks it was mundane. Her mother was a seamstress, and her father one of the many arcane researchers.

Fiora looks back on her childhood as being boring, but no one can dispute that her childhood was a happy one. What Fiora probably remembers the most about her childhood was the fresh, clean air of Histria and how there was always such an abundance of beautiful flora in the area. She was a happy child whose only care was keeping her room clean and keeping up with her training lessons.

So how did this happy girl go from having a stable home life and a loving home to bordering on the brink of madness?

That story starts at age 11, when their family picked up and moved from Histria to Naranum to begin her training as an arcanist; after the hundred-and-first incident of accidental arson, her father promptly declared that his tutoring was not enough - Fiora needed proper training in arcana so that she wouldn't inadvertently set the house on fire.

Her training in arcana was short-lived; she learned the basics for it, but soon found herself displeased with the idea of arcana in general, and asked her father if there were other forms of magic to be learned. She considered gaining experience in miracles, but the idea of becoming a devotee to any one divine didn't suit her; hesitantly her father told her of mindcraft and how powerful it was, but also of its nature as an extremely dangerous art, with many manifesters descending into insanity.

Initially the idea of mindcraft scared her – she didn't want to learn any type of magic that could cause her to lose her sanity but as she grew older it grew more evident that she wasn't cut out for arcane magic. It's not that she was bad at it; she just felt the effects were a little lackluster, and she wanted to grasp something more powerful.

In her fifteenth year, Fiora began dabbling in the art of mindcraft secretly, afraid of what her father might do if her found out she was studying this dangerous type of magic. Unfortunately for her, attempting to juggle her arcane studies while simultaneously studying mindcraft had a series of horrible consequences; eventually, she was expelled from the institute that she was attending, much to her father's dismay. She was scolded and told she needed to work harder; angry with her father she began to isolate herself and continued to practice mindcraft in secret. Her parents found out about her studies and ordered her to cease, a request which she stubbornly refused.

Without proper training, however, mindcraft is very harmful to its wielder; often, powers would partially or completely backfire on her, forever twisting her personality and damaging her psyche. Her mind was irreparably damaged with each and every foray into the secrets that mindcraft held, and soon Fiora could not ignore that the art she had dabbled in was harming her, even if she did not want to acknowledge it. In an effort to preserve her sanity, she ceased her studies for a time and began to take up archery; making excuses that she wished to travel the world, she left home two years later, unsatisfied with her lack of freedom and unwilling to give up mindcraft despite her damaged psyche.



Legend: Arianne, Exalted Muse

Statistics:
Strength - 12
Dexterity - 15
Constitution - 10
Intelligence -15
Wisdom - 8
Charisma - 16

Abilities:

--> Intermediate Mindcraft
-----> Clairsentience
-----> Metacreativity

->Intermediate Ranged Weapons Mastery
---> Longbow

Roleplay Sample:

Spoiler:

Haruki looked at the man almost pleadingly, they couldn't have the women travel while she was bleeding, and more importantly it would cause her pain. Haruki didn't want the women to be in pain, so she pleaded with the man.

The man glanced at her brother and the women soundlessly and then approached her brother, "Kid," he commanded Haruko, "stay here." Haruko nodded and turned to the women who had absently pulled down the dress to see the extent of the damage; several of the stiches had ripped and were now causing a crimson liquid to run down her chest. Haruki also noticed this was the first time she had heard the scary man's voice which wasn't actually all that scary. It was deep and imposing, sure, but Haruki also thought it had a sincere gentleness to it. Maybe he wasn't actually all that scary? Maybe he was actually really nice and kind, like a gentle giant?


The man turned to her and took her hand and walked out of the alleyway to the entrance with her, he then pointed to a red box hanging on the wall on the inside of the hospital, "You see that right there?" Haruki nodded, "That's where they keep medkits and potions." The little red box was too high for Haruki to reach.

"I need you to distract the nurse while I fetch that. After that, we walk out back to your brother and heal the girl. Got it?" He asked her, she nodded.

"I can distract, leave it to me!" Her tail wagged with enthusiasm and she flashed a reliable grin. The automated glass doors opened. Haruki entered first while the man barrel-rolled to the side keeping out of sight. Haruki approached the nurse, tugged on her dress and smiled.

"Nurse lady~" She smiled, the women gave a smile back and asked her what she wanted, "Wanna all the funny face I can make?"

The women sniggered a bit and sighed, "Sure, kid, what do you have?"

She put her hands to her face and started making a gesture of random faces, ranging from a "fish face" to a "cat face". There nurse chuckled at the small child's efforts. Anyone had to admit that Haruki was very cute and her charms could not be resisted.

"And this is my dinosaur face! Raaaaaaaaarggggghhhh!" She said turning her hands into "claws". The nurse gave a genuine laugh and pats the girl on the head.

"My, my, aren't you just the cutest little thing!" The nurse said, Haruki's tail wagged at the compliment, this is when Haruki noticed Slash tapping on the window outside signaling he had got the supplies.


"Those were my faces, now I must be going! Bye~!" She exclaimed, rushing out the glass door, leaving the confused nurse all alone.

---Meanwhile---


Haruko watched his sister follow the man to get supplies, he grit his teeth in anger, "Damn it, Haruki. Always so trusting of people," He muttered darkly, to which he turned a bit, compromising by offering up a side profile of himself to the female. His eyes were filled with an indescribable feeling, a mixture of anger and frustration for his older twin. It was easy to say Haruko acted completely different with the absence of Haruki, he acted less cynical when his sister was around because she reminded him that the world was not all bad and not all filled with disgusting people.

Haruko examined the girl, she was in her own thoughts of sorts, caught up in what appeared to be a memory. Haruko couldn't tell if it was good or bad all he could say was, "Hey, stay with me now! Don't leave me here alone while you go to lalaland," but she didn't seem to hear him. After a few moments crystal tears started flooding from the girls eyes which caught Haruko off guard. He didn't know what to say, so he merely stood there eyeing her silently.


"I never understood what I possibly could've done to make him hate me so damn much." She whispered. Haruko was surprised at the tone of her voice. It was filled with a mixture of sadness, frustration and just exhaustion. Haruko remembered the time Haruki had used this tone, and he never wanted to hear her use it again, because to him, when she was sad, it seemed that the whole world was sad.

He could remember her voice that sounded so broken and he soon felt his eyes frosting over, tears threatening to fall from his eyes, "Bad things too often happen to good people. My mother had us young and raised me and Haruki to the best of her ability, but in the end, she received nothing for her selflessness. Instead she was slaughtered by a mindless beast... A monster," Haruko said this with a malice that he had not intended to; in fact he had not intended to speak of his mother at all. The wound of watching his mother be mercilessly slaughtered by the likes of a mindless beast was still very fresh.

"I'm sorry..." She murmured, "I kind of wish now that I had shared her fate. I know nothing about being a Human! I barely even knew how to function as a Pokémon. How in the hell am I going to survive out on the streets?!"

Haruko took notice of the anxiety in her voice, sighed, and then placed his hand on her shoulder, "Take it one day at a time," were his kind words, the girl was about to respond when a chipper voice rang out

"Haruko! Big lady! WE'RE BACK!" Haruki said in triumph running as fast as she could, the man behind her kept up with her by simply walking briskly. Haruki ran to Haruko and glomped him with all her might; he had to use all his might to stay on balance, "I was a good distraction, yes I was~ the lady did not even notice Mr. Scary man getting the supplies~"

Haruko's face softened and he pat his sister on his head, "Because you're just made up of concentrated cuteness, Haruki-chan," Haruko smiled at his sister and hugged her tighter.

After the women's wounds were treated the man turned to the group and asked a simple yet obvious question, "Are you… are you Pokémon too?" He asked in dismay, the twins looked at him silently.

"Yes." The women responded boldly, affirming her response as absolute truth by making eye contact, she then turned to Haruki, "Believe it or not, I didn't used to be this big!" She winked at Haruki who looked at her curiously.


"Reaaaaalllly?" She said, her voice filled with utter awe.

"I'm Venomous, and I used to be an Umbreon," She offered, this made the twins freeze and their faces to pale. Haruki buried her face in her brother's chest for a moment. Haruko pat his sister on the head, trying to assuage her fears.

"Shhh, Haruki, I'm sure not all of them are that way," Haruko said soothingly, "I am Haruko, and she is Haruki, we were once both Eevee's," Haruko offered still holding his sister whose face was still buried in his chest, "A pleasure to finally learn your name, Miss, what about you Mister? What's your name?" Haruko offered calmly, the possibility that they were all traveling together would be high and Haruko worried how Haruki would take to traveling with a person who was once an Umbreon.

Haruko's eyes shifted to Venomous, he mouthed a short apology for his sister's behavior to her, no more, no less.

 

[Cirrus]

Nota bene: Acceptance does not hinge on reservation or priority of signing up, but rather on strength of writing.

Thank you for your interest - unfortunately I can't /reserve/ slots, per se. Feel free to put up a partial sign-up though!

 

[rufflestiltskin]

{{Oh my gosh, this looks amazing. Great writing.

EDIT: Ooops, missed last post. Oh well, hoping to be Varras' successor, will edit with application ASAP. :)

SECOND EDIT: Not nearly done, but I don't have time to finish tonight DX

THIRD EDIT: Done.}}


Name: Pesca Ildemor
Age: 26
Gender: Male
Personality: Pesca's likeable. It's his defining characteristic, really, and perhaps his only redeeming one. He's a lazy, low-class, foul-mouthed, simple-minded cretin who's likely to cheat you out of your money and then convince you he earned it. He's outgoing to a fault, craving companionship, and feeling very uncomfortable when alone -- like he can't quite figure out what to do with himself when not playing the class clown and lady's man. He's not entirely obnoxious however, despite certain ah... money.. incidents... he has a peaceful air of someone you want to confide in, and makes a good listener. He's famous for "mediating debates" (breaking up fistfights) between his fellow sailors.

He can be surprisingly prissy (perhaps in companionship to his laziness). He likes cleanliness, and keeps his quarters organized, and even bathes more than once a year. He's eternally trying to convince people to do his share of the work for him, and is prone to endless whining when he ends up having to do it. More than once someone has taken over for him just to get him to shut up. He's loyal and generous to his friends and followers, and can always make someone feel like they're his best friend. He has a great memory for random details of people's lives ("Hey man, how's the wife? She's due any day now isn't she? I hope she didn't catch that flu that was going around Ticinum, did she?"). To stranger's he's warm and rougish, the classic superstitious sailor type, yet still in a class of his own. He manages to strike people with his words and personality, to stand out in their minds even after the briefest meeting. They radiate to him like moths to an effortless flame in a way that few, if any people can exert. Who knows, in a different century, in a different life, Pesca could have been something really special...

Appearance: Despite continually performing only the minimum amount of work necessary to survive, a sailor's life is hard. Pesca's sun-beaten skin is stretched tight across a muscled back and shoulders, and a naturally wiry frame, save the small pouch of "baby fat" across his stomach. His skin is naturally a dark olive, though most everything is stained every shade of red, blue, green, yellow, brown, and black imaginable. Tattoos cover his torso, creeping down his arms and up his neck. Many of them are done in the traditional styles of ports he's visited, and many are chalked up to "true stories" of his adventures. His favorite piece is the one that overs his entire back, done in the traditional Gallatian style, of a giant fish fighting the devil. Eternally the exhibitionist, Pesca's usually shirtless and shoeless to show off his ink, though he's always wearing a small piece of ardelyte on a chain around his neck.

If one can recover from the shock of the tattoos, the rest of Pesca is relatively unintimidating. He's a bit short, with a soft jaw that only seems to grow a hint of stubble no matter how he tries to coax it into something more imposing. His tightly curled dark-chocolate hair is usually pulled back into a half-hearted ponytail, and shoved beneath some colorful bandanna or another. His eyes are a lighter, golden brown, large and childish above a goofy grin. For most of his life he's never carried a weapon, never needing one, and always being able to talk his way out of trouble, but in light of his new, mercenary way of life, he's taken to carrying a homely falchion and a dagger.


Background: Pesca was born in the smallest, most boring seacost town in all of Gallatia that was all descended from a couple of families who happened to crash on the cliffs and decided to build a lighthouse. The majority of town was now about a few miles from that old stone tower, where the sea was more accessible and most people could fish for a living, but they still all hauled up there once a week for church, or town meetings, or rudimentary school (that Pesca attended through third grade and hated every minute of) for children; since the town had no such building of its own. At home, Pesca was an only child, and spoiled rotten because of it. Outside, he was the most popular kid in town, religiously followed by his peers and doted on by adults.

Nonetheless, the boy had a brutal case of wanderlust. He was constantly running off, not because of any particular malcontent, simply boredom. He'd run off and even sleep in the woods for days, or simply walk down along the beach until he couldn't walk any further. One day he found a set of dank caves set into one of the cliffs, and explored deep down inside it. He got lost, and was stuck in there for almost a full week before he managed to escape and was found collapsed in the sand, dehydrated, half-starved, and refusing to speak of the experience. Every once in a while one of Pesca's more observant fellow sailors will wonder why he gets so antsy in dark, confined spaces. It was months before the boy wandered beyond the edge of town again.

When Pesca was 13 years old a merchant ship that had been blown off course was forced to dock at his small port to restock food and water. It was the first taste of the outside world Pesca, or even most of the townspeople, had ever had. The ship was huge compared to the tiny fishing vessels of the townsfolk. Massive. Its masts were as tall as the lighthouse. The sailors spoke with exotic accents and told stories of ports not even beyond Gallatia, but beyond Helvan. As gifts of good will they left the people with jars of Salantiran spices and Teucrionian musk. These visions of a far-off world, made real by these tangible gifts, consumed Pesca.

He spoke of nothing but leaving. Again and again he thumbed through the few books the schoolteacher had for any miniscule detail about the lands of Khellius. Anyone who'd ever left town was grilled for hours on end for every aspect of their travels. Pesca rarely slept and hardly ate. He'd spend his time pacing on the edge of the docks, squinting at the horizon trying to see as far as he could. It went on like this for almost a year before his parents gave up trying to talk him out of it, and blessed him to go off on foot for the provincial capital of Placentia. Needless to say, it was a bit of a culture shock.

It took only a few weeks in the capital for the fast-adapting Pesca to adjust and make friends. Someone helped get him a job at the docks, and later, as a deckboy on one of the merchant vessels he'd so dreamed of. Within a few years, he'd become a dyed-in-the-wool sailor, shedding all his hick ways. He visited every major port imaginable, sometimes spending a day there, sometimes months. He started a collection of tattoos to monument his travels. He picked up the basics of swordfighting. He talked himself into some of the worst trouble imaginable, and then talked himself right back out again.

And then, one day, he grew bored.

Not bored, per se, but rather homesick. The war, the troubled times brewing in Khellius had left him with a sense of discomfort. He no longer felt amicable with all these foreign sailors and low-lifes. He was a Helvan. He wanted to return to Helvan. Pesca knew he didn't have the makings of a soldier, but maybe there was someway he could serve his home. For a very, very brief and unspeakable period he served as a mess cook in the army. Neither the soldiers nor Pesca benefited from that arrangement. Disheartened, he's ended up in Ticinum, where he mostly plays cards for money and drink.


Legend: Varras the Eloquent Diplomat

Statistics:
Strength - 14
Dexterity - 13
Constitution - 13
Intelligence - 10
Wisdom - 12
Charisma - 16

Abilities:
-Intermediate Influence / +2 Charisma
- Minor Talents / Hunt & Fishing / A rural upbringing has taught Pesca the bare basics of survival. He knows how to make a few small animal snares and crab traps. In a pinch, it's likely he could catch enough for himself, and perhaps one other to survive, but certainly not an entire group of six.
-Minor Edged Weapon Mastery / Falchion
-Minor Talents / Astronomy / Years of sailing have given Pesca a grassroots understanding of the night sky. He does not understand the magical significance of the stars, i.e. how they influence spells or fates, but can recognize most every constellation, use them for navigation, and can point out the few that are considered bad or good omens amidst sailors.

Roleplay Sample: Fleas.

Her bed had fleas.

They had left red welts on her bare shoulders, ripe with clear poison that she tried to ignore, hunched over, walking down the dark street. The rain had stopped now, but it left the air hot and heavy, the city tangible with the stink of wet garbage. Her thin tank top and shorts clung to her pubescent frame, and her feet squished in damp sneakers with no socks, the product of being left on the fire escape overnight.
Her hands were shoved deep in her pockets, determined not to reach up and touch the new peach fuzz on her brown scalp. She tried not to think about her long copper-red locks, once halfway down her back, lying shaved on the floor of her flea-filled bedroom in her flea-filled apartment in that flea-filled building. It made her eyes sting with tears she refused to spill. Childish. Dolores Black doesn't cry.

The evening crowd was already gathering in the warm dusk, slow slouching in and out of shadows on the way to the battle of tonight's best wager. Dolly knew the place – the fights alternated several dozen known 'arenas', littered across the poorer quarters of New Tokyo. The trick was simply knowing where they would be, the location of the Friday night fight changing half-a-dozen times a week to throw the police off their tail. Not like they would do anything, anyways. Tonight, half of a building had been knocked down to widen a dingy alley enough to hold the almost four to five hundred people, packed along fences and up fire escapes, who were bound to show up on any given night.

Dolly knew, of course. She never missed a fight. A faint smile fought against the gloom in her throat as he ran a hand across her bare head despite herself, slouching along the brick towards the spotlights and lamps illuminating the post-rain gloom. Several small ridges of coagulated blood had formed where her mother's electric razor had nicked her. She knew she looked like a boy despite budding breasts.

But at least she didn't have fleas any more.

 

[shinysweety]

Reserve me a Successor. ;) I'll just put the name and Gender in mu SU for now 'cause im about go 2 bed. :)

Btw, around what age should are character's be?

Name: Paige Willow
Age: 22
Gender: Female
Personality:

Appearance: About 2 - 3 paragraphs as a minimum.

Background: About 2 - 3 paragraphs as a minimum. A lot of the map is up to your interpretation, though if information is wanted on various locales it can be provided.)

Legend: See below on how to fill out - one of five available choices.

Statistics: Mouse over the name to see what a statistic governs; see below on how to fill this out.
Strength -
Dexterity -
Constitution -
Intelligence -
Wisdom -
Charisma -

Abilities: See below on how to fill this out.

Roleplay Sample: Please give me a general idea of the style in which you write and the quality of your writing.

 

[Cirrus]

@rufflestiltskin: You did the statistics array correctly, excepting the fact that you can't go to 17 - so you have 3 extra points to invest after you drop Charisma to 16. The rest of it is perfect, though.

... And now I realize that I'm an idiot and didn't include the description for the statistics - I'll add them now, though you can pretty much infer what they do from their names.

Also it's actually "Varras", though the naming scheme does make one thing of Varrus, huh. Or more precisely Publius Quinctilius Varus, the commander who lost three entire Roman legions in the Teutoberg Forest massacre in 9 AD.

@shinysweety: No reservations, unfortunately, as previously mentioned ; I. Regarding the age issue - whatever makes sense for a mercenary. Weapon users will probably find that their age shouldn't be too young, since physical strength is required, but young magic-users are not out of the question if they are talented.

 

[Who's Kiyo?]

Wow oh wow is this really thought out.

This is extremely interesting! I'd love to be apart of this RP once I figure everything out and fill out an SU.

But one thing I'm not getting though- what's the significance of having a "legend?" Perhaps I just didn't it get it when I was reading through your post? Or was it never written down?

 

[shinysweety]

Okay then, i'll work on my SU 2morrow. ;) Thnx.

 

[Cirrus]

@Kiyoshi the Polar Bear: That is a very good question, and you are correct in that it wasn't written down (though I do, of course, have a reason). Not to give too much away - characters are essentially taking on the roles of their respective legends in the six-man party.

If you are still confused (and you have every right to be) I'd be happy to discuss more over private messages, but I'd prefer not to make it too obvious in this thread. Another hint, though - everything is cyclical. This story is a re-occurrence of something.

Think on it!

Edit: I'll post this, and add it to the original post.

The legend you take means that you act as the incarnation of that initial role in this cycle of the story. You don't have to necessarily have similar abilities, though that is definitely a big possibility, and you get to determine the personality of your legend as it was initially as well, since it will be very similar to your character's personality.

 

[Loki]

I am highly interested in this roleplay-- the set-up is very impressive. *V*

I may change Rhys' appearance, if it's not appropriate. I simply went off of the images in the main post and designed a character that would fit in a Pixiv Fantasia type setting, but if he's too OTT, please let me know. The colors of his outfit are also subject to change, as if I find time to draw him, I may decide some colors clash, or the metal would look better as bronze or... stuff like that. Hope that's not too much of a problem.

Name: Nobelus Rhys Dieterre

Age: Twenty-Seven

Gender: Male

Personality: A gentle giant, Rhys may appear intimidating at first, but after getting past his eternally stony expression, it is plain to see that he is actually a very kind person. While not one to allow himself to be taken advantage of, he has no qualms with helping those in need when he can spare the time and effort, enjoying putting smiles on troubled peoples' faces. Despite this, Rhys' penchant for animals and fondness of plant life often leaves him preferring the loyalty of non-human companions and quiet forests to the hustle and bustle of city life. Company is not unwelcome, and Rhys is not unfriendly to civil people by any means, but he has difficulties in placing his trust in other people, believing humans to be a naturally two-faced race. However once the difficult battle of winning his loyalty is won, it is practically kept for life. Rhys will stand for no affronts to his dearest companions, and spares no effort to make things easier on the people that he cares about. Only the greatest betrayal will cause Rhys to begin to doubt his loyalty— or perhaps acting against Rhys' strong sense of morals and justice. While Rhys himself is not particularly interested in the affairs of others nor their reasons for doing the things they do, he is very averse to illegal action and places great expectations upon himself, wanting nothing less than the best his efforts can bring and always being righteous in the face of hardship.

But at times, his hardened nature overtakes his softness, and one can see the seasoned soldier turned mercenary turn one eye and hush an entire bar of rambunctious bandits. Rhys has no patience for men without dignity who smear their pride with such intoxications as alcohol and women. He chooses to ignore their existence entirely in his silent solitude, or puts them in their place, unafraid of a bar fight as he, sober and skilled, often puts such trifling matches to an end with one fell swoop of a powerful punch. Chivalry is practically Rhys' middle name, and he conducts himself with an attitude no less than that of a nobleman or a knight of great status, and so when it comes to mannerless cretins of the city, he transforms into a cold and unfeeling man fit for his appearance. This is not to say that he becomes a confrontational man however, as it is truly only the drunken stupor of a failed man that can provoke Rhys' endless patience and calm, reasonable demeanor. His temper is not explosive, but rather menacingly silent. The silent treatment type, Rhys requires naught but an honest apology and a genuine attempt to set things right in order to forgive—but his stubbornness can be quite frustrating, and to those who refuse to apologize Rhys can avoid uttering a single word to for days—even months.

Appearance: Towering at 6'8" with the physique of a well-travelled fighter, from appearance alone one can tell that Rhys is not a man to be messed with. His skin is stretched across tight lean muscles like sun-kissed leather but is far from flawless-- it is marred by a multitude of scars ranging from the smallest of nicks to his biggest scar, a slash that crosses his chest and wraps onto his shoulder blade, and it's quite evident that Rhys has had his fair share of battle. Across his knuckles on either hand are tattoos of numbers, the significance of which is unknown to most of Rhys' acquaintances. These same numbers are tattooed down the left side of his face, starting from just above his temple down to the edge of his jawline. While his gold eyes glitter with clarity and keenness, they also hold the look of a man who is tired, perpetually exhausted of constantly being on the alert. His hair is platinum blonde, kept long enough to veil his eyes and barely brush against the back of his neck, but rarely does one see this halo of hair, carefully hidden along with the rest of his body under swaths of clothing and a mask.

Not one to linger for long in any place other than his hometown of Ticinum, Rhys opts for clothing and armor that is efficient for being on the move. When travelling, his entire person is normally swathed in a brown travelling cloak, hood up and signature black beaked mask down. But underneath this plain yet durable cloak he wears a considerably more ornate outfit: With a base of a tight black turtleneck long sleeved shirt, there is another hood that he prefers up rather than down—at least, when going without the additional cover of his cloak. The secondary hood is a royal blue in color, embellished with golden embroidery around the opening and down the side where it extends into a single sleeved on his right arm. This sleeve is half hidden by bronze gauntlets that extend to his mid-forearms. On either shoulder is a pair of bronze shoulder plates, connected to one another by a bronze chain that hangs across his torso. The plate on the right secures his single sleeve in place, along with a white cloak that drapes behind his right side. He wears a pair of black travelling pants, worn and stitched back together in various places and tucked into bronze-toed boots that are equally dark, gilded with golden thread on the heel and around the opening of the boot just below his knees.

Three brown leather belts circle Rhys' waist, the thinnest one angled across his hips as it holds the lightest of his burdens, a canteen filled with whatever liquid fits his fancy for a particular trip. A pocket knife is secured to this belt as well, often clanking against the sloshing metal canteen. The other two belts bear the heaviest of his burdens: a copper double axe with a chain on the end that lets the large weapon act as a flail of sorts. The axe itself is tall enough to reach Rhys' weight when standing upright against the ground handle included, while the blades reach about as high as his knees. The axe is hollowed about four inches past the blade in order to reduce its weight, but it is still heavy enough that simply carrying it around from place to place could be considered weight training in itself.

Background: Born and raised in the inhospitable city of Ticinum, Rhys found trouble for himself everywhere he went. His father was a factory worker, his mother a barmaid in a pub that stood on the banks of the Lesse River, and so he spent most of his days in or around the pub in the dirtiest, most lawless district of the already toxic city. For a time he and his younger sister were looked after by their older brother Leyvi, a very proficient fighter who was keen on joining the Helvan Army—but that ended in the same way most dreams were crushed in Ticinum. A drunken brawl gone bad left Rhys the oldest child, and there was no time to mourn. Rhys was now 12, old enough to work in the factories and old enough to get picked on by drunk adults, as he could no longer be classified as "cute". He had a lot of growing up to do in the span of a few months, and grew to be a very straight-laced teenager who took his responsibilities towards his family very seriously. Such responsibilities included becoming strong, fast. Rhys spent day after day fighting in the alleys with the boys his age, working twice as hard as any other to come out on top each and every time. He was quickly named the leader of their generation, and while most of the "leading" was done by the second strongest, Rhys and his family were free from threat for the most part. But Rhys hated Ticinum, the city filled with smog and bad memories—and jumped at the opportunity to join the Helvan Army at 16 as his brother had once wanted so desperately. He was conflicted on leaving, but was assured that as a respected soldier, the thugs of Ticinum would not be likely to lay their grubby hands on the poor Dieterre household.

Rhys met life in the capital of Arianne with awe, excitement, and difficulty. Common sense in Ticinum didn't apply in Arianne, where Rhys was unaccustomed to being around so many kind-hearted people. He found that he could trust people, not have to look behind his back as he walked, and drunkards were an anomaly in the daily life, rather than a staple. Culture shocked, Rhys was afraid of revealing his distasteful background, and in fear of being discovered, became nearly mute. And while he poured his every bit into his training, he was friendless and unhappy in the beautiful city. He spent all his time in the stables, comforted by the stallions that were wild in appearance but gentle to those who treated them well, much like him, and it was the only true place in the city where Rhys could relax and smile. His solitude was noted by a perceptive commander, who approached the young trainee and knowledgeable of Rhys' strange upbringing, offered to teach him the differences between life in the slums and life in the city. This commander was Rhys' greatest friend and confidant, and the first to win Rhys' reputed unbending loyalty. He became quite attached to the commander, perfecting himself in all areas of training in order to please the man whose pride in the young Rhys grew day by day.

Then, battle came to the Helvan Empire, and Rhys performed better than anyone could have expected on the battlefield, unafraid of the reality of crossing blades with the enemy as he had already been in countless brawls in his youth. But what should have been an unrivalled victorious day became Rhys' worst memory, as the young soldier splattered with the blood of his enemies and a proud smile of accomplishment on his face searched for the beloved commander who had taught him all his manners, all his skills, and rekindled Rhys' hope for the human race. But that proud smile slowly began to fade into a frenzied fear as Rhys searched the faces of all the living, and finding no likeness of the man amongst them, turned slowly with dread to the tent containing the bodies of the dead. Rhys' was inconsolable, living now in a peaceful city where the drive to survive did not chase away the grief of loss. The power of death hit Rhys twofold, as Rhys was plagued by the memories of a dead brother and commander, and he became silent once again. Rhys stayed on in the army, honing his skills as relentlessly as he had before the commander's death, if not with even more fervor than before. He was the hero of the battlefield and did not shy from it even in the face of the most gruesome of injuries—all up until the day he died at 24. Faking his death, Rhys threw away his identity as Nobelus and traded his first name for his middle. He donned a mask and a hood to hide his appearance, and while those who had been close to him in his childhood recognized his name, he fashioned a new reputation for himself in Ticinum as a silent and fearsome man not to be carelessly approached. With this new identity Rhys was free to go wherever he liked, and travel he did—but whenever he could, he returned to Ticinum to keep an anonymous eye on the welfare of his aging parents and blossoming sister, becoming a regular at the bar he once spent his childhood running about.

Legend: Marcell the Stalwart Guardian

Statistics:
Strength - 17
Dexterity - 14
Constitution - 17
Intelligence - 10
Wisdom - 12
Charisma - 8

Abilities:
Major Edged Weapon Specialty
Rhys wields a double edged axe.
Minor Brute Force
+1 Strength Stat.
Minor Endurance
+1 Constitutions Stat.
Endless Alcohol Tolerance

Roleplay Sample:​

Spoiler:

With hands lying limp in his lap, Kai stared at the poster on the wall opposite him. It was a periodic table, one of those unnecessarily giant ones that had tons of extraneous information about each element crammed into each box. He looked without really seeing, because Kai-Wen Tseng's mind was elsewhere. A hero advancing upon a veteran title, he'd just been broken the news that he was to be paired up with another hero, as a joint effort between his company and another. It would be an attempt to appeal to male audiences as well, since his public image wasn't exactly the masculine kind that attracted men. And it didn't hurt to have a few friends to rely on, right?

Well that's what they'd told him, in order to convince him to agree to it. It wasn't that Kai didn't do teamwork or anything cool like that. He wasn't a lonewolf at all, but having another person who was directly related to him meant that he'd be expected to socialize with her. First of all, Kai never talked to girls, and this was just an unfortunate fact of life. The opposite sex made even less sense to him than his own gender did. Unless they were 2D-- then they made perfect sense, but real life girls just seemed to expect so much more from him than he could produce. Most of his friends were guys. The other veteran heroes, like Walker, Duke, and Ray... but even then they weren't exactly his friends so much as acquaintances with whom he would be occasionally willing to hold a brief and awkward conversation with.

Shaking his head, Kai got to his feet, standing without making another movement for a moment or two. There was no helping it, right? The company had decided this, and the company always knew best. This was the basics of the basics, all graduates of the Hero Academy knew this. Turning on his heel and exiting the empty office, Kai figured that thinking too hard about it wouldn't get him anywhere. He'd have to deal with it as it came, as he did with most things.

A familiar beeping sound alerted him to the fact that the problem plaguing him would come closer than he'd expected. He looked down at his watch, letting a slight disappointment slip into his normally expressionless face.

With any luck, Kai thought to himself, dashing down the stairs with more energy than would be expected of a shut-in like him, he'd be more confident around his new partner in costume. And if the first impression was good, then... then it wouldn't be so bad when she found out that he was just a train wreck, right? Yeah. Definitely. He hopped the railing, jumping down the center of the spiralling staircase and landing with a squishing sound as his legs melted into a black puddle, reforming and propelling him back up into a standing position. Looking up through his long black fringe, he saw the black signature truck with his name emblazoned across the side: "BIOHAZARD", in large yellow warning letters. In all these years, Kai had always wished for the contraption on the inside to be implemented into his own home. Stepping into the truck and acknowledging his technician, he stepped into the changing station, lifting his arms and planting his feet firmly on the stage. As his uniform, the signature sleeveless double-breasted jacket, knee-high boots, and pants were quickly arranged upon his person, his original outfit landed in a neat folded pile on a shelf behind him.

Reaching up behind his head and pulling his mask over his face, the truck sped away. Now there were some heroes who made flashy entrances-- heroes like Frostbite and SpitFire who had images and abilities fit for such antics. But BIOHAZARD had to keep an air of mystery about him, and Kai realized there lied the next problem.

He'd not been briefed on his new partner's abilities. The doors slid open, revealing a nice obscure alleyway that was close enough to the scene, but not butting straight into it. Stepping out, his technician called out, "Your new partner's on the roof of this building!"

Kai stared back, knowing full well that nobody could see his deadpan face from behind the swirly yellow-red eyes and gas mask. He looked up, reaching up his arms as they dissipated into long black tendrils that hooked onto the top the building. In a flash, BIOHAZARD was hopping onto the rooftop, seeing a girl in---

He opened his mouth to say "You should get dressed" but then considered the fact that maybe that was her hero outfit.

..................... It wasn't very... practical........ but if it was for advertising purposes, then BIOHAZARD could certainly er... sympathize...

Approaching her silently, he took a deep breath to calm his nerves-- meeting people for the first time had never been his favorite... But he was dismayed to find that the breath rattled out from his gas mask in a creepy way. At least it caught her attention without him having to say anything, Kai thought. He thoughtlessly held out his hand, because meeting people for the first time usually meant you shook hands. But he quickly looked down at the pitch black hand and withdrew it. Best not to poison his own partner on the first day. He looked up at the huge TV screen, and seeing the score, decided that introductions could wait. SpitFire would be showing up soon, and that guy just loved hogging all the criminals to himself.

"I can't do much against fire," Stated BIOHAZARD with his rattling, distorted voice, pointing up at the flaming NEXT on the screen. His arms dissolved and formed large clawed hands, one of which whirled off into the air. "But you do whatever works for you." He hopped onto the remaining hand, which carried him off towards a group of the criminals who had run off.

"What's happening?! One of the thieves has just collapsed!!" The announcer's voice rang through the air as the screen flashed to a man lying in a puddle of black ooze, "Looks like he was caught up in the toxic hand of the mystery hero, BIOHAZARD!!"

Sliding off of his hand as it formed into a ramp, then back into it's original clawed state, he straightened and bowed to the remaining criminal, who had paused in his escape to see his predator. His left hand swivelled back into position at his side, and BIOHAZARD let out a rattling breath for the camera just as the black puddle shot out from underneath the incapacitated thief, slamming the other into the brick walls of the alleyway. The large hand-like clamp tightened it's grasp.

"Let's make a trade." BIOHAZARD whispered maliciously to the criminal, holding up a clear vial in between the sharp points of his left index finger and thumb. Swishing it's contents back and forth, he spoke up enough for the youthful quality of his voice to be heard through the distortion, "Your surrender in return for your life. .... I suppose your friend over there, too." He made a shrug motion with what was left of his shoulders.

​

 

[Cirrus]

@Loki: Hi. o_o This is certainly an unexpected appearance, and I am very pleasantly surprised, to say the least. Regular fantasy attire will be perfectly appropriate, thank you for asking. (I was going to write out more about culture, but then realized that it was bordering on "irrelevant stuff that the roleplayer would probably be happier making up by him/herself". I had typical hairstyles and everything in mind, too...)

 

[Loki]

Rhys is done, but, is it Helvenian or Helvenandian?

 

[parallelzero]

Okay, this is pretty much done. I just need help applying the minor effects of Sapience, since I was a little confused. XD Hopefully a character her age was okay.

Name: Fayus Celianne Filament de Crea
Age: 15
Gender: Female

Personality:
A scholar at heart, Fayus Celianne Filament de Crea's personality is generally reasoned by the pursuit of knowledge and dedication to her church. Raised on the concept that knowledge is power, she hungers to learn what she does not know in order to better understand humans and how they think or react. Her curiosity is rival to none, and she's the type of person that would certainly press a button that told her not to, if only to find out what the big deal was all about. She does not take kindly to people who refer to her priorities as meaningless or troublesome, and will often lecture people who talk this way, whether they want to hear it or not. She can be irritatingly persistent when she wants to be, and this is one of those qualities that displays how childish she can be, despite her intelligence and religious upbringing. Crea blindly follows the will of her superiors in the church, and they are the only people she would never ask questions of, or demonstrate her immaturity towards.

Socially, Crea is well received by the scholarly and the clergy, though she gets along with most people quite well. Taking after her mentor, she enjoys helping others, and she does so without expecting anything in return (though if they were to offer her something like a book, or an interesting story, she wouldn't be opposed). Typically an optimist, she takes something good out of almost all bad experiences. As smart as she is, the long-named girl can also be naive, which generally leads to comical situations at her own expense. Legends, myths, and other improbable stories are pieces of literature she enjoys most, and refuses to dismiss them as fiction unless she can prove otherwise. Also highly involved in the church scene, she is generally welcomed by most followers of St. Elendra, particularly due to her aptitude for theurgy.

People sometimes forget that she is a fifteen year old girl, and it can be surprising how she reacts to things on occasion. For example, she has an irrational fear of the dark (despite the fact that anything lurking in the dark should be more afraid of her), and she has a soft spot for anything she considers cute (though that could range from a puppy to a pill-bug). She really doesn't like being teased, but it's so easy to do it. She's a passionate singer, as well, and she can often be heard singing a song or two while studying or walking, and tends to mix hymns into her theurgy. She has a particularly nice voice, in part due to the clarity and high pitch that isn't grating. She is by no means a master of the art of singing, but it could be worse.

Crea recognizes that she is in no way a fighter. In fact, she'd much rather look for peaceful ways to solve problems with other people. She would never take the life of another human being, not knowingly anyway, which leaves her in a weird place as a support unit. She does understand that there are cases where there is no choice but to kill others, but even then she lacks the strength. Her theurgy is for support, and she is by no means physically strong and constantly needs protection from enemies. However, she is agile due to her size, which makes hitting her a problem provided she isn't taken off guard.


Appearance:
Those that have had the privilege of meeting Crea usually describe her as something much different than they were initially expecting. When thinking of an extremely talented mage, one's mind might wander to thoughts of an elderly man or woman, not a fifteen year old girl. Bright green eyes shine out from underneath the bangs of her bright orange hair, both colours vastly outshining the pale complexion she possesses. Thanks to her lack of colour, it's quite easy to tell when she's blushing, or even sick, much to her dismay. Her orange hair is fairly long, as it tickles her as far as the middle of her back while it's completely down. Normally, though, she ties it up on the sides so that it spills out, away from her neck. Her body itself is not anything particularly fancy. At a height of five feet, four inches, she isn't very tall, and her body is thin, muscle-less, and not quite completely developed yet (some even joke with her by saying she's years behind the other girls in some respects). She looks very cute, anyways, so she plays that up the best she can.

Crea had her attire custom made, so it would be impossible to find the same outfit anywhere in Khellius. It appears to be butterfly themed, what with a cloak that appears to resemble butterfly wings, tied up with a butterfly brooch right below her neckline. The exterior of the hooded cloak is a royal purple colour, and the material is extremely soft and warm to the touch, the edges lined with a gold material that points inwards in a pattern. The inside of the cloak is a bright pink, and is designed to look like a pair of tailed butterfly wings while she wears it. She normally wears the hood up with her hair to the sides, and it comes up to a point with a pink gem dangling off the end - a memento from her mentor.

The upper portion of her outfit is layered, with a sleeveless, white shirt being the lowest layer aside from her undergarments. The shirt has an extended portion that resembles a fairly short skirt, only reaching to just above her thighs, though it is layered with ruffled material. It has a slit on the left side, as well, so that her skin is visible. Over the shirt extension is a purple garter belt that is hooked to a pair of white stockings with a purple trim, a white ribbon tied on the left side. The next layer is a teal vest that is open down the middle, the sides only drawn together slightly by golden yellow straps, and has a cream trim. The mage's dainty hands are hidden by a pair of cream coloured gloves with faded teal cuffs, the cuffs themselves having a dark, laced trim. Her boots are a similar colour as her gloves, but they're raised slightly by gold-coloured platforms which make it hard to run long distances.


Background:
At an extremely young age, Fayus Celianne was noted to posses an abnormal amount of magical potential - a potential her family chose to invest into Theurgy. This discovery came about when she was only two, after healing a near-fatal injury she received from a drunker father. She had been a burden to her parents from birth, and until she had worth with her miracles, she was nothing but dispensable fodder to the Celianne family - her own birth parents. A resident of Histria from birth, she was never permitted the allowance of leaving the city. Instead, the refining of her talents was always given first priority, and the only trips she was permitted to take were on pilgrimages to nearby churches, where she was blindfolded the entire time. These unorthodox rules that were placed on her as a child were, as her parents claimed, to prevent her faith from being tainted by the sins of the outside world - sins they knew all too well. She was not permitted to play with other children either, not within the borders of Histria, and certainly not on the outside. She was required to make trips to the Histria branch of the Church of St. Elendra daily, sometimes several times in a day, to help foster her abilities. It was here that she became familiar with the proceedings of the church, as well as the system that governed it. Naturally, she voiced complaints about this life to her parents, but they would always tell her that it was the will of St. Elendra, and that the Saint had created Fayus with the intent of eventually becoming a powerful member of the clergy. A part of her truly believed this with all of her heart, so she endured.

She continued to live this life, void of joy aside from her involvement with this church, for five years. Eventually, the opinion of the Order governing Histria took notice of these living conditions after a shift in members ushered in a new mindset regarding the growth of magic users. While before, the behaviour of the Celianne family would have been completely acceptable, it was now within their understanding that a child was required to grow in many ways if they were to become an accomplished mage, more-so if they wanted healthy minds in the church that would aid them when necessary. When Fayus' parents refused to comply with this new standards, she was temporarily relocated to the home of the Filament family as a sort of foster home.

The Filaments were a very religious family, and had a daughter around Fayus' age. Over time, Fayus and Ariette Filament grew to become best friends. This was an important stage in the young cleric's life, since she had never been permitted to be near the other children growing up in her previous home. It turned out that the quiet, obedient girl that had stepped into the doors of the Filament door that day was actually a very sociable and pleasant individual. Regardless, she continued visiting and helping at the church, as well as her studying. While her parents had not treated her properly, they had clearly left an impression on her regarding her studies, as well as imprinting a distrust of adults onto her personality. As she studied and grew, her ability to grasp the power of theurgy grew and grew. The power she had somehow tapped into as a child quickly began to surface and become controllable, and the Filament family recognized that Fayus needed a better teacher.

At age twelve, Fayus left the care of the Filament family to study under Celcius Crea, an accomplished mage and cleric of St. Elendra that roamed Helvenand, completing contracts indiscriminantly for the church, government, and regular people as well. Celcius recognized Fayus' potential during a monster extermination ordered by Zelius Filament, the leader of the family, and had brought her along after receiving permission from Enher Lyson. During their travels, Fayus' talents blossomed under the watch of Celcius Crea. It proved to be an invaluable experience for the girl, learning directly from a exorcistati sanctus, and shaped her desire to help others after watching Celcius do it without ever batting an eyelash. She, too, wanted to be a person with the strength to help others, regardless of their upbringing or personality. The church had already taught her tolerance, she just had to apply it properly.

One day, though, Celcius was asked on a task that would take place outside of the borders of Helvenand. It was apparently a dangerous task, one that she could not bring Fayus to accompany her on. As a result, the fourteen year old was left in the joint care of the Collegium Magiae and the St. Elendra Church branch that resided in Arianne - not as a student, but more as a special guest. This more involved time with both the church and the school allowed her plenty of opportunity to learn - with full access to the library at the Collegium Magiae, she never ran out of books to read. During this time with the church, she ascended to the rank of cleric as well, a most notable acheivement for one her age.

Spending the next year reflecting upon her past, she took the time to readjust her priorities. Traveling to nearby nearby churches, she experienced aspects of her religion that she would never have been exposed to in Histria, including prayer and hymns. The prodigy was able to complete odd jobs for the people of the city through the church, though with her age and dislike from a jealous magical community, it was hard to find those who trusted her enough. After the year was up, so much time had passed, yet she had not received even a letter from her mentor. After filing for an official name change to incorporate all aspects of her past, Fayus Celianne Filament de Crea, or just Crea, as she now referred to herself, set out on a journey at the age of fifteen in order to learn the whereabouts of her master. Thinking herself smart and responsible enough to do so, she then ran away from her caretakers and began to travel, following a lead that Celcius Crea had met up with a group of adventurers at one point. Naive, but she reasoned with herself that she would also treat this quest as a pilgrimage.

Legend: Kyre the Sublime Archmage

Statistics:
Strength - 8 (8 + 0)
Dexterity - 15 (8 + 8)
Constitution - 9 (8 + 1)
Intelligence - 16 (8 + 10)
Wisdom - 18 (8 + 10)
Charisma - 11 (8 + 3)

Abilities:
Theurgy - major specialization (3 points)
---> Sapience - minor specialization + 1 point
------> Sapience - intermediate specialization
----------> Talent (Singing)


Roleplay Sample: Taken from a TIGER & BUNNY RP on another site.

Spoiler:

"Two new heroes will be making their debut tonight?" The white haired boy spoke casually to the woman standing behind him. The two of them stood atop the highest building in all of Hero City. The year was NC 1978, and the city itself was a testament to the evolution humanity had undergone in the past few decades. The Tower of Equality had been erected in celebration of the unity between regular humans, and those that possessed what came to be referred to as NEXT abilities, superhuman abilities that permitted amazing feats. Within the borders of Hero City, a sport and television program known as HERO TV was designed around the idea of these NEXT taking hero-status. The tower itself was over 2000 feet high, and had a fully accessible roof with a helipad on it. The structure was actually used as the base of operations for HERO TV, with quarters for the heroes themselves to socialize being on the basement floor. However, this boy and woman were currently having a private meeting, for he had paid for her services. "Looks like the competition is going to get a little more fierce." He looked down at the city below as he approached the ledge of the tower. Any chance of falling from the structure was prevented by the railings which were clearly lit by the light of the helipad behind them. The city, as well, was well lit in the darkness of the night. It was well after 9pm now, so most of the stores had closed up shop, but the streets below were still crowded with the people of the city moving back and forth. Neon lights and bright signs decorated the horizon, and giant blimps with large, glowing LCD screens swam in the sky. "I suppose you'll be keeping watch, Aria?" He craned his neck back to look at the woman, who's appearance was blurred by the bright lights behind her. Brilliant blue hair danced in the light, atop the silhouette of a girl in a dress that possessed a thin frame.

The girl's eyes, as dead as a corpse, narrowed at the boy before her. With his white, samurai styled outfit, and the ice blue, dragon scaled sash that fluttered around his body in the cold night wind, the child that stood before her looked ready for what was soon to come. "...I will watch as I always do. I doubt there is a need for me to appear in person this time..." She turned and began to walk towards the nearby stairwell, the violet eye pattern on her purple skirt coming into view for just a moment as she spun. "...But Frostbite, please do not call me by my name while I am in costume..." It took but a moment, but eventually she disappeared from the view of the boy, the sound of her white heels clacking down the stairs fading into the wind.

Frostbite's face cringed. That woman was by no means physically threatening or scary, but her voice did have a tendency to give him chills. She was far too... eerie. However, she always delivered him the information required to give him an edge in this game. He raised his hand to the sky and allowed a white sleeve to fall to his elbow, revealing a strange watch over top his underarm attire. The watch suddenly started beeping, as if on queue, and a grin crept over his face before he leaped off the roof of the building, the screens on the blimps above taking on the video feed of a live event. It was time for the game to begin!

>>>>>>

"Oh no! The thieves are making their get-away with a stolen military vehicle!" The live broadcast announced as a helicopter trailed the vehicle above, along the freeway on the outskirts of the city, it's cameras broadcasting to TVs nationwide. The military vehicle in question was painted a stereotypical dark green, and possessed eight heavy duty tires, as well as a mini-gun that was manned on the top. There were at least eight thieves aboard the vehicle, having freshly emerged from the primary branch of the Hero City bank with a small fortune. The freeway itself traveled along the rocky cliffs that overlooked the ocean, which would make it hard for even the trickiest hero to approach suddenly. "What's this!? The freeway seems to be merging into the off-ramp back into the city!" The announced exclaimed as blue sparks of electricity surrounded the road, the crunching sound of pavement rubbing against each other complimenting the motion of the road out of town combining with the road back into town. As a result, the vehicle had no choice but to follow the road in that direction. "We can only assume that The Editor is nearby!"

A few miles down the road later, the vehicle had entered the main city area. With the bright lights and limited driving space, the few civilians that were now walking around were clearly in danger. A little ways down the road, a young white haired boy stared down the speeding vehicle with his blue eyes. Just a little closer, and they would notice him. Sure enough, moments later the mini-gun turned ahead, and he could have sworn he had heard "Oh ****, it's Frostbite!", but it was far too late at that point. An energy overtook his left hand, and it morphed into a draconian parody of the human hand, complete with blue scales. All it took was for him to slam the ground with this hand, and an impenetrable wall of ice erupted from the ground, blocking any bullets, as well as effectively flipping the vehicle when it came into contact with the wall. The ice moved to encase the vehicle, and caught two of the thieves, but an explosion at the back of the truck confirmed something. They weren't all ordinary humans. One of the men walked free of the vehicle first, his body made of flame, while the other five ran out and split up into groups of two and scattered into different directions.

"...You can't go after them all. We can assume there's more than one NEXT in the group, as well..." That eerie voice from earlier filled Frostbite's ear. The boy waved his hand to indicate that he understood, and jumped to the roof of a nearby building. Maybe he'd see what the other heroes would do. he'd already caught two villains for himself, after all.

>>>>>>

In a nearby alleyway, two of the thieves came across a man with glasses and pink hair, holding an old looking, red book. A blue scarf danced behind him in the breeze coming down from the main road, and he looked a little out of place with his fantasy attire which made him look like he was out of a story book. The two thieves had little time to react to the man as he pushed up his glasses and closed the open book, slamming his right hand into a gutter pipe dangling from a nearby wall. Almost instantaneously, blue sparks shot throughout the object and the metal began to crunch as the pipe shrunk and reformed into a pole with a large hammer head on top. In but an instance, he ran at the two and struck the first in the side. Surely had broken a rib or two as the man flew like a ragdoll into the wall, but as he swung at the second one he found the attack blocked. No, blocked wasn't really the word. His pole-hammer had been caught. "A strength-type NEXT, huh?" He murmured, realizing he had clearly underestimated his opponent. He wasn't allowed time to do much else as he suddenly found himself being lifted into the air by the weapon he had created. The Editor let go of his weapon just before being swung into the ground, and landed safely on his feet below. Almost like an instant reaction, he slammed his hand onto the wall beside him and the sparks traveled until they were beside the opponent, the wall erupting into a spike at the thief. A spike the thief easily blocked with his strength. "...Huh." Clearly, dealing with strength was a bit trickier with his power.

>>>>>>

A girl watched from the sidelines of the conflict for now, the moon reflecting off her golden blond hair. He hadn't appeared yet, so she wasn't going to make a point to show up either. She wondered. Did that man know he'd be receiving a partner? A grin appeared on her face, revealing two sharper than normal canine teeth resting in her mouth. Two feline ears twitched as the wind changed direction. Life was going to get very interesting from now on.

 

[MattyJ]

Name: Artemis Circe
Age: 20
Gender: Female

Personality: A victim of circumstance, Artemis is often assumed to have a bitterly cold, anti-social personality. She is a loner, very much content in her own company. Determined almost beyond belief, she pushes herself to succeed in everything she desires - almost as if she is scared of what would happen if she was to fail.

An independent soul, Artemis can also be very stubborn. She is uneasy around strangers, and doesn't trust others very easily. She can be appealing; a persuasive and smooth talker (when she wants to be), but is often content being unseen in the shadows.

There may be a self-confidence issue beneath the stony exterior, but Artemis would never let anyone see her weaker side. She also rarely displays emotion. Haunted by her earliest memories of childhood in the darkest corners of Naranum, and by the mysterious disappearance of her father, Artemis fights against her inner demons in much the same way she would resolve a conflict in life - alone.

Appearance: Not overly tall, nor overly short, Artemis is a decidedly average young woman. About 5'11", her thin frame hides powerful muscles, though her toned body is not for show. She prefers to dress as a boy, tucking her shoulder-length brown hair up under a leather cap when she is not undertaking her training for the Viragos. Her round face, retrousse nose and lack of feminine development helped her pose as a boy when roaming Naranum.

Her ice-blue eyes are perhaps her only noticable feature. People who have seen them up close (and lived to tell the tale) have often claimed Artemis can see into their very soul. What she is searching for, no-one knows, but her piercing glare can unsettle even the most hardened warriors.

When off duty, she wears loose black cotton trousers with elastic around the mid-calf, the hems of which tuck into jet black boots built for silent movement. She wears a loose fitting, white cotton shirt with a slightly low neckline under a black cotton vest, giving her a slightly more bulky appearance; almost the look of a fifteen-year-old boy. Artemis also owns a thick, pitch-black travelling cloak (with hood) that comes in handy in cold weather or in times when it is vital to be 'invisible'.

Background:
Born in a small farmhouse on the south-eastern face of Mount Paranceus, overlooking the picturesque Vaeln Forest, Artemis Circe was the only daughter of less-than-wealthy parents. Her mother died shortly after giving birth, so her father, Ashton, raised her.

Always an eager learner, Artemis began walking at a young age, quickly learning to adjust to the difficult terrain of the mountainside, soon becoming able to keep her balance and manoeuvre efficiently in even the most trying of circumstances. She learned to reason and think independently, as she often had to venture out alone to collect food or supplies for her father. Ashton disappeared without a trace when Artemis was just eleven years old, leaving her to fend for herself.

Artemis knew the town of Naranum was just on the other side of the mountain, yet she waited through the winter for her father to return. Shortly after her twelfth birthday, Artemis decided her father was not coming back for her, so she set off for the city.

Though brilliant, the ardelyte and magical flame lighting Naranum around the clock combined with the frenzied architecture creates shady undertones. It was into these undertones that Artemis stumbled, a twelve year old on the streets of the city that never sleeps. The memories of this time sometimes force their way into her dreams, though Artemis does her best to keep them secure behind her facade. With minimal natural resources at hand, Artemis was forced to adapt to survive.

Her fleet-footedness, learned amongst the treetops and rock faces of Mount Paranceus, served her well amid the chaotic architecture. Parkour came naturally to her; pedestrians would often catch glimpses of her silhouette; black hair whipping wildly behind her, as she flashed across rooftops, moving with the grace and power of a panther. A glimpse is all they'd catch, however, for she was far too swift.

Her overall 'plainness' helped her blend in easily. In fact, if Artemis didn't want to be seen, she often wasn't. She could take a man's purse from his left pocket and place it in his right without him noticing and, despite her anti-social tendancies, if the situation called for it, Artemis could be very persuasive; often using all of her assets to her advantage.

As the years passed, Artemis began to hear whispers of a sniper force that only women were admitted to; the Viragos. With her knowledge of stealth and parkour from her years alone in the city of Naranum, coupled with the weight of her missing father and her desire to find him once more, she decided it was time to set out and find them.

That was four years ago. Although she has undertaken much training in the name of becoming a fully fledged Virago (hopefully the singular term), she still has a way to go.

Legend: Ciefe

Statistics:
Strength - 12
Dexterity - 15
Constitution - 12
Intelligence - 14
Wisdom - 14
Charisma - 12

Abilities:
Ranged Weapon Mastery [Intermediate]
Arcana [Intermediate]
Illusion (Primary)
Conjuration (Secondary)
Abjuration (Tertiary)

Roleplay Sample: As I said before, first time RPer, so this is something I've just made up now. A little bit of an 'Intro to Artemis' so to speak.

Spoiler:

Artemis stood perfectly balanced amongst the highest brances of the tree-top town of Resapha, gazing out across the vivid orange ocean. Her face set in its usual steely gaze, the cool northerly breeze ruffled her loose clothing. To anyone else, the height would be disconcerting. Artemis, who had grown up playing in the tree-tops, this place was more 'home' than anywhere in the city below her. This tree, the tallest bar the headquarters of the Viragos and the Marxetian Square, was her favourite place. She often watched the sunset from this vantage point; the shimmering, mystical forcefield surrounding the town served to make brilliant colours even more emphatic.

It was the privacy of the place she liked the most though. Up here, no-one could bother her. No-one could disturb her peace; no-one could interrupt her thoughts. She had a job tonight. A mission for the Viragos, no less. Despite the immense beauty of the sight before her, Artemis couldn't focus on anything other than her mission. It was a long time since she had killed a man. Four years, in fact; ever since she left Naranum, hoping to find the Viragos, hoping to leave her nightmares behind her, never to return. In the end, it was her superior knowledge of Naranum that caused her to be selected to undertake the mission. As usual, she had no back-up. Artemis always liked to work alone.

She spread her arms wide, standing as if she was on the bow of a ship sailing into the sunset. Black shadows began swirling at her fingertips, the wispy strands moving of their own accord. The strands combined, forming a concentrated black mist, swirling and shimmering at her wrists. The mist spread slowly at first, climbing steadily up her forearms, covering her elbows then her biceps. Upon reaching her shoulders, the mist flowed quickly around her, covering her from neck to toe, the black shadows splaying where her feet met the tree branch she was standing on. The shadow shimmered, then solidified and now Artemis stood fully cloaked, a slight smirk playing on her pink lips. She had only recently perfected the technique needed to conjure her cloak, she was still quietly impressed with herself. She reached over her shoulders, her fingers brushing through her loose brown hair - she'd deal with that later - pulling the hood of her cloak over her head. She stood perfectly still but for an instant; a figure clad in black, an almost perfect silhouette, her ice-blue eyes gazing out over the miraculous sunset diffused elegantly by the shimmering forcefield surrounding Resapha, as if she was trying to remember something was fractionally evading the grasp of her mind. A split-second later, she had disappeared, leaping gracefully over the tree-tops, moving towards her next target, towards the man this man from Naranum that needed to die. He was to meet his justice tonight, and Artemis would introduce them.

 

[Cirrus]

@Loki: It's actually, uh, just Helvan (as in the Helvan Empire). Also, you have one extra point you can allocate for specialization, so feel free to put it anywhere. With that said, however ... preliminary acceptance has been indicated.

@parallelzero: Apply sapience by increasing your Wisdom by 2 points (since intermediate is equivalent to 2 ranks). One small problem with your background though - while there are nearly secular petitioners (users of miracles) - most of them receive at least a little bit of training from the church, since the source of miracles is, after all, divine. Preliminary acceptance has also been indicated.

@MattyJ: Don't worry about newness; strength of writing, as I have said, dictates acceptance. As for the roleplay sample - a sample of writing in general is also fine.

NOTE HIGHLIGHTING MY STUPIDITY: (added to main post)

I left armor mastery out of the list of specializations, apparently (I'm a genius, I know :s). I suppose there's no reason to add it in, either, since it's more of a "whether one is proficient with armor to wear it comfortably" thing and I don't want to make physical specializations weaker. Everyone has the option of being initially proficient with armor. Armor will, however, interfere with the usage of arcana and miracles - mindcraft is not affected, since it does not involve freedom of movement. Moreover, if you have a low Strength score it is more difficult for you to wear armor, and if you have a low Constitution score you might get tired more quickly in heavy armor. (Apply liberal amounts of RP rule #1 - common sense.)

As for Endurance - intermediate specialization now grants minor blunt weapon mastery or minor edged weapon mastery.

 

[rufflestiltskin]

Pesca's form is completed, I hope everything looks in order. I fixed his stats, and hopefully everything's good. I'm really sorry about the Varrus/Varras thing, I was trying to type that out waaay to late last night (I got excited :p).

I'm really loving some of these other characters you guys are posting. :)

 

[Rokusasu]

Screw it, won't hurt to apply. I'll be editing this post with a SU later on, please bear with me. c:

 

[Loki]

Oh, I felt like I had an extra one but I wasn't sure XD Thanks for letting me know. I'll fix the Helvan-Helvenand mix up thing and the extra point tonight.

Also, I meant like, if I'm referring to the people who live in Helvan... Is it the Helvanians, Helvans, or like, do I say the Helvan People...? XD Cause I say Helvenian Army quite a few times in Rhys' background, so I just wanted to double check.