Song of Heroes OOC (Fantasy RP, CLOSED)

by **Union Princes** » Tue Feb 26, 2019 8:16 am

It doesn't really matter who, I'm fine with either of them interacting with my Witch Hunter

by **Zarkenis Ultima** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:03 pm

Updated the archive for the first time in a while. Added Lycanmire, The Blight, Durge and Scitha.

I'll post... one of these days, hopefully.

by **Radea** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:15 pm

Zarkenis Ultima wrote:Updated the archive for the first time in a while. Added Lycanmire, The Blight, Durge and Scitha.

I'll post... one of these days, hopefully.

We'll keep the lights on for ya.

by **Auropa** » Mon Mar 04, 2019 6:24 am

Been kinda short on time this week with work but will hopefully be back to normal in a bit. That said, (very) small post up for Corven and his newest drinking buddies, feel free to make questions for the table after answering Corven's or taking a drink.

by **Absolon-7** » Wed Mar 06, 2019 8:43 pm

https://discord.gg/9pcZDzu

This is probs several months late since membership has dwindled down I decided to throw a bone to Bentus

So we got a discord now

by **Zarkenis Ultima** » Sun Mar 10, 2019 2:47 pm

Hey Abs, are there like Legion offices in the various regions, or is Velathri the only place to get contracts and payment?

by **Absolon-7** » Sun Mar 10, 2019 2:49 pm

Zarkenis Ultima wrote:Hey Abs, are there like Legion offices in the various regions, or is Velathri the only place to get contracts and payment?

There's Legion offices in every region that get contracts and payment. The one in Velathri is just the headquarters for the entire organization.

by **Zarkenis Ultima** » Wed Mar 13, 2019 2:59 pm

Absolon-7 wrote:
Zarkenis Ultima wrote:Hey Abs, are there like Legion offices in the various regions, or is Velathri the only place to get contracts and payment?

There's Legion offices in every region that get contracts and payment. The one in Velathri is just the headquarters for the entire organization.

Understood. In that case, though, my question is whether those in Velathri would ever be assigned to missions in other regions of the world. Seems to me like any quests to be completed in those regions would likely be taken by the people in those offices.

by **Radea** » Wed Mar 13, 2019 6:43 pm

Friends, I will be on a business trip for the next week and a half. I will still be reading your entertaining and eloquent posts and yes, I will still be active when I return.

Unless I'm on a Boeing Max 8.

by **Solisian Union** » Wed Mar 13, 2019 6:45 pm

Take care!

by **Absolon-7** » Thu Mar 14, 2019 8:03 pm

Zarkenis Ultima wrote:
Absolon-7 wrote:There's Legion offices in every region that get contracts and payment. The one in Velathri is just the headquarters for the entire organization.

Understood. In that case, though, my question is whether those in Velathri would ever be assigned to missions in other regions of the world. Seems to me like any quests to be completed in those regions would likely be taken by the people in those offices.

That is true to an extent. *pulls out bag of out of the blue answers* Red cloaks and blue cloaks would be limited to local quests as they'd naturally make up the majority of Legion members by being the lowest ranks. From there the number in each rank gets bottlenecked but this is offset by the sheer quality in skill and talent they possess. This proficiency would be sought after by anyone and starting from Purple cloaks, Legionnaires get the option of taking quests from other regions. This is achieved by them using a secret teleportation spell offered by a Legion base. Also, any lower ranked Legionnaires in a party with a Purple cloak or higher are allowed to travel with them.

by **Zarkenis Ultima** » Thu Mar 14, 2019 8:20 pm

Absolon-7 wrote:
Zarkenis Ultima wrote:
Understood. In that case, though, my question is whether those in Velathri would ever be assigned to missions in other regions of the world. Seems to me like any quests to be completed in those regions would likely be taken by the people in those offices.

That is true to an extent. *pulls out bag of out of the blue answers* Red cloaks and blue cloaks would be limited to local quests as they'd naturally make up the majority of Legion members by being the lowest ranks. From there the number in each rank gets bottlenecked but this is offset by the sheer quality in skill and talent they possess. This proficiency would be sought after by anyone and starting from Purple cloaks, Legionnaires get the option of taking quests from other regions. This is achieved by them using a secret teleportation spell offered by a Legion base. Also, any lower ranked Legionnaires in a party with a Purple cloak or higher are allowed to travel with them.

Oh. That's pretty neat!

-crumples and throws away idea for a medieval road trip montage-

by **Solisian Union** » Thu Mar 14, 2019 8:23 pm

Hooray for solutions!

by **Solisian Union** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 1:28 am

Name: Shesonarth / Susan Ravager
Age: 44
Gender: Female
Race: Draconic
Appearance (pics if possible):

Statistics: (All stats are at 1 by default, you have 8 points to distribute and you can only put 5 points maximum at the start to any stat)
Strength: 3
Agility: 1
Endurance: 1
Magical Prowess: 3
Bio (Please treat this as a replacement for a writing sample. No more than a few paragraphs is necessary but it should be well written):

She was the child of a strange lady but was raised by a good, normal man.

Her name was Susan. But her mother, the Half Dragon Usiu, called her Shesonarth. She was a kind one, a Half Dragon that treasured nature and visited great, untouched forests from time to time so she could rest and feed on the fruits.

She was taken from Usiu by a man named Araton. Now, Araton was a friend of Usiu. They had been friends ever since Usiu was saved by Araton and his companions from being slaughtered by a stupid lord's band of knights. Usiu owed so much to them but most especially, she owed them for the lives they saved. The lives of her brood. Her first and only brood. She could never have another thanks to her age and most of all, to her own will. After she'd see her brood grow and leave her, she realized she'd be too exhausted to take care of one more.

And among the brood was her eldest, the dear Shesonarth. Usiu thought about it and after her child gave her consent, the great dragon offered her to Araton for him to raise as his own.

It was one of his wishes. He never had or could have a wife. So thanks to that, he could not raise a family of his own. He refrained from adoption and abstained from using prostitutes. He had kept himself clean and virtuous in the eyes of Usiu.

So the only thing that Usiu could do for him was to let him have her firstborn.

And despite his protests, Usiu insisted again and again until Araton gave in.

Araton took Shesonarth under his arms as Usiu departed with the rest of her brood. It was her way of thanks for Araton and a way to finally make Shesonarth accept her own life on her own.

Under his tutelage and his guidance, Shesonarth became Susan but Araton would often call her by her truly proper name. Under him, she studied, she traveled, she assisted, she fought, she trained and she exercised magic. As Usiu was growing, Araton found a peaceful place for himself and his "daughter", the village of Aeredale. It was within the loving embrace of the Lesser Atrium. The river gave life to the village and to the rest that called it their neighbor.

Within Aeredale, Araton established his house and became a blacksmith while Susan found a kind teacher and many friends. Under the teacher, an elf named Renestrae, she learned the art of healing but also the art of defending others. By her grace and skill, Renestrae formed Susan to become a lady who cared for the worst of ailments and wounds of her village and a lady who rose from her bed, left her clinic and formed shields and walls and pushed away intruders from her village and those that lived close to it.

Susan, the woman whose hands cast spells that restored life to those who were weak, whose touch mended broken bones, torn flesh and ruined or poisoned organs and whose mastery over defensive magic could grant strength to those who needed it, was also a woman who could force rocks to come out of the ground and form a wall. She could raise water and cause it to become solid enough that it may form a bridge. Most of all, she could gather the wind and use it as a force to push away those who come too close.

But her life would not continue in that village. No, she was invited by a friend of her "father." In her hands, she read the message sent by the Legion. They were seeking new blood. They were looking for someone like her and anyone else who could answer the call.

So she answered. She taught the young ones how to heal like her and she trained those strong enough to defend the village. Then, after she said goodbye to her teacher and her aging father, she left for the Legion and joined them as a red cloak.

A cloak, she thought, would symbolize blood, the vehicle of life, the very thing all things that breath would need to enjoy what is before them.

Heroic Boon: The Crown of Thorns: The Crown Of Thorns was a boon she was given by the Legion to enable her to use plant life to her advantage on a greater level than she naturally could without it. The Crown of Thorns, legends say, was created by Sariel, a powerful woman who was rumored to be an angel. The Crown was meant to be used by those with hearts attuned to the land.

It meant that it was an instrument for those so attuned to the natural world. An instrument of goodness, an instrument of protection. Above all, an instrument of the continuation of life.

By the will of the Crown, Susan could now use plant life to defend herself or others.

These abilities, as to be explained, allow her to, for example, cause trees to grow their branches or roots faster and manipulate them with gestures so they could be used as obstacles or as extra limbs for attacking. She could also use seeds to her advantage. She could use hard seeds as projectiles, for example. Other benefits of her boon are, for example, the ability to restore crops from withering or blight as well as the fertilization of such crops. She could even---if the soil is good---cause dormant seeds that she might find in the ground to start growing.

The appearance of her Crown of Thorns manifests itself through magic. The Crown appears as if it was really a crown of thorns. However, it is not a solid object and cannot be removed from her head. The only time it vanishes and does not manifest and work for her is when she chooses to let her boon go dormant.
Abilities:

Healing: Thanks to her mother and thanks to her teacher, her touch, not limited only to her hands, could slowly heal the wounds and other sufferings of anyone she touches. Though her healing touch could not raise the dead back to life nor could she cause what does not live to live, Susan could at least take care of others. By her will, these are the things she could do:

Can heal minor wounds such as cuts, bruises and light burns.
Can heal external wounds, including fractured bones and deeper burns, disregarding of severity.
Can reattach lost limbs.
Can heal organs and restore them to good working condition if they were aging or if they were seriously damaged.
Can stop blood loss.
Curing: Curing takes away disease; Healing takes away the wounds.

Curing, as Susan says, is her ability to find and destroy any disease or poison afflicting someone. However, her ability to cure does not mean that she can remove all disease or all poison. If she is acting against a magically inflicted disease or poison that was cast by someone superior to her then she cannot easily cure it or she cannot cure it at all.
Manipulation of Nature and Earth: Thanks to her mother, she inherited her powers over the earth and the natural surroundings. Water, air, stone and dirt; these were the things her mother could manipulate. So too could her firstborn, Susan the Half Dragon.

However, Susan's domination over the creation of the gods, the world beneath her own two feet, is not as great as her mother's. She simply could only form what her magic allows. Anything magnificent or greater would have to cause her to stop and suffer the consequences of stretching magic.
Dragon Fire: Just because her mother loved the flowers, lived with animals or simply enjoyed being such a tree hugger does not mean that she, as a Half Dragon, could not produce fire of her own.

The color of her fire is often a shade of green. The darker the shade, the deeper the emotions that Susan feels. Like her mother, dragon fire is produced thanks to the combination of emotion and magic.

For Susan, to create her fire, she has to let it come out of two things; her mouth or her arms.

And unlike her mother, her fire cannot truly destroy a city. Instead, what Susan is capable of, in terms of throwing her fire at targets or upon an area, is lesser than that. So long as she has the permission and the capability to do so, she could cause fire to rage beyond her arm's reach, at least by 5 or so meters.
(Note, you do not have a maximum or minimum of 2 abilities. Include both your character’s mundane abilities and any magic they have. If you don’t need all those, delete them. If you need more, copy and paste.)

Limitations (Reasons why your char can’t singlehandedly conquer a kingdom):

Half Dragon, Half Human: The circumstances of her birth surely do not dictate the alignment she must take but it does dictate the abilities of her own body and her own will. Come hell or high water upon her head, she is just half human, half dragon. Just because she was a descendant of Usiu does not mean that she could be a great dragon that would ravage cities or smash kingdoms. She sheds blood as any human would and suffers the same kind of shedding as dragons do. Other than that, she has the same size as a human but that is strictly it. She cannot become lesser or greater in size. She can't also be stronger than what she is.
Lesser Magic: Her powers are not as great as Usiu's or as any dragon out there. She was raised in a quiet village and taught by a kind elf. But that does not give her the combat strength of a battle sorcerer or the extreme feats and muscle of a wizard defending his tower. Call her a healer and a manipulator of the land but not an almighty lady of scale and flesh.
(Note, you do not have a maximum or minimum of 2 limitations. If you don’t need all those, delete them. If you need more, copy and paste.)

Equipment:

Healers Kit
Leather Armor Pads & Travelers Clothes
Her Legionnaire's Cloak
A bar of soap
A small notebook containing low level spells that she couldn't cast without reading.: Specifically, it's a book she kept as a gift from her teacher. This contains all the spells she needs that would help her do what she couldn't do on her own. There are only 4 spells in the notebook; frostbite, alarm, magic stone and a spell that helps her locate objects.
A set of weapons; A dagger and a short bow with six arrows.
(Note, you do not have a maximum or minimum of 2 equipment. If you don’t need all those, delete them. If you need more, copy and paste. If it is a special piece of equipment please include a description. Also keep in mind your character’s background and what sort of wealth they would have as this greatly influences your starting equipment)

Optional
[b]Likes: Good humans, virtues, drinking fresh, cold water, bathing in rivers or lakes, her boon, the Legion and eating sweet tasting fruits
Dislikes: Not cleaning herself, evil humans, vices, knights, bandits, sour tasting food

Group Name: Half Dragons
Region Inhabited: The Western Heartlands
Group Appearance:

For Females

For Males
Description/Lore: They are the children of dragons and humans. Sometimes, however, it can be the wish of a dragon for their children to be born in the shape of a human rather than simply in the form familiar to all the great beasts of the sky and the earth.

Legends say that the first time that a Half Dragon appeared was thanks to the union of two; a womanly dragon named Pyrana and a man of great magic, Thorn. The two united with each other in marriage as they were once friends for a long time. From Thorn's childhood and Pyrana's early adulthood, they first met as adventurers. Pyrana was once in her human form and Thorn was simply as he was.

For quite a time, Pyrana disguised her true form from him and only revealed it on the day that Thorn was taken away by a powerful band of bandits and other ruthless criminals. She had transformed into her truth, flew after the escaping scum of the earth and freed Thorn. Thorn, of course, was shocked that Pyrana was a dragon but took that aside and loved her for her daring rescue.

Of course, it wasn't only thanks to such an incident that the two fell for each other. Again, they were friends and they had each other's backs for time after time after time out on the surface of the earth and on the waves of the endless, cold waters.

They married quietly somewhere in the Western Heartlands and had a family in some undisturbed corner of the region. There, they had children, a good number of them. Their firstborn was Esperanza. It meant Hope.

Today, Pyrana and Thorn no longer live. Some rumors that still travel the roads or cross over the mountains or dive into the waters and emerge on the coasts say that the couple have gone to the heavens or that they have started adventuring again. People say that if you saw a woman dressed in a white cloak and a man with a silver sword in his right hand travelling together, that must be them.

For now, their children and the descendants of their children, be they more dragon or more human or simply half of each kind, have lived in the Heartlands quietly. They kept to themselves, they found communities that were willing to accept them and say nothing more to visitors or unwanted guests. They traveled as mysterious strangers who may happen upon struggling adventurers and help them on their way. Others may have become hermits, living on their own upon the faces of mountains, the valleys of hills or the deepest of forests.

Either way, Half Dragons are a rarity. Most say that there are only 23 of them. Others say that there are more, others less.
Innate Abilities: [*]Dragon Fire - As children of dragons, they are capable of manifesting fire from their bodies to defend themselves or others. They make sure that they do not use this often in order to conceal their true indentities.

[*]Greater Magic - Like humans and dragons, they can use magic. But all Half Dragons are capable of using magic. They were born with it and they could use it to a greater extent than humans could. However, they are lesser than their dragon ancestors.

Innate Weaknesses:

[*]Lesser Transformation - They are forced to live as humans. Though they may or may not have wings and though some may use magic to somehow manifest into the forms of their beastly parents, their forms are lesser than the dragons. If they could truly transform without the aid of so much magic, their forms are also lesser than their parents.

[*]Greed - Although they are good, Half Dragons inherit the need for a hoard...or for at least to emulate what their dragon parents used to obsess with. For example, though their greed is tempered, they still must find something to keep and treasure it for good. So often, Half Dragons may go on an adventure and thus ask for their rewards quite strongly.

Half Dragons tend to ask for various things. It depends on their parent. For example, if they were a child of a bronze dragon, they may wish to collect weapons and armor. If they were a child of a silver dragon, they wish to eat a lot of food.

[*]Not A Part Of The World - Tending to be neutral too often, they often are strangers to the world. They seek quiet places and time away from society. This often leads to them becoming solitary except if they feel alone or in need of having a family. They also tend to be ignorant or aloof of things that are going on and so are clueless.
Additional info: Half Dragons are mostly and usually aligned with goodness. They tend to be kind and to offer assistance and then leave once it has been given. They often come out of the blue at times to fend off great bands of bandits roving the empty, quiet fields. They sometimes also are protective of forests and undisturbed landscapes, driving away any vandals or thieves or would be arsonists.

They also seem to be interested in humans and other humanoids like elves. They tend to favor the company of the good hearted and avoid sharing tables with humans or elves or humanoids who seem to possess terrible reputations or are rumored to have sins so great that even prostitutes and tax collectors would stay away from. When making contact with clearly evil people, they tend to engage them immediately in battle with little question and delay.

by **Tolstoyan Commune** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 1:30 am

Hey, is this open to joining?

by **Zarkenis Ultima** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 1:31 am

Tolstoyan Commune wrote:Hey, is this open to joining?

Yup, it is. In fact, if you're thinking about it, now's a good time. The IC is currently in a lull between missions.

by **Tyr** » Sun Mar 17, 2019 6:56 pm

Name: Ganzorig Tarkhan
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Race: Orc
Appearance:

Statistics:
Strength: 5
Agility: 3
Endurance: 3
Magical Prowess: 1
Bio:

Ganzorig was born of the Oyuunchimeg Tribe within the Külunbold Khanate to a family of blacksmiths. At a young age, his notable proficiency of archery and swordsmanship caught the attention of Batuhan, the infamous Temürkhan of the Külunbold Horde, who later personally had him recruited into his army army after his fifteenth birthday - the traditional age for a desert orc to allow them to become warriors. He was quite popular among the warriors due to his strength, bravery, intelligence, and his refined skill in the Turgen Bow, which later gave him the epithet of Tarkhan or “Skillful”.

At the age of eighteen, Batuhan handpicked Ganzorig to be tested as a part of his Keçik and had him shoot a target using an Altan Bow, the heaviest bow among the desert orcs, a test that Ganzorig passed with ease. His entry to the Keçik gave him a leeway to become an officer in the Horde’s army, where he served as vice-commander to an infamous senior officer and learned various strategies through his assistance in leading the frontlines.

At the age of twenty-three, he was nominated by Batuhan to be given independent command of a Mingghan and he was asked to be under tutelage of an elder. In the span of two years, Ganzorig studied more about strategy, basic Mathematics, history, sciences, information of places outside the Teji Desert and more importantly, he studied on how to utilize the infamous Muukhai Magic- a rare choice among the General candidates and the existing mage-reliant Generals. After two years have passed, he had to go through several tests which he barely succeeded. Seeing that he is now fit to command, Batuhan later gave Ganzorig control over a Mingghan at the age of twenty-five, making him start his role as one of the youngest generals in the Külunbold Khanate.

Heroic Boon: None
Abilities:

Superior Physical Condition: Ganzorig has a notably high physical strength compared to the average orc, which could be attributed to better orc genetics, constant training, and his high workload in the army. He can regularly use an Altan Bow in battle, a bow that has a draw weight of 500 pounds. If Ganzorig were to perform a deadlift, he is capable of lifting a maximum of 1,500 pounds.
Refined Archer: Ganzorig is capable of accurately and precisely hitting his targets at the range of 900 meters or below with his bow even while mounted or in an awkward position. In addition, he can also sustainably fire 8 accurate shots with an Atlan Bow and 15 accurate shots with a Turgen Bow at full draw for a minute straight.
Proficient Fighter: Despite specializing with a bow, Ganzorig can efficiently fight a melee.
Muukhai: Ganzorig has a fair amount of skill on utilizing the Külunbold Khanate’s specialized fire magic. The Muukhai or Mirage spell makes use of Ganzorig’s limited capacity for magic to conjure a limited amount of visual illusions of people and objects.

Limitations:

Limited Stamina
Low Comprehension of the Arcane
Limited amount of illusions produced by Muukhai
Muukhai is ineffective without much sunlight.
Ineffective fighter in damp and wet environments

Equipment:

Altan Bow : Ganzorig’s long-range bow that has a draw weight of 600 pounds, has a maximum range of 1,500 meters and an effective range of 900 meters.
Turgen Bow: The standard desert orc long range bow(that is used as a short ranged bow by Ganzorig) that has a draw weight of 300 pounds, has a maximum range of 800 meters and an effective range of 450 meters.
Arrows(50x): Bodkin tipped arrows that weigh around 400 grains.
Signal Arrows(14x): Whistle tipped arrows used for signalling movement.
Odgerel Mace: Bash into enemy skulls and armor.
Aduu: Powerful and Nimble creatures that are used as mounts for Orcs and carry their equipment. These creatures are also capable of traveling long distances despite the low quantity of food and water.
Tuya Lance: Standard desert orc lance used for cavalry shock attacks.
Shield: Offer protection
Light Armor Set: Ganzorig wears a combination of lamellar/scale armor to offer protection without interfering with his mobility.

Optional
Likes:
Dislikes:
Greatest Fear:

Group Name: Desert Orcs
Region Inhabited: Teji Desert
Group Appearance:

Description/Lore: Desert Orcs stand at an average of 195cm with females standing around 180 cm and they generally have wide bulky bodies and a strong muscular frame. Orcish hair are either jet black or brunette while their eyes have variations of brown. Desert orcs typically strong facial features, although their features could sometimes be buried underneath by fat, a determinant of strength and wealth in their culture.

The desert orcs were originally nomads who travel with Aduu creatures, powerful, resilient, and nimble mammalians, from the eastern part of the continent who established riverside societies in the Teji desert. The desert orcs never had a unified society and were divided into various socio-political entities referred to as ‘Khanates.’ With a strongman culture dominating society, no concrete laws to control their behavior and with human societies constantly funding each Khanates’ war machine, Orcish Khanates are embroiled in a constant state of war with another.

Due to the constant state of war, Desert Orc societies are built upon a culture of meritocracy as to preserve their individual societies. This means that only the strongest and the most intelligent among the orcs are given high administrative and military positions in various Khanates regardless of their blood and background. In addition, orcs are religious and superstitious shamanists that worship the God of the Golden Dawn, Altan.

Contemporarily, there are four major Khanates that dominate the plains of the Teji desert, namely the Külunbold Khanate, the Altantsetseg Khanate, the Monkhbat Khanate, and the Dzhambul Khanate.

Innate Abilities:

Superior Physiology: Desert orcs are genetically stronger compared to other races.
Resilient: Due to the harsh environment they live in, Desert orcs generally have a high damage tolerance.
Innate Weaknesses:
Low Capacity for Magic: Desert orcs generally have a hard time comprehending more complex arcane arts and despite having the gift of fire, most orcs use low level pyromancy or resort to party-trick style fire magic like the Külunbold Khanate’s Muukhai.
Bloodlust: Cultural trait that generally causes division among Orc societies

Additional info: Mongol-Central Asian-Turkic naming scheme

Faction Name: Külunbold Khanate
Faction Region(s): Teji Desert
Description/Lore: The Külunbold Khanate is one of the major Khanates in the Teji Desert despite only being founded thirty years ago. The Khanate is led by the upstart Batuhan Temürkhan, a rather ambitious desert orc who rapidly rose in power not only due to his skill in battle but also due to his intelligence and the use of unconventional methods such as his invention of the Muukhai magic style. Among the Orc Khanates, The Külunbold Khanate has the most organized military with Batuhan’s invention of the decimal military organization system.

Aside from being unorthodox militarily, the Külunbold Khanate also has a rather unorthodox orcish government that employs and enforces quasi-laws the control behavior of its citizens. This administrative methodology in the Khanate makes the structure of the land more efficient and has been noted by several human observers as a proto-permanent orc civilization.

Being led by a visionary, the Külunbold Khanate seeks to unite the orcish race under one banner and forge a civilization under the guidance of laws, a reformed culture, and the god Altan.

Races that are part of the faction: Desert Orcs, Various minorities
Additional Info:

by **Finland SSR** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 6:03 am

Gunpowder: History, Weaponry and Proliferation

Chapter XVI of the book "The Art of War Among the Civilized Nations and the Reaches", a manual into the field of warfare composed for the young Patrician Allthador Serenus of the Great Republic of Nur, by the philosopher Mar Erdenes

Introduction

Though a recent innovation in the battlefields of our era - at the very least, recent in comparison to the ever present short, shield and magic spell - gunpowder and all the gadgets stemming from it have made their mark on the world already. The Merchants of our dear Republic report many instances of gunpowder weaponry being put to use in wars and conflicts from the civilized Western lands to the Eastern Archipelagos and barbaric Southern wastes, and as the field of gunpowder continues to improve and develop, it is certain that these instances will not die down anytime soon. Already, the value of this black powder in turning the tides of sieges and controlling the flow of battle has been recognized by engineers and generals alike.

And yet, despite the youth of this new field of warfare, my fellow experts in the art of war can seldom agree on where the potential of gunpowder truly lies. Shall we consider it as 'magic for the poor', a way for those unable to wield magic either for lack of ability, or of education, to make up for this weakness? An alternative for those nations which lack an impressive population of battle mages, a category in which the Great Republic of Nur falls into? Shall we consider it as an innovative approach to siege warfare and nothing else, and dismiss the viability of personal gunpowder weaponry outright? Or, perhaps, shall we see it as the future of warfare completely, a piece of technology which has the potential to overcome and outshine all else which preceded it and lead to the armies of the distant future being composed of nothing but masses of cannoneers?

These are questions which future generations will see the answer to, and will either glorify or curse their ancestors for picking the right path of the three. Though I cannot answer to you what this future holds, dear Patrician, I can only hope that my insights into the past and application of gunpowder weaponry can help you make a decision which will benefit all of the Great Republic for centuries to come.

The Beginnings of Gunpowder

Gunpowder is not a naturally occurring substance, the magnum opus of the magicians of Thayar of thousands of years past do not mention it in their long classification of existing substances. It is not a gift yielded to us by the gods, but rather something created by man himself - a mixture of other substances such as saltpeter, sulfur and charred wood.

Although the name of the man or woman who first crafted gunpowder has been lost to history, it is an unquestionable fact that its origin lies in the city of Nathmor and the Southern Bog as a whole - not only is this barbaric, barely hospitable land rife with the resources necessary to craft gunpowder at large quantities, but it also is the home of many alchemists who dabble in such phenomena and promptly spread their inventions across the whole world. It is also fact that 650 years after the foundation of the city of Nur, or 400 years before present day, the formula for producing gunpowder was already known among the inhabitants of the Southern Bog, several such formulas recorded in the manual composed by the alchemist Asmaron Shib of Nathmor. It may come as a source of amusement to you, dear Patrician, but this murder causing substance was initially believed by the alchemists of Nathmor to be medicine! Indeed, Nathmor alchemist traditions have long held saltpeter to be an important medicinal ingredient, and many believed, or even still believe, that the purple flame which the substance releases upon touching fire is a sign of the energy stored within escaping. Despite this, Asmaron Shib predicted the usage of gunpowder as a weapon, with a warning:

Some have heated together sulfur, realgar, and saltpeter with honey; smoke and flames result, so that their hands and faces have been burnt, and even the whole house burned down.

Though the peoples of the Southern Bog sparked the development of gunpowder, they themselves rarely, if ever, put it into military practice. This is due to a number of reasons - the metalworking of the Southern primitives remains poor and undeveloped to this day, Nathmor and the other settlements in the deep south mostly relying on imported metals, and gunpowder weaponry requires a lot of high quality and precisely built metal machinery. In addition, they see little reason to use gunpowder even if their lands were littered with metal - the bogs of the south are not a welcoming environment for ranged weaponry and their inhabitants would much rather prefer the traditional, primitive, but effective approach of fighting in the shade of the forest. Should you gain interest in the benefits of gunpowder, dear Patrician, you should know that acquiring a supply of cheap gunpowder form the Southern primitives is paramount to success.

Regardless, it was not the Southerners, but their neighbours which picked up gunpowder and turned it into a weapon.

The Weaponization of Gunpowder

From the hands of the alchemists of the Southern primitives, gunpowder leapt to the hands of the neighbouring civilized nations of the Western Heartlands - and, more specifically, the kingdoms of the Lesser Atrium, hugging the inhospitable swamplands of the Southern Bog. The history of gunpowder is somewhat of a mystery here which may only be unearthed if one were to make their way to the libraries of the region by their own feet, but what is known to me and the rest of Nur is that within a century after the initial invention of gunpowder, it travelled across trade routes to reach the hands of military engineers in the cities of Servelat and Irongard. There, the first experiments with projecting the explosive power of gunpowder began, both in accelerating projectiles, such as arrows, and as a simple explosive.

This was a time of experimentation, when almost everything was deemed potentialy viable - the lands of Lesser Atrium cannot claim to have a high population of mages, so an alternative which can be wielded by us mundanes was swiftly picked up as a great opportunity. 780 years after the foundation of the Great Republic of Nur, or 270 years before present day, a Servelatian military manual dubbed "Essentials of Warfare" already lists dozens of names for various gunpowder weapons, many of whom are never seen again in any other remaining written text - names such as "caltrop fireball", "fire birds", "fire oxens", "fire bricks", "flying sand bombs", "fists of fire", so on and so forth. The obscure and nondescriptive nature of the manual means that it is a work of guessing on what each of the names meant, as the Servelatians were clearly akin to fantastic names for simple weapons. Some remain a mystery - I would gladly pay ten thalers to the man who explains to me what a "fire ox" is and what it is supposed to achieve in the field of battle.

Regardless, the period of Lesser Atrium experimentation eventually led to the production of the first true and battle-tested gunpowder weapon - the fire lance.

It should perhaps be stated that this was not a point in history where complex handheld machinery was available, as such, the peoples of Lesser Atrium had to make do with what their engineers had available. The fire lance, as expected for the grandfather of all gunpowder weapons, was a very simple design - it was a light spear carrying a gunpowder filled tube, usually composed of wood or paper, with a slow fuse at the end. The line of thought behind their design was to use them as a weapon of shock during a heavy infantry charge - the charge inside the tube would detonate right before their strike to cause panic among enemy lines and allow the charging infantry to wreak havoc to the enemy. This exact sequence of was recorded in manuscript twenty years after the release of the "Essentials of Warfare". The context behind the events stated below is simple - having begun its warpath of expansion, the armies of the Tyranny of Thapsus march south to face a coalition of Lesser Atrium nations, the largest contingent between their opponent being heavy shock troops from Servelat wielding fire lances, and the battle is recorded by a Thapsian chronicle:

On the fourth month after marching out from Thapsus and two months after crossing the Aria to step into the Lesser Atrian lands, the army of the Tyrant's trusted general, Nylon, met forces rallied from the defending nations near the village of Sap. Having defeated three nations of the enemy coalition in the months past, Nylon saw himself as invincible, unaware that one of the enemies, the Servelat, had brought a dishonorable weapon to battle.

After a long skirmish, the Lesser Atrian forces charged forth, and suddenly a wave of fire erupted from their spears, blinding the noble Elven warriors and leaving them fleeing loose while the humans cut them down one by one, turning the tide of the battle instantly. Nylon was forced to retreat from the fields of Sap and flee to Thapsus with terrible news, for which he had been stripped of command and reduced to one of the thousands of fellow soldiers, a fitting humiliation for one who grew overconfident of his strength.

The development and spread of the fire lance was swift. A mere eleven years after the Battle of Sap, Thapsian chronicles record the existence of a small separate unit of "fire wielders" under the direct control of the monarch. The Thapsian fire lances, however, were significantly different from those which had originated in Servelat. They were significantly longer and heavier instead of being merely normal spears with a gunpowder cartridge attached, and instead of being used as a shock weapon at time of charge, it was carried by several men at once due to its heavy weight, and would release what the chronicles recorded as "an explosion of arrows" - though the specifics of how the Thapsian fire lance worked have been lost to history, it is safe to assume that the gunpowder explosion was used as a propellant to send arrows forth. In the following decades, the Thapsian design would travel north and reach the Rosen Vale, where it would acquire even more improvements - the tip of the spear was removed as the weapon turned unwieldy to be used in melee, and the gunpowder cartridge was replaced by a steel one to better contain the explosion inside. For the engineers and generals of Thapsus, An'Zarok and the surrounding nations, the priority of gunpowder designs was obvious - as these nations were located in heartlands of civilization with powerful castles and fortifications for armies to scale, adequate siege equipment was necessary to tear them down and open gaps in the stonework, which is where the raw power of gunpowder shined. The Thapsian fire lance, as such, became the predecessor of modern cannons.

In the south and east, once reaching the hands of the engineers and craftsmen of the Urban Center, the development of the fire lance took a different path. The Center, the Archipelago of Svarnabhumi, and the Lesser Atrium states saw little need for heavy gunpowder weaponry - fortifications and castles were always less of a problem for the armies here, and the mass approach to warfare which the Tyranny of Thapsus wields sees little interest either, instead replaced by more asymmetrical, skirmish forms of war. It is here where the concept of personal firearms soon arose - the fire lances of Svarnabhumi saw the creation of replaceable paper cartridges, allowing the wielder of the weapon to carry more than one shot, and soon began to include things such as broken pieces of porcelain or small iron pellets within the cartridge to create deadly shrapnel.

Gunpowder Weaponry Today

Gunpowder has seen four hundred hears of continuous development, spurred by numerous nations across the world, and yet it remains a novelty for some and a quirk with no future for others. It continues to face significant technological and logistical challenges. The need to supply any gunpowder wielding army with a steady stream of the material makes them a fairly expensive endeavor for some nations and an unachievable dream for others - and while gunpowder remains cheap in the Southern Bog, its inhabitants, I fear, are starting to grasp the value of the mix that they produce for foreigners and are starting to raise their prices. Should gunpowder seek to conquer the future, it needs to become a lot more common across the entire world. Firearms and cannons continue to face competition from old fashioned arrows, magic spells and Southern pyromancers, and while they can offer advantages such as ease of training in comparison to the years needed to master an art of magic or a strong bow, their slow rate of fire serves as a significant disadvantage. In addition, the last few hundred years have seen development in other fields, too. Knights and footmen now ride and march in full plate mail rather than mail and steelworking has reached new heights of complexity, all of which firearms have to compete with.

And yet, gunpowder continues to slowly proliferate. Many larger nations across the world are equipped with state firearm regiments to complement their traditional armies, allowing a combined arms approach to warfare. Adventurers carrying guns have been sighted across the civilized world and the reaches, some even ending up in the Paean Legion.

As of the modern day, gunpowder weaponry can be classified to three separate categories - cannons, firearms and grenades.

The cannon, pioneered by the civilized Western nations and their northern counterparts in the Rosen Vale, remains as the most prolific form of gunpowder weaponry. It is, in essence, a large steel tube which uses gunpowder to propel balls of steel or lead forward, and is used against buildings and fortifications. Unlike, say, catapults, the cannon allows the user to much easily fire at a target without the necessity of specific positioning or calculations, with often much deadlier results. They are also, however, a highly dangerous weapon - careless use of the cannon can result in the tube jamming and exploding outright instead of firing the projectile. I had been informed as such by my peers in Thapsus, who had the chance to witness a barrage of cannons and barely escaped from one of the devices detonating after a jam.

The Western engineers continue their experiments with cannon technology as years go by, their minds coming up with crazier and crazier ideas. For example, I had been told that one brave soul thought of the great idea of putting cannons on a ship and allowing it to fire destructive projectiles at enemy ships, forgetting that gunpowder needs to be dry to be flammable and the sea is the complete opposite of dry. My dear Patrician, I may have sounded apologetic and supportive towards gunpowder during this whole treatise, but even I can see which ideas are reasonable and which are completely crazy - and this is undoubtedly the latter.

The firearm, also called the hand cannon, is, as the name implies, an adaptation of the cannon for handheld usage, seeking to replace bows and magic spells as the primary ranged weapon of the battlefield. Firearms are usually employed in separate regiments which are able to stay close to melee units capable of providing cover, as, unlike archers, the firing rate and accuracy of each individual firearm has yet to make them capable of standing alone in the field. They employ either line formation or scatter formation, the former to fire deadly volleys against open enemy forces and the latter to maximize the amount of guns able to fire at any given moment, though the former makes them vulnerable to cavalry and the latter leaves their impact in the battle lacking potency.

Finally, though a grenade is a very specific type of weapon, a small ceramic case filled with gunpowder and carrying a fuse to produce an explosion, I have chosen to place this name on a loose category of weapons which are neither cannons nor firearms. Most of them are used to control the flow of the battlefield - land mines, for example, which are used to prevent enemy forces from moving to specific directions and thus lure them to designated killing grounds, a common strategy employed by Nurian mercenary armies. Other explosives also fall to this category, such as those used to destroy castle and city walls when one's army does not possess any other siege weapons. Their use can vary from either frequent to completely obscure, but no matter what, they are useful support equipment.

by **Union Princes** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 3:45 pm

Farewell, thanks for a good adventure.

I'm withdrawing.

by **Absolon-7** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 10:17 pm

Solisian Union wrote:Name: Shesonarth / Susan Ravager

First off Draconic isnt a race. Since you're apping a race called Half-Dragons and her own bio says Half-Dragons her race would say Half-Dragon. Her bio's fine. The biggest issue is the boon. First off there would be no legends on a boon and that later sentence makes it out that someone made it when it says in the OP that they're not made by people they're created by the Singing Stone. So you have to remove everything from "The Crown of Thorns, legends say," to "continuation of life." The line about fertilizing and restoring crops makes it too powerful for a starter boon for a Redcloak so it has to go.

Solisian Union wrote:Group Name: Half Dragons

Racial Group Accepted

Tyr wrote:Name: Ganzorig Tarkhan

Bio is quite light but it gets the gist of it. Only thing i need is for you to add how he learned magic even if its basic.

Tyr wrote:Group Name: Desert Orcs

Racial Group Accepted. And fix that messed up coding around Innate Weaknesses.

Tyr wrote:Faction Name: Külunbold Khanate

Faction Accepted

Finland SSR wrote:Gunpowder: History, Weaponry and Proliferation

Amazing job, fin. I'll add a lik to it in the OP along with other stuff i've been menaing to get to.

by **Solisian Union** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 10:34 pm

Thanks Abs!

Here you go!

Name: Shesonarth / Susan Ravager
Age: 44
Gender: Female
Race: Half Dragon
Appearance (pics if possible):

by **Finland SSR** » Fri Mar 22, 2019 3:10 pm

Faction Name: The Grand Republic of Nur
Faction Region(s): The Urban Center
Description/Lore: The Grand Republic of Nur is one of the most powerful of the actors in the central region of the continent of Anthem, dominating over the rest of the Merchant States of Nur, a trade league dispersed across the Urban Center and Western Heartlands with their driving force being mercantile interest. Though Nur itself is technically a city state, only controlling the city of Nur and surrounding territory, its impressive wealth and the connections of their plutocratic ruling class allow it to punch far above its own weight - the Grand Republic fields a significant force of mercenaries, hired swords and adventurers if push ever comes to shove, and its allies in the Nurian trade league provide additional necessary firepower in any conflict.

The city of Nur had once been founded by explorers aligned to the great Healst Empire of the distant past, as a frontier outpost in the mountainous center of the continent of Anthem - however, the strategic position of the outpost meant that it not only attracted travellers and settlers, but became a major trade hub, controlling the route between the Western Heartlands and the thassalocracy of Svarnabhumi in the east. Upon the fall of the Healst Empire, Nur was taken over by a local warlord and established itself as an independent kingdom, but the rule of the foreign did not remain for long - the growing merchant class of the city soon took the reins, declaring no royals no longer and announcing the formation of a Republic which has since lasted for over a thousand years.
Races that are part of the faction: Plenty, though humans are dominant.
Additional Info: The Grand Republic of Nur prides itself in its republican traditions, seeing the monarchical ways of the Nine Princedoms of Ashar and the many statelets sprawling across the Western Heartlands, and the authoritarian rule of the mages in the Magocracies of Thayar, as backwards and incompatible with the changing zeitgeist of the era. However, it is far from any sort of perfect democratic state. The wealthiest and most influential citizens of the Republic compose the elected council - clientelism is not only legal, but encouraged, as many of the poorest citizens of the city can only make their ends meet through patronage, and where's the problem in using your hard-earned wealth to get elected and thus help the city?

The election of the Patrician, the leader of the Republic, is perhaps the only piece of the electoral system where the Republic remembers its claim about the equality of each citizen. The Patrician is elected through sortition - a complex and convoluted system for electing officials to public office. A series of secret ballots appoints 41 electors, who then each cast a vote into an urn. A single random vote is extracted from the urn, and the man whose name is written on it becomes the new Patrician.

The current Patrician is Allthador Serenus, the young half-human, half-elf successor of the old plutocratic House of Serenus - an energetic and ambitious type with a desire to see all of the Urban Center under Nurian domination, but also a romantic wanderer - perhaps it is the elven blood in his veins which draws him to adventure. Rumors are abound that the Patrician was, or maybe even still is, secretly a member of the Paean Legion, though these claims remain baseless - either way, the fresh leader of Nur has so far certainly been generous with donations towards the Legion...

Name: Nur
Dominant Group: Humans, though plenty of various other species are present and able to climb up the ranks of government.
Region: The Urban Center
City Size: Large City
Notable features:

The city of Nur had initially formed around an outpost in an island located in the Lake of Emperor Lullaby (named after the reigning emperor of the Healst Empire upon the discovery of the lake), a major body of water which is connected to the network of the Aria River, allowing boats and ships from Nur to traverse across the primary artery of the Western Heartlands, as well as reach many other cities in the Urban Center through river navigation and crossings. The cramped size of the island is perhaps the main reason why Nur has not grown into a massive megalopolis much like many of its peers, though the Nurians have done the best they can to expand their living space through dikes, water drainage and lots and lots of public works.

Because of its defensible island status and the wooden wall of the Nurian coastal fleet, the city notably has no fortifications.
Age of City: ~1500 years
Major Industry: International trade hub.

by **Absolon-7** » Sun Mar 24, 2019 2:20 pm

Tyr wrote:Name: Ganzorig Tarkhan

Alright, I see you edited what i suggested. Character Accepted.

Solisian Union wrote:Name: Shesonarth / Susan Ravager

Character Accepted

Finland SSR wrote:Faction Name: The Grand Republic of Nur

Faction Accepted

Finland SSR wrote:Name: Nur

City Accepted

Also added Fin's map to the OP. As for announcements, next contracts should be up by Tuesday.

by **Sudbrazil** » Sun Mar 24, 2019 2:21 pm

Name: Walter Schaefer von Eisenach
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Appearance:

Statistics:
Strength: 4
Agility: 4
Endurance: 3
Magical Prowess: 1
Bio:

Heroic Boon: Defender of the faith: Solid steel wielded by Walther has been granted resistance against weak demonic and heretical curses and attack spells. However, this protection only applies to his fully armoured body, meaning that anything will go through his Gamberson, chainmail and unprotected face or exposed thighs.
Abilities:

[Silent Steel]: Perhaps it is the way he moves, how he wears his padding, or even how he waxes it? The fact is that with some care, Walter can avoid the noise associated with metal armour. He can't quite explain it.
[Manual of Arms]: While a beating with a good heavy mace is a good way to end a fight, Walter has demonstrated good accuracy with bladed weapons, and is able to hit gaps in his opponents' armour and defences without as much trouble as is generally had.
[Stands firm and true the guard] Scahefer is quite nimble at his feet and good at staying up, a crucial skill in combat. He will quickly recover from blows that would have struck down another man.

Limitations:

"Did I get him?": Schaefer neglected training with the bow or the crossbow for far too long. While he can still hunt large game, do not trust him in the stress and confusion of a fight, as he will prove unreliable.
"A Witch!": Originating from a community with very few sorcerers, Schaefer has trouble dealing with magic. Whether be understanding or fighting it, he often relies on his companions to handle arcane problems, or even withdraws from situations involving the craft.

Equipment:

[Long Sword] A 105 centimetre-long sharpened steel blade, decorated at its hilt. It parries quite well and is very versatile.
[Flanged mace] Heavy, sturdy and cheap steel. Great for dealing with armoured oponents or breaking bones.
[Utility Leather Belt] Strapped on his belt are scabbards for his weapons, his coin purse, a lantern sometimes and several pouches with rope, maps, keys, and other items of value to him
[Cloak] A dark blue cloak with wine and gold decorations and a hood. Protects against the elements and nothing else.
[Gamberson Jacket] A jacket made from padded material with detachable long sleeves that reaches his thighs. It protects against blunt trauma, blades as well as most arrows. Crossbows and spikes go right through, though.
[Chainmail] A second hand short-sleeved suit. It is adequate against slashing and stabbing weapons, and arrows to a greater extent.
[Gothic Plate] Perhaps the most expensive item among Walter's equipment is part of a suit of Gothic plate. Though he hadn't enough money for a whole set, Walter possesses pauldrons, greaves, a breastplate and even a close helmet. All pieces are crafted from hardened steel as thick as three millimetres. They can stop blows from warhammers and even thousand-pound crossbows with only small dents.

by **Absolon-7** » Sun Mar 24, 2019 2:25 pm

Sudbrazil wrote:Name: Walter Schaefer von Eisenach

Character Accepted

Song of Heroes OOC (Fantasy RP, CLOSED)

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