Four Spirits and the Child of Peace (planning)

[Harbertia]

We've opted to start with Four rather then five spirits. We've entered the planning phase. The Child of Peace player should have their app up soon.

[Harbertia]

I've started a poll.

[Khasinkonia]

FYI, this does effect the Child of Peace themselves. Nice to meet y'all, I've volunteered for the part btw. A further question will be as to the age of the Child, which may be between 9-10 to 18-19. What this is is basically, Old Child, Tween, Teen, or Young Adult. Each comes with different points of interest.

[Utceforp]

FYI, this does effect the Child of Peace themselves. Nice to meet y'all, I've volunteered for the part btw. A further question will be as to the age of the Child, which may be between 9-10 to 18-19. What this is is basically, Old Child, Tween, Teen, or Young Adult. Each comes with different points of interest.

hmmm... I like the idea of a sort of mentor/mentee relationship between the Spirits and the Child, but RPing as a young child has unique difficulties, I think. I'm not sure.

[Harbertia]

FYI, this does effect the Child of Peace themselves. Nice to meet y'all, I've volunteered for the part btw. A further question will be as to the age of the Child, which may be between 9-10 to 18-19. What this is is basically, Old Child, Tween, Teen, or Young Adult. Each comes with different points of interest.

hmmm... I like the idea of a sort of mentor/mentee relationship between the Spirits and the Child, but RPing as a young child has unique difficulties, I think. I'm not sure.

You are right in that each age group would have it's own difficulties. I certainly do like the idea of the Spirits mentoring the Child of Peace yet also learning from the Child of Peace. Largely the spirits would be I think getting the potential of the CoP to be fulfilled if that make sense.

[Khasinkonia]

FYI, this does effect the Child of Peace themselves. Nice to meet y'all, I've volunteered for the part btw. A further question will be as to the age of the Child, which may be between 9-10 to 18-19. What this is is basically, Old Child, Tween, Teen, or Young Adult. Each comes with different points of interest.

hmmm... I like the idea of a sort of mentor/mentee relationship between the Spirits and the Child, but RPing as a young child has unique difficulties, I think. I'm not sure.

I've been able to manage it before, so it's really a matter of preference from everyone else. If we don't get any further votes, then tonight I'll finish and post the app.

[Utceforp]

The Four Spirits + the Child sort of correspond to the Chinese five elements, if you squint at them a bit:

• Fire: Amane no Asuka (Is a phoenix/fenghuang/hou-ou.)
  
• Earth: Jin Long (Literally a yellow dragon.)
  
• Metal: Bai Xiang (Associated with the colour white, commands lightning, is stubborn and ambitious.)
  
• Water: He Shi Huian (Shapeshifter, inhabits underground pools, shadowy and reclusive.)
  
• Wood: The Child of Peace (Born from a plant, young and full of potential.)

On the other hand, I don't really know what I'm talking about, so this could be even more of a stretch than I already think it is.

[Eclius]

Do you guys need help with anything else that relates to the background story?

[Nagakawa]

I think it would be pretty cool to have our fifth Spirit be inspired by a figure from Indian folklore and Hindu mythology; perhaps an incarnation of some elder being akin to Lord Krishna, or maybe a more sympathetic take of, say, Ravana from the Ramayana.

[Nagakawa]

Do you guys need help with anything else that relates to the background story?

Oh yes, that would be nice.

[Khasinkonia]

Alright, popular request says that we're getting a Not!Tibetan CoP

[Utceforp]

I think it would be pretty cool to have our fifth Spirit be inspired by a figure from Indian folklore and Hindu mythology; perhaps an incarnation of some elder being akin to Lord Krishna, or maybe a more sympathetic take of, say, Ravana from the Ramayana.

Bai Xiang was loosely (and I do mean loosely) inspired by Indra, hence why his mortal name is "Sakra" and his homeland is somewhere to the west.

[Nagakawa]

I think it would be pretty cool to have our fifth Spirit be inspired by a figure from Indian folklore and Hindu mythology; perhaps an incarnation of some elder being akin to Lord Krishna, or maybe a more sympathetic take of, say, Ravana from the Ramayana.

Bai Xiang was loosely (and I do mean loosely) inspired by Indra, hence why his mortal name is "Sakra" and his homeland is somewhere to the west.

Hmm yea, now that you mention it

[Khasinkonia]

Sevagru “Lukmik” Metoklukmikma(སེབ༹གྲུ་“ལུག་མིག་”མེ་ཏོག་ལུག་མིག), The Child of Peace. Addressed formally and historically as Gui-Taiping(Lit: Honourable/Worthy Peace)
ཞི་བའི་ཕྲུ་གུ, 太平兒童, 평화로운 아이, 平和な子供, Amar taivan khüükhed, កុមារមានសន្តិភាព, Huuwaliyasunjui, Đứa trẻ bình yên, शांति का बच्चा—The Child of Peace. This is the one constant name by which this being goes.

According to the very oldest legends in the land, this being is the manifestation of the force of Balance itself. As long as the Child lives, the world remains at peace. The Child’s body may be mortal, but their spirit, though their memories may fade if the Child is not brought up knowing their duties, will persist until the end of time, so long as they restore peace at the Temple of the Harmony each lifetime. Even the Four (Great) Spirits may be claimed by the sands of time, and eventually be replaced by the Gods in the absence of the Child(as Four is, of course, a most inauspicious of numbers), but the Child is eternal. The longer the world goes without the influence of the Five Elements, the more misfortune befalls it as darkness sways the cosmic scales in its favour. With the help of each spirit, the Child safeguards and balances the Cosmic Scale, a great stone scale made of marble and obsidian that is as old as time itself located within the deepest reaches of the Caverns of Eternity, the ancient tunnels beneath the Temple grounds.

The Cosmic Scale is indestructible, immovable, and unchangeable, save for the Child’s efforts to balance it, doing so by delicately distributing Golden Favours. Golden Favours are temporary expressions of divine pleasure, created by the Child of Peace imbuing sincere prayers of visitors at the Fountain of Divine Tears into pearls produced by the clams in Huian’s Pools. Unfortunately, evil in the world constantly shifts, and Golden Favours are not eternal. When the one whose prayer creates it passes on, the Favour evaporates into nothingness, making the task of balancing the scales a permanent job. Without the Child, the scale grows ever more unbalanced, and the situation of the world becomes ever more dire. Unfortunately, the Child has been gone from the Temple for perhaps the longest time in history. Indeed, darkness has had a great deal of time to advance upon the world. As the Spirits quest as an inauspicious quartet.

Fortunately, in the 72nd year of Peace’s Absence, with the combination of the Number of rising, vital energy, and spirits visiting Earth, and the Number of happiness, doubles, and the blessings they bring, the Child of Peace was reborn. Each time the Child is reborn, the signs can be seen the year prior. A single Chrysanthemum will grow to an enormous size over the course of the year, and will finally release a baby, who will remain attached to it until someone frees the child. The Chrysanthemum will always take one of the Five Elemental colours, and the child will, for the rest of that lifetime, maintain a matching hair colour. The pistil will similarly take on a colour, which will correspond to the colour of the Child’s iris.

Normally, the Chrysanthemum of Rebirth will bestow itself upon a domestic Chrysanthemum, one tended by the careful hand of monks, or perhaps by priests. But this time, the Chrysanthemum of Rebirth came not into the eagerly awaiting arms of a priest, or those of a thrilled peasant, but into the unforgiving arms of the Great Southwestern Mountains. The Empire of the Sky that inhabits these alpine regions knows of the Child of Peace, and has, on occasion, borne previous incarnations of the Child, but each of those times had been where the Chrysanthemum of Rebirth was in the presence of a knowledgeable monk. Unfortunately, there had been no such luck with the previous rebirth. A wild chrysanthemum, not a domestic one, bore the Child. Worse still, it would be clear to anyone who looked at the Child that the flower had begun to die by the time the Child was plucked from it. Although the flower may be white—the colour of death—the fact that the pistil was a sickly grey betrays the truth. Worse still, those who found the Child did not know of the Temple, for they were believers in the Old Gods, the unforgiving façades that the gods donned before the time of civilisation. These yak herders did not know to bring the Child to the Temple, so, rather than doing so, they embraced the Child as one of their own, and raised them. Only recently, just at the end of the summer trading system, was the Child recognised. Though the humble spotter, Brother Lobsang, was not able to coax the Child from the arms of their adoptive family, the Spirits have since received the news, and so only now, in the deep winter, where the bitter cold of the Great Southwestern Mountains has brought a seemingly endless whiteout, but the Spirits must fight through to retrieve the Child, and escort them from this distant land back to the Temple.

When they find the Child, what they will find may be disconcerting. Lukmik is not the leader that they so desperately need, but rather, a short, ragged, slightly ill-tempered tween girl. Indeed, from behind, the only indicator of anything particularly special about the child is her short silk-soft white hair, which never seems to grow, and resists any attempts to cut it that anyone else makes. This physical resistance to change is another indicator of the Child of Peace. From the front, however, something about her face does give a sense of something supernatural. Her skin is blemishless, as perfect and smooth as Celadon from the Eastern Peninsula, and with rosy red cheeks that a youthful Child will often have. Unlike most iterations, however, her hair is a deathly white, while her irises are a shallow, sickly grey, likely reflecting the inauspicious circumstances of her rebirth. Further with the deathly tone of her appearance, her nails appear like obsidian. Black, yet simultaneously reflective. Although she is neither bony nor obese, and otherwise appears quite healthy, something about this appearance will certainly unnerve a Spirit. Certainly, these circumstances are not ideal. Certainly, as they escort the Child back to the Temple, they will do well to teach this youngster of her otherworldly heritage, and restore balance to the world.

[Harbertia]

The Four Spirits + the Child sort of correspond to the Chinese five elements, if you squint at them a bit:

• Fire: Amane no Asuka (Is a phoenix/fenghuang/hou-ou.)
  
• Earth: Jin Long (Literally a yellow dragon.)
  
• Metal: Bai Xiang (Associated with the colour white, commands lightning, is stubborn and ambitious.)
  
• Water: He Shi Huian (Shapeshifter, inhabits underground pools, shadowy and reclusive.)
  
• Wood: The Child of Peace (Born from a plant, young and full of potential.)

On the other hand, I don't really know what I'm talking about, so this could be even more of a stretch than I already think it is.

I actually like that it turned out this way. I appreciate that you pointed this out

Sevagru “Lukmik” Metoklukmikma(སེབ༹གྲུ་“ལུག་མིག་”མེ་ཏོག་ལུག་མིག), The Child of Peace. Addressed formally and historically as Gui-Taiping(Lit: Honourable/Worthy Peace)
ཞི་བའི་ཕྲུ་གུ, 太平兒童, 평화로운 아이, 平和な子供, Amar taivan khüükhed, កុមារមានសន្តិភាព, Huuwaliyasunjui, Đứa trẻ bình yên, शांति का बच्चा—The Child of Peace. This is the one constant name by which this being goes.

According to the very oldest legends in the land, this being is the manifestation of the force of Balance itself. As long as the Child lives, the world remains at peace. The Child’s body may be mortal, but their spirit, though their memories may fade if the Child is not brought up knowing their duties, will persist until the end of time, so long as they restore peace at the Temple of the Harmony each lifetime. Even the Four (Great) Spirits may be claimed by the sands of time, and eventually be replaced by the Gods in the absence of the Child(as Four is, of course, a most inauspicious of numbers), but the Child is eternal. The longer the world goes without the influence of the Five Elements, the more misfortune befalls it as darkness sways the cosmic scales in its favour. With the help of each spirit, the Child safeguards and balances the Cosmic Scale, a great stone scale made of marble and obsidian that is as old as time itself located within the deepest reaches of the Caverns of Eternity, the ancient tunnels beneath the Temple grounds.

The Cosmic Scale is indestructible, immovable, and unchangeable, save for the Child’s efforts to balance it, doing so by delicately distributing Golden Favours. Golden Favours are temporary expressions of divine pleasure, created by the Child of Peace imbuing sincere prayers of visitors at the Fountain of Divine Tears into pearls produced by the clams in Huian’s Pools. Unfortunately, evil in the world constantly shifts, and Golden Favours are not eternal. When the one whose prayer creates it passes on, the Favour evaporates into nothingness, making the task of balancing the scales a permanent job. Without the Child, the scale grows ever more unbalanced, and the situation of the world becomes ever more dire. Unfortunately, the Child has been gone from the Temple for perhaps the longest time in history. Indeed, darkness has had a great deal of time to advance upon the world. As the Spirits quest as an inauspicious quartet.

Fortunately, in the 72nd year of Peace’s Absence, with the combination of the Number of rising, vital energy, and spirits visiting Earth, and the Number of happiness, doubles, and the blessings they bring, the Child of Peace was reborn. Each time the Child is reborn, the signs can be seen the year prior. A single Chrysanthemum will grow to an enormous size over the course of the year, and will finally release a baby, who will remain attached to it until someone frees the child. The Chrysanthemum will always take one of the Five Elemental colours, and the child will, for the rest of that lifetime, maintain a matching hair colour. The pistil will similarly take on a colour, which will correspond to the colour of the Child’s iris.

Normally, the Chrysanthemum of Rebirth will bestow itself upon a domestic Chrysanthemum, one tended by the careful hand of monks, or perhaps by priests. But this time, the Chrysanthemum of Rebirth came not into the eagerly awaiting arms of a priest, or those of a thrilled peasant, but into the unforgiving arms of the Great Southwestern Mountains. The Empire of the Sky that inhabits these alpine regions knows of the Child of Peace, and has, on occasion, borne previous incarnations of the Child, but each of those times had been where the Chrysanthemum of Rebirth was in the presence of a knowledgeable monk. Unfortunately, there had been no such luck with the previous rebirth. A wild chrysanthemum, not a domestic one, bore the Child. Worse still, it would be clear to anyone who looked at the Child that the flower had begun to die by the time the Child was plucked from it. Although the flower may be white—the colour of death—the fact that the pistil was a sickly grey betrays the truth. Worse still, those who found the Child did not know of the Temple, for they were believers in the Old Gods, the unforgiving façades that the gods donned before the time of civilisation. These yak herders did not know to bring the Child to the Temple, so, rather than doing so, they embraced the Child as one of their own, and raised them. Only recently, just at the end of the summer trading system, was the Child recognised. Though the humble spotter, Brother Lobsang, was not able to coax the Child from the arms of their adoptive family, the Spirits have since received the news, and so only now, in the deep winter, where the bitter cold of the Great Southwestern Mountains has brought a seemingly endless whiteout, but the Spirits must fight through to retrieve the Child, and escort them from this distant land back to the Temple.

When they find the Child, what they will find may be disconcerting. Lukmik is not the leader that they so desperately need, but rather, a short, ragged, slightly ill-tempered tween girl. Indeed, from behind, the only indicator of anything particularly special about the child is her short silk-soft white hair, which never seems to grow, and resists any attempts to cut it that anyone else makes. This physical resistance to change is another indicator of the Child of Peace. From the front, however, something about her face does give a sense of something supernatural. Her skin is blemishless, as perfect and smooth as Celadon from the Eastern Peninsula, and with rosy red cheeks that a youthful Child will often have. Unlike most iterations, however, her hair is a deathly white, while her irises are a shallow, sickly grey, likely reflecting the inauspicious circumstances of her rebirth. Further with the deathly tone of her appearance, her nails appear like obsidian. Black, yet simultaneously reflective. Although she is neither bony nor obese, and otherwise appears quite healthy, something about this appearance will certainly unnerve a Spirit. Certainly, these circumstances are not ideal. Certainly, as they escort the Child back to the Temple, they will do well to teach this youngster of her otherworldly heritage, and restore balance to the world.

We now have our Child of Peace

Do you guys need help with anything else that relates to the background story?

We're having a period now to figure out some history between our characters.

I have the following in mind for some history from earliest to most recent;
- The Cosmic Scales as old as time come to be in the Caverns of Eternity.
- The world becomes disbalanced.
- Asuka acquires the blessed and cursed sabres after years of mercenary work that in his time had him exalted among man.
- Asuka is dragged into the Caverns of Eternity, where his body is devoured and his spirit bound to the Earth.
- According to the oldest legends the the force of balance manifests it's self for the first time into the Child of Peace.
- The Child of Peace enters the Caverns of Eternity to fulfill their quest of balance.
- Huian, a dark spirit is encountered with in those caverns. The Child of Peace brought her to positive tears. She dedicated herself to the balance following their encounter and knows the Child of Peace as her master.
- The Child of Peace embued the oath into a pearl and the clam yielded it to them. This was the first Golden Favor that balanced the scales.
- Asuka is rescued after 888 years of imprisonment by a benevolent Yaksha (perhaps of water- perhaps Huian?) and given a new though temporary body (perhaps of clay) and is sent to find the reincarnation of the Child of Peace and escort them back to the temple. Asuka had a choice to do so or live out the rest of his life as the temporary body allowed and choose to find the child and serve them.
- During the Child's absence from the Cosmic Scales the great general Sakra rises in legend from the Kingdom of the West.
- The Temple of Harmony is built after Asuka's return.
- Sakra arrives at the temple, swearing his loyalty to the Child of Peace who bestowed upon him the name Bai Xaing.
- Bai Xiang combats a demon deep with in the Earth who so reviled sunlight as to attempt to take it from the world allowing darkness to take hold, destroying the balance of night and day. Bai Xiang throws the mountain the demon inhabits far over the horizon and then (perhaps with Asuka's company) sets forth to destroy the weakened demon before it can regain it's power. Where the mountain once stood is now a passage to the temple for those pilgrims from the West.
- Jin Long becomes a Guardian and travels the land doing good deeds to balance the ills of the Empress of the East.
- 1000 years after Bai Xiang became a guardian the Child of Peace is killed at the age of 44 and the temple occupied by dark forces. The quest to find the next reincarnation of the child begins.
- 85 years - the present.

I think this is enough to start a conversation on connecting our characters How does this layout sound and can we improve it with additional detail and refinement?

[Khasinkonia]

The Four Spirits + the Child sort of correspond to the Chinese five elements, if you squint at them a bit:

• Fire: Amane no Asuka (Is a phoenix/fenghuang/hou-ou.)
  
• Earth: Jin Long (Literally a yellow dragon.)
  
• Metal: Bai Xiang (Associated with the colour white, commands lightning, is stubborn and ambitious.)
  
• Water: He Shi Huian (Shapeshifter, inhabits underground pools, shadowy and reclusive.)
  
• Wood: The Child of Peace (Born from a plant, young and full of potential.)

On the other hand, I don't really know what I'm talking about, so this could be even more of a stretch than I already think it is.

I actually like that it turned out this way. I appreciate that you pointed this out

Sevagru “Lukmik” Metoklukmikma(སེབ༹གྲུ་“ལུག་མིག་”མེ་ཏོག་ལུག་མིག), The Child of Peace. Addressed formally and historically as Gui-Taiping(Lit: Honourable/Worthy Peace)
ཞི་བའི་ཕྲུ་གུ, 太平兒童, 평화로운 아이, 平和な子供, Amar taivan khüükhed, កុមារមានសន្តិភាព, Huuwaliyasunjui, Đứa trẻ bình yên, शांति का बच्चा—The Child of Peace. This is the one constant name by which this being goes.

According to the very oldest legends in the land, this being is the manifestation of the force of Balance itself. As long as the Child lives, the world remains at peace. The Child’s body may be mortal, but their spirit, though their memories may fade if the Child is not brought up knowing their duties, will persist until the end of time, so long as they restore peace at the Temple of the Harmony each lifetime. Even the Four (Great) Spirits may be claimed by the sands of time, and eventually be replaced by the Gods in the absence of the Child(as Four is, of course, a most inauspicious of numbers), but the Child is eternal. The longer the world goes without the influence of the Five Elements, the more misfortune befalls it as darkness sways the cosmic scales in its favour. With the help of each spirit, the Child safeguards and balances the Cosmic Scale, a great stone scale made of marble and obsidian that is as old as time itself located within the deepest reaches of the Caverns of Eternity, the ancient tunnels beneath the Temple grounds.

The Cosmic Scale is indestructible, immovable, and unchangeable, save for the Child’s efforts to balance it, doing so by delicately distributing Golden Favours. Golden Favours are temporary expressions of divine pleasure, created by the Child of Peace imbuing sincere prayers of visitors at the Fountain of Divine Tears into pearls produced by the clams in Huian’s Pools. Unfortunately, evil in the world constantly shifts, and Golden Favours are not eternal. When the one whose prayer creates it passes on, the Favour evaporates into nothingness, making the task of balancing the scales a permanent job. Without the Child, the scale grows ever more unbalanced, and the situation of the world becomes ever more dire. Unfortunately, the Child has been gone from the Temple for perhaps the longest time in history. Indeed, darkness has had a great deal of time to advance upon the world. As the Spirits quest as an inauspicious quartet.

Fortunately, in the 72nd year of Peace’s Absence, with the combination of the Number of rising, vital energy, and spirits visiting Earth, and the Number of happiness, doubles, and the blessings they bring, the Child of Peace was reborn. Each time the Child is reborn, the signs can be seen the year prior. A single Chrysanthemum will grow to an enormous size over the course of the year, and will finally release a baby, who will remain attached to it until someone frees the child. The Chrysanthemum will always take one of the Five Elemental colours, and the child will, for the rest of that lifetime, maintain a matching hair colour. The pistil will similarly take on a colour, which will correspond to the colour of the Child’s iris.

Normally, the Chrysanthemum of Rebirth will bestow itself upon a domestic Chrysanthemum, one tended by the careful hand of monks, or perhaps by priests. But this time, the Chrysanthemum of Rebirth came not into the eagerly awaiting arms of a priest, or those of a thrilled peasant, but into the unforgiving arms of the Great Southwestern Mountains. The Empire of the Sky that inhabits these alpine regions knows of the Child of Peace, and has, on occasion, borne previous incarnations of the Child, but each of those times had been where the Chrysanthemum of Rebirth was in the presence of a knowledgeable monk. Unfortunately, there had been no such luck with the previous rebirth. A wild chrysanthemum, not a domestic one, bore the Child. Worse still, it would be clear to anyone who looked at the Child that the flower had begun to die by the time the Child was plucked from it. Although the flower may be white—the colour of death—the fact that the pistil was a sickly grey betrays the truth. Worse still, those who found the Child did not know of the Temple, for they were believers in the Old Gods, the unforgiving façades that the gods donned before the time of civilisation. These yak herders did not know to bring the Child to the Temple, so, rather than doing so, they embraced the Child as one of their own, and raised them. Only recently, just at the end of the summer trading system, was the Child recognised. Though the humble spotter, Brother Lobsang, was not able to coax the Child from the arms of their adoptive family, the Spirits have since received the news, and so only now, in the deep winter, where the bitter cold of the Great Southwestern Mountains has brought a seemingly endless whiteout, but the Spirits must fight through to retrieve the Child, and escort them from this distant land back to the Temple.

When they find the Child, what they will find may be disconcerting. Lukmik is not the leader that they so desperately need, but rather, a short, ragged, slightly ill-tempered tween girl. Indeed, from behind, the only indicator of anything particularly special about the child is her short silk-soft white hair, which never seems to grow, and resists any attempts to cut it that anyone else makes. This physical resistance to change is another indicator of the Child of Peace. From the front, however, something about her face does give a sense of something supernatural. Her skin is blemishless, as perfect and smooth as Celadon from the Eastern Peninsula, and with rosy red cheeks that a youthful Child will often have. Unlike most iterations, however, her hair is a deathly white, while her irises are a shallow, sickly grey, likely reflecting the inauspicious circumstances of her rebirth. Further with the deathly tone of her appearance, her nails appear like obsidian. Black, yet simultaneously reflective. Although she is neither bony nor obese, and otherwise appears quite healthy, something about this appearance will certainly unnerve a Spirit. Certainly, these circumstances are not ideal. Certainly, as they escort the Child back to the Temple, they will do well to teach this youngster of her otherworldly heritage, and restore balance to the world.

We now have our Child of Peace

Do you guys need help with anything else that relates to the background story?

We're having a period now to figure out some history between our characters.

I have the following in mind for some history from earliest to most recent;
- The Cosmic Scales as old as time come to be in the Caverns of Eternity.
- The world becomes disbalanced.
- Asuka acquires the blessed and cursed sabres after years of mercenary work that in his time had him exalted among man.
- Asuka is dragged into the Caverns of Eternity, where his body is devoured and his spirit bound to the Earth.
- According to the oldest legends the the force of balance manifests it's self for the first time into the Child of Peace.
- The Child of Peace enters the Caverns of Eternity to fulfill their quest of balance.
- Huian, a dark spirit is encountered with in those caverns. The Child of Peace brought her to positive tears. She dedicated herself to the balance following their encounter and knows the Child of Peace as her master.
- The Child of Peace embued the oath into a pearl and the clam yielded it to them. This was the first Golden Favor that balanced the scales.
- Asuka is rescued after 888 years of imprisonment by a benevolent Yaksha (perhaps of water- perhaps Huian?) and given a new though temporary body (perhaps of clay) and is sent to find the reincarnation of the Child of Peace and escort them back to the temple. Asuka had a choice to do so or live out the rest of his life as the temporary body allowed and choose to find the child and serve them.
- During the Child's absence from the Cosmic Scales the great general Bai Xiang rises in legend from the Kingdom of the West.
- The Temple of Harmony is built after Asuka's return.
- Bai Xiang arrives at the temple, swearing his loyalty to the Child of Peace.
- Bai Xiang combats a demon deep with in the Earth who so reviled sunlight as to attempt to take it from the world allowing darkness to take hold, destroying the balance of night and day. Bai Xiang throws the mountain the demon inhabits far over the horizon and then (perhaps with Asuka's company) sets forth to destroy the weakened demon before it can regain it's power. Where the mountain once stood is now a passage to the temple for those pilgrims from the West.
- Jin Long becomes a Guardian and travels the land doing good deeds to balance the ills of the Empress of the East.
- 1000 years after Bai Xiang became a guardian the Child of Peace is killed and the temple occupied by dark forces. The quest to find the next reincarnation of the child begins.
- 85 years - the present.

I think this is enough to start a conversation on connecting our characters How does this layout sound and can we improve it with additional detail and refinement?

If you wanna layer bad onto the circumstances of the child's previous death, perhaps they were killed at the terribly inauspicious age of 44, which one might venture to use as an explanation for their prolonged absence.

[Utceforp]

I have the following in mind for some history from earliest to most recent;
- The Cosmic Scales as old as time come to be in the Caverns of Eternity.
- The world becomes disbalanced.
- Asuka acquires the blessed and cursed sabres after years of mercenary work that in his time had him exalted among man.
- Asuka is dragged into the Caverns of Eternity, where his body is devoured and his spirit bound to the Earth.
- According to the oldest legends the the force of balance manifests it's self for the first time into the Child of Peace.
- The Child of Peace enters the Caverns of Eternity to fulfill their quest of balance.
- Huian, a dark spirit is encountered with in those caverns. The Child of Peace brought her to positive tears. She dedicated herself to the balance following their encounter and knows the Child of Peace as her master.
- The Child of Peace embued the oath into a pearl and the clam yielded it to them. This was the first Golden Favor that balanced the scales.
- Asuka is rescued after 888 years of imprisonment by a benevolent Yaksha (perhaps of water- perhaps Huian?) and given a new though temporary body (perhaps of clay) and is sent to find the reincarnation of the Child of Peace and escort them back to the temple. Asuka had a choice to do so or live out the rest of his life as the temporary body allowed and choose to find the child and serve them.
- During the Child's absence from the Cosmic Scales the great general Bai Xiang rises in legend from the Kingdom of the West.
- The Temple of Harmony is built after Asuka's return.
- Bai Xiang arrives at the temple, swearing his loyalty to the Child of Peace.
- Bai Xiang combats a demon deep with in the Earth who so reviled sunlight as to attempt to take it from the world allowing darkness to take hold, destroying the balance of night and day. Bai Xiang throws the mountain the demon inhabits far over the horizon and then (perhaps with Asuka's company) sets forth to destroy the weakened demon before it can regain it's power. Where the mountain once stood is now a passage to the temple for those pilgrims from the West.
- Jin Long becomes a Guardian and travels the land doing good deeds to balance the ills of the Empress of the East.
- 1000 years after Bai Xiang became a guardian the Child of Peace is killed and the temple occupied by dark forces. The quest to find the next reincarnation of the child begins.
- 85 years - the present.

I think this is enough to start a conversation on connecting our characters How does this layout sound and can we improve it with additional detail and refinement?

Sounds good to me! (Though to be pedantic, Bai Xiang's name would be "Sakra" prior to his ascension. "Bai Xiang/White Elephant" was a title bestowed on him by the Child.)

I'd like to come up with some battles and adventures the Spirits had prior to the Child being killed 85 years ago. The greater they are shown to have once been, the more tragic their fall from grace is.

[Harbertia]

I have the following in mind for some history from earliest to most recent;
- The Cosmic Scales as old as time come to be in the Caverns of Eternity.
- The world becomes disbalanced.
- Asuka acquires the blessed and cursed sabres after years of mercenary work that in his time had him exalted among man.
- Asuka is dragged into the Caverns of Eternity, where his body is devoured and his spirit bound to the Earth.
- According to the oldest legends the the force of balance manifests it's self for the first time into the Child of Peace.
- The Child of Peace enters the Caverns of Eternity to fulfill their quest of balance.
- Huian, a dark spirit is encountered with in those caverns. The Child of Peace brought her to positive tears. She dedicated herself to the balance following their encounter and knows the Child of Peace as her master.
- The Child of Peace embued the oath into a pearl and the clam yielded it to them. This was the first Golden Favor that balanced the scales.
- Asuka is rescued after 888 years of imprisonment by a benevolent Yaksha (perhaps of water- perhaps Huian?) and given a new though temporary body (perhaps of clay) and is sent to find the reincarnation of the Child of Peace and escort them back to the temple. Asuka had a choice to do so or live out the rest of his life as the temporary body allowed and choose to find the child and serve them.
- During the Child's absence from the Cosmic Scales the great general Bai Xiang rises in legend from the Kingdom of the West.
- The Temple of Harmony is built after Asuka's return.
- Bai Xiang arrives at the temple, swearing his loyalty to the Child of Peace.
- Bai Xiang combats a demon deep with in the Earth who so reviled sunlight as to attempt to take it from the world allowing darkness to take hold, destroying the balance of night and day. Bai Xiang throws the mountain the demon inhabits far over the horizon and then (perhaps with Asuka's company) sets forth to destroy the weakened demon before it can regain it's power. Where the mountain once stood is now a passage to the temple for those pilgrims from the West.
- Jin Long becomes a Guardian and travels the land doing good deeds to balance the ills of the Empress of the East.
- 1000 years after Bai Xiang became a guardian the Child of Peace is killed and the temple occupied by dark forces. The quest to find the next reincarnation of the child begins.
- 85 years - the present.

I think this is enough to start a conversation on connecting our characters How does this layout sound and can we improve it with additional detail and refinement?

Sounds good to me! (Though to be pedantic, Bai Xiang's name would be "Sakra" prior to his ascension. "Bai Xiang/White Elephant" was a title bestowed on him by the Child.)

I'd like to come up with some battles and adventures the Spirits had prior to the Child being killed 85 years ago. The greater they are shown to have once been, the more tragic their fall from grace is.

Sakra, ah yes will do that and make it clear who bestowed the name. I do believe coming up with battles and adventures prior is a good route. It helps build up how our characters see each other; their relationship. I see Lin as guarding the skies. Bai the stairs (the direct route) to the temple. Huian the caverns of eternity and Asuka the Tempe interior (his two sabres seem to make that fitting). I would like to devise a misadventure involving Xaing and Huian. I stated that she sometimes patrols a river near the village (the one Xaing goes to). So the potential for interaction between them at such place exists. Xaing is very comfortable around mortals but Huian isn't and perhaps that is a catalyst for something?

[Harbertia]

I actually like that it turned out this way. I appreciate that you pointed this out


We now have our Child of Peace


We're having a period now to figure out some history between our characters.

I have the following in mind for some history from earliest to most recent;
- The Cosmic Scales as old as time come to be in the Caverns of Eternity.
- The world becomes disbalanced.
- Asuka acquires the blessed and cursed sabres after years of mercenary work that in his time had him exalted among man.
- Asuka is dragged into the Caverns of Eternity, where his body is devoured and his spirit bound to the Earth.
- According to the oldest legends the the force of balance manifests it's self for the first time into the Child of Peace.
- The Child of Peace enters the Caverns of Eternity to fulfill their quest of balance.
- Huian, a dark spirit is encountered with in those caverns. The Child of Peace brought her to positive tears. She dedicated herself to the balance following their encounter and knows the Child of Peace as her master.
- The Child of Peace embued the oath into a pearl and the clam yielded it to them. This was the first Golden Favor that balanced the scales.
- Asuka is rescued after 888 years of imprisonment by a benevolent Yaksha (perhaps of water- perhaps Huian?) and given a new though temporary body (perhaps of clay) and is sent to find the reincarnation of the Child of Peace and escort them back to the temple. Asuka had a choice to do so or live out the rest of his life as the temporary body allowed and choose to find the child and serve them.
- During the Child's absence from the Cosmic Scales the great general Bai Xiang rises in legend from the Kingdom of the West.
- The Temple of Harmony is built after Asuka's return.
- Bai Xiang arrives at the temple, swearing his loyalty to the Child of Peace.
- Bai Xiang combats a demon deep with in the Earth who so reviled sunlight as to attempt to take it from the world allowing darkness to take hold, destroying the balance of night and day. Bai Xiang throws the mountain the demon inhabits far over the horizon and then (perhaps with Asuka's company) sets forth to destroy the weakened demon before it can regain it's power. Where the mountain once stood is now a passage to the temple for those pilgrims from the West.
- Jin Long becomes a Guardian and travels the land doing good deeds to balance the ills of the Empress of the East.
- 1000 years after Bai Xiang became a guardian the Child of Peace is killed and the temple occupied by dark forces. The quest to find the next reincarnation of the child begins.
- 85 years - the present.

I think this is enough to start a conversation on connecting our characters How does this layout sound and can we improve it with additional detail and refinement?

If you wanna layer bad onto the circumstances of the child's previous death, perhaps they were killed at the terribly inauspicious age of 44, which one might venture to use as an explanation for their prolonged absence.

Oh that's a good idea I'll do that.

[Greater vakolicci haven]

Is this still open?

[Harbertia]

Is this still open?

We where originally going to have five spirits. It's technically not open however, last time the players talked about it we had determined that the fifth shouldn't be an ascended Human as three of the four spirits currently are. I'm willing to consider bringing a fifth into the group however you'll need to look at the current planning (above regarding our character's history) and read the bios of the characters. If no one objects, and the app looks good I think we're still at a point where someone can join us. Though given how close we are to starting, and how we've entered the stage of refining our character's history with each other, you'll need to get an application up soon.

If you don't feel up to that let me know so I can take the application down, which is something I should have done earlier. If you are up to that let me know so I know not to take it down.

[Greater vakolicci haven]

Is this still open?

We where originally going to have five spirits. It's technically not open however, last time the players talked about it we had determined that the fifth shouldn't be an ascended Human as three of the four spirits currently are. I'm willing to consider bringing a fifth into the group however you'll need to look at the current planning (above regarding our character's history) and read the bios of the characters. If no one objects, and the app looks good I think we're still at a point where someone can join us. Though given how close we are to starting, and how we've entered the stage of refining our character's history with each other, you'll need to get an application up soon.

If you don't feel up to that let me know so I can take the application down, which is something I should have done earlier. If you are up to that let me know so I know not to take it down.

Sure, I'm up to/for that. I'll be able to get an application up tomorrow morning.

[Harbertia]

We where originally going to have five spirits. It's technically not open however, last time the players talked about it we had determined that the fifth shouldn't be an ascended Human as three of the four spirits currently are. I'm willing to consider bringing a fifth into the group however you'll need to look at the current planning (above regarding our character's history) and read the bios of the characters. If no one objects, and the app looks good I think we're still at a point where someone can join us. Though given how close we are to starting, and how we've entered the stage of refining our character's history with each other, you'll need to get an application up soon.

If you don't feel up to that let me know so I can take the application down, which is something I should have done earlier. If you are up to that let me know so I know not to take it down.

Sure, I'm up to/for that. I'll be able to get an application up tomorrow morning.

Let us know if something comes up. I know the addition of a fifth that's not an ascended Human will mostly impact some of the ideas put forward regarding Asuka and Huian (that haven't yet been approved as this is us planning things out, tossing ideas to the group). Maybe a way to make it all fit together will present it's self.

[Harbertia]

We're still in the character discussion phase with a few ideas having been proposed. It's rather important for us to be involved as a group in this.

[Utceforp]

We're still in the character discussion phase with a few ideas having been proposed. It's rather important for us to be involved as a group in this.

I've been thinking about the idea for an interaction between Huian and Bai Xiang. My first thought was Xiang gets drunk with the villagers and tries to involve Huian in some sort of shenanigans she wants no part in, but I'm not sure about that, since his "impulsive extravert" persona is mostly a façade he puts on because he wants people to like him and remember him.

Maybe he gets drunk and challenges her to some petty contest? (Which would be nonetheless massive in scale from a human perspective, due to both of them being essentially minor deities at this point, e.g. something like "who can finish drinking an entire lake first".) That would fit with both his surface fun-loving tendencies and his more hidden desire for glory and respect, although on Huian's side I'm less sure why she would decide to accept Xiang's challenge. I think the best story would be one where Xiang's victory seems inevitable and he starts boasting about it, and then Huian wins by coming up with some sort of clever trick. (Likely one that exploits Xiang's hubris somehow.)

In regards to the other two Spirits, Jin Long could've been the one to forge Xiang's mace depending on how much time there was between Xiang and Long's respective blessings by the Child, and I could see Xiang and Asuka having some really epic friendly battles.