Somewhere in the Dark (Fantasy) [RETIRED]

[Tomia]

The Children of the Hunt

The great nomadic tribe of the Ka'ubala wander across the isles, subsisting off the land and building great tent cities as they feast and live freely as their ancestors did. Most importantly, the Ka'ubala hunt. They take great pride in facing any monster that stalks the isles. It is from this great pack society that Shetal Shadowclaw and Braddock Bonebreaker find themselves exiled. The two siblings both built reputations for themselves individually and together. Shetal came known as the smooth-talking schemer whose quick words and quicker claws got her out trouble whenever she ventured into crowds. She has also made a reputation with a pair of stolen daggers that can summon a small whirlwind when she needs it. Braddock's strength and massive great axe earned him a reputation that should be as plan as the name Bonebreaker that was bestowed upon him. Together they are known as an inseparable duo who too often gets into trouble. Despite the notoriety they are extremely formidable pair who have amassed a small fortune through various jobs that combine their two skills. That fortune was robbed of them however when they tried to steal an ancestral blade from Gragus Giantslayer an elder and very well respected member of the Ka'ubala. In their attempt to escape Shetal nearly blinded Gragus, leaving a three claw marks across his left eye. Gragus wanted their heads but, the leader of the tribe, Kalden Packleader decided upon exile instead but seized all the wealth belonging to the siblings. Left penniless and without roots, the siblings now seek to reclaim what is theirs somewhere in the dark.

The Great Monster Hunt

Shetal Shadowclaw and Braddock Bonebreaker were given a condition upon which they could return to the Ka'ubala and retain their wealth. Slay a monster never before seen from the island of Siderat. This was essentially exile as no one expects such an impossible task to be attempted. However, Shetal and Braddock are not known for their sensibility. They have currently set up a little sideshow in the city of Aratosh, where they have promised the adventure of a life time and riches to anyone who can defeat Braddock in combat. Together the two use their skills to scout out competent companions who might join them on this borderline suicidal mission into the unknown. Whatever awaits them and their soon to be allies surely does so somewhere in the dark.

[Finland SSR]

Some interesting apps I am seeing here. Can't wait to pickpocket one of you on our next quest

[Absolon-7]

Some interesting apps I am seeing here. Can't wait to pickpocket one of you on our next quest

A motley crew of depression.

[Theyra]

I was more wondering what it implies to see a person's soul in narrative terms, not so much in terms of what the ability does, so info on that would be helpful. As far as the limitations of the tracking ability go, those sound fine. I imagine it just points him in the right general direction/allows him to perceive a trail, rather than allowing him to know the exact location of his quarry? If so there should be no problem with that.

So that sounds like it would more or less just limit things to victims of a curse, those who died with an extreme grudge, and the recently dead, correct? If so that should be fine. Just try to quickly run things by me if you want to have Aivaras summon a spirit and you should be golden.

Oh, narrative wise. Well first off, a soul is colorful, each person/animal/spirit has its own color and to a novice Watcher. They are simply that a color and some seem the same but, to a trained Watcher. They can see that varieties of colors and are able to see the outline of a person/animals/spirit's features. Now a more trained or master Watcher could see more but, Aivaras is not that skilled so no.

As for tracking yeah follow a trail/right direction and not exact location.

And yes, it is limited to talking to a ghost that are victims of a curse, those who died with an extreme grudge, and the recently dead yes. And summoning a spirit he can do but, requires a ritual. Oh yeah just to make sure we are clear about it since I forgot about it. Aivaras can use the soul sight ability to also see abnormalities in a person's soul such as a curse.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

@Thiranaedh: Completely slipped past me somehow, but you mentioned Aellard being born under the full moon. Thing is, much like there is no sun in the sky, there's no moon or stars; the sky is basically permanently overcast. You can change it so that he was born on the night of the blanketing, which could serve as an omen just as well, or you could just leave the part about the fiery northern lights. Up to you.

---

Looks good. I'll add it to the archive later.

With two quests now up, players should decide where they'll want to send their characters when the IC goes up: to the Great Monster Hunt or the quest for the Blade of Amaranth.

If you want to go on both you could make additional characters.

I was more wondering what it implies to see a person's soul in narrative terms, not so much in terms of what the ability does, so info on that would be helpful. As far as the limitations of the tracking ability go, those sound fine. I imagine it just points him in the right general direction/allows him to perceive a trail, rather than allowing him to know the exact location of his quarry? If so there should be no problem with that.

So that sounds like it would more or less just limit things to victims of a curse, those who died with an extreme grudge, and the recently dead, correct? If so that should be fine. Just try to quickly run things by me if you want to have Aivaras summon a spirit and you should be golden.

Oh, narrative wise. Well first off, a soul is colorful, each person/animal/spirit has its own color and to a novice Watcher. They are simply that a color and some seem the same but, to a trained Watcher. They can see that varieties of colors and are able to see the outline of a person/animals/spirit's features. Now a more trained or master Watcher could see more but, Aivaras is not that skilled so no.

As for tracking yeah follow a trail/right direction and not exact location.

And yes, it is limited to talking to a ghost that are victims of a curse, those who died with an extreme grudge, and the recently dead yes. And summoning a spirit he can do but, requires a ritual. Oh yeah just to make sure we are clear about it since I forgot about it. Aivaras can use the soul sight ability to also see abnormalities in a person's soul such as a curse.

Alright. That all sounds good and seems like sufficient explanation. Sorry that I put you through this, it's just that soul magic seems like a much more nebulous concept than some of the other stuff we've had on here. Regardless, Aivaras is accepted.

[The Republic of Atria]

The Great Monster Hunt

I've got just the maniac for the job.

[Theyra]

@Thiranaedh: Completely slipped past me somehow, but you mentioned Aellard being born under the full moon. Thing is, much like there is no sun in the sky, there's no moon or stars; the sky is basically permanently overcast. You can change it so that he was born on the night of the blanketing, which could serve as an omen just as well, or you could just leave the part about the fiery northern lights. Up to you.

---

Looks good. I'll add it to the archive later.

With two quests now up, players should decide where they'll want to send their characters when the IC goes up: to the Great Monster Hunt or the quest for the Blade of Amaranth.

If you want to go on both you could make additional characters.

Oh, narrative wise. Well first off, a soul is colorful, each person/animal/spirit has its own color and to a novice Watcher. They are simply that a color and some seem the same but, to a trained Watcher. They can see that varieties of colors and are able to see the outline of a person/animals/spirit's features. Now a more trained or master Watcher could see more but, Aivaras is not that skilled so no.

As for tracking yeah follow a trail/right direction and not exact location.

And yes, it is limited to talking to a ghost that are victims of a curse, those who died with an extreme grudge, and the recently dead yes. And summoning a spirit he can do but, requires a ritual. Oh yeah just to make sure we are clear about it since I forgot about it. Aivaras can use the soul sight ability to also see abnormalities in a person's soul such as a curse.

Alright. That all sounds good and seems like sufficient explanation. Sorry that I put you through this, it's just that soul magic seems like a much more nebulous concept than some of the other stuff we've had on here. Regardless, Aivaras is accepted.

It is fine and most people do not really use soul magic in rps some yeah. I so I can understand.

Now to decide which quest for him to go on.

[Galnius]

@Thiranaedh: Completely slipped past me somehow, but you mentioned Aellard being born under the full moon. Thing is, much like there is no sun in the sky, there's no moon or stars; the sky is basically permanently overcast. You can change it so that he was born on the night of the blanketing, which could serve as an omen just as well, or you could just leave the part about the fiery northern lights. Up to you.

---

Looks good. I'll add it to the archive later.

With two quests now up, players should decide where they'll want to send their characters when the IC goes up: to the Great Monster Hunt or the quest for the Blade of Amaranth.

If you want to go on both you could make additional characters.

Oh, narrative wise. Well first off, a soul is colorful, each person/animal/spirit has its own color and to a novice Watcher. They are simply that a color and some seem the same but, to a trained Watcher. They can see that varieties of colors and are able to see the outline of a person/animals/spirit's features. Now a more trained or master Watcher could see more but, Aivaras is not that skilled so no.

As for tracking yeah follow a trail/right direction and not exact location.

And yes, it is limited to talking to a ghost that are victims of a curse, those who died with an extreme grudge, and the recently dead yes. And summoning a spirit he can do but, requires a ritual. Oh yeah just to make sure we are clear about it since I forgot about it. Aivaras can use the soul sight ability to also see abnormalities in a person's soul such as a curse.

Alright. That all sounds good and seems like sufficient explanation. Sorry that I put you through this, it's just that soul magic seems like a much more nebulous concept than some of the other stuff we've had on here. Regardless, Aivaras is accepted.

Nemina will be hunting the monster

[The Republic of Atria]

The Blade of Amaranth

Sveta's more than happy to assist in looking for the blade!

[Indo-pasif archipelago]

---

I consciously kept a whole lot of ambiguity about the large beast that wiped out Ællard’s village, but I was thinking about the Wendigo doing so, as that might be a really interesting narrative device later. How would you (and the OP / CO-OP) feel about that?

Sounds like a fun idea to me, let's go with it.

The Blade of Amaranth

Let's find the blade!

[New Neros]

The Deep Red Water

The Great Sellsword Ozark was a master of the blade, a man who perfected his craft and used it to great effect in conflicts near and far, and for the right price, his gifts and ability could be used to protect you or rid yourself of whatever problems irk you. His power lied in the simple fact: He was an idiot, a dunce with luck who just so happened to win his battles. He need not overthink, overanalyze, just swing his sword and crack the earth. His name carried weight, yet, for all his 'talent', he was an absent father to his flesh and blood, fraternal twins, Ozella and Oziel.

Their mother passed in childbirth and left the mercenary to raise his offspring, teaching them what he could and setting them off in the world before they were teens so that he could continue his own practice of turning men into ghosts. Oziel joined a group of merrymen who floated between being a group of adventurers and common road-side bandits as the mood struck them, while Ozella followed in her fathers' footsteps and offered her protective services for money. Well, men would rather pay a lady for a different service and women would rather pay a man to protect them, so she found herself as a consistently poor and out of work sellsword. Ozella found herself utilizing the talents her father left her, letting her become a swordswoman by sheer idiotic luck.

This got her by for many harvests, her body was unreasonably strong for a girl with her light frame, her sword could split hairs and boulders alike, and she was well on her way to becoming well-known as a hired hand. Her estranged brother provided a lead on a merchant marine in search of muscle, which readily hired Ozella at her insultingly low rate and put her to work. From seventeen to nineteen, she sailed around the Abyssal Chain and dealt heavy hands to pirates and cheapskates' alike, becoming a favorite of a wealthy captain who trusted his life to her countless times. Bestruck by a foreign illness, the captain perished in short notice, and left his fortune to Ozella.

The luck she had inherited from her father seemed to run out at that point, as the crew who also served the captain felt stiffed by the final request, and in a coordinated act of rage, attacked the teen and sliced her abdomen open abruptly. They tossed her and her blade overboard, barely even watching her body sink to the depth below as they plundered the late captain's trunk of riches. Men and women she had served alongside for years, instantly overcome with murderous jealousy, willing to throw away any ounce of friendship if it meant an easier life. Ozella's eyes were fierce, on fire, but she could do nothing as seawater splashed over her organs and pulled her down to the depths further, the last gasp of air she swallowed burning a hole in her lungs as the fought her own instinct to take another breath, knowing the next one will be nothing but dark water.

But what lies below the waves, somewhere in the dark, are monsters far worse than the beings on the surface can conjure up.

Dreaded dark tendrils reach out and grasp for whatever lone organism happens to be unlucky enough to swim a tad bit too close. The usual prey of a Teraden trout was replaced one ordinary afternoon by a distinctly human-shaped carcass, a red cloud floating away from it's body as it sank deeper and deeper in the murky waters. A final bubble of air escaped her lips, as slimy tentacles wrapped themselves around her body, pulling her remains into a gaping maw.

Moments flashed by in an instant, but the next thought that raced through Ozella's head was breathe. Her eyes shot open and her lungs filled with salty water, the jarring pain in her abdomen subsiding as small pin-pricks raced up and down her spine. She had been gutted and thrown overboard, and sank pretty quickly, but now, through some unfortunate miracle, remained alive. "You seem lost. In more ways than one." An unfamiliar voice giggled in her head, "Let me use this body of yours, for a short little while, yeah? All I need is your permission, and we'll both be free from this hell."

Her skin crawled with uneasiness, but a prevailing sense of survival won out over any objection, and being unable to speak with water saturating her lungs, she nodded, and thought back her affirmation. "Save me, I'll do what you want, but let me kill the ones who did this to me." Ozella couldn't see it, but she could feel whatever was inhabiting her mind grin with sick pleasure, and as she fully lost consciousness, it took over. Her next waking moment was at a beach near an island some ways from where she was thrown overboard, gasping for air and letting the sweet breath of life fill her airways as sea water purged itself from her body. She felt the hole where a blade opened her gut, and found nothing but a light scar. "It had to be a dream..." She muttered, only to be answered from within her own mind.

"Unfortunately," the voice spoke, "We are both fully awake."

A memory played in her head, Ozella watching as her body contorted and snapped in irregular ways, much the same as when a person tries on an outfit much too small for them. As it settled however, her body shot towards the waters' surface and impaled the wooden ship she was on previously, causing the lower decks to take on water rapidly, inflicting grievous wounds on her body. Her blood didn't spill out, however, it oozed and bubbled to the surface, floating around her in a delicate, sophisticated dance. Ozella's old crewmates screamed in horror as they recognized her figure and frame, but they were silenced quickly with a razor-thin spike of blood impaling their neck. This continued in flashes and in other grotesque ways, Ozella watching Ozma control her body and systematically eliminating her old crew mates, before sinking down to the waves with the ship, setting her body afloat and drifting toward the isle she resided on now.

She clutched her temple with one hand and grabbed her sword scabbard with the other, "By Sigrun," She whispered, "All that and I still didn't get the money! Fuck!"

"I am Ozma, and I - Wait, what?" Her inner monologue spoke then halted, "You're concerned with the money rather than remaining alive?"

"Oh no, don't get me wrong, being alive is fantastic, I won the lottery, but Captain Harlan had coin for days. And now it's all at the bottom of the sea. Unfair." She pouted, crossing her arms and furrowing her brow.

"My offer is simple, and since you've agreed to it, it is now a demand." Ozma spoke internally, "I wish to explore the lands and people of the surface and underworld. I grow bored of the murky depths, and I will grant you my power of Deep, Red Waters to help us survive my selfish demands."

Ozella thought for a moment before snapping her fingers, "This is a fantastic deal. I get spooky blood powers while you get a backseat to watch me go on the normal adventures I would usually go on? That's excellent, I agree."

"You already did."

"Right!! Let's go find some unfortunate animals to bother. I'll show you what a raccoon is and I'll catch one for you."

"Marvelous, but allow me to explain my blood magic empowerment. I literally inhabit your blood, and can only use the blood you have in your body. You lose it all, I die, and so do you. We can get more and use more, but it takes a... Are you listening?" Ozma asked as Ozella continued on her way without so much as a change on her expression. "Ozella, are you ignoring me?"

"Huh? Oh! Sorry, my bad. I don't even listen to the thoughts in my own head, I probably won't listen to yours that often. It's a bad habit I got from my dad, I just kinda... Tune it all out."

"Are you some kind of idiot?"

She grinned, "Of course I am, they make the best swordsmen!"

[Zarkenis Ultima]

---

Looks good Neros. Ozella is accepted. You should probably decide whether you want her to be on the quest for the Blade of Amaranth or on the Great Monster Hunt.

EDIT: The archive is now fully updated!

[Finland SSR]

Raggar will be going for the Blade of Amanranth quest. Let's find that blade Somewhere in the Dark (Fantasy) [OOC, Open]

[Reverend Norv]

The Pilgrim Scholar

What can I tell you of Matias Ilmarinen? More than most. But perhaps less than you would need in order to understand him, even so. He has given his life to the pursuit of knowledge, and yet he is a devilish hard man to know.

If you have heard the name, then you can probably already picture him in your mind's eye: a tall Madir man in his thirties, forever in traveler's clothes - the long oilcloth duster with its cape and deep hood, the traditional Tregal mukluks worn down from too many hard leagues on the road. Perhaps you have heard tell of the ironwood staff carved with arcane runes, or the leatherbound tomes kept carefully wrapped in silk cloth inside the filthy traveler's pack. Certainly you have heard of the crossbow called Hlynrian: a blend of Madir craftsmanship and Menash arcana, with its revolving cylinder of bolts. You've probably heard it can shoot blasts of flame or bolts of lightning, and though that's not quite accurate, I suppose it is so nearly true as makes no difference.

I can fill in some details. The face, for example: in the stories that tinkers and merchants tell, Matias' face is always hidden somewhere in the dark shadows of his hood. But there's nothing so mysterious about it. It's a broad, honest face - a farmer's face, I thought at first - with fair skin and hair the color of ash and large dark grey eyes like storm clouds. His face does not suit the stories. You've heard Matias is a brilliant mind - and he is, but his face is too bland and frank to reveal genius. You have not heard that Matias is a decent, considerate, open-hearted man - but he is, and that is what his face does reveal. Matias has not had an altogether easy life, but there are still more laugh lines in that face than troubled furrows.

Some of the tales you may have heard are true. Matias did study with us here, at the Consortium. That's true. We were classmates, he and I; we began our studies the same harvest. Matias did not fit in well: he was already sixteen when he arrived, somewhat old to begin arcane study. More generally, the Consortium has always been a relatively unusual path for Madren - and as funny as it may seem now, Matias was the most Madir of Madren back when he was a boy: already six feet tall and burly, thick Tregal accent, sealskin mukluks. He showed up to class with the most beautiful longsword sheathed at his side - made by his father, he told me, who was the court artificer to a great Madir frontier lord. Apparently, Matias had spent his youth buried in the lord's castle library, reading history and natural philosophy whenever he didn't have to help at the smithy or train with the sword and bow. In the end, Matias' parents agreed to send him here - to the Consortium - on the theory that he would never run out of books again.

That's what you have to understand - that's the key to everything about Matias. He came here to learn. Not to tame the lightning, not to make the dead walk, not to conjure fire from his fingers. To read books. That's it. That's who he's always been, and it's who he is to this ley.

And it is a good thing too, because Matias never had the makings of a true master arcanist. Oh, he was fine for the first few harvests of school - practical arcana - little charms and illusions. He had a gift for certain subtle things: wayfinding magic, for example, and the like. He was a decent healer, an even better alchemist. But the great displays of power and precision, the ability to call down storms or calm seas? Matias never came close. For his last few harvests of study, he focused mostly on enchanting objects, not evoking power; a lot of our Menai classmates snickered that he was a tinker playing at arcana, a Madir dabbler in a Menash art form. But in his own way, Matias was remarkable. That crossbow you've heard of - Hlynrian, his bonded weapon? Matias built it with his own two hands, as his academic capstone: dreamed up the repeating mechanism, worked steel and wood with Madir craftsmanship, and invented the enchantment that cloaks each bolt in a field of elemental energy when the weapon fires. None of our classmates would have had the creativity to imagine such a combination.

That sort of arcane engineering has never been what the Consortium honors. But if Matias never got much respect, mostly he didn't care. He always had a thick skin; he received condescension, and returned politeness and warmth. And he spent his free time in the library, in the sections that had nothing to do with the arcane sciences: reading ancient histories of the Blessed Realm, treatises on navigating the Ebony Sea, ethnographic studies of Shay society, Sylf poetic oracles. Matias learned more languages than any other student I knew, and he saw more connections between different texts: thematic, causal, contextual. He told me once, over a bottle of brandy, that he wasn't truly searching for any single secret or revelation. It was more like every new book was a new horizon, and as long as he kept reading, he was free.

I thought that was beautiful, but it was no philosophy for a master arcanist. We had been - close, Matias and I, over our time at the Consortium. But in the end, I was offered the chance to stay and continue my research, and he was not. He left; he didn't really have a choice. I remained. Matias never blamed me, and he's written me ever since. He always was a sweet boy like that.

He ended up as a tutor. For a lot of Consortium graduates, that's the nightmare: no chance to do your own research or build your own power, because you're stuck teaching some nobleman's entitled brats. But from his letters, Matias seemed truly to enjoy it, and I'm certain he was good at it. We had never talked about it in so many words, but I was always sure he wanted kids. He spent a few harvests on Harush as the tutor for an influential family of Dvar nobility, and then managed to get hired by the Feren delegate to the Grand Decad, teaching languages and history to the delegate's children. While he was in Aratosh, Matias apparently struck up a friendship with the court scholar attached to the Vantyr delegation to the Decad, a man named Antur. And that was when the trouble began.

As I understand it, Antur and Matias shared a love of history, and Antur invited Matias to return with him to Valroc and study the archives there. This was a great privilege; those archives supposedly include records from the leys of the Vanna Tyrash Anur. I do not know whether it was a trap from the start, or whether Matias simply overstepped his bounds. But deep in those Vantyr libraries, he discovered something ancient - some secret of the Vantyrae from before the Great Exodus - something he was never meant to find. Perhaps the old Ozarim rulers would have shown mercy, but Valroc is a place of disorder and bloodshed now. For Valroc's new masters, Matias' curiosity simply marked him out as their next meal.

More than a harvest later, Matias stepped out of a cave system on Valaran: emaciated, bloodied, but very much alive. He had escaped into the underworld and made his way all the way from Teraden to Valaran, apparently alone, lost somewhere in the dark beneath the world. He hasn't told me exactly how he survived such a journey; I only know bits and pieces. Apparently Matias dueled a Vantyr lord, and struck down his foe with his father's sword; he was briefly enslaved by a tribe of subterranean Shayit nomads, but escaped; he became lost in a grotto of diamonds and almost starved amid inestimable wealth; he used Hlynrian to fight off a horde of giant spiders with a hail of rapid-fire, flaming bolts. When he emerged, he was a different man: still filled with gentleness and curiosity, still in love with libraries and wonderful with children - but you would never mistake him for a royal tutor, not any more. He had found some great reserve of calm, steady, deadly steel inside his soul. Matias came out of those tunnels not just a scholar, but a warrior.

It was a good thing, too. When he tried to return to Aratosh to confront Antur, three Vantyr assassins set upon Matias at mid-slumbering. Apparently, he still had the tome he had discovered in the depths of the Valroc archives - an ancient secret worth killing for. Matias slew one of his foes and escaped the other two, riding hard into the wilds. He wrote to me that his life had taken a strange turn; that he would always be hunted; that it could never be safe for him to stay in one place for too long. But at least there would always be new horizons in truth, now, and not only in books; and there was still much to be seen and known and learned in the wild places of the world. He would make the road his home, Matias wrote, and find new joys in walking it.

And that is how the Pilgrim Scholar came to be - about five harvests ago now. Those stories you have heard from merchants and tinkers and travelers - stories of a man in a long hooded coat, with a magic crossbow, forever wandering in search of ancient knowledge - a man hunted by untiring Vantyrae, but who always stops to protect travelers in need - all those little fables of the road? Here is the tale behind them: the tale of an altogether less legendary man, a man of brilliant faculties but barely mediocre arcane talent, a man who loved books and delighted in teaching children. It was not for vengeance that Matias chose the road; it was because anything else was a death sentence, for him and for anyone he loved. And if Matias Ilmarinen has a great calling, it is the same one he always had: to learn, to understand, to shine light on secrets forgotten somewhere in the dark. For as long as he is doing that, I truly believe that he is free.

[Segral]

The Half-Blind Seer:

Divination. What is it? To the most common individual, the answer is likely simplistic in nature. It is a means of reading one's history, currency, and future through the use of a ritual. Perhaps it is employed by their town's fortune teller, or by a drunk at the local tavern who claims he has spoken to Sigrun's ghost. However, to the Consortium, the longest-standing and greatest arcane society within the Coldlight Archipelago, divination is something infinitely more complex. One could define it by the mediums in which it is channeled; bones, fog, dreams, numbers, woods, palms, fire, and (oddly enough) the dung of birds, but that would be wholly inadequate. One could also define it by the outcomes of divination and the specific powers called upon through divination; the prediction of the future, the sensing of danger, the communication with the otherworldly, and the experience of what lies beyond the field of sense. Yet, this definition remains imprecise, and does not truly encapsulate what Divination means to those who have not just practiced it, not just studied it, but lost themselves in it, turned Divination into not just an interest, but into a way of life and being.

No one is quite sure how Divination first came to be, but it is widely theorized by scholars of the field that the Menai crafted it as a response to the fractured, conflict-logged world around them, hoping to find solace and reliance within the greater otherworldly powers of Anur. To truly master Divination and become harmonized with the signs of the world, one was forced to spend harvest upon harvest in solitude and practice. Meditation, constant practice of communication with greater force, and praise were helpful, but what was truly required was a mental restructuring, one that viewed messages and indicators as not predictions that may or may not be true, but as gifts. They were gifts in that they allowed one to see into private truths, and gifts in that they provided pieces of others' experience to a wielder of Divination. To access these gifts, one was expected to employ true kindness, respect, and gratitude towards the forces they received information from. In its early form within Irre and even for dozens of harvests following the Great Exodus, the magic remained a small, specialized field of magical discipline within greater Menai societies. Many lacked the time and patience to become even an adept practitioner of the art, and the magic's foggy, speculative nature was viewed with scorn by many of magical discipline.

However, as the Consortium took up residence within the isle of Cyrna, many more became drawn to the reclusive, mysterious practice, and the scholarly interest in Divination rapidly expanded from harvest to harvest. So much so, that specialization within Divination occurred, in which different classes of scholars took up one particular medium of Divination in an attempt to fully understand its depths inside and out. For efficiency's sake, it was most practical; only the greatest masters were powerful enough to freely blend multiple mediums of Divination. Additionally, with a greater individual understanding of all mediums, different leaders and masters of each scholarly group could come together and share their knowledge, deepening the canon of Divination as a whole. Some, such as the Arada, practiced divination through the interpretation of fire, smoke, and ash. Others, such as the Ve Menaibo, practiced divination through the interpretation of glass reflections.

Enter Jorel Renaud, born as a young member of the Sanna, a Consortium clan focused on Divination through the use of blood. To the Sanna, blood has many meanings. Blood is what connects individuals of all races, it is the essence of life and the spirit, and it is the most mystical property of the body and flesh. Furthermore, the letting of the blood is the ultimate sacrifice, a true recognition of the gift of Divination through agony. With blood, the Sanna can pass a psychic message, track an individual who owns the blood and look into the past and present with clear detail. Currently, the field is extremely limited in its ability to look into the future, as well as communicate with otherworldly beings such as ghosts, and the frontier of such innovation is currently left to a few of the most experimental Sanna scholars.

Jorel's mother and father were both Sanna Divinists and pushed Jorel to excel in his study of bloody divination from an early age. For many tumultuous years on Cyrna, life was intense. The young Menai boy held a knack for the art and quickly excelled in practice among his peers, but being exceptional was still a light defense against the exhaustive process of becoming a Sanna mage. In the beginning, the discipline was academic, an intensive overview of the properties of blood, the applications and practices of blood, and the customs of Sanna in addition to standard education. In his teenage years, the study became practical and involved the use of both animal and Menai blood to increase his psychic and personal awareness in line with previously outlined Sanna vices. He took particular interest in the mix of blood and water in Divination, and often used the patterns of blood's blooming in water to interpret Divinistic cues. The Sanna believed in learning by trial, and would set annual challenges of a magical nature for prospective students to complete to prove their worthiness and their capacity for further learning. At twenty harvests, Jorel was tasked with his graduation trial, the one that would mark his transition from Sanna Student to Apprentice and present him with an Ibin Rose, a metal pendant of distinguishment.

To succeed at his Trial of Twenty Harvests, Jorel would have to let out a large offering of blood from his own body and use it in order to peruse his life's memories, experiences, and impressions. These impressions would be consolidated into an oral recanting of his life to Sanna professors, who would grade the oral report based on completeness, clarity, and further interpretations made off of the basis of initial findings. When all was said and done, he failed. He failed shockingly, he failed spectacularly, and he failed in one of the most offensive methods possible. An exhausted Jorel had gone drinking with Ve Menaibo clan members the night before and had shown up to his exam unfocused and bleary. His blood had been tainted by alcohol after twenty harvests of clean spirit, and he was unable to make heads or tails of his past. The purity of blood and clarity of mind was considered sacred to the Sanna, and the consumption of spirits and smoke were thoroughly prohibited by scholarly masters. When it was found that he had consumed alcohol, he was expelled from the Consortium's Sanna branch and essentially disowned, forced to make a man of himself before he was even ripe.

Since then, his life has taken him up and down across the Coldlight Archipelago. The blank following his exile, he traveled to the ports of Cyrna with his sword and stole a small boat in the hopes of scalping a seafaring monster. A traveler had sold him the blood to track it, and he believed that if he killed the monster and brought its head back to the Consortium, they would accept his worth and potentially provide him with a second attempt at a trial. Once again, he failed spectacularly, losing his boat and nearly losing his life when the beast slashed at him with a clawed palm, razing open his left side and blinding him in one eye. Miraculously, he managed to survive, clinging to a plank of driftwood long enough for some sailors to rescue him and transport him to the isle of Harush. Upon healing from his injuries, he made a move to the city of Avernus, where he took up residence as a commercial fortune-teller and seer for the public. There was always a demand on people's part to understand their lives and minds, and it gave Jorel the opportunity to hone his craft away from the Consortium, experimenting with new skills and even beginning to incorporate different mediums in tandem with his Sanna magic. Once he had saved sufficient funds and had received a sufficient total of threats on his life from disgruntled customers, he sold his land and fled south to the High City of Aratosh, establishing a tea-house and fortune-telling parlor in the heart of the Promised Isles.

Being a magician with powerful extrasensory abilities, he is wildly popular among all walks of the public, ranging from the curious everyday man to the scheming criminal to the naïve adventurer, hoping to find riches and fame off the strength of Jorel's gifts. For his role, he is exemplary and has offered predictions and visions to countless wanderers over the course of his years in Avernus and Aratosh. Some of them go on to find their prize, enjoy their spoils, and become loyal friends to the former Consortium prodigy. Others are not as fortunate. The luckiest simply find that what they were searching for never existed, and their greatest loss is time and pride. The lesser off are betrayed, or worse, become lost somewhere in the dark.

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Just a note about Divination. I totally get any concern that the power might be used to metagame or gain access to confidential and story-breaking information, so I tried to limit it within the piece by outlining that Jorel's magic can't be used to see into the future or communicate with beings such as ghosts. Additionally, I'm thinking that I would specifically ask the leader of any adventure involving Jorel about what information they're okay with revealing OOC so that everything runs smoothly within the IC. Hope that works.

[Thiranaedh]

Oh, alright. Do you think I could've been clearer about it? That might warrant an edit or two. Regardless, with the edits the character should work just fine, so I'm just gonna go ahead and accept him. Just to clarify, though, the idea is that he heard about the collector's quest in southern Tregal, booked passage to Valaran and then traveled to Aratosh to join the expedition, correct?

As for the idea between Aellard and Maka, that's perfectly fine by me. We've no problems with players creating pre-existing connections between character. It's encouraged, even!

Yes! Ællard wants nothing more than to flee his home isle, and joining the expedition sounds look just the solution.

@Thiranaedh: Completely slipped past me somehow, but you mentioned Aellard being born under the full moon. Thing is, much like there is no sun in the sky, there's no moon or stars; the sky is basically permanently overcast. You can change it so that he was born on the night of the blanketing, which could serve as an omen just as well, or you could just leave the part about the fiery northern lights. Up to you.

Changed it to him being born under the northern lights! Also got rid of a few typos, added some small details about personal possessions and extra background information. I was wondering, how would you feel about characters using primitive firearms? How common are snaphance and snaplock weapons on the isles?

I consciously kept a whole lot of ambiguity about the large beast that wiped out Ællard’s village, but I was thinking about the Wendigo doing so, as that might be a really interesting narrative device later. How would you (and the OP / CO-OP) feel about that?

Sounds like a fun idea to me, let's go with it.

Good stuff! Let's find that blade.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

@Norv and Seg: Great characters! They're both accepted and I'll be sure to add them to the archive later today.

@Thiranaedh: Completely slipped past me somehow, but you mentioned Aellard being born under the full moon. Thing is, much like there is no sun in the sky, there's no moon or stars; the sky is basically permanently overcast. You can change it so that he was born on the night of the blanketing, which could serve as an omen just as well, or you could just leave the part about the fiery northern lights. Up to you.

Changed it to him being born under the northern lights! Also got rid of a few typos, added some small details about personal possessions and extra background information. I was wondering, how would you feel about characters using primitive firearms? How common are snaphance and snaplock weapons on the isles?

Alright, thanks for the change! As for firearms, they're something I'd rather not have to deal with so I'd prefer if they weren't used. There's probably no good story reason for this - even if the materials weren't available to supply the gunpowder or whatnot, the difference could likely be supplemented with magic - but for aesthetic and balance reasons I prefer to keep them out. Plus, there's nothing stopping one from doing something similar to what Norv did with Matias.

[Thiranaedh]

Alright, thanks for the change! As for firearms, they're something I'd rather not have to deal with so I'd prefer if they weren't used. There's probably no good story reason for this - even if the materials weren't available to supply the gunpowder or whatnot, the difference could likely be supplemented with magic - but for aesthetic and balance reasons I prefer to keep them out. Plus, there's nothing stopping one from doing something similar to what Norv did with Matias.

That’s ok! I think a bow fits my character better anyway. Thanks for the heads up! Can’t wait for the IC by the way

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Alright, thanks for the change! As for firearms, they're something I'd rather not have to deal with so I'd prefer if they weren't used. There's probably no good story reason for this - even if the materials weren't available to supply the gunpowder or whatnot, the difference could likely be supplemented with magic - but for aesthetic and balance reasons I prefer to keep them out. Plus, there's nothing stopping one from doing something similar to what Norv did with Matias.

That’s ok! I think a bow fits my character better anyway. Thanks for the heads up! Can’t wait for the IC by the way

Glad to hear you're excited! I think we have a few interested folks still pending their characters, but Tomia and I have started figuring out the IC. It should be up next weekend at the latest, hopefully.

[Segral]

Wanted to ask, what's the process for joining one of the adventures? Do we just state which one we wanna join, do we make a request of the "OP" of that adventure, etc.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Wanted to ask, what's the process for joining one of the adventures? Do we just state which one we wanna join, do we make a request of the "OP" of that adventure, etc.

If the person who made the adventure doesn't set forth any prerequisites, yeah pretty much just say you're on board and that's it.

There's no prerequisites for either the quest for the Blade of Amaranth or the Great Monster Hunt, so.

[Indo-pasif archipelago]

Wanted to ask, what's the process for joining one of the adventures? Do we just state which one we wanna join, do we make a request of the "OP" of that adventure, etc.

If the person who made the adventure doesn't set forth any prerequisites, yeah pretty much just say you're on board and that's it.

There's no prerequisites for either the quest for the Blade of Amaranth or the Great Monster Hunt, so.

I thought there is the prerequisite of being accepted into the RP

[Hinzland]

Was thinking about making an honored Fereni elder, called the “Vagrant King”. Descended from old fereni royalty, and wanders about doing good deeds because he’s a Mary Sue. Think that could work?

What would a fereni’s attitude/personality be like? Mischievous? What’s their attitudes towards authority?

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Was thinking about making an honored Fereni elder, called the “Vagrant King”. Descended from old fereni royalty, and wanders about doing good deeds because he’s a Mary Sue. Think that could work?

What would a fereni’s attitude/personality be like? Mischievous? What’s their attitudes towards authority?

That's funny, I had a somewhat similar idea for a fereni character lined up Sans for the elder part that is. At any rate, yeah, that seems perfectly fine, I don't mind at all. As for their personality, well, it can vary just as much as it can vary in a human, but they do display a tendency to be a little more whimsical, perhaps mischievous indeed at times, though not overly so (and not nearly in the same malicious ways as Shayit can be with no provocation). Regarding their attitude towards authority, as mentioned they can be fiercely loyal to their royalty (of which there can be quite a few at any given time), but whether or not that extends to figures of authority from other races will depend on whether the Fereni believe they earned that spot or not.

[Hinzland]

Was thinking about making an honored Fereni elder, called the “Vagrant King”. Descended from old fereni royalty, and wanders about doing good deeds because he’s a Mary Sue. Think that could work?

What would a fereni’s attitude/personality be like? Mischievous? What’s their attitudes towards authority?

That's funny, I had a somewhat similar idea for a fereni character lined up Sans for the elder part that is. At any rate, yeah, that seems perfectly fine, I don't mind at all. As for their personality, well, it can vary just as much as it can vary in a human, but they do display a tendency to be a little more whimsical, perhaps mischievous indeed at times, though not overly so (and not nearly in the same malicious ways as Shayit can be with no provocation). Regarding their attitude towards authority, as mentioned they can be fiercely loyal to their royalty (of which there can be quite a few at any given time), but whether or not that extends to figures of authority from other races will depend on whether the Fereni believe they earned that spot or not.

Okay what about an order of wanderers which follow his philosophy? Races varying, numbers extremely low, ranging from friendly monster hunters to healers to esoteric mystics, all preaching and practicing an ideology of tolerance, peace, and community?