NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: Yeah - who's up for a low-magic (There is a little magic, players can be magic users, but dragons etc. aren't common) fantasy RP? Elves and dwarves are allowed, it'll be set in a game world based on the Western European middle ages.

Here's a summary:

It is a time of darkness, it is a time of war (you get the idea), when the strong oppress the weak, (has there ever been a time when that wasn't the case?), and any man with a strong sword arm might carve himself out a little kingdom. It is a time of darkness, of endings... the mighty elven empire is no more, destroyed by barbarian humans who now are settled in the ruins, living like rats, breeding like them too, fighting amoung themselves for the remains of the world...
The dwarves live quietly in their mountain citadels, but some brave dwarven adventurers dream of a greater role for the dwarves in this brave new world - if the elven empire fell, could a dwarven one not rise in its place?
As for the orcs... they raid, and plot and scheme, and wait for their chance to achieve greatness...
What happens is up to you, as your characters explore and interact. There can be six players, and I'm waiting to hear if anyone wants to take part.

Options: (what you can be)

- Elf (long life, tall etc., good archers, good at magic. "Haughty")
- Dwarf (long life, but not as long as that of an elf, good fighters, good at making stuff, long beards, short. "Down to earth")
- Orc (hated outsider, not liked by anyone, your fellow tribesmen are hunted for sport by the elven lords... strong, good fighters, bad at magic. "Barbaric")
- Human (short-lived, adventurous, adaptable, varied. "Jack-of-all-trades")

So, human, elf, dwarf or orc, make your choice, and then:

Archetype:

- Soldier (guy with armour, a shield and a sword or axe)
- Knight (noble guy, fighting on horseback, heavy armour and the lot)
- Sorceror (spell-slinger, can hurl lightning bolts and so on, but isn't socially accepted - the church would burn him at the stake!)
- Priest (Blessings and healing, very socially accepted, good at diplomacy etc. - of course, those benefits are negaitives when you're dealing with worshipers of a hostile deity!)
- Skirmisher (an archer or something, fighting from a distance)
- Thief (lock-picking, knife-in-the-gutt)

There you have your archetypes. After that, just come up with your character! We're aiming for characters with a reasonable level of abilities, so I hold the right to veto any character proposed.
As for gear, that depends on your characters social status...

Here's what the game world is like (in general):

The game starts out in the Baronies, which are right in the middle of the map. Here, there're about thirty diferent little baronies, I say about because that number varies. There is always a war going on somewhere here, and order is in short supply.
The main reason that there are "about thirty" baronies is that there are thirty castles lying around here - they used to be the castles of the barons who served a king, but there hasn't been a king for centuries.
To the west, there are the Twin Kingdoms - Tyralia and Merovia, Merovia to the east, bordering on the baronies, Tyralia further west, with nothing but The Great Sea to the west of it (sure there might be something across the sea, but "no one knows"). These two kingdoms are almost always skirmishing, but they are still each individually as strong as all the baronies put together.
Merovia is a land of rocks and mines, ruled by a corrupt royal family that uses slave labor in the mines, and has a system with powerful, rich, noble houses that skirmish with each other... each family has its own fortress-mansion, and feuds are long and bitter.
Tyralia is less wealthy, but has a strong, wise, king who has secured the service of his nobles, and rules with justice and so on. Tyralia has good farm land, and the peasants who live there have it easy compared to most other peasants.

Then, to the north of the baronies, there is Norsca, home of feuding tribes of axe-wielding barbarian bezerkers. They are rightly feared by the weaker southlanders - after all, the tribes that destroyed the elven empire fled southwards persued by these tribes! Still, they're few in number, and so are less of a threat than their ability would make them out to be.

To the east, there is the Empire of Underth - here, a mostly-competant Imperial family rules over an empire that is rich, populace and home to many elves who fled the destruction of their empire. In fact, those elves are all but running the show right now, acting as advisors for the Emperor. This empire stretches to the east for many miles, all the way to the fabled far-off lands of the dragon... (think China).

To the south, there is the Inland Sea, across which there is the Southern Continant, upon which there are two great empires - Khadania and Xandu. The Khandanians are a desert people who wield strange magics (think of roughly the Islamic world during the European middle ages - so, it's quite advanced.). Xandu is an Empire of corruption - it is ruled by a necromancer who uses great and terrible magics to create armies of undead to serve him as shock-troops. Xandu perpetually wars with Khandania, and is basically the "Evil Empire" for this RP.

Got map?

Sounds interesting.

I'd like to play an Elf/Sidhe - Do you have greater paramaters/write-up on their abilities other than those listed above, or can we take from an author/game system/ various legends/mythologies?

Skirmisher- of course - gotta love those elvin bows!

Social Class - noble - of course - what elf isn't!

Character underdevelopment - willpost shortly

Here are my two characters for your apporval

Cynn and Tempest (http://www.faefolk.info/tinn.htm)

Alright - nice characters. I've only got one little thing to point out - you're characters are good - really, really good.
As for concept, they're both great. You can effectively consider them approved.

EDIT: You know what? They're just fine.

(Sorry about the low quality...)
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i215/Danteri/fantasyworld.jpg

Any objection to a half-breed or a person raised in an atypical society(Ie: Human raised in ork settlement, elf raised among humans ect)?

Do I have any objections? Well, I have no objections to any non-traditional backgrounds within reason (which I will define, but most should be OK), and as for half-breeds... half-elves or half-orcs would be fine, I guess...

Why thank you for the compliments. But, if you do have any concerns about anything please don't hesitate to mention them - they were originally created created under a 'home grown' system that is very complex, so I just substituted some of the skills & racial abilities for more commonly known ones found in D&D.)

as to unusual equipment: ( if these are acceptable to you.)

Cynn has an enchanted bow ( minor majicks to keep the string from breaking and adds the "equivallent of +3/+3" - but not a real + just allows things requiring majic 'to hit & to damage' to be hit & damaged by normal arrows ) of Elvin make - it is not as long as a long bow but has launch power and range equal to one.

Tempest's is also elvin crafted and braced to handle his full draw strength but is not enchanted.

The Galadrim bow (http://www.atddm.com/bow1.jpg)- an 'exotic double recurve' from Lotr- is a good example of the size and look of Cynn's bow, while Tempest's is closer to the Mirkwood Bow (http://www.atddm.com/mirkwoodbow.jpg)

Tempest carries a hand and a half sword with minor enchantments of never rusting never dulling and like, knives of variing lengths and shapes, and a longsword.


Tempest's majicks are minor: ( not a complete list but gives you the idea. The mist missiles are the closest to a true attack spell ) - again please let me know if any are unsuitable.

Drift: Variant of Feather Fall
Spring: variant of Leaping/jumping
Mist missiles : variant of majic missile
Dream Mist: Sleep spell
Ropes of Mist: kind of a Hold Person/Majik Lasso
Mist Shield: Makes it harder for ranged attacks to hit him/area as he/ area is obscured in heavy, writhing mists ( can be set for just him or up to five allies )
Darkness: Both 'personal' and area effect variations
Light: Light sprites ( dim globes that are about as bright as night lights ) and an area effect version that is 'bright hazy'
Guard Dog - an sentry spell
Create & Control non majikcal fire - good for lighting damp wood torches and such - needs fuel ( wood and other combustables to sustain it ) & controlling fires - can make them blaze up and spark, or go completely out
Heat water- learned this one just for Cynn, so she could have hot baths
Dry, mend, clean, freshen - various helpful cantrip type 'demi spells'

I might be interested.

Alyssandria is a priestess from the land of Xandu. She is not from their heritage, was captured and history not given to her. She was forced at maturing age into the schooling because of her ability to heal. Her abilities were noted in the orphanage and later followed and recorded by the empire's officials. She was taken to the temple of Xandu at the young age of eleven and began her training. Her other abilities will show with maturity and experience.

Alyssandria is currently of 23 years. Her past unknown to her and she searches secretly to find out her ancestry that is so hidden to her. She is of small statue. She is only five feet tall and slim. Her skin tone is fair creamy complection and mostly resembles European human ancestry, but her eyes are slightly pointed as if Elven. More will be displayed later in the story.

Does this character seem to your liking?

I'm somewhat interested as well. I'll make a charachter in a little bit.

The Fae Folk - the things you have named are OK. Having that much magic to start with might be a little unbalanced, but it's within reason.

As for the character that Theodrea is proposing, I would like to hear more before passing judgement. (Also, Xandu is a land of desert and so on, sort of like ancient Egypt, but evil and more advanced, and with necromancy...)

If I can come up with a decent 'back-story' would anyone have an objection to an elf/orc character?
Is the pic for Cynn, Viconia(sp) from Baldur's Gate II?

Cynn? Honestly haven't the faintest idea where the pic came from.

and Tempest actually uses his majic very little - he is by nature a warrior, the majic is more of an after thought and the spells he uses regularly is heat water, the cantrips, and create fire- starting camp fires is a lot easier with a little majick.

I can delete a few spells if you'd like.

Theao - such a character ( 1/2 elf/orc ) might not meet with open welcome by Cynn and Tempest, but they'd give him/her a chance to prove themselves

Theao - such a character ( 1/2 elf/orc ) might not meet with open welcome by Cynn and Tempest, but they'd give him/her a chance to prove themselves
If I can create the character, they wouldn't expect even that. Something along the lines of even other orcs(at least those outside the specific clan) having a problem with him/her.
Wouldn't be hostile, but would certainly not be expecting anything other than negative treatement.

What more would you like to know? Her history is not known even to her. Think of it like a black void that the empire caused. They don't want her to remember. But with her growing abilities she starts to have visions. As for magic. Not much just healing and maybe the visions. YEt, if you want me to explain more, specify what you would like to know.

Theao - in most settings - though I can't say with any super knowledge of this particular one - Orcs and Elvs just don't mix, mingle and certainly NOT nter arry. Just not done - generally such offspring are children of rape, and are not accepted by the elves and the orks muchly for that matter either.

Orcs are every thing antithetical to elves, and in many settings they are corrupted elves, making them even less tolerated by elves.

Such a child would grow up most likeky to be extremely twisted, possibly having escaped slavery and worse.

Though as I said at the first this may be different in this world.

OCC: I would like to play an elven socceress

Ah, we're operating off of different bases for orcs. You seem to be working off a LotR style, while my concept is that orcs are just a civilized, in thier own way of course, as humans or elves, but none of the other races get a chance to see the actual workings of orcish culture, all they get to experience is the effects of the warchiefs who manage to get a large enought army/force to try and take over the region.

If Danteri accepts the idea(and let's me make the character), it'll be explained more as to how it all happened.

Besides that half elf-orc might be interesting enough character. I would be curious as to how it would survive, physically and emotionally as being an outcast of either heritage and possibly to anyone he/she encounters. I say go with it, it would help with the development of that character and I am sure that my character would accept yours. But you are right this is not my thread to decide. I only give my opinion.

Actually I was going very little with LotR - I like the look of their weapons but thats really about it. I never really went head over heels for the books or the movies. I was more going with what I have seen in just about every gaming world I've run across.

Mostly orcs aren't well tolerated most of the other generally available character races.

I agree that it could be very interesting to see you develop such a character, and like I said Cynn and Tempest would give him/her a chance - maybe not a big one- but a chance

I was mainly going off Danteri said in the opening post about Orcs, and ws extrapolating from that.

Theodrea - I think what he was asking is why is the evil Xandu empire letting a Priestess go from her duties at the temple? How has she gotten away from them? Is she being hunted? Or has she been outcast? Did the God tell them to send her away?

Generally when one becomes a Priest of a God it means that you are a True Believer, one blessed by that God in return for utter faithfulness. And the spells a Priest uses are directly from his God, bestowed upon them for giving to other ( ie the spell effects ) in the God's name, so as to spread the God's worship further.

( or so is the standard explaination in D&D and most other gaming systems )

It sounds like her healing abilities are not a God's effect's ( Priestly spells/miracles ), but her own internal ( inate ) ability/ gift for her to chose to give or with hold.

Also how strong are her healing abilities? How often does she have visions,and what type of visions are they?

I'm not sure but those may have been some of the questions the GM has.

If you don't mind, I'd like to take a crack at this. So here's my character.

Name: Althamas Ilderin (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/EilifurSal/Kokoro%20Kishin/Male/Kradcleaner.gif)
Race: Half-Elf/ male
Archetype: Priest
Age: 25
Height: 5'11"
Eyes:Amber
Hair: long, golden
Residence: Tyralia
Abilities: low-light vision, immunity to sleep spells
Language: Elvin, Common, and in the process of learning Dwarven
Weapon of Choice: a pair of three yard long chains forged from consecrated steel
Skills: Ambidextrous, Concentration, Caligrapy, Cooking, Diplomacy, Medical Care (divine and mundane healing), Knowledge of religion and to a degree arcana, Sense motive, Spell Craft.

History: Althamas is the son of a male elven who settled in Tyralia after leaving the Underth Empire and married a human. Despite the racial differences between his mother and father, he enjoyed a relatively stable childhood. At age 8, he was entrusted to the care of the Reformed Church of Tyralia after his mother had passed away of natural causes and his father was deployed with the Tyralian army in one of the conflicts between Tyralia and Merovia. After finding that his father had died in one of the skirmishes, Althams devoted himself completely to his studies and became an aid of one of the priests at the church. At age 15, he was sent to the main temple in Tyralia's capital to begin his training as a priest. At age 20, he completed his training and was ordained as a priest. Until the age of 24, he served at the main temple until he was entrusted with the care and training of a specially talented acolyte, Kylia Ialdris (http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c307/silverblitz/Anime/14301b50.jpg). To that end, Althamas chose to wander throughout the continent with his apprentice and guide her in the ways of the faith.

As a person, Althamas has been known at times to be a tad playful or at other times bookworm-like. His friends and colleagues have said that he is a kind person at heart and has a soft spot for furry bunnies. His apprentice, agrees and also claims that he is among the most silly of the temple priests. Among some of Althamas's most favorite hobbies are experimenting with new cooking recipes and reading.

During Althamas's training, the priests, who oversaw his training, noted his dexterity and skill in channeling divine energy. On the whole, Althamas prefers to deal with situations in a civilized manner rather than engaging in combat. When forced into combat though, he still nonetheless prefers to support others. If pressed into single combat, Althamas uses the combination of his chains and divine spells to bind or incapacitate his foes or if neccessary kill his foes. As a result of his reluctance to kill another, his repertoire contains only one spell capable of outright killing someone.

Spells
Aspersio- Sanctifies weapons for a period of time so as to increase effectiveness against demons and undead
Augury- User communes with deity in order to seek guidance
Bless- Calls upon the divine grace to strengthen and protect for a period of time
Divine Mercy- Calls upon divine grace to dispel malignant effects resulting from poisons or malacious spells (aka esuna)
Healing- Calls upon divine grace to heal injuries
Kyrie Eleison- Summons a divine barrier around the caster that deflects physical attacks for a period of time
Lex Divina- Calls upon divine might to weaken foe
Holy Fury- Calls upon divine wrath to strike foe
Sanctus Exsilium- Calls upon divine might to exorcise demons and undead
Seal of Binding- Call upon divine grace to immobilize foe

I'll put up the application for Kylia Ialdris a bit later.

haven't done something like this in a while now but here goes


Name-Bria
Race 1/2elfess
Age 20
Hair- medium length lt.brown
Eyes- grey
Ht 5’5”
Figure- slim/slender
Home- Merovia
Mother- Allianya- elf- deceased
Father- Baronet Vallis- human- alive

Gear- two sheathed daggers on either side of her belt, throwing knife in her right boot and left sleeve, wears well worn brown leather tunic and leggings as well as high, soft soled boots dark brown, carries lockpicks in one of her belt pouches, wears a dark grey hooded cloak with the hood usually worn up, belt is of good quality with a dagger and pouch on either side, keeps a small backpack nearby carrying a blanket, change of clothes, and some food- waterskin dangles from the side of the pack, strapped securely to not rattle around.

Skills- good tracking in city environments only, move silently, hide in shadows, pickpocketing, climb walls, hear noise. Infravision- a bit less than half that of a pureblood, above average gambler, very minor magical skills (cantrips basically- small hand lights, untying simple knots, puffs of wind to blow out candles, can magically kill small common insects, make magical noises several feet away to distract guards, create wispy faint ghostly images that vanish with a touch. Stuff like that, no real offensive or defensive magic, most of her arts are used to make thieving easier)

Background- Bria was the child of an elven slave Allianya captured during the fall of the Elvish Empire and the man she was eventually sold to, Baronet Vallis Darr of Merovia. Her mother did not survive childbirth and through her childhood she existed in a sort of limbo. As a child of a slave she was technically no better than a slave herself but as a child of the Baronet it wouldn’t be a good idea to treat her as one. With the teasing and abuse of her two older half brothers and half sister- whom she was eventually assigned to as a servant, Bria soon discovered it was in her best interests to be seen as little as possible.

It was then she began exploring and finding some of the hidden passages in her father’s castle and picked up the basics of sneaking and hiding. A few years later her father stumbled across her hiding in one of the tunnels and amused that he might actually get some use out of her apprenticed her to his personal assassin a man named Darlok. He spent the next few years teaching her how to use a knife and move around unnoticed. Bria actually enjoyed these times as while Darlok was a harsh taskmaster, the challenges he posed her she found she actually began to enjoy and he actually treated her as a person unlike most of the castle dwellers.

When she turned eighteen Darlok presented her to Vallis who was less than impressed with her achievements. Setting an impossible task before her to show her skill, Bria naturally failed though it did take longer than Vallis expected it to before she was caught. Using this as justification, Vallis banished her from the land until she turned twenty five at which time he ordered her to return as either a master thief or not at all. Bria thought this judgement was forced on Vallis by his wife who hated Bria since she was a child as her existence proved Vallis’ infidelity to her but had no choice but to agree.

The next two years Bria got by, by always moving, stealing when she had to and killing only when it was necessary. Her skills as a thief improved but not wishing to run afoul of the thieves guild, or be forced to join one, she was constantly moving never setting down roots. After the first year Bria realized she owed Vallis nothing as his people had made her life miserable and vowed only to return home to kill him. Instead she began her own quest, knowing very little about her mother, Bria thought that perhaps by finding her elven kin she might finally find some sort of acceptance and a real home. The task was difficult as she was uncertain even where to start but finally she had discovered a purpose and she would not abandon it.

Theodrea - I think what he was asking is why is the evil Xandu empire letting a Priestess go from her duties at the temple? How has she gotten away from them? Is she being hunted? Or has she been outcast? Did the God tell them to send her away?

Generally when one becomes a Priest of a God it means that you are a True Believer, one blessed by that God in return for utter faithfulness. And the spells a Priest uses are directly from his God, bestowed upon them for giving to other ( ie the spell effects ) in the God's name, so as to spread the God's worship further.

( or so is the standard explaination in D&D and most other gaming systems )

It sounds like her healing abilities are not a God's effect's ( Priestly spells/miracles ), but her own internal ( inate ) ability/ gift for her to chose to give or with hold.

Also how strong are her healing abilities? How often does she have visions,and what type of visions are they?

I'm not sure but those may have been some of the questions the GM has.

Thank you for the questions. I am not familiar with the technicallities. I merely just write stories, not really having any guidelines. Not that I am saying that is bad, but I am more open I guess. I, however, think those are good questions and will help develop my new character that is why I am thanking you.

Because most of her past is not known to her, it is somewhat difficult to explain the depth of her abilities and strengths.

I can, however, explain that she was captured to work for the empire because of what was already evident of her healing power and it could be seen that she would become even stronger. The empire wanted to exploit her. They used, maybe because of her power, or something else. The empire I do not know. I just know my own character.

She did escape and they are following her, but she is several steps ahead of them. She is in hiding and will keep her identity concealed also.

For her healing abilities. She can cure pretty much any ailment from respiratory to muscoskeletal. She can save lives, unless they are brain dead. Any type of mental ailment will not be cured, but she can help with any physical problem caused by the mental problem, but it is only secondary.

As for the visions. They are only showing her past. She does not have visions that show her the future. They are mainly her memories resurfacing.

Tynelia, your character is accepted, as is yours, Aztiluth, although in your case, I would ask that you get rid of some of the spells - this is a low-magic setting, and so your character wouldn't know so many spells... all in all, though, other than that, it's approved.
As for your character concept, Theodrea, the half-elf, half-orc actually looks very interesting - you can try to submit something for it, and I might approve it.
However, as for the concept of a priestess of the Xandu empire - they're ruled by a necromancer, who uses his magic to raise armies of scary evilness, and so I don't think a priestess of his god would be a good member of the party...

Since so many people want to be priests, here's something on the various religions:

- The Church of The West: This is a massive, heirarchial, church, with Bishops, priests and so on. It's a sort-of good church, and it doesn't practice human sacrifice or anything, but it is strictly oppressive, and non-divine magic users are burned at the stake by the Inquisitors of this relgion. (To get an idea of its policies, think about the Spanish church at the time of the Spanish Inquisition...) this church is the primary church for Merovia, and has some adherents in the Baronies. A less strict form, called the Reformed Church, is in place in Tyralia - this is one of the things they fight about, whether or not random people should be burned at the stake...

- The Faith of The Undead Goddess: This religion worships a goddess who used to be a fairly benign river goddess, until she was murdered by the god of the desert, at which point she rose from the dead to slay him... currently, she is a goddess of the undead, who is worshiped in Xandu, and is said to be the source of the power of the Necromancer King.

- The Pantheon of the Wastes: This is a polytheistic religion, sort of nature-worship, except that all of these gods have to do with the desert - there's a god of oasises who is fairly nice, while there is also a god of jakals who is also a god of assassins... this faith is the primary religion in Khadania, and the desert god who murdered the river goddess of Xandu used to be the chief god of this pantheon.

- The Dwarven Pantheon: This pantheon is the one worshiped by the dwarves, and by some human smiths. It includes a god of mines, a god of the forge, a "soul judge", and a god of protection. The dwarven deities are said to live beneath the earth, in an underground kingdom full of gold...

- The Elven Pantheon: This pantheon is the one worshiped by the elves, and by some human peasants. Currently, it is gaining in popularity in the Empire of Undersh, but most of its adherents are elven. This pantheon has a goddess of the fields (farming), a goddess of the forest, a goddess of protection, a war god (who wielded a bow to slay the chief god of the orcs...)and a goddess of the hearth and home.

- The Orc Pantheon: This pantheon is worshipped by both the orcs and the goblins. There are three gods here: a goblin god, who acts as the spear-carrier and slave of the two orc deities, and the "brother gods", who fight the elven deities to avenge their father, who was slain by the elven war god.

- The Minor Gods: There are also all sorts of little religions, such as the worship of the deity of a particular stream or mountain, but these are almost taken for granted - unless you're talking about the Inquisitors of the Church of the West...

- Demons and Angels: "Angels", or divine outsiders, are relatively rare. Sure, some act as the messengers of the various gods, but mostly they remain wherever it is that they come from. Demons, on the other hand, are slightly more common, and act in vicious and unpredictable ways - although they can be controlled, if one is brave or foolish enough...

Actually it was my idea, not Theodrae.

Name: Maiyr Bloodblade
Race: Elf/Orc hybrid
Profession: Warrior
Age: 23
Hair: Brown
Height: 5'11"
Build: Highly muscular
Primary weapons: Two orcish long swords, arm blades, numerous daggers(thrown and close-combat)

Maiyr was born due to perhaps the most unlikely of situations, that of an elf and orc falling in love. Her father happens to be the chief and shaman of a orcish tribe that lived nearby an elven forest, while her mother was was the youngest daughter of the lord of the elven land. During a temporary truce meeting between the two nations her father met her mother and for whatever reason it was love at first sight.

While a marriage was out of the question, due to some 'behind the scene' negotiations between the two leaders, a raid wasn't. Her father lead a what was technically a raid on the elven settlement and abducted his love. As her mother was technically his slave, there was nothing socially amiss against her turning up with child.

With Maiyr's birth into technical slavery, her parents and her and her father's reationship soon became a 'don't talk, and it doesn't exist' situation amongst the orcs. As her father taught her swordsmanship, and other combat skills, it quickly became appearent that the combination of natural orkish strength and elven dexterity as well as the training by a master warrior had combined to produce a near peerless warrior.

In another 'staged' event, Maiyr escaped shorly after her nineteenth birthday to live her own life rather than that of a de jure slave. A few years after she escaped, she meet Karnak the Black, a human thief and mage.

Name: Karnak the Black
Race: Human
Profession: Mage/Thief
Age: 25
Hair: White
Height: 5'6"
Build: Slender/Fit
Primary weapons: Staff, dagger

Born into poverty, Karnak Dariga soon became a thief. At the age of thirteen, he attempted to burgalize the residence of a mage. Rather than destroy the child outright for daring to rob him, the wizard saw the magickal potential of the boy. He took Karnak on as an apprentice training him in the arcanum.

As he grew and studied, he continued to practice his skills of thieving and applying the lessons he was learning to relieving people of thier valuables. Shortly after his twenty second birthday, his master died of a knife wound, a product of a mugging.

With his teacher dead, Karnak took shed himself of his last name, took on the term The Black, in homage of his skills in theft and set out to study and steal.

You know sorry to have bothered. I really don't like the guidelines set up. Maybe you should just pick the characters because with all of your restrictions that might just be better if you did that. I will not put my idea in at all. But good luck the rest of you. I hope they allow you to do what you want.

Well, sorry to see you go, Theodrea. (Sorry about mixing you two up, Theao, but your names are so similar.)
As for your character, Theao, I can say that both are approved. (Which brings the total number of approved characters to four).

Here's a bit on Orc culture in this setting, since one of you was raised by orcs:

There are two main kinds of orcs, not counting a sort-of third, those who live in the cities and work for humans (they're very rarely the bosses, unless they're criminals or killers.) (Plus there are all sorts of "wild" orc tribes...)
The first are the nomads, who are sort of like the Huns, except that they have less of a reliance upon ranged weapons. (Which really makes them not that much like the Huns, I know, but that's the closest human culture to how they act.)
The orc nomads ride horses, or giant hyena-wolf things the size of horses (can you say Worgs?), and fight with ax, spear and bow, but delight in close-in fighting. They're just about as cruel as the Huns were, but are nicer within their own society. These worship the younger brother of the two orc gods, who is called the Rider. He is the god of the nomads, and leads them (through his priests) in their migrations.
The other orcs are more "civilized", but not much. These orcs work together, form armies, but serve evil masters, who often are humans. These orcs fight on foot, are often quite large (bigger than regular orcs, these guys have "Great Orcs", who aren't a player race, since they're stupid.) The civilized orcs use pole-axes, battle axes and crossbows, which they originally got the design for from the Empire of Underth. (which equips their legions with cross-bows, but also with long-bows... more on that later...)
Needless to say, the civilized orcs aren't much kinder to outsiders than the nomads are, although they've grasped the concept of "trade", rather than just killing everyone and taking their stuff. As for relations within their own society, the "civilized" orcs are worse - they beat each other up, kill and eat the weak for food, and are basically nasty.

Needless to say, there is some conflict between the "civilized" orcs and the nomads, but they mostly get along... at least enough to unite to raid the humans and the elves... oh yes, and these guys hate elves, since during the time of the empire, the elven nobles hunted the orcs for sport...

Relations with Other Races:

- Goblins: Goblins are all slaves to orcs (except for a few wild tribes, but they just don't have any orcs to boss them around...). Most "civilized" orcs have at least one or two goblin slaves, and high cheiftans might have thousands. Needless to say, goblins are much more common than orcs, but also much weaker, quite stupid and rather lazy. (Nomads have far fewer, as mobility is key to their life-style.)

- Elves: Orcs don't like elves, for the reasons stated above. They don't like elves, but they don't realy fear them... at least not a lot. Still, elven goods are much sought after, and so trade does occur... rarely.

- Humans: To orcs, humans are either petty enemies to be smashed aside, or slaves waiting to be taken. Human slaves grow the food for the orc armies of the "civilized" orcs... or act as the food in a pinch... human warriors can earn the respect of an orc, but such an achievement is rare.

- Dwarves: Orcs hate dwarves. There's no other way to put it - put a dwarf and an orc in the same room, and in all but the rarest of circumstances, one or the other will end up dead. Dwarves despise orcs as vile things to be burned out of the caves they inhabit, so that mines might be placed there... while orcs, needless to say, object to such activities. Most of the fighting takes place between tribes of "wild" orcs and dwarves, but dwarves, not elves, are considered the "racial enemies" of the orcs...

Alrighty then, :) I've reduced the number of spells to ten. I hope it's alright now. If not, just tell me and I'll take another look through. Thanks! Now I'll get to work on Kylia Ialdris's stats. Btw, does the Reformed Church have any restrictions on the types of weapons their clerics may use?

And here it is, Kylia Ialdris's profile:

Name:Kylia Ialdris (http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c307/silverblitz/Anime/14301b50.jpg)
Race:Human-female
Archetype:Acolyte
Age:18
Height:5' 5"
Eyes:Emerald
Hair:Long, light chestnut brown
Residence:Tyralia
Language: Common and currently learning Elvin from Althamas
Weapon of Choice: A great axe whose blades are forged from consecrated steel
Skills: Concentration, Craft: Scrolls, and to a minor extent Alchemy. Currently developing skills in Cooking, Diplomacy, Healing, Knowledge of Religion and Arcana, and Sensing Motives

History: Kylia is the daughter of the Tyralian nobles Sir Rylthos and Lady Sildori. She was born to the happy family on a holy day. At an early age, Kylia demonstrated an amazing amount of energy. At age 5, this energy was diverted into admiration of the Refromed Church of Tyralia after witnessing an elderly priest heal her father after he was injured during a hunting accident. Amazed, Kylia proceded to bombard the kindly priest with questions for overs until she eventually fell asleep. From that day onward, she spent her free time reading through the Scriptures. At age 8, she began her training to become a Lady. At age 10, Kylia was engaged to the son of another noble. Sadly though, later that year the son was struck down by illness and the marriage was cancelled. After the boy's death, her parents decided that it would be best if she were to receive further education and entrusted her to the main temple in Tyralia's capital. It was there that she developed her sense of indepence. While she and her friends there caused much trouble for the clerics, the clerics nonetheless were happy to care for such an energetic and joyful child. At age 15, she rose to the rank of Acolyte and served as an aid to a priest. At age 18, she was entrusted to the care of Althamas Ilderin, who she met during her early years at the temple. Currently, she and Althamas are wandering about the continent, traveling from place to place.

As a child, Kylia was known to be an inquisitive child with near endless amounts of energy. As she aged, she retained both traits, though through her training to become Lady she had learned to restrain both to a degree. During her stay in the main temple, Kylia was known to be both kind and helpful, but at the same time a notorious troublemaker. Her friends and teachers often joke how she is able to fool strangers with her innocent appearances and then pranking them afterwards, though officially, her teachers disapprove of her actions. Her current master, Althamas Ilderin, has noted that she is hardworking when neccessary, but nonetheless has proved troublesomely whiny when given difficult training.

Her combat instructors at the temple noted during her initial years at the temple her amazing skill and dexterity with the great axe. With further training from the temple's resident great axe fanatic priest, she was able to further improve. In addition to this, the clerics noted her skill with divine energy was above average compared to her classmates. Because of her skill with this, Althamas was assigned as her master in order to train her in proper control. On the whole, Kylia is far more willing to resort to violence, despite Althamas's best efforts. Even so, she has begun to rely more and more on diplomacy, though her efforts are often shoddy at best. When engaging in combat, she isn't one to stay behind and watch, rather, she prefers to be in the thick of combat with her quarterstaff. Despite her skill with channeling divine energy, her repertoire of spells is rather small.

Spells
Create Fire- Calls upon divine grace to grant a small flame to light objects with (i.e. torches and campfires)
Lesser Holy Fury- Calls upon divine wrath to injure foe.
Minor Healing- Calls upon divine grace to heal wounds.
Minor Blessing- Calls upon divine grace to strengthen and protect for a short period of time.

OK, with the reduction in spells, you're great. As for the Reformed Church, they basically let their priests use whatever weapons they want to, although they favor a "finese' style, not brute force. (Althought they likely are going to have that one guy who realy likes great-axes...)

Ah thanks! In that case, I hope you don't mind if I change Kylia's weapon to a great axe then :D

Also, I was wondering what god/s does the Reformed Church worship?

A great-axe? Sure! Why the heck not? As for which gods are worshipped by the Reformed Church, they worship the same god who is worshiped by the unreformed church (the Merovian church, the Church of The West).
That means, of course, a sort of "God" type god - they worship a god who has all sorts of nice/nasty powers, and who (accoarding to the Church of The West, not the Reformed Church) is the only god. Basically, think Christianity but different... (one god, although they don't have an analogue to Jesus, they just have "God the Father").

- Demons and Angels: "Angels", or divine outsiders, are relatively rare. Sure, some act as the messengers of the various gods, but mostly they remain wherever it is that they come from. Demons, on the other hand, are slightly more common, and act in vicious and unpredictable ways - although they can be controlled, if one is brave or foolish enough...

Would you be opposed to myself playing as an Angel, a low or fallen Angel, perhaps?

Here's a bit of info on a region: The Thirty Baronies: (Think Holy Roman Empire, if you want an analogy... Holy Roman Empire during the thirty years war, with elves and without gun powder.)

The Baronies used to be a kingdom, the Kingdom of Thesalia, but that kingdom really fell apart shortly after it was formed on land just taken from the elves.
The first king was a Norscan barbarian, an illiterate foul-mouthed former mercanary who betrayed his elven employers and seized much of their land in the central region. He was King Freimann the First, the first of the Thesalian kings. (The elves called this region Thesalia, and the humans stole the name - in addition to the gold and silver they looted from the elves...)
This king was an able warrior, but an inept leader - he gave his underlings, those former barbarian chieftans, too much independance, and they used it to make themselves petty feudal lords of their land-grants. As such, King Freidmann the First spent most of his reign putting down rebelions, until he was killed during a siege, when a lucky spear-thrust got him through the visor of his helmet.
Once he'd died, his son, King Freidmann the Second and Last, inhereted the throne, which he held for a little under one hundred days of furious fighting before he was murdered by his Chancellor, the Baron Neuemann, who then announced that there had been a coup attempt, and that the entire royal line was wiped out - and he was right - it was, even down to babies snatched from cradles and children pulled out from under beds... it was pretty thorough, but one little thing wasn't done - one of the daughters escaped, and she raised an army in the outer reaches, promising the barons whatever they wanted if they would support her... with that army, she marched to fight Baron Neuemann, who assembled his own army...
The two armies fought, and hundreds died, until the last daughter of the royal house killed Baron Neuemann, before dieing herself.
As such, there were no obvious leaders, and so, the baronies fell into chaos and disorder, with no clear authority and no clear laws save those of the sword arm.
From then on, Baron fought Baron, mercenaries and bandits gathered, often both one and the same, bands of rouge warriors would seize castles, ruling as feudal lords until the rightful owners, or more likely, merely a stronger band of rouges and thieves, fought them and chased them out... in short, life isn't very pleasant in the Baronies.

Well, Angels would have quite a bit of magical fire-power under normal conditions, but if you were willing to play as a Fallen angel, one who lost his/her magical powers when he/she fell, then you could play as one - however, I would have to see the profile before anything specific would be approved.

A fallen angel sound interesting!

And Danteri, you've given us a lot of good information - thanks-

so when will this shindig be kicking off?

Well, it'll be kicking off either as soon as we get another character or this tuesday, which ever comes first...

The Arbiter

Not all works of God are that of peace and love. Sometimes, a hand of death must be delt in hopes of maintaining peace and order.

Azriel (helper of God in Hebrew) is such a work. He is not an archangel, a warrior of the highest standards. Nor is he a messanger, a bringer of hope. He is the extent of God's will on earth, the bringer of death to those who defy His will, an assasin of the light. Azriel is his given name on earth. His divine name is unpronouncable by the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve, the very mention of it would drive the speaker to insanity.

He is not fallen in the sense that he has fallen out of favor with the Lord. Instead, he is present on earth as a test from God, a mission. He must prove his worthiness to sit with The Father in His kingdom. His task is to bring to justice all who have sinned against He who is God.

His weapon is the Harbinger, an ancient sword of light, one that has been handed down from Arbiter to Arbiter. The sword is ultralight despite its ornate appearence, and forged with steel and iron. Holy runes along the blade keep the sword sharp to pierce armor and tear the flesh of those that oppose him. The iron in the blade turns the life of the Sidhe that oppose him to dust.

He has no magic in the classical sense of the world, but instead exercises his power in his actions. Faster and stronger than some of the fastest and strongest of mortals, he also reacts quicker. He can see in total darkness, and less it be clouded by magic, he can see the true nature of all beings. And of course using his wings, he can fly.

Azriel is not a friendly person, nor is he a team player. He is the traditional antihero, a warrior of darkness fighting for the light.

Okay... maybe your character is, shall we say, a little over-balanced? I'll post the opening in a few hours. Right now I'm a little busy...

Define overballanced.

Maybe "Can kill the entire rest of the party with one hand tied behind his back, and unarmed except for a pink stuffed rabbit"?

OOC: Imitoria might want to redo a bit of his character, but here's the begining of the campaign.

The Barony of Ost-lund was an unremarkable little pocket-kingdom, consisting of one small stone fortress that could charitably be called a castle, one small town that was barely worthy to be called town, and two small villages that, well, were villages.
Still, it had one good tavern, and that was where the adventurers were staying, having just arrived here from various regions and various adventures. Somehow, the place wasn't crowded - other than the dwarven bar-keeper, no one but the party was present.
Still, the fire was warm, the beer was good and the prices were just a little to the wrong side of reasonable.

(OOC: Now let's do a "meet-and-greet", shall we? After that, the adventure can really start...)

Not really. He has no magic skills at all. He runs fast, hits hard, and can fly, but thats really it. Think of him like Beast from XMen. Hes really strong and agile...but other than that, he can't do anything cool.

I want to get in on this. My character would probably be a human soldier. Weapons would be two curved sabers. I got to work on background but this sounds really cool. By the way: sorry about backing out of that Franco-prussian thing you made Danteri, it looked really cool but I was busy then.

Okay, I'm fine with everything so far, lets just wait for the other people to post, and then we can get going with everything...
By the way, thanks for saying that about the Franco-Prussian war RP - I always like to hear when I do a good job.

Wait, so were gonna do the IC posting in here too? Shouldn't we start up another thred for less clutter, leave this for OOC questions/comments?

moved to IC thread, with a slight rewrite

Yeah, I'd suggest starting up an IC thread rather than staying in this one. I'll gladly move my post to a new thread.

((ooc- likewise, i just thought that when danteri mentioned about getting the meet and greet going i thought it meant that it would be here. i can move as needed))

All right. I'll start a new thread, also in NationStates, if no one will feel bad about having to re-enter their initial meet-and-greet bits?

All right. I'll start a new thread, also in NationStates, if no one will feel bad about having to re-enter their initial meet-and-greet bits?
Those who've already posted can copy/paste, so don't think it'll be a problem for them.

Will be no problem for me. Tynelia - I'll wait for you to c&p yours before doing mine in.

Name: Temerius of Underth
Age: 22
Race: 6'-0"
Hair: Red
Eyes: Light Blue
Weapons/Equipment: Two dwarf-forged steel sabers, two throwing axes, skilled in many other forms of fighting as well
Religion: Worships the Dwarven gods as well as some Elven gods
Magic: Minor healing magics knows minor spells augment or protect things
History: Born as a noble in the Empire of Underth, from birth Temerius was trained as a warrior and as a commander. He is a born leader and is able to take charge of any situation. To hone is skills, he has often gone on raids on orc settlements and has faced both tribes. He normally spars daily and is an expert fighter with his swords, broadswords, spears, axes, and he can even handle a bow fairly well. However his magic skills are rudimentary at best, the most powerful spell he knows can only heal a broken bone. His swords have been etched with dwarven runes to make them nearly unbreakable and perpetually sharp. (he's a fighter) He came to Ost-lund to make a try at forming an army to challenge one of the Baronies.

Bah, hate to do this and all, but I just pretty much realised that between two RPs I'm already in, and one that I'll be starting up myself soon, I may not have the time to RP in here. Sorry much, but it looks good. Eventually Dantari, I will get a chance to RP with you. BEst of luck, hopefully it will turn out well!

ok fae i just moved mine over now. will wait for you to move yours over before i reply

OK, all is good, it's alright to leave if you want to and all. Anyway, the character proposed by The Appalacians is approved. And now... I'll see you at the IC thread!

Tynelia , you're refering to my character when you mention the half-orc, correct?

yes Theao, Bria would have noticed the orcish part before the elvish half, of course seeing the orc part she probably didn't even notice that the other half wasn't human.

yes Theao, Bria would have noticed the orcish part before the elvish half, of course seeing the orc part she probably didn't even notice that the other half wasn't human.
And am guessing that it was the same for TFF. Just wanted to make sure before positng.

Thought TFF, she wouldn't be slurping soup(Wouldn't even be eating stew(especially not if it had any meat in it))

The Appalacians. She's Orc/Elf, not Orc/Human.

ah. sorry, I'll edit.

yep I'll recheck my posts and edit aw wsll- you say she's eating cheese?

yep I'll recheck my posts and edit aw wsll- you say she's eating cheese?
Cheese sandwiches(Thick cheese slices, normal bread slices).

Room for one more?

I'd like to join if I may, as an arrogant elf-noble-sorcerer in charge of one of the baronies and secretly in the thrall of the Xandu. If this sounds okay and youre still taking submissions Ill type up a profile, if not- no problem. Some of you should check out Cayr's "Fantasy Intrigue" RP, it seems right up your alley and needs RPers. Also, could someone fill me in briefly as to whats taking place in the story ATM?

Thanks

fantasy intrigue you say? Very interesting.

fantasy intrigue you say? Very interesting.
Link to OA's ic thread
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=485111

Well, I guess we can accept one more, but no more after that. Remember before you submit your character that this is a low-magic RP, so any character you choose would have less magical fire-power than he normaly would.
As for the thread you recomended, it looks interesting, but I'm a bit busy with all the RPs I'm already involved in.

Name: Athalus Velim
Race: High Elf
Skin: White, golden hued
Eyes: Bright Green
Hair: Brown, shoulder length
Height: 6’3” Weight: 150
Physical Desc: Tall, slender, Athalus has the high cheek bones and pointed ears of his race.
Age: 420
Social Status: Wealthy noble, leader of a small but profitable Barony south of Ost-Lund
Primary Weapons: Magick

Abilities: Immortal, immune to human disease, Elvin senses. Skilled at both traditional magic and necromancy, though he prefers to have thugs do his dirty work for him.

Skills: Fluent in most languages, exceptionally intune with the magickal world

Bio:
Son of the noble House Velim in Underth, Athalus spent his early years studying arts, literature, and etiquette under his aristocratic parents. As he grew, though, the elf became interested in the magical arts and studied magecraft under a famed wizard-lord in Khandia. Velim was adept at all things arcane and quickly (relatively speaking) mastered several forms of wizardry. Always, perhaps foolishly, eager for more knowledge and power, Athalus abandoned his Khandian teacher and traveled to the harsh land of Xandu. There, in secret, he learned the precepts of necromancy and later earned an audience with the Emporer himself. For several decades Athalus was a regional governor in the Xandian Empire, until the Necromancer sent him to the baronies on a secret, undoubtedly devious, errand. Using his connections in House Velim, the High Elf secured control of a small, profitable barony just south of Ost-Lund. Athalus is arrogant, brilliant, and possibly insane. He has almost no skill with a weapon but his mastery of the magical arts more than makes up for this discrepancy.

Well, it's basically good, except, could you cut out the monster-summoning ability? That would be a bit over-balanced.

no problem, thanks

This is my Character:

Name: Qwia Amakiir
Race: Female Sun Elf
Class: 21st level Sorceress
Age: 200
Height: 5'3"
Eyes: Very Light Blue
Hair: long, golden
Residence: Outside Essembra, Battledale near Cormanthor Forrest
Abilities: low-light vision, immunity to sleep spells
Language/s: Elven, Sylvan, Common, Undercommon,
Weapon of Choice: Short Sword, Long Bow,
Skills: Ambidextrous, Concentration, Spell Craft, Diplomacy, Knowledge of arcana and to a degree Pysonics ... to be continued

I'm sorry, but the RP has started already. You can post a mroe complete character later, but you'll need to wait before you can join...

ooc haven't seen Aztiluth post in a couple days so doing something to get Bria back up to speed, if Az wants me to adjust it later i will.

ooc also the guards have their info a bit more off than race. Bria stole a silver necklace but was interrupted before she could get to the diamonds which were set in a pair of earrings. i don;t think i said anything other than diamonds before but it was diamond earrings she was after. she just grabbed the necklace because it was left on a dresser along the way :)

Okay, so they are even more off than I implied in that post...

danteri are the guards talking to Bria? cause she doesn't look very orcish being a half elf half human or is this what she overhears as she walks in?

I was just about to point that out. The half-orc/elf is in her room, not outside/in the public area of the bar.

Sorry for being out so long, I was busy with my finals so my posts may be less frequent this week.

ok Aztiluth, np i tried to minimize what your char did with the body once we reached the church and all to prevent any godmoding.

couple of things Old Atlantia. Bria was with Althamas bringing the body to the church when you encountered/passed by him on the road so she wasn't back at the inn yet or sitting with Cynn when you entered.Tempest had left the inn after Bria had so if you met him outside she would still be outside too. She did show up a little bit afterwards but hadn't gotten too far into the inn with my last post.

second how did Athalas ((damn i know i'm going to get those two names mixed up a lot :) )) almost immediately ID her as the thief when it was a half elf male mentioned in the guards' description?

They aren't talking about her - the boy that the bar-dwarf sent and the drunks who were screaming bloody murder all said that it was a part-orc, though, so that's what they're looking for - they're also assuming that the "outsiders" know more than they are saying, so they're trying to figure out what that is.
As for why they're being so thorough - they do have a job to do, enforcing the law, and they're trying to do it the best that they can, even if they are a bit frightened.

ah ok i was under the impression they were talking to Bria when she stepped through the door and mistook her for the half orc. i must have misread it.

Seriously, it's all fine, no problems that can't be RP-ed out...

Sorry bout that Tynelia, I just meant to establish that he's a rather smart character that can put two and two together rather quickly.... plus he was in the Baroness' mansion during the theft.
As for him seeing Bria, i thought you posted her entering the Inn before Athalus entered the Inn, esp. since Fae Folk had Cynn smiling wolfishly at Bria when the guards said something bout a half-elf... in fact you just had her continuing on to the inn. I was confused, sry, it will all be edited out.

no problem OA, just trying to keep things straight on my end too. we're all sort of on the same mini time warps back in time so stuff like this will happen.

didn't know that he was at the baropness' at the time of the theft so that would make sense then.

OK, glad to have clarified that.

OOC: I'm going on a trip right now, so I won't be able to post as often - but, I'll still try to post - we'll see how it goes...