~The Twelve Ballads of Liandra ~ Book 1- The Ties That Bind Us
Music, the most beautiful of all mortal creations; it can bring warmth and tenderness, as well as heart wrenching sorrow; it can ease your soul and
touch you in a place deep inside where your true self rests. Powerful, spell binding, and entrancing; music has inspired men to war, where pride and anger scorch the earth and turn brother against brother, father against son. But music has also taught people to understand, and to extend the hand f peace. For every soul there is a cord, verse, or note which can break the chains that bind our deepest emotions, free us from the shackles of solitude, and bring to us an understanding that fortifies the heart in its weakest moments.
This is an excerpt from a speech given on the last night of the first Ballad Light Festival nearly thirty centuries ago. The author of these words has long since been forgotten, but why she wrote them has not. Three millennia ago words such as peace, honor, contentment, and happiness had long since been forgotten in favor of never ending war. The world of Liandra had lived in a state of constant bloodshed for the last nine centuries, sides changed with the seasons, and no one race or kingdom ever held an advantage for long. After nearly a millennia of war the reasons why the war had started were lost to time; it seemed conflict had taken a will of its own; a will that imposed itself on the very hearts of generations of men, women, and children. Finally when the planet was so drenched in blood its rivers would literally run red a fragile peace was born. But peace had come far too late. Liandra, Goddess of Life and spirit of the world could no longer survive after such long and terrible spiritual and physical torment.
Too late the peoples of Liandra joined together in an effort to preserve their beloved world. There efforts proved to be for naught and Liandra slipped deeper into the abyss. With no hope left a decision was made that all races be they human, elven, faye, dwarf, dragon, beast-like, or monstrous would meet together in celebration.
For eleven days all living beings on Liandra came together in equality and celebrated. They celebrated their differences and their similarities. After 900 years of war they had finally learned to accept each other and to live in peace. For those eleven days Liandra became a fleeting paradise where the evils of the past were forgotten, and life was finally lived the way it was always meant to be. On the eleventh night of celebration during the hour of midnight a final tribute to Liandra was given. Twelve songstresses stepped forward, each holding a marbe tablet, and upon each tablet was etched an elegant ballad; eleven ballads for the eleven continents of Lianda and one for Liandra itself. In turn the ballads were performed until only twelfth and final ballad of Liandra was left. The twelve songstresses came together and sang as one. That final ballad touched the souls of all who heard it, including divine Liandra herself. In that final hour she visited her people in the form of a beautiful woman. She told them that they had earned forgiveness and Liandra would spare them. But she also reminded them to never again forget what greatness they were capable of. And so the Twelve Ballad’s of Liandra passed into legend, and every ten years the Ballad Light Festival is held.
Now thirty centuries later war begins to break out across three of Liandra’s continents. What drives this war is unknown, but if it is allowed to continue, the peoples of Liandra will be drawn once more into hatred, and Liandra will be doomed to the abyss. Hope for the future rests upon the shoulders of a a small band of world scorned outcasts; little do they know where their paths shall lead them.
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Important! Read here!
Standard rules, you should all know them by now. Anyway, aside from the standards, I'd like to inform you all, just in case you can't tell, that this is a swords and sorcery role play. So when designing your characters think medevil fantasy/Dungeons and Dragons. Also...In the rare case that someone can come up with something interesting, I'm allowing the use of gunpower, which means you can have guns, but since magic is more common in this world, you won't be entering many gun fights. When I say guns, I mean something a one-shot type deal, then you have to reload your powdwer, lead pellet, and such. Erm...One other thing, I mean for this rp to be a progressive sort of storyline, which means that anyone can hop into the story at almost anytime, provided you don't do something to ruin the overall tone of the rp...Which will earn you a painful death.
===========================================
The Template
Password:
Name:
Age:
Appearance:
Bio:
Personality:
Weapon/s of Choice
I’ll post a template later today.
Music, the most beautiful of all mortal creations; it can bring warmth and tenderness, as well as heart wrenching sorrow; it can ease your soul and
touch you in a place deep inside where your true self rests. Powerful, spell binding, and entrancing; music has inspired men to war, where pride and anger scorch the earth and turn brother against brother, father against son. But music has also taught people to understand, and to extend the hand f peace. For every soul there is a cord, verse, or note which can break the chains that bind our deepest emotions, free us from the shackles of solitude, and bring to us an understanding that fortifies the heart in its weakest moments.
This is an excerpt from a speech given on the last night of the first Ballad Light Festival nearly thirty centuries ago. The author of these words has long since been forgotten, but why she wrote them has not. Three millennia ago words such as peace, honor, contentment, and happiness had long since been forgotten in favor of never ending war. The world of Liandra had lived in a state of constant bloodshed for the last nine centuries, sides changed with the seasons, and no one race or kingdom ever held an advantage for long. After nearly a millennia of war the reasons why the war had started were lost to time; it seemed conflict had taken a will of its own; a will that imposed itself on the very hearts of generations of men, women, and children. Finally when the planet was so drenched in blood its rivers would literally run red a fragile peace was born. But peace had come far too late. Liandra, Goddess of Life and spirit of the world could no longer survive after such long and terrible spiritual and physical torment.
Too late the peoples of Liandra joined together in an effort to preserve their beloved world. There efforts proved to be for naught and Liandra slipped deeper into the abyss. With no hope left a decision was made that all races be they human, elven, faye, dwarf, dragon, beast-like, or monstrous would meet together in celebration.
For eleven days all living beings on Liandra came together in equality and celebrated. They celebrated their differences and their similarities. After 900 years of war they had finally learned to accept each other and to live in peace. For those eleven days Liandra became a fleeting paradise where the evils of the past were forgotten, and life was finally lived the way it was always meant to be. On the eleventh night of celebration during the hour of midnight a final tribute to Liandra was given. Twelve songstresses stepped forward, each holding a marbe tablet, and upon each tablet was etched an elegant ballad; eleven ballads for the eleven continents of Lianda and one for Liandra itself. In turn the ballads were performed until only twelfth and final ballad of Liandra was left. The twelve songstresses came together and sang as one. That final ballad touched the souls of all who heard it, including divine Liandra herself. In that final hour she visited her people in the form of a beautiful woman. She told them that they had earned forgiveness and Liandra would spare them. But she also reminded them to never again forget what greatness they were capable of. And so the Twelve Ballad’s of Liandra passed into legend, and every ten years the Ballad Light Festival is held.
Now thirty centuries later war begins to break out across three of Liandra’s continents. What drives this war is unknown, but if it is allowed to continue, the peoples of Liandra will be drawn once more into hatred, and Liandra will be doomed to the abyss. Hope for the future rests upon the shoulders of a a small band of world scorned outcasts; little do they know where their paths shall lead them.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Important! Read here!
Standard rules, you should all know them by now. Anyway, aside from the standards, I'd like to inform you all, just in case you can't tell, that this is a swords and sorcery role play. So when designing your characters think medevil fantasy/Dungeons and Dragons. Also...In the rare case that someone can come up with something interesting, I'm allowing the use of gunpower, which means you can have guns, but since magic is more common in this world, you won't be entering many gun fights. When I say guns, I mean something a one-shot type deal, then you have to reload your powdwer, lead pellet, and such. Erm...One other thing, I mean for this rp to be a progressive sort of storyline, which means that anyone can hop into the story at almost anytime, provided you don't do something to ruin the overall tone of the rp...Which will earn you a painful death.
===========================================
The Template
Password:
Name:
Age:
Appearance:
Bio:
Personality:
Weapon/s of Choice
I’ll post a template later today.