- Joined
- Mar 19, 2005
- Messages
- 3,886
- Age
- 33
-Literate. Original. Fantasy. Yes, I am at it again.-
Captain's Log, aboard the Stormwing.
I wouldn't consider us criminals. Sure, we've taken a few jobs here and there that lawmen might find a little objectionable, but we're not bad guys. All right, we've stolen some things ... broken some others ... fought a lot of people along the way and killed a few of them ... but we do good things too. Legal things. Just not as often as we do those illegal things.
Anyway, today I was summoned to the palace- to meet with the queen, no less! First time for everything. And I suppose "summoned" isn't the right word. "Forcefully persuaded to a clandestine meeting" is a better way of putting it. And I got to learn firsthand why Queen Jirael is such a strong leader.
She knew about us, she said. About the Stormwing. About our slightly objectionable actions and our loose interpretation of several laws, which she very kindly had her retainer list for me in full. I thought I was heading to a jail cell, and my poor ship to the junk yard, and only hoped that the rest of my crew might be able to run.
But then Queen Jirael told me that she was willing to wipe clean the Stormwing's slate, on one condition. That we go on a highly important, highly secret mission for the kingdom. Spirits save me, but I had no choice but to say yes.
Then out came this girl, sixteen or so by the looks of her, at least after she lowered the hood of her cloak.
"I am the Princess of Valenierre," she said, "and you are going to help me reclaim my throne."
Smugglers, thieves, rogues. Criminals. A menace to the crown, the mavericks of society. We're looked down upon even while others secretly praise us.
We're not bad guys. But I guess we're not good guys, either.
So why are we suddenly knights in shining armor?
Sit back, and let me tell you a story....
Life on this world runs through a mix of magic and simple technology. Through the vast heavens fly skyships, and you, my friend, are part of the crew on one of them. You take on odd jobs, smuggling, transporting, delivering, thieving, whatever pays. It's a tough life, always trying to fly ahead of the law ... but you're free, and no one can take the sky from you.
The world is separated into several kingdoms, the Stormwing's native one being Valtara. Valtara's neighbor is Valenierre, and right now, Valenierre is in a bit of a fix.
But let me backtrack a little. The world is inhabited by spirits who live, in a strange way, alongside us humans.
There are two kinds: first are the Blessed Spirits, known as Hallows. Hallows are benign spirits who willingly attach themselves to people as their familiars. They live inside your soul, but can be summoned at any time, for whatever reason. To fight, to guard, to help with the shopping, to snuggle up next to you at night. Hallows come in the form of rather strange, fantastical animals, usually small, but some are big enough to carry their human. When not summoned, they are represented by individual charms that people usually wear on a necklace or bracelet. A charm can be any small object, from a ragged feather to a sparkling diamond. They are used as the catalysts to summon your Hallows, which you begin to gain as a child and continue as you grow older.
Nice as this is, there is always a flip side. There are other spirits which live in the world of their own accord, malicious things that will never be a familiar, prefering instead to hunt humans than to bond with them. They are known as the Corrupted Spirits, or Curses. Like Hallows, they are strange creatures, rarely large. But sometimes, they are very, very dangerous.
Which brings us back to Valenierre. An ancient, powerful Curse of terrible evil had been growing there for centuries, unbeknowest to anyone. It stole as a shadow through the kingdom and possessed some petty lord, who just happened to be cousin to the king.
The Curse then proceeded to murder the royal family in their beds that same night, making sure no evidence pointed to the man he controlled. Devastated, the kingdom buried what was left of their ruler's bodies, King, Queen, and their four children. All the heirs to the throne had been wiped out in an instant, and the next in line was that obscure cousin, who up until then had been rather unimportant.
So Arrak de'Valen was crowned king, with the population totally unaware that he was now no more than a puppet for a deadly Curse which had sunk into his soul.
Ah, but ... while the Curse hid inside Arrak, plotting and spreading his dark influence across Valenierre, something unforseen had happened.
Valenierre's only princess had survived the attack.
She ran away that night, accompanied only by her Hallows. With nowhere to go and no one to turn to, she fled the country and ended up in Valtara. There she appealed in secret to Queen Jirael, for their two countries had long been friends and allies. And Jirael said that to reclaim her kingdom, she would have to find the six ancient talismans that held the spirits of legendary Hallows ... Hallows loyal only to the royal family of Valenierre. With them at her side, she could challenge this false king {and Curse}.
And who do you think is going to help find these Hallows and protect the princess along the way?
Why, none other than the rogues of the Stormwing.
~Magic
Magic in this world reacts a bit differently for everyone. What remains constant is its origin: it quite literally grows on trees. Myth trees take in carbon dioxide and release both oxygen and magical energy. And they grow crystals called Mythra, which are used as the fuel that powers skyships and the like.
Mythra is needed for any sort of technology. But spells that come from the inside ... those are different. Some people are better at magic than others; it just works for them more. Others may have a knack for mecha, the art of combining magic and machines. And even those people who are good at spells may only have specific talents. So there's really no sure way of measuring a person's power. The main focus is always summoning....
~Hallows
Hallows, unlike the free-roaming Curses, cannot manifest themselves in this world without first attaching themselves to a human. Afterwards, they can manifest at any time, for any length of time, but only when summoned. When not summoned, the spirits reside in catalysts- "charms" that can be any small object, and are usually clipped onto link bracelets or necklaces.
A person normally gains their first Hallow in early childhood, and acquires another every few years or so as they grow older. The average number of Hallows one person usually has is three or four. Very occasionally you'll meet someone with only two, and less rarely, five or six. Some people are just cluttered like that.
Hallows and Curses alike both take the form of strange creatures- fantastical more often than not, unable to pass for any sort of normal animal. The visible difference between Hallows and Curses are that Curses look evil- they are corrupted, after all, and savage predators.
There have only been three instances in history when a Curse was able to become subservient to a human. Two of the Curses were able to overpower their human after being summoned a few times, which leaves only one Curse to have ever become a Hallow- but that's another story. People still try from time to time, but there hasn't been a recorded successful taming in centuries, and its generally a very stupid thing to do. More often than not, you just end up dead for trying.
A Hallow that can reach the size of a horse is termed as unusually large: anything bigger than that is impossible, save for the legendary Hallows which serve the royal families, ancient and powerful. But those are only myths, right?
Rules of the role play
This is a literate RP. That means I'm asking you to post at least two paragraphs per reply, along with good grammar and creativity.
The words of Tobuoi and I are law. If we say you're out, you're out: if we say you need to stop doing something, stop: if we say you're made of awesome, then go pat yourself on the back, we're very picky. But it all comes down to this: listen to us.
Respect each other, respect this thread, respect KHI. Do not flame, do not break the forum rules, do not get into stupid arguments.
Follow the template. If I wanted any more or less, I would've put that. So stick to it, yo.
Be original. No, your name cannot be Cloud Strife, and you cannot have an overcompesnating sword. Also, your character cannot be too powerful or anything, because that annoys me. No stock characters, this isn't some bad fan fic I'm running. Who do you think you are, Christopher Paolini?
Read. Skimming through things like plots or character profiles is not something I suggest. You tend to miss stuff. Important stuff. Even if it's long and you're lazy, read it anyway. You might find that you answered with a totally screwy post because you skimmed, and therefore did not pick up on what exactly was going on. This is advice more than a rule, but do it anyway.
This is not Earth. No guns, no iPods, no transdimensional travelers. Stay here.
Have fun! Because I worked for too damn long on this thing for it to be miserable.
So, tell me about yourself.
Name:
Gender:
Age: I'm not accepting anyone under the age of sixteen on my crew.
Job: On the crew, of course.
Appearance: Either a description or a picture with a description. And if you have a picture, link form only.
Weapon/s: We're criminals. We get into tricky situations. But just be logical with this. Six-foot long swords do not exist out of Squeenix.
Personality: At least three sentences, please.
History: You don't have to kill yourself trying to make this super-cool and interesting. No novels, just tell us what we need to know.
Hallows: Everyone has them, remember. And unless you're a member of a royal family {which you won't be}, none of your Hallows will be larger than a horse. Some may even be the size of kittens for all I care. List here their names, what the look like, what their charms are, ect.
Theme song: Because it's fun and you know it.
NOTE: We do need someone to play the princess, quite badly, because I don't want to do it. If you're interested in this role, and I hope you are, then PM me. We'll judge if you'll make a good princess and fill you in on the details you'll need to know.
~The crew
The Captain: Arrow Turinde - GuardianOfHearts {ew, look, I'm in charge}
The First Mate: open
The Pilot: open
The Mechanic: Rin - Tobuoi
-
-
The Princess of Valenierre: open
After those critical onboard roles, there's two slots available for the characters who just work there. You know, most likely to help with the miscellanious things instead of having actual specific tasks, like driving the ship. If you have an idea for another job {say, a medic}, tell us. If your profile's good enough, I'll stick another job up there.
Hey, GuardianOfHearts. Is this a rip-off of several Final Fantasy games?
I never intended it to be, but it appears that it is. Tobuoi tells me I need to play FFIX and XII. I swear I didn't just steal the ideas and put them through a blender together, I've never played those games. Plus, Final Fantasy totally had me backed into a corner with names for the spirits. They took them all! Aeons, GFs, Espers, Eidelons....
Captain's Log, aboard the Stormwing.
I wouldn't consider us criminals. Sure, we've taken a few jobs here and there that lawmen might find a little objectionable, but we're not bad guys. All right, we've stolen some things ... broken some others ... fought a lot of people along the way and killed a few of them ... but we do good things too. Legal things. Just not as often as we do those illegal things.
Anyway, today I was summoned to the palace- to meet with the queen, no less! First time for everything. And I suppose "summoned" isn't the right word. "Forcefully persuaded to a clandestine meeting" is a better way of putting it. And I got to learn firsthand why Queen Jirael is such a strong leader.
She knew about us, she said. About the Stormwing. About our slightly objectionable actions and our loose interpretation of several laws, which she very kindly had her retainer list for me in full. I thought I was heading to a jail cell, and my poor ship to the junk yard, and only hoped that the rest of my crew might be able to run.
But then Queen Jirael told me that she was willing to wipe clean the Stormwing's slate, on one condition. That we go on a highly important, highly secret mission for the kingdom. Spirits save me, but I had no choice but to say yes.
Then out came this girl, sixteen or so by the looks of her, at least after she lowered the hood of her cloak.
"I am the Princess of Valenierre," she said, "and you are going to help me reclaim my throne."
Smugglers, thieves, rogues. Criminals. A menace to the crown, the mavericks of society. We're looked down upon even while others secretly praise us.
We're not bad guys. But I guess we're not good guys, either.
So why are we suddenly knights in shining armor?
Sit back, and let me tell you a story....
Life on this world runs through a mix of magic and simple technology. Through the vast heavens fly skyships, and you, my friend, are part of the crew on one of them. You take on odd jobs, smuggling, transporting, delivering, thieving, whatever pays. It's a tough life, always trying to fly ahead of the law ... but you're free, and no one can take the sky from you.
The world is separated into several kingdoms, the Stormwing's native one being Valtara. Valtara's neighbor is Valenierre, and right now, Valenierre is in a bit of a fix.
But let me backtrack a little. The world is inhabited by spirits who live, in a strange way, alongside us humans.
There are two kinds: first are the Blessed Spirits, known as Hallows. Hallows are benign spirits who willingly attach themselves to people as their familiars. They live inside your soul, but can be summoned at any time, for whatever reason. To fight, to guard, to help with the shopping, to snuggle up next to you at night. Hallows come in the form of rather strange, fantastical animals, usually small, but some are big enough to carry their human. When not summoned, they are represented by individual charms that people usually wear on a necklace or bracelet. A charm can be any small object, from a ragged feather to a sparkling diamond. They are used as the catalysts to summon your Hallows, which you begin to gain as a child and continue as you grow older.
Nice as this is, there is always a flip side. There are other spirits which live in the world of their own accord, malicious things that will never be a familiar, prefering instead to hunt humans than to bond with them. They are known as the Corrupted Spirits, or Curses. Like Hallows, they are strange creatures, rarely large. But sometimes, they are very, very dangerous.
Which brings us back to Valenierre. An ancient, powerful Curse of terrible evil had been growing there for centuries, unbeknowest to anyone. It stole as a shadow through the kingdom and possessed some petty lord, who just happened to be cousin to the king.
The Curse then proceeded to murder the royal family in their beds that same night, making sure no evidence pointed to the man he controlled. Devastated, the kingdom buried what was left of their ruler's bodies, King, Queen, and their four children. All the heirs to the throne had been wiped out in an instant, and the next in line was that obscure cousin, who up until then had been rather unimportant.
So Arrak de'Valen was crowned king, with the population totally unaware that he was now no more than a puppet for a deadly Curse which had sunk into his soul.
Ah, but ... while the Curse hid inside Arrak, plotting and spreading his dark influence across Valenierre, something unforseen had happened.
Valenierre's only princess had survived the attack.
She ran away that night, accompanied only by her Hallows. With nowhere to go and no one to turn to, she fled the country and ended up in Valtara. There she appealed in secret to Queen Jirael, for their two countries had long been friends and allies. And Jirael said that to reclaim her kingdom, she would have to find the six ancient talismans that held the spirits of legendary Hallows ... Hallows loyal only to the royal family of Valenierre. With them at her side, she could challenge this false king {and Curse}.
And who do you think is going to help find these Hallows and protect the princess along the way?
Why, none other than the rogues of the Stormwing.
~Magic
Magic in this world reacts a bit differently for everyone. What remains constant is its origin: it quite literally grows on trees. Myth trees take in carbon dioxide and release both oxygen and magical energy. And they grow crystals called Mythra, which are used as the fuel that powers skyships and the like.
Mythra is needed for any sort of technology. But spells that come from the inside ... those are different. Some people are better at magic than others; it just works for them more. Others may have a knack for mecha, the art of combining magic and machines. And even those people who are good at spells may only have specific talents. So there's really no sure way of measuring a person's power. The main focus is always summoning....
~Hallows
Hallows, unlike the free-roaming Curses, cannot manifest themselves in this world without first attaching themselves to a human. Afterwards, they can manifest at any time, for any length of time, but only when summoned. When not summoned, the spirits reside in catalysts- "charms" that can be any small object, and are usually clipped onto link bracelets or necklaces.
A person normally gains their first Hallow in early childhood, and acquires another every few years or so as they grow older. The average number of Hallows one person usually has is three or four. Very occasionally you'll meet someone with only two, and less rarely, five or six. Some people are just cluttered like that.
Hallows and Curses alike both take the form of strange creatures- fantastical more often than not, unable to pass for any sort of normal animal. The visible difference between Hallows and Curses are that Curses look evil- they are corrupted, after all, and savage predators.
There have only been three instances in history when a Curse was able to become subservient to a human. Two of the Curses were able to overpower their human after being summoned a few times, which leaves only one Curse to have ever become a Hallow- but that's another story. People still try from time to time, but there hasn't been a recorded successful taming in centuries, and its generally a very stupid thing to do. More often than not, you just end up dead for trying.
A Hallow that can reach the size of a horse is termed as unusually large: anything bigger than that is impossible, save for the legendary Hallows which serve the royal families, ancient and powerful. But those are only myths, right?
Rules of the role play
This is a literate RP. That means I'm asking you to post at least two paragraphs per reply, along with good grammar and creativity.
The words of Tobuoi and I are law. If we say you're out, you're out: if we say you need to stop doing something, stop: if we say you're made of awesome, then go pat yourself on the back, we're very picky. But it all comes down to this: listen to us.
Respect each other, respect this thread, respect KHI. Do not flame, do not break the forum rules, do not get into stupid arguments.
Follow the template. If I wanted any more or less, I would've put that. So stick to it, yo.
Be original. No, your name cannot be Cloud Strife, and you cannot have an overcompesnating sword. Also, your character cannot be too powerful or anything, because that annoys me. No stock characters, this isn't some bad fan fic I'm running. Who do you think you are, Christopher Paolini?
Read. Skimming through things like plots or character profiles is not something I suggest. You tend to miss stuff. Important stuff. Even if it's long and you're lazy, read it anyway. You might find that you answered with a totally screwy post because you skimmed, and therefore did not pick up on what exactly was going on. This is advice more than a rule, but do it anyway.
This is not Earth. No guns, no iPods, no transdimensional travelers. Stay here.
Have fun! Because I worked for too damn long on this thing for it to be miserable.
So, tell me about yourself.
Name:
Gender:
Age: I'm not accepting anyone under the age of sixteen on my crew.
Job: On the crew, of course.
Appearance: Either a description or a picture with a description. And if you have a picture, link form only.
Weapon/s: We're criminals. We get into tricky situations. But just be logical with this. Six-foot long swords do not exist out of Squeenix.
Personality: At least three sentences, please.
History: You don't have to kill yourself trying to make this super-cool and interesting. No novels, just tell us what we need to know.
Hallows: Everyone has them, remember. And unless you're a member of a royal family {which you won't be}, none of your Hallows will be larger than a horse. Some may even be the size of kittens for all I care. List here their names, what the look like, what their charms are, ect.
Theme song: Because it's fun and you know it.
NOTE: We do need someone to play the princess, quite badly, because I don't want to do it. If you're interested in this role, and I hope you are, then PM me. We'll judge if you'll make a good princess and fill you in on the details you'll need to know.
~The crew
The Captain: Arrow Turinde - GuardianOfHearts {ew, look, I'm in charge}
The First Mate: open
The Pilot: open
The Mechanic: Rin - Tobuoi
-
-
The Princess of Valenierre: open
After those critical onboard roles, there's two slots available for the characters who just work there. You know, most likely to help with the miscellanious things instead of having actual specific tasks, like driving the ship. If you have an idea for another job {say, a medic}, tell us. If your profile's good enough, I'll stick another job up there.
Hey, GuardianOfHearts. Is this a rip-off of several Final Fantasy games?
I never intended it to be, but it appears that it is. Tobuoi tells me I need to play FFIX and XII. I swear I didn't just steal the ideas and put them through a blender together, I've never played those games. Plus, Final Fantasy totally had me backed into a corner with names for the spirits. They took them all! Aeons, GFs, Espers, Eidelons....
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