Incarnations To The End

[InsanitiesJack]

There is a special kind of person among humanity, a human being who has been blessed and cursed with a mutation - a difference - so great, there is question as to whether those afflicted are truly human at all. It is pervasive, it is life-threatening, it is something that nobody save the truly foolish wishes for. It is the presence of a certain... ability. Those who are born into these roles are not obvious, at first; they have the same skin as any other child, will cry and beg and steal attention all the same as the creatures they so callously pretend to be. But it is in childhood, and then in adolescence, that their monstrosity is revealed. It is in the way they think, single-minded and intense. It is in the way they learn, far beyond the precious children of humanity. It is an invasive difference that crawls through the minds of every parent, forcing them to question whether or not they should, perhaps, smother the child they hold in their hands.

It is Incarnation.

An Incarnation may appear human for the majority of their lives, perhaps even for all of it, but the skin and flesh is merely a cloak - a shadow in which hides their true nature, their true existence as Things. You see, in this world there exists certain... forces. There are the Fae, of course, those mischievous and cruel and alien. The Dragons roosting upon mountaintops and lurking beneath the Earth, in slumber or in wait of an opportunity to raise another Purge with their fowl magicks and heated breath. The Trolls, the Goblins and other such enemies of mankind, rallying themselves alongside the fowl traitors. These are commonly known, I accept, but not the extent of their threat nor the degree to which they are entrenched within our world.

I shall begin with the Fae. As most of you know, the Fae are otherworldly creatures, of sociopathic and psychopathic tendencies save that rather than life they seek entertainment in all forms, whether that be the merry prank of ruining a family or playing the trick of replacing a newborn child with a Changeling. They are dangerous, true, but so long as your words are picked with caution and you keep your wits about you, the Fae do not, usually, pose such a threat that the leaders of our nation are driven to hunt them in a fit of ury and righteous extermination.

What you, perhaps, do not know of is the fact that there is a separate breed of Fae, their powers mighty and their motivations unreadable even to the normal courts and plagues of the disastrous creatures. These Fae are what could be called Gods, by the superstitious and the blasphemous, for in the forging of the world they took grasp of winds and flames and seas and twisted them to their own purpose, creating a tide of new and unusual items, their hands and void-charged smithies giving birth to great and terrible beasts. But what took particular root, however, was a certain... propensity, of our world of Terra.

This propensity is know to scientific circles as the "Unequal Exchange Phenomenon," but which the majority of you would know as magicks. The secrets of magicks are strange and unusual, and even one such as I, who has driven over a dozen Unregistered Magisters to death and beyond, and who has dabbled in the arts of Sanctified Magick myself, am at a loss as to how magick, in truth, works. However, there is a component vital to the Magister, the Magician, the Magus. That component is The Source.

You see, the arts of Magick draw upon the conceptual existence of certain items. A man who wishes to bring flame into being must draw upon the very existence that is Fire, must take hold of the essence of fire in the wellpool from which all things were brought into being and to which all things return upon their death and destruction. An interesting phenomenon of such is items that have been constructed - it has been proven the more destruction a particular item has been brought, the stronger the presence it may have within the Source.

Now, to bring all of these interesting little factoids together, you should take notice that you hear nothing of blasphemous Gods in recent ages, correct? Nothing more than the odd savage tribe or magick-fearing foreigner, in any case. This is because, in recent centuries, these God-like Fae that dipped their hands into the creation of the world, are dead or dying. But their power and mind does not merely disappear, no. No, something far worse happens. It is inherited. And thus a human embryo, an innocent baby, is granted all the power of a False God. Now, normally it would die of sheer overload, at the least - but instead, the Fae, for lack of a better term, rides on the back of the power. It waits until all the power has been drawn within the baby, and then opens a well through which it escapes into the Void, powerless but capable of recovering to some extent. And what happens to the child, you question? Well, the child is no more.

In the childs place lies an Incarnation. You see, a growing baby is not meant to withstand the tidal forces of the Source and the Void, no, it lacks the natural resistance to such things that near all people hold. So the child is forced to survive these great experiences, are exposed to the cosmic forces of the Beginning and End of the World itself, and comes out alive, but changed. It is no longer human. It is no longer a creature of this world. No, it is something between the greatest of Magisters - a blend of the Fae and of magick and of a horrible abuse of the living Source. It has taken hold of one of the many, many things that exist within the Source, and it has become of it.

When an Incarnation experiences strong emotion, and their body is sufficiently matured, they experience their very first change. They are revealed as one of the Incarnations, as being of less than human blood. The phenomenon varies - why, once I heard of a woman becoming a living mix of tree and human, her rage insatiable as she slaughtered all around her until she was finally slain at the hand of her own son. This is merely one such transformation. But to put it in simple terms, Incarnations are named what they are for one simple reason - they are a single thing given physical form. Whether it be concrete things such as fire, wood and steel, or abstract ideals such as hope, conflict and ends, an Incarnation has become so entwined with the thing that they witnessed, that they touched within the Source, that there is no true difference between the two.

And that is why it is so essential to kill these abominations. For there is no greater danger than that of purity and power without control or flaw.

~An Introduction to Incarnations and Magicks, Page 6-7, by Lord Protector Gerwalt 2nd

Some say that Incarnations are monsters, twisted mockeries of the things that come from the Source. After all, they think, how could a creature born of true Hope, or a man birthed in such a mindless thing as flame, be evil? Rather, aren't they merely pitiable, twisted beasts? What theyd o not know is that purity of intentions or goals do not make the path clean of blood and destruction. Because Hope is born out of despair and fear, and what better way to hope than to bring it to the innumerable masses?

~Professor Davids on the History of Incarnations

I met an Incarnation once, y'know? It was before she had even learned her first oath, just a youngling at five or so. I remember looking into her eyes and thinking "I can not believe that such an innocent girl could speak of death is so joyful a manner." She had been speaking of the funeral she attended, of watching as her uncle was lowered into the hole. Do you know she said? "I wish I could watch the insects eat his body." The next year I opened the newspaper to find that she'd turned into a monster - a beast, killing and eating everything around her. It-It said that they'd found bones in a hiding spot of hers. Months old, not all of them from animals. I can't hardly speak to children anymore, really - always afraid they might grow fangs and begin eating me. Always afraid.

~Anonymous subject of an interview conducted by the Norwin News.

=-=-=-=-=
Introduction
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It is the three thousandth year on the standard Terra calender, and the leaders of humanity celebrate their five hundred years of rule with a toast while cities across the globe dance and party and make merry. The lights are bright and the fireworks fired with neither reservation nor regards for safety. Guardsmen across the country silently leave their posts in the darkness of the night, their minds filled with thoughts of smooth music and smoother prostitutes. On this solitary day humanity has left leave of its senses, blinded by prosperity and safety and the advancements of science. On this day, rather than any such plesantries, you are gathered. Children, all of you, whether you lived in the streets or were stolen from your crib, you find yourself in the grip of robed men and armored beasts. It is strange, the way they whisper in your presence and bow to you as your harried group passes through the great oaken doors.

It becomes stranger still when you are marked with blood, the taste of foreign magicks in the air and visibly shifting the air with great aplomb, light and sound and sensation swirling about as a man coated in bone and scaled flesh creates a circle of blood and skulls and hearts and many other things you'd likely rather forget.

It is then, when the ritualistic circle is complete and you have all been herded into the center, that you suddenly find yourself tired. Very, very tired. You fall asleep, and when you awaken you are as normal; within your homes, or your boxes, or resting within the gutter while the drunk and the drugged die and suffer around you. The strange experience is dismissed as a dream, as a mere delusion of childhood, and your life goes on. Perhaps you are the assistant to a shopkeeper. Perhaps you seek out adventure and fame in the life of a mercenary. Perhaps you were truly the son of a nobleman and spent your years learning politics and how to give the appearance of chivalry and honor.

It does not matter. In the end, there is a lesser party on the tenth year of the three thousandth year, and on that day amazing events befall you.

You are about to be introduced to an entirely new side of your world. Long lost magicks, ancient and forgotten oaths, strange and debilitating changes to your mind and body. You will hunt and be hunted, you will create and you will destroy, and at the end of the day you may just hold the fate of the world in your hands.

It is your choice. Whatever your wishes, whatever your purpose, whatever you may believe or think you believe, the world is ever expanding and if you do not take this chance it could very well slip from your fingers.

So what do you say?

=-=-=-=-=-=

An RP which will detail the end of the world through the eyes of creatures that should not exist upon it. Sound interesting?

[OiHarkin]

So we'd be playing kids with the souls of Fae, right? Sounds very interesting.

[InsanitiesJack]

More complicated than that, but yes, that could be a way to put it. There's going to be a lot more detail once I create an actual OOC.

[Keia Vewyx]

So, an Incarnation could transform into literally anything, from physical bodies to abstract ideas? (With a few limitations, of course.)
And the players get to play these beings?
Sounds rather incredible.

[DotCom]

Aight. I'm down. Color me interested.

[InsanitiesJack]

To make it more clear, imagine there's a place outside the physical world. This is where all souls and metaphysical beings, like the Fae, reside before entering the physical world. It also where, ultimately, everything ends up. a man dies, not only will his soul go there but so will a copy of his body and mind. You construct a sword, and when it is destroyed or dismantled a copy of the sword will arrive there as well.

These things take on collective 'identities' in that place. The more copies there are, the larger and stronger the identity. So fire, something that's been present on the planet since it was created and that is in a constant cycle of construction and destruction, has one of the largest and strongest identities there. Because it has such a large identity, people who can access that place - magick users - find it extremely easy to draw forth fire into the real world.

But something that was only constructed very recently and hasn't been destroyed very much, like, say, light bulbs which only started being produced en masse about twenty five years previously, have comparatively small and weak identities. So a magick user would have an extremely hard time doing anything to do with light bulbs.

There's also the matter of the complexity of the item you're attempting to draw forth. For example, swords. They've been in use for a very long time, they're made of relatively simple materials, and so you would think that it shouldn't be too hard to produce one, right? Wrong. You may be able to produce a simple, crappy quality one by brute forcing the issue, but if you want a truly good sword then you need to know what goes into making one - and if you have personal experience and expertise with making swords, then it'll come that much easier.

There is exactly one exception to these rules. The Incarnations.

As said earlier, the Incarnations are exposed to that metaphysical place while in the mothers womb. When they become an Incarnation, they essentially become a single object, concept, ect ect.

Incarnations are restricted to a single item, however. There can be an Incarnation of Fire, or an Incarnation of Hunger, or an Incarnation of Swords. But there can't be an Incarnation of both Fire AND Swords. There COULD be an Incarnation of Heated Swords, however. The broader the item they are an Incarnation of, the 'weaker' they are in raw transformative and summoning power and more vulnerable to insanity they are.

So lets say you have an Incarnation of Swords. Mr. Sword hits nine years old and has a particularly bad temper tantrum one day. What happens? His body starts turning into swords. Literally. The older you are and more experienced you get, the better your transformation goes. So while at age nine Mr. Sword may get steel for bones and blades for muscles, at age thirty Mr. Sword may be capable of turning his limbs into swords, shifting his body between metal and flesh at will, ect ect.

Incarnations who learn magick, which are particularly rare, are generally One-Trick Ponies. They find it difficult to grasp anything but what they are an Incarnation of. So lets go back to Mr. Sword; if he were to learn magick, then he would be able to summon any kind of sword you could name at the drop of a hat and be manipulating them like they were his own body. But he'd have trouble drawing forth even a simple candleflame, something most five year olds could do given proper instruction.

Now, so far all I've been describing is the most direct method of magick; reaching into the Void, grabbing what you want, and pulling it out, essentially. But the other side of the coin is Ritualism, which can get... interesting.

So, have I explained things well? I want to make sure that everyone understands what I'm saying, since this is simultaneously an attempt at world building and creating an 'Epic' Plot.

[Blathers]

That's a very interesting concept for a roleplay. I think I understand what you're going for, and you've certainly got my interest.

[InsanitiesJack]

Since creating the OOC is taking longer than expected, I'll start putting up excerpts of information here. If you see anything that needs to be explained further, or want clarification on something, just ask. I want to make this accessible, despite the placement in Advanced, and that means being thorough and comprehensive. I'm also working on creating some artwork for it - if any of you have knowledge on a handy online picture editor, or even better, something to help me make a custom map for the world, you'd be doing me a great favor.

- - - Updated - - -

-=The Traitor Races=-
"The so-called Traitor Races are clearly defined and quite common in their presence upon the world, despite all efforts to the contrary. The Traitor Races are comprised of the Trolls, the Goblins, the Orcish, and the various uncivilized humans who greeted our societies hand of technology and advancement with bared teeth and warcries. In this short report, I shall only touch upon the bare basics of each group, and their relations with the civilized world.

The first and most prominent upon the citizens minds are the Trolls; large, brutish creatures without an ounce of refinement or selflessness, they pledge themselves to a heretic God of death and decay known as Mortis. Despite this, however, they are able taskmasters and warriors, and in ages long past proved themselves to be capable minions. Before their break from our great Empire, in 156 AG, they were a moderately sized nation that comprised much of the lower echelons of our military might. Despite their proud place in our society, however, they were themselves dissatisfied with humanity and, as their anger grew greater and more uncontrollable, they found themselves losing jobs and respect among the fair citizens. Soon they were almost completely outcast by their own prejudice, and decided to break away completely in a violent assault upon the capitol. Experiencing great loss, however, in the failed surprise attack, they were driven away. Since then the Trolls have been hunted and killed whenever they are found in human lands and though they have grown into their own, small, society on the outskirts the majority are aimless wanderers, grouped nomads, vagabonds, and bandits.

When searching for Trolls, you should expect oversized humanoids with browned and scarred flesh. They hold only four fingers, three thick ones opposing a quasi-thumb, and their foot is similarly constructed even if extended as feet are. They hold broad shoulders and meeting arms that extend slightly longer than normal to a human, and their face is marked by a pig-like snout and small, dark eyes. But their most unique characteristic is their regenerative capabilities; a Troll heals quick, a Troll heals strong, a Troll heals all. This has given rise to the phrase "Like a Troll with a pretty face," being used among civilized humans, meaning to be quite determined at something.

The second of the Traitor Races is the goblin, a physically unremarkable humanoid that spawned some thousand years ago as the result of heretical magicks. They are quite ugly, and bear green skin and short statures, with long and bony limbs that end in fingers and toes more like claws than true manipulators. Nonetheless they are shrewd with all things mathematical, and are reported to be quite obssessed with money. Typically found amongst Trolls and human tribes, there are a few clans of nomadic goblins that are generally hostile to all life but their own. Overall they are interesting only in their ability to produce something known as "Spirit Fire," a magick natural to their bodies that manifests itself as flame hot enough to burn blue but smokeless and unable to catch. Long ago they were servants to humanity, but just as the Trolls inevitably deserted in rage, so too did the goblins leave, though theirs was a subtler and more damaging escape, in that they stole a great deal of our riches while doing so.

The third are the Orcish, a widely believed relation to the Troll. However, records indicate that in truth the Orcish come from the Eastern Isles, across the ocean, and are in fact closest in genetic lineage to humanity than any other. In general the Orcish are broad shouldered but squat and hairy creatures, with skin ranging from near-pure white to dark tones of grey and even blue. In other respects, they are quite similar to humans; though their mouths are filled by a set of tusks and their eyes are quite large, they are by and large very similar to humanity in appearance. In mindset, however, they are extremely insular and arrogant, and abide by a strictly warrior-ruled culture where men are the leaders and women are little more than bed-warmers and, excuse the term, 'baby factories'. Quite clearly barbaric, they nonetheless hold control of multiple small but fiercely defended strongholds both within and without human territory. They are considered a Traitor Race for a simple reason; it was they who worked as labourers for humanity in ages long past, and even now manual and brutish labour is referred to as "Orc Work."

Finally, there are the true Traitors of humanity, those who hold the title of human themselves. Though they are sparse and they are weak, there are multiple warlike tribes of humans that have rejected the call of civilization and safety in favor of barbarism and death. Then there are those who disregard the laws and customs of our Empire, they who practice the heretical magicks and worships of false Gods, and other such malcontents. It is difficult to say that these are not the most dangerous, for they are also the most innocuous among the creatures and beasts that refuse our will. Be wary of travelers upon the road, for you do not know if the man you passed was a practitioner of forbidden rituals."

~Doctor Richmen on the Traitor Races.

-=Dragons=-
"The dragon is a rare, but overall very powerful and dangerous beast. Their physiology is a mix between that of your normal lizard, though the exact basis it can appear to take varies wildly, and that of various flying creatures, most notably the bat. The degree to which they are similar to said creatures varies also - whereas you might find a dragon with two winged forearms and a toothless beak, there are also those who have four legs and a third set of limbs, bearing their wings. In the west there are even reports of snake-like dragons, capable of flight despite a total lack of wings. Whether this unusual difference is on account of enviromental factors, preference and coincidence, or mere misinformation about creatures that are not dragons at all is unknown. When hatched, a dragon is typically ten to twelve feet long, from snout to the tip of the tail, though their height varies far too drastically to make an average estimate without extensive, dangerous research.

When a dragon comes of age, estimated to be some five hundred years after birth, it will begin wandering the world in seeking of mates. Upon finding a mate, whether male or female, the two shall engage in a contest of skill and strength - the rare witnesses to these contests have reported frenzied battles interconnected with intercourse, the two activities seeming to have almost no difference between them for the pair. Once the contest is finished, the pair shall shelter themselves for up to a year before the female finally lays her eggs. The eggs, of course, are just as strange and unique as the dragons themselves; the size of a mans head and composed of a squishy, mucus-like substance that sticks quite well, it grows to match the size and maturity of the embryo within until hatching, about five months later.

There are multiple places in which a dragon appears to possess a natural magick ability, not the least of which being their famed weapons of breath. Though the most common and well-known thing they spew from their unprotected throats is fire, there has also been dragons that breathe air so cold as to freeze water in an instant, and others who bring life or death to all around them at their whim. Unfortunately, this is not quite as well researched a venture as I might wish.

There is also the strange and fascinating magicks that allow them life and flight. Though it is not a well known fact, the use of math and study of the world has, in recent times, revealed that many creatures are subject to a set limit of the weight that they may live with before collapsing. This is why experiments to enlargen insects to groteske sizes always fail, and the leviathans of the oceans are incapable of living on land; they are, quite simply, too heavy for their own bodies to handle without support or diminished size. The dragons, however, not only neutralize it but blatantly defy it - despite their weight and size, they are capable of moving without impediment and can fly swiftly, up into the furthest reaches of the atmosphere, without suffering from their own weight. To be truthful, the only answer that any natural philospher can give when asked about these questions as of now is that they do not know, and that it must be some working of magick.

The mind of a dragon, on the other hand, is a far more mercurial thread of discussion. They have strange obssessions with varying topics, ranging from human women to gold to books. Dragons are the most renowned hoarders in the world, and a dragon trusting something of their hoard to another is unheard of; they defend their collections to the death even against children and mates. It is said that one able to openly take even the smallest object from a dragons hoard is without compare within the farthest reaches of time and space, and the difficulty of such has become the oft-used phrase "Nicking a dragon skull," to mean great tenacity and strength set towards an accomplishment, or to acquire something thought out of reach.

Besides their strange sense of possession, the dragon is typically confident in themselves, cautious of others, and retains a grudge that can last lifetimes. They are without a doubt intelligent, capable of holding their own and oft surpassing humans in the rare conversation scholars and warriors have held with them, though whether their great degree of intelligence is a natural trait they hold superior to humanity or a result of their long lives is difficult to say.

The most well-known aspect of dragons, of course, are the Purges. Three hundred years ago a great gathering of dragons began, brought together by a young but powerful sorceror dragon whose name is lost to history and ill memory. This dragon displayed great power in magickal abilities and strength in his body, and proved capable of subduing or convincing dozens of dragons to his cause, a vague "Coming of the Lord" that the one dragon I was able to interview refused to elaborate upon. Whatever the reasons behind it, soon after this strange dragon began leading what can only be described as crusades against humanity, his legion of armed and armored dragons burning entire cities to the ground in the name of their mysteriously nameless Lord.

For five years humanity waged war against dragonkind, making pacts with the Fae and drawing power from the many strange and ethereal creatures that inhabit the Void. Nonetheless they found themselves overwhelmed by the power of the dragons, and even as they sought out new and ever-more-dangerous sources of power, the dragons burned and destroyed more and more human lives.

A windfall, then, came when a human discovered some method of transformation. With a mere thought this human could become one of the great beasts, his flesh shifting to scaled armor and his throat filling with the burning white flames of the dragon race. He was greater, far greater in strength and power than even the dragon who had gathered the legion itself was, and was said to have matched a force three hundred strong by himself, and win without a single strike penetrating his hide. Though the details are sparse, his identity and magick lost to history just as many things in that time were, he has become universally known and famed as the Dragon Slayer, and even now there are those that speak his title in tales of bravery and heroism.

And thus are the dragons introduced. I shall go into far, far more detail in further chapters, but this serves as a finely detailed report on the generalities of dragons and their history for the purposes of most scholars without a vested interest in their kind."

~ "Dragons, and Whatnot" by Natural Philospher Evan Daniels.

[ActRaiser]

Could I be a Vampire? Like, an Incarnation of Blood? Or would it have to be vampires? Which would be more "Vampire-EE?":

[InsanitiesJack]

No vampires. There are Ghouls, which are similar to vampires in that they can take an inhuman form, feast on the flesh of whatever species they used to be, and utterly loathe the light, though.

An Incarnation of Blood, however, would be in interesting one. In general their abilities would be focused on the manipulation of blood, it would be pretty much impossible for them to bleed out, they could replicate various shapes using their blood, and when advanced enough they could take on some of the attributes of other creatures. I'll describe it in more detail should you become set upon that path.