The Hollow Plague OOC

[Buio DiAngelo]

IC

Plot
The kingdom of Atlusia is currently besieged by a plague of Hollowmen who are roaming through the countryside destroying every human settlement they come across. This is believed to be an attack from a clan of necromancers originating from the Kingdom of Xine to the south, one of the last kingdoms in the west continent to resist the imperial authority of the Atlusian crown. The 'Hollow Plague' as it has come to be known has proved to be an efficient, undeterred, and incredibly thorough magical force in settlements to the south eastern border of the kingdom, wiping out several settlements and villages within little over a week, the first three of these having fallen without anyone having been able to escape and warn the kingdom of the attackers that laid siege to it at the present. Squads of knights and royal mages were dispatched to deal with the problem, but were somehow overpowered by the powerful necromancers and their horde as scouts report that its movement has been unhindered. As the horde makes its way out of the southern farmlands and through the sliver road, the only passage through the mountain range that separates the southern quarter of the kingdom from the rest of it, however, it will inevitably find itself at the gates of the fortress town of Namban to the southeast. There, in the small but well defended town the king's forces have set up fortifications and gathered elite troops and several college mages to stand against the invading necromantic force and out an end to this evil assault on their frontier.

Theirs is a doomed mission however. The horde is many times larger than their scouts reported, and among the ranks of the plague are beasts that no man would ever think to face on the field of battle even in his most horrid nightmares. Namban will fall, but it will not see the same fate as the conquered settlements to the south. There will be survivors to tell it's tale, and tell its tale they will have to, for it will be up to them to warn the capital of the Plague's true nature, of a congregation of master-less hollowmen who draw power from the earth itself. They will journey across the kingdom, racing against time and the plague itself so that they may war their king of this danger so he may muster up his armies and stop the growing horde in its tracks before it becomes a swarm of undead monsters too great for the kingdom to face. The fate of their kingdom will rest upon the shoulders of heir ability to survive the journey, of these misfits who were never born to be heroes, and his gruesome tale will be theirs.



Hollowmen and The Hollow Plague

Spoiler

Hollowmen are, in essence, the living dead. They are a product of necromancy, otherwise known as 'death magic', in which a mage or 'necromancer' reanimates a corpse. Take note that this is in no way cheating the rules of life and death, a soul that has been liberated from this world can not be brought back into its mortal coil. The animation of a corpse through necromancy makes hollowmen no more 'people' than a geomancer's animated golem is likely to become an accountant. Hollowmen are mindless creatures bound to the will of the mage who summoned them. Normally speaking, a Hollowman, like any magically conjured creature or puppet, requires a constant supply of magical energy from its creator to remain active. Once the necromancer stops supplying his hollowman with the energy it requires, it soon thereafter ceases to function and returns to being a regular corpse. The particular breed of hollowmen that populate the Hollow Plague, however, (hereafter referred to as Plague Hollowmen) seem to act independently from any sort of necromancer, instead drawing energy from the very ground they walk on, as well as their dying victims. As such, the passing of the plague is always marked with a barren, lifeless landscape where all vegetation has died off, it's life energy having been sucked out by the passing horde.

Furthermore, the name 'plague hollowmen' is fitting in more ways than one. The curse that animates these corpses is rooted in a biological virus ingrained in every fiber of their rotting flesh. If any bodily fluid or part of plague hollowman finds it way onto an open wound or into the digestive system, the victim will irreversibly become infected. Once infected, the victim will gradually succumb to the curse, the process varies between subjects as it is both physical and magical in nature. Young and healthy individuals with knowledge on resisting magical effects can delay the effects of the curse for several weeks if they are lucky. Conversely weak and old subject with a poor resistance to magic will be turned within as little as 72 hours. The end result is always the same though, as the virus is incurable and the curse thus unliftable, the infected will eventually lose his sense of self completely and turn into a mindless plague hollowman. Furthermore, if one were to die after becoming infected (say, by the hands of the hollowman who probably infected you in the first place), the victim will be reanimated as a hollowman themselves within a matter of minutes regardless of their physical build or health, or prior resistance to magic.

Plague hollowmen follow a very simple behavioral pattern, while their cognitive capabilities are limited at best, they seem to have the innate ability to sense life energy and death magic on a rudimentary scale. They recognize one another by the death magic that animates them all and group together in hordes, moving as a single unit towards high concentrations of life energy, typically human settlements, and spread the virus by killing and infecting as many humans as possible, turning them into plague hollowmen that will join them in their death march. Hollowmen are also notoriously difficult to kill by regular means. Typically, as with any magically conjured creature, it is advised that one find the source of their power (most often the mage who animated them) and cut it off. In this case, however, the hollowmen are semi-autonomous, meaning they must be dealt with directly. Being already dead, it is remarkably difficult to kill hollowmen, vital organs have, for the most part already fut down, and the large majority of them have already lost all the blood in their bodies from wounds they received that will never heal. Their muscles even provide a mostly secondary role in their animation, the curse taking over when the muscles would be otherwise too damaged or absent to operate the limbs by themselves. They are still, however, reliant on their eyes and ears to move and hunt, and thus on their brains to process that that information. Decapitation or otherwise destroying the brain is typically the only way to 'kill' a hollowman. A decapitated hollowman corpse will keep moving for a while but will most likely fall down comically within a few seconds and once the magic that supports it runs out, trying to animate it all by itself now, the corpse will return to being a normal one.

To add to the variations plague hollowmen have on the typical breed, they possess in their ranks several frightful mutations to their natural state, they are as follow.

Plaguebearers are at times resulted from a mage or person with strong magical potential becoming a plague hollowman. Plaguebearers, while being physically no different from a regular plague hollowman, constantly produce an evil miasma from their pores that is filled with the same dark magic that animates them. This makes them quite dangerous because even being in the vicinity of one, or worse, several, can infect you with the plague virus without you ever having come in physical contact with a hollowman. It is theorized that plaguebearers are what form the core of an Abomination, but his is yet unconfirmed.

Banshees are a rare mutation that only occurs in women turned into hollowmen. As their name implies, banshee a capable of giving of a powerful and sustained scream when faced with danger. This scream, on top of being at a volume great enough to sometimes cause permanent hearing damage to anyone too close to the banshee when she starts and forced to endure it for any extended period of time, will summon any hollowman within miles to converge on her location, often flash-swarming whatever humans the screamer may have found herself confronted by.

Orphans are, quite horrifyingly, one of the most common mutations. Only occurring in children under the age of 15, Orphans present the possibly most physically drastic mutation outside of the unholy amalgam that is the Abomination. Orphans' skin becomes ashen gray and their very bone structure chances to permit fluid movement on all 4 limbs. Their nails grow into claws and their teeth become fangs. Orphans typically move in groups of 3-5 to make hunting prey easier. Orphans are nimble and incredibly agile when compared to other hollowmen, chasing down prey at shocking speeds. They will typically attempt to swarm a single target at a time from various angles at a time, attacking together after one of their kind has managed to blind the target with a jet of sticky bile. They show significantly more cognitive ability than the regular hunters not only in the way the gang up on prey, but in how they can lay rudimentary traps. If they notice an unwary human coming their way, they will roll up around themselves, looking like rough boulders thanks to their ashen skin and deformed physiology to anyone not paying attention and will uncoil themselves and attack all at once when their target is situated between them. the smaller build of orphans lets them economize on magical energy, but their fast movement and higher thinking makes them use up more energy than normal hollowmen nonetheless, so when they kill a prey their tend to voraciously feed on its flesh, draining every ounce of life energy from it that they can to fuel themselves, as a result, there is rarely enough left over afterwards to create a new hollowman from the remains.

their modified physiology is not without weakness however, their bones are now quite brittle and it does not take much force to break them. Their higher cognitive ability has also made them capable of recognizing danger on some primal level, which has made them into rather cowardly hunters who only attack when they believe they have the upper hand. killing one or two is usually enough to scare the rest off, and attacking a group before they realize your presence will send them into a disorganized panic.

Because they use up so much energy in moving and hunting, they will typically ride on the backs of abominations, hooking onto their flesh with with their sharp claws when the horde is moving from one settlement to another. This both saves them from using energy to walk, and allows them to draw on power generated from the abomination's core. Once an attack on a settlement has begun, Orphans who are low on energy will typically converge on the nearest plaguebearer to absorb the magical energy found in his dark miasma before returning to the hunt. For some reason, Orphans are extremely protective of Banshee and hearing one's scream will send them into a killing frenzy where they will not rest until whatever threatens her is dead, regardless of how many of their own fall.

It is still unsure how these hellish creatures are created, some theorize that the black, death-magic filled miasma of plaguebearers has something to do with it, but these speculations have not yet been confirmed. What is known about abominations, however, is that they are thankfully the rarest occurrence of mutated hollowman
creature. They are towering giants, standing at approximately 20 feet tall and seemingly composed of dozens of other hollowmen plus various detached limbs whose flesh have fused together to create one hulking, bipedal monstrosity. They are especially hard to kill because they have no proper 'head' as it were, being a collection of corpses piled together to vaguely resemble a humanoid shape. They instead have a core or 'heart' within their chest that acts as the central generator of the immense amount of death magic that is required for their sustained existence, this is where the theory that one or more plaguebearers is involved in the creation of said core comes from, since the miasma they give off is full of potent death magic. Destroying the core is the only recorded way to kill an abomination, but little other than a well-placed ballista bolt has the potential to even reach the core past the thick layer of flesh and bone, much less damage it beyond use.

Magic

Spoiler

In the world of Atlusia, is essentially the study of the metaphysical laws of cause and effect that govern reality as is understood by the human mind, and the science of manipulating these laws as one desires. Every action taken, every word spoken, every noise made, every gesture done has an impact on the forces of reality beyond what can be observed strictly physically. Through the understanding of what action has what impact on the laws of reality, one can perform a series of actions that have an unexpected impact upon reality that, to the layman, appear to be pure mysticism. For example, a magical incantation accompanied by hand gestures that result in a magician creating a small flame in his palm, is in fact a series of incredibly specific noises and movements that, taking the laws of reality into account, 'trick' the universe into believing that the 'cause' of a match being lit has occurred, the universe then balances itself out by creating the 'effect' of fire being born, seemingly out of thin air. This, of course, would be an incredibly complex spell considered to be 'pure' magic. That is, magic that creates an effect (a flame being created) to which there is no physically observable cause (a match meeting the friction required to light it). It would take a mage decades of study and a considerable amount of talent to cast even the most basic 'pure magic' spells. Most magic is, instead, what the scholars refer to as 'base' magic, magic that has root in the physical world but bends its laws to the magician's benefit. If creating the flame of a lit match without actually lighting one of an example of 'pure magic' then lighting a match and then, in following, casting a spell that makes it burn as brightly or as intensely as, say, a torch, is an example of 'base' magic. One takes a 'cause' that is already present (the match being lit and creating fire) and, through the manipulation of the laws of reality by use of chants/gestures/symbols/what have you, changes it into a similar 'cause' (a torch being lit and creating fire) in order to obtain a new effect (the match giving off as much light/fire as a torch).

'Magical Potential' is described as a person, or creature's natural affinity at understanding the laws of reality and altering them through magic. 'Magical Energy' is the objective potential of reality-distortion through magic in a certain point in space, time and reality. As reality in a certain area can only be bent so much by magic before it begins unraveling itself, the universe will cease to create desired 'effects' for a magician's created 'causes' once that point is reached so as to prevent a ear in reality from occurring, this is what is refereed to as 'depleting a object/area's magical energy'. As time passes, the universe will distance itself from this 'breaking point' again, and the magical energy will be 'restored', enabling the use of magic again. Certain objects, materials, shapes, creatures, and (rarely) people are natural conduits of 'magical energy', their very presence in a certain space will increase the objective potential of reality distortion within that space, allowing for more magic to be cast around them before the universe reaches breaking point. A Mage's staff and the crystals they tend to carry around are both examples of such items (the tomes are typically just a collection of spells and instructions on how to cast them).

NOTE: The 'miracles' performed by certain adepts in the Sisterhood of Peace are technically holy magic (magic centering around the restoration and preservation of the body and mind), however, for religious reasons, the sisterhood does not officially recognize this fact, keeping to their tenets that it is a gift from their goddess bestowed upon chosen disciples. Unlike a studied mage casting a spell, sisters will preform the rites required to cast miracles without understanding the effects of their action on the laws of reality.

LEADERS
Capable all-rounders with diverse skills, Leaders, as their name implies, are at their peak when they can command and guide others. While possessing no great specialty themselves, they possess the skills to rally others together, which is indispensable in times of hardship.

Guard Captain

Spoiler

Gender: M

Alignment: Neutral

Skills: Extensive Weapon's Training, Tactical Training,

Equipment: Sword, Shield, Crossbow, Light armor

Pros: Short and long range, Can command/inspire units in battle, harder to infect

Cons: few useful skills outside of combat

Class Description: An officer of the law that has lived in Namban for his whole life. A family man, he is the captain of the guard like his father before him, and his father's father before him, but cares more about keeping the fortress town peaceful and generally happy than ensuring that all crime be put to a halt. As such he's turned a blind eye to more than one pauper boy stealing bread from a fat, happy merchant's stall. He stays out of politics for the most part, neither pandering to the rich or busying himself helping the poor, content to simply do his job, lead his men, and provide for his family as best he can. He is skilled with a sword and buckler and is decently accurate with a crossbow, but has never had his skills tested in actual combat by anything more than (mostly drunken) untrained ruffians. Ever since the Imperial knights showed up to help prepare for the invasion he has been extremely busy helping them manage resources, mobilize his men, run training drills, plan out for possible eventualities, build defenses and do more general preparation for the attack. He doesn't challenge their authority as envoys of the king, but is quick to subtly remind them that no one knows his men and his town better than he does, and that they are infinitely better off respecting his position as captain of the guard and taking his advice into consideration if they wish to mount a defense with as little casualties as possible.

Adventurer

Spoiler

Gender: M/F

Alignment: Neutral

Skills: Basic Weapon's training, Charisma, Journeyman's knowledge, Basic food preparation/preservation.

Equipment: Sword, Map&Compass, Provisions, spyglass

Pros: Can get along well and inspire loyalty from anyone, Knows the roads and terrain of the kingdom well

Cons: not as useful in combat or intimidating to highwaymen as the Guard Captain

Class Description: A free-spirited journeyman who goes wherever their feet takes them. Seeks the thrill of adventure and discovery wherever they go and are always sure to collect as many good tales and stories as possible during their travels so they may share it later with whomever they may meet around a campfire or mug of ale. Bard at occasions, merchant at others, the adventurer knows many tongues and, more importantly, how to use them to leave a good impression on nearly anyone, be they king or be they peasant, be they scum or be they scholar. Exuding an air of confidence from their rich and varied experiences, they always seem to know what they are doing or what should be done. They are handy with a blade when it is needed, no one would brave the wilds ad all the beasts and rogues that it brings if they were not, but prefer to avoid trouble altogether if possible, as long as it doesn't put an end to their adventures that is. As chance would have it, they were already in Namban when the procession of Imperial Knights and their Magus associates made its way into the town and news of the impending attack made its way through the populace. It was after sharing some ale with one of said knights that the adventurer learned that the supposed 'battle' was by all means going to be glorious massacre and that the Knights were more than ready to put a definitive end to the Necromancers and their undead 'plague, which was why they hadn't bothered to issue an order to evacuate the towns people. Considering that, if this information was true, they would run little risk of encountering danger in Namban during the battle, the adventurer decided to stay within the city as it would unfold and observe the events firsthand. Doubtless, the tales of 'the battle of Namban' in which many stalwart knights cut through swathes of undead abominations and struck down their necromantic masters would serve for great inspiration for some new songs to sing around the campfire or at the pub.

CASTERS
Practitioners of the magical arts. Bad to useless in direct combat, but benefit from great versatility and unique capabilities thanks to their craft. Requires time to cast spells but can often be the deciding factor between life and death

Magus Scholar

Spoiler

Gender: M/F

Alignment: Dark

Skills: Magic, Great intellect

Equipment: Staff, Magical crystals, Magic Tome,

Pros: Fastest cast time, Versatile through knowledge of several spells, Knowledgeable on several diverse subjects

Cons: Weak physique, Impatient with others (especially the slow of wit), Rude

Class Description: One of the Mages from the Arcane College in the central Atlusian city of Codai that has joined the procession of knights that have come to put an end to the Hollow Plague. Having Achieved the rank of Magus, this scholar is a well-respected professor who has become proficient in several schools of magical theory and practice and is the leading authority on magecraft in Namban at the moment, brought in for their expertise on various types of magic so as to help identify the source of the Hollow Plague's magical energy and eliminate it. While the Magus scholar is well respected amongst mages of the scholar, well liked is another matter entirely. They are strict, serious and cynical. Observing everything from a purely realistic and scientific approach, sparing no tolerance for baseless optimism or folkloric mysticism. while they are fascinated by all manner of intellectual pursuits, which has contributed to their vast knowledge on magic, they see no point in base interests such as drunken revelry or contests of brute strength and have little love for those who overindulge in such activities, making little effort to hide this fact to boot. The magus wastes no time on those who are too intellectually impaired to hold an interesting conversation with them and are quickly frustrated when they are forced explain something to someone that is beyond their understanding and requires the magus to 'dumb it down' for them. While the magus doesn't necessarily 'look down' on those less intelligent than themselves, realizing that society would not function if it were populated solely by intellectuals who loathe physical labor, and that those with 'different' strength and capabilities are important to the functioning of society, they make it quite apparent that they wish to spend as little time in the company of these people, 'essential' as they may be.

Sister of Peace

Spoiler

Gender: F

Alignment: Lawful Light

Skills: Can cast miracles, advanced medical training, advanced food preparation

Equipment: Holy Rosary

Pros: Can heal and treat wounds better than anyone(includes healing fatigue), can boost morale and mood by performing blessings on party members (neutral and light characters only) and cooking good food

Cons: Essentially useless in combat outside of support role (poor physique and refuses to harm or kill anyone), can irritate chaotic or dark allies through preaching

Class Description: A devout adept in the Sisterhood of Peace, a religious organization of nuns and priestesses who teach the word of unity, peace and love for one's fellow man that was brought down to them by their goddess. The religious group and its temples pledge allegiance to no single crown or kingdom and can be found all throughout the western continent, rejecting none from receiving the blessings of their goddess, though only accepting women into service in the name of the goddess. The sister is a kind and gentle soul who is devout in her service both to the goddess and to the people of Namban, being the right hand maid of the Temple Mother there and the only adept capable of performing miracles. In keeping with the teachings of her order she is a vessel of chastity and love for all things living, having taken vows to never take a husband or a life for as long as she is to remain in her mortal coil. While she possesses a love for all peoples, she is especially fond of young children and loves to watch them at play when she is not busy with her work as a Sister. Her only great fault would be that she is too devout to the goddess and will often preach her teachings even when it isn't called for. Despite her generally mild nature, she has little tolerance for those who would speak ill of her order or its teachings and will defend them both steadfastly. With the approaching battle, the sister has been hard at work providing blessings to those who came to visit the temple and making preparations for the wounded they would doubtlessly have to tend to, and the dead they would have to bury after the battle.

ROGUES
Specialists by nature, Rogues posses a wide variety of skills that turn their home field into a veritable playground for them. Typically bad in direct combat but usually make up for this with abilities that favor a more skillful and discrete approach.

Huntress of the Wilds

Spoiler

Gender: F

Alignment: Chaos

Skills: Advanced Archery, Tracking, Advanced food preservation, expert wilderness navigation, Flora and Fauna Knowledge, Trapping

Equipment: Bow and Arrows, skinning knife, Snares

Pros: can hunt game and identify edible plants in the wild, can navigate party through densely forested areas, can pick off targets silently and accurately at the longest distance, can skin pelts for trade and clothing

Cons: Does not get along well with men or enjoy human interaction, hates being in urban areas for an extended period of time

Class Description: A wild, independent woman who makes her home in the Fami woods to the north west of Namban. Without family and with few friends in the town, what the huntress values more than anything is her own freedom. She has been living i the woods for years and hunting in them for longer, they are where she feels most at home and she prefers running with the wolves over talking with other people. While she will occasionally make trips to the fortress town to sell animal skins she has collected, and use the coin to buy whatever materials or tools she may be in need of in the wild, she greatly dislikes being in the town for too long, becoming claustrophobic when surrounded by other people for too long, and as such rarely stays longer than a day or two in the own before heading back out for her home in the woods. She especially hates men of all ages and is just as likely to gut any one foolish enough to try and 'court' her. Despite her infrequent interactions with other humans, knowledge of her skill with a bow being unparalleled is common in Namban, earning her the title 'witch of the wilds' to many too cowardly to call her this to her face. It was for this reason that she was approached by the captain of the guard, a man whom she owed a favor, and asked to lend her bow to the defense of Namban during the ensuing battle, for adequate compensation of her choice of course. Typically the huntress would have refused, but being in the debt of a man was a state she was all too eager to get out of, and so she accepted to be part of the all but assured victory, if only to ensure he wouldn't request an even more bothersome favor at a later date.

Thief

Spoiler

Gender: M

Alignment: Chaotic Dark

Skills: Lock-picking, Stealth, pickpocketing, expert urban exploration, persuasion

Equipment: Pair of steel daggers

Pros: Can move quietly and without drawing attention to himself, Can gather information through the merchant's guild quickly, Can acquire funds through thievery easily, can navigate secret passages and sewers in urban locales, Silver tongued: can get his way through smooth talking, trickery, and negotiation most of the time

Cons: Selfish and disloyal, Misogynistic, Not very useful in direct combat (relies primarily on stealth and getting the first strike in)

Class Description: A silver-tongued trickster who makes a habit of looking out only for himself and has even less respect for women than he typically does everyone else. Not much is said of this cooked thief, he remorselessly scams and pickpockets his way into a life of relative comfort and his quick wits and quick feet give him a valid exit strategy virtually ay time karma comes knocking. He always keeps a pair of nice daggers concealed on his person for when his luck does run out and more direct methods are needed. He is a respected enough member of the "Codai Merchant's Guild", a semi-legitimate but ultimately thinly veiled criminal organization for thieves, fences, brothel kings and assassins everywhere; with guild houses all over the empire, as such there are very few things of interest that happen in his neck of the woods that he is not aware of. He was planing on skipping town before the arrival of the oh so righteous knights that would have complicated his 'dealings', but was betrayed by one of his 'associates' from the guild who managed to pin several murders in the kingdom (assassination contracts, as they were) on him. It was one sticky situation he wasn't capable of slithering out of and he was apprehended by the town guard and thrown in prison. His execution is set for a few days after the battle, but he is unworried. He has cheated those who would see him dead many times before and in far worse situations, for the moment he is simply biding his time and waiting for opportunity to present itself.

WARRIORS
Warriors are classes centered almost exclusively (whether directly or indirectly) on combat, with specialties in either offense or defense that can't be rivaled by any other class. In a time filled with so much death, warriors who ensure it falls on others rather than themselves or their allies are almost indispensable.

Executioner

Spoiler

Gender: M

Alignment: Lawful Dark

Skills: Smithing, Heavy Weapons Training

Equipment: Battle axe, Smith's kit

Pros: Can wield the heaviest weapons, Can carry more equipment than anyone else, Can repair and maintain the party's equipment with his smith's tools, Can create new items in towns with a forge

Cons: Stern and unsociable, Unintelligent, doesn't have the skill or training to wield lighter weapons or pole-arms efficiently, very lightly armored despite ability to deal great damage.

Class Description: The executioner is a man of few words who does his job diligently with no visible passion nor remorse. When he is not wearing the cowl or sharpening his axe he is actually the town's blacksmith, and while he does the regular work of smiths, fixing horseshoes and fences and pots ad other common things for those who will pay him the coin, his true specialty lies in weapon crafting. he has a patient, dedicated, almost artistic approach to fashioning blades and hammers and maces of all kinds. he is very proud of his work and after crafting simple-looking but expertly made weapons with the patience and attention to fine detail of a skilled artisan, will then spend hours testing out each weapon by swinging them repetitively to ensure their balance and feel. He has a preference for large, heavy weapons most men could not handle. War hammers, battle axes, claymores, he will stay in his shop, diligently swinging away with these heavy weapons as if they were the lightest of things for whole nights at times. There is a certain peace of mind that is granted when one simply does the same action over and over again, and the practice shows when he dons his cowl and takes up the role of the executioner, cutting through heads with his great axe as if they weren't even there, following through in a single clean movement that meets no resistance as it cleaves through flesh and bone. He knows that his work, however forgiven by the state, is a murderer's work. He routinely puts an end to lives, cutting them short with a single motion. It is grim work, but it is necessary, and fate simply chose that he would be the one called upon to complete it, as with many things, he simply decides not to think on it any further than that.

Imperial Knight

Spoiler

Gender: M

Alignment: Law

Skills: Advanced weapons training, Equestrian training, Extensive tactical training

Equipment: Plate-mail armor, longsword, Kite shield, Spear, Imperial Seal

Pros: can wield every kind of melee weapon proficiently, can use polearms, can fight on horseback better than anyone, more heavily armored than anyone else, The imperial seal he carries commands the authority of the king

Cons: has little to no patience for any acts that go against the laws of the king regardless of circumstance, expects to be served and waited on as is befitting of a knight of his stature, does not take well to having his authority or request rejected.

Class Description: One of the Imperial Knights who rode to the defense of the kingdom at Namban. Son of the king's cousin, a duke of the court, the knight was born into nobility and has been raised to be a leader of men. Served on hand and foot for the entirety of his life by maids and servants, he naturally places himself above the common folk, seeing them as vessels for his will and the will of all nobles. In his mind it is a simple give and take relationship, they submit to being ruled by the higher classes and in return those higher classes ensure the well-being and government of the kingdom. A chess game can only be won if the pawns submit to being moved according to the will of the king and, at times, sacrificed to protect said king. to him, the word of the king is absolute across the land and overrides any feeble sense of morality or selfish instinct of self-preservation. Because of this outlook, he hardly tollerates even teh pettiest crime and does not stand having his position as a noble overlooked, especially by mere peasants. The knight was taught how to wield weapons from a very young age as his position as a future knight was essentially decided from birth. He is skilled in all types of melee weaponry, having a distinct preference for the particularly hard to master pole arms, being proficient in the use of everything from lances to spears to voulges, to even the odd spear-weapons of the eastern continent, the naginata that are meant to hack and slash rather than thrust and parry. While his time with the knights has taught him basic marksmanship, he has no great love for ranged weaponry as his armor will prevent anything short of a ballista bolt from reaching his flesh and his steed can simply ride him within swinging distance of the cowards and their longbows. For the battle he will serve as second-in-command to Captain-Commander Gismere, though he has been left tasked with the defense of the town itself should anything go wrong. This is mostly an honorary position since the battle is an all-but-assured crushing victory, but due to his direct lineage to the king, and the specialized imperial seal he carries that proves this, he often is given low-risk low-danger tasks on the field of battle. A fact that annoys him but that he accepts as the will of his superiors.

SPECIAL
Powerful and diverse hybrids with incredible strength but crippling drawbacks. Special classes add a whole new layer to the story and gameplay (GM only)

Shaman

Spoiler

Gender: M

Alignment: Light

Skills: Astral Projection, Animal control

Equipment: war hatchet

Pros: Can control animals to do his bidding, can astrally project into the mind of other creatures and people to see the world from their eyes, only magic user who can participate in melee combat, Can get along with anyone, Can sense when hollowmen are nearby

Cons: Starts the RP already infected

Class Description: To be revealed in RP

Necromancer

Spoiler

Gender: Indeterminable

Alignment: Chaotic Light

Skills: Necromancy

Equipment: Ceremonial Dagger

Pros: Can turn hollowmen to his control, Can turn dead party members into controlled hollowmen, immune to the plague, can sense hollowmen better than the shaman

Cons: fits of psychopathic insanity, longest casting time, feared and hated by society

Class Description: To be revealed in RP

Character Template

Name: (your character's name)
Age: (how old he/she is)
Gender: (male or female, choice only open to classes with the M/F indication)
Class: (what class your character is)
*Appearance: (what your character looks like, picture or description are fine)

Weapon of Choice: (what your character's go-to weapon is, must fit in with their class specialties)
Equipment: (what equipment your character carries, determined by class)
*Possessions: (any extra items your character might carry, such as a ring or memento of some sort, can not be items with a self-evident use in combat or survival that your character's class doesn't have access to like a map or sword)

*Personality: (Important personality traits belonging to your character)
History: (your character's history up to his point. Important events in their lives and how they have crafted your character into who they are today)

Roster

- Buio DiAngelo as GM/Special

- Shiala as Morigaan the Huntress

- Arthera as Laurana the Adventurer

- EnterTheHero as Ballos the Executioner

- iByaah as Soren the Guard Captain

- SilverFox as Andraste the Sister

[iByaah]

This looks really good! Do you have any open spots or are all of them reserved?

[Valerium Therme]

This looks really good! Do you have any open spots or are all of them reserved?

Spots work as first come, first serve. Meaning if you make an acceptable CS for a character before someone else does than that spot is yours.

[iByaah]

Excellent, I'll have a CS up soon.

[ThisIsWar]

Name: Dralon
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Class: Rogue: Thief
*Appearance: Click here Otherwise, short in stature, standing at 5'4 weighing in at a slender 125lbs. Has medium length messy brown hair, and matching dark brown eyes. Fair skin, unblemished, and has a distinctive attractive dimple smile. Clean shaven, and well groomed.

Weapon of Choice: Paired steel masterwork throwing spades Click here
Equipment: None at this time - In jail (Lock pick tools, eye loupe)
*Possessions: None at this time - In jail (Signet ring, chalk, guild symbol)

*Personality: Narcissistic, cunning, ingenious, crude, grandeur delusional, clever, has "Little man syndrome" or Napoleon Complex syndrome.

History: As typically the "small man" of the group, Dralon was teased and bullied for his big talk despite being such a small man. The consistency of ruthlessness from others groomed him to be just as shrewd and cold. He became exceptionally callous with women as they were the worst offenders of rejecting him due to his size. This taught him that love was a joke, and soon, remorse was a well forgotten trait. To get back at his enemies, he began stealing from them, as his size was used for stealth and agility. For the first time, Dralon was recognized and praised for his skill by those who were more fascinated than offended by his relentless stealing tactic. He thrived off that attention and started committing even bigger heists. Of course, stealing the crown jewels was a bigger bite than he could chew, but he did get notoriety for that crime. The famous escape and dumbfounding execution officials for the theft of royal vault jewels is what was impressive and thus, was quickly initiated into the Codai Merchant Guild. They needed a native who knew the neighborhoods well. Someone who knew every shadow, crack, and secrets of the Kingdom. Of course the constant traveling, stealing, and ability to disappear forced the law to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear for they were proved many times to be powerless to contain him.

Alas, as thieves code goes on sacred between members, it doesn't stop jealous minds and the natural beauty of devious intentions in the heart of a thief. Before Dralon could leave this place and go on another adventure to better the Codai Merchant's inventory, he was ambushed. Before he could even draw his dagger, he was searched and several stolen items from recent murders were found on his person. Stunned, he immediately tried talking himself out of these murders, as he was a business man, and nothing like a cold blooded killer. He exclaimed that he profited from trade goods that had nothing to do with murder. The evidence was obvious, as they were still blood stained. Dralon was taken away, and as the infamous thief was taken away, dragged by his heels, he caught a glimpse of a colleague in the shadows, who's mischievous smile was unmistakeably obvious he was rejoicing Dralon's arrest, and had been the one to betray him.


((Kept it short and to the point. Let me know if I'm missing anything.))

[EnterTheHero]

Name: Ballos Karst
Age: 47
Gender: Male
Class: Executioner
Appearance: A behemoth at 6' 6" tall, Heavily muscled from his duties of smithing and wielding his weapon of choice. Blonde hair, cropped short, frequently unshaven, with hard, angular features. Eyes are a cold green. Face is commonly darkened with soot. Has dark circles under his eyes from frequent bouts of insomnia.

Weapon of Choice: Heavy scythe (which he has named Harbinger)
Equipment: Harbinger, his trusty companion, studded leather armor, pack of smithing implements, bedroll, a pair of canteens, tinderbox, pipe, and satchet of tobacco.
Possessions: Oddly enough, a rosary from the Sisterhood of Peace, a child's doll (singed in some places), and a journal. Do not ask about any of them.

Personality: Generally silent, but takes a businesslike approach to most interactions. Seems to resent his large stature and the stigma behind his chosen profession. While not learned, he is at the very least literate, and oddly contemplative. He'll generally do what he's told with little arguement, as long as it doesn't go against his policies. Often stoops down to appear less tall than he actually is. It doesn't help.
History: One look at Ballos, and it's moderately easy to guess his profession. When one speaks with him- or, rather, makes an attempt to- the matter is somewhat complicated. Despite his towering stature, Ballos has always been soft-spoken, averse to human contact, and, dare we say it, even shy. His refusal to fight with others and his seemingly-simple nature led him to become a common target for mockery amongst his peers. Yet even as the mockery turned to violence, Ballos never raised a hand against his tormentors, silently plodding along, devoting himself to an apprenticeship in smithing.

Which made it all the more shocking when the local executioner passed away from alcohol poisoning, and Ballos- simple, silent Ballos- stepped forward and volunteered for the position without hesitation.

Little is known of him after his choice to become a punisher of the guilty. Where once he was averse to human contact, he was now a complete recluse, eschewing the company of his fellows entirely. Where once his silence and solitude brought mockery, it now invoked fear and dread amongst the people of his town. Yet he never showed the slightest amount of ire to his peers for any of this, never showed the slightest inclination to harm them- until the time came to don his cowl and dispatch justice.

His town was one of the first to fall to the Hollow Plague, as evidenced by his arrival at a nearby keep, nearly perishing of thirst, his armor and blade covered in the creatures' tainted blood, bearing his short, chilling message:

"Arm yourselves. They come."

[Shiny]

Name: Dawn Furtin
Age: 35
Gender: Female
Class: Huntress of the Wild
*Appearance: Dawn is a fiery red headed Amazoness. She has piercing green eyes that penetrate you deep to the soul, Standing at 5'4 she often finds herself looking up at everyone, but she never backs down. A slim, though muscular build makes her look less than dainty, while still maintaining a certain level of attractiveness. She wears bear skin around her waist, she skinned it herself. Her top is fashioned of snake skins, held together by thick strips of hide entwined between the skins.

Weapon of Choice: Dawn has been training with a bow and arrow since she was 14
Equipment: Bow and Arrows, skinning knife, Snares
*Possessions: A little heart shaped trinket, It was the last thing her mother gave Dawn before she was murdered

*Personality: Dawn has a trust issue, specifically with men, but evident across dealings with both genders. She can be fun and outgoing when you get on her good side, but if you're on her bad side you better take cover, at least until she calms down. Dawn also has a short fuse, so it doesn't take much to set her off. She has a tendency to come off as barbaric, given her lack of time spent in structured civilization. Dawn can read, however just barely, and sometimes this angers her. While she has a not so hidden disdain for humans, she loves all animals.

History: Dawn had a rough childhood. Her father beat her around whenever she tried to be 'girly,' he was ashamed that his wife had not bore him a son to keep his legacy going. She often learned interesting new ways to bandage her injuries because of this. She never had much interaction with her mother, who was murdered by her father when Dawn was only 6. After her mothers untimely demise, Dawn ran away from home, finding shelter in the woods aided by animals as they grazed in the pastures. It was these long years in the woods which helped shape her into the woman she had become, having nothing but time to practice her skills and hone her craft. Dawn became expertly skilled at bow hunting, tracking, and skinning.

If I'm missing anything or you would like it fleshed out more, just give me a heads up, I kept it rather minimalistic.

[Shiala]

Name: Morigaan Wildewood
Age: 28
Gender: Female
Class: Huntress of the Wilds
*Appearance:

Spoiler

for an idea of her appearance, though she does not have he face tattoos.

Morigaan stands and average height of 5'5". Her slender, lithe form is slimmed from living on the wilds, taking no more than she needs. Wiry muscles coil around her long limbs, well worked from hunting and foraging in the wilds. Long unkempt brown hair falls to the middle of her back, though it is usually pulled into a loose braid to keep it out of her face. Blue markings stain her upper arm, the decorative pigments marking her as a woman that is not to be trifled with, a woman born into the wilds.

Weapon of Choice: A long slender bow that she hand crafted from the rare wood of trees found in the heart of the wilds.

Equipment:
~ Light leather armor keeps her relatively safe from harm, certain areas further reinforced by crude iron plating (on her chest, forearms, and shins). She wears a deeply hooded cloak that swaths her face in shadow.
~ A hunting knife rides her hip, its large half serrated blade is almost as long as her forearm. She uses it mainly for skinning though it can double as protection for close encounters that her bow would otherwise be useless for.
~ A small supply of hefty twine and rope, used for making forest snares of varying sizes.
~ A saddle bag fitted with various pouches and wraps, some carrying herbs from the forest, dried meats, and furs for her travels.
~ A shaggy horse, large and muscular able to pull carts and carry large loads upon its back. Its shaggy black coat fading into a soft brown at he base of each leg and continuing down to the hoof, its muzzle is also faded to brown and its long mane falls in wavy rivulets around its long neck.

*Possessions: N/A

*Personality: Morigaan is very much an aloof soul, preferring to live alone and survive by her own hands she doesn't like to depend upon others. She doesn't fully grasp the concept of traveling in a group, and living in the dense wilds where few man have tread makes her unsure of other people. She is quiet, but in the absence of words her stoic expression studies the situation. She is pensive and observant of all situations that come to pass. She is very intuitive, depending on her sharpened instincts to point her in the right direction as she has been living off such primal talents for too many years to count. She is not quick to anger, finding such brash emotions a waste of time and often leading to reactions that are prone to error or injury. But when anger does taint her psyche she is very calm and level headed about it, almost unnervingly so, exacting her revenge later on when the time is right for such actions.
She tends to be a neutral observer, only stepping into situations when she deems necessary. She shows little emotion as she is not entirely sure how display her inner feelings in a tangible form for others to understand, a life of solitude has confused and twisted her from a life of normalcy. This being said, Morigaan manages to at least communicate normally with women, finding her femininity grounds for deeming such matter of stranger acceptable in her eyes but her life has been void of men for almost the extent of her life, and many men have proven themselves untrustworthy through actions and words.

History: She was born to a hunter in a small village boarding the woods. She was fed tales of witches and ferocious beasts that would swallow you up given the chance if you were to lose your way, and she often played in the shallow shore of the woods, young trees small though their density casting dark shadows over the brush below. Her father died when she was five, from sickness, enemy, or beast she is not sure and never will be. With the passing of her father hardship fell upon her and her mother, with no husband to support her she went to work the fields, tend to the tavern and serve visitors their drinks. In result of her dead end job her mother soon found another husband, remarrying when Morigaan was only 7 years old she watched as her mother easily loved another man.
This new husband was a adventurer from a township far west, near the great rolling ocean, a body of endless water that carried for as far as the eye could see. Such tales of his adventures and travels enraptured her and she too began to feel the urge to travel far and see all that the kingdom had to offer. The weaving of such hearty tales had distracted her from the horrors of the relationship, an abusive dance that left her mother broken and bruised, no one in the town believed her, believing that she had deserved such cruel reprimanding and it carried on. It wasn't until a particularly nasty fight hat Morigaan had witnessed the beating of her mother, until the point of unconsciousness and soon the beating that fell onto her. From that day onward she deemed him an enemy. To Morigaan's confusion her mother still returned to his side, despite the beatings and arguments and she too lost good favor with the young Morigaan. She couldn't bare living in such a household and fled to the woods, taking what little knowledge she had of hunting and survival to keep her alive. She ran for a day straight into the heart of the wilds, finding herself surrounded by dark forests, and hidden beast she had regretted her decision. She set up a makeshift camp, nothing to sustain a young girl for more than a few days, and she found her hunting skills useless. She spent 2 days at her camp, huddled around the fire, idly playing with make shift toys and adventuring while her mind took hold of it's imagination, until the hag had found her.
The old woman appeared on the edge of the meadow she had set up her camp in, she watched from the edge of the forest, a phantom among the trees. The sight of her was enough to scare the girl senseless until one day the figure approached her. The hag was a gnarled woman, long white hair framing her withered face, skin browned from age and carrying harsh creases that made her look like a face that was formed out of a knot of wood. She accepted the child, offering her food and leading her to her small cottage deeper into the dark forests of the wilds. The hag, who revealed herself to be named Sephina, raised Morigaan teaching her the tricks of the forest. She was 13 by the time she passed away, bequeathing the small cottage to her as she passed onto the other realm. She lived in solitude for 2 years honing her skills at trap making, skinning, and tracking, using weak archery to snag small birds and rabbits from the under brush, until another hunter stumbled upon her camp. The young hunter was only 20 years in age, a young man from the village sent into the wood to look for adequate meat or the merchant gathering, stumbling upon the cottage and the young girl, all by herself his curiosity got the better of him.
He would visit every day, leaving offering of sweet roll or some sort of food Morigaan did not have the pleasure of encountering in the wilds, to gain her trust and her favor. Soon they came into contact, and he offered a trade, she would teach him how to track and he would train her how to better use a bow and arrow. This pact carried on for a year, until he stopped showing up in the forest and had disappeared. Unfortunately she had grown accustomed to the company of another soul and having to re-adapt to solitude she found a bitterness had stirred in her heart. She practiced archery every day, shooting and reshooting targets, crafting more arrows from stone arrow head and straight branch. She could now take down bigger prey and found that she could now sell the pelts to the village for money or barter for other items. She set up a small camp at the edge of the woods, along a path that lead to the village and sold her wares, using the money to buy better arrows with steal tips and metal traps to clamp around beast paw or hoof, as well as a burly horse to tow bigger loads of goods in and out of the forest
She remained in solitude, with slight human interaction upon trading up until a year ago, when an evil came into the forest tainting the woods, killing animals with unwarranted greed, sickness overtook the flocks of deer, all animals in the wilds gone silent with the new intruder.

[Silver Fox]

Name: Andraste Val Halen

Age: 20

Gender: Female

Class: Sister of Peace

*Appearance: A beautiful 5'2 foot tall slender woman with fair skin and blue eyes. Her long slightly wavy dark blonde hair reached down to her lower back. Her figure is curved but a little on the thin side. Often, she wears her holy white robs with brown sandals, a silver necklace with a cross.

Closest realistic pic:



Weapon of Choice: None

Equipment: Holy Rosary

*Possessions: Mostly only the necklace she wears, given to her byher mother as a young child. May also carry one or two loafs of bread for the hungry.

*Personality: A kind and gentle soul who may be too innocent for her own good. Following the path for the Holy ones above, she does her best to preach good will to all and keep a cheerful smiling face. Despite her beliefs to be saved by her god(s), she is honestly scared of the corpses that roam the land. Being weak and fragile, she has no true way to protect herself. Still, ahe pushes on believing no harm will come to her because of her faith. Often she tries to help others more than herself, but she aalso tends to be a little sensitive of others words. Deep down, she just wants to cry.

History: Although Andraste may seem perfect and some may expect her to have the perfect life, she didn't. As a young child, she lived alone with her mother whom was once also a Sister of Peace. Her mother was raped by a man of whom she never knew, her mother never talking about him.. she had only heard from fellow neighbors who gossiped about the incident. Often, the other children picked on her by calling her a 'mistake' or a abomination. They didn't understand what they meant really, but heard it from their parents. Being a Sister of Peace, people expected them to remain pure and innocent and having sexual intercourse and a child didn't seem pure.

This made the little girl wonder and question her mother if she was just a mistake. It made her afraid that her mother never wanted her and was even ashamed. Her mother said 'no... because my God has given me a precious treasure....' which is when she first encountered her belief. That she was watched out by this holy being. Months passed and her mother fell ill and she lay in bed, before knights came and took her away. She didn't understand why, but she never saw her mother again after her mother was taken down to the courtyard of the city.

Other Sisters of Peace came and took her in, telling her she wwould be training just to be like her mother. Andraste wanted to follow in her mothers footsteps, hoping to see her again one day. Alive, or up in the holy place. For years she trained and she preached until she finally became a Sister of Peace at 20. For her first assignment, she was sent to Namban to give her blessings to all the brave knights and to bring moral support. Praying the holy one woulld protect and save them all.

Other: she loves flowers and milk

[Arthera]

Name: Laurana (Laura for the close friends)
Age: 27
Gender: Female
Class: Adventurer
Appearance:
Life on the road has been somewhat kind to Laurana over the years, contrary to her personal life. She has remained thin, weighing under 9 stones, built up an athletic frame and has not accumulated any scar that mars her visible, slightly sun-bronzed, skin. Only of modest height, she still radiates a noticeable presence, perhaps due to her appealing figure, her rich hazelnut-colored and shoulder-length hair or her similarly-colored eyes. Or because she moves with grace and elegance, well received by nobles and almost dance-like to the masses and has a good voice for song. Of course, she hides the other aspects that her lifestyle has "bestowed" upon her, such as calloused hands or the numerous scars hidden under her clothing.

She currently wears dark brown leather pants, with sturdy knee-high boots, broken in comfortably and well worn already. A pouch-laden belt adorns her waist, crossed by the one holding the scabbard of her sword. A simple tan-colored tunic over a plain corset covers her upper half, perhaps with a sleeveless black vest when the times get colder. Fingerless brown leather gloves, also well worn, and a weathered faded-black cloak round out her attire.

- Weapon of Choice:
Sword
- Equipment:
Map&Compass, Provisions, spyglass and sword (which Laurana calls Egil in memory of a long lost brother)
- Possessions:
Flint and tinder for fire starting, a bedroll, extra set of clothes. She carries a small wooden flute, carved with leaf designs and words from multiple tongues, all saying "Rest". Used for making coin as a bard.

Personality:
A gentle soul at heart, Laurana has nevertheless lived through harsh times and knows that the world is not a safe place to be. What naivete she had has long been burned away. Hardened by the truth of the world, she has learned to accept her place in it and that she cannot change everything with a kind word or a song, sometimes a sword through the gut is required. Still, she is an understanding and calm person and her personality never seems to instantly clash with others, having experience out in various realms and their myriad cultures and knowing how to get along with all but the worst kind of people. When push comes to shove, she has a deep pool of courage to draw from, able to take charge and lead others, but always preferring to let real leaders take the lead and fleeing when things are not looking good. One can live to fight another day by running, but a dead person cannot do anything.

History:
Originally from a small farming community, Laurana never thought she would end up on the road as an adventurer. She and her brother Egil, ten years her senior, had been at the river when the village got raided by bandits and only survived by running for their lives through the forest. They reached the next town over, where they took refuge with their grandparents. A few years passed before age took their guardians and left the two of them with only each other once more. Being the older one, 21 at the time, Egil cared for his sister instead, teaching her how to handle herself in the wilds once he himself started to learn such skills. Eventually, they hit the road together, determined to improve their lot, earn coin and see the world while at it.

It was working wonders for years, traveling, earning their keep, learning the roads and their ways, enjoying moments of laughter in inns and frightful moments in dark forests. It worked, until bandits decided it didn't anymore. A fight broke out, forcing both siblings to make a run for their lives, leaving much of what they had behind, including their hard-earned money. What was more, Egil had been badly hurt, worse than Laurana. They did manage to escape and reach a town to rest and recover, but as days went on and Egil's wounds got infected, Laurana had to brace for what was to come. When her brother passed away a week later, in pain all the way, Laurana could do little but bury him and carry on. She hit the road once more, working around the latest loss with a smile and joyful tune, but sharpening her skills with a blade and practicing her legs for when fight and flight were required.