The King in Yellow [OOC]

[Hank]

There are two types of places in this world. There's us, the honest, hard-working citizens of Nibenor -- and of course those foreigners who live further to the south and the east, those with dark skin who sail the seas! Let's not forget them. But this is about us. You, me, everyone we know. We're normal, right? Most of us abide the law and pay tithes to the king, we go to church and worship the gods. Our ploughs work the land, flocks of domesticated cattle and sheep graze our beautiful, open fields of grass and we prosper. Some of us live in small, countryside villages like Monk's Creek and Hackdirt. Others... well, most, really, live in big cities, some more grandiose than others, but all fine places with plenty of work available for everyone. The markets have goods from all over Nibenor and sometimes even beyond. Especially in our capital, Montgarde, any enterprising citizen can find all the goods our kingdom has to offer. Our king, Hieronymo II, is a just, beloved ruler and we have expanded our influence significantly under his guidance.

But not towards the north or the west. That's where the second type of place can be found. We call it the Forest, because that's what it is. A thick, oppressing, seemingly endless forest of trees that grow tall but stoop low, blotting out the sky with the thick canopy. It is always twilight there and there's something... strange about it. It's just not right. Weird beasts stalk those woods, howling and shrieking in the dark. Only few of us have entered those woods for any significant length of time and those that have say that it feels like they're always being watched in there.

That's not all though. People live there too. In the Forest, I mean. As far as we know, we're separate groups of people entirely; in all of recorded history, they have been strangers to us. And strange they are. Taller, paler, with gaunt faces and eyes that pierce the soul, dressed in cloaks and garments that shimmer in the night... if the stories are true, of course. We used to see them very rarely. They apparently don't like us entering the Forest -- something that took several tense situations to deduce, considering they don't speak our language and we don't speak theirs. If they talk at all, that is, which we're not sure of. Despite being unable to converse with them we somehow know they're ruled by a monarch called the King in Yellow. Whether that's a title for their ruler in general or it refers specifically to one of their kings in ancient history, we don't know. It's written on an old scroll in the Royal Library of Montgarde that details the knowledge we had of the Woodsmen, as they were known then, almost 500 years ago. But other than that, we know absolutely nothing of their culture or their society.

And then they started venturing into Nibenor. It first happened almost a year ago. A small town by name of Wintervale, close to the border of the Forest in the high north of Nibenor, was visited by a group of Woodsmen. The survivors counted somewhere between four or six of them. What's that? Yes, the survivors. Wintervale was destroyed and most of the population killed. Being so far up north it wasn't garrisoned by the Royal Army so any resistance from the townsfolk would have been pitiful at best, but... it still doesn't make sense that as little as six men were able to reduce a town with a population of almost two-hundred to ashes. It just shouldn't be possible.

The survivors talked of magic. That's all I will say about that.

Raids like these became increasingly more frequent along the border of the Forest over the course of the past year. The Royal Army has lost most skirmishes with the Woodsmen, even though the Woodsmen were always outnumbered. The soldiers say the same thing the survivors of Wintervale said: magic.

I believe them. I also believe that we're on the brink of a war... one that I'm afraid we won't win, friend. Look, I won't pretend to understand what the reason behind this sudden aggression is, but the only thing that makes sense is a prelude for war. Why else would they suddenly fight us? Perhaps they've become jealous of Nibenor, who knows.

But you are crazy. Why else would you want to go into the Forest?

We will be playing humans from Nibenor. Feel free to come up with characters as interesting as you like, but a general disrespect for the law, a daring sense of adventure and a strong desire for riches are the motivation behind the whole expedition. Remember: no Russian magic. We're not the Woodsmen. Another thing to keep in mind is that the very few people that did enter the Forest in the past never returned, so be careful with including a previous visit to the aforementioned tree-infested area in your biography.

Without further ado, the character sheet!

Name:
Age:
Gender:
Appearance:

Personality: (you don't have to be very specific, but provide an overall idea of who your character is)
History: (if you really like, I'm fine with summing this up in a paragraph, but feel free to be as verbose as you want -- also include how your character learned of the expedition at the end of this section)

Equipment: (list important things, I don't have to know how many shoelaces you have)
Training/skills: (so I know what your character's good at)

Misc: (anything else you didn't find room for in any of the above)

My character will be the one who came up with the initiative and spread the word throughout the criminal underworld of Nibenor, an exiled noble named Crosier Chass. He has a reputation in Nibenor for entrepreneurship and extravagantly wild schemes, sometimes within the boundaries of the law -- but he's always managed to weasel his way out of trouble. I'll post his character sheet as an example whenever I finish it but I don't think any of you need me to show you how it's done.

Final note: be creative! Invent towns, cities, religions, anything as you see fit. You can do a whole lot of world-building with your character sheet and I'm totally fine with that. In fact, I encourage it. Just try to refrain from fleshing out the world outside Nibenor too much. I deliberately left that vague as that's not what this roleplay is about.

And if you have questions, spit them out already.

[Vahir]

Well, I wrote up a sheet and everything, but didn't notice that my internet was dead before going to post, so now everything's lost.

[SlowPlow]

Well, I wrote up a sheet and everything, but didn't notice that my internet was dead before going to post, so now everything's lost.

Best to type it up in Word or something similar first, so that shit like that doesn't happen.

[Taerra Firma]

How's this for a character? Let me know if it's OK or you need me to change anything.

Taerra



Name: Istaia Brill, a.k.a. Bat

Age: 19

Gender: Female

Appearance: Bat has thick, curly hair, as red as the star that is her namesake, that is generally stuffed into a ragged cap, to keep it out of the way. Her eyes are fathomless black, her face pointed and pale, and her ears slightly large. She is too skinny. She looks like she could do with a good meal, her form all spare, lean muscle. She is tall and lanky, and her clothing is worn and much mended.

Personality: Bat has no room in her for pity or consideration. She is focused and full of purpose. She will do what it takes to achieve her goal, and woe to any who try to get in her way. She doesn’t hold with flowery words, and is suspicious of those who twist their words. This is not to say she is anti-social. She enjoys the company of others, and is quite a good storyteller. She just can be more plain speaking than many would appreciate.

History: When she and her brother were born, “The Twins” showed brighter in the midwinter sky than they had in living memory. They named her Istaia and her brother Inturo, to honor the brother-sister stars, and ward off bad fortune. It wasn’t long into her life though that she earned the name bat, for her distinctive ears and her uncanny ability to navigate in the dark. Their father was a hunter and gamekeeper in service to Lord Riddon, the Marquess of Greygate. The two were inseparable growing up, each seeming an extension of the other, always protecting each other, and to a lesser extent their younger siblings. When it came time for their father to teach Inturo his trade, Istaia begged to be included, but their father refused. Inturo, unable to deny his other half anything, taught her as he was taught, and that was how she learned to wield her bow and hunting knife. When her father discovered she was at least as good with a bow as her brother, he relented and allowed Bat to accompany them and learn what she could.

Not so long ago a sickness swept their village, leaving death and misery in it’s wake. Their parents and their elder brother Les were taken, leaving the family with only Inturo and Istaia with the skills to support them. Unfortunately, Lord Riddon did not think Inturo was capable of doing his father’s job. He found another gamekeeper, and turned the Brills out of their home in order to give it to his new vassal.

In the year since then they have lived in the woods and wilds on the edges of one settlement or another in Nibenor. They poached what they could for food and furs to sell, trying to keep themselves and their younger brother and sister, Caral and Maire, fed and sheltered. Finally Inturo devised a plan. He would sell his services to a caravan, while Bat continued to care for Caral and Maire. When he returned, surely he would have enough money for them to found a small homestead somewhere. Although she was fearful of being separated from her brother, Bat agreed it was probably the best possible idea.

Inturo did not return. Some weeks ago, Bat returned to their temporary camp to find that they had been discovered, and Caral and Maire taken to an orphanage in Montgarde. Torn she came to the only decision she could, to hunt down her twin and then go back for Caral and Maire. She followed the path of the caravan he joined, and was disturbed to learn it had disappeared while travelling through the high north. She was told it was likely destroyed by the Woodsmen. Never-the-less, she is determined to venture into the forest with the group, looking for the only treasure worth finding, her other half.

Equipment: Bow and quiver of arrows, hunting knife, a small sack with a few travelling essentials (needle and thread, flint and steel, water skin, a warm cloak that doubles as a blanket, cooking pot, etc...), and a necklace made from her hair and her brother’s silvery hair twisted together.

Training/skills: Like a cat, Bat has an uncanny knack for being able to see with very little light. It gives the impression of seeing in the dark, but that is not the case. She just has incredibly acute night vision. Survival skills such as Archery, tracking, dressing animals, finding edible plants, stealthy movement and concealment in the wild, trap making, riding and other animal handling, etc...

Misc: Inturo is opposite in looks from Istaia. He has straight hair like pale moonlight, almost as silver as the star that is his namesake, and pale blue eyes. He also wears a necklace made of his and his sister’s twisted hairs. Although Bat is going into the forest to look for her brother, it is not certain that is where he is, if he still lives at all.

[Data]

Name:
Alana K'miri, the Lioness
Age:
27
Gender:
Female
Appearance:

This is just a concept for the armor style and general appearance. Her weaponry is very different that what is depicted.

Alana is a tall woman, just a few inches shy of six feet tall. While she's got the curves needed to be an attractive woman, she's got more muscle than most men would enjoy. Her face is plain and tanned with thick chestnut hair which she normally keeps braided and tucked into her armor. Her armor (similar to photo) is made of a lighter steel alloy that her home city is renown for, and it also has the simple image of a lioness etched into her breast plate. Her cold blue eyes can range in shade depending on her level of anger. Her torso and neck are tattooed with runes in deep blue in neat lines down her olive toned flesh.

Personality:
Alana holds honor and integrity above all as all knights should. Her faith in the positive side of humanity is often put to the test in her line of work, but she refuses to give up the ideals that has kept her going. She will die to protect innocence.

History:
Alana hails from a small city-state near the southern coasts of Nibenor. Del'Niari has dubbed itself a free land, un-beholden to no country or lord or king. It's ruled by a council of noble and merchants, and it is protected by an elite guard called the Knights of the Ebon Rose. The Knights are chosen at birth and trained from childhood to honor the city-state and its goddess, guard its people, and make sure that no one ever conquers the proud city-state. The Knights are also all women. This is a dictation of their unique religion following a singular Goddess, Nia. Her origins, scholars have determined, come from a remote island nation who was decimated centuries ago by a volcano eruption, but how She became the patron of this sprawling city in Nibenor is a mystery. Nia's Temple and the garrison for the Knights dominates the city center, though records long forgotten indicate that this was not always so, and built around it were the white stone buildings of the city which were broken down into neat districts all spiraling out wards to the city walls and even further. The Outer city is the portion that sits outside the city walls and extends down to the city's wharves.

Alana's family was presumably from the poorer Outer city though she has never met them or had any desire to. Her life was dedicated to the Goddess, and when she turned ten summers, she was dedicated to the city. Her life became training and combat. The Knights hold these young girls to a high standard, and Alana met and exceeded every one of them. War hit the city, as a near by nation turned its greedy eyes to Del'Niari. The Knights were at the front lines, going from light armor and less lethal combat, to plate and swords. She was a protege, and in all of Del'Niari's history, she was the youngest decorated member of the Knighthood and was dubbed the Lioness, a simple nickname for her ferocity on the battlefield. Time changed this though, as she grew older, enter womanhood, she started to see the corruption and heresy that plagued the Knights and even the Temple itself. They took bribes from wealthy merchants and allowed atrocities such as slavery to go unpunished. Alana, who was young and still clung to the ideals that the Temple and her faith in the Goddess had instilled in her, could not sit idly by while impoverished families sold their children into slavery. Unbeknownst to the other Knights, Alana took it upon herself to change this.

First slaver's pens were attacked, and their flesh set free, sent home. After a while Alana started seeing the same people back in the pens, the same children and wives being sold back. After a few long, and dangerous months, Alana was able to create safe havens working with others such as herself, those who did not agree with slavery. This network allowed the young knight to free those who would just be sold or taken back. After several years of this, Alana was found out by the Temple, and even after torture and starvation, she would never turn over those who were part of the network. Nai stood by silently in her temple, and no matter how hard the young woman prayed, her salvation never came. On the eve of her execution, her friends within the Knighthood could not sit by while she was killed as a traitor, for they knew that she had the bravery to do what they could not. Six knights smuggled her to the Outer city, returned her armor, and gave her enough to get her out of the city. Betrayed and forsaken, Alana turned her back on the city and the Goddess she had been dedicated to her entire life. All of her work, all of the commendations and sacrifice had all been for nothing, and she had the constant reminder of the betrayal by all of the honors tattooed down her skin and the scars that torture left on her body.

This did not deter the young woman for long, for the world outside of Del'Niari was in dire need of an idealistic vigilante. She revolutionized cities, towns, nations. Became a name hated by nobility and royalty. She taught the people to defend themselves from bandits and injustice. When word of the slaughter in the north came, she made her way there without a second thought. Through her ever growing network, she got wind of a man who was gathering a party of people to go into the Forest, a mysterious place she knew little of. Alana set off to join this group, and hoped to stem the tides of war.

Equipment:
Her weapon of choice is a great sword. The one she carries strapped to her back is the one she was awarded when she was deemed a full Knight. It's gleaming blade is carved with runic prayers to the Goddess she no longer follows. Her cloak is a deep blue and embroidered with a golden lioness. (She has only two shoelaces ;P)

Training/skills:
She was trained for war and battle and can wield nearly any weapon with some skill, though she is best with her great sword.

Misc:
Those she has helped remember her as the Lioness, and that is what she prefers. Alana does not want the history books to remember her name, only her deeds.

[Proper Gent]

This sounds really cool. I'm definitely interested and would write up a sheet this very instant, were it not sorta 2:30 in the morning. I promise to have one up before the day is out!

[Hellis]

Welp. You have my interest Hank. Writing something up.

[Hank]

Taerra Firma: I love Bat's motivation. Great character concept, welcome to the group!

Data: Excellent world-building, exactly what I was looking for. Very interesting. I can already imagine the clashes when she discovers the not-so-lofty ideals of Crosier and (presumably) some of the characters yet to come. Welcome!

[Taerra Firma]

Woohoo! *Does a happy dance!*

[Data]

Thanks! That's what I was hoping for as far as clashes go. I wanted to be the problem child for once in an RP >:D