If you're only just checking this out, the interest check has some flavor text and other general information.
The country is called Aegea. To the north and north-east, forming a natural border, are the Icethrust Mountains (think the Himalayas).
Down the Icethrust, the Great Forest of Ill spreads, freezing and snowy in the winter months, lush and fertile in the summer. Ill is a country of elves, ruled by various city-states, the largest and most notable being Ill-Asshai, great center of knowledge and culture.
As you progress down further south, the territory changes somewhat. In the south-west, forest gives way to tundra, which then becomes an arid desert, the Urduk, feared for its sandstorms and the cruel Sand Tribes (Snake, Jackal, Wolf, and Vulture). Despite its barrenness, there nestles a single city, Maj-haeri, a prominent yet secretive city of magic. It’s said the Maj-haeri royal library is the greatest compendium of knowledge save the library of Ill.
The south-east, instead, is very fertile and green, due to the river Illessa, which cuts all the way to the ocean, and its many estuaries. After the Age of War, humans were nomads, seeking hospitable land, free from magical contamination. A thousand years later or so, the magical contamination grew nonexistent, and so humans settled down in this area, the greenest and most ideal. They formed many different kingdoms, based on family identity, some which still endure to this day. Collectively, the area mankind inhabits is known as Eve’s Republic, but this is more of a geographical convention -- in actuality, the single kingdoms are still rivals.
To the far east, beyond the mountains, lies a seemingly endless ocean people have not yet dared to fully explore, though it is used as a source of great economic revenue. On the mountains, a small rural tribe, the Rocciosi, herd goats. They are a minor annoyance, as sometimes they descend the mountains to raid small villages, but it’s nothing so great that the local lords should deem preoccupying. These areas, comprising the mountainous and coastline villages, are very set in their ways, and mostly removed from politics. Angel’s influence is minimal.
The rest of the Republic is fertile grasslands. Vegetation is not imposing, save a few stretches up north. Rice is a common export, indeed, some baronies are famed for their rice fields. There are four main baronies: the di Resta, the Angelo, the Salvini, and the Polymnestor.
The latter is what concerns us, as members of Eve, the most. Of all the baronies, the Polymnestor are perhaps the oldest and proudest, tracing their ancestry all the way back to the first elvish progenitors. Their territory is one of the few with forests, and is perhaps the smallest. However, their militias are well-trained, and they command small centers of knowledge, academies and libraries, some of the more impressive ones in the Republic.
Their established capital is Dianea. It’s located in the approximate center of the barony, and famed for the tall, graceful architecture inspired by the elves. Our group has camped a few hours from its walls.
Your characters are part of an organization known as Angel. Angel is divided into the Wings, the Sword, and the Hand. It was founded back when humans were still nomads, and at the time they served as the military, specialized in protecting targets and ending battles quickly. When humans became sedentary, Angel kept on existing as rangers, border patrols, and mages, the only mages Eve’s Republic has, in fact. It exists throughout the Republic and is not tied to an individual feudal lord, though they do make part of their money from donations. While Angel can be called on for scouting and escort missions, they do not accept outright attacks on other lords. On the other hand, they are the most skilled when it comes to moving outside the territory of the Republic, and will often embark on such missions.
Angel operates in teams of three plus, if the members are unskilled, a mentor. The teams consist of a member of the Sword, of the Wings, and the Hand. The Sword are those trained in close combat, and are expected to protect the Hand if things go sour. The Hand are the mages, which in turn can specialize into healers, offensive type, and so forth. The Wings are the scouts. They are expected to be versatile and capable of adapting to any situation.
The organization is based outside the city walls, some distance from them, in point of fact. They tend to move around every few months or so, maybe every half a year in times of peace (such as now). Their ‘villages’ are easily found, if one pays attention to the flying flags of Eve. The members of Angel are volunteers. It is common, for example, for a noble to enlist his second-born son. Daughters who, for one reason or another, do not wish to get married and live a socialite life are also sent off. Street urchins can also enlist, and so forth. Barring exceptional cases, Angel recruits children at around ages eleven or twelve. Those with magical talent study magic, while those without (or with little) can choose the Wings or the Sword. After four or five years they are deemed ready to take on simple missions.
Mystics and old men attached to superstition will tell you that on the playing board of the gods, there are three types of pieces: the pawns, worth the value of one soul -- most individuals fall under this category, those not blessed by exceptional skill; the elites, individuals who, either by destiny or hard work, have set themselves apart from the masses -- they are worth five souls; and finally, the champions, emperors and mighty generals, dragon slayers and archmages, the stuff of legends. They say their soul worth is incalculable, but a conservative estimate would place them at twelve.
Our characters are somewhere in-between pawns and elites. They would seem like pawns, but their soul shines brightly, and they have great promise. I will, therefore, select a skill for your character and add it to your profile. These skills range from superior strength, to heightened senses, or greater magical aptitude. Your stats, like the skill, will be generated based on your profiles, so don’t worry about them overmuch. When there is an element of chance, I will be using a simple stat and dice system to determine the outcome. You won’t have to worry about this, I’ll be handling it behind the scenes.
Mages draw their power from living beings around them. They call this vitality. There are two fundamental steps in mastering magecraft: being able to effortlessly sense the vitality around you, and being able to control and dose the amount of power you draw. Too little, and you won’t achieve a desired effect, too much, and you’ll either kill something, causing a scene, or the spell will function too well, which also tends to create a scene. Angel teaches its members to use magic for multiple purposes. They emphasize Sensing greatly, as the Hands must alert their comrades to the presence of magical defenses or traps, and when it comes to concrete application, they prefer to do things subtly. They are the only mages in the Republic, and many are still superstitious. The reason they have survived, between religious fervor and fear, is their care not to make things flashy. The Hand is taught to create small distractions, communicate with animals, track and detect a target from far away, and so forth. For this purpose, mages like to charge objects imbued with vitality at forging -- charms -- before heading out to missions, so that they are able to use it without having to draw from objects around them, which can create a temporary opening (or maybe there are no living beings around).
As novices, you will generally be still having some issues with Sensing, and you have not been taught much in the way of practical application. Your new mentors will be doing that.
Name(the name you go by, the name you’ve been given, etc):
Age(I was thinking 15-17 is a good age group):
Gender:
Appearance(written description is mandatory, image is fine too, if you want):
Personalty(what are you like as an individual? What do you like/dislike, and so forth):
Background(your life prior to joining Angel):
Adhesion to Angel(describe your motives for joining it, and the circumstances):
Drive(what makes sure you get up every day? What is your goal in life, if any?):
Greatest Fear(s):
Other:
The country is called Aegea. To the north and north-east, forming a natural border, are the Icethrust Mountains (think the Himalayas).
Down the Icethrust, the Great Forest of Ill spreads, freezing and snowy in the winter months, lush and fertile in the summer. Ill is a country of elves, ruled by various city-states, the largest and most notable being Ill-Asshai, great center of knowledge and culture.
As you progress down further south, the territory changes somewhat. In the south-west, forest gives way to tundra, which then becomes an arid desert, the Urduk, feared for its sandstorms and the cruel Sand Tribes (Snake, Jackal, Wolf, and Vulture). Despite its barrenness, there nestles a single city, Maj-haeri, a prominent yet secretive city of magic. It’s said the Maj-haeri royal library is the greatest compendium of knowledge save the library of Ill.
The south-east, instead, is very fertile and green, due to the river Illessa, which cuts all the way to the ocean, and its many estuaries. After the Age of War, humans were nomads, seeking hospitable land, free from magical contamination. A thousand years later or so, the magical contamination grew nonexistent, and so humans settled down in this area, the greenest and most ideal. They formed many different kingdoms, based on family identity, some which still endure to this day. Collectively, the area mankind inhabits is known as Eve’s Republic, but this is more of a geographical convention -- in actuality, the single kingdoms are still rivals.
To the far east, beyond the mountains, lies a seemingly endless ocean people have not yet dared to fully explore, though it is used as a source of great economic revenue. On the mountains, a small rural tribe, the Rocciosi, herd goats. They are a minor annoyance, as sometimes they descend the mountains to raid small villages, but it’s nothing so great that the local lords should deem preoccupying. These areas, comprising the mountainous and coastline villages, are very set in their ways, and mostly removed from politics. Angel’s influence is minimal.
The rest of the Republic is fertile grasslands. Vegetation is not imposing, save a few stretches up north. Rice is a common export, indeed, some baronies are famed for their rice fields. There are four main baronies: the di Resta, the Angelo, the Salvini, and the Polymnestor.
The latter is what concerns us, as members of Eve, the most. Of all the baronies, the Polymnestor are perhaps the oldest and proudest, tracing their ancestry all the way back to the first elvish progenitors. Their territory is one of the few with forests, and is perhaps the smallest. However, their militias are well-trained, and they command small centers of knowledge, academies and libraries, some of the more impressive ones in the Republic.
Their established capital is Dianea. It’s located in the approximate center of the barony, and famed for the tall, graceful architecture inspired by the elves. Our group has camped a few hours from its walls.
Your characters are part of an organization known as Angel. Angel is divided into the Wings, the Sword, and the Hand. It was founded back when humans were still nomads, and at the time they served as the military, specialized in protecting targets and ending battles quickly. When humans became sedentary, Angel kept on existing as rangers, border patrols, and mages, the only mages Eve’s Republic has, in fact. It exists throughout the Republic and is not tied to an individual feudal lord, though they do make part of their money from donations. While Angel can be called on for scouting and escort missions, they do not accept outright attacks on other lords. On the other hand, they are the most skilled when it comes to moving outside the territory of the Republic, and will often embark on such missions.
Angel operates in teams of three plus, if the members are unskilled, a mentor. The teams consist of a member of the Sword, of the Wings, and the Hand. The Sword are those trained in close combat, and are expected to protect the Hand if things go sour. The Hand are the mages, which in turn can specialize into healers, offensive type, and so forth. The Wings are the scouts. They are expected to be versatile and capable of adapting to any situation.
The organization is based outside the city walls, some distance from them, in point of fact. They tend to move around every few months or so, maybe every half a year in times of peace (such as now). Their ‘villages’ are easily found, if one pays attention to the flying flags of Eve. The members of Angel are volunteers. It is common, for example, for a noble to enlist his second-born son. Daughters who, for one reason or another, do not wish to get married and live a socialite life are also sent off. Street urchins can also enlist, and so forth. Barring exceptional cases, Angel recruits children at around ages eleven or twelve. Those with magical talent study magic, while those without (or with little) can choose the Wings or the Sword. After four or five years they are deemed ready to take on simple missions.
Mystics and old men attached to superstition will tell you that on the playing board of the gods, there are three types of pieces: the pawns, worth the value of one soul -- most individuals fall under this category, those not blessed by exceptional skill; the elites, individuals who, either by destiny or hard work, have set themselves apart from the masses -- they are worth five souls; and finally, the champions, emperors and mighty generals, dragon slayers and archmages, the stuff of legends. They say their soul worth is incalculable, but a conservative estimate would place them at twelve.
Our characters are somewhere in-between pawns and elites. They would seem like pawns, but their soul shines brightly, and they have great promise. I will, therefore, select a skill for your character and add it to your profile. These skills range from superior strength, to heightened senses, or greater magical aptitude. Your stats, like the skill, will be generated based on your profiles, so don’t worry about them overmuch. When there is an element of chance, I will be using a simple stat and dice system to determine the outcome. You won’t have to worry about this, I’ll be handling it behind the scenes.
Mages draw their power from living beings around them. They call this vitality. There are two fundamental steps in mastering magecraft: being able to effortlessly sense the vitality around you, and being able to control and dose the amount of power you draw. Too little, and you won’t achieve a desired effect, too much, and you’ll either kill something, causing a scene, or the spell will function too well, which also tends to create a scene. Angel teaches its members to use magic for multiple purposes. They emphasize Sensing greatly, as the Hands must alert their comrades to the presence of magical defenses or traps, and when it comes to concrete application, they prefer to do things subtly. They are the only mages in the Republic, and many are still superstitious. The reason they have survived, between religious fervor and fear, is their care not to make things flashy. The Hand is taught to create small distractions, communicate with animals, track and detect a target from far away, and so forth. For this purpose, mages like to charge objects imbued with vitality at forging -- charms -- before heading out to missions, so that they are able to use it without having to draw from objects around them, which can create a temporary opening (or maybe there are no living beings around).
As novices, you will generally be still having some issues with Sensing, and you have not been taught much in the way of practical application. Your new mentors will be doing that.
Name(the name you go by, the name you’ve been given, etc):
Age(I was thinking 15-17 is a good age group):
Gender:
Appearance(written description is mandatory, image is fine too, if you want):
Personalty(what are you like as an individual? What do you like/dislike, and so forth):
Background(your life prior to joining Angel):
Adhesion to Angel(describe your motives for joining it, and the circumstances):
Drive(what makes sure you get up every day? What is your goal in life, if any?):
Greatest Fear(s):
Other:
