I would say that a collab post of some sort would be most fruitful for the amount of dialogue that may happen. I can pitch in myself. :)

Well... You do do a lot of jumping about, that's for sure. You also write self-obsessed, peerlessly shallow, power hungry, lunatic politicians exceedingly well. I feel I must congratulate you on that sir.

That said, is there actually a way out of this? Judging simply by what is said and written in that post, no amount of reason or logic will compel the other nobles to any action that doesn't lead immediately to the death or incarceration of the seven. For all intents and purposes, their minds seem to have been made up. Short of managing to kill them all on the grounds of being illogical idiots, that is...

Candidly, there's little way out of this if each of the characters works individually. Still, not all of the nobles are as bad as the lot of them. Plus, as I actually told Raptor in PMs, "We write the RP as one... Immersion over my original intention," so if you have an idea that you think could actually sway them, let me know so we can work things out. ;)

Ichthys said
Tada~The new round has begun, and dare I say, the plot has thickened. Let the game of politics begin.Now, regarding Tanis' magic, are you or are you not saying then, considering your most recent clarification, that the illusion magic does not in anyway cause physical harm or sensation? Are injuries of any sort probable? Can the illusion be so intense as to cause death or true injury, considering the sheer belief of the victim?

Nope. It's basically psychosomatic pain, in a sense. The problem is when you're fighting an imaginary wolf and flailing on the ground because you think it had your leg, for example, when she has a very real sword.

Hahaha ohh how will Atlas deal with this gambit? Well. In truth its probably best he remains quiet. He'd probably just confess to committing the crime himself, flippantly admit that the next part of his plan was to be exactly where he's standing so that he could assassinate these weak ass politicians. xD Although, they'd implicate Vincent, so Atlas wouldn't do that.
I got a few questions. Did they disarm the seven? Also, is there any sort of trial by combat feature that the players could use as a last ditch effort?
What would also be some of the rumors spread about these politicians that might contain a nugget of truth?
There must be something we can use to acquit us of immediately being condemned to death. A sort of political or occult loophole that we can exploit.

Milieu said Also, is there any sort of trial by combat feature that the players could use as a last ditch effort?

Or in the case of Vincent and Atlas, more likely a first ditch effort. Lol.

Reaper said Nope. It's basically psychosomatic pain, in a sense. The problem is when you're fighting an imaginary wolf and flailing on the ground because you think it had your leg, for example, when she has a very real sword.

So what prevents her from creating the illusion of some sort of unbearable pain (say, a horde of wolves) that puts the person in shock or some other form of handicap, and just waltzing up and actually dispatching of her victims easily? What are the restraints to her abilities? As mentioned previously, magic is inhibited by the knowledge of the caster. What is the extent of her knowledge on illusions and the senses? This is what I was asking in my first question, pertaining to her understanding. :p I'm trying to get an estimated maximum for her spell prowess currently, gauging if she can be considered unbalanced or not.

Milieu said Did they disarm the seven?

No. They only binded them, although the binding did "disarm" them momentarily, as in restrain them from using their equipment easily. Once the restrains came off, they'd have their original capacities and potential for using items and all that. The main reason for this is because so many of the seven are some form of nobility themselves; even despite the allegations, no one wants to make an explicit sign of aggression or violence (such as disarmament) for fear of being the spark that ignites the very possible reality of actual war among the coven, in a sort of domino effect. The lines are very gray and obscure, which is why most "taking care of the competition" is done under the guise of shadows and lies; everyone is just beating around the bush and dancing around the line. No one wants to be considered a murderer or oppressor (more than some already are), else the those in lower standings may uprise as well.

Milieu said Also, is there any sort of trial by combat feature that the players could use as a last ditch effort?

There has never been a formal trial by combat, as believe it or not, before all of the conflict started, the D'Cerf was actually renowned for its kinship and community. No arena was ever built, so there was never much use of combat trials or other gladiatorial like practices. The closest thing would be the training area for the guardsmen and knights, in their little section of the castle. Still, I could definitely see some nobles being all for that option, considering how the times have changed.

Milieu said What would also be some of the rumors spread about these politicians that might contain a nugget of truth? There must be something we can use to acquit us of immediately being condemned to death. A sort of political or occult loophole that we can exploit.

The following are truths (and other tidbits of information) regarding the nobles, your predicament, and their rumors:
- You were caught carrying an unconscious priestess; the cause (to them) is unknown.
- There is no actual evidence of any sort of coup or rebellious involvement. One could try pressing for the evidence, to prove that none exists.
- There may be a small handful of nobles who are against execution - not all of them are overly vain, some could very well be friendly or at least neutral. It's up to each player to decide if they would have a friend among the nobles. Keep in mind that a majority is still probably keen on bettering their chances at the throne though.
- You have the very brother of the deceased Lady in your rankings. One could use that as weight. Would anyone want to permanently end the family line of their beloved Lady? I don't know. Perhaps.
- And there is one final thing, but I will only disclose that to the curious, via PMs. Raptor already knows what this, so I'd be willing to share this important snippet to others, if they utterly want to. You'll find out sooner or later, regardless, as it will come into play later.

Hmm. Well. Atlas would surely be fond of a feature where he could decide his innocence through combat. Although he'd probably try to nudge Vincent into attempting negotiation first.

So when do you guys want to try a collaboration? When can the majority get on?

You guys have fun on the collab! I'll just do my best to make time whenever, considering you might need the response of the nobles in the dialogue. I'm in the MST timezone (UTC -7) right now, so as of the time of this point for example, it is roughly a little before 8:30. That's just to help orient you on what time I'm working on.

Ichthys said
So what prevents her from creating the illusion of some sort of unbearable pain (say, a horde of wolves) that puts the person in shock or some other form of handicap, and just waltzing up and actually dispatching of her victims easily? What are the restraints to her abilities? As mentioned previously, magic is inhibited by the knowledge of the caster. What is the extent of her knowledge on illusions and the senses? This is what I was asking in my first question, pertaining to her understanding. :p I'm trying to get an estimated maximum for her spell prowess currently, gauging if she can be considered unbalanced or not.

If you're going by scientific terms then yes, that is possible. However, it is unlikely she will ever be able to pull off something of that magnitude for a couple of reasons - the greater the illusion, the more power it requires, and also, the deception is only convincing up to a certain point. Her understanding of illusions is that you can trick more than just sight and hearing, and that if someone believes in an illusion entirely, they will react as if the real thing were happening to them. It does not, however, cause their physiological functions to react the same way. Let's use the pack of wolves example - a lone wolf might have been easy to miss, but if you have say five of them, you have to be able to hit at least one. If that doesn't happen or the hit lands and the wolf doesn't flinch, the illusion falls apart because the you'd figure out these aren't real wolves.

They might believe they are in actual pain, but unless there is an actual physical blow that would cause shock, their body won't respond. Besides, there are simpler ways of disabling someone other than casting a large illusion like an entire pack of wolves devouring the target - a poison dart, sleep spell, or simply hitting them really hard in the head.

So then, since the wolves do not flinch when struck, meaning they are not completley controlled by the caster, what is the process to control an illusion? Are the orders for the illusion preordained, upon conception? Or is an illusion dynamic, as in it acts as the proper thing that it actually is?

On another note, are illusions completely a deception of the senses, or can they, to some degree, have physical properties? In other words, are all illusions completely intangible, unable to be interacted in all circumstances?

And finally, on a somewhat related note, considering the illusions' natures are in the belief of the victim, are the illusion's subjective, meaning they are different for each person (some see it, some don't, depending on the belief of the person)? Or are they objective (everyone sees the illusory wolf, and the ones that don't believe the lie just /know/ it's illusory)?

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I hope you don't find the questions to be too much. I just need clarification, because, honestly, I love the idea. In fact, one of my first ever RP characters worked with illusions (a form of magic I thoroughly enjoy), and I know firsthand how powerful (and sometimes extremely irritating and obscure, when opposed or questioned) such an ability can be. These clarifications are necessary to keep any problems at bay, in the future. Sorry though, for how prodding it seems I am.

Who is Viola? As a Viscountess, where does her influence come from? Is she popular only among nobles or do the general Coven have the same respect for her? Judging by the composition of our little group I think Vincent is the real target here. The rest of the group are just collateral, being at wrong place at the wrong time... This sounds like a ploy to destroy D'Cerf blood relatives. Also, this is happening in the middle of the night, right? Right after a catastrophe at an event where everyone in the Coven would have attended. How did they managed to assemble all these nobles given the circumstances? Who are the nobles that are attending this trial? Do they all have the same motives - get rid of D'Cerfs? The whole situation is too organised to be an impromptu reaction. Ichthys, you said that some of them are neutral, but if this were planned, the majority would be of the " get rid of the heirs and steal the throne" mentality, and they would be in on the agenda. The majority would sway the neutral ones. We cant talk our way out of this by pleading innocence, its probably rigged. Trial by combat would also be rigged.

How about this. What if we turned the nobles on each other? This Viscountess, depending on her status, can be our ticket out. Given the option to speak about the happenings during the ritual, we can tell her exactly what happened during the rituals. Maybe we can report of an epiphany from the occult about changing times and enemy in the blankets, of a witch that would leave a trail of blood to control the throne and once seated on the top, this witch would turn on her own people, etc. etc. One of us, unrelated to Vincent, can accuse her of deceiving the other nobles into giving her the throne. Those involved in the plot will start to think twice. They know the Viscountess is a Machiavellian backstabber, what if, when she gets into power, she turns on her former supporters in fear of them conspiring against her? All followers of backstabbers will have these little seeds of doubt in their minds. We can feed the doubt .

Ichthys said
So then, since the wolves do not flinch when struck, meaning they are not completley controlled by the caster, what is the process to control an illusion? Are the orders for the illusion preordained, upon conception? Or is an illusion dynamic, as in it acts as the proper thing that it actually is?On another note, are illusions completely a deception of the senses, or can they, to some degree, have physical properties? In other words, are all illusions completely intangible, unable to be interacted in all circumstances?And finally, on a somewhat related note, considering the illusions' natures are in the belief of the victim, are the illusion's subjective, meaning they are different for each person (some see it, some don't, depending on the belief of the person)? Or are they objective (everyone sees the illusory wolf, and the ones that don't believe the lie just /know/ it's illusory)?I hope you don't find the questions to be too much. I just need clarification, because, honestly, I love the idea. In fact, one of my first ever RP characters worked with illusions (a form of magic I thoroughly enjoy), and I know firsthand how powerful (and sometimes extremely irritating and obscure, when opposed or questioned) such an ability can be. These clarifications are necessary to keep any problems at bay, in the future. Sorry though, for how prodding it seems I am.

The rough idea is this, Tanis casts an illusion and sets the general idea of it - like say a large wolf is attacking. She creates the wolf, and sets where it appears from, but the actual details of the attack are filled in by the target, like say, if they throw an arm up in panic, the wolf would obviously bite that part because, that's what people usually expect to happen. How dynamic the illusion is boils down to a matter of circumstance - a wolf will behave like a wolf, a sword like a sword, unless Tanis creates a specific illusions that contradicts the usual behaviour of said object, like if she wanted an arrow that doesn't fly straight, she could make one.

As for how tangible they are, at this point unless Tanis is disguising something physical under an illusion then, no, they don't. This might be a possible upgrade, so to speak, later on, or it'll take some serious power to make a tangible illusion. Even then, I imagine anything Tanis would be able to make would be at most the size of a human being.

Finally, the illusions are objective. Anyone who is the intended target of the illusion sees it.

Castor said Who is Viola? As a Viscountess, where does her influence come from? Is she popular only among nobles or do the general Coven have the same respect for her?

Castor said Also, this is happening in the middle of the night, right? How did they managed to assemble all these nobles given the circumstances? Who are the nobles that are attending this trial? Do they all have the same motives - get rid of D'Cerfs?

Castor said What if we turned the nobles on each other? ... We can feed the doubt .

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I'll leave the discussion open for the Illusion magic to receive some final input from the players, then I'll do my final judgement. For me, I think you've clarified things sufficiently, but the others may have some concerns still. Thanks for the patience and for being so diligent! It will be rewarded in the end. :)

If this is still rolling, I don't suppose you'd have room for little ol' me?

I suggest making a character first, then we'll see if we can fit them into the RP as soon as possible. I'm quite flexible, and there should be plenty of opportunity for some characters to make their entrances (and others, their exits). :)

Colten Gilles

Twenty-six year old male

Commoner, coven grave digger and crypt keeper
Grave robber, body snatcher, and cat burglar

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Appearance

Before you stands a nervous looking man, restless, paranoid eyes constantly shifting between invisible enemies, smiling that queer kind of smile when it'd be right to frown. His face is sharp enough to remind an onlooker of a rodent, and is a sort of boarding home for dirt: You see, even after washing, the grime never truly seems to leave this odd man's face, instead just drifting to the other cheek, or up to his forehead. Accompanying the nomadic mud is a migratory flock of bruises and black eyes that are as regular as the sunrise. His prematurely greying black hair is slicked to the rear and held too tightly in a short ponytail, and his unimpressively patchy facial hair is tamed to three days of growth.

He is shorter than average and skinny, teetering on the edge of unhealthily so, and adorns himself in a wardrobe of mismatched clothing that does not fit. Interestingly, he tends to dress more akin to the privileged than his native peasantry, and he can typically be found going about his daily tasks while improperly wearing fine jackets and trousers that are just out of fashion, and have long gone without proper washing or care. To dissuade the brisk night air, he dons a patched cloak of poor quality pelts made from raccoon, squirrel, and other varmints. A pair of brown, knee-high leather boots are buckled onto his feet and are, like everything else about the stranger you see, caked with dried mud. The man known throughout the D'Cerf coven as Colten Gilles even smells of freshly turned earth on most days, and you can find the gritty stuff in his hair and on his hands, beneath his nails and on his face: But it's to be expected, you realize, as you watch the grave digger maneuver his rickety wheelbarrow down the narrow dirt path towards the coven's graveyard for the lower castes.

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Interests

Colten keeps to himself for the most part, outside of his duties he can rarely found away from the quarters bestowed to him in the lower dungeons of castle D'Cerf, from which the crypts are easily accessible. He takes his work very seriously, paying impeccable detail to the preparation of funerals, and cares deeply for the remains of the deceased, which is ironic, because within a few days he typically unearths the same bodies in search of jewelry and other rarities, which he obsessively collects in secret. He keeps a small collection of books, and excepting work, can almost always be found with his prized possession, an ornate and hand-engraved fiddle which he plays, admittedly, with a masterful beauty. He enjoys playing his music to commoner children, likely because they are of the few who do not judge him for his occupation.

He has an obsession with and love for the dead, and in private, holds lengthy conversations with corpses before their burial. Having been caught doing so more than once in the past, some speculate whether magic allows him to truly do so, though this rumor is neither confirmed nor denied by the earth mover, instead opting to dodge the question entirely.

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Skills

It should not be forgotten that, regardless of his office in the coven, Mr. Gilles is truly no more than a peasant himself. He is entirely untrained in swordsmanship, and his words, spoken through a poor man's dialect, are crude and far from the moving rhetorics of noblemen. This isn't to say that coming of age amongst the rabble is without its benefits. He is a hard worker, and no stranger to difficulty. The man is a natural sneak, floating through crypts and midnight graveyards like a lantern lit specter. He is an adept pick-pocket, and all but the most masterful locks can be defeated given enough time. His time growing up as the son of a poacher learned him basic bowmanship, hunting fundamentals, and a knowledge of pelting.

He is unversed in most forms of magic, save the most common spells, though his true arcane talent comes in that he does indeed have the power to speak to the dead. Through his own personal experimentation and experience, far from the scientific proof of the phenomenon that surely exists in apothecariums, Colten has found that the soul can linger in and around the body after the spirit has left. Some are as fleeting as the smoke from an extinguished candle, slipping into the void mere seconds after death, while others are stronger, holding their grip for hours, maybe even days afterwards. Others still, for whatever reason, are seemingly trapped, left behind.

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Personality

Gilles is by all accounts a strange man. Numerous incomprehensible habits, introversion, crude and inappropriate behavior stemming from what could be a lack of practice, paranoia, and a jittery sense of nervousness are all qualities that could describe the typically solitary grave digger. He is a greedy, shifty man who, though coveting no life other than the one he lives, takes advantage of the misfortune of others and hoards a surprisingly large collection of valuables. For all of his shortcomings, however, he is a man who possesses a truly good heart. Disregarding the fact that he is avoided by many due to wives' tales regarding his profession or because of his admittedly awkward personality, he does his best to care for the community by sparing no expenses in his profession, comforting grieving families, and he has taking a keen liking to the coven children, who know him only as the funny music man in the fur coat.

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Biography

Raised in a rural village far to the south, Colten Gilles' uneventful birth was that of but another serf. He lived with his mother and father in a modest home with their ever growing family. His father served as a groundskeeper for the nearby castle, ordained by some minor, insignificant nobleman, and his mother served no purpose but the care of her children. On the night of his eighth sibling's birth, his mother passed away in childbirth, which hit his father hard, considering that the man hardly seemed to care for her in her life. With an excuse to turn to the bottle, a series of derelictions caused his father to lose his employ, casting the house into a time of great hardship. Several of his brothers and sisters passed, either from malnutrition or disease, and Colten himself nearly succumbed to an illness that would stunt his growth and leave him with a gauntness that would last a lifetime.

The lord of the castle was an avid hunter, and reserved great expanses of harvestable land for his sport. There had been rumors spread amongst the peasantry of poachers claiming mountains of meat and huge, valuable coats in the lord's forests, and in time his father tried his hand at this, quite successfully for a time, even bringing his eldest son along for a few poaching trips. Colten Gilles was sixteen the day his father hung. His family taken in by foster parents, he roamed the countryside for several years as a member of various musical troupes, pelting companies, and at one point as an apprentice to a traveling taxidermist, never caring to take the time and think of his separated family. By chance, he found himself in castle D'Cerf, where a nobleman was so impressed with a stuffed fox, nothing more than a novelty, that he requested his presence at the funeral of his deathly ill daughter, so as to make her appear more alive.

The girl spoke to Colten for a short time, as he prepared her corpse for display. It was the first time that he heard the dead, but far from the last, and as time went on and he officially assumed the role of the D'Cerf mortician and grave digger, his conversations grew longer and at times he was even able to see the souls, faint outlines and shadows of their former selves. It wasn't until years later, when an old woman asked to be buried with her prized necklace that he began to steal from the dead. In a faint whisper, her last words to him were instructions on where it could be found inside of her home, and then she was gone. He fulfilled her last requests, but when a particularly wealthy and notably greedy nobleman requested to be buried with a large sum of gold, Gilles assumed it would hurt nothing if he took some for himself. It then became almost routine for him to ask the typically weak and malleable souls if they'd like to be buried with any of their jewelry or keepsakes, which, upon learning the location of that pearl or those antique earrings, he would simply burglarize and keep. And in time he had amassed a fortune worth of jewelry kept hidden away in his modest chambers, some of which stolen from the estates of the deceased, some more simply disinterred and robbed from their corpses.

It wasn't hurting anyone, he smiled that crooked smile to himself as he lit his loosely-rolled cigar out of the fireplace, clenching it between his teeth. The dead went to their next lives happy with the knowledge of their last wishes, he thought to himself, raising his bow to the strings of his fiddle. The children's faces beamed up at him in anticipation, lit by the stone inn's hearth. And goodness, if he didn't love the way that gold glittered in his hands.

Well, no other objections or questions were made for you, so I take it that it is generally accepted. Congratulations, Reaper! Mind PMing me on how you would like to enter the RP, so we can get it to happen as soon as possible?

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Pete, four things:

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Beautiful players, if you want to use Giovanni in your collabs, I give you permission to do so, as he was a player character formerly but is no longer. If you want to use him as a means, feel free to do so. To respect Giovanni (and Dead Cruiser), I encourage that you stick to what you think Giovanni's character would be like, and try not to use him as a scapegoat or "meat shield"; treat him as a proper character.

And good luck on the collab!

Was Giovanni ever specifically named or mentioned? If not, couldn't Reaper simply step into his previous role as one of the seven? It would make the most sense while allowing her to start in the RP as soon as possible.

As for a collab, if a time is worked out some evening where everyone else (or most everyone else) can make it, I'll do my utmost to attend as well, though my schedule of late has had to be pretty flexible.

To be honest, I'm a bit embarrassed. I was lazy on this one and instead of taking the time to really sort through everything I just cranked out a character that I enjoyed, and thought would work well into the roleplay. I'll address your points one by one.

1) Honestly, I see where you're coming from. When I first looked at the list of accepted characters, I honestly saw nothing more than fantasy names, not something that was dependent on time.. I suppose I can change it but I really didn't put any thought into it to begin with.

2) I didn't do research on his instrument of choice, which was admittedly only intended to flesh out the character and would not serve a huge purpose in the roleplay. This will be corrected. As far as the cigar, I did look into it. Tobacco was first introduced to Europe in the late 1400's, which I understand may be a bit beyond the timeline of this story, but I figured it wouldn't really be hurting anything since the analogy to real-world history is really more of a suggestion to help the setting. And of course by cigar I don't mean some nice, factory produced smoke, but a crude, handrolled type. If you'd like me to, I can remove this entirely.

3) Admittedly, I didn't take the time to read each of the character stories. If I had done so, I would have realized that Raptorman has squarely assumed the role of crypt keeper. I'll PM him and arrange my character's role, because I doubt that he'd have a problem with my character being the gravedigger. If he does, then I'll be back to square one, but whatever.

4) I did read the all of the FAQs before posting, and it was my understanding that magic was inherent, and it wasn't some mystical thing, but it was also something that had to be learned just like math or the alphabet to be fully realized, or even recognized at all. Since my character never received any training, and was never in a situation where he'd even be able to know that he could do this. If I'm still incorrect in this, know that by the time you see this I have re-read it and will make corrections as necessary.

Sorry 'bout that.