Just a tad surprised that no one had any further questions (or at least that no one expressed them) in regards to Lyrsaeyn. I'm willing to divulge some stuff if asked. I tried to do a summary of sorts earlier today...but I didn't like it and it seemed too long so I decided against posting it.

@Dead Cruiser That was pretty good voice acting, though I will admit that I feel like... the character should have a bit more emotion behind his words. Especially at the end, he really didn't sound that angry to me? Could just be me though. :p

Hmm, maybe. Volkimir is a "cold fury" kind of person ("I don't get angry, I get even"). Being alive for thousands of years has made him sort of detatched emotionally, so he reacts to things strangely.

@Vigfast: Ugh, tell me about it. Cynderian is still in the works. At this point, I'm just going to start working on morphology, morphosyntax, and what have you. Creating a script this early into the conlanging process is just downright annoying. ^{screw the alphabet}

Phhh... that's why I'm using a pre-existing language instead, because I already know it and I'm lazy. And it's fine, because I can pretty much guarantee that nobody else here speaks a lick of Farsi/Dari so it still sounds all nice and exotic... also because there is no way in hell I could make up my own, lmao. Mostly that the last one.

So props to you, dude.

Happy 1-month anniversary, Starless!

Wow, has it been a month already?

Anyway, sorry guys! I know I said I was going to be around this weekend, but I somehow forgot to factor in that it was also halloween and certain traditions must be fulfilled on such a day; namely dressing up as a hot-dog and roaming the streets half-wasted.

Okay, so i've finally had time to go through all the OOC posts since I was last here. Firstly, let me just say thanks to @ravenDivinity for taking the helm and answering some complicated questions in an exemplary fashion. I knew having them as a co-gm was a good idea. We should all thank raven for their work, it can't have been easy!

Anyway, a couple of things from the OOC pages that I noted to discuss in a little further detail, and some things that required further discussion:

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@Darcness Hey, sorry it took me so long! Your CS looks good! Put it up in the character tab and get in on this!

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@Everybody yes, there does need to be at some point a cut-off for accepting new players. This is sort of a dilemma for me, because I always like to have new characters involved, but I would hate for the workload to get so much that it burns out the RP entirely. What I am going to do is continue to accept players who have already expressed interest in this OOC thus far; such players are free to take as much time to create their characters as they desire and should be confident that they will probably get accepted. I am, however, going to write a note above the OP requesting that any further prospective players get in touch with either myself or raven to discuss joining the RP at some point during the story, and not necessarily at present.

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@yoshua171

ravenDivinity did a fantastic job at answering your questions. However, for the few that needed a little extra clarification, I am here:

Is it one character per player? Yes, because any more than one per person and I will kill myself. But you are more than welcome to create NPCs that accompany your character in the long run, just look at the Green Knight and Harald Silvertongue. The only real difference between an NPC and a character is you don't need a CS for an NPC, and raven and I reserve the right to take control of NPC characters at any point we deem necessary.

Are we limited to human or humanoid races? Like raven said, it is a humancentric RP, so yes, humans only. And yes, shapeshifters are a thing, not even just changelings. We have an actual full on shapeshifter in the cast. Much is possible.

Where's the story so far? There are lots of little person plots going on for each character. I assume you mean to discuss the main plot, which currently stands at A bunch of heroes have revived, the capital city has been sacked by some unknown force, the world is quickly dying, all the Great Fires are dead, the Royals have been evacuated and are now someplace within the forest. There is usually a major main plot update with each chapter change. The next chapter will be coming likely after the next response post.

Are there any other realms? Are we open to there being others as long as they make sense and don't over complicate things too much? Kind of. But none that players currently need to think or worry about. Until such a thing is introduced IC (and it will be, don't worry) the world is limited to Ansus.

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If there are any outstanding questions that either myself or raven have missed or questions that still need clarification, please do ask again because there is a lot of OOC to work through, and missing something could have happened.

Thank you @Transience and it's nice to finally meet and hear from you (no sarcasm intended. It really is a pleasure) haha. I have one further question regarding realms because it is very much tied into my character's abilities and the whole idea, @Tuujaimaa, @Celaira, and I have been fostering with our Triumvirate.

We are set to fight a...being, which we have yet to name. For the moment let's call it Lazarus. Lazarus is capable of ressurecting and has done so many times. This being was ultimately defeated by our three heroes. How does this relate to realms?

Well, my character, Lyrsaeyn Dryeir, we'll call him Lyr for short, is...well, he's a spirit/mind mage. He is capable of seeing a realm I have come to refer to as the Vale.

The Vale is occupying the same space as Ansus, but it is on a different layer. It was meant to be a realm of energy and a realm of spirits. Spirits being a very inclusive term. Lyr is capable of viewing this realm better than he can the physical realm of Ansus.

This means he sees peoples' souls, emotions and thoughts to a greater degree than he could see their physical manifestation. He can't read minds or perfectly understand someone's emotions in ALLL circumstances. I am laying down some clear limitations to his abilities despite him being a hero of legend.

The point being that he can see and call upon spirits. This means elementals, this means poltergeists, this means the dead. His domain of power allows him to weave emotions and influence people's minds directly. However, his ability to effect the living is more subtle in terms of the mind (because the mind is a subtle thing and because while I enjoy using power as a characterization tool, I also feel these things must be balanced).

His magic works on the principle of emotions and thoughts being a sort of energy, that there is indeed a soul, and that the Vale exists in some form.

So I suppose the question is, are these things alright? Do they mess with your vision or that of others? Is the addition likely going to mess with those that have come before it? I don't want to step on any toes, neither do my two partners, so I thought I'd check with you about this when I got the chance.

Now is that chance haha.

Oh yay there's Transience! Can't wait to get the ball rolling again :3

@yoshua171 hello! And sorry I haven't been around for the period in which you found the RP and began to create your character. It is a pleasure to see somebody putting effort into creating something that will be of value to the game. Anyway, on to the question:

So, instead of realms, I would consider this a question of whether there are different planes of existence in the world. The short answer to this, is, once more, a resounding kind of. Ansus is a world much like our own in that there aren't necessarily different dimensional layers permeating the metauniverse, yet in turn this does not necessarily exclude the notion of a 'vale' that you propose for your character.

There are technically three planes of existence in Starless: there is Ansus, the mortal realm; The Heavens, the realm in which the Gods reside, (said gods could traverse these planes as they saw fit, but only did so rarely.) and The Merkstave, which is the formless void 'below' existence, and this formless, primeval darkness is the depths from which our big-bad spawns. Not much is known about the Merkstave, but basically all the bad shit that ever happens is usually linked in some way to this realm.

You may, then, be wondering what happens to poor souls who die in Ansus! The truth is that there is no real, direct answer to that question. I never specifically set out to ensure that there is a realm/dimension/plane dedicated to an afterlife or resting place for souls, but over the course of the RP it has become apparent through a collective account of characters returning from death that souls tend to reside literally amongst the stars once they pass from Ansus. This means that when something dies, it kind of gets cast off into space to fuel the universe as a being of essence rather than form. Particularly strong souls (Divine souls included) can form stars. This is where we get the Starless Night from, as it symbolises both the removal of the divine spirits, and the return of legendary heroes from times past.

Now, i'm not sure how you would like to relate this to your character. The best way I can see of integrating him into the structure of Ansus is to be able to see into the Heavens and the Merkstave, but be able to reach out into the void of space and pull certain willing souls back out in order to be able to summon otherworldly creature. Obviously, this would have to be an entirely spiritual matter, as the actual, physical resurrection of a soul is a massive deal in Ansus, and the only time it has really happened properly is how this RP began: the return of our heroes from death. And even then, only a God has managed it.

In terms of this Lazarus creature, I would suggest finding another means for him to be able to do what he does. he should realistically avoid death by some means rather than resurrect each time. Coming back to life is a big thing, as I mentioned, and such an event should really be reserved for the opening posts of characters.

And if you want to see people's emotions, I would do so by actually just being magically empathetic. No need for realm-weaving for that!

@Dextkiller Good to be back! I'll probably be doing response posts tomorrow for all you eager bunnies.

@Transience the Lazarus (reference to "Lazarus demon,") never truly dies. It's not so much that it goes out into the world and then comes back each time it is "slain," so long as some of it remains it can reconstitute itself. It's more like it is bound to the mortal plane of Ansus, but takes some times to reconstitute itself when its body is destroyed. So it's not so much resurrecting as it is reconstituting. Which could be misconstrued as something that legitimately dies and then comes back (which could be another detail that is lost in the annals of history. It would be why even after so much time people still know of their legend, just a thought).

As to Lyr's abilities, that would make some sense. If spirits and their energies sort of become incorporated with the world after death he would more or less be able to perceive their energies alongside that of other energies. It is logical that he'd be able to perceive the Heavens and the Merkstave to some degree. The "Vale," could just be reference to the boundaries between these "planes," and also what connects them perhaps? Something like a veil between words (the name is sort of a play on the word veil, since they're pronounced the same).

One of his other themes (something he did during his lifetime) was exorcise errant spirits and entities which had retained attachments to the mortal realm. He sometimes purified them, allowing their energies to "pass on," (in this case, become integrated with the world as is natural). Other times he could not successfully preform exorcisms/purification of a given entity. These, while he could destroy it, scattering its energy into the world, rather than allowing it to peacefully pass on, he did not...instead he cut the link they had to a person/place/object which embodied their attachment (whatever they were haunting more or less) and rewound a bond between them and himself.

This is a core aspect of him as a character because it is part of how he attains his height of power and as a result it is shown how this power is a burden to him, though one he takes on knowing it is likely to destroy him.

I'm generally not a huge fan of mind control or mind reading as abilities, they just generally lead to frustrating situations for everyone (both the person who's character has said abilities and the person who's character is subjected to said abilities).

Perhaps, I've just had bad luck, but I've never seen them used in a balanced manner.

@Transience So, the character that I'm creating as part of the Triumvirate with @yoshua171 and @Tuujaimaa has a passive shield/ward that she erects around people via touch (as long as she has no intent to hurt them for whatever reason). I was thinking that what her ability did was make contact with the person's soul, awakening a small portion of latent magic (or using the magic they haven't tapped into if they already use magic) and compelling this magic to create a shield/ward around their body for a small period of time after she removes herself from contact with them. I was thinking thirty minutes. Would this be okay, or should I think about changing it?

Confirmed: Lazarus is voldemort.

...

Dammit, now I have to go rewrite that part about DefinitelyNotHorcruxesTM.

This all sounds... Very Complicated. Maybe I'm just stupid, who knows.

@Celaira I see no reason that such an ability should not be allowed within the world.

THOUGH I must make the three of you aware of something before the CS' begin to roll in: a shared mythology does not mean that you guys will be together throughout the RP. I'd expect you all to resurrect in different regions of the world, and i'll be making sure that the world puts just enough pressure on the three of you to keep you separate most of the time. Just making sure there's no funky meta monkeybusiness is all ;)

Also, @yoshua171, @Vigfast is right about specifically mind-reading as an ability. When I read your overview I assumed it was the ability for your character to see the minds themselves of individuals in the world; almost like how in 40k, for instance, a demon can see the mind of a very strong human and home in on it like a beacon. Thematically there is nothing explicitly wrong with the actual ability to read minds, but it is an absolute nightmare to write, especially in shared games with other players like this. I hope that mind-reading as such doesn't really come into play.

@Transience Of course not! In fact, given how my character ends up dicking them both over in the end, I feel like I'll be quite grateful for separate starting locations in the long run. :D

@transience Another question, as far as personal ality goes. If I wanted to add a guideline for my character, would I add that into my CA or would you prefer I do something else with it like put it here or pm it?

As a note it is a very limited ability. Both the reading and "control" ability. Any stubborn normal could resist or be almost unaffected. Most of the heroes will be high immune due to the nature of it. I intend to describe his abilities at length so it is clear as to what exactly he can do.

@Dextkiller A guideline in what sense, sorry?

@yoshua171 if you choose to make use of something of that sort, it will probably only really affect NPCs. Mind reading, however, I am still dubious about. I've had bad experiences with it before. It can get complicated.