First up, there may be logical inconsistencies with the lore, let me know if ya find any ok?
Name: Temen
Race: Vensh
Gender: Preferentially Male.
Age: 184
Birthday: Thirty Eighth Day of Vermillo, 116 DM
Birthplace: Silent Rise
Resides in: Forest cottage between Silent Rise and Green Fall
Occupation: Highwayman (When Necessary)
Appearance: Variable save a ragged scar over the heart.
Personality: Embraced by a cynicism reinforced by what he sees as a life spent observing the world's cruelty Temen tends to mistrust others, when he interacts with them at all. Regardless of the gravity Temen seems to alternate between apathy and facetious humor in most situations, treating the world like an amusing comedy performed at the expense of the actors rather than anything weighty and tangible.
As a result of such thinking Temen imagines life as something without inherent and immediate worth, often judging others by how much he sees them as defying the world's brutish order. A creature like himself, something spoiled by circumstance or fate and at peace with the wickedness of nature is not a thing worth saving. However, Temen considered those who have held onto hope, those who not only imagine a better world, but try to forge one in spite of all evidence pointing towards the impossibility of such a thing, as uniquely interesting individuals. Such people not only deserve life, but in Temens eyes are the only ones that can make others deserve it too.
All in all Temen is a cynical individual who cannot see past the malevolence of the world, but he is also one who hopes that should the right person come along such evil could change.
History: Born as a Human boy to supposedly Human parents in the village of Silent Rise Temen spent his childhood as most young denizens of such a locale would, pushing his luck and narrowly avoiding death. Even after dozens of close calls he proved himself one of the boldest most promising of the new generation, and indeed many at the time considered him to be a fine hunter in the making. That was however, not to be.
For reasons never made known to him Temen’s parents would allow their son to live unaware of his own species until a scant year before his power awakened, and even then only conveying the most basic details about what he was, and what he would soon be able to do. More than any information they passed on a simple warning, to never allow others the knowledge that the Vensh lived on.
It was a warning that while weighty and clear, was also one of a sort the young are all too hasty in disregarding. Nearly halfway through his eighteenth year Temen underwent the transition as most Vensh would, and almost immediately began to misuse it behind his parents backs as they made preparations to depart the village as was customary.
From innocent tricks to outright theft Temen quickly attracted attention to the unusual happenings in the village, a feat considering most in Silent Rise preferred not to involve themselves in frivolous disputes. It was nearly two weeks after he first gained his ability and with days left before his family departed the village that Temen would come to understand why the Vensh had kept themselves hidden for more than a century.
Arriving surreptitiously in Silent Rise five cloaked men quickly sought out the victims of Temens foolish antics even in spite of to locals renown reticence. Before he knew it the strange individuals were closing in on Temen as if they somehow understood a Vensh was behind the mischief, and showing sense where their son had none Temen’s parents made arrangements for him to ascend into the forest. Concealed deep within the trees deep he thought himself safe.
For what seemed like an eternity he waited, and only when his paranoid mind could stand no more did he venture back to the village in the guise of a traveller he’d seen years before. It was clear the strangers had left, but such news served not to mollify his anxiety. Temen’s parents had bet upon the strange interlopers in the town failing to connect the dots before preparations for the family to vanish were complete, and it was this bet they lost entirely.
After a frantic search in which he already knew the answer Temen found the pyre just beyond the village perimeter, and in that moment his fear turned itself unwaveringly into rage. Familiar with the forest and with a whole life of training Temen ignored all the caution his instincts demanded of him and revolved to pursue his would be killers, to the ends of the world.
It was on the then-dangerous road between Silent Rise and Green Fall that he found them, and it was there he watched them for days as they plodded along still giddy from their victory. All the skills Temen once used to fell the beasts within the forest were turned upon the men in their black cloaks, and on the third night of their journey one of them vanished into the night.
The remaining four woke to screams from the forest, and the next night three men did the same. Those survivors tried to fight sleep, vainly pushing their bodies in an attempt to ward off the nightmare that awaited them. It did them no good, even though it took a week of patience the sentry posted that night succumbed to the whispers of rest, only to never wake again.
The next confrontation would come three days later, when the remaining to black cloaks set a trap. Thinking too little of his would be prey Temen stumbled into it like a fool, and soon enough faced two men with far more experience than he. Slashed, bruised, and on the brink of death it would be luck that came to Temen’s aid when against all odds the sky burst with rain and allowed one his his attackers to simply… Slip. A lunge with a knife and only one of the men who’d murdered his parents lived, and slipping into the night Temen did as well.
Days passed as the last wounded killer stumbled down the road in fear, unable to heal his wounds like his attacker. Refusing to give in no matter the cause the once high man whose cloak looked the colour of mud persisted until Greenfall was just within reach, and it was then Temen struck.
With the savagery of a wounded animal the last human fought, and in that fight Temen came to learn from the babbling of his opponent that remnants of the old Vensh hunters persisted. One enraged and one desperate Temen and his target both sought to end their plight, and in their struggle both inflicted apparently mortal wounds on the other.
Stumbling to the side of the road and aiming to cheat death Temen began a transformation to the form of the very man who lay dying meters away, an individual no more than a few years older than himself. In the change Temen would leave only the ragged scar over his heart from the wound both he and his adversary had received. Luck would have it the weather held travelers back for the time the metamorphosis took, and when patrolling Ebon Knights discovered the rotting bodies in the woods the monster that had killed them was long gone.
Staying in the form of the man who would have, who should have killed him, Temen found himself alone and afraid. With no clear next step he was filled with regret that he allowed those who raised him to die, and filled with remorse that killing was his only answer to death.
From that moment he resolved to live the full of a human's life, both to understand the men who had killed his parents and find an answer to the question that consumed his mind: was he really the monster that the fearful eyes of those he’d killed asserted he was?
Arriving in Ruby banks in 135 DM at nineteen Temen would find employment under an older farmer overseeing foreign slave workers on one of the region's many fertile fields. For ten years Temen would not only witness the barbarism of men, but keeping to his promise he would participate in it. On his twenty ninth birthday the dying childless farmer who’d once employed Temen would leave the farm to him, and Temen would act just as his predecessor had. For fifty years after Temen would do as anyone would and unthinkingly hold living beings in bondage as he expanded the lands they worked and came to be known as a reliable and upstanding member of the community. In that time Temen would raise an orphan as his one, a girl who’d grow into a woman not so different from her father.
On his eightieth birthday Temen would feel his body slipping, and would leave all his holdings to the woman he’d done so well to raise before going on an apparent last journey. Returning to the stretch of road where it’d all began Temen would undergo a transformation for the first time in a full human lifetime, returning to the young body he’d abandoned all those years ago. The one he’d been born in.
It was a return that filled him with disgust, resentment, and hopelessness. A human life had not led to the understanding and a peace he wished for. No… It had led to him learn a simple truth, he was a monster just as those men had said so long ago, but they were too. All living beings exploited others, they all hid the truth status and power, but each and every one couldn’t give a damn about those who they saw as other.
Somewhere a daughter he loved would grow old, and some time in the future she would die. Even knowing it was wrong to love her alone and worry for her while writing off all those who’d suffered under his commands--he still did. It was in that which Temen felt a melancholy that beggared description.
Isolating himself in the woods Temen would build a cottage from nothing, and for more than a century he’d maintain it alone. Anything that couldn’t be gathered would be stolen from the travelers that frequented the nearby road, and in time Temen would resign himself to a life he felt was deserved.
GM update: I'm still alive I promise. Tonight is my last night short for the rest of the year. As some of the older members know I get far less done when working night shifts. But no worries, I'll be all yours soon!
Few things to keep in mind!
The end of the season is coming up (jan 1st starts the new one). If your character rpd this season, they will incur seasonal expenses (there is a one time exemption for new characters that just joined and are only in a single GM run rp).
So if you want your character to be paid, and they have a job, make sure to have them performing that job to a decent degree in at least one story.
My Christmas break runs from Dec 22-jan 6, and during this time I'll be working to fill out much of the Lore/wiki. As suj I'll be hosting a fun little thing. During that time period, if you submit at least 1 fully written article (race/magic/'monster/whatever) you'll get 1 GM artifact attaced to one of your characters. Article must be approved in order to count.
For every full article after the first, you'll receive a drawing for another GM artifact.
GM artifacts can be used for one of 3 things (keep in mind these are OOC items). 1) one time use as a saving throw from anything (death, injury, loss of favorite blankie) 2) turn in with a completed story for enhanced rewards. 3) gain the chance to undertake a quest for a rare one of a kind item tailored to your character.
As always, leave questions, comments, and concerns!
Appearance: A full body jester outfit, littered with patches of fabric sewn on in desperate attempts to keep it held together. Not a single part of his body is revealed, fiendishly hidden from curious eyes. Bells hanging from his hat jingle with his every move, bar one or two where the balls have fallen out. His white mask is rather unnerving to look at, as it hides any sort of expression or gaze he has.
Personality: A born liar and entertainer who clearly isn’t all there. A mad jester indeed, his actions are often wild and unpredictable, jumping about and shouting in order to gain the attention of his audience. Whether he be in the company of strangers on the street, the tavern, the brothel, the campfire, or the castle (gods forbid), he gives every performance his all. And it shows. He will not be satisfied unless he has sufficiently entertained his audience. Or at least, unless he has convinced them of some misinformation. He is restless and will travel from place to place while also altering his outfit every so often, which has made his identity and origin considerably difficult to pinpoint.
Other: No one has ever seen his face, he likes to tell people he has no face. He will often alter his voice to sound like a woman, taking advantage of the fact that his body is rendered androgynous by his outfit.
Well, at long last, here is ze applicationation. Or just the application, if you prefer. :V
"This one has examined the circumstances and detected an approximate 25% reduction in your rational decision-making ability. It recommends an immediate detour from the current course of action."
Name: Priestley
Race: Animata (Animated Structure)
Gender: N/A (Usually Identified as Female)
Age: 401
Birthday: 44th of Jadeyan, 101 ML
Birthplace: Unknown
Resides in: Mobile
Occupation: Unemployed
Appearance:
Personality: As one might expect, Priestley's personality is quite... scarce. As in, it's very hard to tell if she even has a personality.
She speaks in a very robotic, emotionless manner and has a preoccupation with statistics and empirical analysis. She was not designed to be social; as such, she has very little in the way of social skills. Most notably, she will always state the blunt truth, whether others want her to or not, and her practical analysis of almost everyone she meets inevitably leads her to make inadvertantly rude comments about people. A trait she shares with most of the Animata is that she tends to refer to herself in the third person, to lend a sense of impartiality to her statements. For instance, she will usually say 'This one', 'Priestley', or for occasions of import, 'Animata Priestley'.
There are some hints of a personality under her cold exterior, however. She seems to take pride in her skills and abilities, but usually not to the point of arrogance, and apparently has some hidden understanding of sentimental value and gratitude, considering that she named herself after her saviour. Plus, sometimes when her blunt statements of fact are brought up during inconvenient or disadvantageous situations, it can almost sound like she's being sarcastic. Of course, it's entirely possible that this is an accident and she has no understanding of what sarcasm actually is.
History:
Priestley no longer knows it, but she was originally created over a hundred years before the death of magic by the Kellin, an isolationist coalition of multi-racial Mages who lived in a city-state deep underground and had mastered the magical school of Animation. Using their skills, they created armies of Animata, metal forged into the shape of men and given life through repurposed souls. They came to rely heavily on the Animata, as they laboured away as miners, manufacturers, domestic servants and security forces, leaving the Kellin themselves free to pursue knowledge, art or philosophy... for a time, at least.
The Kellin owed their power to their God, Ordin-Cotac, the Master of Puppetry, who apparently resided inside a grand machine that had outlets throughout their entire city. Ordin-Cotac was a rather enigmatic and private God; considering himself less of a manipulator and more of a patron towards all those given life through artificial means (and, according to a more broad interpretation, those who find happiness in servitude), he deliberately communicated with his followers using a complex cipher which would only be understood by specially-constructed Animata, forged from a Magic-conducting metal called Kellidium (his reasoning, apparently, being that if he just handed everything to them on a plate, there would be no servitude, and thus, life would become meaningless).
Priestley was one of these Animata; imbued with the soul of a long-forgotten Kellin scholar or something similar (for the construction of Animata relies on souls to power them, and so many Kellin volunteered their souls upon death), it was her task to relay messages between Ordin-Cotac and his followers.
On one particularly dark month on the eve of the Kellin civilisation, when almost all of Kellin society had devolved into ungrateful idlers, it was Priestley and her kin who send out a message to the Kellin, telling them that they were becoming complacent and no longer really serving anyone, merely exploiting the souls of their dead and torturing their unaware subconscious in doing so. He even began to imply that he was starting to regret allowing the Kellin to become so reliant on the Animata, intending for them to work in tandem and provide happiness for everyone, including the world above, rather than for it to be a completely one-sided process and to remain in isolation, refusing to offer their gifts to the rest of the world out of fear that they might take it away.
The Kellin resolved to sort it out somehow, but of course, Ordin-Cotac's comments turned out to be especially prescient. A year later, the Death of Magic occurred. Ordin-Cotac seemed to vanish from existence, and every single Animata 'died', reduced to lifeless scraps of metal. As was the case with far too many civilisations at this point, the Kellin fell into panic and chaos; generations of relying on the Animata for security meant that no-one was fit to guard the city, and barely anyone knew the intricacies behind mining or food production. A fair few Kellin had even become illiterate, not seeing the point in learning how to read. With no God or interpreters to guide them, a civil war soon erupted over who should decide what to do, with the fighting almost comical in nature due to the participants' lack of skill in warfare, leading to long, drawn-out battles with comparatively few casualties.
However, the Kellin's Civil War was cut short after a small cult of Kellin, considering themselves the only true devotees of Ordin-Cotac who listened to his warnings, chose to destroy the city (considering it punishment for their compatriots' hubris) by systematically blowing up or demolishing the pillar network which prevented cave-ins, having been weakened already with no magical support. After detonating a series of explosives, a massive cave-in occurred and buried the entire city, killing nearly half the population and trapping the rest. A further two-thirds of that group eventually starved to death, while the rest managed to dig their way to the surface, whereupon they and their descendants eventually assimilated into surface society.
Unbeknownst to the surface, however, a fair number of the 'dead' Animata had survived the cave-in, with some even being brought to the surface and dismantled either as 'souvenirs' or to be sold to the surface-dwellers for lots of gold. There is, however, one family, the caretakers of the Animata Interpreters, who recovered the remains of any Interpreters they could find, took them to the surface, and buried them in various locations, in the hopes that one day, magic would return and they would reawaken to speak the word of Ordin-Cotac once more.
Priestley, as it happened, was one of the Interpreters returned to the surface. Almost exactly as the caretakers had predicted, the magic eventually did return, at midnight on the 1st Jadeyan, 300 DM. It was then that Priestley awoke, the soul that had powered her simply remaining dormant the entire time. However, she had no memory of her previous existence; her role in the communion with Ordin-Cotac, or even Ordin-Cotac's existence, or even the Kellin, or even her name. As far as she was concerned, she was a lost relic of unknown origin who may have served a purpose once before, but doesn't now.
She wandered aimlessly through the Tundra south of Frigmount where she unearthed herself, when she was attacked by a group of Bears. With no knowledge of how to defend herself, she was trashed. However, she was found by a local hunter, a man called Talan Priestley. Talan, intrigued by what he saw as a woman made of metal, first took her to the nearest Smith to fix her up. Then they first spoke, and Mr. Priestley asked her what her name was, she said she didn't know. The following conversation is what ultimately lead the formerly-nameless Animata to assume Priestley's name.
"You don't know your own name?" He responded. "How is that possible?"
"This one's archival records are... incomplete. They have been inactive for an abnormally long period of time." She explained. "All records within, if there were any before, have been erased."
"I guess that makes sense. But... wasn't there some kinda clue where ya... woke up or whatever?"
"This one cannot confirm the presence of any signs of this one's identity. ...This one did not query, what is the name you are known by?"
"Uh... well, in full, it's Talan Priestley."
"Based on logical naming structure, there exists an 87% chance that 'Priestley' is the name of your family. Is this hypothesis true?"
"Um... yes?"
"Then this one shall call itself 'Priestley'."
Her subsequent reasoning for taking that name was that it was in the absence of any alternatives that made logical sense to assume, 'Priestley' was the only option, and she couldn't take the name 'Talan' as well since that's a unique given name and would thus lead to confusion. The fact that 'Priest' also describes her former job quite nicely is just a coincidence.
Unaware of her origins or what she even was, T. Priestley came to the conclusion that she was worth treating as a human based on the fact that she could speak and had some awareness of what was happening around her. For several months, he answered almost all of her near-constant questions to the best of his abilities, and taught her how to defend herself with a sword so she wouldn't get trashed by Bears again. All in all, things went quite well, and Talan's local fur business thrived because his new assistant tended not to attract scent once taught how to be discreet.
Eventually, however, word of Priestley's existence reached the Draconic scholars of Pyresia to the south. Having unearthed some knowledge of the Kellin Animata, they sent in some Dwarf agents to learn more about her, in the hopes of convincing her to accompany them back to Pyresia for study. When they approached Talan's cabin, however, Talan immediately became suspicious of them, and accused them of wanting to dismantle his 'companion'. The confrontation eventually escalated to violence, with one of the Dwarves stabbing Talan in the throat in self-defence, but not before Talan managed to kill one of them. However, Priestley, who was collecting fur from further away, only returned at this point. Without the necessary context, she assumed the Dwarves were attacking and threatened them with violence. When another Dwarf, who was practiced in magic, got hasty and attempted to strike her with lightning, the magic seemed to pass into her harmlessly; in fact, it added energy to the soul core that was her power source, and she, almost automatically, turned the lightning against the 'attackers', driving them off for good.
However, by the time they were gone, Talan had already bled to death. Not knowing what to do with a corpse, Priestley chose to move it and the corpse of the Dwarf inside Talan's house to shelter it from the weather, thus making them easier for anyone to identify. She also proceeded to read a rather large collection of journals, in which it became apparent that Talan cared so much for Priestley because she reminded him of his wife, who had apparently left him some time ago, and he was suffering from abandonment issues (though mercifully, he knew better than to attempt anything 'dirty' with her). She also searched the body of the dead Dwarf, learning of their reasons for coming here via a note. The note was ambiguously worded, however, and lead Priestley to think that they wished to kidnap her. Thus, she chose to flee the house to avoid possible retribution, leaving the bodies behind.
From this point onward, she moved south, unwittingly heading towards Stone Crest, in the hopes of finding some place of refuge from these 'kidnappers'.
(There isn't a Wiki page for this character's race so far, but I think Twhirtley said I didn't need one... yet. I'll help him with the pages for associated items presented here if he wants.)
@HHShetland I think there should be a wiki page for the race as well as the magic that is stated within their history. This helps other players understand what your race is all about and what the magic is all about as well. You might not need to flesh it out entirely now, but it would be best if you gave us a fair idea with an article on the wiki.
Dead Men Tell No Tales (unless you ask politely) - has begun, created by Tuddems and his Jester. This is a solo story exploring the arrival of a completely empty ship into Azure Strand harbor.