The Darkness of Arc Tenès

A man wearing the colours of Dumat approaches you with a letter. It is sealed with a sigil that you remember well: the illustrious 'A' of the Family du Arlay.

The Letter [+]

Dear .......................,

It has been a few years since we last spoke. I realise that we may not have departed on the most amicable of terms, but I am in dire need of your help.

A menace has taken root in my city, and with it, our beautiful Ophelia. Ophelia was murdered in cold blood, and with her murder there was a message. I cannot identify the words, let alone the language, only that it was written in her blood, an image that will haunt me for all of eternity. I will spare you the details; I know you loved her too.

I have seen true horror, ……, but there is something quite disturbing about all of this. Something malign has made its home in Arc Tenès, something that I cannot see, that I cannot touch, that I cannot remove, only feel. There is an uneasiness that haunts the empty streets, and even beyond these walls a chill has settled. It is so quiet, so unnatural, and the nights grow longer even though we are in summer. I may be going mad but, truly, I am afraid, ........................

I have sent for Sethael, who may know how to translate the message. He will be here in a few days hence.

And please, if not for me, for Ophelia.

With love,

Anise du Arlay
Duchess of Arc Tenès &
First Enchantress of the Seven Schools

Premise

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Ophelia du Marge is brutally murdered in the city of Arc Tenès. A message is left at the scene of the bloodbath in an unknown language. You are summoned to the city of Arc Tenès by an old acquaintance, Anise du Arlay, to investigate her murder and find the one responsible for the death of Ophelia.

Gameplay

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This is essentially a fantasy adventure, interwoven with darker and grittier aspects. As players delve deeper into the mystery surrounding the murder, a lot of roleplaying will be happening in the background. By that, I mean private roleplaying between myself and one player, or perhaps all players at the same time. Whether you discuss what happens in these one-on-one interactions, OOC or IC, is completely up to you. Character depth and development will be important here.

Much of the roleplay will take place in Arc Tenès, however as the mystery unfolds, our journey will take us beyond the city's walls and into the Darrow Mountains.

Character

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You arrive in Arc Tenès. It is the height of summer, and as such much of the city has been deserted with many citizens preferring the warmth and luxury of southern Dumat over the mountains. As you arrive, you are greeted by an escort of sorceresses. Something about the city doesn't feel right. It is when you arrive that you begin to understand Anise's urgency.

A pivotal part of your character is his or her relationship with the other characters/players participating. This includes Anise, Ophelia, and Sethael. This is certainly something to discuss and mould, as well as each character's motivations for coming to Arc Tenès, and whether they came for Ophelia, for Anise or for their own personal gain. Your characters will have known each other from an event known as the Seventh War of the Well. Whether they knew each other beforehand, or continued to speak after the war, is something you can all figure out.

I am very happy to answer questions any questions and hopefully garner some interest. I don't see this being a very populated roleplay, maybe five - six people, seven at most I'd say.

I'm up for it. I may have a quest or two. Just rereading everything first.

I look forward to answering them! :)

So I have noted that there are "first enchantress of the seven schools" and "sorceresses". Does that mean that magic will be available? If so, any specific ways that it will be available?

Magic will most definitely be available.

In Dumat, the sorceresses are an exclusive sect of maegi who practice what is known as the Art of the Rose, a magical discipline that hones in on the mind and the senses. The Art of the Rose is kept close to the sorceresses and as such it is rare to find anything else like it throughout the rest of the world. The first sorceress was a woman named Eve du Rosèe, who not only discovered and passed on the Art of the Rose, but built the Seven Schools across Dumat. The First Enchantress (in this case, Anise du Arlay) is the matriarch of the sorceresses and the High Enchantresses (headmistresses of the sorceress colleges) answer to her. Sorceresses not only serve the military of Dumat, but have become principal figures in the culture and society of the kingdom, going so far as to paving the way for women to aspire to being more than wives and mothers. They are a one of a kind.

Magic is a very present aspect of the world. Depending on the kind of magic involved, the strength and potency of spellcasting varies. For example, elemental magic tends to be more destructive and have a larger impact than the subtle grace of illusory magic sorceresses specialise in. For humans, magic is passed on through blood. The bloodlines, formed thousands and thousands of years before this story, have had a lot of time to spread across the world and as such, most families have a chance of producing a child who shows magical promise, regardless of whether the parents are maeges themselves (though two maegi will produce another maege). However, as maegi mingle with non-maegi, the strength of the bloodline weakens and power is watered down. Magical talent first emerges with the onset of puberty.

Other maegi present in this particular setting are the disciplined white wizards of Ker Ithryn, the devout knight-priests of Lorinth and the witches of the Widow's Wood.

I hope that answers your questions. If you have more, I'm happy to answer. :)

Interested, sounds unique!

In.ter.ested.

Very, very interested.

At this rate, I'll have to start on the OOC! Thanks for your interest guys. Any other questions?

My last question, the event known as "the Seventh of the Well", since it's a basis for how we truly know each other. Am I to assume the event will be more detailed in the ooc?

It will be fully elaborated on in the OOC. To summarise:

Firstly, there are the First Children and the Second Children. The Second Children are humans; the First Children are a race known as the ithuri. The ithuri rival humans in power and populace, but unlike humans are united by the Imyassi Empire. The First Children once ruled the world, then the Second Children came (and inherited magic and, as the tale goes, the favour of the gods) and started pushing the ithuri into the heart of the world. Humanity brought a great race and empire to its knees, killed their God Emperor and for the next millenniums the ithuri were forced to fight to re-establish a place for themselves (rising once again as the Imyassi Empire). Hatred is an understatement for what most ithuri feel regarding humanity. Sethael is an ithuri.

Secondly, the centre of all arcane power resides in At'aine, the Well of the World, a gift to the First and Second Children. The Well has ancestrally been neutral ground, guarded by the first maegi of the Conclave, until the Conclave ceded the Well to the human nation of Maltheria. Naturally, the ithuri took great offence to this, and thus for centuries after, the ithuri of the northern empire have warred against the northern kingdoms for control of the Well. As you'd guess, there have been seven such wars, though the seventh was bigger and bloodier than usual.

First off I'm interested in this and what is the thought on a grizzled veteran pushed around job to job before receiving the letter?

Well a veteran would fit in well with the context of the war, perhaps the letter provides him with a welcome respite from going from job to job?

This sounds really interesting, I'll keep an eye on it!

I'd love to join!

Also, how about an inventor character?

I have a character I made for a roleplay that never took off, that I would like to fix up for this if possible.

Would a noncombatant be passable? Possibly having being associated with the war in some political degree, rather than having fought?

I'll await the full OOC to start really putting them together but there are a couple of ideas I'd like to put forward already bouncing around in my head.

An inventor could possibly work. Though technology is still medieval. What would he or she be or have invented? What role did they play in the war? What might they bring to the table in the roleplay?

A non-combatant could work if done well. Talents of all kinds will be needed, and as the situation unfolds, characters may need to adapt. I will gind ways to accommodate all of you.

I might just get started on the OOC actually.

Hey there, this looks interesting! I want to know who Ophelia is though...just some random noble? Anyways I have subscribed and will consider sketching a character based on other players approach to the RP.

Thanks for your interest!

Ophelia is a young sorceress, one personally entrusted to Anise. She is young, a child during the war, and as such those bonded to Anise were also bonded to Ophelia.

Awesome - I was thinking a noble who's family was involved in the war through politics, who ended up involved a little bit too personally involved...

I'll wait for the full OOC like I said, but I'll probably PM you the details before posting them publicly, if that's cool with you.

Alrighty, I'll get to work on the OOC!