"Azalore.. the land of peace and harmony. A place where cities and towns thrive upon such traits. However times have changed and in this instance the world is being set anew with a path of uncertainty and chaos. Cities are being felled, Kingdoms are being toppled, and those we once looked too are now turning on us all at once."

Azalore is a land of wonderment, beauty, and grace. It has marvels and wonders that would make the gods themselves look in awe of their own creation a second time-over. But even in beauty there comes danger, and this is often a natural danger, as beasts still inhabit the lands and beings of otherworldly forces are spawned seemingly from all manner of ways. This combined with the nature of sentient races eventually gave birth to fighting and war, and over time strife had a common-place in Azalorian life, but it was this trait of Old Azalore that bore us our greatest achievements..

Chosen of the Aegis.

Those warriors and women, Knight and Mage alike, any who proved themselves skilled and worthy of notice, those who gained achievement under the whisper of their name.. They were chosen by the Gods for their achievements and granted an Aegis of Honor. These Chosen became the Guardians of Azalore and all it's people. The Guardians protected every town and kingdom, they took stopped their wars and they ended the fights. They were often given thrones and made Lords of the Lands, others did their duty until Azalore knew only peace and they went to slumber. Chosen grew dormant in meditation or great sleep upon their thrones and in the solitary crevices of the world where they may rest peacefully themselves.

However they have awoken, and now they seek to wreak havoc. The Chosen have been corrupted through their Aegis, a force unknown to Azalore has touched the very Hearts of Azalore and turned them against us.. no one is safe from the power of a twisted Chosen.

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Howdy! As it goes this will be a rather gritty, grim-dark, fantasy Rp in which the players participate as adventurers and warriors who are nowhere near the level of a Chosen, but must ascend to the duty of helping protect the Lands against the new threat. This Rp will have perma-death as a possibility, and it will not be nice to the players. It will also feature some Dark Souls-esque mechanics.

What is an Aegis of Honor?
- An Aegis of Honor is an Orb, granted to the Chosen upon the day they prove themselves to the gods. The Orb is made of a perfectly clear crystal and is roughly the size of a Basketball. It stays dormant and acts like a crystal until the Chosen lifts it and desires to see through it. Upon such a desire the Chosen can re-watch any part of their life upon a whim. An Aegis of Honor also becomes connected to the Chosen's life, and the Aegis grants the Chosen biological immortality. This means a Chosen cannot die by old age or sickness, but can be slain by blade or spell, but due to the biological immortality, Chosen have ages to perfect their skills and expand them. This makes the Chosen as powerful as the Gods intended them to be.. nearly invincible.

Perma-death is a thing in this Rp?
- Yes it is, and it will always be a thing, but it won't just be: "You got chopped up, you died, ok make a new one." It will actually be harder to die permanently in this Rp than it would be to just "Die." As it goes death has two "rounds" when an Adventurer is slain in this Rp, their Soul Lantern will cause their spirit to stay long enough to find it's body. However a Soul lantern cannot spawn a spirit directly over a body. Soul Lantern's Flames can only connect a spirit to a nearby shrine. The Spirit has a limited time to return to it's body. The further a Lantern travels from a Shrine that the wielder knows of, the more likely it is for a spirit to be unable to reach the body of the deceased. Should a Soul Lantern be extinguished before death, the deceased's spirit will not be sent to a shrine to find the body, it will simply pass on and the player will die.

Wait... what are Soul Lantern's and Shrines?
- Soul Lanterns are magical items that, when lit by a person, connect the flame and the soul together. These Lanterns were discovered by one of the first Chosen in the earliest age of Azalore. The Chosen was a Magi who felt undeserving of his immortality and tried to offer a similar power to the people, but in turn only forged a path for those who seek to follow a Chosen's footsteps in combat and adventure. The Shrines are small locations dotted across the lands in towns, cities, roads, ruins, and many other locations. These shrines retain appearances similar to the area but the the benefit of having something that can be lit. Whether it be candles, incense sticks, or some other flammable long-burning object. These objects are lit with the Lanterns, and this ties the Soul to the shrine, but only the last shrine lit. This allows for adventurers and warriors to give themselves a fighting chance to survive even after a defeat at the hands of their enemies.

Magic comes in three major forms:

Ability- Ability Magic is that of the natural forces and body, it is magic that can wielded without the use of long-term rituals, or enchantments, or magical items that produce the spell for the wielder. This is the roughest form of magic to utilize as it drains the user. This drain can cause fatigue, ranging from minor to major, and if continued use persists it can even cause bodily harm and potentially death. As well as if a particular type of spell is used well into this level of over-exhaustion the body becomes less and less protected against it's own magic. This form of magic also makes it harder to learn numerous spells, but the few that are learned will be very powerful and considered "Mastered." Once they reach their full training with such a spell, however only a handful of mages have ever mastered all of their spells as an Ability Mage.

Item/Enchantment: This form of Magic is a bit less harmful for the users, as they utilize a focus with spells already forged within it, or a special item with a unique enchantment to achieve their goal. Many Magi, even of other types, carry a Staff or Wand of this category with a spell of their particular style of magic to ensure they can always combat their foes. Though this type of magic still has it's down-falls, which would be the magic within the item. A magical object can only store so much magic within itself, and as it is used it expends it's magic overtime. For a mage to replenish this magic it must either give the item a prolonged period of time to gather it back naturally, or take it to an Enchanter who will use his own stores of Magic to replenish the object.

Ritual- Ritual Magic is that comprised mostly of ritualistic tendencies and ceremonies, with some minor shortcuts. Most of the Ritual Magic can be done over a few short moments for the spell to be completed, and the spells are among the most powerful. However they require absolute concentration, special materials, and knowledge of Magic circles and runes. Should a ritual be preformed hastily, without the proper materials, or with a lapse in concentration.. then the Spell will backfire in the most extreme of ways without mercy.

-Cs-
Name:
Merry Meredith

Age:
18 years old

Sex:
Female

Race:
Human

Appearance:


Personality:
If one were to see her in a tavern without knowing anything about her, they would think of her as just some cheerful young girl, a newbie to the world of adventuring; no doubt haven't entered a real death and life battle yet. But woe to those that tries to take advantage of her, thinking that she would be easy prey. The last merchant who tried to scam her by sending his minions to rob her after she had purchased an expensive item from him ended up a corpse the next morning, lying on the dirt along with his people. When the local authorities looked around to find the culprit, she was already far away on the road, whistling cheerfully like nothing had happened with the trader's money pouch on her hand.

Indeed, she had no reservation in taking the lives of those that opposed her. Evil should be repaid by evil after all. This doesn't mean she's evil however, as she will repay good with good also. It's just that this world just has more vile people than the good ones.

She is also a pretty talkative girl. She's never afraid to voice her thoughts no matter how insulting it may be to the listener. Why be afraid of such a petty little thing when she faces death nearly every day?

Backstory:
Born in the outlying villages of the human kingdom, she lived an idyllic and non-eventful life as an ordinary human farmer girl. As a child, she was the very definition of a tomboy, as she liked to play and run around with the boys more than the girls. This led her to have a quick and nimble feet, something that would prove a boon to what would become to be her future, for right at her 11th birthday, a force led by a Chosen came out of nowhere and laid waste to her village, killing everyone else including her parents. And it wasn't any ordinary Chosen too, as it was the local Chosen that her parents and the other villagers held great respect towards. She would never forget his laugh as he slaughtered the villagers one by one like they were simple cattle. She would've died too if not for her hiding like a scared rat inside a hiding-hole her father made in case, as there were already bad rumors of Chosens going mad and killing the people they were supposed to protect.

She was then adopted by a wandering band of mercenaries, and this was where she developed her combat skills. The leader, a crafty old gnome who loved to brag on how many times he had almost died in his adventurers, quickly picked up her uncanny talent in archery. And so, as a fellow archer, he told her everything he knew about the art. His right hand man, a half-crazy old man who was supposedly an ex-blood cultist, taught her a simple blood magic ritual to enhance her strength for a set amount of time. When she asked to be taught more, he vehemently denied her every time, each time breaking into a crying fit after he refused her.

Here was where she gained her more... ruthless side as she was taught not to show mercy to the enemy. They were a band of mercenaries after all, not a band of knights. Her being traumatized by the slaughter of everyone she loved certainly didn't help, as it made her grow paranoid to the world. Sure, she looked cheerful on the outside but she would always be ready at a moment's notice to put her knife on a throat of an ally if they even had the thought of betraying her.

She eventually decided to leave the band, as she wished to exact revenge on the Chosen that had destroyed her old life. As she searched for his whereabouts, she ended up inside the Bloodied Wolf tavern, where she was promised on an info on her target if she were to fulfill her employers' request.

Equipment:
1. Her enhanced bow. It produces its own arrows, allowing it to fire near instantaneously since she doesn't need to take out an arrow from a quiver like a normal bow. It also indirectly increases her mobility, as she isn't encumbered with a quiver on her back. The bow is also able to produce magical arrows, enhancing it with fire or lightning. Of course, that would cost more on the bow's magical charge. Last but not least, the bow is able to create a supercharged arrow for a one-hit kill attack. The arrow is less like an arrow and more like a pure, piercing magical energy, heading straight towards her opponent at a blinding speed. This move will pretty much exhaust all of the bow's magical charge, making it a really risky move only to be used if she's sure there isn't any other enemy around.



2. Her silver dagger, sheathed on her waist at the back, in case any enemy managed to come close. With it, she can also perform her blood magic ritual; 6 slashes on each arms until her blood drips out. The ritual increases her physical capabilities quite significantly for a set amount of time, but prevents her blood from coagulating, making it continue to drip as long as the ritual is active. Of course, this also makes the ritual a high-risk move. She usually uses it when she's getting annoyed fighting against a tough opponent she simply cannot crack the normal way.

3. Some healing bandages and smoke bombs in her little pouch. She also carries her coins there.

Misc:
For her young age, she is a heavy drinker. She will order up to 20 pint of beer in one night and she still wouldn't fall drunk. Maybe a little doozy, but nothing that really impeded her decision making and fighting ability. She was a quite distrustful person after all, and falling drunk in some random tavern on the road would just invite the wolves to prey on her.