Good stuff @Draken! I’ll give it a closer look tomorrow but upon a first read through I think you’re good! We’ll talk more about his water/illusion magic tomorrow.

Actually, we can drop the illusion stuff. Instead I made the specialized Paling for his bullets (to help add to being a marksman) and half-tossed the pure water restriction (but also explained why Father Ilya doesn't just blood bend everyone to death). I had that restriction initially because I was thinking of magic as our bread and butter, not an exquisite 3 layer chocolate cake.

...Okay. Why do I find this when it's literally about to close submissions? This is a brilliant concept, with brilliant world information and from what I've seen, brilliant characters. I don't suppose there's any hope for me?

Holy Shit,

just got finished reading about how all of you need to use Omestrian Vials to supplement your magic, and I'm just laughing maniacally to myself as I don't need to worry about that shit!!!!

The Omestrian Ether that powers Madrys circulates through her much like how a person's ether circulates through them. Constantly powering her while diminishing the amount that could be lost.

Anyways, Rodion is going to figure out how to drain and use Demon Ether, so there might be a second source of ether, more powerful but harder to control.

@shylarah

I love the relationship between our characters that is brewing, also I love her faceclaim.

For everyone else, you can bet your arse that my post are going to be detailed as shit when it comes to Rodion and Ziotea!

@Drakey

"The Omestrian Ether that powers Madrys circulates through her much like how a person's ether circulates through them. Constantly powering her while diminishing the amount that could be lost."

I mean, I would think since Madrys is a machine the Omestrian ether that powers her would run out (since it's used as fuel), so unless she is connected to an actual Omestri slave at all times the "constantly powering her" thing wouldn't make sense. Madrys is the first of her kind, a really powerful war machine, so her first iterations would require a sizable amount of ether to function. So, I'm thinking in her wolf form she would probably be able to function for around 2 hours per vial.

@CollectorOfMyst Thanks for the kind words about the RP! Unfortunately we're getting to the point where one more character might stretch things out a bit too much. If anyone drops out I'll be sure to let you know, and if you're still interested in joining you can send me a CS.

@The Angry Goat Sounds good to me, but remember, losing most of one's own ether reserves leaves them in a near-comatose state. So he's going to be in severe danger if he has to use all his ether in a battle. I'm honestly not sure why he doesn't use the ether vials though, it's basically the same concept only he'd be able to use his power a bit more frequently (and wouldn't be in danger of passing out on the battlefield). Also, I feel like as a proud Varyan inquisitor he'd be more than willing to use the ether collected from conquered people. That's just me though.

@shylarah

"There needs to be something to keep people from using other people's stored reserves or that'd be the first goal of any priest vs. priest battle."

Um, I don't think just any priest can drain the ether from someone else. I mean, isn't that Ziotea's second ability? Most other priests wouldn't be able to do that. In order to draw the ether from someone, people use a needle sort of device, not a magic spell. I thought we established that?

Anyway, I'm comfortable with everything else in your post.

@DrakenWill read through your CS again. Expect a post within the next hour or so. :)

@Lovejoy

Ok, that sounds good to me. I'll keep that limitation on her.

@OppositionJ Hey! How are your character relationships coming along?

By the way, if anyone asked me something and I didn't answer or if there's a post of yours I didn't address, PLEASE LET ME KNOW! The thread is moving kind of fast and I'm trying my best to keep up with everyone but if I miss you, know that it wasn't on purpose. Thanks!

@Lovejoy Okay - that's completely understandable, don't worry. Like I said, everyone's characters are brilliant, so I don't want to stretch it too far. Is it okay if I lurk, at least? I do kinda want to see how this story plays out, whether or not I'm playing.

@CollectorOfMystOf course you can! Also, please feel free to even let me know what you think of the story and such through PM if you want!

@Lovejoy I meant the vials in my last post, not a person's actual ether. ^.^;;

Gonna be out for most of the day, but I"m cooking ideas!

@OppositionJ Hey! How are your character relationships coming along?

Just managed all the stuff for the people in the character tab. I can get anyone I missed soon enough. I'm working to fill in gaps about Tatiana's ether abilities now, so she'll be 100% ready.

@OppositionJ

I like the competitors angle! We can work on that.

Lol read this instead of paying attention in math class

Thanks for the entertaining read, will be keeping an eye

@shylarah I like the angle of their slight antagonism - I think it would contrast well with the way he ribs everyone else for him to largely stay out of her way because she's, y'know, terrifying. My one note is that I figure it would just make more sense for the sparring match that he got injured in to have been meant to be an unarmed match, only for her to accidentally slip or get mad and blow him into a wall and break his arm. Just because I can't imagine anyone responsible for training them thinking that having Hassan and Ziotea spar with her allowed to use her powers would be a good idea or really end any other way than with Hassan smeared on the wall - that's the very definition of bringing a knife to a gun fight.

Ooh, unless they made him do that as part of the punishment for Hassan's bad attitude. That could be a cool dynamic, maybe even one that Ziotea was unaware of: their trainers threatened Hassan with going another few rounds with the human rocket launcher in order to bring him into line, and he resents her for that? Let me know what you think.

@Sisyphus Unarmed would be...hm. I mean, she is probably half his size, but maybe? Maybe it was supposed to be a lesson for her, initially -- you can't run away from things that scare you, and you are small so a lot of things are going to be bigger than you. And she tried, might or might not have managed anything remotely close to what was expected, but she made a go of it. Only at some point she panicked and whoops.

She might even have been visibly upset about that. She would have been pretty young still, and I could see her dashing over to Hassan where he's crumpled up dazed by the wall, looking shocked and maybe even worried or horrified. Just until she can tell he's more or less in one piece, of course, and I'm sure she'd deny it.

I don't know if she'd be a worthwhile threat or not. I mean, she never tries to injure other trainees past what's okay for a sparring match, and as she gets better it's less likely to happen (or more, I guess, since their own skills mean she needs to use harder attacks to get through? o.o) But it's possible. Certainly I would not be surprised if he was given a hard time about it. I wonder if she might ever find out....

So yeah, mutual resentment! ^.^ Because she's inadvertently scary, and he's inadvertently controlling, and neither of them can work with what the other is.

Sorry for the delay was shattered last night

Also, if we come across any demons, Rodion wants them captured. He is going to let Madrys devour their ether and thus grow stronger.

Mother astraea may have something to say about that
On the relationship you say you try to avoid her but then he feels confy around her. Can you clarify? May just be me reading wrong?

@lovejoy only thing missed from me was a post bout lanostran food a few pages back but nothing major.

From my side im comfortable with Astraea using ether for healing and for oratory if she ever needed to use it on a big crowd but as she keeps it hidden i dont see that happening. I really wanted the empath and oratory to be something she couldnt switch off so i feel that would use little bits of her natural ether. Im guessing if she ever realised what ragnar was doing to keep her out she may use her vial to boost her powers but she is blissfully unaware for now. That ok with everyone?

<Snipped quote by Lovejoy>

@deathbringer
I think Astraea and Tatiana could have a really cool dynamic in the fact that they are almost polar opposites when it comes to the Black Glacier. While Astraea proudly slew her demon, Tatiana cowered, eventually coming to ally herself with the demons of the Black Glacier as a summoner. I was wondering if Astraea would harbor a sort of discomfort around Tatiana’s talent, thus making them rather uncomfortable when working together in combat. In essence, I think it’d be interesting if we were both sort of distrusting of one another’s abilities— maybe even competitive when it comes to solving issues?

Astraea knows daemons are fueled by pure hate so she would be exceptionally uncomfortable with having such evil near and mistrustful of you for being able to tap into such power. Nevertheless the presence of a daemon makes astraea a far stronger and more ruthless warrior as by focusing on that pure callous hate she can block out the pain and death around battle.

Im not sure ill need to write and see how it flows

Ill work on getting something up tonight/tomorrow for tatiana and ziotea

@deathbringer OH huh. that's interesting. About hatred letting her block stuff out. Since, y'know, Ziotea has a general, all-purpose hatred for humanity as a whole. Or at least a solid disgust.

@Draken

Hi! Sorry for taking so long to reply. Came home and was knackered so I collapsed in bed and only just woke up. All in all, Ilya fits really well, barring a few changes.

The first thing is that it sounds like his decision to become an Inquisitor was his own, and well, this wouldn't really be possible, since children are brought to the Red Seminary when they are 7-9 years old and are only accepted if they show potential for having larger than usual ether pools. I'm thinking his family really desired their boy to have a high position in the military, so maybe they spent the first seven or nine years of his life molding him into their perfect soldier, so that when he enrolled into the the Varyan military academy (still need to give this place a proper name, any ideas?) he would properly excel. Maybe they're akin to those weird sports parents who put their kids through hell in hopes that they'll someday become a star athlete? Maybe his dad just wanted Ilya to follow in his footsteps?

So, he was being trained to be a soldier, which explains his prodigious talent with a rifle and other strategic-based skills, but then, at some point in his childhood, his etheric magic manifested, and his parents were overjoyed. "Our child won't be a high-ranking officer, but a powerful Inquisitor! Praised be to Lord Varya!", and that's when they promptly brought him to the Red Seminary and he was accepted due to his magical ability. That's my idea for how to fix this inconsistency. What do you think?

If we go this route, you'd have to change it so that his marksmanship ability didn't manifest in his second year, but instead that he's been an excellent marksman since childhood, due to his parents forcing him to learn this skill.

By the way, I think you missed the bit of info where I stated that training to become an Inquisitor is a twelve-year long ordeal, so him "saying goodbye to his family for the next five years" wouldn't make sense (pupils aren't allowed contact with their family in that time either).

Now, him being the first to volunteer to go on the expedition would't work, since the group was still in their final stages of training when the first steam arks left for El, so Ilya would've "missed the boat", so to speak.

Besides the above, I'm fine with the rest of his CS. His ether abilities are cool! though I will warn you that there is nothing like an "ocean" in this world, as all the sea has been frozen solid for eons. The steam arks do "burn" through the ice with their massive ether torches, but this just turns the ice into slush. So yeah, when we're out in the icefields, Ilya will have to depend on the water he keeps with him, which he'll be able to replenish when back onboard the steam arks.

By the way, you can upload images from your PC through imgur, and then use img tags to link the image here. :)

@shylarah

"I meant the vials in my last post, not a person's actual ether."

The ether in the vials can't be drawn either. People can't just draw ether from things using magic or telekinesis (besides your character, since that's one of her abilities). The vials are inserted into the catalysts, which are what allow Inquisitors to use their super powerful spells, and those in turn can be drawn from. I'm thinking the catalysts are tuned specifically to each Inquisitor, and *insert magical mumbo jumbo here* is what allows a warpriest to use this device to use their super powerful weapons. I think catalysts should be a thing, otherwise we'd have to inject the Omestrian ether into ourselves, which would be weird and cumbersome to have to do that in the middle of battle. Sigh, I think I'm going to draw some kind of diagram to show how this works. :p

Speaking of drawing, I found myself with some time last night and drew Ragnar. I'm not the best artist, but whatevs. Let me know what you think! And if all of you are cool with it, I'd love to draw each of your characters too when I get a chance. :)

Added my current character interactions into my sheet. Please let me know if anyone else wants any changes!
As per usual taken some liberties and just ran with stuff Let me know what you think but happy to change
I swear my next character in an rp is just going to have a 1 word personality- nice!

Mother Ziotea@shylarah
For many year Astraea enjoyed dismantling Ziotea in a variety of ways on the battlefield and off. Though Ziotea has a fiery toughness Astraea was born and raised in a strict martial code and her experience allowed her all the advantage she needed. She took it to brutal effect, indignant at Ziotea's insistance she was half Lanostran- as if any true Lanostran would consort with a mere slave.... I mean by the Lady she didn't even have green eyes. Add to that her blatant disrespect for the Lady and Ziotea's fiery temper, which in turn through her empath nature riled Astraea even more, she enjoyed the perpetual humiliation of putting her in her place. Nevertheless over time Ziotea's power grew and even as Astraea prepared to humiliate Ziotea in a new fashion she was caught by a concussive blast of such force that it smashed her against the wall. Since that day things have been more even between them and with Ziotea's power continuing to grow Astraea is mentally preparing herself to reap the savage rewards of her own cruelty. Regardless she will not bend!

Mother Tatiana@oppositionJ
Astraea cannot comprehend how anyone can consort with daemons, beings of purest hatred let alone control and manipulate them, who knows what foul pacts must be made. As such she treats Tatiana with scepticism and is far less apologetic about reading her emotions than the other inquisitors. She is waiting for the slightest sign of that hatred to appear in Tatiana at which point she will take matters into her own hands and honourably end her life. Nevertheless the presence of Tatiana does have a beneficial affect on Astraea for when a daemon is present the pure hatred of the daemon is a lock Astraea can fix upon helping her to numb the pain and anger that comes with battle and pushing her forward against the enemy.

@The Angry Goat Sounds good to me, but remember, losing most of one's own ether reserves leaves them in a near-comatose state. So he's going to be in severe danger if he has to use all his ether in a battle. I'm honestly not sure why he doesn't use the ether vials though, it's basically the same concept only he'd be able to use his power a bit more frequently (and wouldn't be in danger of passing out on the battlefield). Also, I feel like as a proud Varyan inquisitor he'd be more than willing to use the ether collected from conquered people. That's just me though.

eh, fair enough. he'll still use the vials sparingly though.

Sorry! So So sorry, I'll have that to you asap. It's been a fucking crazy couple of days. Ship fucked up my paperwork, I've been running around like crazy at work, and I'm getting home so freaking late. I'll have something, promise.