Adamant is a substance close to gunpowder in appearance and feel but tastes and smells very differently. It also lacks the explosive quality of gunpowder. If damp it loses some of its effect (water literally washes away its potency) so needs to be carried in protective packs. A small pouch, similar to one that most carry coins in, would be enough for an hour’s continuous and extensive use of most abilities (varies on the ability).

The powder cannot be consumed ahead of time - it follows usual digestive timescales and can be poisonous if not used and when left in the stomach. It can also become addictive if used extensively along with other more dangerous side-effects (burn out or the exact opposite in extreme cases).

Powder Mage abilities can vary from 'common' themes such as the ability to create fire at will or more complex abilities such as a form of clairvoyance, this is their Primary Flare. All Powder Mages also gain small but significant increases to their basic athleticism, this is known as Secondary Flare, again varying in conjunction with their power (someone whose Primary Flare is large/powerful will have a correspondingly weaker Secondary Flare as more Adamant is left over for it).

Powder Mages are discovered by testing conducted by the guilds. The more reputable ones will be gifted a heavily diluted form of Adamant to give willing subjects to see if they possess a Flare. If they do not they will react negatively to the Adamant, often vomiting, but it will not kill them like the pure form would. If someone is discovered to be a Mage they will be recorded, along with their lineage, and possibly offered a position in the guild. Vale Craft is active in this sense and if the subject joins they will keep the record confidential.

Largely medieval in weapons technology with some basic muskets becoming popular although very expensive. Most guardsmen will still wield halberds or spears, even if they own a musket.

Most energy has gone into economic advances with unpowered factories coming into existence and tests on the first trains being run between Dilei and Abraxashesperios but not yet available to the public.

Life is still distinctly feudal with the Highprinces kings in their own cities, their own bodyguards as well as forces to guard their cities but no armies capable of assault another Highprince’s lands. Poverty is fairly rampant but life is better than it might have been even for the poorest because of the lack of war and relatively rampant advances in social and economic technology.

Adamant cannot be sold and can only be bought by registered guilds. They work with ambassadors from Miram who are present in every major city who will arrange for it to be delivered in quantities relevant to the size of the guild. Those who try to buy or sell it illegally will be found by agents of Miram and dealt with, even Highprinces.

Miram employs people entitled ‘Smiths’ who are able to sense Adamant and can consume it like Powder Mages but simply gain increased physical capabilities. They are trained to fight Powder Mages and act as law enforcement. Some are on loan to each Highprince to keep rogue guilds in check but how many actually exist in total is unknown.

There are over a hundred different guilds, varying in size from just a dozen or so members to several hundred. Guilds can be deregistered if Miram is displeased with their activities, these will often attempt to steal a shipment of Adamant to continue on but Highprinces will not publically deal with them, for fear of angering Miram. Vale Craft sits near the high end with between a hundred and two hundred members although a large number of them are ‘inactive’, retired but remaining to advise the younger members coming in. Cities often ‘sponsor’ their resident guilds to ward off the illicit activities of other, hostile guilds but the resident guilds are not obligated to do so unless specifically hired.

Highprinces shed their given name when they attain their rank, taking the name of their city (often a shortening of it for convenience's sake) but their family and close friends may still use their given name as a mark of their familiarity, in private.

The main island consists of tundra and savanna in the inland areas running in a north-west to south-east direction while the coastal areas are generally grassland and more fertile. Regis and Miram are both very fertile lands, Miram is particularly difficult to get to as the seas are very rough and they have neglected to share their charts with anyone else.

Blount to the south-west is the most isolated of all cities and is generally regarded as holy and a sight for pilgrimage. It’s surrounded by tundra and is vastly colder than the main island. Tikanddryi (south-east) is a stopping off point used by ships from Miram and exists almost solely as a seaport and nothing else.

Bidlip to the north-east is an abandoned city, a former Miram outpost used to keep an eye on the large island until it was no longer necessary. The people all left in an orderly manner, taking all records with them however the city itself still stands, if somewhat dilapidated. Criminals usually try to escape here to avoid justice being served.

Regis Hill and Guise sell crops to the central island, constantly in dispute with one another over the particularly fertile lands between the two cities but a string of mountains provide a semi-natural barrier between the two and is commonly accepted as the unofficial border.

Hatkadedyet was considered the capital once, a neutral city ruled by a Senate rather than a Highprince and once said to be the seat of an Emperor but that was centuries ago, long enough that no one much cares for such tales any longer. Now it is home to scholars, thanks to its legacy of lawyers and educated citizens, with the Grand Mausoleum nearby giving it a certain prestige despite its decline. A river heading to Nawade is navigable by small cargo ships and makes the city more accessible than it might otherwise have been.

Nawade largely survives from its tariffs on all traffic heading to the old capital and was built to protect the capital from sea-based attackers. It has diversified with a growing industry of animal farming.

Rynalem is a small coastal city, a stopping off point after Barclaybend with vicious storms often battering the coast between the two settlements. Largely subsisting off its inns and taverns, the city has a growing tourist trade and supports this with barley and other hops for ale.

Barclaybend is fed by commerce from Carneylem and Aoifetreba, exacting tariffs for sea access with cargo being shipped downriver to it.

Carneylem mines the mountains to the south for coal and iron, allowing steel to be produced. It also has some managed herds but the savannah is not great for highly organised grazing.

Aoifetreba makes jewellery, mining gems and silver in the massive mountain regions to the north-east, importing gold from Telmaorphninos upriver and then shipping to Barclaybend for exports.

Limenhypselos specialises in lumber and quarrying although both materials are easily found in other city regions. They send large excess amounts to other cities as well as crafting with the raw materials, making elaborate furniture and statues.

Napegeraios grazes its herds on the land just to the north-east, made fertile by a river delta, particularly sheep and then making textiles from the wool. These are shipped to Abraxashesperios for dyeing or other customisation, the more basic products being sold directly.

Abraxashesperios is becoming the centre of the known world, the closest mainland city to Miram and also easily supplied with livestock and grain by the Regis island. It leads fashion, its artisans using the raw materials from Napegeraios and creating increasinly absurd but creative designs. For the reason, and its proximity to the East, has made it the new unofficial capital, a neutral zone but unlike Hatkadedyet it is ruled by a Highprince in their own right, not a neutral Senate.

I'll be placing my sheet up as an example.
Name
Age
Sex
Appearance/Description

Flare (include a description of the ability and give an idea of its duration/stamina vs potency (you can give it a score out of 10 if that helps e.g. stamina 4/10 potency 6/10 so the total is not over 10, the actual stat does not matter as it should help you and others understand the limits of the ability).

History (include a little of where they were before coming to Vale Craft, perhaps why they decided to come).

Personality (optional, I can find it useful to just jot down my intended character's traits).

Age: 22

Sex: Male (Originally)/ Female (Often)

Appearance/Description: Aaron is a fit young man who, if not possessing the most strength of everyone in the room, clearly leads a very active lifestyle. It's clear by the way he carries himself and speaks that he was raised in a comfortable life, though perhaps not nobility. When outside of his home he always travels in a thick traveler's cloak, regardless of the weather. The reasons for this are, unfortunately, difficult to pry from him. Other than that, his clothes seem reasonably expensive, but clearly worn, with handmade patches covering the occasional hole.

Erinn dresses similarly, for obvious reasons. For the moment, the two are forced to share a wardrobe. The two have identical levels of physical fitness, and come in at the same height (175cm). There are some differences of course. Aaron possesses wider shoulders, Erinn wider hips. Not to mention their clothing has to accommodate a chest that didn't previously exist. His wardrobe works for her, but is clearly not a great fit. Erinn, as a note, also forgoes the cloak in public.

Flare: Shape-Changing, or at least that's what Aaron wishes it were. No, it is not something nearly so universally useful as that, or even moderately useful. Aaron can change his shape- into that of a woman. A specific woman whose appearance he can't further alter (Aside from the usual methods available to all women). It certainly isn't an ability that will complete any assignments on its own, but at the same time it takes only a small amount of Adamant to maintain and leaves plenty of room to operate his secondary Flare (Which he can put to exceptionally good use).

History: While tight lipped about his past to most, some things can be gathered about Aaron from cursory observation. His name and light accent place him as originating from the region around Nawade, though the latter also indicates he has been away from home for some time. Those who are experienced in the martial arts can further observe that his hands are marked by the tell-tale calluses of a swordsman, and that the blade he travels with isn't simply for show. Most, of course, have no way to tell that he can change his shape, and these observable traits carry on between both forms.

When asked about why he joined the guild, the usual reply is simply; "For money." before obviously trying to change the subject. Overall, it'd be more productive to spend ones time trying to squeeze water from a stone than answers from Aaron.

Personality: Aaron, in private, has the quiet self assured confidence of someone who knows the extent of their own abilities- though not quite passing into arrogance. While tight lipped about himself, he's actually surprisingly talkative, willing to keep a conversation going for as long as the other party is willing to put up with it. He has a genuine curiosity when it comes to other people, and has no reservations about asking questions that he himself refuses to answer.

In public though this evaporates. He exhibits a surprising level of nervousness, and almost falls entirely from confident to timid. While he'll listen to others around him, any desire to make conversation himself vanishes, and he tries to almost literally hide away from the world. It's... a noticeable change to say the least, especially for those familiar with him in private.

Erinn seems to possess the former, confident, personality regardless of whether she's in public or private. That doesn't, however, mean she's any less tight lipped about herself. It seems as if the true meaning behind any of it will remain a mystery for the ages.

Age: 23
Sex : Female

Appearance: Nila tends to dress simply, though her clothes are invariably well-made and sturdy, despite holding no particular adornments; in her mind, such things would be rising above her station. Training as most of her family members do has lent her a certain amount of muscle, her build fairly stocky and solid; a fact helped by never having to struggle for food, though she's far from fat. She's not the tallest, standing at five feet and five inches, but nonetheless is well-built enough not to be completely looked over.

She hails from Carneylem, and her appearance shows it well enough; her accent is also stronger than most, helped by the fact that she makes no attempt to hide it, proud of her heritage as she is. She's got a fairly large and ragged scar running from her right shoulder to her chest, and as such most of her clothing tends to cover it. As much as she denies it, it seems to be a major source of insecurity for the woman, though mentioning it if you're ever in a position to notice won't get you anywhere good.

Flare: Using Adamant, Nila can create and direct small volumes of pale-blue gas. These clouds, when breathed in, quickly induce a deep sleep which lasts for roughly five minutes before the subject wakes up, with full recollection of the events before they passed out. The gas doesn't have any harmful after-effects in the long term, though victims might feel a little groggy or disoriented shortly after waking, especially if they've been moved.

Small amounts of the gas can be breathed in without passing out, although it causes moderate grogginess and fatigue, slowing down reactions and generally exhausting the affected. The effects will fade over a similar time period. Furthermore, she can't actually control where the gas goes beyond where it's initially summoned and directed, so friendly fire is always a risk when she's in the field.

The Adamant ratio depends on the volume of gas in the cloud, regardless of its shape; every cubic metre of volume translates to 2/10 of her adamant ratio - for example, two cubic metres would be 4/10 on her primary flare.

History: Nila isn't too shy about her reasons for choosing to join this line of work. To put it simply, her family have - for as long as she can remember - had a history of working as guardsmen wherever they choose to settle. Not the most well-paying or respected profession, perhaps, since they're almost always reduced to grunt work, but what it is is honest hard work. While she perhaps doesn't see eye to eye with them in all things, her lofty ambitions often clashing with their humble wants throughout her upbringing, that doesn't change the fact that she holds them in high regard.

But, of course, it's a risky line of work, and Nila's seen a few too many friends and family hurt by Powder Mages who leaned more towards the less-morally-sound line of things. And so, after much deliberation, she made her way to the guild - not for money, since her family's income is respectable if not imposing, nor for fame, since it couldn't interest her much less. No, Nila's goal is a simple one, either noble, naive, or disgustingly self-righteous depending on how you look at it. To fix these guilds from the inside, and ensure no harm comes to the everyday folk while they work.

Whether she has any chance of success is yet to be seen.

Personality: Above all else, Nila is a woman who respects the law. She sticks stringently to rules, and doesn't believe in granting fair exception based on regret or unfortunate circumstance. One law for all, she claims, for any exception sets a dangerous precedent and leaves a system ripe for abuse by the ill-minded. Her view of the world and those in power tends to be rather one-dimensional, since she's dedicated little thought to any rumors that claim the benevolence of the lawmakers may not be quite so altruistic.

Despite knowing the potential for it in the guilds, Nila is determined to do no real harm, and allow no-one innocent to die; in her mind, it's simply not their place to dole out vigilante justice. As such, she'll always make an effort to leave foes alive and keep her allies from truly bloodying their hands, especially in regards to those she sees as good; an impression which she bases more than she realises on their wealth and profession. In truth, she's been sheltered despite seeing her fair share of violence, never confronted with the harsh realities of poverty or the hardship of not having fresh food each day.

It's perhaps because of this ignorance that her faith in the system is so unerring and absolute.

Appearance:
By no means imposing, Gwendolyn is a rather slight individual. Her wispy form bears a less than frightening stature. She stands at a meager height of 5’4”. Fortunately enough, not all of the young powder mage’s features are so inadequate. While it may be less evident, Gwendolyn finds her body lean enough to endure quite a bit of taxing travel due to her lifestyle. With a rather pallid complexion, Gwendolyn’s fair skin complements her ash blonde hair rather well as its layered locks fall just far enough to brush the top of her shoulders. First impressions are quite impactful as Gwendoyln’s doe-like eyes stand out quite a bit with their electric blue color.

Gwendolyn is certainly no inconspicuous figure in a crowd. Much like the rest of Gwendolyn’s past company, she has a tendency to dress in a rather gaudy fashion. Amid the golden necklaces, gemstones, and jewels, Gwendolyn is more personally known for the silken white cloak embroidered with a number of gold linings that enshrouds her form more often than any other outfit. Due to her bouts on the sea, her wardrobe tends to work well to defend her from the sun’s harmful rays. Gwendolyn is known to carry a large number of pouches and sacks on her person to hold various substances to work with her Flare.

Flare:
Known as Drift Magic, Gwendolyn commands control over “Drift” resources, those being particulate substances blown by the wind in forms of sand, ash, and dust. She summons up the will to exert her command on the Drift resources via a variety of complex gestures. This particular ability given to her by her Flare gives Gwendolyn a wide array of uses depending on how she wills the Drift. Common uses that are often found in Gwendolyn’s arsenal are using her Drift to obscure sight by forming screens, using her Flare in mass amounts to create blasts to strike foes, or even compact Drift substances into unique shapes, though this requires a rather large supply of Drift.

Because of the weak and light nature of the Drift substances, control over them requires very little stamina and focus on Gwendolyn’s part. This can change, however, if Gwendolyn moves mass amounts of Drift. Greater volumes and densities of Drift require more of Gwendolyn’s energy on a linear scale. More often than not, Gwendolyn finds herself using her ability in diminutive amounts, allowing herself control throughout the day while subsisting on small amounts of Adamant rather than expending all of her energy at once. Gwendolyn finds herself constrained by other factors as well. For example, she cannot create the Drift substances. Thusly, she requires a supply of dust, ash, or sand for her magic to have any potency at all.

History:
Gwendolyn knows very little of her actual birth and family. From her earliest clear memories, she can recall her childhood aboard what she assumed to be a merchant ship christened Jackals’ Ensign. Without the care of parents, Gwendolyn was protected and cared for by the sailors that took her in. In their travels, Gwendolyn learned quite a bit about life on the sea. She did as much as she could to help out the sailors that had done so much for her in return. Of course, she didn’t have the capacity to do very much of the work due to her meek stature and childlike demeanor. Her life sailing around Boreas didn’t last forever though.

Unbeknownst to Gwendolyn, the men that had cared for her for so long were not the merchants she imagined them to be. Instead, the men aboard Jackals’ Ensign were a band of marauders of the sea known only as the Jackals. Despite their undue hospitality, the Jackals were little more than pirates under the guise of merchants. The inevitable fates of pirates loomed over them, though, and the Jackals were long overdue to meet their match. It wasn’t until one particular day during a massive storm that a guild-sponsored war frigate finally found the target of their bounty: the Jackal’s Ensign. That day in the sea, the Jackals’ Ensign was scuttled and found its final resting place in the sea north of Guise.

While most of the Jackals found themselves dragged to a watery grave that day, a small number of the Jackals’ Ensign’s crew found themselves afloat in the raucous and rough waters of the storm. Gwendolyn was among these castaways. Lost for what seemed like days, it wasn’t long before the young girl succumbed to the will of the wild waves. Assuming that death was taking her, Gwendolyn allowed her eyes to slowly give in to the darkness. Her awakening thereafter was the greatest surprise of the whole ordeal. She found herself on a beach in the company of a strange vagabond. Gwendolyn didn’t find herself fully conscious until after the mysterious stranger had brought her into a city left in ruins.

After a long-winded conversation about their current circumstances, it was explained that Gwendolyn was washed up on the shores of Bidlip. Her strange saviour was a wayward vagrant calling himself Menes. Menes roamed the abandoned cityscape as a scavenger, using his abilities as a Powder Mage to sustain himself as best as he could. The scavenger found himself his supply of adamant due to a great deal of finesse when it came to passing merchant ships in the nearby seas. Upon finding Gwendolyn, he took her in as an apprentice, teaching her his scavenging art as well as helping her unlock her own abilities as a Powder Mage. It was in this broken city that Gwendolyn spent the majority of her teenage years. Alongside Menes, she honed her abilities and thrived in the unforgiving environment. Even this bout of good fortune wouldn’t carry the young girl forever though. During a venture into the depths of Bidlip’s urban landscape, Menes and Gwendolyn found themselves assaulted by a bizarre denomination of mages. They were something like a guild of outlaws likened to cultists. The pair found themselves escaping unscathed, but that was not the end to their encounters with the rogue mages. All aggressions came to a head when Menes and Gwendolyn were forced to flee to the beaches. Menes revealed to his apprentice that he had a raft constructed and ready to set sail. This was unfortunately his last message to Gwendolyn before he was taken. She escaped while she still could and this time, her time on the sea was brief before she was picked up by a passing ship.

Once the ship was docked into a port in Dilei, Gwendolyn found herself on her own. Due to her unconventional lifestyle, she had very little in terms of marketable skills. Entirely apprehensive to the idea of joining a guild because of her past experiences with similar groups, Gwendolyn subsisted off of ‘scavenging’. She was entirely unaware of the repercussions of her actions as she was not at all used to conventional society. This landed her in heaps of trouble on a daily basis. It wasn’t long before a lieutenant of Vale Craft Guild came to her with a goal of recruitment. It was with great disdain that she was even considered to be brought into the fold of Vale Craft Guild due to the unsafe nature of her upbringing and how it trained her to deal with Flare. Despite her cautiousness surrounding the whole idea, Gwendolyn reluctantly accepted the offer with nowhere else to turn. She was anxious of the environment at first, but has slowly adapted to the civilized world and its ideas.

Personality:
It is rather easy upon first interacting with Gwendolyn to notice that she has a certain abnormal air about her. While she appears to be very light-hearted and joyful in her demeanor, there remains a certain disconnect between her and the rest of the world. This can manifest in a variety of strange ways. Her odd attitude is seen especially in the way she interacts with others. Gwendolyn is generally a rather outspoken person, seeing no reason to be candid with her motivations. Therefore most of the people familiar with her know about her skewed view of modern society. It can be quite endearing at times as Gwendolyn tends to react with a certain naivety to many things.

Despite her active participation in the Vale Craft Guild, Gwendolyn has an untrusting disposition towards guilds in general. She isn’t fully accepting of the work they do, and often only participates in contracts that she is personally interested in. Often, that interest is vested in her fondness of material goods that can be obtained during any contracts. Put simply, Gwendolyn is a hoarder of many treasures. Stemming from her life as a scavenger, she finds herself desiring to constantly collect prized objects that she finds. Her actual treasures can vary, but commonly she seeks to gather gold, precious gems, and other valuables that she may find. Many would think her rich, but in reality Gwendolyn doesn’t buy much with her treasures and cares very little for actual coin.

Appearance:
Dorenas is of average height for a man with broad shoulders and an incredibly wide back, one arm almost noticeably larger than the other, his hair black mixed in with some darker and lighter shades of brown flows down beyond his shoulders when he lets it loose, but often he keeps it in a sort of messy bun to keep the strands out of his stark blue eyes, and surrounding his face is a thick and somewhat short beard that he keeps well groomed and shaped.

And although there are no visible scars on him, he does have a rather nasty claw-mark scar on his abdomen where a bear had nearly killed him in his early years, leaving the muscles there deformed and misshaped, and something that he's deeply insecure about. He also has several burn marks on his back along several other scars that came long with his relatively dangerous life. Despite it all though, he always has something of a small smile on his face, his eyes always glinting with mirth despite all that he's been through.

Flare:
Dorenas can control the number of matter around him. That is to say, he can multiply an object multiple times, making multiple copies, the number of which depend greatly on the size of the original object. Often, he does this to keep his quiver filled with arrows. Then, there's also the fact that he can make an object larger than it originally was, or smaller however this doesn't come as easily to him as multiplying simple things.

The number of items he creates from a single object is what determines how much Adamant he uses, and he found he can make far more items of a simple and small nature without burning too much Adamant, just enough so that he could use his Secondary Flare to have a boost over the average man. Whereas using his Primary Flare on larger objects, the larger it is the more Adamant he has to burn, leaving him little for the Secondary Flare if any. Making items larger and smaller, he found interestingly enough, burns through his Adamant almost completely on small objects and for this reason it's a feature of his power he rarely ever calls up.

History:
His past isn't something that Dorenas likes to talk much about, always skirting away from it or giving vague answers when someone asks him about it. Born to a rich and wealthy family, Dorenas was brought up pampered; everything he wanted was given to him and since his family resided in Barclaybend, everything he ever wanted was within reach. Moreso because his family was one of the largest merchanting families within the island, owning copious amounts of land, caravans, and ships that travelled throughout the islands, but most of their money came not only from trade, but from sponsoring smaller merchant families, thus giving them a large amount of stake on most of the goods being traded if not outright owning some of them.

From a young age, despite being pampered, he was made to realize that he would eventually inherit the wealth and responsibility that his father held and so his studies in commerce, politics, philosophy, and history were extraordinarily extensive. By the age of fourteen, he was schooled and knew much of his father's business to the point where he was running a portion of his father's well oiled machine himself, although there was much aid in the form of his uncle who was at the time training him. Several years passed, and at the age of sixteen he was sent to Hatkadedyet to a particular merchant family that hadn't paid his family in several years. However, before he got to the city the caravan he was travelling with were attacked by members of a guild waiting for them on the road. The caravan guards, although skilled with Adamant, were no match for the assailants and were quickly slaughtered. Fearing for his life, Dorenas ran into the nearby copses and ended up running into a small pack of bear cubs, and before he realized it the mother bear was on top of him, her claws tearing into his abdomen and biting down on his chest.

It was all he remembered of that, his memories jumping to waking up in a small cabin, his body filled with aches and pain, his left arm bound in red, postulating gauze and his hand deformed into a meaty mess. The cabin belonged to a hunter by the name of Eleren, a woman who decided she'd had enough of society and lived out in the woods away from it all. She nursed the young Dorenas back to health, doing her best to heal his left hand, but try as she might his ring and pinkie finger were permanently bent down, unmoving and without feeling. It was then that she'd given him his fist taste of Adamant and he instantly Flared. Over the next several years, she helped him hone and figure out his skills.

At the age of twenty he went back home where he discovered that his family thought him long dead, that his mother had died of grief, and that his father had fallen ill because of her death. After spending some time with his father and visiting his mother's grave he began almost obsessively trying to find out the guild that had attacked him so many years ago, then leaving the responsibility of becoming Head of the Family to his younger brother, Dorenas left his home and travelled to Dilei to become a guild member.

Appearance:
Franca is wiry and small, explosive; the impression one gets is of a bullet. She has the look of someone who's gone through good times and bad, and had to scrape by all the way through. Right now she's on one of her good times, so she has the bloom of someone with money in her pocket and breakfast in her stomach, but the somewhat gaunt lines of her cheeks tell that hasn't always been the case. Though fit and lithe in a street urchin's way, Franca hopes that will change soon, and it will if the pay and eating remains good.

Flare:
Scry - Franca's Flare is scrying of the remotely sensing kind. Generally, this requires Franca to at least see the object or person to be scried, which then gives Franca an accurate sense of where it is, in terms of direction and distance. Fulfilling certain conditions, however, allows Franca to scry despite having a tenuous connection or to scry with greater accuracy. For example, to locate someone that Franca has never seen before, some of that person's hair or personal trinket might allow Franca a general sense of what direction that person is in. To pinpoint a location for someone she has never seen, she would require something that was once very attached to that person, like a personal diary or limb. Furthermore, given a map, Franca can point out a scried location on that map with a greater level of accuracy than she could otherwise, as long as she has been to that location before. The scrying is also easier if Franca has previously met or touched the target before, with greater duration making the scrying proportionately easier. Scrying with the time and safety needed to focus is best, but Franca can manage it while rushed or otherwise engaged by consuming a greater amount of Adamant. The scrying is easier as the distance closes. Finally, Franca's scrying gives no information about what state the scried target is in, nor can her scrying track a moving target without continuously consuming the required Adamant.

The amount of Adamant required for Franca's scrying varies. To scry a person or thing she has never seen and closely pinpoint the location, given something that was once very attached to the target and the time to focus, requires Franca to consume a whole one-hour dose for a scry that might only last a few minutes. To scry a target she has been able to look at for ten minutes to pinpoint a general distance and direction would require about a tenth of that dose. To scry a personal possession or a companion that she has known for some time would require just a few licks, or a little more if she wanted to, say, pinpoint a building the target is in on a map; to continuously scry such a target would take a small lump of Adamant held in the lower lip. Any Adamant consumed over this amount is left over for Franca's secondary Flare.

History: Franca is a Dilei brat, one who has always toughed it out on the city's streets. Her parents were landless laborers, her father a dockworker and her mother a clotheswasher. As a child she assisted both parents, helping them make just enough to lease a roof over their heads. Franca loved them, really. They were straightforward folk and unsympathetic towards a child's nonsense, as parents are. But they provided, protected, and let Franca be as much of a child as they could. She grieved when her parents passed, her father in a dock accident and her mother from consumption some time after, working herself to death to try and make enough to live. In a sense, these were blameless deaths, but she resented that they had happened, and the poverty that came with it.

Franca couldn't linger on their deaths for long, though. She was ten at that time and able to work, and she did. Initially Franca attempted to keep her mother's cleaning work, but that was always meager and unsure, so in time she was everything from beggar to petty thief to house servant, though she was particularly unsuited for that last one. But for the longest stretch of time she was a courier, a valuable if precarious occupation in a town where commerce was more and more the dominant way of life. She delivered packages and mail through the winding streets of Dilei and, therefore, money into the merchants' pockets. Still, the work was always lacking. When Highprinces turn to trade for their wealth, money and commerce is king, and the steady movement of people from the country to the towns of commerce meant that the competition for steady jobs was fierce.

It was during a particularly long stretch of joblessness that Franca came across one of the guild musters for new Powder Mages, this one held by the Vale Craft Guild. She had heard the stories about Adamant use, how it burned you from the inside if you didn't have the spark, how you could die, and even if you didn't end up dead you'd be knotted up enough that you might as well be if you didn't have someone looking after you, and Franca didn't. That had so far kept her away. But at that point Franca was willing to have poison if she could have bread after, so she took the diluted Adamant. Though nothing seemed to happen, she curiously she didn't heave bile onto the ground. The Vale Craft Guild was good enough to take that as proof that she had some Flare and kept her around until she discovered she had a knack for finding something or someone that was lost. Having since had the time to test out the limits of her ability, the Vale Craft Guild's higher ups have finally given her clearance to accept some jobs.

Personality: Franca lives her life by her gut instinct. While she has had to toughen up considerably since her parents' passing, Franca is determined to survive on her own terms. Though she's been in her fair share of street scraps, she's been crafty enough to get out of more, preferring a live-and-let-live mentality. She had an informal quid pro quo with some of the other urchins and she wouldn't have made it through the bad stretches without it. She has a particularly soft spot for those younger than her, and she's been known to go without so a kid wouldn't have to.

Still, Franca's experiences have given her a set of bad quirks. She's quick to judge others as friends or enemies, and she stubbornly holds onto first impressions. Further, while she has a friendly manner, this tends to come off as irreverence, and it often really is. Lastly, she remains bitter over her parents' passing and the circumstances that brought about.