In the fantastical world of Harvess, the vast kingdom of Ceosia governs over most humans within the realm. Through the authority of the church of light, the royal family ensures peace and prosperity through the lands, driving off evil that would prey upon humanity. The recent cataclysm has, however, brought chaos and disorder to the realm. Amidst the rapid forced reincarnation of many from another world, most were converted into children of Hecate, monsters naturally aligned with the demon king and his ilk. A fair amount were allowed to be reborn under the church and the College, but the favored few who made contracts with the Sacred Artifacts of the paladin order, naturally became paladins themselves. The public looks to these heroes to restore order and keep the peace.
Ceosia has several orders that act as the cornerstones to their civilization. These are, The Order of Light, The Order of The Paladins, The Order of the Magi, The Order of Harvest, The Order of Commerce, The Order of Shadow, The Order of Law, and the Central Order. All governed by the royal family and their personal knights.
- The Order of Light is the holy church and religion of Ceosia. They worship a divine being referred to simply as 'The Light', the true name of the deity has been lost to time. A creator deity, brother to the wicked Goddess Hecate and Rival to her spouse, Lucifer, The First Demon. The Church's hierarchy is governed at the top by the Pope, who also acts as an advisor to the royal family, thus wielding even more political power than the other heads of their respective orders. Following this hierarchy are the Cardinals, Bishops, and Priests. The duties of the Church is to uphold religious values and tradition, retain worship and govern prayer and sacrifices. Those considered 'blessed' by the light have the power and authority to wield miracles, situational powers invoked by The Light himself. Any of the orders that have this blessing are referred to as Clerics. Monks are those under the order who have trained in spiritual power, similar to the Paladins, though with a focus on blunt instruments or hand-to-hand. A monk can also be a cleric. Inquisitors are monks that take missions under the church to act as their own form of 'paladin', though they don't have any sacred artifacts of their own.
- The Order of Paladins are a sacred order that governs over the Sacred Artifacts. Weapons forged by dwarves with the slain or sacrificed souls of powerful beings, chosen only to those they make a contract with that would reincarnate into this world. They are the hero-makers, an order that garners the most public favor. Aside from training the destined heroes, their ranks also consist of knights and squires; Warriors without a contract of a sacred artifacts, and servants to the heroes respectively. Beneath their grand Barracks in the capitol lies a labyrinth that imprisons and stores the great variety of artifacts that are presently ownerless. All members are trained to use Spiritual Power alongside martial arts, for the heroes this extends to training with their soul-bonded artifact. Knights and paladins are ranked as bronze, silver, gold, and platinum respectively, all heroes are at least ranked as silver. As squires are more of glorified servants, they are stuck at rank bronze.
- The Order of the Magi is the Educational Order of the Kingdom. In addition to providing standard education, they are also in charge of the Mage College Sarafel, and all things 'magical' within the kingdom's provinces aside from the Paladins. As both the Church and Paladins are skeptical of magic, these orders do not get along well with the Order of the Magi, and are often at the center of political conflict. Students that only know a little magic are referred to as Magicians. Apprentices are the next step up, and following them is the rank of Sage, and Mage respectively. Those that are able to use Sorceries are called sorcerers, and vocation spells Wizards. (A wizard can also be a sorcerer.)
- The Orders of Harvest, Commerce, and Law are all purely civil divisions of orders. The Order of Shadows is the underbelly of Ceosia. On the service they are something of a 'intelligence' group, having trained professional scouts and rangers to provide information. But discreetly they also handle less publicly known positions. Hired Criminals, Assassins, Black Market dealings and what have you. In relation to the Adventurer's Guild, they provide scouts to assist parties with travels and information relevant to any given quest. With the exception of any individual obtaining magical items, the order of the shadows do not have any means of supernatural training. Instead, they have more practical skills of stealth, trap-disarming, basic combat and martial arts, underhanded tactics and what have you. A classic rogue.
- The Adventurer's Guild is the Central Order of Ceosia, one that unifies all other orders under their employment. The guild provides a sort of hub for these various groups, letting them take commissioned assignments. Anyone can make commission requests, for a fee ofcourse, and jobs can vary wildly. From bounties set on monsters and criminals, to escorting wandering travelers from one town or city to another, to finding rare materials or even hunt down the demon king himself. As a freelance nature of employment, it is up to individuals to take what jobs they wish, incentive by whatever rewards the contractor provides for their quest. It is common for adventurers to form teams or parties.
Ideally I would like the guild based characters to have all formed a team for sake of simplicity. You can all vote democratically on what mission/quest to take from the bounty board, and that'll be the focus of each rp segment. You are also free to have your own villain PCs hunted or otherwise intervene in the quests if you wish.
Revived from dying in another world, it's been roughly 1 year (Not everyone was reborn at the same time.) since the cataclysm first started. There's been some time for most to have been trained properly, but some can be brand new and just arrived if you wish. You have the option to know other reincarnated characters in their past life, including player characters, as long as both agree/talk it out of course. Even if your character didn't get a weapon contract, they typically have great potential to learn faster and easier then people of the native world.
For Paladins: The contract you make with your sacred artifact has soul-bonded the two of you until death. At any time you can summon the weapon and you're able to magically transform into your paladin form when you use your weapon (Think magical girl transformation but for knights, though you can be creative with your suit of armor, it doesn't necessarily have to be armor visually.) All Paladins have spiritual power training which means that even without their transformation they have superhuman stats, but transforming into their knight form further amplifies their spiritual power. Additionally their magical weapon has a unique property and one special move it can use.
Spiritual power varies with individuals, typically speaking each rank can be considered a 'tier' above the former in general strength, though stats like speed and durability don't have to be split evenly with strength. If your character specializes in any given trait over others, be sure to mention that, otherwise it assumes they follow an even spread. As a general rule of thumb, a Paladin that specializes in one stat will be roughly equal in that same stat to a Paladin of one rank higher, (whereas stats include strength, speed, durability.) but as a consequence will have their other stats on the same level as a Paladin ranked lower.
Mana is the energy behind mana. Conventionally this can just be thought of as magical stamina. Training to increase one’s mana is similar to building up physical stamina, training to exhaust your mana and in theory you’ll produce more of it: Though most people have so little potential to actually develop any meaningful progress.
Spells can let you do all kinds of things, from shooting fireballs to flying or what have you. But every type of magic is categorized, and need specific requirements to fill. Just about anything is possible with Spellcraft, so if you’d rather just submit to me spell ideas I can simply inform you where those spells would be categorized and thus how to cast them.
When making spells as well, presume the cast time to be within a turn, unless if you want to give it a charge-up time like 2 turns before casting. Have a maximum duration (if its not just a straightforward blast or something, also some can be permanent depending upon the nature of it), and whether or not its a passive duration or if it requires an active mental focus to maintain.
There are five elements: Spirit, Fire, Earth, Water, Air. Everyone is born with an affinity to one element. Through an awakening, you may also gain a second affinity to another element. Aside from your primary and secondary affinity, you can gain access to additional affinities through two other methods. Attuning to a catalyst, which refers to a tool like a wand or staff that has an element imbued into it, can grant one access to another elemental affinity. You can also use the elemental affinity of your familiar as your own when casting spells, so long as the familiar is present.
Sorcery is ‘neutral’ magic that is used to cast spells based on any one of the five elements. To cast a sorcery you need access to a related affinity, which as mentioned, can come in the form of your born affinity, an awakened affinity, a wand, or a familiar. Compound Elements refer to a combination of two compatible elements, normally only being able to cast if you have access to the combination. Fire and Wind make lightning, Water and Wind make Ice, Earth and Water makes wood, Fire and Earth make Metal. There are exceptions where someone can be born with the ability to use a combination instead of a primary (For example, someone with a fire affinity may instinctively cast lightning or metal as their first sorcery instead of fire), but this is rare.
Vocations are black and white magic, composed of three elements instead of sorceries one. Unlike sorceries which only reflect basic elemental manipulation, vocations provide unique spells based on their associated school, of which there are five combinations; and two variations of the same combination (White and Black magic, or Evocations and Invocations respectively.) You do not need to know sorcery spells to cast vocational spells, while both rely on elemental affinities, they are distinct methods of spellcraft. Similar to sorceries, normally you need access to the relevant affinities to cast it. So for example, for Restoration, a school that requires Fire, Water, and Spirit, a magi that has a fire affinity would need two additional sources, such as a water based familiar and a spirit based wand. Ofcourse, if they had a secondary element of water that would mean they’d only need one other source to cast a restoration spell. The combination doesn’t matter so long as they have access to that affinity.
Most beings can’t cast both black and white magic, or if they can, there are often consequences. For humans, casting an invocation causes them to become a warlock; A human cursed by the black magic they tried to cast. They lose the ability to cast white magic, and are plagued with a curse related to the type of black magic they tried to cast. For example, transmutation warlock may cause them to slowly or partially petrify into stone, or execution can make some undead or perpetually ill. However, Warlocks also gain an affinity towards their curse. Meaning that someone cursed with execration can cast execration spells without needing access to its elemental affinities. If a familiar is bound with an invocation type spell, they’d take the burden on the invocation instead of you.
Infusions are the combination of a sorcery spell and a vocational spell. Or, the ‘imbuing’ of a pure element into a vocational spell. So using restoration as an example, a fire-restoration infusion could have a spell that ‘heals’ and mends metal like a forge, or create sacred flames that burn undead and heal the living as an example.
Compound Vocations are just the combinations of different vocational schools in one spell. This is most commonly seen in curses, like a malediction that uses transmutation to change someone under a specific condition.
Spell Mediums refer to how the spell is cast. By default, somatic casting is just using yourself as the medium, at casting spells from your directed will to a target. Commonly this is aided by a physical gesture, such as pointed, and an incantation. Note that mastery over a specific spell can bypass both the gesture and the verbal component, but the spell will always be at its strongest if the incantation is spoken. Alternative means of casting spells, such as runic or potions, tend to be stronger than if they were casted somatically. Learning a spell is also limited to a medium when learned. (if you wanted two medium variations of the same spell, it would still count as learning two different spells.) Runic Casting, or written magic, is using magic in a written form, expressed in various glyphs and runes. Using that as a conduit, the detailed spell can be cast either at the will of the caster within proximity to the written magic, or imbued and set with a predetermined trigger, such as someone stepping on. The medium most effective for written magic is blood, but as that is taboo, salted chalks and similar materials are often used instead. It's a once-use magic, that after use the medium used to cast it will decay. When written, mana can be temporarily imbued into the rune for its casting. Enchantments are similar to Runic casting, the primary difference is that enchantments are meant to be permanent or at least lasting to whatever they are written on. Typically this requires the spell that sets an enchantment to also provide some power source of mana, in order to maintain its enchantments. Enchantments can be an actively passive effect, an activated spell, or both. Potions are spells imbued in a liquid form, crafted through three primary ingredients alongside a ritual that stores the spell into the mixture. Depending upon effectiveness, they may require either being poured/splashed onto something, or needs to be directly consumed for it to take effect. Potions tend to exaggerate spell length and no longer need to worry about mentally concentrating on a spell to maintain its duration. Charms refer to items that synergize specifically with spells. For example, Tarot Cards or Crystal Balls have specific divination spells used in tandem in order to properly use these items. Rituals: Catch all terms used for a process of casting a spell with a combination of different mediums, often requiring a deal of time and set up to complete. Since Rituals are a unique setup, they can ‘cheat’ affinities, for example, by having candles represent fire or a vase of water for water. Or using additional magi participating in the ritual to draw on their affinities.
Restoration magic(Fire, Water, Spirit) can be considered a form of ‘holy’ or light magic. It is symbolized by the nature of life itself. Spells of this evocation can heal wounds, cure sickness, destroy undead, and evoke the power of light itself.
Abjuration magic(Water, Air, Earth) Refers to protection magic. Abjuration provides wards against magic and the supernatural. Alleviates curses, provides good luck, creation of barriers, among other uses.
Alteration magic (Spirit, Earth, Fire): alters peoples and objects. It can be used to telekinetically manipulate, levitate, or teleport a target(By altering what position they occupy), or be used to otherwise alter temporary properties of an object. Such as making something temporarily more durable, stronger, faster, perhaps heavier, etc.
Abnegation magic(Air, Fire, Water) Is a form of denial magic. Most notable are forms of dispelling curses, counter-magic, Negating certain parts of magic, Banished spirits and demons, and dispel magic in general. Some might be confused on the differences between Abnegation and Abjuration. If we were to compare it to medicine, think of Restoration as medicine that treats the symptoms but not the cause, Abjuration as 'vaccines' which prevent you from getting sick, and Abnegation as Treating the cause directly.
Divination Magic (Spirit, Air, Earth) refers to spells that seek information. Locating a person or object, revealing possible futures, reading one's mind, or communicating through minds, Seeing through certain things, etc.
Execration(Fire, Water, Spirit) is the inverse of restoration. Whereas restoration can be interpreted as life magic, Execration is death. Spells in Execration can involve Diseases, Decay, and the undead as some examples.
Maledictions(Water, Air, Earth), the inverse of abjurations, are hexes and curses. Magics that bind other magics to a target, or otherwise make them more vulnerable. Maledictions are commonly part of compound vocations due to this nature, same as abjurations.
Transmutation(Spirit, Earth, Fire) The Inverse of Alteration. Unlike alteration which deals with temporary properties, Transmutation deals in permanent properties and aspects of a target. Turning someone into a frog, turning lead to gold, mutating someone into becoming a massive goliath, etc.
Conjuration(Air, Fire, Water), The inverse of Abnegation. Conjurations summon things across realms or from souls, or create temporary things from mana. A creation of magic that abnegation typically denies.
Prestidigitation(Spirit, Air, Earth) is the inverse of divination. If divination can be thought of as the gain of information, then prestidigitation is the loss, or manipulation of information. This often translates in spells that deal with illusions, charming or otherwise manipulating people directly, erasing memories, etc.
Familiars can be any being that is soul-bonded to a magi. They can range from an ordinary house-cat, a mythical beast like a phoenix, a demon, or even a human (Though for obvious reasons this isn’t ethical.) A magi can only possess one Familiar at a time. Familiars can be obtained through either a subjugation ritual or a mutual contract ritual. If a familiar is ‘destroyed’, their spirit will remain within their owner’s soul, and be reconstituted in time so long as their owner lives. They can be conjured to their owner and dismissed at any time (Though this is a form of conjuration, as it is bound to the contract and not on the Magi they aren’t affected by the warlock’s curse.)
A familiar can have spells bound to it, especially if they were formerly a powerful creature or being. Casting a familiar’s spell puts the burden of the spell on the familiar, so if it were an invocation, the familiar would take the burden of that invocation and potentially the curse rather than the magi. Familiars can also have ‘combat forms’, particularly if they are a powerful creature. Typically, powerful familiars possess a more docile form to hide their true form while bound, where in the combat form allows them to express more of their true power temporarily.
As inferred before, the primary utility for a familiar is using their elemental affinity for spellcasting.
For Magi:
Consider your rank first, Magician, Apprentice, Sage, Mage, wizard
Magician will only know up to 2 spells, and maybe some rituals. Apprentice will know at 4 spells and typically will have at least a familiar contract and a catalyst. A sage can learn up to 6 spells and one mastery spell (Infusion spells or Compound Vocations, or otherwise a very big/powerful spell), A mage knows 8 spells and two mastery spell, and wizards 10 with three masteries.
Note: you do not need to reach the spell limit to reach a rank. In theory you can know only one spell and still ascend the magic ranks if your magic is powerful enough, or otherwise experienced.
You can also list up to three ritual spells if your character is nerdy enough, regardless of rank.
Also consider what element your character has an affinity too. If you're at least a sage, you may also have unlocked a secondary element. Unlike your primary affinity, which is determined at birth, a secondary affinity is unlocked through a special connection with meditation and ritual through another element.
It is recommended, but not required, to have either a form of catalyst or a familiar if you are at least an apprentice, both if you are a sage or higher.
Grimoires are tools spellcasters use to study and record spells, sometimes they can draw power from them, particularly for rituals, so they are an optional but common tool among magi.
Elemental affinities are important as they determine what kind of sorceries and vocations you can cast.
You do not need to be able to cast sorceries to cast vocational magic, nor vise versa.
Signature spells refer to either Compound Vocations or Infused Vocations. If you don't cast vocational magic this can instead be just compound sorceries.
If you have a familiar, they can have one spell you can cast from them. If the spell is an invocation, the warlock curse will not affect you, but may curse the familiar similarly if they aren't a demon or other dark being. (Likewise, such a being wouldn't be able to have an evocation as their spell.) Instead of a spell, they can have a 'combat form' if you want to be more of a summoner.
For else: Standard equipment and any important details. if you wanna get by with just a magic item or something you can submit your ideas to me or ask for some ideas on my end if you aren't sure. If you plan on playing a cleric, keep in mind miracles aren't magic. You pray to the light and if it works, the light will offer you assistance based on the prayer. There is a limit to how often it'll work (think three times per adventure, mileage may very depending upon how big that miracle was) so keep that in mind. Its not a reliable power system but more like a 'minor wish' that can be ignored. Note Only magi can use magic, ignoring magic items of course. You can only be 'attuned' to three magical items. For paladins their contract also counts as a magical item.
I believe I left some details for the Children of Hecate monsters that people can be reincarnated to in the interest check, if you are interested in that you can DM me for more details.
For whatever reason, perhaps because Hecate insists that witches are her 'daughters', all witches are female. Witches can either be born from another witch (union with a human typically), or a human that undertakes a special ritual. In the reincarnated case this technically applies to them, though they wouldn't be aware of the ritual itself due to just being killed in one world and re-awakening in the next.
Witches have the divine Authority of Hecate to be able to cast both white and black magic without restriction. This alone is a powerful trait they share. They are immortal spellcasters with bodies that may appear like ordinary woman (Albeit it isn't entirely uncommon for them to have hints of supernatural traits, which may include any of the following: glowing eyes, horns, claws, unusual skin tone (Like Green or Blue), and other strange miscellaneous details (Like having a duck's foot for a left foot as an extreme weird example. Others can also appear identical to humans with no apparent traits.) But are in truth are more magical then biological. All witches bear the mark of Hecate on some feature of their body, such as their eye, tongue, on their wrist, neck, etc. It should go without saying that all witches are indeed powerful spellcasters, and even those reincarnated who have only recently become witches would find themselves with great power.
Witches do not need to eat, drink or sleep, as they are no longer 'biologically' alive in that sense, though they can still partake in any of those activities without issue. The only stipulation is that they occasionally need to eat a human soul to retain their power and avoid becoming feral.
Being immortal, so long as their head is intact they can remain conscience, and even if there head is destroyed their bodies will naturally regenerate. The only way to destroy a witch is to destroy their core. A Crystal-like structure usually within where their heart would be. Cores aren't easy to destroy, but powerful magic or silvered weapons are both effective against it. Destroying the core will destroy the witch, but unfortunately for the witch instead of instead death its a slow, agonizing one; It can be quiet the variety as a witch may slowly petrify and crumble away, disintegrate to dust, slowly crack and light up until they finally explode, melt away wicked witch style along with other slow and dramatic ways to die. As their own immortality works against them, they will remain sapient until completely destroyed in this way.
True Vampires are normally only born, and humans that have turned into vampires are 'vampire spawn', lesser vampires. In the case of the reincarnated though, those that became vampires awakened as true vampires instead of spawns, perhaps due to the unique circumstances of becoming a vampire in this case.
vampires are incredibly power, and sort of work like an inverse to Ki, as their undeath renders them incredibly superhuman. In addition to strength and speed, being able to see in the dark, superhuman reflexes, the works are all under their power. Vampires normally aren't able to cast magic, but due inherit unique powers, usually possessing three. These can include turning into a a bat, swarm of bats, monster bat form, a wolf form, mist form, being able to hypnotize people with their gaze, freezing people on contact, any other tropic vampire traits you can think of probably apply as well.
Being undead, they do not need to eat, drink, or sleep to survive (Though they'll need to drink blood to retain sanity, more on that later), they do not need to breathe, aren't vulnerable to conventional illness, all that. So long as a vampire's heart beats, they can regenerate from any injury, with exception to if their head is destroyed, that's usually game over. Staking the heart to prevent it from healing itself will also immediately paralyze a vampire, which can make them easier to destroy afterwards. (Staking doesn't necessarily kill the vampire, removing the stake afterwards will revive them.)
Aside from their vulnerability to holiness, like holy water, and things that ward undead. Fire is somewhat effective against them, not that they are any less vulnerable to fire as a normal person, but combined with the bright light can disorient them as they burn. They can't swim, Garlic renders them nauseous, Sunlight burns them away, wounds inflicted from silver are harder to recover from, etc.
Feeding on blood will make a vampire seem more alive, as they are drained of blood, they'll retain more monstrous appearances like paler skin, gaunt physique, etc more associated with a vampire, and may even appear to age. If they starve themselves on blood completely, they'll turn into a strigoi, or feral vampire; Which are lanky, pale bat-like monstrosities of vampires that have given in to animalistic instincts and loss of intelligence.
The shapeshifters. When a skinwalker is born, they are typically associated with a type of animal that they can turn into. While mastery over this form is possible, usually they have no control over it, and become feral half-man half-beast monstrosities under the full moon. Skin walkers are resistant to most forms of damage, save from silver, which is a critical weakness to them. Like vampires they can only be destroyed by destroying the head. Skinwalkers that have mastered their powers can change forms at will, and can even adopt new forms from people or animals they've killed. This can be particularly troublesome if they happen to shapeshift and imitate a loved one, as they can even replicate memories of their shapeshifted target.
As alluded to, in the world of Harvess there are other things in this vast world beyond humans and this struggle. Mythical beasts roam the earth, Elves and Dwarves are the other two prominent races but as they are mostly isolated and aren't involved in the reincarnation destiny that humans seem to be in, aren't tied to the story necessarily.
Backstory (Primarily what they were doing in the normal world before dying, maybe how they died, and if they did anything in the new world prior to the rp like training, or if they are just being reborn JUST BEFORE the start of the IC.)
Appearance: Paladins get their knight form to describe too.
TYPE: (Paladin, Magi, Skinwalker, etc.)
Rank: (As a refresher, general ranks for paladin (And people and monsters tend to rank themselves in the same tier as a reference.) Bronze, Iron, Gold, Silver, Platinum, Mythril. For magi they are ranked as Magician, Apprentice, Sage, Mage, Wizard, Archwizard.
(note, avoid mythril/archwizard rank for now. The else are fair game.
For Paladin Weapons and familiars try to include a mini-backstory and deal for them to. Remember that before being turned into weapons, the souls within them were once a powerful monster or something. Its more optionally, especially if the artifact has lost its awareness you won't need to include it. But an idea on personality would be good if that isn't the case.
New world new you was apparently the name of the game. Kharne left behind his old name, sticking to the one given in the world he was reincarnated into. In his past life he was fairly well known, a spotlight on the world stage of combat sports was his. How did he get to that point? Training and a lot of it. When he was young he was a strong kid and he used it to his advantage. Doing sports, which led him to getting into scuffles. Eventually he wanted to learn to properly fight, so he got into boxing. And boy was her good at boxing! Strength, endurance, speed, reflexes, he had it all. But he wanted more. That led him into kick boxing, making his fighting feel more complete. He got into the professionals in his mid-twenties and he had planned to keep rising up. Unfortunately life had other plans in the form of a semi-truck running a red light and pulverizing his vehicle. Should have bought a tank dammit.
Apparently isekai anime and manga were right. Getting hit by a truck and dying from it sent you elsewhere! Strangely...he was himself. He wasn't reborn technically, he was his actual self. Was his body left behind? Was all of him transported? Was he in a coma and this all just fabrications of his subconscious? Whatever he was a big boy he'd figure things out as he went.
Given his background, and the new level of power he felt, he began to explore at a jog. Woods, forest, rocks, moss, bugs, birds he didn't recognize at all, same with some critters he buzzed past. Yeah this wasn't Earth. During his exploration he stumbled across a hut in the forest. He discovered a witch! He had no reason to do anything bad to the witch and they came to a bargain for things. He'd provide what she couldn't get or things she needed and she'd provide him magical things and information of the world. Good deal!
Turns out some things she wanted were souls and bodies. He didn't know how to gather souls, but that was solved with a non-descript flask. Well he had the tools, time to work! And work he did, he scoured the local areas for humans, but not just any humans. Yes villagers would be easy, but why would he kill people he knew and had no issues with who had treated him well or neutrally? Instead he hunted around for bandits, killing them neatly in the night when they slept or were drunk off their ill-gotten goods.
He did this for some time, scouring roads and hidey holes for evil humans and exchanged them for magical objects from the witch he had essentially become business partners with. It helped she had no use for the items, money, or gear the bandits had, he just let her have the food and drink. All these exchanges landed him a small bag of holding and an enchantment on his belt that boosted his already ridiculous physical capabilities!
Unfortunately you can only kill so many people in such a 'small' area for so long before it becomes a dead zone of activity. Bandits, highwaymen, robbers, rapists, and molestors didn't come into the area anymore. Apparently word of mouth in the dark side of society spread rumors to keep clear of the forest, village, and roads for miles around. If he wanted to keep up with the exchanges he'd have to wander further, but that would deny him extra credit from bodies. He had no way to preserve corpses for long periods of time! Eh he'd have to make do with souls.
To provide cover he signed up for being a mercenary. No one batted an eye if an merc killed another person who was deemed evil by the kingdom. He also got to fight new things, monsters! There hadn't been anything around his old village really, probably a result of the witch and various skinwalkers able to hide in the locales. Keep the area clean and no one has any reason to go out there. Either way he had plenty of work to do!
Appearance
Kharne is a behemoth of a man standing at six feet and nine inches and built like a heavy weight boxer. His skin is lightly tanned with dozens of scars crisscrossing it. His clothing is made from dyed silk, dark smokey gray sleeveless shirt and black pants. He provided the silk making it as strong as some armors that exist! His belt, bracer, wrist-band, and fur-lined boots are made from blackened leather.
Monster Form
He has not mastered his beast and is only able to turn into this monstrous unfinished form. Muscle and sinew are visible instead of smooth chitin. He's still gigantic in this form and can produce poison and webbing.
TYPE: Spider Skinwalker
Rank: Gold
Gear
Piercing Cleaver: A huge cleaver, roughly four feet long eight inches wide and half an inch thick, made of well polished iron that has a wedge on the back. The grip is made of a stained mahogany and has a patina covered brass pommel and 'cross-guard'.
Monster Silk Clothing: Simple garb made from his silk that is akin to armor without the weight and movement hampering. The coloring is dull and blends in to non-vibrant backgrounds. The leather belt and wrist-band are studded with iron spikes, his boots and bracer are lined with fur, and his fingerless glove is silk.
Bag of Things: A small back that is at the small of his back attached to his belt. It's a magical item that holds more than it should be capable of. It holds a couple water-skins, a bottle of wine, a special flask, money, and numerous meaty snacks from various creatures.
Powers
Monstrous Capabilities: Given that Kharne is a Skinwalker he is unnaturally powerful. His strength is immense, his speed unreal, and his reflexes frightening for such a young Skinwalker, possibly from his hunting habits and being of the Spider background.
Monstrous Defenses: As a Skinwalker he is resistant to most damages, minus silver of course, and has regenerative capabilities considering only decapitation seems to be what can kill him.
Spider Traits: He's a spider type, he has webs. No it doesn't just come from above his butt, he can spit it with his mouth. The webbing is quite strong and durable, able to easily keep a horse aloft. They can be sticky or they can be more like silk from moth larvae. As a spider he does house poison glands. Granted his won't kill someone unless he just injects the whole payload. But a bite can cause incredible pain, inflammation in the bite area, and fevers.
Champion: In his previous life he was a fighter, specifically Boxing and Kick Boxing. He was a natural at punching and kicking things, so much so he got into the big leagues with his skills.
Boost!: Using his limited magical capabilities he can increase his physical capabilities by 1.5x. This only affects his Strength, Speed, and Reflexes. The Boost effect is toggled on and off via his equipment, One Round on One Round off.
so far everything's fine-ish, with exception to the boost magic. As defined this would be an alteration magic but he can't cast white magic being cursed as a skinwalker. If it was imbued to an item instead that could work. Alternatively if you were to use the invocation version, transmutation, you can use it to say change his physical biology to increase muscle mass and such for the slight edge? But it would only effect power in that example.
However if he's using his own mana to cast a spell and not something bound to an object, he'll still need three sources of elements to cast a transmutation/alteration spell. In both cases they require Earth Fire and Spirit. Since he's only magician rank, he wouldn't have a second element. So in addition to listing what his primary element is the other two sources would have to come from a catalyst and a familiar.
——————————————————————————— ★❜ ғᴄ ᴄʀᴇᴅɪᴛ ⊱ ORIGINAL by Enaa
ʜᴇɪɢʜᴛ 173cm ᴡᴇɪɢʜᴛ --kg ʜᴀɪʀ Ash Brown ᴇʏᴇs Hazel
★❜ ᴇxᴛʀᴀ ⊱
Harlow spends most of their time in their paladin form, oddly enough. That said, there aren’t many physical changes to their body in their transformation. When outside of their paladin form, they typically wear basic clothing provided to them by the order.
One can tell when Harlow has recently been “reborn” because they’ll have a small tattoo of three trees on their right forearm. It disappears within the day.
Disgustingly nice skin thanks to the nature of their power. Can’t be scarred (in theory) and never suffers from usual skincare malaise.
Harlow’s weight varies depending on how long it’s been since a rebirth. They start at about 54kg, but will typically target a weight of 65kg through training and diet as per the recommendation of their trainers.
𝙿𝙴𝚁𝚂𝙾𝙽𝙰𝙻𝙸𝚃𝚈
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"Harlow’s a good student. He’s diligent and trains hard, rain or shine. He doesn’t complain about training or orders—or anything at all, thinking about it. It is a bit concerning, the way that he won’t stop training without an outside force, but he may be taking advantage of the way his abilities work. Still, when it comes to effort, there’s nothing lacking from Harlow."
"She’s quiet awfully quiet, isn’t she? I don’t think I’ve ever heard her say much on her own—usually just answering questions or asking them. Mostly the former, honestly. I’m not sure if Harlow doesn’t like people or thinks that conversations aren’t worth having. I imagine it helps them keep their distance from others, but I doubt that’s going to be a benefit long term. "
"They’re a little intimidating… they’re always training and whenever other people approach, they usually back off. I’ve seen them fight and spar a few times, and I could swear that they’re just not bothering to avoid a blow. It’s… a little horrifying, actually, seeing the way they’ll pursue a target until they’ve finished their job or been told to stop by someone else. And they don’t even talk or join anyone at camp! I wonder if they just prefer acting alone or something.
…well, they did make sure that everyone had something hot to drink before they left the camp though. Maybe they’re not that bad…?"
𝙱𝙰𝙲𝙺𝙶𝚁𝙾𝚄𝙽𝙳
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They used to dance.
Harlow didn’t know how much they liked it. They enjoyed the dance, certainly, but the stage didn’t want their presence. They’d known that for a long time as they starved themselves two days before the weekly weigh-ins for their school. The instructors would give a snide comment, and the other prima donnas would shout bitter venom in whispers hidden behind a hand, and Harlow would remain quiet as someone else told them they were born wrong for the passion they wanted to chase. Too tall to play at being a girl, too small to play at being a man. Everything about them was wrong.
Surely, there had to be passion there before. Nobody would have lasted without it. Mika used to hum condolences as she raked short-nailed fingers through Harlow's ashen hair. She'd never say as much during practice, but Harlow liked to hear it.
They thought of her as they died, cold and alone in a storage room filled with things they’d bought together for a future Mika decided she didn’t want anymore. They thought of her despite their numb acceptance of heartbreak because they had no one else to think of, and to die with no one in their thoughts sounded worse than dying with memories of an empty relationship. When prayers to a god Harlow didn't believe in had failed, when their voice could no longer be raised in search of a miracle, at least they could keep themselves warm with that.
At least, that was what the bird watching them said as numbing chill started to settle in. It was… soothing, in a sense, to be sung into eternal slumber by creature with such vibrant plumage and such a gentle voice. Reassurances and sweet nothings to take the edge of the hunger and thirst away after the cold had long since turned into biting heat.
They woke in Ceosia shortly after the start of the cataclysm, told they were destined for greatness. A hero, of some sort, even. They even provided the training and education needed for this—well, they would have if Harlow’s situation hadn’t been “an anomaly” by all means. Still, they trained as they were asked to, the same way they practiced their dances before. Over and over again until they were allowed to stop—it might have taken the mentors a little too long to notice what that actually meant.
They’d never really fought before, but they were better at controlling their body than most. It was probably the first time they didn’t feel morbidly out of place in a group effort.
In the past year, they’ve earned a reputation, and the mentors at least tell them it’s a good one. They don’t know if being a paladin quite what they’ve wanted, but it seems like they’re… probably helping? They don’t really know, but at least they’re not alone.
𝚂𝙿𝙸𝚁𝙸𝚃 𝙰𝚂𝚂𝙴𝚂𝚂𝙼𝙴𝙽𝚃
——————————————————————————— Glory Once, there was a phoenix. Wise, old thing it was. A streak of flame lit the skies then turned to embers in cycles until the day it decided it was time to choose an eternal roost. It lowered its head, a slender neck exposed for the sting of an executioner’s touch. If the paladins of that time knew what the blaze known as Glory sought in its sacrifice, they never spoke of it. One can only wonder if the human it chose might be able to learn.
Its new form is a white blade that gains a scarlet ombre the longer that Harlow has gone without releasing their bottled fire. The more that Harlow releases, the more the crimson fades from the blade. The white ribbon tied to the hilt can be considered like a wick—the shorter the ends have burned, the closer Harlow is to being born from ashes again.
Of course, the blade rarely, if ever, sees any actual combat, considering Harlow’s transformation into their paladin form necessitates plunging the blade into their body to absorb it to begin with. Due to the nature of their abilities, Harlow has always assumed they can only return to their natural state when their body enters a new cycle of rebirth. They have little desire to learn what happens if their wick burns out while they are not fused with Glory.
CANDLELIGHT ——————————————————
Harlow compares themselves to a defective candle, the flame burning internally instead of externally. While in their paladin form, the warrior runs hot. So hot, in fact, that it could be considered agonizing to Harlow and uncomfortable, at best, to those around them. The longer the candle burns in its container, the stronger Harlow seems to be. Unfortunately, an inferno is ill contained in a human body. Too long without release, and their body ignites from the inside out.
Such self-immolation doesn't kill Harlow--at least, not permanently. Like the crimson-plumed Glory, Harlow's flames are regenerative in nature, and in this particular case, such healing is intensified. While the fire may turn the paladin to ash, from the ashes of their demise, Harlow is reborn, their body physically reset to the state they were in at the time Glory's contract was solidified. Some consider it a boon, for who wouldn't want a chance for an easy reset? But to reset their body means that the fruits of their labor have also been lost. Muscles have to be retrained, memories carved back into habit--even if the rebirth didn't hurt, Harlow would be hard pressed to want for it to happen.
To avoid such a grisly fate, Harlow need only maintain a balance by expelling the fires from their body. Unfortunately, such a balance becomes harder to maintain as time passes and Glory's radiance grows. With no interference, the ignition begins within two weeks of Harlow's most recent rebirth.
SPARK OF LIFE ——————————————————
Fire burns in Harlow's veins, and it appears that the words may be taken literally. Whenever an open wound is inflicted on Harlow, a flash of fire spills from the injury. These flames are restorative in nature--at least, they are to Harlow. These injuries close quickly as a result and must be consciously kept open in order to release the growing blaze contained within their body. Once released, Harlow has a small degree of manipulation over the flames, though they don't think it's anything as grand as their peers. As of yet, it doesn't appear that these flames carry the same regenerative nature for anything that isn't Harlow themselves.
As one might expect, such powerful restoration makes Harlow incredibly difficult to kill while they are in their paladin state. While the healing process may be agonizing in the best of times, there's no denying that it has allowed Harlow to survive injuries that would put greater beings into their graves.
CAUTERIZE ——————————————————
Minor, perhaps, to those whose abilities allow them to rend mountains asunder or to bring the moon down from the sky, but Harlow has always found the restorative nature of their flames to be convenient despite the pain they inflict. In their paladin form, it appears that Glory's searing light burns away pollutants and contaminants in Harlow's body at a rapid rate. They are nigh impervious to most illnesses and can even stave off the deterioration caused by overexertion or a lack of sleep for far longer than can be considered "healthy" by others. Even poison struggles to take root for long in such a hostile environment and is often purged in short order, though it would be wrong for Harlow to say they were immune.
