Swords of a Master

[Gisk]

I forgot to mention that skystone is soft like lead or gold. Useless as a weapon.
it's also prohibitively expensive.

[IVIasterJay]

Well since skystone is soft like lead anyways, it wouldn't make a very good anything on its own. The sword would be many alternating layers of skystone and steel, giving it almost (but not exactly) zero weight, the strength of steel, and the thin layers of soft skystone would absorb the force of impacts. The character I'm almost done writing now uses skystone armor to make herself have (almost) zero weight as well, and her main form of attack would be to launch herself and her massive sword heigh into the sky and come crashing down using gravity and momentum to fuel a single, cataclysmic blow. It's kind of centered around the idea that mass doesn't affect the speed of a falling object or whatnot. Am I still breaking and laws of physics? It never was my best subject.

[Dblade26]

But....Zero weight would still mean zero weight which means how would they come crashing down to begin with and also how would they survive plummeting from the sky at high speed if they did? The skyships can fly because they vary their weight using a very very careful and precise system of ballasts to keep themselves level and prevent floating off into space and also to allow them to land if I've read things right. How would you make their weight variable and even if they did crash down, with no weight behind it at all wouldn't the impact be insignificant regardless of the size of your sword? The mass would be significant but it doesn't weigh anything which is how you seem to be saying you'll lift it in the first place so the strike wouldn't fall very heavily.I may not be right about this either but it seems confusing.

Also regardless of whether mass influences falling speed, air resistance certainly would and a massive sword would have a lot of air resistance that might affect your momentum

Furthermore a weightless sword probably wouldn't cut very well since only the human's momentum would be driving the force behind any given swing but that's not even relevant compared to the other problems.

and I'm really sorry, I don't mean to be one of those irritating nitpicky people, I'm just confused as to how it would work.

[IVIasterJay]

Hmm, I seem to have misread negative weight as negative mass. Not sure how that would work even remotely like I was panning now. Well, there goes all the fun pieces out of my character.

And she'd have the sword held pointed towards the sky or ground until the moment she wanted to strike, at which point the sudden increase in air resistance would slow her fall considerably. Not that it matters now.

[Dblade26]

Aww, that really sucks, 'cause it really sounded like a cool idea. Hope you can find something that'll work out for you though and sorry.

[Gisk]

Well, weight doesn't affect the speed of a falling object, but it does affect the amount of force it would fall with. The lowered force would mean the air resistance would have a greater effect, therefore indirectly lowering the speed you'd fall with.

Plus, I don't think that proposed weapon could be made with the technology level of this world. It would take some incredibly precise machinery.

Also, all that skystone would be rather expensive. Not a problem, as long as you have a reason why your character can spend that much money on weapons.

[Yevin]

Name: Vidal “Ace”* (last name forgotten; barely remembers first name)
Age: has been an undead for 25 years now; looks, eh, late twenties to early thirties
Appearance:
http://rynnay.deviantart.com/art/Tired-Smile-223934033?q=favby%3AJaveneRoze%2F9438032&qo=952
http://rynnay.deviantart.com/art/Cyrus-faces-216673082
http://rynnay.deviantart.com/art/The-Wraith-344997146?q=gallery%3ARynnay%2F42056&qo=15
http://rynnay.deviantart.com/art/Run-Cyrus-Run-181944177
Country of origin: Altair; came from the sky
Background: “Ace” was an only son of an Altair couple. He outlived both his parents and carried on with his father’s business with the help of a merchant friend and mentor. He dealt primarily in legal trade and hoped one day to have an Altair bride and continue the line. Until the fated day of meeting a particular person. An Osmad who thirsted for riches beyond dreams plunged the Witches’ Blade into his heart. Upon waking back to the living world without a beat in his chest, the Osmad commanded his life and business. For years, “Ace” worked for this man, splitting whatever profits he made. His legal business sunk and shady but hefty profit transactions took place. He smuggled cargo and people across countries through sideways and backways only he knew. He found ways to avoid pirates and the empire. He worked mainly out of Tharan’s biggest trade market and his reputation grew amongst the merchant community there as the go-to guy for whatever needed to be transported in secret or under the nose of the empire.

Then, one day, he was free of the Osmad’s rule. In attempt to get his life back before the Osmad, “Ace” switched his smuggling to primarily trading tobacco. But every once in a while, Ace would revert back to his smuggling if only to relieve the boredom life was now costing him.

Notes:
*Vidal never gave up his real name to vendors, merchants or to the people he smuggled. He was given the nickname "Ace" by the community. Sort of like a codename.

He also has a little pet
http://engelszorn.deviantart.com/art/Little-Gem-251341354?q=favby%3AJaveneRoze%2F9438032&qo=162

[Arthanus]

So I am kinda waiting on making my CS, if you would like to use the Water Dragon in the RP, please pm me so we can work out the details it will help with my character and yours so whenever your free I'm ready. :)

[Gisk]

So hold on, is there no OOC forum on the site yet?

And who's still interested?

[Gisk]

Name: Gabriel Drapsmannen
Age: 30
Appearance:
Country of Origin: Danlith, born on the run.
Backstory: Born to a Danlith priestess on the run, her father was an Osmad who caught her mothers eye one day, but she never knew him. Her mother taught her all of Danlith philosophy, and the skills she'd need to protect it. Gabriel traveled with her mother, and a few other priestess of her order, for most of her life. But they haven't been bolstering their numbers as of late, and every encounter with an opposing worldview had a chance to turn violent. And every violent altercation weakened them, and dwindled their number.
While there are other Danlith in the world, Gabriel is the only one left of the group she once traveled with. In recent years, she's realized that she can't survive alone, however strong she is, she can't survive alone. Now she's looking for companions once again.

[Dblade26]

I might still be interested depending on what sorts of options are open. I might want to play a Tharan, I've been on a Greek and Roman history kick lately.

[Arthanus]

there are OOCs. they are just just on a tab thing so if you create a thread in the Casual Section it will have both OOC and IC tabs

[IVIasterJay]

Name: Frey Varia

Age: 26

Appearance: A huge hulking knight wearing pure white armor. The armor is many layers thick on its own, and it has to have been made using skystone because no human could possibly move encased in such thick armor. The armor makes its wearer about three feet thick from chest to back, and almost eight feet tall. Beneath the armor -- a place of myth and legend that few truly know -- lays its wearer: Frey Varia. Though there's no way to know it through the armor, Frey is female. She stands seven feet tall, has a thin build, dark brown skin, pure white hair that reaches the small of her back, and blood red eyes. She has a white tattoo that covers her entire body. The left side of her face is the right side of an owl's face, with her eye also being the owl's eye. The bird's wing is outstretched across her chest, and its long, flowing tail feathers run down her left leg. In the owl's talon, right about at her pelvis, is clutched a snake. The snake's white scaled body covers most of the right side of her body, anywhere not occupied by the owl, and it's head covers the right side of her face. The serpent's open mouth stands poised to strike, teeth above and below her right eye. The entire thing is quite beautiful. It's a pity she usually covers it up with her armor. On the occasion she's actually not wearing her armor, her clothing of choice is usually a simple red dress cut into strips at the bottom to allow for freedom of movement.

Country of origin: Osmad, but she's Danlith

Background: Frey has lived a life without regrets. Everything considered, she'd say it's been fun. Born to a far-too-young prostitute, Frey never once met her mother, nor would she particularly care to. She quickly learned to protect herself as a young girl stealing food and water just to survive on the streets of Orunmila, but not quickly enough. She knows that she's broken, and she's never pretended to be anything else. And then once she was fully able to protect herself in her harsh little world, she sold herself into prostitution for the money. She seduced her way into the lives of countless wealthy homes, but that was merely step one. Come step two, she killed them all and took anything she could get away with. Nineteen wealthy men dead. She'd made herself known, and soon after the offers trickled through to her, asking for her to kill again. Her prices rose with each kill, until the only currency she accepted was skystone. They always paid, no matter how high her prices got because that was the only way they survived. Anyone who couldn't pay was an easy target for an enemy who could. Frey Varia was a bloody empire of one, and this was all before her twenty-second year.
And then soldiers came for her and Frey went underground. The next year was when the White Knight started popping up, but no one connected the dots until he took off his helmet and someone got a good look at his face, or rather, her face. Frey Varia had gone from being an assassin for hire to a sword for hire. She’d gotten one thing right though: a bigger sword does make the soldiers less likely to want to chase you.

Weapon(s): Cataclysm - A ridiculously, unnecessarily, unreasonably MASSIVE blade, roughly in the shape of a giant executioner's blade. Barring the swords of legend, Cataclysm may be the most expensive sword that is actually used for what it was made to do. Cataclysm is nearly useless against a single, small opponent, but that wasn't what it was made for. It was made to bring armies to their knees, to reduce castle walls to rubble, to kill dozens in a single deadly pass. Frey refuses to divulge who made the blade for her, but it truly is a feet of engineering. A skystone core encased in layer after layer of steel makes the blade much lighter than it should be and is the only reason a human could possibly lift the huge blade.
Twin rapiers for when her opponent isn't Goliath or for some strange reason doesn't run at the sight of the completely-useless-against-a-single-target Cataclysm. And for when she's not wearing her armor.

[Gisk]

Not accepted. Lots of problems.

Didn't I already tell you you couldn't do that sword? I guess I was a little vague. No, you can't do that sword.

And let me deconstruct the armor too: Skystone being soft, armor made from it would collapse upon itself too easily. A good hammer blow and you're done.
Plus, the bulk of the armor you're describing would severely limit your movements, even if it was light as a feather. There's a reason why armor in real life is relatively thin. Because otherwise it would get in the way of joints, or else the joints would have to be unarmored and they'd become the weak points.

How is she Danlith, exactly? Only by blood, I take it, because a Danlith would never prostitute herself. That doesn't preclude her form having Danlith blood, though, so long as her mother was also only related genetically. Also, no pure white hair. I said they have lighter hair, like light browns and blonds.
EDIT: Actually, you just gave me an idea and added to the history and mythos of the world. During the Tharan Conquest, those problematic Danlith who didn't die in battle were enslaved as temple prostitutes. Slavery has since been outlawed by the Empire, but there's still a culture of Danlith blooded prostitutes, who now actually outnumber the free Danlith priestesses.

Are you seriously going to tell me that she killed all of the rich people in Orunmilla? You don't think anyone would ever realize that the same prostitute everyone who died had slept with was the one killing them? And where exactly did she learn the skills to take on trained guards that must be employed in these wealthy homes? Or to fight and escape soldiers who came calling? I really hate the "super skilled, often sought after" assassin, because it really doesn't make sense, for more reasons than I've listed.

Much of this character is problematic. I really just don't buy that she goes from prostitute to super-badass-knight-sword-for-hire. Especially without any sort of training.

Further Editing: I'll tell you what, though. You could cut the character's history a bit short, have her be a Danlith prostitute who steals(not murders, I maintain that that would get her caught and executed way too fast) from her richer clientele. Perhaps, though, now she travels with Gabriel, who's teaching her the old Danlith ways. This way, you lose the parts of the character that I object to, but still manage to have the prostitute-to-warrior story that you wanted. What say you?

[Gisk]

Also of importance(I'm going to add this to the doc, but I'm putting it here for reference in case you aren't keeping up with the changes I make to the doc):
The world's total skystone wealth, divided by country:

Thara: 60%
Iluim: 25%
Osmad: 10%
Smaller cultures(the nomads and such): 5%
Dan Hurmding: Negligible, less than one percent.

[Gisk]

Here's the OOC.

[Gisk]

A bump so that this can get some more visibility. The prologue post is done, I'm just waiting on people.

I know I said I didn't expect everyone to stick around. But I also didn't expect no one to. Thus far, there are still three blades open. Whisper, Vultus and Stormbringer. Only the last of those has any sort of conditions toward its use.

[Gisk]

Anyone else? Still need some peeps.

[Gisk]

Bump so we can get some peeps.

[Gisk]

Bump dammit. Where'd all the people who were interested go?