[OOC] The Prophecy

[Dark Jack]

That's a very interesting name you suddenly adopted for the woman so unanimously... did I slip up in my last post and mention it by accident, or did you just guess? Regardless, I find it borderline unnerving that you so unerringly concluded that her name was Blue. Which it was from the start.
The weapon that pierced her wasn't a spear, by the way; that's my fault for leaving out a small, yet rather significant detail in describing it, namely that the handle attached to the beak is at a ninety-degree angle to the beak itself, to the side it curves towards. It's not a spear, it's a pick.

Shienvien said "Now I wonder whether death-rebirth cycle in Reniam could actually be supported as far as the world goes."
(...?)

You really aren't going to let that one go, are you? Eh, I've been pondering that question since you asked it the first time... and technically it would be possible, though the circumstances a rebirth could occur under would be quite limited, since normally (as I once explained) the soul of an infant is formed from the energies of its parents, and its Seeds of Good and Evil sown when it makes its first decision. The Seeds are rooted deeply into the soul once sown, however - so deeply that removing them change the very nature of one's lifeform forever - so a reborn entity would keep its Seeds, just as it would keep its soul from its past life/lives, as this cannot be replaced either. The body would be new (which would start to force new memories onto the soul, making it repress the ones from past lives) and created from the parents, but the soul and Seeds would be preserved, making it possible to actually have a good or evil infant. It would furthermore require that not only the person entering into the cycle had complete faith that this is what would happen, but that the parents to facilitate the rebirth had this faith as well. It would be a difficult thing to pull off, but it's theoretically possible in the Prophecy universe, yes.

[Shienvien]

@Jack:
The significance of "Blue" was certainly mentioned in quite a few places (as were tool and master). By this point it would have been odd not to deduct it is at least a codename/identificator for her.

Dark Jack said "'Blue: the color most commonly associated with that of a clear sky or the ocean. It is often used as a symbol for melancholy or cold and of infinity and distance, but is also often associated with positive traits such as sympathy, harmony, faithfulness, friendship and confidence. It is also frequently interpreted to represent excellence and superiority.'" [...] Blue, like her clothes, the woolen coat hanging from her lithe and athletic form, the tunic underneath it, the trousers that hugged the shape of her slender legs.

And I see... Pity, it seems my idea would hardly work in that case, unless I ported a whole sect of pseudo-Buddhists or something, and even then it would not exactly follow the path I'd have intended.

[Mercinus3]

Dark Jack said
That's a very interesting name you suddenly adopted for the woman so unanimously... did I slip up in my last post and mention it by accident, or did you just guess? Regardless, I find it borderline unnerving that you so unerringly concluded that her name was Blue. Which it was from the start.The weapon that pierced her wasn't a spear, by the way; that's my fault for leaving out a small, yet rather significant detail in describing it, namely that the handle attached to the beak is at a ninety-degree angle to the beak itself, to the side it curves towards. It's not a spear, it's a pick.

I agree with Shien. While the name wasn't mentioned at all, it was easily deductable. Mentioning Yellow, Red and Green in your 4th post as ??? kind of gave it away. I just didn't mention it as I didn't want to ruin your surprise on the reveal.

As for the weapon, I'll change the details in my post.

M3

[Ashgan]

What Shien said, but on top of that, in one the later posts she specifically thinks about her comrades, and refers to them as Yellow and Green. By this logic I found it more than appropriate to name her Blue.

Edit: Durr, beat to it.

[Dark Jack]

Ah okay, good. It was supposed to be easily deductable (as are many things I don't outright tell you about), but it just seemed as though the conclusion that her name was Blue was reached quite suddenly after my last post as her, and I didn't think I made any particularly clear hints to her name in that... So you just guessed it earlier and only took to using her name now that she's dead. That's fine.

[Shienvien]

Why would anyone have mentioned it earlier? The characters only see her appearance and actions while she is in range without any further backstory or inner monologue (and cannot make the same deductions as we, thusly), and there hasn't been much OoC talk about her.

...Hmm. And now I can't recall what I actually wanted to ask. Ah well, back to waiting for a collab-post and writing a longpost that would probably start a war for another RP.

[Nib]

My post will be delayed until tomorrow. I ended up having to go into work today.

[Nib]

I got a short simple post up. Sorry for the shortness.

[Rhaevnn Xeno]

Back from camping! :D Post will be up ASAP. Also, I added a little more to his personality for his CS (to explain his more "emotional" state of things of late)\

*Edit*
Post is up! Also, I know there are certain words that are substituted for specific phrases/curse words, but alas, I could not find the list that specified mentioned phrases/curse words. If it bothers you, Jack, just let me know how to correct it and I'll be happy to do so! (wouldn't want to break the lore and all that :3) Enjoy!

[Shienvien]

Huh... Yeah, I believe the Compendium is still not back up on the net, but here is the quote from it which refers to Rodoria's (I'd figure different regions would vary on that) various swears and exclamations:

Dark Jack said Swearing, such as our "damn it!" or "shit!" and other similar remarks are not used in Reniam. Instead, Kreshtaat's name is exclaimed. "Kreshtaat!"
Exclamations such as "for God's sake", "oh, God, no!" and so on are not used. Instead the common exclamations include "By the Spirits!", "By the Planes!", "By the gods!", "By the demons" or, in cases of extreme emphasis, "By all of the Planes, Spirits, gods and demons!". In cases where the name of a particular deity is invoked, it is usually coupled with a defining characteristic about that deity. Examples include: "Reina's mercy!", "Rilon's thirst!" and "Frenis' greed!"
Alternate, emphasized versions of the simple "what", such as "what the hell?" and "what the fuck?" are not used. Instead the phrases also used as exclamations are simply added a "what in the name of" at the beginning, although the phrase "what in blazes?" as known from Earth is also used occasionally. In the case of "the Planes", both "What in the name of the Planes?" and "What in the Planes?" are used.
Alternate, emphasized versions of the simple "where" are all replaced with the phrase "where in the Planes?".
Insults, such as "bastard", "bitch" and "son of a bitch" are not used. Instead common insults include "son of a tarke!", "demonspawn" (though this is not much of an insult when used about an actual demonspawn) and "goblin manure". The usage of more descriptive insults, such as fool, idiot and moron, are the same as we know them to be.

(Hmm. I have never actually seen "what in blazes" outside of a time or two in cases where it is very obviously only used for censorship purposes.)

[Rhaevnn Xeno]

Shienvien said
Huh... Yeah, I believe the Compendium is still not back up on the net, but here is the quote from it which refers to Rodoria's (I'd figure different regions would vary on that) various swears and exclamations: (Hmm. I have never actually seen "what in blazes" outside of a time or two in cases where it is very obviously only used for censorship purposes.)

Thanks for the digging that up, Sheivien. :D Post has been fixed!

[Dark Jack]

Great, I've been looking forward to this. Since Rhaevnn mentioned it I'll also say that I fully support and encourage updating your character sheets when relevant, most notably when changes occur pertaining to the characters' appearance or equipment. You can always expand them, too; just be sure to notify me if you do so.

Hmm... When Morgan climbed to the roof, by "opposite" did you then mean the same roof as Ixion and the assailant but at the opposite end, or a different roof opposite of theirs across the alley they were in?
Also, I imagine Morgan would at least get scorched a bit from uncovering part of his face. Even if it was downturned, even trace amounts of sunlight hurt vampires in this universe.

[Rhaevnn Xeno]

Dark Jack said
Hmm... When Morgan climbed to the roof, by "opposite" did you then mean the same roof as Ixion and the assailant but at the opposite end, or a different roof opposite of theirs across the alley they were in?Also, I imagine Morgan would at least get scorched a bit from uncovering part of his face. Even if it was downturned, even trace amounts of sunlight hurt vampires in this universe.

If looking at the alley walls from a "left to right" perspective, if Ixion and Mysterious Man were standing on the right rooftop, Morgan would have climbed on top of the left roof top. Also, I thought Blue's magic created a "shady" atmosphere...unless, due to her death, everything was shifted back to the regularly scheduled sunny day. :P If this is the case, I'm also curious about something - in order for Morgan's healing factor to kick in, does it need to be his blood that is spilled, or just general blood exposure (i.e. a victim's)?

[Dark Jack]

Ah, Blue's magic didn't make her surroundings darker, actually... it was just that at the time of her sealing the blinding light back into her sword before shooting it out as a beam, the world seemed much darker than it had been before due to her eyesight (in particular, since I was writing as her, but it probably extended to everyone since it's a pretty natural reaction) having tried to adjust to the searingly bright surroundings from before. It's like, if you walk from a brightly lit room into a dark one, or stand in light and look into darkness, you can't see anything, but if you walk into the darkness and let your eyes adjust your surroundings will gradually seem brighter. It's the same thing that happens when you're blinded by headlights at night; your eyes try to adjust to the brightness of the headlights, and afterwards the night seems much darker than it had been a moment ago.
And yeah, it does need to be a vampire's blood that comes into contact with the wound for his rapid regeneration to activate. As a matter of fact all of a vampire's abilities come from its blood, and the curse that permeates it; the vampiric blood is what keeps a vampire alive. That is also why a severed vampire limb would need to be continuously bathed in vampire blood for it to survive... a vampire's heart is the only part of it that can survive on non-vampiric blood, because it is what infuses normal blood with the curse, transmuting it into vampire blood. Different vampires also have varying strength depending on the dillution of their curse, or how many times it has been passed between individuals from the original vampires to the current recipient. The originals were almost incomparable to modern vampires... but I digress. Vampiric blood is infused with persistent life and facilitates accelerated healing; normal blood is not and does not do the same.

[Rhaevnn Xeno]

Ah, alrighty then. Understood. Therefore, an edit shall be in within the hour!

[Shienvien]

Dark Jack said Different vampires also have varying strength depending on the dilution of their curse, or how many times it has been passed between individuals from the original vampires to the current recipient. The originals were almost incomparable to modern vampires...

Hmm. So you went the way of the diluting curse. What is a very diluted vampire? Someone who functions almost like a human or deigan respectively with just slight alteration? Someone who still needs blood to survive, but has little to practically no vampiric power? Can the curse weaken enough for the last link down the line to be unable to contaminate another?

-.My own vampirism worked much like an unstoppable progressive blood-transmissioned illness - there was some occasional fluctuation, but it didn't really weaken or become stronger down the line, although older vampires were typically more potent due to them having been altered further. There were other differences, of course, such as the original person being completely destroyed by the end of the first stage of the curse/illness,,,
Amongst other things, there was no such thing as a part-vampire. Hara was and is a quarterblood palanter, and due to the palanter-blood in fact completely immune to vampirism. It just happens that there are some very unfortunate overlaps in the appearance and abilities (but not developing drives or urges) of less-than-half-blood palanteri and folks with first-stage-vampirism...

[Rhaevnn Xeno]

Post is up! Hopefully, it was enough (and I'm assuming the consequences of revealing his skin to the sun will be recognized later - right now, he's solely focused on one thing. Willpower is a terrible thing :P)

[Dark Jack]

The reason I never mentioned the dilution of the vampiric curse before is that it doesn't really affect modern vampires very much, as the curse is almost identical in all of them. After having been passed down and diluted some dozen times or so the curse reaches the point it has in such as Morgan, where the blood itself is sufficient to contain nearly the entire curse and transmit very close to its full power to the recipient. Vampires infected by those more recently related to the originals have closer to the initial strength of the curse, but lose a little of that power every time because their curse is rooted in their hearts, but their power flows in their blood, and the blood cannot contain the full extent of the curse. The amount of power lost at each transmittance is significantly smaller than the former... when the originals passed down their blood, the result only had about half the power they had; the ones coming after that only had about two thirds of their predecessors, the ones after that three fourths, then four fifths, then five sixths... you get the drift. The power transmission has stabilized over the ages, making the power lost very insignificant, so there will never really a wholly powerless vampire. Still, there are those that devote their lives to trying to find some surviving early ancestors to take their blood and "upgrade" themselves...

"First-stage" vampirism?

[Shienvien]

Ah... So it is not as persistent decline as I initially assumed.

And first-stage vampirism is essentially what any newly turned vampire of my kind can be arbitrarily said to have for the first couple to handful of months. During that time, the person will slowly develop the urge to devour other people's blood while just as slowly losing the appetite for and ability to digest most other foods, the societal instincts and feelings would diminish and die out till only the knowledge of having cared about other people at some point remains, and then memories would decay, too, and take even that... Senses become keener, some light-sensitivity develops (my vampires didn't quite burst into flames), teeth elongate, first melanin and then other pigments get eliminated (various albinoids, albinos and leucistic people were regrettably murdered for looking suspiciously vampiric even more often than part-plood palanteri), muscles change, they become stronger and faster, more resilient to blood-loss and damage... Yeah.
Generally what is considered to be the end of the first stage vampirism is the loss of the last scrap of knowledge of ever having been human, or the loss of any capacity for the related emotions. They will have become feral monsters with little sense or restraint. During the second stage, the physical changes will continue, but the vampire would also start to regain its intelligence and develop the ability to plan and restrain oneself. By the third stage - often considered the final one, though some give very old and far-altered vampires their own category - you have a being who can act just as civil as any human if it wants, but is no more than a thorough sociopath who can only sustain itself on fresh human blood. If some opt to stick with humans, do not be fooled: they only do so because having food follow you around can be convenient. They won't have any scruples about eating anyone, no matter nice they bothered to pretend to be until then. They, curiously enough, also seem to borderline see through or otherwise completely ignore other vampires; same goes for second and late first stage vampires.
- Basically, the first stage of vampirism is that of losing your humanity and slowly becoming a monster; the second stage of vampirism is that of being a monster; the third stage of vampirism is that of being an intelligent calculative monster with impeccable self-control. And if you want, you can add a fourth stage for slowly having become quite powerful even compared to normal vampires.

(I assume Reniam vampires "black out and wake up a full vampire" - much like Morgan was described to?)

[Dark Jack]

Well, blacking out is a possibility during the process of turning, at least, but it's not exactly a given... It is much quicker than the transformation you describe, though. As I said the power of the curse is in the blood, but normal blood can only be converted to vampiric blood by a vampiric heart. When vampiric blood is introduced into a non-vampire's system it preserves its supernatural properties, however, and even when this is the only bit of vampire-blood in a person, it will still cause localized manifestation of vampiric powers where it is, most frequently evidenced by the rapid healing occurring if it entered the recepient through a wound. Initially one won't feel much of anything despite having already been infected, and won't feel anything until the vampiric curse - either directly through the vampiric blood, if the infection was through a wound, or indirectly by transferring the curse to a portion of the victim's own blood if they were fed the vampiric blood and made to start digesting it - reaches the heart, which usually happens quite fast. At that point one will feel great pain in one's chest, and for a period of time that usually takes several hours but can take several days the victim will experience constant agony and suffer a burning fever, all while their body spasms incontrollably due to the trace amounts of the curse that will even then begin spreading to one's blood. Turning is so bad that it is actually possible, albeit rare, for one to die from it before it ends. The torment ends once the heart is fully claimed by the curse, and after that it usually takes about a day for the vampiric powers to fully manifest, though they will increase every minute up till then as their blood becomes more and more permeated with vampirism. The psychological changes tend to gradually occur over several days after that, and color-alterations over a few weeks. The fangs grow quickly - and painfully - within the first two days, though, enabling the fledging vampire to quickly start feeding.
And yes, it is technically possible to be incompatible with the vampire's blood, just as humans can be incompatible with each other's blood and such... not to mention different species receiving blood from each other. Due to the preserved healing-factor of the vampiric curse, however, the vampiric blood will draw upon its own power to heal the bloodpoisoning rather than let it hurt the victim. Small enough amounts of vampire-blood can even completely exhaust itself healing the damage it itself causes before it reaches the victim's heart, preventing the turning from ever taking place.