[CHAR] Empire of Bones

[NowIGiveUp]

With faded brown green scales, and clad in flexible leather armour and cloth, Kij strikes a formidable figure even standing only at 5'3.
Name: Kij'hara

Race: Slith (Lizardperson)

Personality: Kij'hara is, suffice to say, more comfortable in the company of shadows and thieves than the more socially acceptable kinds, finding they often tend to talk less than others. She prefers the quiet people, the people who don't need to say much to convey what they want or need, and she will often lapse into a 'comfortable' silence that can be misconstrued – by the louder types – as uncomfortable, or even expectant. She is unusually lacking in her ability to judge what would be appropriate to say and what would not, resulting in her often saying the wrong thing to the wrong person and getting herself in trouble. However, over time she has learnt to know when to not say anything at all, so as to limit the amount of fights she finds herself in due to her lack of judgement. Staying silent also causes anger, she has found, but it is often less physical. She is distrusting and fearful of Orcs in particular, and views each and every one as lowly mercenary scum.

Background: Kij'hara was born on the far outskirts of a small village in the west of Ruritania. She grew up with five other siblings, but would spend more time exploring the forest than playing with her sisters and brothers, preferring to be alone. Her parents were hunters who supplied meat for the village, and – knowing the local forests – let their children roam freely once they were able to look after themselves. Kij learnt how to climb trees, forage, and handle a knife, all well before the age of ten. On her thirteenth birthday, when most of her other siblings had left home to become apprentices (or were too young to do so yet), she asked to be taught how to hunt, and, in time, continue the family business. Her parents were glad to take her on as an apprentice and over the course of two years she learnt the job; how to shoot a bow, and how to move quickly and quietly, unseen by deer or a boar. At the age of seventeen, secure in her apprenticeship and almost fully trained, she decided to make her first overnight trip on her own, hunting larger prey. She set out at dawn, and returned with the carcass of her fallen prey at dusk of the following day. Welcoming faces did not greet her when she returned home, as expected, but instead she watched from afar as the corpses of her parents were cremated in the fire that ate through their house. Bandits, primarily Orcish, had raided her house, murdered her parents, and burned what they could not steal. She did not wait for them to find her, and turned back into the forest.
For the next few years she lived off the land and, although she departed the forests where she had been born after only a few months, did not go back to civilization unless the winter was particularly harsh and she was driven to buy food or clothing. However she began to grow tired of the constant restlessness of her life and sought to settle down, finally venturing into the city to find somewhere to live. She stayed for three months with her younger sister, but after many subtle hints (and being directly told to her face that she was no longer welcome to stay), she began to look for a job to earn money with. By a chance of fate, she heard the rumours regarding the Old Country, and – deciding that it was a sign that she was doing the wrong thing – set about finding more information...

Abilities: She is deft at using a knife and bow, and when she is unable to catch anything to eat herself can set traps that do the job for her. Although unused to climbing stone or buildings, she is nimble and can use her claws to find small pits and dents to hold on to, making her capable of climbing most structures, natural or unnatural. Her training and skill in hunting also result in her being light on her feet, able to blend in with the shadows and go undetected.

Equipment:
A flatbow and a knife. Though used primarily for hunting, they are also suitable for combat.
A water pouch and a basic medicine kit (which also contains rations of dried meat, etc).
Leather armour, worn and patched but still usable.

[dereken]

Name: Caractacus Dool

Race: Human

Appearance

Personality: A stammering, stuttering mess of a man, Caractacus has trouble in dealing with the living. He is nervous and self-doubting in the utmost when around anything but the dead. Still, he doesn't harbor ill-will toward the living, more of a deep-seated fear and unease. Being around him creates a sense of unease, as though there was something sinister about him.

Background: Caractacus was always sickly and unwell, even in his youth. An early indicator of his affinity for the dead. He grew up with no friends, and even family took pains to avoid his presence. This had a profound effect on Caractacus, and drove him away from society, where he would meet his mentor, an impossibly old man, who taught him his connection with the dead, and how to utilize it. When he had taught Caractacus enough to get by, the old man sent him off. Caractacus attempted to re-enter society, but now more than ever his presence caused fear and distrust, and he was quickly driven away. Caractacus fled to seclusion. He spent his time there thinking on what his powers meant, and what his purpose was. After three years on his own, he came to a conclusion, and set out to make his purpose reality.

Abilities: Summon undead: Caractacus can summon two lesser undead creatures, such as skeletons or zombies, and command them for a period of 24 hours before they disintegrate. Note that these undead are not like those of the Lich king, but merely empty vessels animated by death magic.
Bolster undead: For a short period of time, Caractacus can increase the strength, speed, and dexterity of any undead creature under his control or allied to him.
False life: Using death magic, Caractacus can extend the life of any living creature through pain and wounds. This spell allows anything he casts it on to continue living past what would normally kill someone, but only so far, and all wounds sustained will have to be healed before the spell ends or the subject of the spell will still die.
Magic missile: A tool in nearly every wizard's arsenal, Caractacus produces a trio of magical darts, which he flings at his opponents. While not particularly powerful, they do not consume a lot of energy, and are easy to cast.
Equipment: Staff: A simple tool in the spellcaster's arsenal, this staff lets Caractacus focus his magical energy, to better cast spells.
Journal: A large journal, in which Caractacus constantly takes notes, in a language that seems rather foreign.
Wizard robe: This one is a dark gray. More to identify him as a wizard than anything else.
Dagger: A last resort. A simple, steel weapon.

[Azereiah]

Name:
Sam Duval

Race:
Human

Appearance:
A slender man standing at 6'2" with mid length, slicked back black hair, and brilliant green eyes. His face is masked in white face paint and makeup - with a red heart upside down beneath the left eye, a black spade upside down beneath the right, a black club above the left, and a red diamond above the right. He wears red lipstick on one side and black on the other, and very much appears to enjoy his magic tricks.

His outfit is particularly frilly. A wide, snow-white ruff encircles his neck, and a deep purple brocade doublet is worn atop a snowy white tunic with baggy sleeves. Thick white tights are tucked into purple leather boots, complete with long and curling toes.

Personality:
His capacity for cruelty is only surpassed by his apathy. Those he deems unworthy of death, he casually insults or ignores. Everyone else, he either takes advantage of or makes an enemy of. The thrill of a power struggle is the greatest and most exciting entertainment he can imagine, whether he's on top or on the bottom.

He will do absolutely anything to get ahead - and luckily for the world, he sees 'dealing with' the new menace at the Old Country as a perfect way to secure a position atop the world. The real question is what he would do with that position were he somehow to succeed.

He loves trickery and sleight-of-hand 'magic'.

Background:
Sam grew up in an orphanage in eastern Ruritania. All of his needs were provided for, and he had many good friends there. The elderly couple who ran the place always felt that he was somehow a special child. One day, a western circus was in town - a circus of acrobats and clowns - and he was mystified by their death defying feats and their silly acts. He wanted to become like them, and he started practicing card tricks, card games, cheating dice rolls, acting, and puppeteering.

At 13, he left the orphanage to join the circus, where he stayed as a clown for nine years, perfecting a number of silent comedy acts with his partners - including famous shows like 'Bobo the Rat', 'The Marvelous Machine', and 'A Place to Call Home'. The King of Armitas, a moderately sized province in Ruritania, offered him a job as a private jester - which he gladly took. The King was a rather nice man, if a bit hard-hearted towards the plight of individual commoners, and Sam looked up to him.

The King's power made him tremble with delight, and he served both as comedian and advisor gleefully. The King's health was in gradual decline, though, and soon, he was appointed with handling the affairs of the peasantry in the King's place - a job that he was well suited for. Every person who came in to petition the King was met with Sam instead, and he took great joy in deciding whether to save or ruin people. It was his perfect dream job. He gradually became more and more demented as time went on, moving up from causing minor ailments to unsuspecting people to starving them, and from starving them to outright executing them for crimes they never committed.

The people called for his head. His position was cemented when, finally, a father of four entered his hall and demanded that he resign immediately. Words were had, and the father insulted Sam in front of a small crowd. Sam flew into a rage and lept from the throne, slashing the man's throat with a Jack of Clubs.

When the King heard about the murder, he called Sam into his office and asked him to explain what happened, as he didn't want to have to imprison his friend. Sam explained in gruesome detail every single moment and feeling, and the King felt true despair for the first time in his life. The King called for his guards to take Sam away, and Sam responded by putting a Joker through the man's throat, followed by leaping out a window. He wasn't seen in Armitas ever again.

The news spread, and quickly twisted into fairy tales about a murderous clown that would eat bad children in the night. He particularly loved these stories, and would often ask to hear them any time he stopped at an inn - though he didn't wear his signature outfit for a while.

When a more frightening story than his own finally came up regarding a great evil in the Old Country, he put on his old Jester's outfit and makeup once more and set out eastwards.

Abilities:
Deadeye Dealer: A true marksman with a playing card - a swift flick and a card goes flying with the force and accuracy of an arrow, albeit a somewhat shorter range.

Clown Agility: Sam's experiences in the circus have given him near superhuman kinesthetic sense and an in-depth knowledge of what his body is capable of. Acrobatic feats and clever use of leverage are no trouble for him at all, having for years been involved in tightrope and trapeze comedy acts. One such act even involved blocking a mace blow with a spoon, all for the sake of a good show.

Puppeteering: Steel wire is his second favorite way to kill his foes. While he can't control his enemies like he can control a puppet, he does enjoy garroting their various extremities.

Equipment:
A 78-card tarot deck and a 60-card playing card deck. A length of piano wire. A pack of toothpicks coated in monkshood poison. A salad fork.

[Lucidnonsense]

Appearance: if light reflected off of emissary it would probably look something like this only the tentacles are much longer and have fractal digits. light doesnt reflect off of it though, so its invisible.

Name: Untranslateable into phonetics, rough translation would be "Beloved Flesh Emissary Unique Identifier" It is often just called "Wraith" "Shade" or to those in the know "Emissary"

Race: Wraith, an invisible intangible being that is capable of limited interaction with matter, they are not undead but many people think they are ghosts.

Personality: Emmisary has a fairly centralized nervous system like humans although the individual parts of emmisary are more intelligent than individual parts of a human, the central nervous system acts as a conductor and programmer for the body. Emmisary is curious about the world around it and the world unseen. The concept of self is more fluid than the typical human, as it has memories of other wraiths within itself and it has its own thoughts embedded in many of its spells. Despite this Emmisary believes in individual liberty and finds humans, at least, what it knows about humans from observing the spells they cast to be equal beings to itself and worthy of friendship.

Background: The Reproductive Practices of Wraiths bear some similarity to that of animals or plants, Wraith reproductive spells/organs take non-living etheric matter and arrange them into living structures that act as an "Egg" that over the course of 4 weeks organizes the etheric matter into the wraith. Unlike humans, wraiths are capable of sending not only "genetic" information to descendents but also memories. Emissary grew up in wraith society as a born scientist studying a blight that has spread throughout the etheric realm, spells with no clear purpose. Emissaries Research suggests that these etheric tumors are spells cast within the world of matter in order to animate lifeforms, while many scoff at the idea of baryonic life Emissaries theories explained the strange phenomenon and some experimental evidence seemed to support the hypothesis. Further research suggested an origin point for the blight and Emissary now is searching for the source. It has learned to work with some of the lifeforms that seem to use etheric matter as a tool, called "Wizards" or "Mages"

Abilities: I have a few paragraphs of in depth explanation of how everything works, they are all tied to the unique biology of Wraiths. A brief explanation would be Wraiths are Etheric beings that under normal circumstances do not interact with baryonic matter however etheric matter is capable of undergoing state change with the proper charge that creates "bridges" which are a form of matter that interacts with BOTH etheric and baryonic matter. Wraiths are essentially sentient spells, they can interact with magic as if it was physical. Emissary has special organs that allow it to better communicate with humans than the typical wraith. As a weakness, Emissary has very very poor senses toward non-magical things (its eyes are ethereal and as such light does not interact with them...so just as the wraith is invisible to humans, so is matter invisible to the wraith) It CAN however see spells, and through study of the spell figure out how it is effecting the material world. Spells made specifically for sensory purposes it can "hijack" to gain temporary vision. finally, Emissary can weave etheric matter into spells as an extension of the interacting with magic thing. These spells often appear less useful than spells made by humans due to the fact that humans understand matter and the world better than wraiths.

Equipment: Due to the biology of wraiths "Equipment" "Spells" and "The Body" are hard to seperate into discrete categories.

[Nevix]

Appearance:

Picture

Something To Note

It should be noted that the equipment is not an accurate representation of his equipment, the image is merely meant to show his physical appearance.

Name: Edwyn Cenric

Race: Half-Elf (Going off of D&D Half-Elves. Look like humans with sharper features, live into their early 100’s on average.

Personality: Edwin is, above all, a restless soul. He’s never been fond of staying in one place for very long. Tying into that is his unbreakable love of adventure, the promise of adventure being his greatest and, at times, only motivator. He’s outgoing, finding that befriending a person is its own kind of adventure. He doesn’t like being alone, and prefers to stay in crowds if at all possible. He’s generally likeable, with a decent sense of humor. That being said, Edwin is naive. He trusts easily and often.

Background: Edwin was the only child of Taia and Alphonse Cenric. Taia was an adventurer and Alphonse was a merchant. The family lived in a flat above Alphonse’s shop. Edwin would say he had a happy childhood. He was fairly sure that his parents, despite being busy with work, loved him. His mother would come back from dungeons with fantastic stories and treasures. His father, a human, taught him to read and write. His mother taught him how to use a sword.

The first big event that shaped his life was the death of his father when he was twelve. He had boarded one of his trade ships, as a sign of good faith to a customer. The ship sank during a storm and no survivors were recovered. To supplement his mother’s uncertain income, he took a job as an assistant to the local doctor. There, he learned how to heal with traditional methods. Later, he accidentally discovered his own aptitude for magical healing. Despite his skill, Edwin found the life of a doctor to be boring. Soon, he was joining Taia on her excursions.

When Edwin was 17, his mother was killed on the job. He delved into the dungeon, recovered her body and sword, and held a funeral. As soon as the ceremonies were finished, Edwin, seeing no reason to stay, got as far away from his home city as possible. For the next six years, he roamed aimlessly, working odd jobs and healing townsfolk along the way. He’s worked as a medic in a mercenary caravan, a sailor, and even a miner for a short time. Now twenty four years old, Edwin finds himself craving adventure again.

Abilities:

• Combat: In terms of physical combat, well, suffice to say there’s room for improvement. He’s a slightly above-average swordsman, but that’s about the extent of his abilities. He is completely incompetent with any sort of ranged weapons, and has no idea what to do with an axe in his hand. Unarmed combat is also completely out of the question.
• Magicks: Luckily for Edwin, he does have one extremely useful non-combat skill. He can use magic to heal his allies. If Edwin is close to a wounded friend, and the wound is a physical wound (He’s not yet skilled enough to heal diseases or fatigue or things of the sort.), Edwin can heal them. The process takes various amounts of time and energy, depending on the size, severity, and age of the wound. (For example, a newly broken leg would take about ten or fifteen minutes to heal, and leave him mildly exerted. Something more severe, like, say, a sword-borne stab wound would ten closer to an hour or so to heal, and leave Edwin feeling as though he had just run a marathon.). It should be noted that Edwin’s healing ability cannot, at his current skill level, replace lost blood or grow back severed limbs. If the target has already lost a lot of blood by the time Edwin gets to them, it may be too late.
• Other Skills: Edwin is a healer, not only in the magical sense, but also in the “bandages and medicine” sense. He is also, supposedly, a fantastic cook.

Equipment:

• Elven Short Sword: This simple Elven sword belonged to Edwin’s mother. It may not be enchanted, or have belonged to any legendary heroes, but its sharp, solid, and light.
• Leather Armor: While this simple set of armor may not be stopping axes or greatswords anytime soon, it provides some mediocre protection while allowing him to move unimpeded. Most importantly, it looks pretty cool.
• Doctor’s Bag: A simple Satchel, filled to the brim with medical supplies. Burn salves, painkilling concoctions, bandages, everything an enterprising healer might need, in a cheap package!
• Talisman of Healing: A slight misnomer, the Talisman is just a coin on a chain that Edwin wears around his neck, amplifying his healing powers. When separated from it, healing takes almost twice as long and requires significantly more energy.

[Nerevarine]

Appearance:


Name:
Tal Shalev

Race:
Koraim - Koraim are a people found distributed across the land living in rather isolated diasporic communities across the world. Distinguished by their very small antler-like horns on an otherwise human-looking appearance, usually sporting red or blonde hair, and olive skin, in addition to a rather youthful looking appearance. The average Koraim lifespan is about 120 years. It is said that their ancestors originated as a civilization based out of a far away island, centered around their Monotheistic Temple Religion, though their classical civilization faced collapse following natural disaster that resulted in the wholesale destruction of their Island home, and the mass emigration of the Koraim from the Isle of Bere.

Koraim have a reputation for being good mages and craftsmen who provide quality services, however, they are often viewed as untrustworthy and greedy by others. The tolerance of the people themselves in the nations that they immigrated to has ranged from indifference to violent persecution, due to their horned appearance, strange monolatric religion and culture, and generalized xenophobia. This has created a sort of insular community among the Koraim, which, though a product of their persecution, often contributes to further distrust of the horned people. Defined by their religion and culture, the Koraim cling to their distinctive faith and customs even in the face of otherwise assimilating in terms of language and dress, though the Kora language is still commonly used in discussions between Koraim themselves, and loanwords are usually found in their everyday speech even in their host languages.

Personality:
Growing up as a middle child in a family of 6 other siblings, Tal is eager to prove herself useful and distinct. As a result, Tal can be a bit annoying in her bids to shine and show off her skill (even if she thinks a bit too highly of her meager training), but underneath it all she is good natured and only wants to help, which are the primary reasons that she followed her family tradition of Alchemy.

Background:
Tal's family originated in migratory bands of Koraim who migrated by sea, fleeing persecution from their previously inhabited lands and seeking refuge in the old country. Tal's parents and her siblings were all born in the Ruritania and, while still having some prejudices against the Koraim, was a much better place for establishing a life. Tal was the 4th child born in a home of 7, which left her in something of an awkward position, feeling generally left out among her other siblings. To make up for it, Tal often left home to go collect wild vegetables and bugs to experiment on, mimicking what she saw her father doing in his shop, and forming a crude understanding of alchemy.

It was at the age of 16 that Tal decided that she wanted to continue the family business of Alchemy. After studying what she could with her father for 3 years, Tal left home with the intention to take personal courses as an apprentice under a more skilled alchemist. Unfortunately, she was immediately rejected, as the Alchemist in question that she wished to study under refused to take on a Kora as a student. Distraught, and without the money to return home, Tal has been etching out a living selling novelty potions, and putting on "magic" shows involving things like Acids and Metals, or crumbling steel swords to rust for money. Not satisfied making low-level money as a drug store owner or street show performer, Tal thinks that, with what she does know about Alchemy already, she may be able to make a little more coin through adventuring.

Abilities:
At the current moment, Tal is what we could call an "amateur" alchemist. She has the most basic skills down; that is, brewing and crafting. However, she has much room to grow in terms of the "defining skill" of an alchemist. That is, Transmutation. While it's one thing to apply heat, pressure or acids to a material to change it, it's entirely different to use magic itself to reshape it on the spot. At the current moment, Tal is capable of transmuting Wood and Sand into new shapes and has the ability to cause rusting in iron and steel items, both with the aid of a transmutation circle drawn onto the item.

As well, Tal is skilled in brewing, capable of making potions and poisons from herbs, plants, and minerals that she finds in the field, or that she buys from other alchemists or merchants.

Equipment:
Tal's current weapon is a deceptively simple wooden pole, about 6 feet tall and 3 inches thick. However, due to her wood transmutation, she can often reshape this wooden weapon into a variety of shapes, as well as lit on fire though transmutation as a tindertwig, by way of the same oxidiation reaction as her rusting transmutations. Other items that she carries with her are a set of thick glass vials for containing and mixing materials, a bag to hold her items in, some herbs for mixing purposes, and a container of water for drinking and mixing uses.

[BKburke]

Appearance: As an Ulitharid, Marith stands nine feet tall

Hider

Name: Masrith

Race: Ulitharid. They are a more powerful sub race of Illithid.

Personality: Masrith is a pretty cold an logical individual. His actions have no concern for the feelings or emotions of others and only really seeks to better himself and his race. He lacks basic understanding on the concept of above world morality because he is a race from a place called the under dark. He isn't one to start fights and prefers to simply observe things and learn from others mistakes. He has a harsh and more spiteful temperament however. He is extremely observant and intelligent individual. He has a certain hatred toward magic as it is banned in his society and fears the insane undead as they pose a very viable threat to his people.

Background: As an Ulitharid. Masrith started off as nothing more as a tadpole waiting to undergo the process of Ceremorphosis. After burrowing into the brain of his host and replacing it. His body developed into that of an Ulitharid. Making him far greater physically and with mental prowess against his Illithid brothers. He was granted a higher status because of this and lived as a noble. Masrith always sought to benefit and improve himself over others and was not considered a kind individual. Living a life with two mentally dominated slaves kind of does that. He always sought the better of his species and only ever followed the laws set by the elder brain. Occasionally trading with other races of the under dark and going to the surface to collect more slaves for their society. It however, wasn't a life full of adventure until the rise of the mountain. The curse began to spread and it was quite shocking. The curse didn't effect them as their minds are absorbed by elder brain anyway. However, This did leave a problem for them. The rapid increasing of undead posed a threat as undead have a good resistance to to mind control. The ones with the mind intact can still be tamed but those with a hollow mind are completely immune to mind control. The society immediately saw this as emergency matter and sought a way to the end the threat. The elder brain and other Ulitharids conversed to discuss a course of action. They decided that it would be best to aid the other above races to destroy this curse and sent several parties to the surface. Masrith was a member of one such group. His people don't have a good rep with humans and others and were rejected. They sought to search for answers on their own but were ambushed by insane undead leaving Masrith separated from his party. Masrith does not know his way above ground however and doesn't know his way home and thus travels alone to seek answers to stop the curse.

Abilities:
Please note that his mind effecting abilites do not work on insane undead. Sane undead have a good natural resistance to it and strong willed individuals can resist them as well.

Masrith has physical strength, speed, reflexes, and stamina that out class a human and rival orcs in physical stature. He also is a skilled combatant in hand to hand combat and is capable of disarming foes efficiently. He however has no idea how to effectively use a sword, spear, or even knives in combat.

Darkvision: Can see perfectly clear in complete darkness.

Psion: As a Ulitharid, his most powerful trait is his mind. He is cable of reading minds and dominating the minds of others, though only two at a time.

Mind blast: attacks an opponents mind with a blast of psionic energy. Can kill if enough energy is charged but normally feels like a really hard punch.

Psionic shield: Can create a shield of psionic energy to protect him.

Hive mind: Masrith can link the minds of his allies to better communicate and plan while in or out of combat.

Translate: He can mentally communicate with any creature that knows any language.

Augment: Masrith can psionically augment his body to better himself physically. He can also use this to heal himself and others. This can't regenerate lost limbs or cure disease and poison but can stabilize a fatal wound. He can also use this to sustain his body from sleep and eating for 3 days.

Dominate: Masrith can forcefully dominate the mind of an strong willed individual but it takes two uninterrupted hours of focus. The individual most also be present within a 5 foot radius.

Constant use and strain of his psionic abilities can cause extreme head aches if not careful and can even cause hallucinations. In extreme cases, it can even cause him to become mentally unstable for a short time.

Equipment: Leather pants braced with steel leggings. A back pack to carry supplies. Steel gauntlets thick enoughb to allow him to catch straight swords and knives in combat. They could technically stop a claymore sword but the force would break his hand.

All seers eye: It is an eye patch that allows him to read and understand any written language. It also does not hinder his sight.

Other: like other ulitharids, he does have the potential to strengthen his mond to be able to open dimensional gates. He cant do it. That is just an example of how powerful their minds can become.