[OOC] Blades of Iron Roses: A fantasy Knight RP

[VitaVitaAR]

I'll post again once we have a full rotation, or if everyone planning on posting has posted. ^^;

[Saltwater Thief]

Apologies for the silence, had a few long workdays. CS is ready for review.

Hider

Name: Markus Peregris
Age: 22
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Appearance:

Face

Armor

He stands at 6'4", has a lightly built but strong frame, and sports grey plate armor into battle (see above)

Personality: Markus is far and away one of the most polite and cordial young men you will ever meet. He speaks with respect to his betters and humility to his lessers, and there is almost never anything impolite or boastful about him. Beyond that, he is exceptionally resolute and stalwart in his ways, to the point of stubbornness in many cases, and he refuses to give up once he's set his mind to something. While there are some downsides, once his trust is earned there are few allies as stalwart and dependable as Markus Peregris.

Brief Backstory:

Hider

In the nation of Thaln, there exists a family of moderate nobility called the Peregris House. While not the richest or most illustrious of houses, the Peregris family is prestigious in their own right, mostly a military family notable for producing potent fighters and commanders. Very notable about them is that the daughters are the primogenitors, rather than the sons as is typical. Male children were often given other roles... but for some, depending on the head of the house at the time, the fate was far worse.

Born several years after his sister Kryssa, Markus was one such child. It was intended that he be another girl, that the house might have a pair of young ladies to mirror the two goddesses that watch over Thaln, but when a son emerged he was passed off to a secondhand wet nurse and, upon not needing her anymore, was subjected to a terrible torment; total neglect. He was utterly ignored in all things that occurred on the estate, always in favor of his elder sister. Where Kryssa was educated by some of the greatest minds the country had to offer, he was forced to glean what he could from the few books that he managed to get his hands on in youth. Where Kryssa fed on well-made food thrice per day, Markus would surely have starved were it not for a sympathetic cook who slipped him a fair meal each night. Where Kryssa had her clothing specially made by a tailor, Markus was forced to sew his own out of leftover rags and considered it a lucky day when one of his sister's garments was torn and thrown where he could find it. He was forbidden to leave the estate and the servants were barred from paying him any mind on pain of exile, but outside of those decrees or their violations he received no recognition or attention at all. For years this continued, and it's likely Markus would have been consumed by it had an angel not intervened.

That angel was none other than Kryssa herself. She alone looked on the boy she called brother with any feeling at all. At first, it was purely a young girl's curiosity. As time passed that curiosity grew to become worry and concern for him, and by the time she was 13 and he 10 worry and concern had grown to become compassion. She appealed to their parents, nigh begging them to lift their decrees against him and allow her brother to be recognized as her brother instead of a piece of dirt. When that was rejected, she took matters into her own hands. Each night, after sleep had descended upon the household, Kryssa would creep to Markus' room, and by candlelight the siblings crafted clothing for Markus, enjoyed delicacies that Kryssa had brought from the kitchen, and studied together. The matter of their sessions varied, but for four years they two proceeded as such, growing closer and closer with each passing eve.

One such night, their discussion grew somber. In spite of Kryssa's deeds for him, Markus still felt unwanted and nearly alone in the house. "I need to leave this place," he said, "To find my own path in the world. If I remain here, even with your aid, I'll suffocate." And while she was saddened by his words, Kryssa felt the truth in them and understood how her brother felt. With a blessing in her heart and a promise to build a house that he could come home to, she aided in his flight from the estate and sent him along with a small trinket- a simple falcon feather on a necklace, as a promise to return some day.

For six years Markus traveled Thaln and the neighboring countries, learning he ways of the world. Part of his voyages was falling in with a good-hearted mercenary guild, where he learned how to properly handle himself in a fight. By the time he came marching down the road to the house, Kryssa had rose to her inheritance, and his sister threw open the doors and her arms to welcome him back.

A couple of years later, a messenger arrived from the Order of Iron Roses to inquire if the Peregris House would be sending a representative along to their ranks as they had in the past. Not wanting to disappoint, and in no way desiring Kryssa to go, Markus volunteered and soon was leaving home again. Wishing for his return, Kryssa presented him with a family heirloom; the enchanted shield called the Falcon's Wing.

Equipment:
-Longsword
-Falcon's Wing, a white shield with enchantments woven into it.
-Feather Charm, a falcon's feather attached to a chain. Keeps it on him at all times as a promise to return home safely to his sister.

Skills:
Markus practices a defensive battle style that revolves around protection and defense over aggression and offense. Rather than rush at his target, Markus forces the fight to come to him where he can take control of it and ensure neither he nor his allies come to harm. He's also skilled in unarmed combat, but he very much prefers his sword and board. He is also reasonably skilled at riding, outdoor cooking, and general survival on account of his travels.

Falcon's Wing Enchantments:
-The Wing can be called to the wielder's hands at will. This helps with arming/rearming himself, but it also allows him to hurl the shield for a ranged attack and call it back to him.
-The Wing's enchantments allow it to block magical attacks just as efficiently as physical
-The Wing can project a magic half-dome barrier in a direction, allowing the user to defend against attacks at a wider range for a limited time.
-When used in a shield bash or thrown, the Wing can flare with light and concussive force to add damage and knock opponents back.

[VitaVitaAR]

Accepted.

[TheFake]

Here's another.

Salz Amarr

Name: Salz Amarr
Age: 24
Gender: Female
Race: Half-Giant
Appearance:

Salz is tall, almost 10 feet (at that height she's close enough). While not out on a mission she prefers to wear a loose shirt and pants.
Image
Personality: Salz is boisterous and easygoing. She doesn't take anything terribly seriously and is quick to try to make friends. With anything she has a great amount of self confidence. She finds formality difficult and treats anyone smaller than her in a matronly manner.
Brief Backstory: Salz is the bastard daughter of the old king of a small desert kingdom, one of many such children. Their father was killed in a coup staged by his brother that resulted in the deaths of the entire royal family. In the chaotic aftermath these children fled across the sea, fearing that they would either be purged as an afterthought or used as something for the remaining loyalist forces to rally behind. Eventually they landed in Thaln after a year or more of travel.
Her siblings dispersed themselves across the country but she stayed and pledge herself in service to the man that allowed them to take refuge in his home. She served as a caretaker for their son while he recovered from injuries taken in battle and later as a squire. Salz has recently been knighted.
Equipment: Salz wears the traditional armor of her homeland. She wields a spear that would be more of a pike in the hands of any human.
Skills: While trained in the more esoteric weapons of her culture Salz specializes in fighting with a spear. She also enjoys gardening which was not an option in her homeland.

[VitaVitaAR]

Accepted.

[TheFake]

Post coming soon, think I'll introduce the new girl at Candaeln.

[PaulHaynek]

Because of that crossover RP of ours, I must withdraw from this one to free up some time.

[Saltwater Thief]

I will begin work on a post once the weekend is out. Any suggestions/recommendations for where I should come in?

[ghastlyInc]

@Saltwater Thief
Slaz(The Fake's alt character) is at Candaeln so that might be a good place. Gives you both an opportunity to work on character interactions and feel out a new characters personality before we get into the next arc (this one should be wrapping up soonish according to VV).

I'll also be helping run the next arc, so if the two of you want to get some interaction in, I can pull some characters out for you to interact with (since it would be a little hard to get the new characters into the current arc sans say 'they were just there the whole time')

[Raineh Daze]

I also have someone to spare for hanging around Candaeln.

[VitaVitaAR]

I'll probably be posting later today or tomorrow.

[Feisty-Pants]

Mentioning interest. Could I play a High Elf? I'd make it worth your while. ^_^

[VitaVitaAR]

@Feisty-Pants: I'd like to see your idea for one first, but sure.

[Feisty-Pants]

@Feisty-Pants: I'd like to see your idea for one first, but sure.

@VitaVitaAR

Of course. ^^ Let me brainstorm, and I'll get to work.

[VitaVitaAR]

Alright then.

[Feisty-Pants]

Hider

Name:
Captain Minerva Fairchild -- "The Lion's Fang"
Age:
21
Gender:
Female
Race:
Human

Appearance:
As seen above, Minerva possesses all the regal stature of a human noble. Unless incensed in a particular way, she is poised, elegant, with chestnut brown hair and often ruby lips. The only odd mark about her is that she possesses an eyepatch over her right eye. Having lost it in battle, she covers the scar with such a piece of fabric as she is ashamed of it. Even as a Knight, she primarily wears light armor, with only gauntlets about her hands and wrists and leather armor everywhere else. In fights, she prefers mobility and swiftness, for reasons that shall be detailed below.

Backstory
Minerva Fairchild, often called "The Lion's Fang" was born to an impoverished mother, and a missing father. Raised with the best that her mother could muster, the small family of just two were happy with what they had. With her mother working hard to keep them afloat, Minerva worked equally hard in school to make her mother proud. Excelling in most subjects, she was selected for a full scholarship to a prestigious school of Magi.

However, such things would never come to pass.

On her twelfth year of life, Minerva's mother fell gravely ill. Slowly, she was forced to watch on as she worked through painful misery to provide for her family, and Minerva began to steal from merchants. Desperate to try and conjure up enough money to pay for the treatment that would've saved her mother's life.

Yet such a cost was steep, and she never even came close.

On an autumn day, as the leaves turned gold and the trees fell into a slumber for winter, her mother passed away. Without a penny to her name, and a life in squalor, despite the monstrous sacrifices she had to make. As Minerva sat on her mother's deathbed, she discovered a note. And in a parting, rasping whisper that bespoke of the agony she was experiencing, her mother told Minerva who she believed her father to be.

His name was William Fairchild. A great Magi of the prestigious Fairchild weaponsmiths, who were known for the exquisite craftsmanship of their blades throughout the lands. He had disappeared one year after Minerva had been born without a word, without warning. Pointing her daughter towards a closet that she had been forbidden from opening, she soon found a sword. A beautifully crafted blade whose flat was inlaid with rubies bearing runic designs. It glistened and shone in the daylight, and her mother told her it was once her father's, and despite its pricelessness, she dared not to sell it.

Beneath it, she directed her daughter to an envelope, and within it was a simple sketch of her father and an address. As she sat beside her mother and her only true family drew her last breath, Minerva was told to call it. So as she wept, she walked for days by herself on winding country roads, and on the eve of her thirteemth birthday, her life changed as she knew it, in ways that she could have never possibly expected.

She rang the bronze bell at the front door, and it took only a secnd to open. Beneath the archway stood an imposing old man with broad shoulders, looking down at the street urchin lf a girl with the utmost contempt. Contempt that abruptly turned to outright fury once he saw the hilt of the sword in her hands. His hand shot out, striking her across the cheek and making her world spin into darkness.

She woke hours later, tied to a chair and before a table that seemed to stretch for polished eons to each side. The dreadfully heavy rapping of fingertips atop the table foretold of her company, and her azure eyes rose to see none other than the man who struck her still glaring in a seat across from her, and a blonde girl who appeared to be about her age, staring with equal ferocity. There, in that moment in time, she learned who William Fairchild truly was.

He was a monster, an abomination, and she was his daughter indeed. She learned of how the man before her was her uncle, and the patriarch of the family. How the girl before her was named Leonora, and the heiress to the family. She, the daughter of the Bastard was a black sheep, an outcast, and destined for nothing more. She came to know how he had incited a civil war within the family, costing thousands of lives over selfish idealism, and how he had tried to bring the family to its knees. How he nearly succeeded, but had been betrayed by his followers once they saw the destruction he had wrought; and that he had disappeared.

She was told then however, that much to the Patriarch's ire, the family council had decided that she was not guilty for the actions of her father. That she would inherit his estate and fortune, and that she would be taught the ways of the Family's magic.

Suddenly, the street urchin of a girl had a fortune greater than she could have ever imagined, land and riches beyond her greatest dreams, and a new outright hatred for her father. After all, he had thrown all of such away for foolish ideals, and as a result her mother had never been able to receive the treatment that would've saved her life. Inwardly, with her hatred, she swore to herself that she would have her vengeance.

It drove her, the quest for revenge consumed her for the next six years. Allowing her to endure the massively painful and straining training that the Fairchild family shaped their magi with. It was with her father's sword she trained, as she was intent on ending his life with it. Eventually, she found it had a name: Caladbolg, and with the surety of her tutors, she rose to become an adept Magi. However, once more as she decoded the Runes on her father's sword, she uncovered the magic her family hoped she would not.

One day on her seventeenth year, she was sparring with her beloved cousin when she finally awakened what was known as 'The Ultimate Eye'. Her eyes filled with white fire that laced across her pale cheeks, and she moved with such rapidity that Leonora could barely perceive her strikes, and she resoundly defeated her. Instead of pride, she was met with horror and judgement. She was forced to enlist into the clergy of Reon, as a Knight. Where she found judgement from her family, the clergy embraced her, and she soon found herself fighting side by side with some of the bravest and noble people she had ever met.

She rose into the rank of Captain by her first year, and it was in this year she finally had her vengeance. There was rumor of a swordsman with white eyes terrorizing a village, and she was dispatched to the scene at her request. Three days later, she arrived to see a burning village, countless bodies sliced in two, and her father standing in their midst. With a screaming fury, and to his surprise, rhe lone Knight engaged him with his own magic and his own sword. The resulting fight was just as hard to watch as it were to see as strike after strike of blades resounded through the air with horrific rapidity, and in a flash, he had taken her eye.

She had taken his arms.

As his blood spattered across the earth, Minerva removed her own father's head from his shoulders, and went to the Fairchild family's head mansion where her uncle slept. Upon her arrival, she delivered her father's head, and with it she was accepted into the family at long last. With such acceptance, she was finally forged her own sword, named Durendal, a twin to Caladbolg. With both her father's blade and her own sheathed upon the backside kf her hips, they reminded her of where she had come from...and where she would eventually go.

So now, in her second year in service to the Knights, she seeks to further sharpen her razor edge, and help those in need, nothing more.

Equipment:
Durendal & Caladbolg -- Two longswords light enough to be easily wielded single handedly.
Gauntlets
Leather Armor

Skills:
The Ultimate Eye -- Minerva's trademark magic, and the most feared magic of the Fairchild Family. While some magics comjure fire out into the world, this one harnesses the fire within. Causing perception and bodily enhancement to maddening levels as she she can be described as moving faster than some can even see. Survivors tell of tales where she was standing before them fifty feet distant, and when they blinked, she was upon them. If used for short periods, she suffers from some physical exertion, however for extended periods (Half an hour or so), she will be magically exhausted for a full day afterward.

The Rose of May -- A blossoming of fire around her form that explodes outward. White hot fire, that appear to be flower petals swirl about her form in countless thousands of tiny blades that burn and slice through even the heaviest armor, if it were not magically warded. She can additionally shape and change the direction of these petals into focused and intensely piercing attacks.

Okay, done!! I think, waiting for review.

[Raineh Daze]

I think I should point out that there aren't really any defined ranks in the knights, aside from the captain's. ... and that borrowing names from classical mythology for swords doesn't really fit so much. :P

Besides, Irish and French? D:

[Saltwater Thief]

I think I should point out that there aren't really any defined ranks in the knights, aside from the captain's. ... and that borrowing names from classical mythology for swords doesn't really fit so much. :P

Besides, Irish and French? D:

@Raineh Daze

Irish and French are two of Feisty's Irl heritages, so she's done a lot of research into those folklores. It's an odd pairing to be sure, but they're her favorites and Minerva is one of her most beloved characters. (The two of us have worked together on a variety of sites, so we're pretty familiar with each other).

That said, I'm happy to get working on my intro post. Anything special or particular I should know about the town of Candaeln?

[VitaVitaAR]

@Saltwater Thief: I'll look into the bio shortly.

Candaeln isn't a town. It's the home base of the Iron Roses, a large building with an expansive bath(donated Mayon blessed water stocking it), a kitchen, and a lot of bedrooms.

It's in Aimlenn, Thaln's capital.

[Raineh Daze]

<Snipped quote by Raineh Daze>

Irish and French are two of Feisty's Irl heritages, so she's done a lot of research into those folklores. It's an odd pairing to be sure, but they're her favorites and Minerva is one of her most beloved characters. (The two of us have worked together on a variety of sites, so we're pretty familiar with each other).

@Saltwater Thief

It's a combination on one character that seems fairly inconsistent given the radically different linguistic bases. xD