Tenebria's Scales [Freeform, Fantasy, Military]

[BCTheEntity]

@Kafka Komedy ...maybe he's also a necromancer. Probably not, depending on how necromancy works in this setting - how evil is it, like does it actually utilise a corruptive form of Lapi that turns the user evil, or is it just culturally distasteful to reanimate a corpse as basically a mindless robot? And since he's mastered one form of Lapi anyway, I'm wondering how much he's invested into being a wizard... I suppose he would have access to the Khint Alchemist Guild, being the king and all, am I right? If so, a couple thousand years isn't exactly a short period of time in which to master, or at least figure out the use of, a fair few types of Lapi. Any objections, Kafka?

[Kafka Komedy]

@BCTheEntity Well I wanted to have a character that was a sentient knight who was brought back from the dead consciousness and a voice, but no flesh or senses beyond sight. Something like that would require a lapis in or on the skeleton, binding the souls there, at least, to keep it from being OP.

Of course, there could also be a Lapis that just animates corpses, gives them an artificial soul or maybe just restores all their organs but leaves them as soulless husks without any intelligence beyond following orders. As for corrupting influence; I think you'd already have to be pretty corrupt to disrespect the dead so heavily. I'll say no, the necromancy has no negative mental effects, but will wear on the user physical the more he abuses the Lapi.

EDIT: Oh shit I just thought of something cool. Okay so Demons can't master Lapi, and that's because they have no souls, and souls are what allows a person to master and shape lapi. Maybe every time you use a necromancy spell, you have to break off a piece of your own soul to place in the cadaver. Using it too much makes it harder, and eventually impossible, to master and manipulate Lapi. Of course, that's just a thought.

[BCTheEntity]

@Kafka Komedy Ah. That would make it a pretty poor tradeoff, then, and also explain why necromancers aren't so common in the realm. I mean, if you could create as many undead as you liked, the obvious conclusion would be the production of zombie robots to do all the physical labour that the peasantry would usually do, etcetera etcetera, though that does bring up the question of whether or not a soul damaged via necromancy wouldn't gradually regenerate any lost pieces. GOing by what you've proposed, apparently not. Anyway, a necromantic knight for a Kingsguard (who would also need a sense of hearing as well as sight to be able to hear what others say to him, mind) might well be plausible, though I'd imagine it wouldn't directly be the king who created him, since the whole "break off pieces of your soul" issue is a thing he'd want to avoid dealing with personally.

[Footman]

I went ahead and made a little bit of lore about Fordsen, which is Sir Galan's fief. I did this just in case anyone ever happened to visit there, to give them some pointers as to what the town is like. It's only a draft, and I might add or change a few things, but this will be the big and large of it.

I'm going to add it to Sir Galan's "Other" section on his char sheet.

Fordsen

Notable Information

Fieflord: Sir Galan of Fordsen

Population:

• Humans - 527

Services Offered:

• Blacksmithing
• Horse Breeder/Stable
• General Goods Market

Garrison Size:

• 67 Men-At-Arms (Based at the Castle)
• 21 Town Watch (Based in the town)

---

Places of Interest

The Missing Boot Tavern

Located down the central thoroughfare. A well kept thatch roofed structure with an adjoining stable. Inside, one will always find a roaring central hearth, a bar well stocked with the realm's ales and wine, and a kitchen that boasts some of the finer tasting meat pies in this area of the realm.

Fordsen Market

Lining the central thoroughfare of Fordsen, one will find several stalls selling various common goods. From foods and spices, to cloths and tools, an adventurer will find all they need here when it comes to the basics.

Fordsen Smith

The town's blacksmith can be located down the central thoroughfare, alongside the Missing Boot Tavern. Equipped with a simple forge, it is enough to service and create weapons made from common ores.

Fordsen Castle

Located on the hill at the rear of Fordsen, one will find Fordsen Castle. Currently the residence of Sir Galan, it is a simple and squat yet robust structure of stone and iron. Five turrets and strong ramparts form the structure's defences, and within, one will behold the generously sized banquet hall and living quarters. Though by no means an impregnable fortress, it has been three centuries since the Castle has fallen to a siege.

Owing to Sir Galan's love of horses, and of the cavalry charge, the Castle is well stocked with destriers. If one is in need of a horse, then they could perhaps seek out the Castellan and purchase one for a few gold coins.

---

People of Interest

Bulnar the Big

Bulnar is the landlord of the Missing Boot Tavern, as was his father before him, and his father's father before that.

He is named 'the Big' for a reason that is immediately obvious. Six feet tall, and seemingly six feet wide, everything about Bulnar's stature suggests that he is not designed to fit through normal sized doorways. Nevertheless, despite his somewhat gluttonous nature, Bulnar is known as a decent man who treats his customers fairly and with respect.

It is rumoured however, that he has connections with the Thieves Guild, which is something he is always eager to stamp out. The town watch have never acted on these suspicions however, possibly because Bulnar is beloved throughout Fordsen.

If you're looking for Bulnar, then head to the Missing Boot Tavern, and find the large bald man with several missing teeth behind the bar.

Lord Commander Kellan Stormwater

Castellan of Fordsen Castle, Lord Commander Kellan is Sir Galan's second in command, and is in charge of maintaining Fordsen's affairs in the Fieflord's absence. Best described as a handsome man, with thick brown hair and daring blue eyes, Kellan has a jubilant temperament and is known as an honest and just man.

As far as his combat prowess goes, then Kellan is a renowned swordsman and a skilled commander, and the men respect him for these abilities. Cross swords with him only if you are confident that this mere mortal cannot best you in a feat of arms.

[Kafka Komedy]

@BCTheEntity Oh yeah, she'd have hearing too. No touch-y, sniff-y, or taste-y though. No Lapi either, since they don't have any "stamina." Of course, the trade off would be pretty good. Less places to hit, no pain, and immunity to blinding/poison/etc. since there are no organs to attack.

As for the soul regeneration, I'd be open to the idea, but it'd have to be at a slower rate than one can produce skeletons on average.

And as for the being under the King, I was actually thinking of her being under the Glanz, but I think I like the idea of a Glanz commander being reanimated and being so grateful they switch sides or something like that.

@Footman Pretty cool! Thanks for contributing so much. I oughta describe the Mountain Tengu more in Hiro's Other section.

[BCTheEntity]

@Kafka Komedy Uh, yeah, that too. Anyways, I should probably get on with the character sheet now, or at least the baseline for the king... and maybe it'd be a good idea to create the RP thread for this game too? Draw in some more players from that section, and so on?

[Kafka Komedy]

@BCTheEntity I'll create the thread tomorrow, once I get up, probably. I may also send a message out to the original players of the RP this was based on. Couldn't hurt, right? Anywho, I'll be taking my regulated 10 hour nap soon so ciao for now.

[Pathfinder]

More of a proof of concept than anything, too tired to work on anything halfway decent. Everything is debatable and up in the air.

---

WIP, Rogor Gouge-Horn

Rogor Gouge-Horn

Gender: Male
Age: 34
Race: Beastman, Minotaur specifically

Equipment

• Black Iron Plate (Heavy armor made for both protection and intimidation)
• Rough Hammer (A large, crude, and effective warhammer)
• Twin Hand Axes (More akin to sheets of sharpened metal stuck to sticks than axes, they nonetheless do the job)
• Wicked Hook (A gnarled meathook, if time and circumstance permit it Rogor will try to steal away a captive after a big battle. If nothing else it's an effective back up)

Abilities

(List Lapi, ETs, or Mutations here)
The use of Lapi is extremely difficult for Beastmen to use due to their chaotic, some would say corrupted, souls. The magic is equally likely to fizz out or flare uncontrollably as it is to work as intended, as such Beastmen tend to give Lapi a wide berth. Instead they rely on what comes naturally.


• Blood Tracking: A staple of all Minotaurs is to track someone through their blood. To do this the blood must still have some "life" to it, still retaining wetness and warmth. With this blood, a Minotaur can track someone for tens of miles with just the faintest drops of blood. Unfortunately a Minotaur does not know where someone is, only a general area that needs to be narrowed down.
• Minotaur Physiology: Nothing extremely exciting besides being big, strong brutes in addition to having greater senses. Unfortunalty Minotaurs lack much grace and tend to be on the dimmer side of the intelligence spectrum.
• Fortitude: From poisons to rancid meat, a Minotaurs metabolism can work through pretty much anything in good time.

Talents

Melee Combat, what Rogor lacks in finesse he more than makes up for in strength and savage brutality.

Personality:

Biography:

Other:
Beastmen are, on the average, man height or slightly larger. Minotaurs are fairly larger, Rogor himself is a fairly average specimin for his species only being about 9'6 without the horns and just eclipsing 634 lbs.

Much to the discomfort of his comrades Rogor is an eater of human flesh, it being a rare delicacy back in the homeland. He partakes in it as much as he can in the privacy of his quarters.

In battle Rogor tries to look out for Standard Barers, he likes collecting the Standards

[Footman]

@Pathfinder I like him.

With regards to the whole blood smelling business, you mention that the blood must be warm for him to track his prey... but er, surely the blood cools down before long? Maybe just expand on it a little bit.

I mean, if he injures someone, and they run off - but there is some of their blood on his weapon/teeth, can he then form some kind of permanent hunter's mark on them which will last indefinitely until he catches them? Or would he just merely be able to follow the trail of blood left behind by a fleeing wounded foe?

Sorry if I'm being daft, and I know it's a bit of a moot issue, but it's the only part of the CS that didn't click right with me. Otherwise everything looks great.

EDIT: Errr, obviously I'm just a scrub and this is just my friendly opinion, so feel free to beat me away with a rolled newspaper.

[BCTheEntity]

@Kafka Komedy A'ight. Looking forward to seeing who was in the original game, then. And with that, let's start this sheet up and get it done over the next two days, haha.

The Eternal King of Perinne

King Sardiel of Perinne, a.k.a. King Sardiel the Eternal

Gender: Male
Age: 2231
Race: Elf

Equipment

• The Royal Armour - A high-quality suit of full plate steel commissioned by Sardiel to maximise his own protection in the event of an inevitable conflict, with metal Lapi stones spread through its structure, allowing it to transform into a semi-fluid state like a full-body suit, to eradicate weak points in its structure, let the bearer move as smoothly as though they were unarmoured, and automatically reinforce itself against particularly hard blows such as those of a mace at the cost of momentary weakness in other areas. A small Lapi stone embedded in the helmet also allows the user to see out of the metal of the helmet as though it were not there whilst transformed, letting even the eyes and head be covered more effectively.
• The Royal Mace - A weapon again commissioned by Sardiel to keep up with recent advances in protection, possessing a spiked head of lead coated in hard steel, placed atop and fused to a sturdy metallic pole, then decorated all over with recessed gold trim. Despite its name and appearance, it serves as a physical weapon only, albeit quite a powerful weapon that is hard to protect against.
• The Royal Shield - Yet another item commissioned by Sardiel, again to assist his own self-defense, this is a steel heater shield embossed with the Perinne family's coat of arms designed more to deflect blows than block them outright, largely because a deflected blow leaves the foe open to a counterattack. It contains a Lapi gem in the handle for the purposes of healing, though said gem rarely needs to be used thanks to the properties of The Royal Armour.
• The Royal Swords - A pair of 80cm long steel arming swords, of comparatively simple design by the standards of much of Sardiel's other equipment. These possess a single metal Lapi each in the hilt, most often used by Sardiel to ensure the blades remain inconceivably sharp for the time even after solid blows, though they can in theory be reshaped as desired as a result of the stones' presence.

Abilities

• One of the most major uses of Lapi Sardiel has is that of a rather rare sort which, upon activation through a somewhat complicated ritual, significantly slows the user's aging for an extended period of time. In fact, he has completely mastered this form of Lapi, and is vigilant in reapplying its effects when he feels they are close to running out, with the end result that he has not been seen to age at all within the lifespan of anybody currently in his court, and regardless is already nearly three times older than one would expect the natural lifespan of an elf to be, and coming close to twice the age of the next oldest known elf in history, thus granting his moniker as "eternal".
• Sardiel is also an accomplished user of various other Lapis, thanks in part to the aforementioned excessive lifespan; most notably is his mastery of lightning Lapi, which he often utilises in combat when he is forced to engage a foe directly, and his mastery of nature Lapi, allowing him to create and grow plants from seemingly nothing, for both utility, such as spontaneous growth of fruiting trees, and combat support, such as vines to restrain a target or sharpened tree branches to stab or lash with. Indeed, by expending a significant portion of his stamina upon a particularly large chunk of nature Lapi, he can create a humanoid tree monster several meters tall, akin to a mindless ent or golem, to fight in his place, either as an automated monstrosity for distraction of the foe whilst he makes his escape, or as a creature directly controlled by his movements such that he can combine his own combat skill with the strength of such a large entity, though the thing does bear somewhat of a weakness to greater quantities of fire even given that it is not made up of dry wood. Other commonly-used Lapis include fire, water, earth, metal, and healing, though he has access to most types of Lapis which exist anyway thanks to his role as king, and none of those listed are specifically mastered in the manner of Sardiel's primary three Lapis.
• As with any elf, Sardiel possesses two common ETs. The first is the enhancement of all his senses beyond standard human limits: he can see farther and in more detail at any given distance than nearly all humans, hear a greater range of sounds than any human with higher limits to volume before damage is sustained, detect much more subtle flavours and smells than most humans, and is far more tactile when it comes to pressure and temperature than the majority of humans. However, these are not the only senses humans and elves share, and Sardiel also possesses better senses of balance and acceleration, awareness of the relative positions of his body parts, both sensitivity to pain and threshold for pain before it overwhelms him, and various minor improvements to internal senses. Even his sense of time is better coordinated - where humans will gradually perceive any given time period as being shorter as they age thanks to the relative amount of time experienced by them, and indeed may perceive time as moving faster or slower based on excitement factors, elven minds experience time in a way that makes every hour of every day seem to progress at a constant rate regardless of their age, meaning they don't lose touch with beings of shorter lifespans as a result of essentially perceiving their aging the way a human might perceive that of a dog or cat.
• The other ET common to elves is, effectively, an improvement to their overall agility. Thanks to a combination of more flexible joint structures, more specialised muscles, a faster metabolism encouraging a slender build with little body fat, and slightly greater bone plasticity, Sardiel is naturally capable of moving and bending in ways that specialised human contortionists would have trouble emulating. Combined with the enhancement of his senses, he is also far more dextrous than most humans, capable of performing delicate tasks such as crafting minute sculptures that humans might struggle to create. The exchange for this is comparatively lower strength than a human of similar build, though since he is a rather skilled warrior, his physique is not exactly weak to begin with.
• Finally, though it is not confirmed to be an ET in itself, it is believed that the minor draconic heritage of the Perinne royal family, Sardiel included, has granted them a certain degree of additional stamina, making them proportionally more capable of engaging in prolonged and/or intense activity, as well as directly improving their spellcasting capability by giving them a greater energy pool to draw from when utilising Lapi.

Talents

Personality: One of Sardiel's primary motivations is his intense fear of death. He is a naturally rather paranoid individual as a result, and has taken many precautions to ensure that he will not die by any means, ranging from myriad bodyguards to protect him whilst he sleeps to several food testers of different races to generally remaining off the battlefield when he can and leading from behind when he must, even though he has trained extensively in the use of blade, bludgeon, and Lapis alike to further ensure he will remain alive as long as he possibly can. Whilst this does provide him with a great deal of motivation in all areas, not just those focused on his own lifespan, it also means he finds it very difficult to have complete faith and trust in anybody, with even his King's Guard not immune to suspicion if he believes a member of the royal court has reason to want him dead.

That being said, he is not as tyrannical or draconian as one might imagine, and in fact takes his role as Perinne's King quite seriously, utilising his natural drive, long years of experience and knowledge of how to rule, as well as those of his leading generals and King's Guard, to develop and implement solutions to problems in his court and kingdom as they present themselves; the main problem is that in doing so, he regularly focuses his efforts on projects of a grand scale that eclipse the individuals of the realm, which promise great long-term gain that many of the kingdom's shorter-lived inhabitants will not see for a substantial portion of their life, if they even live to see it at all. This is only exacerbated by his immense age even for an elf, and he often does not account for the customs or concerns of the common folk and peasantry as a result - after all, he's lived through two millenia of cultural change; what's another decade or two compared to that?

Biography:

Other:

Incidentally, if we're going to come up with empire colours, the Perinne royal family's is going to be mostly green with some red (like the picture of that one LotR elf who wouldn't stop showing up in my Google search for elven kings), and most nobles in the court would be encouraged to dress accordingly, whilst servants would be required to dress accordingly. That said, I don't imagine there'd be any objections to others of the King's Guard wearing their own house's colours as appropriate, so don't feel like that restriction applies to any Perinne-aligned PCs, folks.

[Footman]

@BCTheEntity I imagine Galan of Fordsen would wear the King's colours, but have his own crest (which I have yet to devise) sewn to his tunic. Maybe one of his men would carry a banner displaying different colours, just to represent Galan's party as being from Fordsen in any battlefield/mustering scenario.

As for him being an Elf, does this mean that we have a sizable Elven population throughout the Kingdom?

[BCTheEntity]

@Footman Sounds like a plan for Galan. As for Elven population, I imagine they're not exactly a minority within the kingdom's borders; plenty are probably nobles, simply due to the political and economic advantages of living about ten times longer than any human could, and the rest likely hold a reasonable amount of land within the borders of the kingdom. Hell, maybe that's another reason for the Glanz rebellion: fear that eventually, the elves will own everything everywhere. Y'know, because elves are obviously bastards who never ever consider any other species as worth mentioning, let alone dealing with in any fair sense of the word. /s

[iHxzardx]

I not sure If I can join this, I need a tad less, magic and monsters, I guess... Sorry bout that :/

[Pathfinder]

@Footman
No issues friend. It isn't a permanent mark, and the blood must be warm and wet for the best results. However the less life in the blood, the less specific his tracking becomes. Like cold, congealed blood would only really give a "North, South, East, or West" vibe and he'd have to rely on more natural tracking abilities.

But, for example, if he were to stab you and get distracted while you run off... Well it'd be fairly easy to find you. Kinda like in a slasher movie when the killer knows exactly where your hiding. I like to think that when he does the blood tracking, he latches onto the after image of someone's soul.

[Footman]

@BCTheEntity I like that idea. A racially motivated rebellion. "They dook our jobs!" The King sounds like someone who might be wholly good, but who fails to grasp the reality of the situation on the ground i.e he might make changes to the Kingdom that stand to greatly benefit the people, but the changes come too fast and fail to realise local customs, fears and concerns, thus resulting in resentment.

But yeah; an Elven hierarchy that has slowly wormed its way into the Elite over the span of human generations, so that by now they are the be all and end all of the government's voice. Naturally, you'd have human nobles such as Sir Galan who would look at that with one of two views:

"Well, that's just the way of the world. They live beyond our years, and with all that wisdom they must be the best for the job?" and "This land was once my grandfather's! We bled and died for our freedom against foreign nations! And now what are we? Ornament's in some rich Elf's bastard garden. TO WAR!!!!"

Could add an interesting edge; but at the same time, I'd like to hear the GM explain the reasons for the civil war, as mayhap they're withholding their own ideas.

@Pathfinder

I think I understand. Thanks for clearing it up!

[BCTheEntity]

@Footman That's kind of what I'm aiming for, yes. Better than what I was aiming for, even. Essentially, going by your proposal, Sardiel would mean well, but the changes he'd implement take little to no stock of the individuals of the land, in particular the comparatively short-lived humans who may not see the successes wrought by a given change for another ten years, up to a quarter of their life if they're peasants who only live to about forty or so. That, and as we've said, the natural tendency for elves to have an extended amount of time to figure out politics and money-making and becoming top brass, the epitome of all that being Sardiel himself. So those could be points of rebellion, depending on @Kafka Komedy's considerations for the whole thing.

[Kafka Komedy]

Finally read through all the stuff and man, you guys have some good ideas. I like the elf thing a lot, that would give the humans and dwarves (mainly humans) a more tangible reason to join the Glanz. As for both of the new characters, they're looking good, though, living for 2000 years has made Sardiel a bit ahead of everyone, I'm confident things won't get out of hand with @BCTheEntity playing him.

As for the racial breakdown of the kingdom;
30% Humans
20% Dwarves
20% Elves
10% Halflings
20% Assorted Mythical Races

Anywho, I'll create that thread and message the pervious members.

[Kafka Komedy]

Okay, we're set up. Now to message the others.

[BCTheEntity]

@Kafka Komedy Thanks for the vote of confidence, and for the racial breakdown. Now I don't have to come up with that myself. By the way, uh... I just figured I'd mention this, but why do tengus explode when hit hard enough? That seems a bit... out of context, as it were.

[Kafka Komedy]

@BCTheEntity Originally they were causing trouble, messing with travelers and murdering them. Eventually, a group of peasants and a few knights fought them. The Tengu won, but a powerful wizard cursed them so that they would die if they incurred the wrath of another creature. Now they're a bit shorter and fatter since killing stuff is less of a viable option.

But also...

They're based off the prinnies from disgaea.