[OOC] The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

[Scout]

Viveca final is up, we'll get cracking on relationships momentarily.

[Scout]

Sooooo those PMs were started like 2 hours ago or more and then... My roommates exploded. I live with grown ass adults in the military who are CHILDREN. CHILDREN. SO I'm sorry. I was doing damage control. I'm done with that. XD Moving out so so soon I need to GOOOO.

[ML]

i feel, sometimes one of my roommates flips his shit and causes a great deal of chaos

[Draken]

Sorry for the silence. I get busy for 48 hours and suddenly* this thread has 4 more pages!

I'll get to re-reading everyone's backstories and drafting up relationships, especially for Scout and Myst's characters. However, I was thinking Father Ilya would visit his family. It's gonna be an interesting time...

*This is the expected pace.

Also, yes. I knowingly doomed you all to confusion when I applied to this RP. Fear the evil mastermind that is me.

[shylarah]

@Scout OH dear. *hugs*

@Draken Bah, you're not that confusing. =P By the way, I like your sig, especially the first half. My second- or third-newest character agrees with you. WAIT IS YOUR AVATAR ZELDA? *squints*

[Draken]

WAIT IS YOUR AVATAR ZELDA? *squints*

@shylarah

99% sure not. I totally did not just rip pretty magic symbols from the internet.

Also, it's not like the bodies are being *used*

[Lovejoy]

Some relationship details for Antonin and Gregoroth. Let me know if anything needs to be changed.

***

Father Antonin's relationships
When it came to Warband Phoenix, the White Necromancer treated the pupils of that class much the same as he did other trainees, with kindness and a scholarly warmth, with one exception. Recognizing Mother Astraea's incredibly gift for healing magic, Antonin was her master in cultivating these arts for much of her childhood. Throughout the years, as master and trainee, the two shared a distant if not cordial relationship.

Antonin didn't seem too interested in the Inquisitor or her future, never taking note of her bruises or her acoomplishments on the stone training yard, but was seemingly obsessed with her magic. He dedicated himself to teaching her how to master it. Oftentimes, he would call her inborn magic "a miracle among miracles", for it was an exceedingly rare occurance for a child to be born with such a gift. For his part, Antonin was unlike any of the other instructors in the Seminary. He never punished her for her mistakes, or broke her to the point of tears in an attempt to test her willpower. Instead, he was as a gardener, cultivating a prized fruit through many long seasons. He would only teach her once a week, and though these sessions were draining on her ether, it never became as brutal as anything like her physical training. Indeed, it mostly seemed as though he was observing, and not teaching her. To her surprise, her gift seemed to blossom on its own.

Whenever Astraea took part in his lessons, she would notice how he never seemed to make eye contact, and appeared to look through her whenever he did. On the one occasion that her curiosity got the best of her and she allowed herself to sense Antonin's emotions, she was confronted with something wholly unexpected from the friendly, warm instructor. The depths of despair and sadness she felt upon seeing his true emotions was unlike anything she had ever felt. Within Antonin, she felt an all-enshrouding pain-- physical, emotional, and spiritual. It was as if he had been broken into a thousand painful fragments and a third of those pieces had been stitched together again. After taking one glimpse at his inner self, she never did it again, and quietly continued her training with him until Antonin was called to the Elurian front a few months before Culmination.

Father Gregoroth's relationships:

Gregoroth was a terror, an unyielding battering ram that continuously broke the members of the class, allowed them to rebuild themselves, and broke them again. He had a seething distaste for weakness, and did not suffer it. The Great Bear seemed to exist solely to snuff the unworthy from the world, and didn't care for the shattered pieces he left in his wake.

He was good at his job, for it forced Phoenix to become as steel in order to survive. Out of all the pupils, he took pleasure in torturing Stina the most. Through the years of punishment and Stina's enduring of them, it became clear that Gregoroth had taken a shine to the young man. Gregoroth would often berate Stina, calling him a stupid weakling, but laughing all the while. He would often beat the young man into a bloody pulp, and then nod in approval when Stina rose to his feet. It was a sign of respect between master and student, and there is little doubt that the Great Bear's teachings helped fashion Stina into the Inquisitor he is today.

[Lovejoy]

Also, I just realized. We *really* need someone who can "track" ether. Like, they'd be able to sense it or something. So, for example, if there was a group of people waiting in ambush, you'd be able to tell where they were beforehand. Also, if someone were to run away, you would be able to follow their trail if you had a sample of their ether.

Anyone who isn't already incredible powerful want to have an extra power? It'd have to make sense for your character though.

I'm thinking Hassan or Stina would be suitable. What do @The Angry Goat and @Sisyphus think?

[Lovejoy]

Whoops, double post!

Also, @shylarah, is there anything else you need for Ziotea? I noticed you haven't posted her in the Characters section.

By the way, could everyone post all their relationship info in the Characters section as well? Even if it isn't finished? Thanks!

[ML]

ill do tracker

Oh what was that must have been a bird or something oh wowee

[The Angry Goat]

Also, I just realized. We *really* need someone who can "track" ether. Like, they'd be able to sense it or something. So, for example, if there was a group of people waiting in ambush, you'd be able to tell where they were beforehand. Also, if someone were to run away, you would be able to follow their trail if you had a sample of their ether.

Anyone who isn't already incredible powerful want to have an extra power? It'd have to make sense for your character though.

I'm thinking Hassan or Stina would be suitable. What do @The Angry Goat and @Sisyphus think?

@Lovejoy

are you sure you want the dude who can speed boost himself able to detect where opponents are before they know he knows? dear god that would be terrifying :P

I think it fits hassan a bit better, but I can work with it if Sisyphus doesnt want it

[Draken]

Jeez. Why do character relationships take so long for me to do?

I finally wrote one proper, for Father Rodion. I edited it in, but I'll put it here too anyways.

Naturally, feel free to voice any objections or adjustments, Drakey.

Fathers Ilya and Rodion

@Drakey
Father Rodion Kuznetsov: Father Ilya Bjornlie has almost nothing but respect for the man. Respect, and a tiny bit of pity for his social life and his doomed talents in the military. As Ilya sees it, imposing the life of an inquisitor on Father Rodion suppresses his ability to grow and create truly great things, especially with the sheer amount of time being dedicated to training and such. That said, the work Ilya has witnessed in his visits to the foundry have been eye opening.

Though massive mechanical wonders are somewhat commonplace in the military industrial complex, Father Rodion's work on intricate marvels showed Father Ilya the sheer potential of the sciences. He is barely able to fathom how the Madrys functions or even exists, despite all of his schooling. However, what kept Ilya's eye was the second unique weapon the reclusive savant had developed: the Sniper Rifle. Though it quickly became apparent to Ilya that Father Rodion had no interest in making a second copy, he kept returning for a night every few weeks. Ilya would help with the manual work, such as lifting, measuring, poring. While doing so, he would ask occasional questions about how things worked, or ask for bits of advise with the ongoing customization of his own kinetic rifle, in contrast to the etheric wonder that the Sniper Rifle is. Indeed, without these exchanges, Father Ilya quietly doubts he would have perfected the "Father Ilya's Piercing Paling" and the various modifications which allow it to be used without damaging the barrel of his gun. Not in time to justify its use to his instructors, at least.

[shylarah]

@Lovejoy trying ot tighten up the CS. May have gotten sidetracked by Mass Effect. <.< It's almost done!

[shylarah]

@Draken Watch Ziotea get especially grumpy with Ilya in the forge. Can't he just go away? T.T!

[shylarah]

@The Angry Goat@Lovejoy Actually, I figured that tracking ether was more or less standard, but then again a magic sense is something I've nearly always felt natural for a mage to have.

...I mean, to draw on ether from other places Ziotea really has to have some idea of where it is. o.o Given that she lacks a lot of the "standard" ether skills...maybe she'd be a good fit? Less as a matter of who is around, but more she can sense it being used, and pick up on things like vials and engines and Aegises.

[Draken]

@The Angry Goat@Lovejoy Actually, I figured that tracking ether was more or less standard, but then again a magic sense is something I've nearly always felt natural for a mage to have.

@shylarah

Yeah, I had kinda figured anyone with training could do it if they focused on the task. Various degrees of talent, of course, but sensing the active use of ether seemed standard to those who are feeling for it.

[shylarah]

Tracking as in following a trail might work for both Ziotea and Rodion -- might be how they figured out where the other was as kids, but only could do it for each other. Tracking tracking...eh, I don't see that being something she'd ever have any particular interest in, unless someone said she should. So I really don't care one way or the other. Just sensing, however, she almost certainly can do, and with a pretty good radius. Of course it's always easier to sense familiar signatures, and then extremely different ones (like, say, demons or something). Sensing someone supporting an aegis might be hard to do unless you're in sensing range of the the caster -- the aegis itself is hard to pick up at the edges. *thinking* I imagine individuals have different signatures with different strengths -- and most likely warpriests are trained to conceal their own, at least to some extent?

Sorry for the delay; had to have a lengthy conversation with my scanner about how it's supposed to scan things, and how I know it doesn't have ink but it's not getting ink and it needs to scan my arts anyhow. x.x This thing has such an attitude.

[Draken]

Sorry for the delay; had to have a lengthy conversation with my scanner about how it's supposed to scan things, and how I know it doesn't have ink but it's not getting ink and it needs to scan my arts anyhow. x.x This thing has such an attitude.

@shylarah

FEED MEE!!!

Edit: tfw you accidentally slip towards using a forum thread like a chat box.

[Lovejoy]

@The Angry GoatGood point! Completely forgot about his super speed thing. That'd certainly make the storytelling a bit awkward if he can just track people down in the blink of an eye.

@shylarah@Draken I don't think ether tracking, at least the way in which I envision it, should be a standard universal skill. I'm talking about sensing someone's unique "ether signature" and being able to track where they went, like a bloodhound-- as well as being able to have some awareness of strong ether signatures and where they're located (at least in a small area). I think having that skill available to everyone would be a bit much, and I feel like it'd be cool if only one of us had that skill and people depended on them to use it.

"...I mean, to draw on ether from other places Ziotea really has to have some idea of where it is."

Maybe I'm missing something, but wouldn't she just have to see where the ether is to draw from it? Like, use her sight? I'm confused. :(

But yeah, Ziotea might also be a good candidate to have this skill. So, either her or Hassan.

Fuck it, disregard what I wrote earlier. Let's make it so you both have it. There! :)

[shylarah]

@Lovejoy I can see why you'd say that. As to seeing ether sources before being able to use them--

What does it have in its pocketses, precious?

*giggles* I think tracking is hard for her, but telling if something or someone is nearby not so much. Granted, she has to recognize a given ether signature or all she knows is "there's something there". Range...hm. I'm open to suggestions here. I'm not sure what you're looking for, really. Personally, I'd think a football field would be the absolute limit without impairing her focus on the input of other senses. More likely that's her absolute limit (focusing on sensing ether to the exclusion of most else), and her range is usually closer to half that while actively trying, and somewhere between a classroom and a gym sized area where she'd know it's there even if not paying close attention.

To solve the issue of tracking + speed, perhaps tracking requires enough concentration that it might interfere with other spells? Perhaps even to the point of rendering the Inquisitor vulnerable, so any tracking team is always two or three people, to make sure the one doing the tracking isn't compromised or taken off guard.

SHEET IS ALMOST DONE. Just putting it together and making sure I didn't forget anything. And finding out that I have to draw her seal still, and I should find armor refs. Gaaah. Also it's 7:30 am and I've not yet gone to sleep. x.x Why do I do this?!