[OOC] Land of the Ancients: Return of Elderic

[Amaroq]

Long ago, the Ancient races and the humans lived together as one. They shared the land and it was a time of glorious peace. But one day, a Mage by the name of Elderic grew envious of the power of the Ancient one's. He began to study magic forbidden by nature, gaining power no mortal was meant to hold, but even so it was not enough for him. It wasn't long before he found another who held his greed. The leader of the Veldic clan.

He wanted no power, mealy the greed of riches and glory. Forming an alliance, they began to work to get the other the clans on there side. Using a mix of forbidden magic and bribery, Elderic and the leader took control of the clans. It was shortly after that Elderic slew his partner, having no intention of sharing this power with anyone. With all the clans under his control, Elderic took control of the human race, and began plotting against the Ancients.
~~

For years, Elderic built his army. Gather a mass unseen at the time. He knew he had no hope to outmatch the Ancients, but he would use sheer force of number to slay them. Over the years, he sent assassins to make silent strikes against the Ancients, never being suspected. The Ancients believed Elderic to be a wise and loving Mage, how wrong they were.

Over the years, he kept the pretense of peace and friendliness. Though he used the Veldic clans wealth to train and arm his massive army.

After eleven long years.... he struck the first blow.
~~~

Sending a group of Veldic Saba tours and Reku Mages to the great Gi' Eld mountains, he struck against the dragons. During their mating season, he had his men use a mix of explosives and magic to bring the grand mountain down, bringing with it most of the Dragonkin.

The Ancient Races were enraged, but Elderic convenience them the men acted alone in this. He slew his own men before the Elvin king in retribution. Though now wary, The Ancients did not hold the human race accountable for the actions of these men.

Eldrics plan was working without fail.
~~

Elderic had many of the Dwarven mines collapsed, he turned the orcs against one another, and poisoned the water of the elves.

But after one more year of these silent attacks, Elderic brought forth his army to the Lunario forest, holy ground to the elven race. King Arato intercepted the great force and held back the army as they tried to set fire to the forest, but he tried in vein. The Elves outmatched the humans, by number overwhelmed them. The king was forced to flee. The holy site was lost to the world forever.
~~~
Centuries later

The Ancient race still continue the war against the humans. The Mage Elderic vanished soon after the war was started. Most count him among the dead, but not all.

The humans have taken a king to rule their land. King Palan, direct descendent of the great Mage Elderic. He hold the same ambition of his Ancestor.

The Fighting has continued for the centuries with nether side weaning.

The Dragons refuse to fight for fear of extinction. The Dwarves are starting to talk of retreating into their mines and the Elves continue the fight.

The Vakgar- A Kingdom full of Ancient Races. Elves, Dragons, Dwarves, and Orcs hold this land. It is located near the great eastern ocean of the world. The land is covered by deep lush forest, and mountains that reach far past the clouds. The rich lands or filled with magic, that seems to hang in the very air of the Ancient Kingdom.

The Elven King Arato has ruled over the land since time immortal. Though each of the ancient races have their own leaders, he governs them all.

[hider=Races:]

Elves- Well balanced in all areas of fighting, and of very apt in the mystic ways. They live in the capital of the Kingdom known as Acheron, which is in the center of the kingdom.

Dwarves- Strong hardy, enduring race. They live in the within and around the great mountains, tunneling and living within the earth. They are a proud and stubborn race, and will rarely bend to the will of others.

Orcs- A Brutish race relying on their strength and power to keep them through the test of time and war. They frown upon all use of magic, seeing it as the black arts, though they fear it more then anything. They live within roaming tribes around the lands of Vakgar.

Dragons- Said to be the most powerful creatures in existence, but a dying race all the same. Do to the meddling of a mage, their race is now all but extent. The few remaining live high within the caves of the great mountains.

~~~~~~~~~~
Cartharg- The kingdom of the humans, ruled by the sorcerer king, Palan. The land is covered with roaming hills, and long grassy plains. The mountains within this land pale to those of the Vakgar, but the soil is rich and fertile.
Thought ruled by King Palan, the Kingdom of Cartharg is shared by the three great Clans.

The Veldic- The wealthiest, and most untrustworthy clan. They are skilled in the art of deception, making them perfect assassins and thives. They are more likely to stab you in the back rather then shake your hand. They make their home in the grand city of Cybele.

The Bkir- They are the strongest and most noble men and women within Cartharg. They hold their honor above all else, even thier lives. They are stubborn and enduring, and always ready for a fight. They make their home In the Ald Field Meadows in the village of Shoregrove.

The Reku- The wisest of all the clans. They are scholars by most, but many within this clan are Well verst in the arcane ways. Though do to the Mage Elderic, they are the most hated of the Ancient races. Their home is the city of Vergate in the Sanharst Valley. [/hider]

[hider=Places of note]
Crystalmist Haven- The only neutral ground between the two kingdoms due to ancient magic that prohibits any hostile act.

Highhollow Barrens- No man's land. This is a dark forboding land within the Kingdom of Carthage. It is filled with a dark despair, as the filling of death hangs in the air.

Vergate- Home of the Reku Clan

Shoregrove- Home of the Bkir Clan

Cybele- Trade center for the Kingdom of Carthage, and home of the Veldic Clan.

Melthorn- Home of the elves, and captial of the Vakgar Kingdom.

Lunario Forest- Holy site of the elves, Destoryed by the mage Elderic

Gi' Eld Mountains- Former home of the dragons, destroyed by the mage Elderic [/hider]

~~
Unfortunatly, since the wipe ive decided to restart from the beginning. Unless someone has something of a summary of what had last transpired.

Name:
Age:
Race:
Appearance:
Weapons:
Extra: (feel free to add anything extra.)

[TaroAndSelia]

Name: Ruri Folt
Age: 14
Race: Half-elf
Appearance:
Gender: Female
Profession: Vagrant, Amateur Elementalist
Equipment:
Weapon: none (well, her gloves)
Head: Yellow Ribbons
Torso: Pink Dress
Hands: Oversized, Pink, Channeler's Gloves
Legs: Long White Socks
Feet: Pink Boots

[Lucius Cypher]

Mean while, I got to remember how I wrote Malakaus and Xia.

[TaroAndSelia]

I can't find my way to the first page to retrieve Malakaus. Xia was page 2. So is Haven, so if Eyeris needs it I know where to get it.

[Arrayah]

I'll be making a CS when I decide exactly what I want to do. Since I wasn't in the original, if you need someone of a specific race (like you don't have a lot of something) that is you know.... not orc or dwarves or dragons... because I don't like not being pretty (sadface here because I'm totally shallow), let me know.

In fact, I shall send you a fb message about it right now!

[Forsythe]

I'm making her with Dragonlance in mind this time :)

Name:
- True name: Taraah
- Elven name: Ruuna
- Human name: Ashwing
- Pet name: Tara
Race: Dragon

Race details

Written as Wizard's guide to Dragons.

Chapter 1: Dragon biology


Dragon bones are very resilient. In ancient times, dragon bone was used to make the most reliable tools, as the pieces were big enough to carve a monolith tool. The surface of the bone is hard, while it's inside gives it it's tough properties.
This makes dragon's bones relatively safe from a physical attack from almost anything, save for high mass-velocity projectiles (using earth magic is recommended), or attack by another dragon or stronger animal.
Dragonbone doesn't have good magical properties on it's own. Several attempts have been made using dragonbone as a wand core, but none could match existing wands in power. The bone is however very useful when ground into fine powder. It can be infused and hold tiny amount of magic (not anywhere near gemstones or artifacts), and then be used to strengthen potions or, in the hands of a skilled wizard, metal equipment.



Dragons are undoubtedly very strong creatures. While the strongest of them can break toughest materials with bare hands, even the less muscular ones are still a threat up close to magically unprotected enemy.
Dragon muscle is composed of two kinds of tissue. String muscle tissue can contract very rapidly, giving dragons superior speed and agility in favor of strength. The rope muscle tissue has thicker individual cells, and while they take longer to respond, this muscle can pull with enormous force. Unlike humans, dragon hearts are not a special muscle type, but rather the combination of the above, woven into a fast yet strong pump. Dragon hearts have several layers reinforced with membranes and bone plates, making them a very poor target without proper equipment. The final tissue is the smooth muscle tissue, which makes majority of the other organs. An interesting fact is that this muscle making up dragon veins can contract in a wave function to aid the heart when necessary, like while under extreme physical strain. This leaves the dragon tired very quickly though.



On the outside, dragons vary in look greatly. The most noticeable is usually the difference in number of wings, from none to multiple pairs. Dragon skin is high demand goods, as it is flexible, tough and usually covered in scales, making it the best material available for inner layers of armor. The scales themselves have very sharp edges, and mechanical properties between those of plates and chain mail, resilient to many kinds of damage. The easiest way to go around them is to use a piercing weapon with the trajectory of the hit against the direction of scale growth. There are again various types of scales. Some dragons do not have any. Their hide is the least valued. The smallest scales are so tiny that they can barely be seen by naked eye. These hides are great as sandpaper. The regular scales are on highest demand for the purposes mentioned above. The extreme case of scales are the armor plate type scales, where the individual chips grow together to form a living plate armor. Be warned that no dragon with these have ever been brought down to study. The scale plates are stronger than any pure metal known and cannot be harmed by conventional means. The final type of 'scales' are dragon feathers. Dragons only possess quills, and they are usually too large to be used for writing, but due to their relative rarity are often traded as luxurious item.
Dragon horns are an interesting material, as they are non newtonian solid. The behave smoothly when just brushed against but if impacted with greater force, they roughen and sharpen. This makes sense on evolutionary basis, as permanently hard horns would tend to damage dragon wing webs (which themselves are best to make musical instruments). Dragon claws on the other hand are even tougher and harder than plate scales, their properties outmatched only by magical alloys like mithrill or adamantium.
Dragon wings are not of much use, but they are what makes a dragon that dangerous. While some dragon types do not have wings at all, those who do can use them to travel large distances easily or outmaneuver just about everything. There are three criteria for wing classification:
WING SPAN: How wide the dragon's wings are. Usually measured in percents of body length and above 100.
NUMBER OF PAIRS: While most dragons only have one pair of wings, some have none or more pairs.
WING SIZE: There are only two types of wings as far as size is concerned. Gliders, with very large surface, serving mainly to travel easily without much effort, and Flyers, which are of small in size and serve rather for direction changes.



Dragons vary in size greatly. While they're the size of a German shepherd when freshly hatched, depending on their element and lifestyle, they can grow to massive sizes. Largest recorded dragons are only bested by the whales. Dragon females are usually larger than males, but their features like horns are much smoother.

Chapter 2: Dragon magic
Dragons are universally considered the strongest of races, both from physical and magical point of view. With proper training and centuries long life spans to gain experience, they can become very formidable spellcasters indeed. Where humans need formulas and magical sources to cast spells and elves drawing their power from nature, dragons are their own sources of magic, having it naturally inborn. There are two factors to be considered when classifying dragon magic:
Mana pool: Unlike humans and elves, dragons have limited supply of their magic, unless they are skilled in using other sources. Their pool can expand over great periods of time by exerting themselves magically.
Mana regeneration: The other factor is how fast the dragon can recover after depleting his or her energies. A healthy, fed dragon can usually replenish their supply in a day, although certain techniques allow them to find more magic in them instantly at the expense of physical health or mental stability.
The greatest mistake a wizard can make is to consider dragon's firebreath a magical attack. Their breath is a natural inborn ability that is not affected by magic whatsoever. The common spells used by dragonkin are healing, restoration, elemental control and shapeshifting, although the true variety of dragon magic knows no bounds. Unlike humanoid races, dragons do not seem to use magical formulas or any aides, driving their magic through emotions, thought and will.
The one spell that can control a dragon is to simply know their true name. Aware of that, the dragons almost never share those, even among themselves. Such privilege is usually reserved for permanent mates, family and the closest of friends.

Chapter 3: Dragon life cycle
Egg
Dragon eggs are one of the most desired wizard accessories. During the egg phase, a lot of the future dragon's features can be altered, both magically and simply by taking care of it. Note that all dragon eggs that are laid are fertilized (unlaid eggs are absorbed and recycled by the female's body), and thus unfit for consumption, no matter how desperate the situation is. Shattering the shell of such egg prematurely results in an explosion measurable on the TNT weight scale. The eggs need heat to grow, though unlike birds, they survive dormant in extended periods of cold, to resume growth once the conditions are more favorable. The higher the temperature, the stronger the dragon usually is, although there are exceptions to that rule. The future dragon's personality can be mildly adjusted by talking to the egg. Some dragon mothers will spend hours talking to her future children in order for them to be mentally healthy and strong. It is rumored that the egg can even be sung to a certain gender, but the claim lacks any support in evidence. The females are extremely aggressive during the period of guarding eggs, often instructing their permanent mates (if applicable) to leave the den. It is thus extremely difficult to gain a dragon egg. The more successful ways include summoning a natural disaster in the den's vicinity, forcing the mother to transport or hide the eggs while she flees and waits out the bad conditions elsewhere, or localizing abandoned eggs.

Hatchling
Once all the magical energy in the egg shell is absorbed by the little dragon, it breaks through and hatches. Hatchlings are depending on their parents for the first year of life, but often remain with their parents until late youth.
Obtaining a hatchling is even greater peril than obtaining a dragon egg, as BOTH parents are usually present. Once captured / raised from obtained egg, Hatchling's mind can be bent easily to your desire.

Youth
Young dragons become nigh independent at the age of three, when their size is comparable or greater than most threats, although theoretically they are capable of taking care for themselves at the age of one. At the age of five, they are usually allowed to leave parents for extended periods of time, which is why a young dragon is the easiest to capture, however these can hardly ever be convinced to aid you and need to be broken or mind controlled, as their child personality will make them do everything in your spite. At late youth, dragons leave the parents.

Prime
At the age of fifteen, a dragon is officially an adult, and at the peak of physical strength. This period lasts usually to their mid two hundreds. At this age, dragons are competitive, as those who seek long term mates compete for their attention. It is possible for them to start a family, which is very common for dragons that have already been through a lot in the short time they lived. Very common after wars, as the psychological effect of the war and the concept of "this day might be your last" tends to make them want to continue the dynasty as soon as possible.

Adulthood
Dragons older than 200 years may still search for long term partnership, but seasonal ones are much more common. At this age, dragons spend most of their time building a career and accumulating sometimes insane amount of wealth by human standards. Single dragon can hoard even a metric ton of raw precious materials, who's value is usually further increased by it being processed and or magically enchanted. It is pointless to try and kidnap an adult dragon, but finding it's treasure is a dream of every human.

Old age
After 600, dragons are considered elders and like humans, their bodies are starting to degrade, as is the level of their magic. While the average life span is from 800 to a thousand years, the oldest dragons recorded are of age over 1500 years.

Death
Nothing is known about a dragon soul after the body dies, though some form of afterlife is presumed as dragons are highly magical creatures. Whether this level allows for spiritual existence or even reincarnation is unknown. After death, the dragons put their dead on display in a special volley, encased in magical crystal seals. Wizards may want to extract dragonbone from the corpses, though such old bone is usually of poor quality.

Gender: Female
Age: 13
Appearance:
http://kauriana.deviantart.com/art/Tara-309735118?q=favby%3ANohiki%2F41890573&qo=18
- Height: 160 cm
- Withers height: 100 cm
- Length (head to tail tip): 250 cm
- Wing span (% of body length): 120

Biography:
Despite her young age, Taraah is actually truly ancient, as her egg was laid at the time of destruction of Gi'Eld. With both of her parents killed in the event, her egg miraculously survived the collapse of the mountain and was recovered by Elderic's army. Taken to one of the Reku towers, the mages tried to hatch her, but their labors bore no fruit. As a dragon egg is of high value to a wizard, it just so happened that Taraah was stolen from one tower at the orders from rivaling wizard, and not just once. Over the centuries, she traded owners from all over the land, none succeeding in awakening her.

The task was hardly ever handled by a wizard, but usually by hired thieves who were professionals at their jobs. Several times the thief tried to keep the egg for themselves and disappear, but they were all eventually found by the hiring or robbed wizard and dealt with appropriately. That was until a few years ago, when on the run from the wizards, the thief simply thrown Taraah's egg away, intending to deny it to the wizard if he couldn't have it himself. Sturdy as it was though, the egg survived the fall and a river took it into the forests of the elves, where it laid lost.

Fortune smiled on the dragoness though, as her egg was found by a flock of griffins. Taking care of it as their own, Taraah slowly woke up from her thousand years long slumber. Hatching a few days after, the animals taught her the basics she would need to survive, such as hunting and flying. Soon though, her intelligence started surpassing that of an animal, and another longing was born in her heart: to find more of her kind. At the age of 10, Taraah decided to try her chances and find her kin, unaware of the war that is still on.

She couldn't avoid trouble for long, as she made the mistake of flying over a human city in daytime. Soon the legend of Ashwing spread throughout this part of the land, many taking arms to try and score the kill, others taking maps trying to find the dragon's treasure. All that forced Taraah into hiding, turning her to the beast of night, when she wouldn't be so easily seen.

Things of interest:
Taraah is fairly inexperienced in her magic, having received no training from another dragon. Most of the spells she casts are out of her control, usually triggered by her emotions rather than will. One spell she can control is a shapeshift into human look:
http://goatlord51.deviantart.com/art/Red-Wizard-156174339?q=favby%3ANohiki%2F41890573&qo=3
She seems to favor fire magic above all others, as her fire breath is one thing she is familiar with.
As all dragons, Taraah has natural Gift of Tongues, allowing her to understand every language and, with close eye contact, communicate in thought alone.
while Taraah knows how to fly, she is not that confident in the air, preferring to stay on the ground.
Taraah possesses no weapons but her own body, having no real need for them. All her other possessions she carries in a small leather pouch hung on her neck, having no real need for any material possessions that nature can not give her any time.

[Arrayah]

Name: Kiara Black
Age: 20
Race: Human
Appearance:
A picture can be found here: http://frozenstarro.deviantart.com/art/Reflection-140601777

Physical Description:
Kiara is a woman of medium height, standing at 5' 5''. She has black hair that ends just past her shoulders and midnight blue eyes that look violet in the moonlight. She can be seen wearing a hooded black cloak whenever she is not dancing.

Weapons: One dagger that she always keeps on her hip, hidden beneath the cloak.

Profession: Dancer/Thief

Biography:
Kiara has no knowledge of her parents. If they existed, which she supposes they must have, they disappeared long before she can remember. She's grown up on the streets her whole life. Though this often caused her to go hungry and cold, it also taught her a very important skill: how to stay hidden. This skill was often the only thing that kept her alive. The streets were dangerous especially for a young girl. As the years passed, they grew even more so. It was not long after she turned sixteen that she purchased a black cloak, the most expensive possession she owns, with all the begging money she had saved up. This cloak hides not only her body, but also her face. It kept her hidden in the shadows until shortly after her eighteenth birthday.

After officially becoming an adult, Kiara decided to leave the town she grew up in, not having any reason to stay. She began to travel, using the guise of a wandering dancer to keep townspeople from becoming suspicious. Though dancing for the residents is something she actually takes joy in, she does not make enough money to keep living. So, at night, she puts on her cloak and uses what she learned on the streets to steal from the very people who pay her to entertain them. No one has yet put this together, but they have taken to calling her Kiara Black because of her cloak and the hair that it is often hiding. It has now been two years since she first began this act, and she has visited many places leaving a trail of unsolved thefts in her wake.

[TaroAndSelia]

Arrayah, I like the character, but I do have one little detail to point out.

Arrayah said This skill kept her alive more often than not.

It failed to keep her alive once out of every five?

[Forsythe]

[Arrayah]

Yeah yeah I get it. Grammer mistake, meant that it was usually the thing that kept her alive. I was typing it on my phone at 4 am. Give me a sec. ><

On a complete side note. The IC OOC thing is really cool :o

[Amaroq]

lol, well grammer nazi's aside =p

Everyone looks good. I m just waiting until some of the others return, or we get a few more players

[TaroAndSelia]

I'm not a grammar nazi; I'm a grammar opportunist. Grammar mistakes can be funny, so I try to share the laughter. ^_^

[Lucius Cypher]

Happy days, Xia is back! I needed to rewrite Malakaus's anyways. I'll have him up eventually.

[TaroAndSelia]

I'm trying to work out a careful rotation of how I post in threads so I can keep everything in my "Recent Posts" list. But when one gets active, the others start to drop off. Quite difficult, really.
That's why I'm posting here fairly often. Goodnight, everyone!

[Forsythe]

I made a RPGuild folder in my favorites and bookmark the threads i visit :)

[Arsenal]

I'm interested in joining, but before I start really getting into writing my character up, I just wanted to check something first. Are you okay with someone new hopping in or are you only waiting for your older players to return to this one?

[Forsythe]

We were recruiting again even as old guild went down, and no we have fresh start of the story. I don't see a problem with you joining :)

[Arrayah]

Besides, I'm new. I know Amaroq, but I was definitely not in the old one, so it should be fine. :)

[Arsenal]

Perfect, as it so happens I just finished up, let me know if anything needs to be changed.

Name: Serkan Stahlwurm

Age: 31

Race: Elf

Appearance:
Unarmored
Armored

Gender: Male

Weapons: Serkan carries a single sword in a black-stained leather and steel sheath on his left hip. The sword is a straight, single-edged saber with a plain, cord-wrapped handle, and no hilt guard.

Biography: A self-made man, Serkan was the son of a craftswoman and a hunter, but even as a young child had ambitions that far dwarfed his rather mundane beginnings. With a head full of tales of heroism and valor, he eagerly desired to learn the ways of a warrior, but the youth was far from what many would consider an ideal fighter. Serkan was a scrawny, small child, with little aptitude for magic and even less discipline. Few found the child worth their time, but Serkan never gave up, and when none offered to teach him formally, Serkan began to practice swordsmanship on his own. For five years, Serkan developed his own, incredibly crude, unrefined technique. Yet, it was only when Serkan met a certain someone on the road, that Serkan would finally make true progress.

In a chance encounter, Serkan was practicing his usual routine by the roadside when a passing caravan made a stop to allow their horses a chance to rest. One of the traveling company, a diplomat by the name of Raythe, watched the boy swing a wooden stick vigorously at a nearby sapling in the field, apparently totally oblivious to the world around him. Raythe approached to observe the rather clumsy, untrained movements of the boy, and immediately stopped him, pointing out the flaws in his technique, and more importantly, the flaws in his method. At first hesitant to listen to the man, and offended by his critique, Serkan eventually came around after Raythem demonstrated, drawing his sword and slashing into a nearby sapling, felling it.

Serkan soon begged the man to teach him, but the diplomat sadly explained he was needed in Cybele. Raythe still made a promise that on his return he would teach him. In what was perhaps the longest wait the impatient young boy had to endure, Raythe soon enough returned to the little village, and so began Serkan's formal training. Over years of study, he learned how to use a blade properly, he learned how to cast magic, but most important of all, he learned discipline. Gone was the little boy who only wanted to be a noble warrior of valor and glory, and in its place was an even-tempered, patient young man. Though, such joyous times in Serkan's life were not to last long.

One autumn day, the old diplomat rode into the village as he always had, but time had weighed heavy on his shoulders. He no longer had the strength to draw a sword to instruct his student; instead, he had come to give Serkan a gift, and with it one final lesson. Serkan was passed a sword, crafted by Raythe especially for him, and along with it a message, "The skills you have been given are not to be taken lightly, but neither should those skills be hidden away. Those who can make a difference in this world, should do so while they still can."

After that, Serkan and Raythe shared one last day together as student and teacher, before the diplomat rode home, knowing he would not have the strength to return. After his master passed, Serkan soon gathered his belongings and left home to wander into the world. Taking his parting master's words into mind, Serkan took up arms to serve as a bounty hunter and mercenary, and made his living off of serving the law.

Serkan is unaware that life is about to take a turn, that he will soon encounter something more than mere petty thieves and marauders...

[TaroAndSelia]

I'm afraid I don't understand where he fits into the war. I have to assume he doesn't wander human lands, so I guess I just don't see other Ancients being petty thieves and marauders. Thinking on that, though, it's incredibly biased and I'll stop it right away. >.< So has Serkan ever fought on the front lines, or does he stick to local jobs?