[OOC] Vampire Academy

[Nephriel]

NOTE: I don't do post order because someone always ends up holding things up so it's kinda a free for all... When you post is when you post and feel free to hop in at any point once your character has been accepted. :)

I'm going to repeat some of the things from the Interest Check here in case someone happens to take a glance and decides they might want to join a little later. You don't have to have read the books or watched the movie to join, I added in some descriptions below the plot of things you'd need to know if you wanted to play without having done so. :)

Plot:
With Stigoi attacks going up the Academy has it's Dhampirs training harder than ever and the Queen, Vasilisa, has finally talked the Council into allowing willing Moroi students to enroll in training for attack magic to aid their Dhampir guardians should the need arise. Between this new ruling, and the doing away with the age law that required Dhampir students to graduate and be put into service at age 16, the new Queen has made quite a few enemies. There are those Moroi, namely many in the Royal Families, who feel that it is Dhampir duty to sacrifice their young for the protection of the 'greater good' and who feel that all Dhampirs should be forced to fight instead of being allowed to live in communes and take care of their families. This has ramped some bitter feelings up between Dhampirs and Moroi as the Dhampirs are beginning to feel more like slaves than valued Guardians and their kind are running thin enough as it is.... There are barely enough Guardians to cover just the royal families. In order to ease some of the tension Queen Vasilisa has also petitioned the Council to pass a law stating that Dhampir families should be compensated financially for their childrens training as Guardians and also when a family loses a member to Guardian duties. The play will take place with all of this going on around the students. You could be a Dhampir Guardian, a Royal moroi, just a normal moroi student, a teacher, or even an evil Strigoi. If you'd like to play a character from the books that is an option as well... but I'll need to see a practice post first before I give you the character you want. ^^

Key Points:
St. Vladimir's Academy is located in deep woods Montana and is attended by a race of beings known as the Moroi. Moroi are beings who resemble humans but live off of blood and magic, namely elemental magic. Though they live off of blood they do not need to kill, it takes very little blood to sustain a Moroi and a Moroi who drains their prey dry will become Strigoi... a twisted version of themselves that most people associate with vampire legend. A Moroi's bite contains an endorphin releasing venom that can addict their prey over time and makes their bites like bliss to the bitten. They are sensitive to sunlight, it stings and weakens them but it does not kill them and they are not immortal. Moroi can die just like a human. There are twelve royal families: Dragomir, Costa, Ozera, Badica, Lazar, Zeklos, Ivashkov, Dashkov, Voda, Drozdov, Tarus, and Szelsky. Only a member of the royal families can become King or Queen and the eldest of each family is known as Prince or Princess as they are the next possible heirs to the throne.

Strigoi are, as I said, the twisted version of Moroi. They are Moroi who have either been turned into Strigoi by sharing blood or who have changed willingly by draining their victims. Strigoi are faster, stronger, and are very much hard to kill. They do not age or feel emotions like love or compassion only superficial emotions... echos of what they felt when they were alive. Strigoi also can no longer use magic other than compulsion, the ability to control another's mind and the endorphins released from their bite are much much stronger than those of a Moroi's and therefore can addle and addict their prey much more quickly. The only way to kill a Strigoi is by fire, a stake through the heart, decapitation, or sunlight... anything else just slows them down or distracts them. Strigoi have horrible appetites and cannot live on just human blood alone... the more Moroi they devour the stronger they become and the longer they will live. Though Strigoi still maintain memories and habits from who they were before they are not merciful, tending to turn those they knew before against their will as love tends to turn towards possession instead.

Then, there are the Dhampirs, the half human and half Moroi guardians of their Moroi counterparts. Dhampirs are stronger than Moroi and faster which makes them a better match against the Stigoi though they too lack magic. Dhampirs are sworn to protect Moroi at all costs, even if that cost is their own life... Moroi come first, always and in everything and for that reason it is often highly frowned upon for a Dhampir to have a serious relationship though it does sometimes happen. Dhampirs are usually set to guard the royal families first and foremost leaving most of the lesser class unguarded or whole families guarded by only a single Dhampir. Still, there are some Dhampirs who do not become Guardians. These Dhampirs often live in large communes with bad reputations... There is a thing called being a "Blood Whore." Blood Whores are those Dhampirs who sleep with and allow Moroi to bite them for the pleasure the bite brings. They are often addicted... though Dhampir mothers also tend to live in communes, choosing to take care of their children rather than become Guardians. Dhampirs cannot have children with other Dhampirs, only with Moroi and those children always come out Dhampir rather than 3/4ths Moroi.

The elements are simple enough to understand and each Moroi specializes in only one element... There is earth, wind, fire, water, air, and very rarely Spirit which governs all four in part. Though the elements are pretty straight forward, Spirit is somewhat of a mystery. Spirit can allow it's user to do strange and wonderful things ranging from seeing auras, controlling all the elements (very) weakly, reading minds, powerful compulsion, healing wounds, to bringing the dead back to life but unlike the other elements Spirit takes a horrible toll on it's user. Spirit wielders often go insane as, unlike the other elements that draw from the forces around them, Spirit pulls from the user's own essence. Even when only using the four other elements it still pulls from Spirit and this drain when they use any of their powers eats away at their happiness and sanity. Small things, like reading auras or doing small things with the elements on occasion, tends not to affect them as quickly but large things like bringing the recently dead to life or healing the wounded takes a greater toll and pushes them towards insanity much faster. Spirit can even be used to return a Strigoi to it's former state by enchanting a stake and putting it through the Strigoi's heart themselves but it takes such a toll and is so dangerous for the Spirit Wielding Moroi attempting it that it is basically NEVER done. Spirit users who bring the dead back to life are then bound to the one they returned as it is their magic that keeps them anchored to this world. Those who are returned from death are known as the Shadow-Kissed, Strigoi are not Shadow-Kissed when they are changed back.

Shadow-Kissed people have a one way bond with their Spirit user, they can feel their emotions at all times and sometimes even hear their thoughts or see through their eyes but it doesn't work the other way around. The Shadow-Kissed have the ability to pull their Spirit user's darkness into themselves to help them cope but this will eventually drive them insane as well though it may slow the process for the Spirit user it will drive the Shadow-kissed crazy much faster as a nonspirit user... Shadow-kissed can also occasionally see the spirits of the recently deceased still lingering on earth but once you see them, they see you and it's hard to block them out... This is dangerous though because opening themselves to seeing the dead brings them closer to death's door and it only takes a single slip to lose yourself and be unable to block it out... you could lose more than just your mind.

[Nephriel]

Here are the set-ups for character sheets...

For Dhampirs...
Name:
Gender:
Race: (Moroi, Dhampir, or Strigoi)
Age: (15 - 18
Ward: (This can come later... it will be the Moroi your Dhampir is assigned to guard during the school year.)
Description: (You can use either a picture or simply describe the character yourself.)
Personality: (What is your character like?)
Background: (Tell us a little about your character's past.)

For Moroi....
Name: (Your character doesn't have to be one of the twelve royal families but they can be if you want... Steer away from Dragomir however as there are only two members of that house remaining... the Queen and her younger sister.)
Gender:
Race: (Moroi, Dhampir, or Strigoi)
Age: (15 - 18)
Guardian: (The Dhampir student assigned to your character as a Guardian.)
Element: (Fire, Water, Air, Earth, or Spirit... I don't want a whole lot of Spirit users because they are very very rare.)
Unique Abilities: (Some fire users have the ability to use it as an attack, some water users can call storms, some air users can call tornados, some with earth magic can cause rockslides and such...etc... You might want to wait for attack magic classes for your character to start developing epic skills though.)
Description: (Picture or details.)
Personality:
Background:

For Strigoi...
Name:
Gender:
Race:
Age:
Sire: (The Strigoi who changed you, unless you drained a victim to willingly become what you are.)
Description:
Personality: (Remember, Strigoi are cruel and heartless. They may carry around echos of the person they were before by acting and talking like them but they don't feel emotions the same... They are hollow and care only about themselves, things or people they can possess, and maintaining their immortality.)
Background: (Who was your character before the change and how did it happen?)

If you have read the books and would like to play a character from them, please ask me first and give me a practice post as that character so I can get a feel for how you might play them. ^_^

[Nephriel]

I'll be playing two characters as well as moving the days along and playing the teachers... if anyone else would like to help with playing Academy staff (Meaning teachers, adult Guardians protecting the school, etc.) let me know... Also, I don't expect your character sheets to be as descriptive and long as mine... I get carried away. ^_^

Name: Angelina Ross
Race: Dhampir
Age: Seventeen
Ward: Unknown
Description:

Personality:
Passionate, stubborn, relatively outgoing, serious about her duties, and highly protective of those she cares about. She can be sarcastic and tends to tease her friends but she has a big heart. She has absolutely zero tolerance for bullies and unlike most Moroi and Dhampir students she doesn't condemn the Dhampirs who live in the communes as she came from one herself. She is more like one of the guys than a girly girl, enjoying sports and fighting over shopping and gossip.
History:
Angelina was born in a Dhampir commune and she learned early how hard life could be. Her mother struggled to support her and her two younger sisters in a world that sees her only as a 'blood whore' despite the fact that all her children, aside from Anna, are from one Moroi male... Anna's mother won't talk to her about her father and so Anna has no idea who he is. In the commune Angelina got to see first hand how badly Moroi men who came there treated Dhampir women but despite that, when she heard of the training compensation law being passed she immediately signed up for Academy in order to help support her family the best way she could. Despite Anna's disdain toward most Moroi Royals and her wary attitude around most Moroi males Anna sets it aside and takes her training very seriously... The better and more professional you are the more likely you are to get a royal ward and the more important the Moroi you are assigned to the more money you make once you become a Guardian. Money, to Anna, means a way to help provide for and take care of her family and family is everything...

Name: Sebastian Lazar
Race: Moroi
Element: Spirit
Age: Seventeen
Guardian: Unknown
Abilities:
Seeing auras (which he can't help), brushing people's minds with his own also accidentally (which enables him to hear their thoughts), compulsion (which he also doesn't use on purpose but even when he's not using it people tend to be drawn to him), and healing others (which he almost NEVER EVER does because of the heavy toll it takes on him).
Description:

Personality:
Sarcastic, stubborn, and a trouble maker known for pushing the rules. Sebastian believes Moroi should learn to protect themselves instead of having to rely on others, disliking the idea of someone else putting their life of the line to protect his. He at first refused a Guardian until his parents forced it upon him... like so much else. Sebastian suffers from the moodiness and depression commonly found in most Spirit Users and tends to drown it out by getting into trouble... drinking, smoking, flirting. He refuses to get close to anyone either, pushing anyone who manages to start breaking down his walls away... usually with cruel words or actions... thoroughly burning the bridge between himself and nearly everyone else. He is fun loving and a bit of a wild child and though he has a great many friends, none of them know him very well aside from one or two very close ones who refuse to let him push them out of his life.
History:
Sebastian has always been a bit of a disappointment to his parents. He has always been a rule breaker and has a severe dislike for courtly duties and politics, tending to do anything he can to stay away from such things. His other siblings are the golden kids, doing exactly what's expected of them but as the eldest of his line he is the Prince and so his parents tend to try to push him into things... Because of his parent's constant disapproval, even when he tries to get things right, and their constant comparison to his deceased elder brother Sebastian tends to go out of his way to irritate and embarrass his parents... giving them a real reason to be disappointed. His inability to declare a magic, which exposed him as a Spirit User, is among his latest failures which his father gives him hell about constantly... as if he could have chosen otherwise. Sebastian doesn't talk about it but Spirit scares him, he can tell when the spells of madness hit even when he just slips a little... saying strange things or feeling the paranoia or the irrational agitation... This is also another big reason he won't let anyone get too close, he's afraid he might hurt someone.

[BlackCat]

Name: Rei Tarus
Race: Moroi
Age: 15
Element: Water
Guardian: Unknown
Abilities: summoning storms
Description: Rei is 5' 10" and quite skinny. She has very fair skin. She has deep sapphire eyes and red hair. Rei's hair reaches her ankles. She keeps her hair in braids. Rei tends to wear a pair of jeans, white tank top, black headphones, and a black hoodie.
Personality: Rei is a very relaxed person. She tends to spend most of her time staring off into space. If you want to talk to talk to Rei you have to get her attention first, which can be very hard since she's off in her own little world.
Backstory: Rei is the youngest in her family. Because of this she was generally ignored as a child. Being ignored led to a habit of Rei's, whenever she could she would take naps (she still does this). This habit was created as a way to spend her day since no one brought her with them on trips or played games with her.

[tsubasa]

Name: Serena Abatangelo
Gender: Female
Race: Dhampir
Age: 17
Ward: Unknown
Description:
5'2, has multiple scars on her neck.
Personality: Serena is quiet and tends to keep more to herself. This is mainly due to fear of people figuring out what Moroi men did and what she allowed them to do her. She is shaky and tends to be a little jumpy, although, some of this might very well be from the withdrawal that she is now going through.
Background: Born and raised in a Dhampir commune, Serena had a... difficult childhood. Her mother was young when she had her, Serena was clearly a mistake. Her mother was a blood whore, through and through, and Serena could never really get over that. Although, that could have been due to the fact that from a young age her mother allowed her Moroi father to drink from her. Well, maybe she didn't let him but she surely didn't stop him either. Nor did she stop anyone else. Realizing her own addiction and seeing the women around her, who had practically come dependent one the endorphins from Moroi bites, Serena decided it was time to leave.

Although, she attended a school not far from the commune year round, Serena applied to St. Vladimir's. She felt as though this was the one way to escape the only future she saw for herself. She still bares the scars from her years at the commune and hides them under her long brown hair. Now, she intends to keep her secret while training to be a guardian as an escape... For now.

For Moroi....
Name: Rae Costa
Gender: Male
Race: Moroi
Age: 17
Guardian: Unknown
Element: Fire
Unique Abilities: Some basic fire attacks.
Description:
Personality: Rae is a wild guy and very much a royal. He isn't always the nicest to though he deems below him, non-royals, dhampirs, humans. Of course, if you're royal or if he just takes interest in you, he can be quite charming. He's a bit of a hot head with a short fuse although, he tries to keep calm, emphasis on tries.
Background: Rae has had a wonderful life. All his life, he's gotten what he wanted or needed. Waited on, hand and foot. Life was never rough for Rae. Although, due to this charmed existence, he is a bit of an ass. Due to never having to endure hardship, he doesn't really know what it is like. He looks down his nose on almost everyone. To him, your last name is a big deal. Despite his snobbery, he is quite popular and seems to attract the ladies. But what can he say? He does have rock hard abs, oh yeah.

[Nephriel]

Tsubasa, both of your characters are accepted and honestly I'd like to pair Angelina up with Rae as his guardian, that should prove interesting. I also think Sebastian and Serena would be interesting since I think the whole Dhampir Guardian and Moroi Ward expectancies would end up completely backwards. We'll see what happens after more people post their character sheets...

BlackCat, your character is a bit too much like Sebastian. I would really like it if you switched her up a bit to avoid that but you're still more than welcome to play. ^^

[tsubasa]

Woo! I've been reading through the books the last few days (Day 5, Book 5) and have been dying to do an RP on it. I'm totally cool with those guys matching up c: I'm also always up for making more if necessary at any point c: I'm crazy like that :P

[Nephriel]

Good XD I ADORED the books and having someone else who is as crazy as I am when it comes to playing multiple characters is great. Also, having someone to gush about the books to will be nice. Lol

[tsubasa]

Now, we sit and wait... This is the part in OOCs were I normally pull out Jeopardy music...

[Nephriel]

Lol, I went ahead and posted an intro post to kill some time. Maybe that'll pull some more interested parties.

[Nephriel]

I'm considering making this character... I'm not sure yet... Yae or nae guys?

Name: Aleksander Belikov
Gender: Male
Race: Dhampir
Age: 21
Ward: School Guardian and Mentor
Description:

Personality:
Serious at times and sarcastic and teasing the next. Alex tends to take Guardianship and Mentoring very seriously, he doesn't tend to screw around when it comes to his job. However, he isn't all work... Alex jokes with his students and tends to pick on the overly serious Guardians who never ease up. He doesn't, however, take kindly to students who shirk their duty or don't take Guardianship seriously as it's one thing to risk your own life and a completely different thing to risk the life of someone you're sworn to protect.
Background:
Aleksander Belikov, better known as Paul Aleksander Belikov, is the son of Karolina Belikova and the nephew of Dimitri Belikov. He was trained by both Rose Hathaway and Dimitri when he was still living with his family in the commune and his mother is very proud that he has chosen the same path as her brother. He got his first Molinja mark at age 15, making him one of the youngest known Guardians to kill a Strigoi and also making him a bit of a legend on campus... You'd never know it though, he acts just like everyone else... light hearted and joking and down to earth. He doesn't like it when people bring up his many Molinja marks, first down playing it and then tending to get irritable about it. Alex, as he prefers to be called, chose to work at the school rather than having a specific Ward... the reasoning behind it is unknown.

[Nephriel]

BlackCat, your character is accepted. ^^

[Piqsy]

I'm really sorry, I was going to try and get my characters up tonight but I've been struck down by a migraine of immense proportions. I'll have them done when things have subsided and I can come out of the dark room.

[Nephriel]

All good Piqsy... I know what that's like.

[tsubasa]

Worst! That's what is like!

[Wriggle]

I could make a teacher? ^-^ For the Moroi, a Russian and Elemental teacher maybe. ^-^

[tsubasa]

"You could be a Dhampir Guardian, a Royal moroi, just a normal moroi student, a teacher, or even an evil Strigoi."

That's out of the main post. So I'd say, yes c:

[Wriggle]

I....totally read that...>.> I swear...though it was this morning right when I was waking up so...blah....Thank you for pointing it out though tsubasa....T-T

[Wriggle]

Name: Kseniya Zyomin
Gender: Femal
Race: Dhampir
Age: Sixteen
Ward: (This can come later... it will be the Moroi your Dhampir is assigned to guard during the school year.)
Description:
Personality: Having been raised in Russia, near quite a few large groups of Strigori, she takes her duty to everyone rather hard. Most of the time she is the person in her group of friends who asks the questions of whether or not something is safe or if whatever is happening is going to kill them. This isn't to say she can't have fun, she loves risk, she just wouldn't want anyone to risk their lives for it. In school she is one of the hard hitters, usually never cracking a smile during practice.
Background: Kseniya was born in one of the main hospitals in St. Petersburg before she was transfered to one of the schools in Siberia. The school catered to most orphans from the Siberian dhampir communes, along with some of the children from the larger cities of Russia. Honestly her brining up was just the same as all of the other ones, day in and day out training, scheduled meals...the same old same old until the school got over crowded. That was when they started to ship people out. They started with the seniors, figuring that as they started graduating they could use some training by other guardians. This trend kept happening until they started moving down grades. The top students were taken from the school and moved to the Americas. Since there was such a high number of royals in the Americas, rather than in the homeland, it made sense that more students would be put into the American schools to graduate with the royals. Though it was her duty, Niya still felt nervous for months about being sent over as her sophomore year started. When day one came for the new school year, they gathered Niya and twenty of her fellow students, the top twenty, and sent them to a place called "Montana". The school didn't look much different from the one they'd all left, but the language sounded strange to their ears. Each day brought new challenges for the students, though having Russian taught to most students there did help them understand each other better. Most of the transferred students had been taught English in class anyway. Now the young guardian practices everyday with the new people she's met, and she is starting to climb the ranks.

Name: Trishia Matila
Gender: Female
Race: Moroi
Age: 24
Guardian:
Element: Fire
Unique Abilities: She can create a blue flame with a large amount of magic, burning hotter than what most fire users are capable of.
Description:
Personality: Trisha has a much more bubbly spirit than most of her fellow teachers, following what her heart says more than what her head says. Often times she is talking to someone or doing something with her elements, always in motion. The only time she really slows down is when she becomes depressed, locking herself away in her room for only a few hours before becoming her bubbly self again.
Background: Unlike the royals she'd gone to school with, who had their own private homes somewhere far away, she'd been raised in Washington D.C. Being around humans had been normal for her, and so when she'd started going to school it had been so odd to be around her own kind. Feedings had been normal and could happen during the school day at normal lunch times. She didn't have to hide her fangs behind a strange smile or rub her stomach to quiet it when she started to smell the blood of humans. It had been nice. She'd decided her junior year of high school that she'd stay at the school. The only time she left was when she went to college to get her teaching degree in Russian. Her return had been a quiet affair, but she'd been happy to come back into the folds of the school. She's been teaching for about three years now, and hasn't had many complains.

[Nephriel]

Both are accepted Wriggle. ^^