[OOC] Coven: Shattered

[Enix]

Sorry for the delay, I've been somewhat lazy past the events of Saturday (friends from another state wanted me to play some games with them online, and I can't really say no when I haven't seem them in 6 months) but I am getting a response up now, though it will probably be shorter than I usually like to write out. Gotta get past those initial plot steps. D:<

[Ichthys]

Yay~! It's a fantastic post. :) All of them have been so far. I'm very excited and expectant of the future of this RP.

If you still have yet to post, please do so.

[Ichthys]

To keep this from slowing too much, I will be posting sometime over the weekend, to move things along. :) Feel free to post before then. If you are unable to post, that's fine. Just don't make it too much of a habit. I'll do basic GM Godmodding (that is, just saying that your character got out safe - nothing major) if you don't post a response specifying what your character actually does.

Cheers!

[Castor]

Ilydyn, were holding up the rp, lets save that conversation for another time. We dont have to do it right away anyways.

[lydyn]

lol ... sorry. I just have a life and responsibilities to attend to. xD I'll try and get a post in tonight some time then.

[Reaper]

I'm hoping this is still open... Here's my character inspired by Morpheus (the one from mythology, not the Matrix) :D

Name: Tanis Blackheart
Age: 28
Gender: Female

Appearance:





Tanis bears a tattoo on her left shoulder of a dragon, with the words "Fallaces sunt rerum species" along its length.



Role: Soldier

Tanis may be one of the D'Cerf's troops in name, but few among the coven would call her part of their army. She's a lone fighter and some would say she fights more like an assassin than a soldier, and she doesn't deny it.

Interests: Reading, drawing and painting, music

Skills:

• Illusion - While the ability to trick and deceive the senses is not a unique ability among magic users, Tanis stands out among them for the fact that her illusions trick all five senses of the subject. It is easier to trick someone with a lie of their own making, after all, than one the caster forces upon them. Tanis' illusions use her target's mind to fill in the details of her deception. While the degree of success varies depending on the mental abilities of her opponent, her way with words and subtle use of her illusions are a force to behold when combined with her skill with a blade.
  
  “It is far harder to kill a phantom than a reality.”



• Dream Walker - Tanis is able to materialize herself in the dreams and visions of others. This is largely used as a form of communication, although she can use it offensively to trap her subject within a nightmare, for example.The latter requires extensive preparation and the victim must not be alerted to her doing so - her ability to influence dreams and nightmares hinges on their willingness to believe their helplessness within it. She never appears as herself, however, within those dreams unless the target knows what she looks like. Instead, they often see either a reflection of themselves or their worst fear.
  
  “Your nightmares follow you like a shadow, forever.”

Personality:

One might mistake Tanis for a loner from the reception she gets among her fellow soldiers, but a conversation with her will prove otherwise. She is, for the most part, witty and kind in her mannerisms and speech. Strongly independent, she rarely asks for help or renders it upon others if they do not ask her for it. She gives little thought to things like status or propriety, and her treatment of others from leader to slave rarely varies.

Her dedication to her magical specialties drives her study of the arts and eloquence. Careful choice of words and the rumours of her abilities and renown help her maintain her advantage in fights, while taunting an opponent might make her seem arrogant, Tanis is very clear of her own limitations and picks her battles.

Biography:

Tanis was a child who was plagued by dreams and nightmares. While she would often awake in cold sweat, or talk in her sleep, her parents soon taught her a trick to deal with them. Dreams and nightmares were simply fabrications of her mind, after all, and she could dictate their course. In time, Tanis grew curious as to why she of all people could remember her dreams so well. She read, first the books that she could find around the house, then from the library of the castle.

While she made no progress on her search for answers, within the pages of the hundreds of tomes she found something else. Different lands detailed by travelers and explorers, whole new worlds created by writers. In paintings and illustrations she could picture worlds and perspectives beyond her own. Dreams then became something else entirely - a window to other worlds, and a way to create her own. It was this that led her to study the magic of creating illusions, and as she grew, that branch of magic took a life of its own within her. Perhaps it would better described as an epiphany, for Tanis didn't wish to simply show others the content of her dreams through illusions and brief phantoms, but let them experience it as well.

It sparked a whole new way of performing magic within Tanis - for her abilities were no longer confined to the waking world, but the world within dreams as well. A mix of mental magics and illusions, she found herself sharing her sweetest dreams with her family, and in the morning they would wake with clear memories of the shared dream. When her parents were away from home and she missed them, she would simply pay them a visit while they slept and they would converse there.

The only daughter to a long line of warriors, there was a huge burden on Tanis to inherit and build upon the family legacy. As soon as she was old enough to hold a sword, her father began training her. Their family favoured fighting with agility and speed over brute strength, and emphasized skill over power. Combined with her magical ability, Tanis soon turned the family style into something of her own creation and making. Taking advantage of an opponent's openings during an attack was easy if one convinced to attack a shadow, after all.

When her father passed, Tanis inherited his place in the D'Cerf army. Her abilities soon earned her a fair bit of renown and credit, but because of her talents, many of her peers kept her at arm's length. Nobody wanted to befriend a woman who could show them their worst fears in their sleep, despite the fact she had no intention of doing so. In time, she took to performing her duties alone, and excelled at it. It only made matters worse, for a lone hawk flying high caught the most attention from hunters. Knowing how petty some of her fellow soldiers could be, Tanis chose to stay away from them, and let them decide if they wished to work with her or not.

[Dead Cruiser]

Don't worry so much about pushing my character along. I believe I'll withdraw from this. Best of luck with the rest of the RP, all, and I hope to play with you again some time in the future.

[Schradinger]

Sorry to see you go, man. Best of luck in your future (and current) writing endeavors. :)

I guess this means Tanis can probably replace Giovanni as one of the seven, depending on what Ichthys wants to do.

[lydyn]

Cya Dead. Have fun in other role-plays! *Hug* Though I do like Tanis... -_^

[Milieu]

At least his character will have an easy exit O.o

*Giovanni fails to escape from the fire, dies a tragic death*

Atlas: Don't look at me. I saved the priestess.

[Ichthys]

It is unfortunate to see you leaving so soon, but I am in complete understanding that not all people will stay for good. Nonetheless, I wish you the best. Live happy and healthy, and write well. <3 If you ever desire to come back, I'm sure we can make room to welcome you back, although I can't promise if Giovanni will be available to play again.

Anyways, I guess that means that I have more freedom on using Giovanni as a (possibly expendable) plot point. :p

Regarding Tanis, can you describe the processes involved (that is the rituals and stuff) in utilizing her illusion and dreamwalking magics? Also, on what understanding are these spells based on? How does Tanis understand the senses and dreams?

[Reaper]

1. Illusions - Tanis casts them through eye contact, and plants the illusion within their mind. As long as the illusion is still in effect, she can use words or actions to manipulate the illusion. Her understanding is basically that she doesn't have to do all the work to make the illusions convincing. The subject's mind will fill in details and make up stimuli on its own if she gives the right push. This ability is augmented by hallucinogens, whether inhaled or injected, or if the target is already extremely willing to believe certain things. For example, someone who has heard rumours of Tanis' skill in battle and that she never gets hit, will be more susceptible to an illusion of her being too fast for them, or her attacks having greater range and speed than in reality. Conversely, an illusion where she suddenly morphs into a giant dragon will be too obvious of an illusion and seen right through unless someone believes she is a shapeshifter and not an illusionist.

2. Dreamwalking - This depends on Tanis' relationship with the subject. People she knows and are more willing to let her into their minds would only require her to be in a meditative state. If she were 'invading' someone else she doesn't know, she would need to sit in a circle of glyphs, and possess an item with a strong connection to the target. Alternatively, she has to be in proximity of them. Again, since the dream is the domain of the subject's mind, as long as they know they're dreaming, they can control the parameters of the dream better than Tanis. So the importance of her skill is to make the dreams believable and a passable substitute for reality.

[Ichthys]

I'm just not sure about the illusion aspect. I'll open it up to public discussion.

Also, sorry for the tardiness and silence. The weekdays themselves are a bit busy for me, which is why I do all my work on the weekends. Unfortunately, this last weekend was a bit different because it was my only brother's birthday. Sorry about that. I did try to craft a post, but I was unable to finish it. This weekend there will be one. ;)

[Milieu]

I just don't like how its done through simple eye contact. There must be more towards the illusion for it to be a spell. Like, an incantation or a maybe glyph activation (although that's Castor's department), there must be something more for the spell itself. Simple eye contact is too easy, although it would never work on my character cause he's blind xD but where's the spell being performed? Does she have a wand? A hand sign?

@Ichthys: No problem. I'm about to be gone for two days (I'll be on a bus) from Wednesday and Friday of next week. So just a heads up. But this weekend I'll definitely be free. Don't we still need people to post again about their escape? Jocasta and Atlas are the only ones who have escaped so far. Everyone is still trapped inside I think.

[Milieu]

Maybe we should do a collab post for the rest of everyone's escape and maybe some IC dialogue of them discussing wtf just happened outside?

[Schradinger]

Vincent is outside too.

As for the illusions, the eye contact only establishes the pathway for the illusion, the way I read it the illusion itself has to be "nudged" into existence by a word or gesture or something that can influence the target whose own mind then fills in the details around whatever original stimuli she provides. I'd imagine she wouldn't be able to outright make someone believe their face is on fire, but if she held a torch close to it the heat would lay the groundwork for that sort of illusion, which she could then feed into. To me, the illusions seem a lot like an extremely vivid form of hypnotic hallucinations.

If that's what she means them to be, I don't really have an issue with it. Especially since she'd have to know at least a little about her target or risk trying to make them see/feel/hear something they would immediately dismiss as an illusion because it runs completely opposite their natural thoughts, feelings, or perceptions.

[Castor]

Extreme hypnotism induced by spoken words seems quite overpowered, especially in the political landscape of this world. This magic seems to directly influence the senses of the affected, so just to understand it, can Tanis squirt some water at anyones face, tell them its a poison that destroys vision then convince them that they are blind? Also, is it right to assume illusions and dreamwalking cant physically hurt anyone directly nor cause changes to the real environment?

[Reaper]

Hmm.. You got a point there. Though why would she do that instead of actually blinding the guy? The thing about her Illusions is that they are only as convincing as the subjects willingness to believe the lie. Something as far fetched as stopping the heart or blinding someone won't be possible. Self-preservation instincts are too strong for that.

Whaf I meant by tricking the five senses is that her Illusions aren't just visual. If she castanets illusion of a wolf for example, the target would head snarls and feel the wolf's bite even though no actual damage is done.

Alternatively, I can alter the illusion ability to something akin to materialising dreams and nightmares briefly. The subject would be able to fight back, albeit against their worst fear or Achilles heel

[Reaper]

Hmm.. You got a point there. Though why would she do that instead of actually blinding the guy? The thing about her Illusions is that they are only as convincing as the subjects willingness to believe the lie. Something as far fetched as stopping the heart or blinding someone won't be possible. Self-preservation instincts are too strong for that.

Whaf I meant by tricking the five senses is that her Illusions aren't just visual. If she castanets illusion of a wolf for example, the target would head snarls and feel the wolf's bite even though no actual damage is done.

Alternatively, I can alter the illusion ability to something akin to materialising dreams and nightmares briefly. The subject would be able to fight back, albeit against their worst fear or Achilles heel

[Ichthys]

Tada~

The new round has begun, and dare I say, the plot has thickened. Let the game of politics begin.

---

Now, regarding Tanis' magic, are you or are you not saying then, considering your most recent clarification, that the illusion magic does not in anyway cause physical harm or sensation? Are injuries of any sort probable? Can the illusion be so intense as to cause death or true injury, considering the sheer belief of the victim?