Ashgan

The Prophecy

Through half-squinted eyes, Jillian followed the necromancer’s actions – how he utilized magic to heat an apparently pre-prepared mixture of sorts, perhaps tea – and brought it over to her within mere seconds. It was a simple trick, for a magician anyways, Jillian knew, but even so she felt a kind of small happiness inside, witnessing the wonder of magic one more time. Indeed, the mere sight of Gerald activating a simple rune gave her the immediate urge to cast magic of some form, to bedazzle simplistic peasants and experienced sorcerers alike. Only, she was quickly reminded of her sorry state, hardly able to move, feeling cold and in pain, and so incredibly dirty. When Gerald knelt beside her to hand her the cup, she clumsily lifted her upper body and leaned on her elbow, and in that moment she could not help but notice how drenched in sweat and caked in dirt she was. The feeling of shame that washed over her made her unable to look him in the eyes. What a sorry sight she was!

“It tastes bad, but drink it anyway,” Gerald suggested, offering her the steaming cup and apparently not paying any heed to her appearance. It was entirely plausible that he had gotten used to it by now – the Spirits knew how long she had been asleep. She saw that it was evening, but it could still have easily been many hours from when she had last been conscious because it had only been afternoon then.

The witch took the cup in shaky, thin and cold hands and sniffed at the wispy vapors emanating from the watery concoction, quickly realizing how strong and foul it was. What in the planes was that? It looked like tea, but she had never smelled any tea like that before. Perhaps reading her thoughts, Gerald further explained why this drink would help her, and she could not deny that the benefits outweighed the cost of having to drink it.

“Heh, I just puked. Can’t t-taste much worse, can it?” she mused, partially towards Gerald and partially towards no one in particular. Was that even humorous? She did not find it terribly funny. Holding the warm cup made her feel even colder and, with a shiver, she took her first sip – and then Gerald briefly recounted what had happened while she was asleep. They were safe, that was a relief. Pelaid, why? She’d have to ask, that was a long ways from Anaxim forest. But what about…

Jillian almost choked on her drink when he told her that the battle was lost. She coughed for a moment to clear her pipes, then, as if all malady had been lifted from her by a miracle, she blurted out in full force:

“We WHAT?!”

Her voice was elevated, and she was clearly upset.

Jillian’s mind raced, trying to find answers to her many questions. Did the dragons come at all? If they did, how could any mortal hope to stop them? Were her actions, her almost becoming a martyr, all in vain? What happened to the forest, and to the demon prison? And what happened to the dragons if they lost? Dead? Preposterous!

She was more than just confused, she was angry. She wanted a justification for this, she wanted someone to take the blame. She had promised to overdeliver, to show Gerald how good of a sorceress she was and how she would be able to turn the tide of battle singlehandedly, and now someone had turned her victory into a humiliating defeat and, if her worst fears were confirmed, a catastrophe for all of Rodoria. Jillian did not want to stand for it, this was not her fault or her defeat. She did not deserve this, Gerald did not deserve this, nobody did, they had all tried too hard.

“Lost? Lost how?! I almost died over there to save our hides and you’re meaning to tell me they somehow managed to hand the battle to the crusaders anyway? It was a success Gerald, I did what you asked of me! The dragons were supposed to come, what about the dragons, Gerald?! Surely those bastards could not handle at the very least three dragons that I know of?! What happened? How could it go wrong? Gerald, tell me!”

The Dead Cairn

Yo, I just want to leave a lifesign for the lot of you. What's holding me up is, in a nutshell, stress at uni, as well as probably the longest backstory I have ever written for a character. Ambition and lack of time, it seems, do not mesh well, so it'll take a bit before I can show you what I've got. I'll get there, and I hope you'll like it, but if you're about ready and I am not, don't wait for me.

Edit: Ah, lest I forget; what country is the Vigil located in? What nationality would someone from there (or someone who adopted their nationality) have?

The Prophecy

That's correct, Shien, uni stuff. Not just mostly, but exclusively. It's the final stretch, my last projects all bundled up with the last couple tests, so that I can take my time over the next four months to write my bachelor thesis. It's all pretty stressful right now, but hopefully things will smooth out in June/July when I only have to worry about writing said thesis, which won't tax me nearly as much as all this shit combined. Honestly can't wait until Fall when I (at least, plan-wise) get my degree and finish with this crap.

The Prophecy

Don't worry, I am there. I kind of want to post, and may get to it too, but it could easily take another week. I kinda dug my own grave and have more shit on my plate than I ought to be able to handle, but we'll see about that; either way, a Prophecy post is, unfortunately, not my highest priority at the time, but I haven't forgotten about you guys, obviously. I will get to it within this month, but it's unlikely this week, and if it's next week then it will happen towards the latter half. I guess it depends on how well I can manage my stuff.

The Dead Cairn

Just a quick question until we get the map; what kind of climate are the Godwastes positioned in? From your locations list, I got the impression that the locales were listed north-to-south, which would imply that the Godwastes kind of mark the northern rim of what is Lerayis. Now this begs the question what exactly Lerayis is (or was?), ergo if it's a country or a continent. In either case, it would depend on where it is located. If it's like, say, Africa, the northern rim would be a desert, but if it's like North America or Europe, then the northern parts would be reasonably cold. Yet, from the description of the Godwastes (cracked, dry ground, ashen wastes), my first instinct is to imagine it being warm there, which would then defy its assumed, northern position. So I'm a little confused as you can see. Adding to this, I would also wonder what people living in or around the Godwastes typically look like, speaking of ethnicities; if it's warm like the place suggests, I would imagine a darker skinned people, but if its far up in the north, then I would expect the opposite.

Thanks for helping me out here ;P

The Dead Cairn Chronicles [Interest Check]

PrinceOfQuills said
Ashgan. Your name sounds familiar. So with your pic. Not sure if we've RPed together in the old guild before because it's been n years since I've been RPing there (I heard of the cataclysm only days ago when I came back). Anyway, I love your character idea :D

It's possible I guess; I've been on the old RPG for quite a few years, though granted not as the most active person ever. Probably joined 2-4 advanced RPs a year, with long months of inactivity in between after a roleplay's death. Guildfall was a pretty sad time though, I can tell you that much. Had a short stay on the creative freedom board, where a good few of the castaways from the sinking ship that was the old guild went, and had a reasonably terrible stay there. It's all in the past now, though. I wish I would remember you, but regrettably I don't. ():

The Dead Cairn Chronicles [Interest Check]

Since you're curious, I'll indulge you. I've exchanged some PMs with Saber where we discussed the concept of my character. It's most likely going to be a Mage Slayer who happened to be born close to the Dead Cairn. Being conceived in such an ill fated place has resulted in an ill fated future for this character, as they are afflicted with a condition called aberrant magic; in a nutshell, they possess a powerful boon or gift (the nature of which is still up for debate, but will inevitably be something of use to the Vigil) that is granted to them through the eldritch energies that course within the Cairn, but by the very nature of this terrifying artifact, these energies ask an even greater toll from this character. So in order not to be consumed by the curse and die, the character has to regularly end a human life, or become the sacrifice themselves. The character doesn't find this terribly amusing and would rather find a cure to this condition, but the Vigil on the other hand would prefer to keep this blessing within their grasp, so they always keep a watcher near the character to keep tabs on them (basically an NPC controlled by Saber). There, that's the rough idea. As you can tell, it's just a concept so far; I haven't even settled on a gender or anything.

The Dead Cairn Chronicles [Interest Check]

Yo Saber. Since you were wondering if you have the power to rouse my interest, well, I'm posting in your thread, so it's a good start. I have a couple (if I were to really sit down and think about it, probably actually a ton) of questions, if you'll indulge me.

First thing out of the way, how high fantasy is high fantasy for you? I get that you've got mages and gods and monsters, but high fantasy typically includes (arche)typical races like elves, dwarves and orcs. Will those be present here? So far you only mentioned, and put great emphasis on, humans, but what do I know? I'm personally not a fan of these Tolkienese (??) species as I've seen them one time too many, and while I may or may not be able to get over their presence if the package as a whole is compelling, it will have an impact on my interest in this.

I would like to know in general what some of your inspirations were for this, to help me to better position your setting.

Now your world is a very unexplored map for me, and I'm admittedly lost to some extent. There's a certain charm to that I admit, and I understand wanting to keep an IntChk brief, but you bring up plenty of names and expressions that have a lot of significance, while shedding very little light on them. As an example, the part about the Death Touched; they were former Immortals. That's cool and swell, but, what exactly is an Immortal? It's described in name only. I like the flavor of their description a lot, but I also don't really know where to place them or what to do with them.
I have a similar feeling of lacking a certain context with other parts of the information presented, like you were writing this post addressed at an audience perhaps already familiar with your setting to some extent, but you did say you were going to post a large amount of info in the OOC, so I'll just wait until then, I'm sure you'll cover all the holes.

Could you tell me perhaps a little more about technology in this world? For example, with trains around, are rifles/revolvers a thing? Have they already made traditional weaponry obsolete, if they exist? Just a general idea of what is possible in this world would be nice.

Since players are expected to be (amongst freelancers, I suppose) Mage Slayers, some more information on their ilk would also be appreciated. What their society is like, how they typically operate, and similar matters.

Lastly, and this is a more precise question, I have a rough concept in mind that I would be willing to try out, but I'll have to make sure it works within the setting. The idea I had was a character who is afflicted with some kind of long-term curse or disease, that manifests in some form of visible aesthetic on their body, most likely as a vile growth or deformation, and which is gradually spreading to infect more and more of their body. They might be looking for a cure, or some rare-to-find remedy that can temporarily abate the affliction's progress. Thing is, is such an affliction plausible? I would have to work together with you to work out a source for it that is appropriate to the setting, as it would have to be supernatural (and maybe unique?) in nature.

Thanks for bearing with me, Saber, hopefully I didn't ask too much ;P
I'll be looking forward to your reply! Thanks again.

The Prophecy

Yo Shien, admittedly I didn't read the entire post you wrote (nor did I read much of the discussion as a whole), but while skimming I saw your question over why a soulless body would die. I'm hoping I'm on the same page here, suspecting that you refer to what happens to a body after, say, the Withering or theoretical maximum magical exhaustion? If so, I recall Jack stating that a body's soul always determines the best possible condition for said body (but not the worst possible), so wouldn't that mean that a body without a soul (or a depleted/dead soul, whatever) would technically have a best possible condition of "dead"?

Colonial/Edo period styled Fantasy NRP

I haven't done much when it comes to NRPs, for one reason or another, but I'm liking the concept of your influence system, so I'll keep an eye open on this, see what happens. In regards to brainstorming, I think knowing more about how magic works and to what extent it can be used would be quite useful, so if you could tell me more, that'd be awesome. Thanks!