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Got an OOC up, I'll work on a first IC post tomorrow when my head doesn't hurt so bad. Headaches are the worst.
roleplayerguild.com/topics/188045-str…
Mejor

Mejor is largely a tropical land boasting dense jungles and a warm, humid climate. Its capital, Jalek, lies in its southern region, though not quite as far south as the coast. It is connected to the port city of Raihas by a river that is the main highway of trade for the whole of Mejor. Long ago, Mejor was divided into multiple smaller tribal lands with shifting borders, as the tribes often fought amongst themselves for land or resources. Eventually, the tribes became less distinct and split into a much larger northern and southern tribe. About three hundred years ago, Mejor's first queen united the north and south into one nation. The royal family, along with regional governors, have kept Mejor united and stable ever since.

The Mejori people have been nocturnal as far back as any recorded history. Their eyes evolved to be highly sensitive to light, and as a result they must shade their eyes if ever they have to be out and about under the sun. The Mejori also have a row of 4 articulating antennae, called 'headspines' that run down the center of their skulls. The spines are inflexible, though a mucscle at their base allows them to be raised up or lowered flat against the head. Other smaller sensors, called 'nodes', run down their backs. Both spines and nodes serve to sense vibrations and changes in air pressure.

The Mejori also developed stripes of bioluminescent photophores that run in patterns across the face, in rings at the tip of their headspines, down their backs, and down the length of their arms. Exact patterns, particularly facial patterns, differ slightly from person to person, though those of northern descent have more curved patterns while those of southern descent have more angular ones. The photophores are capable of producing a full spectrum of colors depending on physical status or emotion. Mejori Colorspeak, or the significance and meaning of the various colors or combinations of colors are a major part of Mejori communication. With a little focus, a person may keep their stripes dark, though feigning colors is an extremely difficult thing to do.

Kaija Tezusha

Average height, slim build. As is common with most Mejori, her hair is black, shaved into a long mohawk, and braided down to her mid back. The braid is clasped with a wide gold band at the end. Her stripe patterns mark her as southern. Teal eyes.

Kaija grew up an orphan in the streets of Jalek. At a young age, she was taken in by the Raven's Guild--a network of information brokers run by a man who goes by the moniker of Vahl. The Guild collects information that can then be legally purchased, often by utilizing the open ears of the many youngsters who roam the streets, serve in taverns, salons, shops, and even the royal palace. Kaija worked her way up to the uppermost ranks of the Guild, becoming an agent that would travel or seek out information in Vahl's stead.

Through a series of grim events, Kaija was caught red-handed in the murder of a northern governor and five of his entourage. She was immediately imprisoned and slated for execution, but Kaija escaped and used her connections with the Guild to gather information on the candidate chosen to explore the new land across the sea, Iasha Rhenuvi. On the morning of the expedition's departure, before the crew had the chance to meet one another, Kaija took Iasha captive, stole her gear, and showed up to the docks in her stead. Since Kaija fit the vague description of Iasha closely enough, she was able to pass as the scholar and departed for the new world.

Iasha Rhenuvi

Similar features to Kaija--long black hair, average height, slim build, teal eyes, though they lean more blue than Kaija's. Her stripe patterns mark her as having northern heritage, however.

Mejor decided to choose their emissary for the expedition by hosting a series of contests that tested strength, combat prowess, and knowledge. The goal was to find someone with a balanced set of skills and the potential to be trained further. Many entered, but in the end, Iasha was chosen. Her work as a biologist was her biggest strength, though she proved adept enough in other areas. Her knowledge of herb lore would be essential in determining the viability of the newly discovered land for future colonization, as well as her broad knowledge of fauna. After her selection, Iasha quickly became a bit of a celebrity, and the royal family practically adopted her during her training. She is popular among the common people and well respected in the academic community.
Yeah that works, maybe all of us black out after contact with magic thingy and third one comes to first, locks us up in some kind of improvised prison or a room or something. Maybe they get back to the camp first and tell everyone we’re the traitors and we kind of become semi fugitives, or alternately, maybe they have a faction of support team loyal to them and they take off elsewhere and it’s up to us to go find them. Or they could just kill them too that also works. We’ll get there when we get there.

Cool. Feel like we have enough to start? I can put up an OOC tonight and get a brief overview of my character/nation and maybe I’ll even start us off IC too if I’ve got time.
Yeah that’s basically what I meant, start off with them making landfall. Cool cool. Also do we want this to be like a solo expedition where they drop us off with supplies and leave, or is there a support crew that makes a base camp and kind of runs some of the minutia while our heroes explore?
Lol fair enough. At what point do we start? Like maybe on the ship right before they make landfall?

Also once we get an OOC up let’s do a quick rundown of our nation/races/characters for reference sake. Doesn’t need to be crazy in depth, I make up a lot as I go, but it will give some point of reference.
Hmm, idk, that almost feels too limiting. Like you wouldn't want to use it lest you turn into a monster/lose yourself, etc. Maybe it's more like magic requires a lot of energy and that energy is easiest to pull from yourself (and its taxing, but not so taxing it's impossible to use) but you can pull from other things too, like nearby animals or plants. And you have to be careful when doing that or you can obliterate plants and kill creatures you didn't mean to. Could also be that since this magic is kind of a living source, that maybe when you tap into it, if you're not careful, you can get overwhelmed in a physical and mental sense and sort of lose yourself (temporarily) if you reach in too deep.
I like that. Nobody’s got magic but we encounter the artifact and it’s granted to them, and the magic each individual gets is unique to them, but perhaps it has some basis in elemental things. Air, water, force/gravity, light, connections to animals, maybe even shapeshifting, etc rather than like spells/incantations.

The emissaries find it, gain magic, and eventually one betrays them and steals the artifact with the intention of using it to gain either personal or national power, and it’s up to the remaining two to get it back. I like it.

What sort of price did you have in mind?

Swords and castles it is! I’m thinking my character is going to be sort of a rogue class. Sneaky, dual wielding two big knives basically, sharp senses. And since it’s easier to have two players rather than three, we could have one of us play our villainous third, or we could sort of share them, whatever works best. Unless you’d prefer a third and we can try and recruit someone.
All good questions. For tech level, anything could work really. I’m down for a classic medieval fantasy type, maybe strampunky if you wanted, we could do something a little more modern/urban fantasy I suppose, I’m open to that too.

As far as magic, I’m thinking it’s semi loose in the sense that it’s not like, a learned thing with spells anyone can pick up. Magic is something you either have or don’t. I was thinking my people probably wouldn’t have it (but my character would get it upon finding the artifact) but maybe yours already do. Maybe no one does! I’ll leave that up to you. But I would imagine it’s got some kind of rules to it, something basic like “magic requires energy” but probably nothing too deeply structured. Allows us to kind of have the freedom to build as we go.

I’m thinking that most of the action and whatever is centered around our main heroes as opposed to a focus on the whole nations, though I would also imagine that if magic was gained where once there was none, that’s going to have some implications for the nations as a whole. Probably not looking for the like, ultra complex spider web of important houses like GOT where we’re juggling a bajillion characters though.
Ridahne could feel Darin's eyes on her, searching her, though she was not looking into her eyes, but her face. She was so used to people doing that, being from Azurei, that she didn't even register it as something unusual. But Darin reached out and gently turned Ridahne's face towards her, and then she knew what was on her mind. The tattoo was long since healed, but Ridahne suddenly felt it, or seemed to be keenly aware of where it was on her face. When Darin's hand fell away, Ridahne touched it with her own hand.

Amaiera-Sol felt like speaking would interrupt a moment, but there was something in this that she was missing. "Taja Torzinei, what is that mark? Will you speak of it to me?"
Ridahne nodded slowly. "When Darin and I first met, I was deeply plagued with shame. Not guilt, for I know why I did what I did and stand by it. But shame. I knew I'd done something terrible. I knew I'd betrayed my people, in a way. And I thought that no one could love me. I felt worthless. I was a murderer. One day, Darin finally pried the full story out of me, and I, in my shame, thought that there was no outcome that didn't end with her sending me away, and I would have no choice but to either remain in exile, or to return home and die. Bracing for what I thought would be a certainty, I offered to leave so that she might find a guardian of more worth, but Darin wouldn't have that." Ridahne chuckled. "She rebuked me for even considering the promise I'd made to her. She named me Seed-Chained, forever bound to the fate of the Seed and its bearer, until I'm relieved of duty. It's...not just a title. I am quite literally bound, my personage, my soul is now chained to this entity and by extension, Darin. I could not turn away from this path even if I wanted to."

A heavy silence filled the room as both Amaiera-Sol and her Taja processed that information. She knew Ridahne was dedicated to Darin, but she had not understood to what degree. "You had told me, Taja Torzinei, that you would never again be owned. That you were no longer the blade in someone else's hand. This...bond, then, must require a great deal of trust on your end. Trust that your bond would not be exploited."
Ridahne lifted her chin proudly. "An immense amount of trust. Trust that has not been proven false."
Amaiera-Sol nodded. "Then you have a good Sol at last." She turned to Darin. "You do indeed take care of what belongs to you, Astra-Sol. That is the mark of a good leader. Be encouraged, for while I do not know your full tale of all your deeds, I believe you are doing the previous Gardener proud." Amaiera-Sol had met the Gardener more than once in her centuries as Sota-Sol.

Ridahne offered a small smile to Darin, but then brought her attention back to the subject at hand. "If you Chained him, well...what happens next is up to you. You charged me with holding to my promise of protection and guardianship, a charge I accept with pride. What would you charge him with? In which direction would you send him?" She had a thought and couldn't help a dark chuckle. "If you really wanted to sow some chaos, you could charge him with attacking the Red Hand in whatever way he could--physically or logistically. Or you could bind him to a life of work. Honest work, not slavery, and something that would earn him an honest living. You could bind him to silence regarding your identity and movements. But where it goes from there...? I don't know. I don't think anyone knows what becomes of a Seed-Chained person, not even me. Though it's worth considering that by Chaining him, he would likely have some sense of...of..." she wasn't sure what to call it. "You have powers, a command of Astra's very bones. And while I do not have such command, I am sensitive to it. He would likely gain that as well."
The elderly woman's usually neutral expression changed a little when Darin referred to Ridahne as her sister. It was only a little upward pull of one eyebrow, but evidently that was a surprise to her. She'd never heard of a Taja taking their Sol as an adoptive sibling, or was it the other way around? There were no explicit rules against it, but it left her guessing at the power dynamics between the two, and what that looked like. She remembered that Ridahne had been adamant about not calling Darin by her title and now that choice seemed to make more sense.

Amaiera-Sol was silent as Darin spoke, and the only real reactions she had to what was said was a few nods of understanding or acknowledgement along the way. She chose to wait until the younger woman was finished speaking, and then she would consider everything. And consider she did. The Sota-Sol didn't answer right away and instead gave a long, thoughtful sigh. Finally she spoke, looking Darin in the eyes. Amaiera-Sol was a force to be reckoned with, certainly, but she allowed the same gentleness that she'd shown Ridahne in the hall. "The more I speak to you and to your Taja, the more I understand. She is yours, and you are a woman who takes care of what belongs to you. You are protective of her, and no doubt you saw the woman who cast out your Taja as a villain. You cannot be blamed for such a perspective, though I would hope that as you come into your own as Astra-Sol and you gain an appreciation for the complex nature of important decisions, that you also understand the weight of rule and doing what you judge to be best in a moment, even if nuance later proves those decisions to be rash. There is no ill-air between us, Astra-Sol," Amaiera-Sol assured her.

"As for your dillemma...you certainly have the right to ask my assistance, and I am honored you asked. I will do my best to advise you, but in the end you must do what you judge to be right. I assume you have consulted your Taja about this already. Taja Torzinei, what say you in this matter? You have the training for such matters."
Ridahne nodded, sipping her tea. "My training instructs me to slay him. An enemy alive will find you in the dark. A dead enemy allows you to sleep in peace. But...not all enemies are worthy of slaying. A petty thief is a criminal, but it's unjust to slay a man who steals a loaf of bread to survive. I'm inclined not to kill him, but," she added, glancing at Darin, "If it's decided that that's the best course of action, I would not hesitate."
Amaiera-Sol nodded. This seemed to be the answer she expected. "We have made it our policy in Azurei to capture and slay anyone openly with the Red Hand. You might call that cruel, but the message has been clear that we in Azurei support the true Seed-Bearer and do not tolerate those that seek to sow chaos and violence. Other lands have their own methods in dealing with them, but my reports tell me other lands have more trouble with them than we do here since the Sols made that decision. It is both bold and foolish for this one to out himself inside my borders."

Amaiera-Sol took a sip of her own tea, and indicated to her Taja that he was also free to partake if he wished. "I have spent centuries reading other people. I can gather easily enough that neither of you wants to kill him. By law, you could without fault, but it seems neither of you wish to. Then don't."
"But I won't let him go." Ridahne did not ask Darin's thoughts on this, she had her own very strong opinions. The Taja across from her evidently found that scandalous but did not speak. "Not as things are. The Red Hand will find out everything about us eventually. I've encountered one that Saw me in a vision. Not her, but me. I would guess that I might be recognizable enough to the right person, but not Darin. Not yet. That has so far kept us in relative safety, and while a time will come when that safety will end, I think it's unwise to speed forth that day with carelessness. Harai is not much of a threat to me, but he could put someone who is on our trail. I met my match once, I'm not keen to do it again." Ridahne touched the long scar across her side she earned during the fight where she'd almost died.

Amaiera-Sol nodded slowly. "Your Taja raises a good point. As for other options...we can and will hold him if you wish us to. It does not need to be a lifelong sentence. Once you have planted the Seed, grievous harm would come to any who wished to damage your sapling, or to take it from you. There will come a day when the Red Hand is either routed or thwarted, and on that day it would be safe to release him to do as he wished. He would be a prisoner, for a time, though we would treat him with as much care and dignity as you require."
"It's not a bad option to consider..." Ridahne said. "Unless...unless you could bind him in an oath of some sort. Either in an oath of secrecy, where he would not be capable of relaying information about us, or perhaps one in which he is prevented from returning. If you could do that, then I would feel safe releasing him."
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