Cereline

Lands of Lhivoria

Watching the crowd begin to roar around her, before she had even gotten close enough to shout her personal protests, Isolde suddenly felt less alone. Her fists un-clenched and before she could back away again, she began being jostled by the angry crowd. Her voice was no longer needed and the anger, instead of escalating, deescalated as though it had been absorbed by the crowd.

Isolde looked up, as many others in the crowd did as well, at the man who was on the side of the building. She watched. There was not much else she could do. Then, the rain began to downpour. The crowd grew more restless around her with people either continuing their protest or rushing too get out of the rain. Isolde, being smaller than most other people, was easily pushed with the flow of the crowd. As she tried to get to the edges, she found herself tripping over others pushing their way through. Before she could reach the edge, she was pushed to the ground.

Lands of Lhivoria

As the stranger placed his hand on her back, Isolde's first instinct was to jump away. However, after a moment passed, her panic subsided and he removed his hand - as if the touch had been accidental. She looked over at him as he spoke. It had been no accident, then. Although it was strange of him, she felt it necessary to acknowledge the kindness "I...," she started, unsure of what to say, "better, thank you." She may have spoke more, but the gathering had begun and an official-looking man was addressing the crowd about the attack on Arngrim.

It quickly became clear that the official would not be telling the truth of the attack - he says it was insignificant and no lives were lost, but Isolde knew that was utterly false. She clenched her fists. She had been taught all her life to keep her mouth shut but she was struggling to do so at this moment. It seemed like an injustice for the government to ignore what had actually happened, and even more so to be so disrespectful when refugees were likely already present.

The calm that had overwhelmed her after the stranger had helped her, somehow, was quickly turning to anger during the speech. The rapid emotional swings were almost overwhelming for Isolde. She stood up, fists clenched at her sides, and began walking closer to the podium. She was prepared to speak her mind about these lies.

Lands of Lhivoria

Isolde grabbed the edges of her thick cloak and pulled it tighter around herself, shivering a bit with the chill. The motion pulled the fabric which resulted in the hood coming loose from her head and her messy hair being pulled along with it. Isolde made no further move to adjust the careful arrangement as she finally felt a degree warmer, hugging herself. Perhaps it wasn’t that cold - but Isolde had a chill she’d been unable to rid herself of since she left Arngrim and the dreary sky made it worse.

Isolde had watched the royal guard arrive and had a feeling she knew what the meeting in the town was about. She was one of the first of what would probably become many individuals coming from Arngrim to get away from the aftermath of the attack. The royal family could not turn a blind eye to the blatant disregard for life and the throne. Isolde sat on the edge of the cleared out square and watched as hundreds of citizens poured in for the message. She had decided, upon arriving at Arngrim, that she would keep to the sidelines. That’s what she usually did as a servant, anyway. But here it was different, here she was making the deliberate decision to keep herself separate. The more people arrived, the colder she became. This would be the perfect place and time for another attack, wouldn’t it? Isolde hugged herself tighter as images of the aftermath and of her “family” flickered through her mind.

It came quickly. Panic. She looked around, more and more people, all of them strangers. She couldn’t trust any of them. She didn’t know them. She didn’t know anyone anymore. They were all taken from her. In a crowded city, not much different from this. Her eyes fixated on the makeshift podium as she began to hyperventilate. She was trying to keep herself quiet - to avoid attention. But the strange feelings were consuming. She was unable to stem the feelings of panic.

Lands of Lhivoria

Isolde Bree

Age: Twenty-Five

Gender: Female

Appearance: Isolde’s hair is long and auburn-brown and her eyes are a gentle hue of blue. She’s of average height 5’4” and average build.

Skills:
Hospitality - Isolde has a warm personality and a welcoming presence. She could easily lull people into a false sense of security.
Reading/Knowledge Depth - A benefit of being a servant in a household with children of a similar age, Isolde was able to learn to read and would read quite frequently.
Cooking - What servant doesn’t know how to cook? She’s a wonderful cook!
Calm - Ability to remain calm in crisis situations.
Barter - Barter for lower prices on goods and services.

Artefact: None

Personality: Isolde likes clarity - she thrives on creating clear directions for herself and others. As such, Isolde has low tolerance for ambivalence, particularly from herself. Isolde tends to keep to herself, likely a direct result of being a family servant. Keeping to herself tends to keep her out of trouble and allowed her time to develop many home-related skills. Other people initially perceive Isolde as difficult to approach, but is the exact opposite when engaged in conversation. She is generally a well-liked person.

At the same time, Isolde is very closed off and most friendships she has had are kind, but shallow. Although she longs for relational depth, she finds it difficult to connect with other people in a meaningful way.

Brief History:

When Isolde was young, around six, she was left in the town of Arngrim with a local family and her father assured her that he would return. Weeks went by and there was no word from her father or the community she left behind. The family, anxious about the additional mouth to feed, eventually decided on allowing the girl to stay on as a servant for the family. And so, she lived her life as both the outsider and trusted help, a precarious and oftentimes confusing place to be in a family system. Even so, Isolde saw them as family.
When the attack on Arngrim happened, Isolde happened to be separate from the family. She was out retrieving some goods from a nearby farm. The family happened to be in the vicinity of the attack and all were killed. Isolde could have stayed on in the home of the family, which had not been destroyed, but opted to leave with a wave of refugees.

Lands of Lhivoria

Accident post - will add another character later

[LF] Committed Group

Everyone, I went ahead and posted in the discord. If possible we can all try to get together tomorrow at the same time and get some stuff going for reals! :)

& Tex thank you VERY much for setting up the discord.

[LF] Committed Group

@tex Thank you for that post, really good categories. I personally am interested in artifact or scientific types of magic for this roleplay.

@Howilng Zinogre If you are interested, we are currently exploring the possibilities of an original world that is some sort of an adventure and has some low-key elements of magic. :) Feel free to hop in the conversation, too.

Everyone: I'll figure out discord and stuff Thursday or Friday. Tomorrow is a really busy day for me so I may not have a chance to get on! But Thursday I will be much more available. :)

[LF] Committed Group

@tex Yes, we should start discussing this on a platform outside of here - it might be easier, particularly if we all have some overlapping time to nail out some ideas faster. I use Curse (now Twitch voice) a lot but Discord is fine, I'd just have to remember to get on it lol

Magic should be high on the list for nailing down right away!

Magic can go a lot of ways and I think that limitations are so, so important. I agree with @Blue2 that resurrection magic would be beyond the scope. Aside form that, Blue also mentioned some cool ideas. I think it would be most simple if people had access to maybe one piece of magic - perhaps it is a lot of effort to learn or is inherent/latent in some way in every individual? Although everythign feel slike a cliche now-in-dayss. ):

@YoganandaAside: sound healing that sounds so cool!

@Howilng Zinogre Feel free to throw your hat into the ring! We are just figuring things out so there's still room for others! :)

Men vs. Women Race to 1000

443

[LF] Committed Group

I'd personally prefer a more historic setting -- somewhere along the lines of medieval-theme & in a city that has a lot of history. I don't necessarily want it to be super realistic. I want some opinions though, so it isn't just me making the BIG decisions.