Crucible

Aspharia: Legends

I'm about to start working on a post, it'll probably be up today :P

Aspharia: Legends

Some very basic info on

The Silverfangs:

The creation of the Silverfangs isn't much of a tale, a group of runaways that found shelter in a system of caves southeast of Aelholt. They slowly cleared the caverns and claimed them as a safe-haven from the law. These six made their living by stealing and looting from travelers, hunters and others that came near during the night, and then sending their more talkative member an elf with a particular gift for persuasion into the city to sell what they could gather.

With time they begun organizing a bit more, leaving three of their members to find earnings stealing from those that lived in the constantly growing city of Aelholt, and three to travel, hunting and pillaging. As these endeavors continued, the six began finding others in situations like theirs, outlaws trying to find a living, and they embraced them, bringing them into their safe-haven. Allowing them to their own devices as long as they gave the six a share of their earnings.

In the next decade this group grew, they began calling themselves the Silverfangs and the leaders, The Serpents. the cavern was sculpted and carved into a continuously growing hideout for outlaws, demanding only that those under their protection give them a share of their winnings. Eventually, rumors of this group began spreading through Aelholt, and eventually the elf was found, not however to be incarcerated, a powerful merchant wished to hire their services to eliminate the competition. And so began the contract system that the Silverfangs hold to this day.

Two centuries passed, the six are long dead but the fangs live on. Under the ruling of the Serpents they have the Paedator kingdom in their grasp from behind the curtains, this group has grown from a simple safe-haven to the scum of society to a guild of its own. most believe this group to be a rumor, but those that truly need its assistance, are drawn towards the Whisperers and find what they seek. The Hideouts are no longer only filthy living halls, as they have grown into complex underground systems where the majority of the guild finds their home.

Ranks:

The guild is sustained by a delicate pyramid, the lower members keep to gathering money and living for the guild, by enacting contracts and obtaining valuable items. as one raises through the ranks they begin acting on more valuable and difficult contracts, typically assigned by rich merchants, or nobles wishing to enact “politics”. Eventually the pyramid reaches a point in which the few members there don’t enact any form of contracts, they take and give direct messages to and from the Serpents.

Fledgelings:
Outlaws that have only recently caught attention of the guild, they are not allowed in Hideouts yet and are contacted by a Mentor that invites them to the Silverfangs, proposing first that they prove themselves by taking their first contract.

Members:
Fledgelings that succeeded in their first contract and where allowed in the closest den, receiving the key for it, they receive fairly simple missions that were paid by smaller clients or simply set out by the mentors of the hideout to steal goods for selling, they are the majority of the fangs and act as a basis for the group.

Protegés:
Members that caught the direct attention of local Mentors, to the point of being brought under their wing. At this point they are trained to further enhance their skills and begin taking slightly more important contracts. Mentor tend to share their own personal skills, varying from teaching Hadian magic to sharing trade secrets of their own makings

Puppets:
Not quite a rank, but a form of limbo between Protegé and Mentor. When a Protegé reaches a high enough point of their training, they begin taking contracts that act as trials, to see if they are apt enough to be a Mentor. These contracts tend to be both actual contracts, aswell as missions developed by the guild itself.

Mentors:
Of the Silverfangs that typically reside in the Hideouts, these are the strongest. From assassins, thieves to mages and warriors they ascended above being a Protegé and continued increasing their skills by themselves with time. They have access to all of the Hideout’s privileges and have ways of contacting the Whisperers.

Whisperers:
The eyes and ears of the guild, Silverfangs that have infiltrated and integrated into society, posing from the local smith, to a member of high nobility. The whisperers are priceless for the guild as they bring with them the greatest influence within the Kingdom. having their grasps around all of the kingdom, they are the one that are contacted when someone wishes to hire the guild, as well as the ones that contact the mentors. although the higher whisperers, those that are disguised for a more political purpose of manipulation cannot afford the risk, so they don’t reveal themselves, ever.

Serpents:
Those who have taken on the place of the Original six, The identity of these figures is unknown to all but themselves and a few whisperers, they are spread through the lands, disguised much like Whisperers. They send their commands through the whisperers and control the guild, spending their time plotting and manipulating the kingdom, leading it into their favor.

Hadian Magic

The members that the guild had through centuries have come from many places, different continents, many of those have been strong magic wielders, cultists, sorcerers and many others. this has left an imprint in the guild, bits and parts of their knowledge were held, in the form of notes, books, scrolls, items and other trinkets. with time some Mentors and Whisperers devoted themselves to putting these bits together, eventually creating an arcane alphabet originating from a mixture of dozens of other forms of magic. in honour of the whisperer that wrote several tomes on this form of magic, Hadia, it was officially called the Hadian alphabet, although it’s more commonly referred to as Snake’s tongue.

This form of magic uses the arcane essence of the caster itself, channeling small bits of the energy and refining it into spells, that are stored within arcane focuses. due to this nature, the caster can’t store to many spells at once since it shares space with his own essence as well as needing to give time for the that essence to ‘recharge’. The more accustomed to the magic the caster grows, the more spells they can wield.

The uses of the Hadian alphabet vary from incantations and spells that can be used at will as long as they are stored, to more time consuming spells that imbue themselves into objects or constructs. like enchantments, traps, or arcane tinkering. some spells attempt to replace the long time consuming rituals by creating, one use or a few uses enchantments. in these ways, it is a very flexible and intricate spell system.

Hideouts

The hideouts scattered over Aspharia bring a safe haven to all sorts of people that have been outcasted by the law. They are present all over the Paedator kingdom, and each other region has a single hideout, the areas with hideouts are: Aelholt, Srohl, Corhall, Westedge, Eastedge, Lormere, Reinholt, Kinesly, Mor. Some of the Paedator hideouts are considered the main dens, and the hideouts in other regions are called outposts.

Main dens:
* Westedge: this city, known for it's intense comerce and essential role in the trade routes and economy of the kingdom. mirroring this, many merchants are more willing to buy stolen goods to make a profit, and the Silverfangs took notice of this, making this den have the best comercial contacts of all the hideouts.

* Aelholt: This hideout where most knowledge on Hadian magic converges, aswell as other subjects. there is a fairly large library complex within this hideout accessible to protegés and above, it contains many books, from stolen copies to books written by mentors or whisperers.

* Corhall: This den is known for being the only den that deals with slave trading, from selling and buying, to giving refuge to runaway slaves. Although if slaves prove not to be worthy of the guild they are captured and thrown into the trading and selling many times ending back to their owners, they also have other forms of human traficking.

Aspharia: Legends

I'll put some of the basic information on the Silverfangs later today here probably, but i'm keeping from detailing it too much seeing as i'll be constantly expanding on the details in the RP itself, as well as a couple of details being left out for plot's sake :P

Aspharia: Legends

One question (I'm making some basic info on the Silverfangs). Corhall itself is a city/town right, the slave mines are just a feature of the nearby area?

Aspharia: Legends

Galthor Tradhar Delthor

Westedge hideout ~ Galthor's quarters

---

"You know, all this magic nonsense is going to drive you mad"

Galthor didn’t bother turning around to look at the figure as he was focused, looking intensely into the empty fireplace as he muttered Hadian incantations. However this was quickly interrupted as the figure that had opened the door stood in front of him, A tall man wearing thick leather armor with a single steel shoulder plate, a sword holstered around his waist and two bracelets on the hands of the now crossed arms.

“It’s rude to ignore me you know”

With an annoyed sigh he stood up and looked at the man who had a small smile hiding behind his thick brown beard, a single scar crossed his face from the left eye down to his mouth, sighing once more Galthor raised an eyebrow towards Bryar, one of his fellow Silverfangs in Westedge and spoke.

“It’s rude to interrupt me while i’m busy, that obviously didn’t stop you.”

“What do you want with me Bry?”

As he said that he took a couple of steps back, and let himself fall onto his bed, still watching as the rough looking man reached into a satchel to his side, sliding some leather straps to the side and pulled out a rolled up piece of parchment and flung it towards him. The parchment was sealed with a greenish stamp.

“The Higher ups over in Aelholt sent this”

Catching the parchment in the air and unraveling it Galthor read it, his expression instantly shifted to one of confusion, as he read it a couple more times. sitting up on the rough bed and looking at Bryar.

“You sure this ain’t for Laura?”

“It’s written in the damn contract isn’t it”
Galthor gave the man an annoyed look before motioning for him to leave, the contract was his first one that would take him outside of Westedge, being sent directly from Aelholt the mission was to take place in Mor, but that isn’t at all what distressed him, he was in a way looking forward for some fresh air. The problem was, in all his missions, he had always tried sticking to burglaries, forgeries, pickpocketing and things like that, at no point did he become particularly known for assassinations, he had barely done any assassinations, yet this contract was exactly that. the parchment told his to inquire in the Mor hideout for further details on his “elimination job” which was normally how murders were written in official contracts, which were normally taken by Laura..

---

Galthor had put the parchment aside for now, trying to leave it as but an itch in the back of his mind, prodding at him. Before he could prepare for the trip, he wished to finish the ritual that Bryar interrupted, so he went around the room making sure the candles where all lit, and he sat in the cold stone floor, legs crossed in the center of the room staring into the flames.

He breathed in

The shadows that hid, fleeing from the light in the corners and under the furniture seemed to become darker, more pronounced, and the candlelight began to flicker. A few hisses and rattle escaped his mouth as the tattoos in his arms seemed to slowly begin to shift.

He breathed out

The Hadian symbols seemed to escape from his skin and hover slightly above it, the snakes that coiled around his wrists begun to slither.

He breathed in

The darkness seemed to expand, tendrils poked and prodded at the barrier of light before slithering towards him.

He breathed out

The candles gave into the darkness as their flames burnt no more. and Galthor could feel the embrace of a magical essence covering him like a veil. And for the next forty minutes the room was dark, and the only sound in it was him breathing and letting out hisses, rattles and clicks as the symbols hovering above his arms shifted and changed in form as he prepared some incantations.

---

Prepared Incantations

• Skeleton key
• Tiring touch
• Corrosive poison
• Out of sight

Aspharia: Legends

I'm intimidated.. and hungry.

I'll probably start work on either my first IC or the Silverfangs when i get back later.

Aspharia: Legends

Put the approved CS up on the post, and i'll work on more detailed information on the Silverfang organization soonish

Aspharia: Legends

O:4 D:2 S:4

Galthor's Soul State

Modified Appearance:

As his soul form is triggered his skin sinks into darkness, his form stretches and hunches as he becomes a deformed humanoid figure made of what looks like the shadows themselves, absorbing any light that touches it, sharp claws extend where his fingers once where and his facial features vanish.

Modified Skills:

• [O1D1S1] "Arcane liberation": In this form the symbols vanish into his shadowy essence, practically transforming himself into one potent arcane focus, this amount of power releases him from some of the limitation in his magic. allowing him to cast spells without having them prepared.
• [O1S1] "Dark embrace": As he resides in this form, all of his offensive spells take a resemblance of his energy with it, weakening the enemies willpower, frightening them, making them feel hopeless.

Name: Galthor Tradhar Delthor
Aliases: 'Umbra', 'T'
Appeared Age: Mid-Twenties
Actual Age: Twenty Six
Nationality: Paedatorian
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Height: 1,59 m
Weight: 70 kg
Eye Color: Hazel
Hair Color: Brown
Physical Identifiers

• two matching tattoos in both arms. on both the wrists they depict serpents coiling around them, and above them there are several symbols from the Hadian alphabet, these symbols change based on the spells he has stored.

Appearance:
Galthor is quite short for a human with an average build, he looks and dresses mostly like a commoner, maybe in the hunter or ranger side due to his simple, light leather armoring. his eyes are of a blueish color alongside a poorly kept brown beard and hair that rests slightly above his shoulders. There isn't much about him that jumps out and grabs attentions, with the exception of course of the matching tattoos that cover both of his arms with pitch black symbols all the way from slightly below the elbow to slightly above the wrists in which each arm have two serpents coiling depicted.

However, when night falls, Galthor is a different man, when he can surround himself in shadows he walks with a grace of someone who belongs there, barely making any sound as he practically glides through the streets, few have seen this though as even in Silverfang missions the members tend to split up to find optimal paths before deciding on a course of action, the few that have though, have taken to calling him Umbra.

Biography

Galthor's upbringing was fairly normal, and for the first thirteen years of his life nothing would indicate that it would change, he was the son of the blacksmith Iko Delthor and the hunter Lia Tradhar in a small village to the south of Mor. He spent most of his childhood playing and learning as most children in the village. his life was uneventful until thirteenth year, as the sun set Galthor was in the woods nearby, he had been following some tracks as his mother had been teaching him some basic hunting and he stayed out later and further in the woods then he should, although in the end that ended working to his favor.

A while later realizing he would probably already get in trouble for getting home late, he decided to rush back as fast as possible, and as he ran down the pathway to his village, he began smelling smoke, and as he continued, running faster and faster he saw a light, a very bright light, fire was taking his village as the sound of screams filled the night. He ran, and ran, and got to the edge of the village before falling to his knees. The village was being raided by what seemed like a horde of orcs, they were breaking in during the chaos, killing everyone and taking all valuables they could.

Crying desperately Galthor huddled up next to a tree, and seeing the horrors of the bandits, spent the night crying as silently as he could, eventually falling a sleep out of pure exhaustion. He woke up next morning, a faint hope that it was all a horrible nightmare, pulling himself up and screaming for his mother, but opening his eyes and seeing the charred remains of his village, realization dawned upon him. It all happened, his family was dead. And he, was alone. He spent two days in those charred remains, unsure of what to do, spending most of his time crying, hoping for something that never came.

He was left hungry and tired in the ashes of the life he could have had, but at this point, it had all changed. he eventually got up, eating whatever remains he could scavage, and headed south through the roads. roaming with no goal, hoping for something, anyone that could comfort him, but no one came. Eventually he found a wagon in the cobblestone road, the owners didn't seem to be there, and desperate for rest Galthor climbed into the back and hid in the back of what he found out to be a wagon carrying salted meats somewhere. Galthor hid in that wagon for two days, actually resorting to eating some of the raw meat to keep himself fed. Eventually the wagon reached a city and the guards had to check the contents.

Upon realizing that Galthor's already lowered spirit dropped further, he layed in fetal position in a far corner behind several boxes and closed his eyes, waiting, as he could hear the guard and feel the boxes shaking. somehow however, fate maybe, or most likely a stroke of luck, the guard didn't check the boxes he was behind. When the wagon entered the city Galthor peeked out, and eventually jumped out of the wagon. He was in Westedge now, little did he know what was ahead of him.

With the passing of time, it was a very harsh contrast, from a safe life with a loving family, to the situation he found himself in. alone, resorting to sleeping in the alleyways and eating what he could gather from what people threw away and left behind and begging. Eventually he met other beggars, some of them did more then just beg, they stole, pick pocketing distracted members of the city as they took their busy days, mostly during busy days in the marketplace. Galthor didn't want to steal, he knew it was wrong and a part of him thought of what his parents would think. But another part knew that if he didn't he would end up starving.

He caved in around the age of fourteen, he was having a very hard time gathering anything, times where hard and the people weren't just leaving as many things laying around. he began small, pick pocketing some coins and stealing bags of food from distracted or busy townsfolk. and this went on until the age of sixteen, he did almost get caught several times, but being short and young helped him run into the crowds and hide. However, at the age of sixteen, he ended up actually getting caught. Not by a guard as expected though, a man in relatively common clothes grabbed him by the scruff and dragged him away. Galthor struggled to escape but when the man told him he would call the guards if he didn't stop he obliged.

The man dragged him to his house, it was fairly high quality compared to the normal commoner house, telling Galthor to sit and gesturing a bench. Galthor didn't know what would happen, the fact that the man hadn't called the guards relived him, but also scared him, he imagined many things that could happen, but nothing like this.

"So.. I've been watching you and i must say. you have some talent." The man said with a grin.

The night went on as the man introduced Galthor to what the Silverfangs where, and formally extend and invite, which not quite sure what to do he accepted, marking the starting point of his life with his new family.

Ten years later, here Galthor stands, a Protegé of the same man that invited him to the Silverfangs, he spends most of his days with the group he now considers his family, experimenting with the form of magic taught to him by Ylor, and going on missions either on service of the guild, or of his own interest.

Residence: Serpent's den under Westedge
Profession: Thief
Aligned Faction: Silverfangs
Social Status: Outlaw
Military Status: None
Other Status: Protegé of Ylor stormwind, Nylphite
Blood Relatives:

• Iko Delthor - Father - Dead
• Lia Tradhar - Mother - Dead

Starting Gear:

• Two ebony handled daggers with some Hadian etchings in the blade.
• Worn light leather armor, similar to those that some hunters or wanderers might wear, with an attached cloak.
• A pouch with some coins, a couple of lock picks, and a key to the hideout under Westedge.
• A book full of scribbles, sketches and spells

Skills:

• "Stealth": "Years with the Silverfangs have had it's effects on Galthor, what used to be something he'd keep to the jobs has seeped into his day-to-day, he avoids attention and keeps to the sides naturally now, and when needed, knows how to sneak into the shadows and out of sight."
• "Hadian Knowledge": "Galthor has learnt, with the help of his mentor Ylorn, the basis of Snake's tongue, and currently spends some of his free time experimenting and reading on incantations, he keeps the incantations he knows on a small book he writes in, and currently can store four spells at once.

Galthor's notes

• "Chokehold": Releasing the essence of this spell causes pitch black energy, almost as if a veil of shadows, to cover the casters hand. gesturing the hand towards an enemy causes the veil to dissipate and four symbols to appear around the neck of the target. A dense smoke seeps through these symbols, coiling around the enemies head and suffocating them.
• "Tiring Touch": Touching a target and releasing the stored energy in a quick pulse, the corresponding symbol is transferred from his focus to the opponent and activated, exhausting the enemy, weakening it and putting it to sleep. Loud noises and other distractions can wake the target up after one minute has past.
• "Corrosive poison": This spell must have it's essence imbued into a sharp weapon when cast, creating three symbols where the weapon was being held in a triangle formation. The weapons next attack consumes the symbols and injects a dark green toxin that corrodes the enemy from the inside dealing a lot of damage.
• "Blur": activating the stored essence,releases a surge of energy through Galthor causing him to magically shift in position slightly, allowing him to dodge out of the way of a particularly nasty attack.
• "Skeleton key": focusing for a while, Galthor slowly releases the spell in three pulses towards a door or other locked object. Aslong as the lock isn't of arcane or very complex origin (can open most common doors and chests) the spell creates six symbols that surround the area with the main mechanism and disable the lock until the spell is dispelled or the door is locked again. (Preparing this spell again instantly dispels the Skeleton key)
• "Out of sight": This incantation is fairly simple, but at the same time it takes the longest for it requires a lot of stored energy. Galthor can tap into this energy and cloak himself in the shadows, making him almost impossible to see in dark areas unless the person is actively searching for him, knowing he is there. It lasts around five minutes.
• "Disruptive pulse": This is a recent incantation of Galthor's, and one he can be proud to say he created. the energy stored is released in a pulse, this pulse constantly shifts between arcane frequencies, creating a disruptive shock of anti-magic. This can be used to disable very simple magic locks, and dispel some enchantments and spells.
• "Reflective ward": the essence of this spell cloaks Galthor, much like out of sight, but it can't cover his entire body, having to be focused into a particular body part, like an arm, or the torso. This cover is invisible, and protects the body part for one blow of physical damage before scatterings.

Weaknesses:

• "Illumination":"Snake's tongue is a very malleable form of magic, that shifts and changes depending on the caster, in the case of Galthor his magic represents itself in an energy that resembles his most favored place. The shadows, as such, his spells are significantly weaker if exposed to strong light or holy energy."
• "With friends like these": "Living in a 'family' of thieves, forgers, traitors, assassins and whatever scum the cities produce has bent Galtho into having a perturbed view of other people, being slow to trust and quick to betray his allies for his own good."
• "The price to pay": "Between magic and daggers, Galthor doesn't have much time to learn how to protect himself, much less how to wield a shield. Making him quite weak to attacks"
• "Outlaw": "Although he is good at keeping himself out of attention, his face and name are somewhat well known between the guards and nobles in the fancier, more protected areas of the kingdom. As such he cannot bring himself to enter such areas, alongside other places like palaces unless he is sneaking in from a side path. Seeing as the guards would recognize him and attempt to seize him. In the less protected areas, with most of the common folk he is not as easily recognizable but if he somehow brings attention to himself a guard might still recognize him."

Aspharia: Legends

I have a character sheet in the making, just waiting for an answer from the GM to see if i can do a thing that i wanna do, if i can't i'll just stick to my original design :P