Expendable

Caravan: An Episodic Fantasy with Worldbuilding! [Always Accepting]

Granny Siri & Ilyana the Half-Human

---

After the prayers had stopped, Siri raised her head, then stepped over to check Ilyana's temperature. Her hand was still cold to the touch, despite the noontime heat.

"Well, your temperature's down," Granny said, nodding sagely. "It's likely just exhaustion from traveling. I'd suggest sleeping for the rest of the day, I'll give you some medicine for later..."

At the entrance of the tent, someone clapped loudly twice.

"May I enter?" a deep voice spoke.
"Aye, if ye must," the apothecary-turned-priestess sighs.

The flaps spread apart, and the largest centaur Ilyana had ever seen trotted into the tent. Skin tanned dark, broad in the shoulders and covered in muscles. His face was handsome, with locks of curly dark hair and a neatly trimmed beard that made his jaw stand out. In his right hand, he carried a spear, but a massive sword hilt was behind his left shoulder, ready to grab.

"Ah, Kostantinos," Siri frowned, tilting her head at him. "Your boss want something?"

The guard glanced down at Ilyana, then back up to face Siri. "No, madame. I carry a message for this... young one, if he be Ilyana."
"I am..." the half-human frowned. Who could it be?

"Now now, stay put for a bit," Siri ordered, then glanced at Kostantinos. "He's under my treatment."

Beneath her velvet words, both heard the rasp of steel in her voice.

"Hyrilea, one of the centaurs who work at the Commissary tent sent me," the guard stated, a rueful smile twisting his lips as he placed his left hand over the first of his hearts. "She's run afoul of Thist, the night baker, and cannot accompany you to town today."
"Really?" Siri snorted. "How sad for them both."
"Indeed. I have connections within the city, I thought perhaps I could arrange for a local escort," he said with a slight bow, "But if you're ill...."

"I'm feeling better," the half-human stated, facing him.
"You should lie down," Siri warned, but Ilyana shook her head.
"I'm low on stock, I need to get product," she said, brushing her hair back with accustomed flip of her hand. "If I don't go today, the others will have stripped the market by morning."

"Most like," Siri sighs, nodding, then giving Kostantinos a hard look. "An escort...?"
"Merely an old friend who owes me many favors," the centaur rumbled, holding up the palm of his left hand. "I swear he will be in better hands than mine, and thoroughly safe."

"I'm no stranger to a city..." Ilyana scowled.
"You are to this one," the guard assured him. "An escort will keep you out of trouble."
"I'm just going shopping...!"
"All the better to get a local guide, then."

"Well, if yer set on this," the Wanderer priestess drawls, scratching behind her right ear.

Saint Valerius Academy - A Knight/Noble Fantasy

The Duke's daughter's gone cringeworthy dark, so I'm redoing her early life to make her more of an adventurer.

Saint Valerius Academy - A Knight/Noble Fantasy

Sorry, still trying to fill in all the places in this form.

Caravan: An Episodic Fantasy with Worldbuilding! [Always Accepting]

Granny Siri & Ilyana the Half-Human

---

They'd gotten the center pole up and hoisted up the center ring and the canvas - trust a sailor to understand rigging, Granny sighs. But there was something bothering her about the half-elf - he wasn't sweating.

"Boy," she called out to the youngster, "Are you feeling well?"
"Yes," Ilyana lied, but the priestess waved her over and pressed her hand against her forehead.

"Your hand, it's like ice...!" Ilyana sighs, leaning into it. "Why is your hand so cold?"
"And you have a fever," Siri nods, taking away her hand and stepping inside her wagon. Moments later, she reappears with a small folded square of paper and a waterskin. "Swallow the power inside, and wash it down with water."
"What do I owe..."
"Nothing," Siri says. "Just sit there for a bit and try to make yourself comfortable."

Saint Valerius Academy - A Knight/Noble Fantasy

I was thinking that the Duke's daughter has learned a bit of the Laws of Sympathy Magic - like calling to like. Spinning straw (or blonde hair - I know what was really going on Rapunzel) into gold, or shaping bits of wax with hair and toenail clippings to make a voodoo doll. Just your plain, ordinary, journeyman level magic. Mind the pinch.

Saint Valerius Academy - A Knight/Noble Fantasy

Well, generated a basic background. A duke's daughter. I can also do a knight to accompany her. I've a feeling he's going to be a jerk.

Saint Valerius Academy - A Knight/Noble Fantasy

<Snipped quote by The Savant>

I have no problems with you creating a blind character. So, unless anyone else has any major issues with it, I think you'll be fine to get started.

@HylianRose

I sometimes play mute characters, but invariably a lone telepath appears. So a few of my characters have been uniquely mind-shielded that other telepaths can't mind scan without headaches and so far only one mind exploding.

Saint Valerius Academy - A Knight/Noble Fantasy

<Snipped quote by Izurich>

I'll wait for others to weigh in on that, but I'm okay with everyone starting as first years! Just means everyone will have to play a 16 year old character, unless they want to play someone who has been held back a year for whatever reason.

@HylianRose

I thought First Years were 15? Sorry.

In England, you graduate from high school at 16, taking exams at the end of the school year for Advanced Levels (GCE A-Levels), Ordinary Levels (GCE O-Levels), and General Certificates of Secondary Education (GSE).

16 is also when you can get a job, enlist in the military (although I think the Brits are unique in that), and legally drink.

Not sure how other European nations do schooling. Is this a private high school or a private college? Or a private academy with both a high school and college program?

Saint Valerius Academy - A Knight/Noble Fantasy

@Expendable

I'll post the Headmaster and some of the example pairings soon. The example pairings were never super fleshed out, but I can give rough ideas of their dynamic.

Thank you.

@Crowvette@Expendable

Hmm... That wasn't necessarily in the original plans, since a Knight/Noble pairing is meant to be a strong bond, but I suppose if we think about it their first Knight might not always be the best fit. I certainly don't mind having a first week were there are little to no pairings and the characters are getting introduced to one another however I do find that moments like that, we tend to get lost in the weeds, so to speak. We'll spend so much time on the intro and pairings that we'll never get to the good story bits. That's my only caveat to that.

Otherwise, I'm perfectly fine with whatever we'd prefer to do with the pairings. I certainly do like that top knight and top nobles get paired, but I also think that we might run into trouble with that potentially? Feel free to shake me out of my thoughts if I'm being weird or too critical but if Rank 1 Knight and Noble are incredibly good together, how does one fall rank before the other? How would Rank 1 Knight lose their position with Rank 1 Noble or vice versa?

This is a school, so perhaps how they perform in their examinations determines their positioning? I imagine that knights would have more practical examinations.

On the other hand, perhaps it's just social standing?