Holmishire

Another spamfic thing

If you deem me worthy of mention, I've got a theme song ready. I'm posting two for the following reason: the first is my typical go-to theme song, and represents my "persona" the most, as far as I can tell. Of course, this means that it's basically what Jorick based my entire character off of, so if you want to make sure I'm not some carbon copy, I posted a second song you can listen to instead, should you feel so inclined.




Whether I'm in your fic or not, of course, I'll read it. :D (Though recently I'm a bit busy so I'll likely fall behind.)

---

Zed said

Also yeah, this fit quite nicely, in some disturbingly cute way.

Trying to sell me some application.

There's some app I tried a free trial of because it was already on my computer, some kind of data backup thing. Opened it, looked at what it did, and ignored it, not using any of its features.

After the trial expired, maybe thirty days, I got emails saying "y'all should upgrade" and stuff. (diction modified)

Each email pretended to be an actual person specifically trying to get me to buy their product. So maybe a month later, they offer me a deal; because they value me (and I still haven't thrown any money at them) 70% off, exclusive offer. I'm like wow, thanks for the offer, but no thanks. Keep trying to get me on that deal for a month or so, dozens of emails because I'm too lazy to unsubscribe. And finally, they give in, and give me a new offer. 1$.

So, apparently, their tactic is to track customers, and lower prices as much as needed for each specific customer depending on how long it takes them to respond. All these exclusive offers may be automated, but they are hidden.

You have to sit there and ignore them completely, then they'll just throw whatever they can at you.

Actually, a pretty good business plan, except that I actually don't want their product.

Pet Peeve Thread

idlehands said
This...and when they're in a group, spread out instead of single file. I just want to start going through them like an NFL fullback.

What I find even more annoying is when one is walking in the opposite, and this group is approaching in this broad line. Four or five of them, blocking the whole sidewalk. One moves as far to the edge as one can, but they just stay in formation, keep coming, until one is forced onto the road. And as they pass, the glare, as if to say, "What the hell are you doing? Have some common decency, make some space for other people to walk."

It happens to me every day. I keep trying to be firm, stay on the sidewalk, but they just glare at me as though I'm just some typical impolite teenager that doesn't know that sidewalks were meant for people above nineteen and below thirteen. Once I had been blocked by a wall on my side, and so I stopped and made as much room as possible for their group, and they still walked with tons of space between them, physically pushed past me and glared as if I shouldn't be there. I stick myself into tree branches and duck under trees and even push myself into the prickly bushes.

And it makes me feel so guilty.

I hate feeling guilty despite being as nice as I can be.

The Best Thing Ever

I also very much enjoyed it. The protag was cool, but I also really liked his side-staff, That Guy Called Squid and Goldnharl. Truly heroes to look up to.

Legend of Renalta 2: Reborn

Aëyr, selkie.

---

There is no sound Aëyr preferred over the sound of silence. Deep in the ocean, all sound is blunted and deep, reverbrations that one more feels than hears.

On land, however, sounds are sharp, loud, and altogether difficult to ignore.

And in the great cities of the landborne, there is almost no escaping from its constant barrage.

Cloak pulled tightly about her, hood hanging low, Aëyr wandered the streets near aimlessly as she tried to slither her way through the bustling crowds, doing her utmost not to be noticed. She had been made well aware of the Renaltan tendency towards acceptance, and yet, she preferred not to draw attention. She was a foreigner to these parts, and more importantly, so was her race. As far as she could tell, the only selkies of this world lived out at sea, distant from these kingdoms and far past even the docks of Tuleria, where she had first met the acquaintance of the continent. Freak or not, Aëyr preferred being the observer, not the observee.

As of yet, she had had some difficulty adapting to her new role as Queen's Blade. Though she had most certainly joined their rank willingly, she now found herself wondering if this was truly the sort of life she was built for. Ever since she had been « freed » of her servitude in the Free Holds, she had had no place in this world, nowhere to call home. Wandering across the continent, from the Imperium to Rheinfeld and finally down to Renalta, all she had ever known was movement. She fled from conflict when it arose, and she searched for peace wherever she could find it. In a sense, the road itself had become her home.

But here in the Capitol, she was lost. Free to do as she pleased, but shackled by the confines of the city. Until they were sent out again, until she could serve as she had been trained to do for the years of her life spent a slave, she was lost in stagnance.

And so she wandered the streets, be it day or night, waiting to be commanded, waiting to be led.

And while she was at it, she observed.

Sometimes she watched the common folk, attempting to meld herself amongst them and give herself a taste of routine and daily life, to escape her life through theirs. On rare occasion, she would find herself talked to, and forced to interact. In such cases, she would abort as quickly as possible. However, much of her time was instead spent watching her fellow Blades. Seeing them come and go, who they chose to interact with, what they chose to do.

Born in a shoal where all was shared, and then having every most intimate detail sold out of her for the right amount of coin for three years, Aëyr had never quite learned the value of "privacy".

Legend of Renalta 2: Reborn

By the way, for whomever is interested, I finally got around to drawing Aëyr.

Drawing link and some info.

Technically includes her in the nude, though I didn't draw the actual bits.
Of note, her hair is a dark reddish-brown. Her skin is grey; most selkies, as I've designed them, have a short film of fur coating their bodies. However, Aëyr lost hers permanently due to prolonged exposure to intense sunlight whilst in the desert. Anything else of importance is probably mentioned in either the image or on my CS.

Equipment is, of course, subject to change.

Legend of Renalta 2: Reborn

I had something in mind, and then Jorick convinced me, and then with Brovo's post I re-convinced myself. I'm personally partial to saving Liveria, Rheinfeld, the Free Holds, the Imperium, and the Underdark. However, I'm reconsidering again because of Brovo, so yeah.

Long explanation.

The Free Holds I would choose to abandon because, as Brovo said, they are basically unbeatable. Of all the nations, they can probably take the most damage. If we're lucky, the Holds will go into war with each other over this new Warband leader's demons. It'll take a long time for them to go down, and they are likely the nation with the easiest return to status quo. However, it is entirely possible that due to the influence of this succubus, that the Holds might actually unite, and hell-on-earth would that suck. The demons are already an almost unstoppable horde, and with the Holds on their side, we're basically doomed. So of the ones I'm considering ditching, the Holds I'm most considering switching in, potentially by ditching the Amazons, as much as I hate it.

I would abandon Liveria because firstly, they aren't a large nation, and they are isolationist. They are stubborn, and they can probably hold off enough not to be completely wiped from the board if we ditch them. However, now that the Angels are over there, I'm starting to think I'd rather go for them. As was said, the Angels are an ideal and logical choice for fighting demons, and I wouldn't want to lose them.

Unless there's some new super-important reason in the next OOC post, I'm now thinking we should abandon Renalta. What does it have? Well, a perfect society that we all love and adore, sure. Lots of great people, some significant NPCs, highly defensible with Liveria and... Well, the issue is, Renalta and Liveria are separated by a full-scale mountain range from just about everywhere else. This either makes it a great last stand, or very annoying for mobilization. I want to save Renalta, but they aren't very useful until late in the war, where they can either become a refuge with great defense, or a useful pincer-point with the Goblin Holds. That, to me, is the extent of their utility, and I say we can bear to lose a little ground back home because we can always retake it later, especially with Liveria's help.

The Underdark I would save because boy is that a lot of ground. Those caves can be very useful for getting around in the future, and I don't think we stand much chance of navigating them unless we ally ourselves with someone down there. I also imagine demons will be working their way from down there in part anyways, so while it may not be the easiest place to defend, it will give us an early warning on when to protect ourselves.

Rheinfeld just always seems like a no-brainer. Big country, lots of useful anti-demon stuff, also some nice variety between the Templars and the Republic, if we can get both on our side. If we lose the two Southern states, this would be the place best suited to resisting them. If we don't, this would be the easiest army to retreat back into Renalta. In almost all situations, Rheinfeld should be saved, the exception being total devotion to the pincer tactic, but then we would at least need Tuleria's navy to cross the Blood Sea. Rheinfeld is just overall a good base of operations.

The Goblin Holds? Meh. Small nation, little geographical use. I'd see the Free Holds as a more useful ally, even though the Goblin Holds play more to our Renaltan sensibilities. If their ingenuity is really that good, they can sort themselves out, and see that helping us out will be good for them in the long run. And if they get eaten by the Free Holds? Well, no land lost, anyways. We can easily access the Blood Sea elsewhere.

Tuleria is a very tough choice. Their main advantage to me is their navy. Not because, as Temptress so passionately cries, it's our access to the outside world—the outside world is of little use to us right now. Limitless ocean isn't going to come save us, and the nations out there are probably handling their own affairs. What I see as useful is if they can get their navy over to the Blood Sea. That can be a big help, because while the Goblins may be able to hold their own, we're gonna need some help down South too. If we can get the invasion confined mostly to somewhere in Rheinfeld or the mountains, those boats open up a whole new front that could really squeeze the enemies between our forces. Divided we fall, and all that. So if we want help from the Free Holds, we'll be needing Tuleria too, even if they are across the world.

The Amazons are great and all, but sacrifices have to be made. I get the impression their assailant, while extremely powerful, is not going to do well in a desert, so the only other place it threatens would be the Imperium. (We'll get to that in a second.) Their powerful fighters would be very useful, yes, but from a geographical standpoint, they don't have much to offer. Getting them across the Blood Sea will be a hassle, with Tuleria being on the other side of the Sea, a big delay for our naval back-up.

The Imperium are another tough choice, one that I very much would like to save. Like the Amazons, they are of little use geographicallys, which is my focus here. However, they may be able to help the Amazons rebuild later down the line, which would be nice. They also feature a pretty epic army. I would love to ship those soldiers to that bottle-neck mountain valley between Renalta and Rheinfeld. As a last stand, that would be near unbreachable, if we could convince them to come over, which I hope to think wouldn't be too hard, considering their adaptability.

So who should we save? Geographically, the best bets would be Renalta, Liveria, Free Holds, Tuleria, and the Underdark. That would allow us to surround enemy forces while maintaining some mobility—being Tuleria across the Blood Sea, ships between Liveria and Tuleria, and the underground tunnels for pretty much any surprise attack ever. However, the Underdark would be hard to defend, and so it is the one I'm most willing to drop, despite our Drow brethren.

In terms of military advantages, I feel like Rheinfeld is the top choice, followed by Liveria's angels, then the Free Holds, and finally the Imperium. However, Tuleria's ships are important for mobility, so throw that onto the list with the Free Holds, even though I consider them more of a utility. The other armies I feel we can afford to lose.

Unfortunately, that gives us some tough choices. After even more deliberation, I'm now vouching for Free Holds, Tuleria, the Imperium, Rheinfeld, and either Renalta or Liveria, hopefully whichever we choose can back up the other.

What about the missions you say? I'm not really considering those yet, waiting for Brovo's post. This is a preliminary study based primarily on the tangible geographical and military assets of each nation, which are far more set in stone than "ooh princess".

Residence: Holmishire

Name: Kaya Lefèvre.
Age: Twenty-nine years old.
Ethnicity: Half-asian, half-caucasian.
Sex: Female.
Appearance: What does your character look like?
Homeland: BC, Canada.
History:

Kaya was raised by two immigrants from China, her mother and uncle, who had come to Canada with her father so that she'd have a chance at a better life. (Mixed race individuals are poorly accepted in many countries around the world.) She was told her father had died long ago from an unknown disease, and since then, her uncle had taken his place, acting as a surrogate father.

They were not particularly well-off, but neither were they poor, and Kaya was given the chance to succeed at a respectable school during her teens. Though she didn't make many friends for one reason or another, she made it through high school having made her mark with her physical prowess, surpassing all other students in gym. She even built up a reputation as a good fighter, and many of her colleagues would line up to have a chance to spar with her. She easily defeated them by dodging and knocking them over, but without harming them, making it a popular activity in the neighbourhood.

When she graduated, instead of opting to go to university, she instead went straight into the workforce as a dishwasher, enjoying the simple labour. After a couple years, realising she would never be able to properly sustain herself this way, she joined the RCMP. She served well, though not advancing due to a lack of the correct leadership traits, and made enough money to help out her mother and uncle, so that they could look towards retirement in an out-of-the-way house closer to nature.

Personality: .
Motivation: Helping others and saving the world. Fighting the good fight.
Native Pantheon: Greek.
Divine Parent: Hestia.

---

Mechanical Section

---

Heroic Role: Skirmisher.

Primary Attributes: Strength, Dexterity, Stamina.
Secondary Attributes: Appearance, Intelligence, Perception, Quickness.
Tertiary Attributes: Charisma, Manipulation.

Primary Purviews: Darkness.
Secondary Purviews: Fire, Frost.
Tertiary Purviews: Illusion, Guardian.

Pantheon Purview: Arete.
Primary Trainings: Battle, Endure, Investigate.
Secondary Trainings: Heal, Sniper, Drive-Wheeled, Drive-Personal, Art-Engineering.
Tertiary Trainings: Conversation, Politics, Research, Wilds, Drive-Mounted, Drive-Rotor, Art-Visual.
Untrained Trainings: Occult, Military, Larceny

---

Personal Section

---

Romance: Let it be so.
Play style: Make it clear, make it complex, let us do what we have to do.

Signature: Holmishire, ready to die.

Residence: Holmishire

Name: Mika.

El Jefe Piedra; the Stonelord; Winter's Levy.
His heart is of stone and his blood runs cold.

Age: 31.
Race: Caucasian.
Sex: Male.
Appearance:

Homeland: Alaska and the Canadian territories.
History:
Mika was not an idle soul. Raised in the icy tundra of Northern Canada and Alaska for the first decade or so of his life, he quickly learned how to shoot, fight, and kill.

In his early teens, his family decided to move down to the Southern States in order to reconnect with family. From there, Mika recieved something of an education, but it was not long before he took off to see the world by himself.

In his case, the world was composed of the Americas, and familiar with the two northernmost countries, he took to Mexico. Becoming involved in drug cartelling and the ensuing war, he became a rugged fighter and a man devoted to his own ideals. When the allure of raw violence passed, he continued south in order to partake in a variety of revolutions and civilian uprisings. Living the life of a revolutionary, he managed to satisfy his lust for rebellion for many years.

Now, he fights his battles in a far larger scale.

Character Growth: Mika learned a bit more in the way of compassion for his fellow man, bringing him to try to protect the innocent when it wouldn't jeopadize his objectives. At the same time, due to the issues he passed through with his Lover, he has hardened himself to friendship, and is less open emotionally.
Legends:
Herald: The mortal believes that the Scion is an important or divine personage and considers it her duty to inform the world. She constantly tells others about the Scion's deeds and personality and refuses to let others go uneducated.

Richie

Richard "Richie" Hertshord

Male, late thirties.
A university teacher specializing in Latin American conflicts and history, he has notable knowledge in politics, law, and, well, history. He often discusses current events with his students, including many revolutions that Mika himself participated in before his Ascension.

A good friend of his former pupil Samantha Lockey, he was eventually made aware of Mika. A firm believer in the man's actions throughout the years, if not always supportive of the details, he became a keen advisor and informant. With Samantha's aid, he created a website and a small-scale newspaper devoted to Mika's revolutions, keeping select readers up to date on his whereabouts efforts in Latin America.

After some time, he also tasked himself with stockpiling Mika's discovered artefacts. When needed, Richie's home can become a sort of fallback base for Mika, with a large garage in which he built his first golem.

Preacher: The mortal believes that the Scion must be converted to a specific belief and bends all his energies into doing so. He exhorts the Scion to listen to him and pursues his goal with fanatic determination.

Jackie

acqueline "Jackie" Dunoir

Female, early twenties.

Lover: The mortal loves the Scion deeply and completely and will go to any lengths to profess her love and gain the Scion's heart. She does everything in her power to induce the Scion to love her and will hear no ill will against him or her.

Sam

Samantha "Sam" Lockey

Female, mid-twenties.
An independent reporter/journalist who travels across Latin America to pick up stories, usually by infiltrating herself into large armed conflicts.

She met Mika in Mexico, where she became fascinated with his own brand of justice. As he began participating in more and more revolutions, they began to form a mutual partnership; she gave him information on his opponents, and he gave her material to use for news stories. After a while, they developed a strong bond that bloomed into love.

In the Colombian Conflict, Sam was captured by the BACRIM who held her hostage in order to control Mika. He wouldn't be controlled, however, and instead agreed to fight Kassian in a duel. Afterwards, Sam was freed.

The two realized that as Mika's power grew, so did their missions drift apart. Though they still bear love, of a sort, they have each taken their own paths in life, but are always ready to help each other in time of need.

Fan: The mortal is the Scion's biggest fan and thinks he or she is the best thing to happen to the world in her lifetime. She is totally starstruck around the Scion and prone to following him or her wherever he or she goes.

Hernan

Hernan Santo

Male, late zeros.
A Colombian boy who picked up his brother's gun when paramilitary soldiers attacked his FARC-friendly community. He was raised in relative poverty, and with his family killed, he sought to fight for their ideals even if it meant losing his own life.

He ran into Mika whilst running from BACRIM troops. Mika placed himself between the boy and the soldiers, taking the bullets himself but sustaining no harm. He then proceeded to massacre the men.

Hernan stayed with Mika as his "protegé" for the rest of the Colombian Conflict. Afterwards, he was sent to the care of Richie, with whom he now lives, learning English, as well as how to read and write.

Major Myths:

the Colombian Conflict

As peace talks began in November 2012 between the Colombian government and the leftist FARC group, a number of right-winged paramilitary groups, composed majoritarily of insurgents, united under a common banner, ironically titled BACRIM, with the leadership of Kassian Muñoz.

As the year reached its conclusion, a massive number of assassination of both governmental and FARC leaders lead to general panic and a vast increase in fighting, leaving both groups weak and disorganized. The government defeated the FARC by July 2013 in the ensuing conflict, but was itself overthrown by the BACRIM in August.

El Forajido's dictatorship quickly brought military force down on the population, forcing increased development in Colombia's mining industry. Small rebel groups began to rise up, but were effectively crushed by the BACRIM forces. Outside help was likewise ineffectual.

Eventually, unprecendented BACRIM defeats were popping up in certain areas of Colombia, and behind them, a new force of organized rebellion called the TICOF emerged. Rumours began to spread of a single man—El Jefe Piedra, the Stonelord—who had fought off full squads with his own hands. The rebellion culminated in a massive coup on the BACRIM headquarters, where Kassian Muñoz was defeated and executed by the Stonelord.

BACRIM was lead by Kassian Muñoz, a powerful Incan demigod. Kassian's sacred site was a sort of fighting arena, where he and Mika dueled one-on-one, bringing Kassian to his death. He was accompanied by two equally powerful demigods who survived the encounter, one Japanese and the other Chinese, who supplied arms and resources not available in Colombia. He also had a network of lesser demigods holding key positions amidst the BACRIM forces. It is as of yet uncertain why these demigods of three different pantheons were working together.

Personality: Defiance.
Native Pantheon: Inuit.
Divine Parent: Nanook, or Tornarssuk.
Heroic Role: Bruiser.

Primary Attributes: Strength, Stamina, Quickness.
Secondary Attributes: Manipulation, Perception, Intelligence, Dexterity.
Tertiary Attributes: Charisma, Appearance.

Primary Purviews: Artistry and War.
Secondary Purviews: Earth and Frost.
Tertiary Purviews: Moon and Stars.
Pantheon Purview: Inuit.

Primary Trainings: Battle, Military, Stoneworking.
Secondary Trainings: Endure, Engineering, Investigate, Drive, Sniper. +Forging.
Tertiary Trainings: Heal, Politics, Conversation, Larceny. +Architecture.
Untrained Trainings: Occult, Research, Wilds.

Personal Section
Romance: Fine by me.
Play style: I like action and dialogue. Missions with straightforward goals—as in you always know what you're doing is working towards that goal, or at least you know why you're doing what you're doing—but complex methods of achieving that goal.

Signature: Holmishire, forever faithful..

Residence: Holmishire

Biographical Section
Name: Tahlia.
Age: 41.
Race: Quarter-elf or less.
Sex: Female.
Appearance:
Homeland: Rheinfeld, the Papacy.

History

Motivation:

---

Traits & Equipment

General Traits

Apprentice: Combined with Raw Talent, you’ve learned how to harness that raw magical power into a consistent train of thought. Through studying a few tomes and, possible, learning from the Mage’s Guild, you’ve focused yourself onto a single school of magic. This will help focus your power into something consistent and tangible, but it’s only the beginning...

{Basics of understanding magic.}

Wizened: [Rank 2] Having done some study and practice, you can now understand two schools of magic, and understand a greater amount of subtly with your first school of magic. There is now a greater chance of you casting a spell without others noticing, unless the spell is blatant and loud: Like a fire ball.

{"Stealth magic".}

Awakened Meditation: Through great discipline you have figured out how to tap into the natural magic in the air all around you. It will still take time and practice to master, but nonetheless, this has increased the amount of spells you can cast before you fatigue yourself, and increased the rate at which you regain your energy to cast more spells.

{Basics of increasing your magic limitations, and recovery speed from casting magical spells.}

Raw Talent: After a few (or perhaps several) failed attempts at magic, you suddenly found yourself able to bring a raw spark of power to life in your hands. After being awed by it, you found that you could consistently control and contort this power to your will. You could conjure subtle things, flashes of light or wreathing your hands in fire.

{Basics of casting magic power-wise.}

Rapid Blows: Sometimes, it’s just better to hit something several times in quick succession, instead of trying to hit something really, really hard, and you understand this. Though you aren’t too good at hitting specifically vital points with it yet, or keeping it up for very long. In the case of ranged weapons, one takes a hit to accuracy in exchange for increased fire rate.

{Basics of attacking rapidly in an effective manner.}

Magic Branches

Healing: Mending live flesh, revitalization. In addition, a focus on the positive raw life-force energy. Absorbing the vitality of the dead, or giving vitality to the living.
Necromancy: A focus on the negative raw life-force energy. Absorbing the vitality of others, or giving vitality to the undead.

Unique Traits

Madness for Sheep: Through a special form of telepathy, she can communicate through basic desires with animals and beasts of many forms.

{Basic communication with non-sentient beings.}

Lamb to the Slaughter: [Rank 2] Her communion with creatures has lead to her being seen as neither threat nor quarry; feral beasts will not attack her unless she personally provokes them.

{Non-sentient beasts driven by instinct, hunger, or rage will not intentionally harm her.}

Hung for a Sheep: Every risk she takes cautiously, but should she succeed, she's mastered the art of making it as effectively as if she went all-in.

{Successful attacks are treated as if aggressive, while failed attempts are treated as if defensive. A partially effective attack is rendered effective, while leaving her weak against counter-attacks.}

Sent out as Sheep Amidst the Wolves: Her apparent youth and innocence make of her a non-threat; she can move through open conflict without drawing unwanted attention.

{Stealth boost in crowded environments, battlefields, and large combat scenarios.}

Achievements

None yet: What a waste of space.

{Allows room for improvement?}

Equipment List

---

Personal Section
Romance: Yes, though good luck separating them.
Does the Kouri Plushie exist?: I suspect so.
Signature: Holmishire, should you choose to re-accept me.