imia

Black Clover: Fool's Arcana

<Snipped quote by imia>

That would be fine! When making a PM convo, you can include more than one username in order to do group PMs, so we should all three be able to work on it.

@Zeroth

okkk gonna send it over now

Black Clover: Fool's Arcana

@Remram They just lost control, or at least Edward did. Leaving Parin up to @imia!

@Zeroth

remram and i both figured itd be best if u played edward in our collab. i alr have a starting prompt if ur down for this!

A Sea of Spells [Chapter 1: A Scrap in The Galley]

Iava Mehta

Iava Mehta

"The weak die. The strong survive. These are the rules of life."

26 | Female | 182cm (6'0") | 82kg (181 lbs) | Mercenary / Deckhand

Theme

APPEARANCE:

Visual References

Iava is a woman shaped to be a warrior. The sun has shaped her skin into a golden brown. Her hair, a dense and fierce mane of black, floats down her back in waves. She dresses in what she needs to, and a situation where she believes she doesn't need her armor is rare. She dons fragments; a cuirass, vambraces, pauldrons and faulds made of a hardened leather. Unique are her gauntlets, a deep red painted over a steel canvas of swirling patterns. She never wears anything grander than a tunic and trousers underneath.

PERSONALITY:

To Iava, there are three kinds of people. Those who are her equals, those who she is to protect, and those who she is to slay. She cooperates with her equals, protects who she must, and slays when it's time to protect. There was once a time where her equals were outlaws, she protected them because they were her family, and slayed innocents because it would protect her family's future. She was only able to do so because she'd been playing by the rules.

She grounded herself in the rules, taught to her by the bandits, and lived by them. It helped her cope with the actions she'd been forced to do, the countless raids she'd never asked to undertake. If she killed someone, they were weak, so they would have died anyways. Family comes first. Everyone else is the enemy, only we can be trusted. Everyone is a thief and killer - better to be the one who steals and kills first. It was easier for her to drown herself in these lies when it was necessary for survival.

Kusa's passing changed everything. The newfound freedom from her old life was impossible to adjust to; especially when it feels as if it's lurking just around the corner, ready to take Iava back into it's clutches once again. She can't act and think like she used to, and it doesn't matter how hard she tries. It's different when the thoughts bounce back on her, and they are hers alone to face. When the fear and need for survival becomes replaced with guilt that compounds in on itself until she can't breathe. If everything were so set in stone, what did that make of her brother? He fought and was the weaker, so he died. But was the one who runs truly the strong one? You were strong enough to survive. But her strength came from him. Was she truly the strong one? Now, she grows sick of herself.

Iava knows the power and skills she has better than anyone else. It's been tested too many times in the past for her to doubt it when it counts, even in spite of her past failure. She believes that the only way to atone for what she's done is to use her power to protect others, and who is she protecting by second-guessing her strength? That being said, she would never let herself be controlled ever again. She's a cautious judge of character. Though her devotion is slow to start, once it's burning there's no brighter flame around.

Iava is... sensitive to the world, to say the least. There are many things which she'd never experienced during the time with the bandits. On top of that, each emotion and thought she has is almost brand new. Such things never lingered before as they do now. Much of what life has to offer is foreign to her yet. The prospect of others witnessing this sensitivity, this weakness, terrifies her. In response to fear, she immerses herself in the rules once more.

BIOGRAPHY:

bio

Iava hails from a spiritual people who'd settled along the southwestern coast of India. Iava was born as a twin, her brother being named Kusa. her and her twin's souls were connected at birth. her people called this a soul tie - and sure enough, Iava would always be met with a red string wrapped around the base of her finger. and whenever she would follow it, it always lead her back to her brother. through this tie, her and her brother shared everything. every sense, every thought, and not just their active minds but down to their memories. in her household the shelves were full of ancient texts and manuscripts. She remembers the colorful rangolis, carefully placed throughout the rooms of her stomping grounds when it was time for festivals. She remembers the personal altar which laid in her parents' room, the heartwarming light of the diya, and the tikka it housed - it'd been passed through her mother's family for more generations than she could've counted.

She was five, she remembers, when the bandit camp attacked her village. they pillaged senselessly, running into homes to take what they want and kill anyone who resisted, yet they spared her and her brother. as to why? it's simple; children are easy to control. it was part of the camp's practice to take the children and raise them as part of the camp. as part of the camp, the children were required to participate in an indoctrination ritual. an introduction to the rules of life.

The first rule? "The weak die, and the strong survive."

Each "batch," as she remembers them putting it, faces off in a series of one on one battles to the death. a pair is chosen. The winner lives, and is graced with the ability to live among the camp. Then they pick another pair at random.

She and her brother were lucky - the girls fought the girls, and the boys fought the boys. Their survival was due in part to their unique abilities. While fighting, Iava had an outside perspective giving her knowledge about her opponent and the situation that she didn't have to think about. The two had also been the most resilient of the batch. When they made it through the culling with but a few scratches, it didn't take long for them to be put to work.

Her and her brother would be raised with the express purpose of killing, to be the camp's strongest warriors. They soon provided an alternate source of income for the camp. while the bandits would always migrate from camp to camp (most often setting up shop in the remains of their latest & greatest triumph), they would send certain people out to the largest cities nearby to procure information on their general surroundings. what caught the eyes of their leaders had been bounties set on criminals, pirates, and the like. The twins were eighteen when they were sent on their first bounty mission of many, and there were few who put up resistance once found - if the two couldn't find their target in time, they would just steal from some settlement on the way back. It was for the family, so it were as easy as breathing.

What little their parents were able to teach them became the foundation of their magic. Her mother taught Iava spells to protect her brother, while her father taught Kusa spells to protect Iava from anyone else. Their specializations developed, bouncing off eachother in a way that made them nigh unstoppable in combat.

When power becomes so great it brings fear along with it. Iava and Kusa would never have rebelled. The rules the bandits bestowed upon them were their lifeline, the reason they could exist despite the atrocities they committed. Without them the two couldn't function. But their leaders were still scared - the twins could take control whenever they wanted in their eyes, with the strength they had. And so just as quickly as they had created their problem, the bandits set out to destroy it.

She still wonders how she never saw it coming.

They were out on a mission too far from the camp for comfort, apparently scouting out the area for a raid. They didn't even know what they were really looking for out here. Something about the rivers. To look at the rivers. Which inevitably looked like rivers, and there'd been no settlements in direct proximity of the rivers - only ones far off, which the two had found in part due to Iava's refusal that they'd come all the way out here just to come back with nothing. They'd not gotten far on their way back to the camp before it found them.

Her training betrayed her; she'd been caught off-guard, only catching wind of the danger through the sound of something whistling in the air towards her. She dodged on pure instinct, and it saved her life. Some appendage, perhaps some kind of tentacle, grotesque in nature, ripped through the tree trunk that she had been about to step around.

She'd seen monsters before, sure. But this one froze her. The top half looks somewhat human, but it's arms quickly betray it with their length; long, dragging across the leaves blanketing the forest's floor. The bottom half is that of a horse, quadrupedal, the front legs ending in talons. And it's skull...

Iava dives to the side at the sound of an arm lashing through the air. The claws caught at her leg, lingering, and she knew it'd have cut deep had Kusa not been at her side. She hisses out pain through her teeth, stumbles, and keeps running.

Running when she'd never wanted to fight more in her life. But whenever she so much as thought about putting a halt in her step, it was blown away by a shot of panic and the intense desire - no, the need - to run. Each time she looked back, every time she saw him, standing strong, waiting for her help, it was thrown away. Why?

Please, just listen to me. Run.

She ducked through the bushes and went westward, towards the rivers and the village which stayed across from it. She crossed, leaping for her life, and landed in time to fall to a slash at her leg. Running deep, slow, purposeful. She'd looked to see a deep cut running along her knee, though her body dropping and mind flaring no sensations but pain told her otherwise.

Run.

There was a flash along her throat that lead to an explosion, a brief roar in agony. Waves of grief and power collected, images of people and places she hadn't seen in years shone brighter than the sun. And then came a burst of colors - a sensation that spread from her fingertips to the depths of her soul. It tingled at first, then evolved into a tidal wave of energy crashing through her body, filling it through with a pulsating warmth.

And then there was nothing.

For the first time in her life, Iava felt true silence. For the first time in her life, she thought and it went nowhere. Her words reverberated endlessly in her own mind, what now was only a void. She laid there along the forest bed, feeling talons and hooves whoop the ground in tandem with her own heart. Soon enough it'd been just her own heart which she felt.

Run, she heard, yet it was but a mere imitation. It echoed in on itself and then it were nothing.

She'd kept moving, found the villages, and kept moving after that. Family came first - she was to fulfill her brother's dying wish, or die herself. There was no other option. With her true family dead there'd been no reason for her to try going back to the life she once lived. The least she could do was honor her brother and run from it.

When she found her next settlement she was welcomed, for once, as a humble traveler rather than a violent invader. She asked them for directions to the nearest city and they humbly obliged. After getting to the nearest city, she made moves to find the fastest way off the continent. This lead to her first foray in piracy at the age of twenty.

Though she was not as much of a pirate as she was a mercenary, she'd been treated as a member of the crew all the same. It was on this ship where she was taught how to down a full calabash in less than a breath, where she'd been taught to speak English, to carefully stow away provisions, to lower the sails. Though those she were with held no emphasis on it, she'd never felt more like part of a family.

It was also on this ship where she learned what happened to her magic after her brother's passing. The red string which tied her to her brother had remained on her finger, yet it strayed for but a few inches before meeting its end. She came to the ship's captain one night for a drink, and approached him with a question. A hypothesis. He'd been wary at first, though his cooperation was out of respect for the dedication she'd shown towards the crew.

Iava held his hand and felt the energy from deep within her. It surged up and out, and she could see it - the red string, suddenly glowing before growing in length and moving towards her captain's finger. It wrapped around it several times and pulled, squeezing the bloodflow from it, yet his hand did not move. His eyes were bright and gaze steadfastly focused on Iava's own. There was trust.

After the tie had been made, Iava truly felt free. It was as if her mana reserves had suddenly unlocked themselves, even more mana than she'd ever known had flowed effortlessly through her body. She let go of her captain's hand and saw it. The red string. Tied to another, once more, as it had been for so long before. She learned then that, although her birth tie was no more, she could create (and sever) the same sort of tie with other people.

When their voyage came to an end in England, she was on the edge of twenty-two. The crew offered to let her stay and she rejected it. It'd been several factors behind her decision, but them returning to Asia was the one true dealbreaker. Family first; she was to run and never look back. Her years until now have been spent strong-arming her way into various odd jobs that require her muscle, mostly in the form of security for wealthy merchants. It's resulted in her floating around the cities of the country, no true aim or goal coming to her except survival.

On this night, she's floated her way back into the comforting arms of grog and mead, with no telling where her path leads her to next.

NATURAL ABILITIES:

She has skills for combat, unarmed and otherwise. Being bred as a warrior for fifteen years, give or take, will do that to you. Her intuition in combat is also one of a kind; growing up with her birth tie resulted in her battle experience being double of what it should've been. What her brother experienced, she did as well, what he learned she did, and the same the other way around. Fifteen years more or less becomes thirty. It depends on how you look at it.

Her tolerance for pain is unnaturally high.

Iava's movements are almost beautifully efficient. These skills don't just end on the battlefield, though. She's an excellent dancer if you get her to do it.

The way she manages to burn a kitchen down is almost magical. If you were to trust her with cutting onions, you already failed. It's over.

She uses a sword. Her brother also used a similar sword. They both fought for years with these swords. She's a deadly swordswoman, dammit.

Iava's somewhat of a professional drinker. Test her.

MAGICAL ABILITIES:

Magic Type: Kindred Link (Soul Magic)

Basic Effects: She manifests an arcane connection between her and someone else. She can’t force it upon something; the other party would have to reciprocate and allow the connection to happen in the first place. The other party must also have a soul for her to bond her own to. However, once a bond is made, only she can break it. This bond takes the form of a red string that ties itself to a middle finger of the two parties. The string itself can only be seen by her or an extremely adept mage vastly familiar with such arts. Mana flows back and forth between the souls of both parties. Iava's partner cannot stop their mana from flowing into the connection while it's active. Both parties have the ability to "give" and "request" mana, but they cannot "take."

Without a bond active, Iava has no way of accessing her own mana for use. With it active, Iava possesses two humans' worth of mana.

The bond can share everything from senses, perceptions, physical abilities, emotions, thoughts, and even memories between two parties. For instance, if someone knows how to do a specific motion that Iava doesn’t know herself, the knowledge required to do so can be shared and learned through the connection. The extent of what is being shared depends on each party. As an example, someone could choose to only share the memories they have up until their fifth birthday. But it's not always a concrete choice - when the bond is made, both parties already have a predetermined idea of what they want to share. It’s similar to a conversation; you aren’t just going to tell someone all your traumatic experiences, your deepest darkest secrets & greatest fears for no reason. Thus, those memories that don’t want to be shared, and the thoughts and emotions associated with them are essentially “locked away,” to the point where Iava herself has no idea they exists.

Although the two share pretty much everything, only magic of Iava's kind will inherently impact both parties. i.e. James turning into a beast won't turn her into a beast.

The more two parties share with eachother, the more powerful their bond is and thus the two become. This is the main limit of the power; if a connection is created and both parties aren’t cooperative, it's useless at best and detrimental at worst. At the base level (the connection exists, that's it), Iava can cast all of her spells, but the power of each is limited. There are milestones along the way, such as sharing senses & perceptions, They can be seen as goals to strive for in a connection since they enhance the powers of the bond.

Iava herself is another limiting factor. There is much she won’t share; she's not very fond of the idea of giving any real part of herself up to other people. Much of the way she maneuvers the bond revolves around her desire to stay in control of it.

Advanced Spells:

+ Selfless: Iava channels her mana into the string to influence the bond. While she maintains this focus, she will take damage for the other party. Not only will they have increased pain resistance, but they will effectively be harder to hurt. It’s as if one was trying to inflict pain on two people in one. This spell takes concentration to keep active, but she can “flick” it on in time if she needs to. For effective use, she’d have to be standing still in a safe area. The same amount of damage reduction can be achieved by having a "complete" bond in the first place - if she were to activate this spell then, the other party would take zero damage and she would instead receive all of it, for better or for worse.
+ Selfish: Iava channels her mana into the string, then back from the string into herself. Her current partner receives no mana from her. She uses her mana to resonate with her own soul, thus enhancing her body; she gains increased strength in all her muscles which leads to more power, endurance, speed, etc. than a human would be able to produce alone. However, she's effectively severing the connection on her end, thus it would continue to hold for no more than 30 seconds. This can be counteracted by the other party feeding their own mana into the connection. The cost is them being continuously drained at exhaustive levels. It should go without saying that after usage of this spell (with no outward assistance), she's out of commission. Nearly comatose, even.
+ Helping Hand: Iava can make conjure a portal, its' destination being within a set radius of her partner. This radius depends on the strength of the connection: if the connection barely exists, then it's within a couple feet of them. She can use this spell to get into the radius, but can't escape it afterwards. Her partner can travel through it as well.
+ Your Turn: Iava sends her mana through the string, using it to resonate with her partner's soul rather than her own. The spell then gives the other party the same effects as she bestows upon herself with "Selfish." Unlike "Selfish," this spell does not sever the bond. It lasts until she runs out of mana (thus ending the bond) or otherwise stops.

EQUIPMENT:

+ Iava wields a double-edged straight sword (khanda) named Omen. It's housed within a sizable steel scabbard, with the weight making it suitable for striking.
+ An oil stone, for sharpening.
+ A soft cloth, for polishing.

TRIVIA:

+ Color Code: cfb5c3
+ Iava has an intense soft spot for cats.
+ Iava ties her hair up into a ponytail. When things are calm, she allows it to hang freely.

A Sea of Spells [Chapter 1: A Scrap in The Galley]

CHILLSSS i never rersponded to everyone LOL, it was cause we all ended up being on the same page so i didnt rlly have to step in. anyw yeas itd be mind sharing and im glad u guys are thinking abt the dynamics related to her power cause its smth im excited to explore when it comes up^^

with james it feels like itd be an extension of the typical captain-crewmate bond yk? but with liz i can see alot of conflict arising depending on what gets shared and what happens related to it - if it's smth that gets confronted, or if it becomes a sort of lingering tension that drives the two apart in a way. and with shiara it could be a slow building of trust, or just a relationship that never reaches the bounds of iava's magic, but still develops as deeply either way. it could be comforting in its own way b/c iava has someone who doesn't know as much abt her, and that can be just as freeing as somebody knowing everything abt you and accepting you regardless

and regardless of what happens w any sort of magic, im excited to see how our chararcters to respond to this world^^ the opener was very inspiring and i srsly love james already _{also im gonna put my cs in the cs tab lols}

A Sea of Spells [Chapter 1: A Scrap in The Galley]

Iava Mehta

---

The Liverpool showers did nothing to faze Iava. The added weight on her hair bothered her more than the disgusting feeling of leather clinging itself to her body. When she were young, the rain enthused her to cut her mane. She never did so, instead opting to wear it as a symbol of pride. To her, it were akin to the rings of a tree. A legacy for all to see.

Though not many enemies had witnessed such a legacy in recent times. She had been recently, serving as guard for sailors and merchants alike. It had been sailors when she first set out from India, leaving the coastal town of Diu in favor of an excursion towards the Red Sea. Her time in the Middle East was quick. It landed her in Alexandria, not having to stay in the port for long before finding mutual interest with another group of sailors. She lent them her strength, and in return they allowed her on their journey through to Venice.

That had been a long stint, Iava floating from caravan to caravan while traveling the mainland of Europe. Some merchants would bring her to marketplaces and trade fairs to advertise her services to their friends. There was never a shortage of this sort of work for her, but it was choice that landed her in Southampton.

Iava could never quite find what she was looking for despite what she’d seen. Protecting the merchants provided her with purpose, a goal, but the feeling of contributing to something never once came to her. It did when she’d sailed and been a deckhand, though her journeys on the sea didn’t come with much excitement to them. They were peaceful. Iava told herself that discomfort with peace was simply because she’d felt like her training was being wasted. But she knew the truth. Her body craved the thrill of battle, if not for anything else than because it was all it had known. When she was detached from it, nothing felt.

She wondered if that was why she didn’t turn back after seeing a man - neck turned like an owl and body crumpled over - slowly get crack-crack-cracked back to life. Her future captain, no less.

The Galley had only revealed itself to Iava after following a current of whispers. She’d caught the rumor of some pirate gathering event from her latest client, a man looking to sell his furs in Liverpool. The news hadn’t surprised her at the time with how often that merchant peered over her shoulder, as if Iava would've allowed someone to stalk them. When she'd asked him where exactly that secret gathering was, she was met with widened eyes and a hushed whisper questioning her sanity and telling her to leave.

This place didn't seem nearly as threatening as that poor sap had made it out to be. She wouldn't have trusted half the people in here with pinning the tail on a donkey, which made the unsettling showing seem just the tiniest bit justified. The crowd erupted into murmurs when the captain so politely asked if they had any inquiries.

The warrior hadn't come here seeking a captain or to become a pirate herself. But there was something to this man's bone-headed enthusiasm. For even though he sought out men and women to follow him, it wasn't out of a search for power. Iava only knew so because of how ready he had been to give his life up to Ade, his crewmate. A man with any less honor would never sacrifice himself so willingly for such a fruitless purpose. What if everyone had been disgusted? Or if they were smart and knew when something was just too much trouble? What if the spell just didn't work?

The challenge, a fight to prove herself, would have reminded her of darker times had it not been so inviting. It was entirely her choice whether or not to entertain any of it, and the man's attitude and relationship with the strongman lit a fire within her soul. There was trust - the deep sort, and it drew her in despite the confines of the cage.

She wondered who else it could have drawn in.

Her eyes landed upon a young woman. Everything about her made it clear she wasn't of this continent, something Iava found solace in. It was the way she carried herself that made the distinction. It seemed as if the weight of the world had been just a bit lighter for her than it did for the merchants Iava has come across. And yet it was clear that she knew of the world's horrors - an aura that couldn't be described any other way but deathly was about her. There'd been a spirit with her, resting on her shoulder. Iava hoped the story of her origins would meet the warrior's ears soon.

"I have no questions." The summoner approached and stood tall. The confidence felt comforting for Iava to have on her side.

There'd been one more intriguing soul. A girl, this time, not a woman. A hint of sympathy would have twanged had she not felt it. If the other woman carried herself lightly, this girl had a weight about her, one that threatened to crush everything around her besides herself. Her magic had nothing to do with it, though Iava noticed-

The sudden movement threw her off. Iava’s hand tightened around the hilt of her blade as she watched the blonde. The way her fingers moved and matched the man threatened to send shivers down the warrior's spine. She followed the girl's gaze, landing upon a man from across the tavern. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that she’d been controlling him, especially with the odd energy exuding from the assailant. Some might have called it a horror when his neck was slit, but as she watched, the young girl seemed to be relishing in it. The expression had a noticeable lack of malice despite its' unsettling nature.

Iava took note of her current teammate and her tendencies. A child killing animals for fun. She supposed she'd put worse differences aside in the past.

She would ignore the girl's nature as it stands; right now she judged the witch as adjacent to those honorless types. Whether that were true or not didn't matter. It meant, to Iava, that she needs her space in a fight. She would be provided with such. Later would come the questioning, naturally since she’d likely end up trusting this demon with her life. Anyone with the power to do that to her was worth monitoring.

There was hope to be found in the fact that the captain brought them together. Iava found herself pleasantly uncrushed when the girl brought herself to the side of the warrior and the summoner.

"Impressive. It appears you've put coins where your mouth is, Sir Bone Chime. With that, I've asked my question and you have answered," the witch spoke, "Sanguineus Maleficarum Erzsébet, at your service."

The group had their three for the challenge. Iava knew it was her who would take the helm; if anyone else was capable, she figured they would step up on the frontlines. She placed herself between her team and the pirate in front of them. If the girl decided to run a test, then she would run one of her own.

"You have my interest," she began, staring relentlessly into the eyes of 'Bone Chime.' Her hand drifted, merging itself with the structure of Omen's hilt. She made sure her tone remain flat, unimpressed. "Now earn our service."

The faint glow of admiration faded from Iava's eyes. Her hollowed gaze traveled up and down the man. Shirtless as a brute, he'd been about as hands-on as it gets up to now. It was time to see the limit of that valor. Slowly starting to draw her sword from its' home, she spoke without missing a beat. "Any man's bones can be split."

She approached the man, tracing a circle about him as if he were prey. Her blade moved second. It came alive with a whirlwind of circular motions, tracing intricate patterns in the air as it danced to the beat of her footwork. They formed a seamless union, whirlwinds in tandem with one another - a gathering storm. In this symphony of steel and motion, she poised herself as both conductor and soloist.

The tempest calmed with a final flourish. Omen's tip aimed unwaveringly at the captain, her focus shining through the patterns etched into the blade. Steady breaths marked the calm before the storm. She spoke no further, instead priming every bit of her body for the start of battle.

Black Clover: Fool's Arcana

@Remram lmk if u wanna do a collab of any sort for whatever reason

A Sea of Spells [Chapter 1: A Scrap in The Galley]

@imia this looks almost perfect. One last thing: could I get an image claim or at least a description of the sword? An Indian woman traveling to be a pirate in the Caribbean wielding a red katana is just too far from historically accurate for me lol

Could it be a shamshir, or a falchion perhaps? This is the last thing, and then you're accepted!

@RoseKnightJason

true!!! i found her a sword befitting her background and edited the last cs i posted

BUT ALSO i wanted to know how the other ppl playing in the rp felt abt her powers. mainly i didn't want her powers to be like idk forcing things on other players, theyre meant to involve both characters an equal amount yk. i just want to make sure the character is fun to play with so if u guys have anything to add on this front pls lmk so i can get to thinking^^ idrc abt anything else besides that, shes p much a blank canvas rn so ill change her however i need to, even if that means just trying another idea entirely @Izurich @shylarah

A Sea of Spells [Chapter 1: A Scrap in The Galley]

@imia so this is what I was confused about is I couldn't tell if all this training came from her and her brother being forced to become warriors by the bandits or their original family/tribe. In which case, her abilities and linking to her twin was a magic effect between the two of them and had nothing to do with the training, am I getting that correct?

And by missions, you just meant whatever a bandit camp would make their slave/warriors do?

If that's all correct, I just need you to address this spell number four you have. Are you allowing that person to tap into your mana and cast their spells with it?

@RoseKnightJason

yes and yes!!

also i changed the fourth spell nd made it so that the connected teammate's access to Iava's mana pool is part of her magic's basic effects. but look @ this draft and lmk ur thoughts/if anything's unclear

iava mehta

Iava Mehta

"The weak die. The strong survive. These are the rules of life."

26 | Female | 182cm (6'0") | 82kg (181 lbs)

Theme

APPEARANCE:

Visual References

Iava is a woman shaped to be a warrior. The sun has shaped her skin into a golden brown. Her hair, a dense and fierce mane of black, floats down her back in waves. She dresses in what she needs to, and a situation where she believes she doesn't need her armor is rare. She dons fragments; a cuirass, vambraces, pauldrons and faulds made of a hardened leather. Unique are her gauntlets, a deep red painted over a steel canvas of swirling patterns. She never wears anything grander than a tunic and trousers underneath.

PERSONALITY:

To Iava, there are three kinds of people. Those who are her equals, those who she is to protect, and those who she is to slay. She cooperates with her equals, protects who she must, and slays when it's time to protect. There was once a time where her equals were outlaws, she protected them because they were her family, and slayed innocents because it would protect her family's future. She was only able to do so because she'd been playing by the rules.

She grounded herself in the rules, taught to her by the bandits, and lived by them. It helped her cope with the actions she'd been forced to do, the countless raids she'd never asked to undertake. If she killed someone, they were weak, so they would have died anyways. Family comes first. Everyone else is the enemy, only we can be trusted. Everyone is a thief and killer - better to be the one who steals and kills first. It was easier for her to drown herself in these lies when it was necessary for survival.

Kusa's passing changed everything. The newfound freedom from her old life was impossible to adjust to; especially when it feels as if it's lurking just around the corner, ready to take Iava back into it's clutches once again. She can't act and think like she used to, and it doesn't matter how hard she tries. It's different when the thoughts bounce back on her, and they are hers alone to face. When the fear and need for survival becomes replaced with guilt that compounds in on itself until she can't breathe. If everything were so set in stone, what did that make of her brother? He fought and was the weaker, so he died. But was the one who runs truly the strong one? You were strong enough to survive. But her strength came from him. Was she truly the strong one? Now, she grows sick of herself.

Iava knows the power and skills she has better than anyone else. It's been tested too many times in the past for her to doubt it when it counts, even in spite of her past failure. She believes that the only way to atone for what she's done is to use her power to protect others, and who is she protecting by second-guessing her strength? That being said, she would never let herself be controlled ever again. She's a cautious judge of character. Though her devotion is slow to start, once it's burning there's no brighter flame around.

Iava is... sensitive to the world, to say the least. There are many things which she'd never experienced during the time with the bandits. On top of that, each emotion and thought she has is almost brand new. Such things never lingered before as they do now. Much of what life has to offer is foreign to her yet. The prospect of others witnessing this sensitivity, this weakness, terrifies her. In response to fear, she immerses herself in the rules once more.

BIOGRAPHY:

bio

Iava hails from a spiritual people who'd settled along the southwestern coast of India. Iava was born as a twin, her brother being named Kusa. her and her twin's souls were connected at birth. her people called this a soul tie - and sure enough, Iava would always be met with a red string wrapped around the base of her finger. and whenever she would follow it, it always lead her back to her brother. through this tie, her and her brother shared everything. every sense, every thought, and not just their active minds but down to their memories. in her household the shelves were full of ancient texts and manuscripts. She remembers the colorful rangolis, carefully placed throughout the rooms of her stomping grounds when it was time for festivals. She remembers the personal altar which laid in her parents' room, the heartwarming light of the diya, and the tikka it housed - it'd been passed through her mother's family for more generations than she could've counted.

She was five, she remembers, when the bandit camp attacked her village. they pillaged senselessly, running into homes to take what they want and kill anyone who resisted, yet they spared her and her brother. as to why? it's simple; children are easy to control. it was part of the camp's practice to take the children and raise them as part of the camp. as part of the camp, the children were required to participate in an indoctrination ritual. an introduction to the rules of life.

The first rule? "The weak die, and the strong survive."

Each "batch," as she remembers them putting it, faces off in a series of one on one battles to the death. a pair is chosen. The winner lives, and is graced with the ability to live among the camp. Then they pick another pair at random.

She and her brother were lucky - the girls fought the girls, and the boys fought the boys. Their survival was due in part to their unique abilities. While fighting, Iava had an outside perspective giving her knowledge about her opponent and the situation that she didn't have to think about. The two had also been the most resilient of the batch. When they made it through the culling with but a few scratches, it didn't take long for them to be put to work.

Her and her brother would be raised with the express purpose of killing, to be the camp's strongest warriors. They soon provided an alternate source of income for the camp. while the bandits would always migrate from camp to camp (most often setting up shop in the remains of their latest & greatest triumph), they would send certain people out to the largest cities nearby to procure information on their general surroundings. what caught the eyes of their leaders had been bounties set on criminals, pirates, and the like. The twins were eighteen when they were sent on their first bounty mission of many, and there were few who put up resistance once found - if the two couldn't find their target in time, they would just steal from some settlement on the way back. It was for the family, so it were as easy as breathing.

What little their parents were able to teach them became the foundation of their magic. Her mother taught Iava spells to protect her brother, while her father taught Kusa spells to protect Iava from anyone else. Their specializations developed, bouncing off eachother in a way that made them nigh unstoppable in combat.

When power becomes so great it brings fear along with it. Iava and Kusa would never have rebelled. The rules the bandits bestowed upon them were their lifeline, the reason they could exist despite the atrocities they committed. Without them the two couldn't function. But their leaders were still scared - the twins could take control whenever they wanted in their eyes, with the strength they had. And so just as quickly as they had created their problem, the bandits set out to destroy it.

His death was rather predictable, really.

They were out on a mission too far from the camp for comfort, apparently scouting out the area for a raid. They didn't even know what they were really looking for out here. Something about the rivers. To look at the rivers. Which inevitably looked like rivers, and there'd been no settlements in direct proximity of the rivers - only ones far off, which the two had found in part due to Iava's refusal that they'd come all the way out here just to come back with nothing.

They were halfway through their first way back to the camp when it finds them.

It sneaks up on them, which is the first bad sign. She’s rarely surprised in the field, even with the poisoned luck they've had. Her first indication of the presence of anything in the woods but her is the sound of something whistling through the air towards her.

She dodges on pure instinct, and it saves her life. A hand, or perhaps some kind of tentacle, grotesque in nature, rips through the tree trunk that she had been about to step around.

She stopped when she saw the monster in its entirety.

It’s like nothing she had ever seen before. The top half looks close to human, but its arms quickly betray it with their length; long, dragging across the leaves blanketing the forest's floor. The bottom half is that of a horse, quadrupedal, the front legs ending in talons.

Iava dives to the side at the sound of an arm lashing through the air. The claws caught at her leg, lingering, and she knew it'd have cut deep had Kusa not been at her side. She hisses out pain through her teeth, stumbles, and keeps running.

Running when she'd never wanted to fight more in her life. But whenever she so much as thought about putting a halt in her step, it was blown away by a shot of panic and the intense desire - no, the need - to run. Each time she looked back, every time she saw him, standing strong, waiting for her help, it was thrown away. Why?

Please, just listen to me. Run.

She ducked through the bushes and went westward, towards the rivers and the village which stayed across from it. She crossed, leaping for her life, and landed in time to fall to a slash at her leg. Running deep, slow, purposeful. She'd looked to see a deep cut running along her knee, though her body dropping and mind flaring no sensations but pain told her otherwise.

Run.

There was a flash along her throat that lead to an explosion, a brief roar in agony. Waves of grief and power collected, images of people and places she hadn't seen in years shone brighter than the sun. And then came a burst of colors - a sensation that spread from her fingertips to the depths of her soul. It tingled at first, then evolved into a tidal wave of energy crashing through her body, filling it through with a pulsating warmth.

And then there was nothing.

For the first time in her life, Iava felt true silence. For the first time in her life, she thought and it went nowhere. Her words reverberated endlessly in her own mind, what now was only a void. She laid there along the forest bed, feeling talons and hooves whoop the ground in tandem with her own heart. Soon enough it'd been just her own heart which she felt.

Run, she heard, yet it was but a mere imitation. It echoed in on itself and then it were nothing.

She'd kept moving, found the villages, and kept moving after that. Family came first - she was to fulfill her brother's dying wish, or die herself. There was no other option. With her true family dead there'd been no reason for her to try going back to the life she once lived. The least she could do was honor her brother and run from it.

When she found her next settlement she was welcomed, for once, as a humble traveler rather than a violent invader. She asked them for directions to the nearest city and they humbly obliged. After getting to the nearest city, she made moves to find the fastest way off the continent. This lead to her first foray in piracy at the age of twenty.

Though she was not as much of a pirate as she was a mercenary, she'd been treated as a member of the crew all the same. It was on this ship where she was taught how to down a full calabash in less than a breath, where she'd been taught to speak English, to carefully stow away provisions, to lower the sails. Though those she were with held no emphasis on it, she'd never felt more like part of a family.

It was also on this ship where she learned what happened to her magic after her brother's passing. The red string which tied her to her brother had remained on her finger, yet it strayed for but a few inches before meeting its end. She came to the ship's captain one night for a drink, and approached him with a question. A hypothesis. He'd been wary at first, though his cooperation was out of respect for the dedication she'd shown towards the crew.

Iava held his hand and felt the energy from deep within her. It surged up and out, and she could see it - the red string, suddenly glowing before growing in length and moving towards her captain's finger. It wrapped around it several times and pulled, squeezing the bloodflow from it, yet his hand did not move. His eyes were bright and gaze steadfastly focused on Iava's own. There was trust.

After the tie had been made, Iava truly felt free. It was as if her mana reserves had suddenly unlocked themselves, even more mana than she'd ever known had flowed effortlessly through her body. She let go of her captain's hand and saw it. The red string. Tied to another, once more, as it had been for so long before. She learned then that, although her birth tie was no more, she could create (and sever) the same sort of tie with other people.

When their voyage came to an end in England, she was on the edge of twenty-two. The crew offered to let her stay and she rejected it. It'd been several factors behind her decision, but them returning to Asia was the one true dealbreaker. Family first; she was to run and never look back. Her years until now have been spent strong-arming her way into various odd jobs that require her muscle, mostly in the form of security for wealthy merchants. It's resulted in her floating around the cities of the country, no true aim or goal coming to her except survival.

On this night, she's floated her way back into the comforting arms of grog and mead, with no telling where her path leads her to next.

NATURAL ABILITIES:

She has skills for combat, unarmed and otherwise. Being bred as a warrior for fifteen years, give or take, will do that to you. Her intuition in combat is also one of a kind; growing up with her birth tie resulted in her battle experience being double of what it should've been. What her brother experienced, she did as well, what he learned she did, and the same the other way around. Fifteen years more or less becomes thirty. It depends on how you look at it.

Her tolerance for pain is unnaturally high.

Iava's movements are almost beautifully efficient. These skills don't just end on the battlefield, though. She's an excellent dancer if you get her to do it.

The way she manages to burn a kitchen down is almost magical. If you were to trust her with cutting onions, you already failed. It's over.

She uses a sword. Her brother also used a similar sword. They both fought for years with these swords. She's a deadly swordswoman, dammit.

Iava's somewhat of a professional drinker. Test her.

MAGICAL ABILITIES:

Magic Type: Kindred Link (Soul Magic)

Basic Effects: She manifests an arcane connection between her and someone else. She can’t force it upon something; the other party would have to reciprocate and allow the connection to happen in the first place. The other party must also have a soul for her to bond her own to. However, once a bond is made, only she can break it. This bond takes the form of a red string that ties itself to a middle finger of the two parties. The string itself can only be seen by her or an extremely adept mage vastly familiar with such arts. Mana flows back and forth between the souls of both parties. Iava's partner cannot stop their mana from flowing into the connection while it's active. Both parties have the ability to "give" and "request" mana, but they cannot "take."

Without a bond active, Iava has no way of accessing her own mana for use. With it active, Iava possesses two humans' worth of mana.

The bond can share everything from senses, perceptions, physical abilities, emotions, thoughts, and even memories between two parties. For instance, if someone knows how to do a specific motion that Iava doesn’t know herself, the knowledge required to do so can be shared and learned instantaneously through the connection. The extent of what is being shared depends on each party. As an example, someone could choose to only share the memories they have up until their fifth birthday. But it's not always a concrete choice - when the bond is made, both parties already have a predetermined idea of what they want to share. It’s similar to a conversation; you aren’t just going to tell someone all your traumatic experiences, your deepest darkest secrets & greatest fears for no reason. Thus, those memories that don’t want to be shared, and the thoughts and emotions associated with them are essentially “locked away,” to the point where Iava herself has no idea they exists.

Although the two share pretty much everything, only magic of Iava's kind will inherently impact both parties. i.e. James turning into a beast won't turn her into a beast.

The more two parties share with eachother, the more powerful their bond is and thus the two become. This is the main limit of the power; if a connection is created and both parties aren’t cooperative, it's useless at best and detrimental at worst. At the base level (the connection exists, that's it), Iava can cast all of her spells, but the power of each is limited. There are milestones along the way, such as sharing senses & perceptions, They can be seen as goals to strive for in a connection since they enhance the powers of the bond.

Iava herself is another limiting factor. There is much she won’t share; she's not very fond of the idea of giving any real part of herself up to other people. Much of the way she maneuvers the bond revolves around her desire to stay in control of it.

Advanced Spells:

+ Selfless: Iava channels her mana into the string to influence the bond. While she maintains this focus, she will take damage for the other party. Not only will they have increased pain resistance, but they will effectively be harder to hurt. It’s as if one was trying to inflict pain on two people in one. This spell takes concentration to keep active, but she can “flick” it on in time if she needs to. For effective use, she’d have to be standing still in a safe area. The same amount of damage reduction can be achieved by having a "complete" bond in the first place - if she were to activate this spell then, the other party would take zero damage and she would instead receive all of it, for better or for worse.
+ Selfish: Iava channels her mana into the string, then back from the string into herself. Her current partner receives no mana from her. She uses her mana to resonate with her own soul, thus enhancing her body; she gains increased strength in all her muscles which leads to more power, endurance, speed, etc. than a human would be able to produce alone. However, she's effectively severing the connection on her end, thus it would continue to hold for no more than a minute. This can be counteracted by the other party feeding their own mana into the connection at the cost of them being continuously drained at exhaustive levels. It should go without saying that after usage of this spell (with no outward assistance), she's out of commission. Nearly comatose, even.
+ Helping Hand: Iava can make conjure a portal, its' destination being within a set radius of her partner. This radius depends on the strength of the connection: if the connection barely exists, then it's within a couple feet of them. She can use this spell to get into the radius, but can't escape it afterwards. Her partner can travel through it as well.
+ Your Turn: Iava sends her mana through the string, using it to resonate with her partner's soul rather than her own. The spell then gives the other party the same effects as she bestows upon herself with "Selfish." Unlike "Selfish," this spell does not sever the bond. It lasts until she runs out of mana (thus ending the bond) or otherwise stops.

EQUIPMENT:

+ Iava wields a double-edged straight sword (khanda) named Omen. It's housed within a sizable steel scabbard, with the weight making it suitable for striking.
+ An oil stone, for sharpening.
+ A soft cloth, for polishing.

TRIVIA:

+ Color Code: 846977
+ Iava has an intense soft spot for cats.
+ Iava ties her hair up into a ponytail. When things are calm, she allows it to hang freely.

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empty row, centered (for some reason in a full post, the empty row provides empty space that goes underneath the content u place in the corresponding cell. test this theory by adding filler text

⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻ hooray kos-mos where the hell is that long ass line coming from ^ it was the rows. WHY IS THE LINE UP THERE NOW?? GG

well either way filling up the space makes it easier on the eyes the greatest scientists in the world could not tell u wtf row is eveen doing. im looking up documentation fk this 天使の科学　空気力学 屋上の塀に立ち　見下ろす世界は 消えてなくなる　言葉に溢れてる さぁ飛び出せ　羽ばたけ 私の翼よ　今 神様の声　空気力学 ギリギリの場所に立ち　見上げる世界で 生まれた言葉　空を埋め尽くすよ さぁ　吐きだせ　世界を造り直すんだ 空の青　水に変わり 溺れる人々　世界で沈み 私は輝く翼で　水を掻き分けて　行くんだ あなたに届く力で 飛ぶんだ　沈んだ世界を　今 少女の夢は　空気力学 好きな人　そばに立ち　見つめていたいの 言葉少なく　空気のようにただ さぁ吐きだす　勇気を 好きという言葉　だから今だけは 空気力学少女と少年の詩を　聞かせて 再生の象徴の魚　消滅をつかさどる鳥たち わたしの空気力学　飛ぶんだ　ただひたすらにね きっと届くはずさ　今

tried and true. I understand everything now.

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A Sea of Spells [Chapter 1: A Scrap in The Galley]

@imia so I have very little issue with her powers. I'm confused as to the mana sharing spell. The connected teammate gets access to lava's mana pool, is that it's basic Effects?

In addition, your character's history has a detail I'm missing as well. Was it the bandits who attacked the village who are sending Lava on these missions, or it was her village who raised/trained her and her sibling? In which case, what exactly constitutes a "mission" for what should otherwise be a fairly primitive 17th century Indian village.

I have no problem with her being from India, I'm sure a motivated Indian sailor could find themselves on the other side of Europe (eventually) but the backstory sounds less like she was trained to be a warrior through ancient rites and more like she was a CIA agent lol. If you could clarify what exactly she was doing there (doesn't even have to be IC) she should be acceptable.

I'd also like the "two pools worth of mana," bit moved to her magical Abilities instead of the natural abilities. Natural Abilities should be only your human skills, and anything gained from magic (like the extra 15 years of experience) should go there

@RoseKnightJason

first of all thanks a lot!! this is rlly helping me hash out the details^^

the part about her training is true enough but idk if it could be described as "ancient rites" either. i guess her powers existing by itself could? i suppose it should seem less like she was expertly trained and more like she'd just been trained to be a ruthless warrior from a young age, as that actually fits her upbringing + it comes with some good questions for me to ask myself aswell 🤔🤔🤔

If you could clarify what exactly she was doing there (doesn't even have to be IC) she should be acceptable.

i'm sure i could, but lmk what you mean by there so i can focus on it

Was it the bandits who attacked the village who are sending Lava on these missions, or it was her village who raised/trained her and her sibling? In which case, what exactly constitutes a "mission" for what should otherwise be a fairly primitive 17th century Indian village.

her village got cooked! when i refer to "tribe" i mean the bandits though i could just easily call them smth else. what constitutes a mission for the bandit camp could be a host of things. hunting for food, mapping out the area around them, sending scouts to plan out their next raid, etc. they're not a village (they move from camp to camp), though they're still primitive. if anything it would have started out as a group of men wandering around in groups after some war, looking for some way to sustain themselves. their main source of sustenance comes from picking on anyone weaker than themselves and they organized themselves around that

thoughts and inquiries?