Great NPCs! Kronos is good to go. I only have one request. Could you please add a slight cool down to the counterspell? Other then that, I approve them and I will add them to the NPC database once that addition is made.
Okay, done!
I want to go with yesn't. Was human now is a blend of human with a bit of Dremora
So did you just read Safina and Melisande's CS, then figured, "Hey, why not both in one?" 😛
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Also, is not putting CS in hiders a thing here? Coz' the scrolling I must do each time I want to reference information from a specific sheet takes forever now.
@Estylwen I have a pair of NPCs for you to look over:
Kronos
Unknown | Genderless | Dremora
Description: A Dremora who governs over the concept of time and space. The combination of being territorial yet peaceful makes for a reclusive entity, Kronos cares not for the material plane with its bickering mortals and their mortal problems, and in relation, it too disdains its envious brethren, always craving to consume the light of the All-Force. It does not and will not understand, all it wishes is to be left alone... until a vexatious feyling forcibly dragged Kronos out of its peaceful Shade and into another being's body, and the rest is history.
Though it has learned to tolerate its new lot in life, Kronos remains a cynical and callous entity, it's slow to forget and even slower to forgive. If it sees an orphaned urchin begging for scraps of food, it'd assume some kind of ruse is at play. If it's given a gift, it'd immediately try to deduce what the giver expects in return. In its mind, no good deed goes unpunished. Clearly, it distrusts everyone by default and so far, only its host, Melisande, has managed to foster what can be discerned as affection from it.
❖ United Souls: Kronos is Melisande and Melisande is Kronos, distinct yet united. They share each other's powers and skills. ❖ Distinct Minds: Melisande is Kronos and Kronos is Melisande, united yet distinct. Mind-affecting conditions that afflict one of them do not automatically beset the other. They're considered as two separate entities for this purpose. ❖ Consciousness Substitution: Kronos can control Melisande's body or Gemini clone as if it were its own, becoming the primary consciousness of the vessel.
Matriarch Jezebel Tearmoon
44 | Female | Lilim
Description: The reigning Matriach of the Tearmoon Coven and Melisande's mother. Though she may initially appear like the spitting image of her daughter, their similarities are merely skin-deep. Behind the cordial and unassuming persona lies an ambitious woman of many schemes. She firmly believes that her people are the most suited to unlock the true potential of the Seeds, yet the Wizard Queen unwisely squanders their potential by favoring those incompetent simpletons in the Royal Gardeners instead of her coven. No matter, whether under the sanctions of the Wizard Queen or the Duke of Rhineclfif, Tearmoon will be the exclusive custodian of the Glasic Fields. She’ll see to it.
Aside from being a coven leader, Jezebel is an accomplished magus and scholar in her own right. She's routinely invited to conduct lectures at the College of Hathforth, in fact, she's a good friend of Caveus Ashan the headmaster. In relation, though Jezebel won't hesitate to curry favors and pull strings in order to ensure Melisande's enrollment into the prestigious academy, she doesn't need to do so as her eldest daughter is talented enough to qualify for the scholarship anyway.
❖ Arcane Appraisal: Through the combination of vast knowledge, experience, and shrewdness, Jezebel is able to instinctively detect when a magical spell in being cast within her vicinity, analyze its methods, and then given time, eventually unravel its purpose. This ability only concerns the appraisal and identification of spells, whether she can replicate the spell or not is another matter entirely. ❖ Counterspell: Disrupts a target's casting process, causing the spell to prematurely fizzle if the target fails to resist. This technique can only be performed to a single target once every few minutes. ❖ Magic Missiles: Conjures and launches a hail of solid magical projectiles to one or several targets, said projectiles possess extraordinary homing capabilities, in other words, they're exponentially harder to dodge than block. ❖ Power Word: Obey: Utters a command laced with powerful enchantment to compel a target's body to perform a single action. It can be resisted through sufficient willpower, resisting targets will instead be paralyzed in place for a brief moment as their mind struggles to regain control of their body. Each target can only be affected by this spell once per day. ❖ Defy Death: The caster engraves a crest upon the target which essentially functions like a dormant healing spell. The mark activates if the host is dying, healing their wounds enough to stabilize them. The crest is invisible to the naked eye and lasts for a week or until triggered, whichever is shorter.
Great! Then I think your CS is good to go! Feel free to add it to the Character Tab when you have a moment. :)
Done! Just needed to do a few final edits and touches: - Added more information to clarify Void and Vacuum's destructive power. - Realizes that I forgot something from my notes, then added "Nymphish Charm" to the Skills section: It's basically the natural allure that Lilim have due to being descended from Nymphs.
Goal: Firstly, driven by a sense of loyalty to her mother, Matriarch Jezebel Tearmoon, and the coven she belongs to, Melisande strives to realize her ambitions of exerting the coven's control over the Glasic Fields by whatever means most convenient, whether through supporting the Wizard Queen or the Duke of Rhinecliff. Secondly, motivated by gratitude to the Dremora of Time, Kronos, who dwells within her, she wishes to search for a way to separate their conjoined souls so it can return to the Shade from whence it came. Thirdly, above all, she wishes to enjoy everything life has to offer before her borrowed time finally ends, whenever it'll be.
History:
The Lilim, a curious race of monogendered people; beautiful, physically delicate, and magically talented, these all-female sapients were said to have descended from ancient nymphs intermarrying with humans and elves. Regardless of the truth, it's clear that the mystical influence of the fey realm runs strong in them, which would indeed explain their peculiar traits. Then, the Dremora, shadowy creatures hailing from the Shade, dreaded and mysterious, they're a subject of innumerable stories and legends, malevolent anathema to the All-Force itself.
One might ask, what if a pair of Lilim and Dremora are forced to coexist? Melisande's very existence is a representation of such a concept.
Born as the first child of the current matriarch - leader - of the Tearmoon lilim coven, Melisande's struggle began right after she left her mother's womb. A sickly infant, the girl's early years were spent mostly bedridden and confined in her room, and even the best of the coven's healers were unable to cure her ailments, it was as if her fate had been set in stone, that she was to suffer through a short life of agony before she'd waste away into an eternal sleep. Something that the matriarch found unacceptable, her beloved daughter would live... by any means necessary.
After exhausting almost every option, Jezebel turned to the forbidden, in place of the so-called benevolent All-Force who couldn't save her daughter, she'd instead embrace the dark gifts of the Shade. Delving into eldritch knowledge was quite achievable for a Lilim of her stature, thus after no small amount of research, the coven matriarch prepared a ritual, one that would summon a dremora from the Shade and use its unlife-force to immortalize her child.
The ritual... succeeded, Jezebel summoned a creature of timeless existence and infused it into Melisande, freezing the progression of the child's affliction. However, meddling with the shade had its price, there'd always be a catch, and in this case, it's the harrowing fact that the otherworldly creature didn't quite disappear, instead its consciousness melded with Melisande's, practically turning them into a conjoined twin sharing a single body. Still, Jezebel deemed that it was worth it.
...and so did Melisande, as she grew up, she learned to coexist with her "twin", her 'other self', one she named Kronos. As for Kronos, it was resentful at first, being imprisoned in someone else's body, but due to the combination of Melisande's warm friendliness, its own curiosity about the material plane, and last but not least, the promise of one day being able to be separated and return home, it grew to tolerate its new life, one might say it might've grown fond of Melisande, though it'll never admit it.
At the tender age of sixteen summers, Melisande qualified for a scholarship from the Society of Young Magic to attend Hathforth Academy. There, she could hone her power over chronomancy, the arcane art of space-time and causality manipulation, using the best resources and tutelage the academy could offer. In addition, her mother tasked her with gathering any information that'd help the Tearmoon coven to rule over the Glasic Fields and obtain exclusive authorization to manage it, essentially supplanting the Royal Gardeners, but no one needs to know that... at least not before it’s appropriate to whisk the curtains.
Seed:Gemini - Melisande's Seed takes the form of a gem-encrusted golden star-shaped brooch. Perfectly symmetrical from the vertical axis, Gemini's primary function is to manipulate the fabric of space-time to conjure an identical copy of Melisande's body, including her current apparel, and either Kronos or Melisande herself can focus their consciousness to control said copy, which practically allows the twins to have a separate body each. The clone continuously consumes mana to maintain its existence and when dispelled through one reason or another, it'll simply vanish into fleeting motes of pure mana.
Magic:
❖ Swift: Enchants a target with magical vigor, allowing them to perform actions quicker. ❖ Slow: Hexes a target with arcane malady, hindering their movements. ❖ Hasten: Accelerates the progression of an effect, for example, an antidote that'd need several minutes to fully take effect can be manipulated into a single minute. ❖ Hinder: Impedes the progression of an effect, for example, a venom that'd have taken a minute to kill can be delayed to several minutes. ❖ Blink: Manipulates space-time to instantly change the caster's location to another location within sight or a maximum of several meters, whichever is closer. ❖ Reflect: Conjures a barrier that can reverse the trajectory of mundane projectiles, unable to affect magical projectiles. ❖ Vacuum: Generate a localized implosion at a designated point in space, damaging anything within that space with pure force. The size of each implosion can be no larger than an apple. Its destructive power is similar to a Firebolt spell. --- ❖ Dimension Door: Connects two separate points of space via a portal, enabling nigh-instantaneous travel between the two. If a portal closes while something is traveling through it, then the subject will either be wholly ejected into one end or if impossible due to one reason or another, severed in two. Can only conjure a single pair of portals simultaneously. ❖ Fate Bond: Intertwines the strings of causality between two separate individuals. If a bonded creature receives an effect, then the same will be applied to its pair. Can only work on creatures with a soul and no more than a single pair simultaneously. ❖ Void: Basically a larger version of Vacuum, this one can affect a volume of space as large as an adult horse. Its destructive power is similar to a Fireball spell.
Faction:Tearmoon Coven - Melisande is affiliated with the Tearmoon Coven, a society of Lilim (and their husbands or more rarely, wives) under the rule and guidance of the Matriarch, chosen by popular vote upon the death or abdication of her predecessor. While there are multiple covens scattered across the world, including Arrowfell, the Tearmoons are the most prominent among them. They're a little over a thousand members strong and host some of the best arcane practitioners in the region.
City:Tearmoon Glade - The patch of land dominated by meadows and rolling hills that the coven claimed as their ancestral home, dating back to centuries old. Though they're mostly self-sufficient due to the Lilim's talents in the arcane, they aren't xenophobic, in fact, it's the exact opposite. Due to how their race propagates, a Lilim can only bear Lilim daughters and as such, they need men of other races to take in as consorts.
Though each coven may differ in their culture and norms, Tearmoons in particular endorse Lilim-focused polygamy in that a Lilim is allowed to have multiple husbands (and/or wives, though husbands are preferred) and they do not acknowledge adultery if a husband or wife of a non-Lilim decides to marry one. The latter in particular is quite a controversial practice amongst outsiders as the Lilim's propensity for alluring comeliness means it's quite common for a married person to be tempted to elope on their spouse with a coven member.
In Tearmoon, only Lilim can become full-fledged coven members and they all share the same surname, which is the coven's name. People of other races need to be espoused to a member to be allowed to live within their enclave. Members who have come of age are encouraged to venture out of the glade, both to gather life experience and find a potential spouse to bring back to the coven.
Aside from providing services related to magic and alchemy, causing marital problems to non-Lilim women and men, and generally functioning as a self-sufficient enclave, the coven maintains neutrality in political affairs... until the Glasic Fields' sudden introduction into the region. Standing at the foremost of this newfound ambition is Matriarch Jezebel and her appointed agent, Melisande.
Assets: Arcane services, alchemical products, and... a popular emigration destination for individuals (mostly men) preferring an easy, docile life as a consort.
Mèlisande & Kronos' Relationships
Us
Melisande to Kronos and Kronos to Melisande. A pair of existences as distinct as oil and water, yet united together through the machinations of the Tearmoon Matriarch.
________________________ ________________________ ________________________ "You're the reason I can live, laugh, and love, Kronos, thank you." "Hmph, tis' a burden forced upon me, however, I shall keep you alive until I can be free from this prison. Woe to all who aims to harm Us."
Matriarch Jezebel Tearmoon
The reigning matriarch of the Tearmoon Coven, Melisande's mother by blood, and last but not least, Kronos' abductor. One of the two is obviously more fond of her than the other.
________________________ ________________________ ________________________ "My beloved mother, she could simply bear more daughters yet she never gave up on me. For her, I'll sail through even the stormiest seas." "... ... ..."
Headmaster Caveus Ashan
Dean of the College of Hathforth and a good friend of Melisande's mother. His sheer arcane knowledge and experience made him quite respected in the coven. It's preferable to have him on our side than against.
________________________ ________________________ ________________________ "Headmaster Ashan possesses acumen only few others have. I can see why Mother is fond of him, for I am too," "Humans are such short-lived creatures even amongst you mortals. If he's such a brilliant magus, why doesn't he free himself from time's grasp? Or perhaps he can't."
Court Mage Eirwen Blackthorne
Court Mage and Advisor to the Wizard Queen, but more importantly, the founder of the Young Society of Magic, providing scholarships to promising students such as herself.
________________________ ________________________ ________________________ "I hope I can make Sir Blackthorne proud." "This mortal is capable of recognizing a being of superior power when he sees it, good, he knows his place."
Duke Laurent Rhinecliff
The head of House Rhinecliff and ruler of Odonfield, like Caveus, he's a good friend of Mother. Tearmoon and Odonfield had been neighbors for as long as she knows, long before the reign of either the duke or the matriarch. She prefers if this cordial relationship continue.
________________________ ________________________ ________________________ "Mother told me the Duke will assist me in my mission, and I suppose he expects the coven to side with him against the Wizard Queen..." "He and the vexatious feyling are of the same flock, you should trust neither. Only we can take care of us."
Wizard Queen Evelyn Keove
The reigning sovereign of Arrowfell, who carved her path to power through blood and death. She appointed the Royal Gardeners to manage the Glasic Fields instead of the coven, the very reason why Melisande was given her mission.
________________________ ________________________ ________________________ "Can I truly change her mind? Or can this only be done through force?" "I care little for my kin, but knowing she can abduct them at will with her accursed crown... yes, it'll fill me with joy to drag her into the Shade, kicking and screaming..."
Hmm, I'm trying to make spells not an insta-death. Is there any way the vacuum could be an impacting blow that's non-lethal? A fireball to the face would leave severe burns, but not necessarily kill a person. Does that sound alright?
Oooh, that’s an important clarification you just made, useful for everyone here, not just me.
If that’s the design principle behind offensive spells, then sure! My point essentially remains the same, Vacuum and Void are as powerful as a Firebolt and Fireball respectively, yep.
I'm a fuckin' weeb, but one of my great-grandparents was Japanese and a Japanese can't be a weeb by definition so...
[h3]7/8 Weeb[/h3]
...[s]kill me.[/s]
[sub][i]Avatar drawn by [url=https://www.patreon.com/vayreceane]Vayreceane[/url][/i][/sub]
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;">I'm a fuckin' weeb, but one of my great-grandparents was Japanese and a Japanese can't be a weeb by definition so... <br><div class="bb-h3">7/8 Weeb</div><br>...<span class="bb-s">kill me.</span><br><br><sub><span class="bb-i">Avatar drawn by <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.patreon.com/vayreceane">Vayreceane</a></span></sub></div>