@LunarParadox I took some liberties with how the way Eirwen would arrive at the piers. Just tell me if you need any adjustments!
@Estylwen Since we'll be in a collab-heavy period, I'm thinking we could have a side-story scene with Headmaster Ashan and Matriarch Jezebel. Maybe she's there during the timeskip period to teach at the College, officially at least, while behind the scenes, she'd be scheming with the headmaster, maybe with the goal of sabotaging the Royal Gardeners. Hey, anything to help realizing her daughter's mission (Read: her ambitions) easier. 😏
Upon Valor's mention of a certain monarch, a flash of recognition came to Melisande, the real one.
King DuFairre... so, this is not a test of loyalty by the Wizard-Queen after all.
Why does it not surprise me that the masked mortal's allegiance lies with the spectre-king? Heh, a new society, 'Enlightened', as expected coming from the monarch who sought to imitate the Shadelings' timeless and ethereal existence. His hubris may just be a match for the human-elf queen.
You speak truth, Kronos. The Duke, the Wizard Queen, and now, the Spectre King. We shall see who shall be left after the dust settles...
"..." As Valor left, Kronos decided it'd be best to keep its silence. For now, they'd simply follow the decision of the Court Mage.
--Hathforth - Workshop--
For the next seven days, Melisande focused on the Seed Grafting project with a devotion that'd rival a dwarven craftsman. Together with her half-elven mentor, she analyzed each nodule of the seeds and meticulously weaved them to join together in harmony, so they might become one, a single Seed, more powerful than the sum of its parts. Finally, she'd employ her mastery of time and space to carefully hasten or hinder certain reactions as appropriate, enabling the project to be completed by the deadline instead of the months it'd have required.
In order to accomplish this delicate task, Melisande didn't have the time to humor hearsays and rumors, fortunately, Kronos could handle such matters via the Simulacrum. The Dremora vowed to keep them safe until it could return home, this was one of its ways to keep that promise.
Apparently, one Duke Willowsteel made a fool out of himself at the gala, one severe enough to land himself in the chopping block, while a whole noble house, the Corrins, found themselves murdered at the hands of an unknown party. Even when there was no open conflict, truly, the life of royalty and nobility wasn't for the faint of hearts.
Finally, on the night of the seventh day, a multi-colored gem shone brilliantly in the Arcane Wing's workshop, the magical stone brimming with mystical power as its magic circuits flowed with perfect harmony. The power to traverse even the most treacherous water with the agility rivaling Princess Azalea's kin was made manifest, for good or ill...
--Hathforth - Harbor--
At the promised day, Her Majesty Evelyn's commission wouldn't arrive via the pier, instead, a ripple in space spawned a few feet away to her side, followed by the formation of an archway-shaped portal. If Evelyn turned her gaze there, she'd see her court mage and his apprentice, and behind them, their workshop.
The Lilim's power over space-time ensured no unauthorized parties could even have the chance to pilfer the Amalgamated Seed mid-transit.
As Melisande was assigned the task of handling the portal, Eirwen would be the one who'd present the Wizard-Queen her prize, her means to - as the Ghost-King would claim - 'summon a monster from the deep'.
@Izurich HMMMMMMMMMMMMM well he is kind of my de'facto tank on the enemy side. One of the only ones I have a real personality in my head for. But I'm sure with a little direction from me you could play him just fine. Think a grumpy conservative for this guy. Doesn't even like how loosely members of the church today take their faith. That's without even scratching the surface of his hatred for witches. It is a bigoted, uninformed, uniform judgement as many religious fanatics do. Now put all of that in a physically imposing, 6'4" frame covered in Platemail and quoting scripture as he cuts men down, and you've got Gregor. The most violent and bloodthirsty of the witch hunters.
Edit: he really is everything Elizabeth hates huh lmao
The delicious irony being that if you see 'witchcraft' as just another religious dogma, between the boomer mindset, fanaticism to their respective faith, and violent bloodlust, then they're really two birds of the same feather. A prime material for the "We're not so different, you and I" villainous monologue.
Maybe that's one of the prime reasons why Liz hates him so much, she sees a (twisted) reflection of herself in him.
@AliceInRedHeels for now, yes. In my experience multiple characters tend to cause posting to drag. However, I'm thinking I'd like to allow players to play some witch hunters or British captains for certain sections. Sort of a "bad guy of the week," scenario. So there's options there.
Oh yeah, regarding this, I mused some ideas about Beth's arch-nemesis, Knight-Bishop Gregor, and would love the opportunity to play as him myself during those 'bad guy of the week' scenarios. By your permission, of course.
Soooo... we'll wait on proceeding with the 'main timeline' until these collabs are done, right? Otherwise, there'll be a risk of disjointed interactions and narratives.
Also, as Alice said, you can go ahead and basically copy-paste the interest check to the first post of the OOC tab. Since you've already made this thread, the interest check has served its purpose. Future applicants will just go to the main thread (this one) instead of the old one.
A crown of pale golden locks framing a youthful visage adorned by a pair of teal emeralds set on a petite and slender body, Erzsébet superficially projects the image of a young girl just past the eve of adolescence. However, the facade is merely skin-deep as interacting with her on any capacity will reveal the baleful witch lurking underneath the veil of maidenly innocence.
Alluding to the rumors of her ties to royalty, Erzsébet - or 'Elizabeth' when Anglicized - prefers to clad herself in fine dresses and apparel however they're obtained, looted from a harbor raid or forcefully stripped away from their previous wearer, it matters not. Due to the nature of her role within Captain Monroe's crew, these dresses are more often than not constantly soaked in blood, both fresh and dried. Tis' fine, she can always replace it after another raid.
BIOGRAPHY:
Erzsébet's past is one muddled in conflicting rumors, hearsay, and myths. Some say she's a demon masquerading as a child, others claimed she's the daughter of the infamous Voivode of Wallachia, Vlad "Dracula" Tepes, but the most prevalent theory is that she's none other than Erzsébet Báthori the Blood Countess herself. After all, between her shared name, bloodcurdling haemomancy, and apparent agelessness, the signs are all there. Regardless, the Blood Witch in question never quite confirms, nor denies any of these rumors, and the powers she possesses are indispensable enough for the crew to accept or at the very least tolerate her presence. Besides, with figures such as the Sea Witch sailing around, having one of her 'kind' on your side is more a blessing than a curse.
Speaking of the she-devils, the two witches seem to have history with one another. From Erzsébet's side, she appears to possess a sort of friendly rivalry with the dark-haired witch-captain. Peculiarly, the blonde often refers to Veronica as "that child" or "the upstart", suggesting that Beth is the senior of the two and once upon a time, she was also the more powerful. Regardless of the truth, the fact remains that as things stand, Veronica will overwhelm the shorter woman in a straight up witch-to-witch duel.
Erzsébet, being a witch, unsurprisingly has a rock bottom opinion of the Church(es); Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox, they're all self-righteous fools no better, nay, worse than the apostates they condemn. However, out of every members of the clergy out there, Beth has a seething hatred for one Bishop Gregor, an infamous knight of the Anglican Church. Merely mentioning his name would earn the speaker a death glare from the Blood Witch and to express support for the man would earn one a swift and extremely agonizing death via sudden exsanguination.
Rumors abound that Gregor was the one responsible for Erzsébet's fall from one of the most powerful witches of the known world to merely a blood mage serving under a young pirate captain. It was said she narrowly avoided the knight's divine judgment, but left crippled afterwards, a mere shadow of her former self. No matter, she'll soon regain her might and exterminate these so-called men of the cloth, down to the last priest.
As a person, though Erzsébet can rather convincingly put on the facade of a young girl she masquerades as, the figure behind the mask is a sadistic crone who ultimately serves no one but herself. She isn't fazed by death, nor torture, hell, she enjoys them. In contrast, Beth has enough pragmatic intelligence to know that wanton sadism is ill-advised and to achieve greater purposes, allies are necessary. Thus, the Blood Witch deigns herself to serve Captain Monroe and reserves her streaks of cruelty to those the crew deem as 'acceptable victims': hostile pirates, the royal navy, raid victims, etc.
NATURAL ABILITIES:
Erzsébet is well-versed in the study of the arcane. Though people may be able to cast spells, not all of these spellcasters possess the erudition required to know why magic functions the way it is; the inner workings of magic circuits, the flow of mana, and the patterns of ley lines, these are scholarly matters beyond the knowledge of most, including those who can otherwise cast spells by instinct or rudimentary knowledge.
Erzsébet is also quite knowledgable about the human anatomy. She knows what makes people tick from head to toe and she uses this expertise both to mend and break. As a result, she can fulfill the role of a doctor as well as a torturer, ...and sometimes both simultaneously.
She's a pretty good actress, able to put on various masks to fit the persona she's currently emulating. The blonde is perfectly aware of how she looks physically and has no qualms exploiting the bias for (or against) youthful innocence present in most people.
MAGICAL ABILITIES:
Magic Type: Haemomancy (Blood Magic)
Basic Effects: Erzsébet's specialty lies in the manipulation and utilization of blood as spellcasting reagent. She wields blood as a more traditional mage would wield mana. For Beth, blood is mana and mana is blood, it matters not from where the blood flows; herself, enemies, allies, or the environment, she can extend her arcane strings onto them and wield them as if they're her limbs.
For a magical discipline so narrowly focusing on a single essence, haemomancy is surprisingly quite versatile in its applications. The sanguineus maleficarum can use blood for offense, defense, and even support. It can cause bloodshed as well as heal them. As a catch, depriving a blood mage of the one reagent they almost exclusively use will leave them powerless.
Advanced Spells:
❖ Crimson Conjuration: Erzsébet's most versatile ability. She utilizes blood to construct various objects from blood spikes, a wall of hardened blood, and even a literal bloodhound. She must exert concentration to move and manipulate these blood-based constructs, even if they're otherwise shaped like a living creature such as the aforementioned bloodhound. ❖ Scarlet Surgeon: Practically the direct opposite of Captain Monroe's Touch of Entropy power. She staunches bleeding, stitch wounds close, and mends your body. No, the process does not look pretty at all, go to those clerical scum instead if you want one of those warm golden healing light. ❖ Excruciating Exsanguination: Erzsébet spins in place like a demented ballerina, grins madly, and cackles as she forcefully induces fatal hemorrhaging on multiple targets around her. When cast, a sanguine magic circle gradually expands outward from underneath her feet and anyone - friend, foe, bystanders, it cares not - touched by said circle will feel their blood being drained out until they have no more to drain.
It's functionally a hex-type spell and like all curses, it can be nullified or resisted. In this case, someone with enough physical endurance will be able to brute force through its effects. Some would call this spell a gross crime against nature, though she'd rather see it as... efficient. However, the technique is quite taxing on her reserves and she can only safely do so up to three times before needing to rest. ❖ Titian Thrall: If one believes murdering others by profuse internal and external bleeding is revolting, then they certainly will be pleasantly surprised that the Blood Witch has something even worse under her frilly sleeves. With her exsanguination spell, at the very least her victims will be granted a swift death, unlike the poor sod on the receiving end of this spell. Erzsébet manipulates a target's blood as figurative strings to directly control their physical actions much like a meat-puppet. The target is forced to watch as faculty over their own body is robbed from them, they'll be conscious as the sadistic puppetmistress compels them to kill their own friends and families, and they can only hope she'll grant them death once she's done with them, for truly, it'll be crueler to let them live after such an ordeal.
As a hex-type spell, a potential victim can attempt to resist succumbing under control, particularly those who are already familiar with regulating mana and spellcasting (e.g., mages, witches, etc.). Against these 'arcane-touched' targets, Erzsébet can at most attempt to briefly control a limited part of their body such as an arm or a leg as total domination is out of the question unless the recipient is somehow willing or already incapacitated.
EQUIPMENT:
❖ Several vials of blood for spellcasting ❖ A leather tome which doubles as both a spellbook and journal, enchanted to be waterproof
TRIVIA:
❖ Color Code: d62524 ❖ Despite how cruel she may seem, Erzsébet isn't a true psychopath. She's capable of feeling empathy and affection for others, they're simply... buried under her hubris, pride, and bitter jadedness. Her past has taught her that the world preys on the weak and the strong rules, therefore she must be strong. Those who can't stand up for themselves simply mean they're weak and therefore prey.
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>
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