Little Bird

Kingdom Hearts: Dirge of the World Eater

Anyone who's in and hasn't posted yet, feel free to do so.

Kingdom Hearts: Dirge of the World Eater

Kaitou Kid said
Excuse me, are you still accepting?

By my count I think we can take on a few more people. Kurai and myself have been entertaining the idea of letting this one be a bit larger than we had initially planned.

Kingdom Hearts: Dirge of the World Eater

Old Bastion, once a world symbolizing power and justice, lay in the age as a ruined husk of its former glory. Within the old city, nestled within a small valley at the foot of sheer cliff, the streets held out in a hush, where life once teeming had been shepherded away. Stray howls of wind cutting down from the highlands gave the emptiness, otherwise a peaceful tome to isolation, a haunted air in the early twilight hours approaching dawn. What damage had convened upon the structures has been ushered to by the steady hand of time as people abandoned the place some count of decades prior.

The inhabitants that remained there lived within and around an ancient castle, perched upon a cliff overlooking the city. A Goliath of a structure, the castles shadow was enough to shade the entire city beneath it as the sun's path allowed. It's strong stone and iron construction, even it's disrepair, domineered over the city and the surrounding landscapes, leaving now question as to why the mighty society of Keybearers had once chosen it as their home. It had no shortage of battlements when it was at its peak: four towers were placed at the corners of the squared walls of the main keep, marking the intermediate directions, each equipped with a set of weapons that could have made any invasion tremble. At the precise middle stood the "central tower" spanning up higher than the other four and support gratuitously by buttresses. From any of the towers, one could see clear across the world, so it was said.

And even if the inhabitants didn't realize it yet, the coming tide would make the towers a great asset.

-------

Upon a balcony of the castle's center tower, resided a man of some age. He sat cross-legged, back upright an neck at a full yet relaxed extension. His arms hung at his side, bent at the elbows, and fingers bent in the "okay" sign. His eyelids held shut, not too tightly but far from loosely, and without even the slightest sliver of a peek. In this meditative pose he exemplified the state of total, true relaxation. The body as it sat was without tension, yet featured a decisive control as it remained perfectly still; signified by the recently weathered look upon the man's face, be had been there meditating for hours, feeling the high breezes over the tower whip across his face even since night had fallen, the red of his cheeks sticking out even on his tanned skin.

For all of this, one might have expected the man to be unaware of his surroundings. But that assumption couldn't have been further off from the truth. He was well aware of the chilly air breezing about him; he had been throughout the night, which he had spent in that exact spot in that exact position. And that hadn't been all that he was aware of. His mind, focused and unhindered as it was, opened to the entirety of his surroundings. From the distant screeching of night birds making their circles about the castle grounds to the distant echoing of the ridges on the horizon, he was nearly perfectly in tuned.

This was by name Yuan Lao, a Master of the fabled Keyblade as per his title; the last of Keybearing Masters to reside there since they dispersed fifty years ago. A man of age, he had been through quite the sum of troubles in his lifetime, as to be disciplined to hold meditation for hours on end as he had been for the last eight hours. Despite that he had been awake through the sleeping hours, he was far from tired or sluggish; he maintained his posture and control even as the first of the morning light broke from over the horizon. As the light crept across the landscape at a quick pace with the rising sun it fell upon his face, dampening the wind's chill. Only then did the Master's come open, squinting as they stared in the direction of the sun.

With a soft utterance, "rise and shine," he rose to his feet, shook off the dust that been delivered onto his robes overnight and proceeded to the interior of the central tower. It was a long trek for being indoors, but one he had made for several decades whilst he called Old Bastion his home. The path took him through he Watch Room at the top of the tower and down a narrow spiral staircase through a succession of circular rooms, each equipped with old battlements, as small cannons pointed out the windows, from the castle's glory days, which he had tirelessly pursued the refurbishment of to little avail. Soon enough, he thought, stopping for a second in one of the rooms, staring wishfully at the weapons. As soon as an adequate engineer happens upon this place.; as deplorable and ungraceful as he found them, the cannons had ways been good at putting down sieges.

Moments passed, Lao simply staring in reminiscence of the old days, when the castle was a true safeguard. Then, as of being pulled from a trance at the beckoning of a rooster's call, he shook his head, turned towards the stairs and continued on his way down. At the bottom he entered into a corridor that stretched the front length of the castle's main keep, branching off into other corridors towards the sides and the keep's front and back ends. Orienting himself to his left, he flicked his hand, summoning the shimmering, shoulder-height staff that was his Keyblade. Cracking a slight grin, he proceeded forward.

Along that particular corridor, resided the rooms in which Lao's apprentices slept by night (when the actually got sleep). As the old Master passed by each one, he knocked the bottom end his Keyblade forcefully against the hardwood doors. "Arise! Arise! A new dawn is upon us!" He called for each set of knocks. "Breakfast is in FIVE minutes and you won't want to miss out on it." Sparing no time to ensure that his students heeded his words (as they had, over the course of time, become accustomed to his methods enough to follow them) he continued down the hall, turning the sharp right corner towards the back end of the keep.

Down another flight of stairs and along another corridor, he came to the Grand Hall, overlooking a sheer cliff drop into a valley below the castle. The hall had already been set by the few maids that remained on duty in the world's state: several long tables set parallel to each other, along which dozens of the castle'a refugee and traveler populations sat already scarfing down the day's first meal. As he made his way across the hall towards a set of empty seats in the far corner he stepped into the usual barrage of greetings to which he only had time to nod politely to keep up.

One greeting, however, couldn't be dismissed so easily: that of a younger man, adorned in armor and bearing a pair of short swords at his waist, approached with a clipboard and pen in hand. "Master Lao," the man said, bowing hastily as an afterthought. "Word from the night watch."

"Go on, Victor," Lao responded, ushering him along as he continued towards his seat.

"Just some new arrivals," Victor reported. "A band of merchants arrived around midnight looking for housing, we put them up in the south wing, a bit cramped, but they seems thankful enough just to get some beds to sleep in."

"Nothing out of the ordinary," Lao remarked, narrowing his eyes at the watchman. "Anything else?"

"Well..." The watchman hesitated for a second, drawing out the vowel as he searched for his next words. "A group of old priests, so they claim to be, arrived about an hour ago telling me they had to speak with you about something. They wouldn't tell me what, but they said it was a matter of utmost urgency."

"And did you bring them down here with you this morning?" Lao growled.

"No sir." Victor shook his head in disappointment. "They insisted on taking breakfast in their room, it's down the hall from the central tower."

"You should have come straight for me when they arrived!" Loa retorted, almost cutting Victor off as he whipped his seat out. "I may be able tune to the world around me in my meditations, but I can't read minds." He lowered into the chair, slapping his hands on the table in he process. "Things of importance must always be tended to without delay, remember that next time Victor."

"Yes Master Lao." Victor bowed again, and hurried off.

Lao watched the man scurry off to help a family find seating together before turning his thoughts to what matters the priests wished to discuss.

Kingdom Hearts: Dirge of the World Eater

Sin said
Didn't we already do that way back in this thread, though? Everyone suggested worlds that they wanted in the RP, no?

If that's how you all saw that. To me it felt like just throwing ideas into the hat. I'm just thinking we should have something more concise.

Kingdom Hearts: Dirge of the World Eater

Let's start up with a nomination round and then have the official vote. Maybe everyone nominates a Disney world they'd most like have integrated and we can vote based on that.

Kingdom Hearts: Dirge of the World Eater

Gonna sleep on my intro post tonight. It'll probably be easier tomorrow once I finish up with my summer class.

Kingdom Hearts: Dirge of the World Eater

ColorMeEvil said
Yep got it directly from Kidd buu, Is there a rule that we can't use something already existent? while looking up photos i ran across kidd buu so i decided to re-read his background and it hit directly for the type of character i'd like to portray. Would you like me to re-word it? Re-type it in my own words? You ever seen something that's so perfect that you can't even say it using your own words, that's what prompted me to use it. but i'm sure you can tell everything else i wrote.

It's generally preferred that people use their own words when describing things, as much so as possible.

Kingdom Hearts: Dirge of the World Eater

Mike the Bloodwolf said
Well I was told that unless you can connect it to a world, you were not allow to be anything. Besides all he has is Dragon wings and dragon fire, it's not like he can become a dragon or take on dragon form. Even the dragon would only last for about half of the rp anyway.

I have my reservations about the dragon aspects of the character... well, particularly that he is essentially half dragon. I just don't see that aspect of him as validated within the KH canon; not through Land of Dragons anyways, as, even with dragons themselves existent within that world and its source, my recollection is that no such hybrids have existed and probably wouldn't exist. Having dragon-like abilities, such as exhaling fire and such is fine, but literally being half-dragon just doesn't seem feasible within the given context.

ColorMeEvil said is very similar to that of a very young spoiled, selfish child, in that he retains no form of compassion or remorse for any of his actions. Furthermore, due to his selfish and capricious personality and mind-set, he is incapable of developing empathy and comprehending the nature of his actions. King is also, like a child, very unpredictable in his behavior and actions, sometimes randomly falling asleep during battle, or acting like a monkey by banging his chest with his fists.

Maybe it's not as big a problem as Kurai and myself want it to be, but we are a bit unsettled by the fact that this snippet has apparently been directly copy-pasted from a source that is, by any good guess, not your own work.

Kingdom Hearts: Dirge of the World Eater

Master Lao will be completed some time today. I just need to get his weapons and abilities finished up.

Kingdom Hearts: Dirge of the World Eater

I severely apologize for holding us up for as long as I have been. Between personal issues, site down time and a healthy dose of writer's block, it's been tough getting my character sheet together. I'm posting everything that I've finalized thus far right now so that I can work the rest of the information in from my phone as I finish it if need be.

Name: “Master” Yaun Lao
Age: 70
Gender: Male
Home World: Old Bastion
Affiliation: Light

Physical Information

Appearance: Evidenced by his looks, it’s obvious that Master Lao was a powerful warrior in his heyday. He’s a taller man, standing at nearly six feet three inches in height, with a somewhat broad form to accompany it. He boasts a tight physique, one of visible muscle. However cut and evident this inner muscularity is, it is house beneath a thinning exterior, beginning to deteriorate in the Master’s old age. His strength is viewed through a wrinkled, tightly worn skin that would easily expose the elder’s bones if he weren’t as well built as he was; in appendages such as his hands, fingers and toes, this effect is already taking prominence.

He is paling somewhat in his age, more so in that a natural tan now gives way to a growing grayness. The top of his head has gone through complete loss of hair, exposing some liver spots and a numerous instances of scarring atop his dome. Of the notable scars are the six marks, created through voluntary burning, upon his forehead. The remnants of his hair are upon his face, where a white-gray beard falls to chest length, meeting seamlessly with a mustache and sideburns that run from just above his ears. Situated beneath a pair of bushy white brows, Lao’s eyes bear a sharp, leaf shape and black pupils that radiate an inherent strictness.

Casual Attire: Lao’s casual dress code is built upon relatively simple garments, though often decorated by something of ceremonious meaning. When at rest, he is in some assortment of robes and shawls. Typically his robes are orange in color, though other aspects of these outfits tend to vary from time to time. In these ceremonial garments, Lao is typically seen with several sets of wooden, inscribed beads, often worn around his neck and wrists; they are of spiritual meaning to him. Other manners of dress when not on the field of battle consist of gis, worn when training his students. They are typically white, though not without age and their share of permanent stains, accompanied by a black belt with a white stripe running the length down the middle.

Battle Attire: In a pinch, Master Lao will leave for battle in his casual attire, whether his robes or a gi. However, old habits die hard, and he will always adorn his old armor when time for preparation is allowed. As with his robes and gi, the armor is relatively simple, but effective in combat. Modelled after a Far East aesthetic, is commonly worn over two other layers of clothing. The first layer is typically a heavier weight gi designated for wearing in real combat. Over this, Lao wears a set of leather pads over his arms, legs and torso. The armor he wears is similar to plate mail, but not so thickly worn as those of Knights. While made of metallic material it is somewhat lighter in weight, and covers a similar range of of his body the padding worn beneath it, with the addition of shoulder guards. Of the pieces of Lao’s armor, the shoulder guards are easily the most ornate. While the other pieces are the tried and true basics, an artisan gave some decor to the shoulders, which have been forged to roughly resemble the shape of a dragon’s head, and painted over to a similar effect.

Personal Information

Personality: Lao takes fondly after his old Master, Zaal Foleski in his demeanor as a very much down-to-earth sort of person. He’s no kook and no dreamer, but a steadfast, albeit self-proclaimed realist. His most adherent beliefs are in the importance of efficiency, effort and proper preparation. Lao is a man of strategy and patience when it comes to handling most situations, preferring to investigate and research before jumping to too much action. However, his judgment is keen as to know when the right time is to move arises, and he is quick to act when the situation calls for it and unafraid to do so blindly in a pinch. He holds adamantly to the ideal that time spent idle is time wasted, and seems to rarely sleep, especially when tensions are high.

Having witnessed the horrors of wars and the tribulation people such as himself must deal with, he practices a sort of tough love towards his pupils. His methods are rough, and his commands called in a harsh voice. He’s not a believer in shortcuts as some instructors tend to be, and thus, his training takes an impressive length from day-to-day, often lasting hours on end during the waking daylight hours. Yet this regime of rough edged drilling and practicing is balanced by by caring disposition that keeps the better interests of his pupils at Heart.

He is quick to remind them at the end of every day that the training they go through only makes them stronger to fulfill their duties and, as important, stay alive themselves. No day of training goes without time for meals and plenty of rest either; three square meals and the full eight hours a night in times of peace are common in his schedule. His eyes are sharp on the affairs of his students, and he can frequently spot troubled minds amongst them, offering fatherly advice with little hesitation. Lao is a sort of Master who is willing to lay down his life for the sake of students’ well being.

History:

Early Life

Lao’s recollection of his life before age ten is scant, pieced together by a few memories that he’s construed into a viable story over the years. These memories include a vast farmland overlooked by a small house, a burning field that recurs through his dreams every now and then, the sound and silhouette of a man bellowing battle cries a woman sobbing and the feeling of a soft pair of hands gripping him protectively as a sword unsheathed. From these images, the best explanation he can produce for anyone asking about his childhood was that it took place amid an age of violent war. Many of the lasting scars he has to show seem to date as far back as sixty years, proving the assertion that, as a child, he survived through a slew of raids, skirmishes and all out battles as a youth. The exact details of these incidents, however, will always remain unclear.

On the other hand, how Lao came to part from this violent childhood is very clear. Sometime after one such incident he awoke to find his memory lapsing, a sharp pain shooting about his head, indicating he had taken a serious blow. His savior was a middle-aged man by the name of Zaal Foleski. Foleski, as it turned out, was also a Keybearer, a wielder of a magnificent yet frightening weapon known as the Keyblade. This much, Zaal explained to Lao as he sat up, confused by his ordeal. Begging answers, the young Lao was informed of his destiny, and pointed to a Keyblade of his own sitting against the foot of his bed. Several weeks of hesitation followed this revelation, until early one morning, Yuan Lao approached Zaal Foleski’s door, requesting the commencement of his training as a Keybearer.

Apprenticeship

Apprenticeship under Master Foleski was no meager thing. As one of the most respected Masters amongst the Keybearer’s he held himself as teacher to match the reputation he had earned on the battlefield as a disciplined and skillful warrior of both the physical and arcane arts. The training to which Lao was subjected was one that drove him ragged and frequently turned his perspective in one-eighties. Foleski drew from both the formal training he had received from his Master years before and real world circumstance into the construction of his regime. In one instance Lao found himself in the orderly, boot-camp style training of physical conditioning and technical drilling; at any moment though this routine would break off into a less routine exercise, far more chaotic and demanding not of rigid form, but creativity.

Foleski’s training never really ended. Day-in and Day-out, Lao was always being tested by his Master. Random duels were a frequent element over the course of his training, especially during the sluggish midnight hours. The end result would, naturally, be as Foleski had intended: Yuan Lao was both disciplined to hold his morals and standards high while being aware enough to think on his feet when the world threw him for a loop. By the time Lao was 18, Foleski even went so far as to dub Lao as an assistant in his continued career as a teacher of the Keyblade. Lao himself began to grow into a respectable Keybearer and was very quickly pitched to assume a position as a Master as soon as his training had been truly completed.

Yet now amount of clout could ever bridge the gap between Lao and his fellow Apprentice Axeus. The boy had come along to the Bastion some time after Lao had begun training. As it happened, it was Master Foleski that took the ambitious non-wielding Axeus in as a student.Axeus, despite being as young as he was, proved to be one of Lao’s most formidable rivals through the latter half of his Apprenticeship; it was a rivalry that was mutually felt. Lao clashed with Axeus on many occasions, both in training combat and in debates on philosophical ideals of the roles of Keybearers, over which he found himself firmly against his adversary’s stance on the matter. With each passing clash in which he engaged Axeus, Lao became more aware of his sinister nature, which he could tell their Master had long known and worried about. He did his best to keep Axeus in line on Foleski’s behalf.

The World Eater Confrontation

Over the years of his Apprenticeship, Lao had accompanied Master Foleski on various expeditions to the outer worlds, where reports had been filed of “something big” floating in the void of interspace. As the sightings mounted, so did the reports of worlds being lost to unknown forces make their rise. Merchant ships relayed regular tales of how the worlds they had originally been scheduled to deliver to seemed to have just vanished from existence. The search for a supposed “World Eater” became the center of Lao’s life, its continued activity spurring him towards many investigations alongside his Master.

It was only a matter of time until the investigations came to a head. After several years of tracking the unseen force across the outer edge of the Realm of Light, the Keybearers had managed to track the phenomenon into a corner, The alarms were raised and all available Keybearers were dispatched to Ancient Desert on the spot, forced to drop anything they had been working on in the moment. Age 20 at the time, Lao had been ordained as a fully trained Keybearer, and was thus, independent of his old Master’s absolute whim. Nonetheless, he departed for Ancient Desert alongside Foleski, remaining close to his mentor for his first true battle as a Keybearer.

Arriving on Ancient Desert, Lao moved immediately to engage the World Eater joining his Master in seeking out a weak spot upon the beast’s massive form. The battle dragged on for hours. The hours eventually turned to days as the World Eater pressed back to Keybearers’ assualt. Despite their numbers and power, the strength and resilience of the World Eater proved too much for the contingent; even the call for other warriors beyond the Keybearing population did little to provide headway. After nearly two weeks of battle, the efforts of Lao and the other Keybearers yielded a potential weakness to exploit. Combining all of their efforts into attacking the World Eater’s weak spot, the Keybearers saw success.

Still, there were casualties as the beast grew privy to its own shortcoming. By the end of the first day of the renewed assault, Master Foleski counted amongst the dead. Lao resolved to put an end to the World Eater, and, begrudgingly, formed an alliance and a ploy with his old rival and colleague Axeus. The next day, the two spearheaded a final attack against the World Eater. With a larger contingent of Keybearers distracting it, they lead a small band of powerful warriors to land a succession of lethal blows to the World Eater. Before long, the beast lay in defeat. Yet, for some reason, the remaining Keybearers could do nothing to vanquish it for good. With no other option, the Lao and the other Keybearers channeled the Light within their Hearts to create a prison, within which they were able to seal the World Eater away.

As the Years Rolled On

The years moved on after the battle against the World Eater. The few Keybearers that remained established themselves back on Old Bastion. With Master Foleski dead Lao (and Axeus, for his recent acquisition of a Keyblade) were declared Masters in their own rights, and began taking on students of their own over the years. Both new, young Keybearers and non-wielders were welcome under Lao’s tutelage; over time, he would train a multitude of students on Old Bastion. During the course of these years, he rose to a position of prominence amongst other Keybearers. Continuing to clash with Axeus, whose ambitions of power grew increasingly out of control since the battle on Ancient Desert, Lao was a driving force behind the rogue Keybearer’s expulsion from Old Bastion, an effort that earned the respect of many of his colleagues and increased scorn from others.

In the more recent years, Lao has taken on a new team of Keybearers, which he has seen as a blessing, as he has come to notice strange, unsettling disturbance...

Combat Information:

Weapon:



Abilities: WIP