Lovejoy

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@shylarahYou make a good point. They would know of each other, and would have had cross-group training exercises during training, but their relationship wouldn't be as deep. Also, as for the couple weeks of teambuilding at the end of training, let's just say that the decision to send a class of recently ordained Inquisitors to El was a spur of the moment call by the Church and many didn't agree with it. Ordinarily, a team of recent graduates wouldn't have been sent immediately to a place like El, but something changed at the last minute. We actually got our orders three days after Culmination, so yeah, something feels weird about this mission and our characters would recognize it.

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@CollectorOfMystYes! That sounds like an awesome idea for a character! I like that there'll be someone with some real physical and maybe emotional handicaps that they'd have to fight through. I don't have any ideas off the top of my head for an opium-substitute, but what if it has to do with ether? I'm honestly not sure. Besides the ether idea, there's certainly a lot of places you can take this. I mean there would definitely be some kind of drug or substance that would be used as a coping mechanism in this horrible, fucked up world (especially in the slums and lower sectors of Magnagrad, where life just sucks). You can get as creative with this as you want.

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@vietmykeOkay, that's fine by me. If you can sort it out and other folks don't have an issue with it, then awesome. :)

As far as being an outcast, I think it would be an interesting dynamic to have some characters not have established histories. But yeah, you do you!

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

You know what, fuck it. We already have nine characters, two more isn't going to make a huge difference.

@CollectorOfMystPost that CS :p

@vietmykeNeat character! I think everything is in order, except for him being 10 when his powers manifested. Pupils first join the Red Seminary when they're 7-9, so his "awakening" would've had to have happened sooner. As for his spells, I think if you keep a defined list of possible magic he can do, and then steadily add on to it or strengthen the ones ones he has as he steadily becomes stronger throughout the story, we'll be good. Just as long as he doesn't pull anything out of thin air when the situation requires it. I picture him as like, a songwriter who uses his exhaustive knowledge of magic to create spells and then master them. And like a songwriter, he wouldn't "debut" a new work if he hadn't mastered it yet. So yeah, time, research and mastery would be the three pillars of his magic.

Also, for these last two characters-- I think asking the rest of the class to create past relationships with you two would be a bit much, since they've already had to do this for 8 other characters. Also, I'm pretty sure everyone just wants to start this damned thing already and wouldn't want any added delays. So what if you two weren't part of our group but were students from a different graduating class/classes? You would be sent with us on this mission, but wouldn't have previous connections with anyone besides like, hearing about them during training (and vice versa).

@Draken In the interest of speeding things up, would you mind if Father Ilya was also in a different class?

Is everyone cool with this?

@Scout Don't mean to rush you along but we really need that CS buddy :p

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@Mercenary LordA mouse!

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@Drakey Here's my interpretation of Rodion. I figured he'd go sleeveless when working on his machines, so he ended up looking like a blacksmith.

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@Draken

Hi! Sorry for taking so long to reply. Came home and was knackered so I collapsed in bed and only just woke up. All in all, Ilya fits really well, barring a few changes.

The first thing is that it sounds like his decision to become an Inquisitor was his own, and well, this wouldn't really be possible, since children are brought to the Red Seminary when they are 7-9 years old and are only accepted if they show potential for having larger than usual ether pools. I'm thinking his family really desired their boy to have a high position in the military, so maybe they spent the first seven or nine years of his life molding him into their perfect soldier, so that when he enrolled into the the Varyan military academy (still need to give this place a proper name, any ideas?) he would properly excel. Maybe they're akin to those weird sports parents who put their kids through hell in hopes that they'll someday become a star athlete? Maybe his dad just wanted Ilya to follow in his footsteps?

So, he was being trained to be a soldier, which explains his prodigious talent with a rifle and other strategic-based skills, but then, at some point in his childhood, his etheric magic manifested, and his parents were overjoyed. "Our child won't be a high-ranking officer, but a powerful Inquisitor! Praised be to Lord Varya!", and that's when they promptly brought him to the Red Seminary and he was accepted due to his magical ability. That's my idea for how to fix this inconsistency. What do you think?

If we go this route, you'd have to change it so that his marksmanship ability didn't manifest in his second year, but instead that he's been an excellent marksman since childhood, due to his parents forcing him to learn this skill.

By the way, I think you missed the bit of info where I stated that training to become an Inquisitor is a twelve-year long ordeal, so him "saying goodbye to his family for the next five years" wouldn't make sense (pupils aren't allowed contact with their family in that time either).

Now, him being the first to volunteer to go on the expedition would't work, since the group was still in their final stages of training when the first steam arks left for El, so Ilya would've "missed the boat", so to speak.

Besides the above, I'm fine with the rest of his CS. His ether abilities are cool! though I will warn you that there is nothing like an "ocean" in this world, as all the sea has been frozen solid for eons. The steam arks do "burn" through the ice with their massive ether torches, but this just turns the ice into slush. So yeah, when we're out in the icefields, Ilya will have to depend on the water he keeps with him, which he'll be able to replenish when back onboard the steam arks.

By the way, you can upload images from your PC through imgur, and then use img tags to link the image here. :)

@shylarah

"I meant the vials in my last post, not a person's actual ether."

The ether in the vials can't be drawn either. People can't just draw ether from things using magic or telekinesis (besides your character, since that's one of her abilities). The vials are inserted into the catalysts, which are what allow Inquisitors to use their super powerful spells, and those in turn can be drawn from. I'm thinking the catalysts are tuned specifically to each Inquisitor, and *insert magical mumbo jumbo here* is what allows a warpriest to use this device to use their super powerful weapons. I think catalysts should be a thing, otherwise we'd have to inject the Omestrian ether into ourselves, which would be weird and cumbersome to have to do that in the middle of battle. Sigh, I think I'm going to draw some kind of diagram to show how this works. :p

Speaking of drawing, I found myself with some time last night and drew Ragnar. I'm not the best artist, but whatevs. Let me know what you think! And if all of you are cool with it, I'd love to draw each of your characters too when I get a chance. :)

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@CollectorOfMystOf course you can! Also, please feel free to even let me know what you think of the story and such through PM if you want!

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@OppositionJ Hey! How are your character relationships coming along?

By the way, if anyone asked me something and I didn't answer or if there's a post of yours I didn't address, PLEASE LET ME KNOW! The thread is moving kind of fast and I'm trying my best to keep up with everyone but if I miss you, know that it wasn't on purpose. Thanks!

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@Drakey

"The Omestrian Ether that powers Madrys circulates through her much like how a person's ether circulates through them. Constantly powering her while diminishing the amount that could be lost."

I mean, I would think since Madrys is a machine the Omestrian ether that powers her would run out (since it's used as fuel), so unless she is connected to an actual Omestri slave at all times the "constantly powering her" thing wouldn't make sense. Madrys is the first of her kind, a really powerful war machine, so her first iterations would require a sizable amount of ether to function. So, I'm thinking in her wolf form she would probably be able to function for around 2 hours per vial.

@CollectorOfMyst Thanks for the kind words about the RP! Unfortunately we're getting to the point where one more character might stretch things out a bit too much. If anyone drops out I'll be sure to let you know, and if you're still interested in joining you can send me a CS.

@The Angry Goat Sounds good to me, but remember, losing most of one's own ether reserves leaves them in a near-comatose state. So he's going to be in severe danger if he has to use all his ether in a battle. I'm honestly not sure why he doesn't use the ether vials though, it's basically the same concept only he'd be able to use his power a bit more frequently (and wouldn't be in danger of passing out on the battlefield). Also, I feel like as a proud Varyan inquisitor he'd be more than willing to use the ether collected from conquered people. That's just me though.

@shylarah

"There needs to be something to keep people from using other people's stored reserves or that'd be the first goal of any priest vs. priest battle."

Um, I don't think just any priest can drain the ether from someone else. I mean, isn't that Ziotea's second ability? Most other priests wouldn't be able to do that. In order to draw the ether from someone, people use a needle sort of device, not a magic spell. I thought we established that?

Anyway, I'm comfortable with everything else in your post.

@DrakenWill read through your CS again. Expect a post within the next hour or so. :)