Lovejoy

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@CollectorOfMyst The times they are a changing'.

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

Here are some new character profiles!

***

Lieutenant Lev Dragonov
Age: 39


A veteran of the Lanostran War, Lev proved himself on the battlefield as a shrewd and talented sniper and leader. Serving under Commander Zoya Kiriyev, he acted as her constant companion and right-hand for the majority of their time in the war, complimenting her defensive-minded planning with risky but ingenious strategies that led to many victories against the Lanostran army.

Ten years after the war's end, Lev retired from the military and spent many years traveling throughout the empire on what he calls a "journey of self-discovery", leading him to travel to remote locations such as Sydon-Mar in Omestris. Like Commander Zoya, he was forced back into active duty to fight in the invasion of El. Once again serving under Zoya, he will soon depart for El aboard the VSS Karamzina to act as military support for the newly ordained Warband Phoenix.

***

Lieutenant Rexus Lycaon
Age: 43


A former officer in the Lanostran Guard, Lt Rexus Lycaon was a promising soldier during the war but suffered a devastating injury that saw him miss most of the fighting. Like a lot of his fellow countrymen, he felt lost and broken after the goddess surrendered to Lord Varya, and upon recovering from his wounds, declined an offer to join the Varyan military and instead focused his energies on fighting against the empire. Five years spent as the captain of a Lanostran pirate crew earned him a dangerous reputation on the icefields, as well as a fierce rival in Lieutenant Lev Dragonov of Varya, who spent years trying to capture him.

Eventually, their rivalry ended after Dragonov got the better of him during a naval battle, and Lycaon was brought back to his former home of Sapharan in chains to answer for his crimes. Sentenced to death, Lycaon was held in the sky prisons of the High City for months. A week before his execution, he received an unexpected visitor. Lev Dragonov stood in his cell, and informed him that his execution would be stayed. Instead, Lycaon would serve two decades of hard time in the Icevault of Muraad, a prison meant for the empire's most dangerous criminals. And thus, Lycaon served his time in the frigid prison. Ten long years passed, and one day, Lev appeared before him again. This time, he made Lycaon an offer he couldn't refuse.

"I need you. Fight for me and I'll set you free from this place."

It didn't take Lycaon very long to agree to these terms.

***

Private Andrei Semenov
Age: 15


A young SA conscript currently serving as a Church liason at the Marian Gate, the lone Varyan garrison overlooking the corpseland of Omestris. Due to a childhood spent struggling for survival in the slums of Magnagrad alongside Omestrian slaves, Semenov believes it is his life's purpose to do everything in this power to aid and help the enslaved race in any way he can. A devout follower of the inquisitor Mother Indira al Sayed, he wears her divine emblem on a pendant as a symbol of his fervent belief in freedom for the Omestrian people.

***

Deva Tsu'kasa
Age: 20


Daughter of the renowned engineer Amir Tsu'kasa, Deva is a young T'saraen mechanist and shipwright who has spent most of her life working on naval craft in the imperial drydocks of Cero. She is frivolous above all else and cares little for anything outside her field, the hierarchy of the Faith occupying such a small amount of space in her general worldview that she barely registers them at all.

Since Deva was a child, she has worked on the VSS Grace, the old battleship that will soon depart for El alongside her father's magnum opus, the Karamzina. Now acting as the Grace's head mechanic, Deva loves the old ship more than anything.

***

Mother Elisheva
Age: 24


A talented young inquisitor who has served in Lanostre since graduating as part of Warband Seraph two years ago, Elisheva is a warrior above all else. One of Gregoroth's favorite pupils, Elisheva spent most of her time in the Seminary sharpening herself to be a wicked blade for the empire to wield against its enemies. Much to her anger, the Church did not choose her for deployment to El, and thus she remained on Lanostre, where she would provide some much-needed security for the nation, which is now bereft of inquisitors and soldiers.

Elisheva was born with a strange birth defect which has caused her right pupil to be colored red, making her possess a strange mismatched gaze which is at once both disquieting and strangely beautiful.

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@deathbringer @OppositionJ @vietmyke

Hope that gave you guys enough to work with! Feel free to respond to Elisheva however you like!

Will get started on a response for the Omestris group now. Should be done by tomorrow. :)

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

Sapharan, High City, capital of Lanostre

---

In the skies above Sapharan a lone ethermoth fluttered through the clouds, its emerald light fading as dawn cut through the mist like a sharpened blade. Some aberration within it was causing it to malfunction, thus it remained out past the night's end. With a loud spark its gossamer wings froze in place and it tumbled down to earth, landing at the feet of Galahad as he stood alongside Tatiana, waiting for the third of their company to arrive. It was still dark out when the two had met in Bridgetown, and there, in the wide gap between mountains, they could gaze upon the open sky and the world below them. Somewhere beyond the eastern clouds a nameless star appeared on the horizon, its pale radiance sweeping over the land, turning darkness into morning. The shadow of the titanic mountains began to retreat as the tide of sunlight set the world beneath them afire with gold. The sight of the sun rising upon the motherland, it had been missing from their lives for too long.

As they waited, Bridgetown began to stir with life. T'saraen townsfolk milled about the packed-in streets, the strange disquiet in the High City missing here in the hustle and bustle of the conclave. Squadrons of children in thick parkas waddled to school, many of them carrying rolled-up pieces of parchment under their arms. A lone little girl wearing a parka that was way too big for her smiled a toothy grin and waved hello to Tatiana as she walked by. Men and women gathered in the halls of their homes, the roar of laughter and debate spilling out into the streets from within. By the time Astraea arrived the streets had become too crowded and noisy for them, and thus they decided to make their way to the High City to plan their next move. The transports heading to the shipyard were leaving soon and the trio needed to make haste if they wanted to begin the first leg of their return journey without further delays.

After they arrived at the High City, they found it different from how it was the day before. The streets were crowded with Varyan soldiers readying their weapons and equipment. Armored transports lined the streets, the red circle of Varya painted on them gleaming in the morning sun.

"Make way!" they heard a woman cry out. Immediately, the crowd of soldiers began to part, leaving the main street open.

A young woman wearing a black inquisitor's coat rode through the street on a black horse. There was someone strapped to the back of the stallion, bleeding all over the saddle. Galahad, Tatiana and Astraea could see that the wounded young man was also wearing a black coat. He was also an inquisitor, it appeared.

The rider dismounted the horse and immediately yelled for a medic. An older man wearing the red coat of an SA officer shuffled forward.

"Take him to the war hospital. Don't let him die," she ordered.

"As you command, Mother Elisheva," the medic answered with a stiff salute.

The inquisitor was tall and slender, with wide powerful shoulders and short blonde hair. Her face was one of angles, with high cheekbones and a prominent aquiline nose. Her black coat fit around her lithe limbs and torso like a second skin. Twin swords sheathed in decorative black scabbards were strung across her back. Black steel gauntlets covered her arms from fingertip to shoulder, but she wore no other armour.

After the medic had taken the wounded inquisitor away on a gurney, the woman known as Mother Elisheva turned her head sharply and stared at Galahad, Tatiana and Astraea. When they met her eyes, they found that they were mismatched. Her left eye was the winter blue of Varya, while the right eye was... red, like blood.

"You three. I need your help."

She made her way into one of the empty houses lining the main street. As they followed her inside, all three could smell it. The familiar scent of blood drying in the frigid winter air.

Elisheva walked into the abandoned living room of the squat house and casually sat down on an old couch at the center of the room, gingerly removing her swords and placing them down next to her. She cursed silently as she undid the upper fastenings of her coat and peeled apart the layers of enchanted cloth. Her chest was stained red.

"Apologies for interrupting your leave. I understand you three aren't here on official Church business, but aside from Father Killian, who you saw out there bleeding all over the street, we four are currently the only inquisitors in Lanost-- Vitsk! This stings."

She removed a small vial filled with a pale colorless liquid and began dousing the wound on her chest with it. The gantleaf potion immediately went to work disinfecting the wound.

"Late last night, something happened at the Black Glacier. Or rather, something happened to the Black Glacier. The red veins... they turned blue. Which, if I remember my history correctly, has never happened before," Elisheva said, grunting. "The Glacier garrison then reported that a new species of demon began to spawn from it. That Garrison is now dead. Couldn't fight them off, and couldn't escape in time. All of them young T'saraen volunteers...."

She breathed in then, as if to offer a moment of silence for the fallen.

"Rather than put the lives of these SA grunts at risk, Killian and I ventured out there by ourselves to handle it. We figured we could. Demons are no big deal for inquisitors, right? Well, we were wrong."

Elisheva gazed at her swords, then her mismatched alien-like eyes stared directly at Astraea.

"Well, what do you say? Two of us weren't enough. Perhaps four will be."

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

This is tangentially related to this discussion, but I guess I should mention that when it comes to sexuality Varyan society is hardcore conservative. Queerness in any form, be it gender fluidity or any sexual preference outside the cultural "norm" of heterosexuality, is not openly allowed and sexual and gender minorities are persecuted, especially in the Church. The other nations, old Omestris in particular, hold a much more progressive view towards sexuality.

This doesn't mean that our characters can't be LGBT (in fact, there are a few queer characters I've introduced already), but yeah, it's just one more thing they'll need to hide from the Church.

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@shylarahI'm cool with that! Sorry if I went a bit heavy with placing her and Rodion there. They could've peaced out and went elsewhere.

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@CollectorOfMystPretty much, yes to all of that. However, the legend about Creid going back to erase people from existence is just that, a legend. He actually hasn't done anything to change time so far. He only went forward in time to glimpse what was going to happen on El, but his journey was cut short before the armada could reach the continent. I will say that we don't know exactly how time manipulation works in this world, since there hasn't been any proof of him tampering with it yet.

I will say that it hasn't been three months since the first armada departed, so their fate is still up in the air. As far as I remember it's only been two months since the first armada began their journey, and Vivica hasn't chosen and/or had a chance to fill in everyone about what Indira revealed to her.

Also, @OppositionJ there is a reason why Tatiana isn't at the Rising Ceremony. I was thinking that maybe she went off somewhere else, maybe with a few other characters? It's not something we have to address now, but later on it'd be a good idea to have a flashback centered around where she was at the time. I'm thinking maybe Hassan @Sisyphus was with her at the time? Let me know what you guys think!

Anyway, currently working on the post for the Lanostre group. Will have it done soon hopefully.

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@shylarahSure, that sounds good.

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@shylarah

Just a few things,

- Just in case anyone missed it or forgot (it's been a while!), the Rising took place a while ago before Culmination, so Viveca is remembering the last conversation she had with Indira. In the present, she is currently exploring the catacombs beneath the Red Seminary in search of clues about the blue circle.

- Most fire isn't "hellfire". It's two forbidden words that when combined take on a dark meaning. The word "hell" for Omestrians has connotations that are beyond "Fire" (and their acceptance of that concept), to them it hews more towards something wrong and demonic. So, Hell and Fire would mean something like, "Demonic Fire" or something. Basically, it's not the same as their concept of regular fire and to them, it's a word combination that is fucked up and dangerous.

- Creid's race is unknown at this time to anyone except Antonin. Those two are besties after all. :p

- Antonin can manipulate ether but can't draw it into himself, unless it's white ether. I now realize that I've forgotten whether or not Ziotea can draw ether into herself (without the use of some kind of medical implement) or can only manipulate it.

- I posted the glossary in the first post info dump. :)

EDIT:

- Indira meant "we" as in Creid, Antonin and herself.

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@shylarahOh dear. That looks exactly like my dad. He's also into Stranger Things, so...

@Scout

Sorry for getting into Viveca's headspace for a bit. If it's too much let me know!

So, I figured I'd give Viveca a chance to respond and ask some questions (she's no doubt super confused about what hell she just heard), so PM me her response and we can do a back and forth dialogue.

Going to get started on the other responses now.

Here's the order of stuff I'll be working on:

- Lanostre Crew
- Omestris Crew
- Pub Crew
- Still waiting on Drakey's revised post, after which I'll respond

Will have the next update posted tomorrow!