Lovejoy

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

And I've forgotten Vivica's summary...

Will take a bit to encapsulate the events of that one, so I'll have it up sometime later!

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

Yo!

Since the RP has been moving a bit slow and we had that unfortunate forum crash, I think it's a good idea to post a bit of a summary of the story so far. A lot of stuff has happened and I figured now would be a good time to remind everyone where each of our characters are at plot-wise. If I get anything wrong or have forgotten any details, please let me know!

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PROLOGUE SUMMARY 2/16/2018

Stina, Hassan & Ragnar @The Angry Goat @Sisyphus

The three have made their way to the Shadow & Storm pub in the Tale's End slums, where they hope to enjoy one final evening of freedom before they travel to Cero City and rejoin the rest of Warband Phoenix. While there, they are asked to participate in a sting operation by lieutenants Lev Dragonov and Rexus Lycaon of the SA to apprehend Rami Kadenza, a smuggler. Kadenza is said to have information on Father Dara, a dangerous summoner and apostate. Stina, Hassan and the SA soldiers fight Kadenza's pirate crew in the pub, while Ragnar chases after a sharpshooter positioned in a building outside the pub.

Before the events of the night played out, the three inquisitors obtained a trio of wolf pups from a Muraadan street girl. Ragnar has decided to care for them and plans to gift them to his warsiblings.

Galahad, Tatiana & Astraia @vietmyke @OppositionJ @deathbringer

After arriving in the capital city of Sapharan, the three Lanostran inquisitors split up and head to their respective homes. Tatiana visits her father's manor, where she finds him dying, slumped against a wall. The circumstances of his death are unclear, but Tatiana decides to keep his death a secret as she rejoins her comrades. Astraia returns home and is greeted with a cold welcome by her father, who has heard tell of her training with Father Antonin and insults her for associating with a non-Lanostran. She storms out after assaulting him and asserting her independence. Galahad returns to his family's estate, where he has a strained, quiet dinner with his mother. She gifts him a new sword.

When the three reunite the next morning, they find the city garrison in turmoil. They are met by Mother Elisheva of Warband Seraph, who informs them that the Black Glacier has undergone a mysterious change and has begin to manifest a strange new breed of demon. The T'saraen garrison, a group of scientists who have kept a research station near the Glacier for decades, have all been slaughtered by these mysterious demons. Her partner, Father Cillian, was also wounded during their preliminary investigation, and Astraia heads to the war hospital to help treat him. Elisheva enlists the three inquisitors to help, but before they can set out, a large band of provincial Lanostrans march into the streets, demanding answers.

Rodion @drakey

Rodion travels to the Imperial Drydocks in the T'saraen capital city, Cero. There, Head Engineer Amir T'sukasa and his daughter, Sheva, give him a tour of the shipyard, which is currently being used to outfit old LW-era warships with Hearth Systems that will allow them to travel to El for the second wave of reinforcements. The T'saraen engineers bring Rodion to the primary research and development center within the drydocks, a place known as The Forge, where they introduce him to the two warships which Warband Phoenix will make use of during their expedition-- the VSS Grace and the VSS Karamzina. In the Karamzina's engine room, Rodion is shown the URA, an incredibly powerful engine which, according to Amir, is able to create Omestrian ether for use as fuel.

Oren & Ziotea @CollectorOfMyst @shylarah

The two Omestrian inquisitors have journeyed to the Corpseland of Omestris in order to visit the ruins of Iddin Mar. On their trip they are joined by Private Andrei Seminov, a young and idealistic soldier who secretly fights for the end of the Omestrian slave trade. They reach the Marian Gate-- the only Varyan garrison left in the Corpseland. After meeting Sergeant Veena and Sergeant Mikhail, the only two soldiers manning the station, Oren and Ziotea make their way down to the entrance to the ruins, where they order Seminov to stay behind.

They explore the silent ruins of the former Omestrian capital city, coming across a great bridge adorned by two statues, one of Omestris and the other destroyed. Ziotea senses a spike of ether energy to the east, and the two inquisitors set out to investigate its source. They find themselves in a subterranean train station, where they encounter Rose, a red-haired teenage girl with ether ability and an old woman revealing herself to be Mother Lyessa al-Nors, a former High Inquisitor of the Varyan Church. Essa, as she now goes by, invites Oren and Ziotea to her solar, where she introduces them to Vahn and Fie, and reveals to the inquisitors that the two children, along with Rose, are all descendants of the deposed royal clans that used to govern the different nations. The three children have escaped a life of prostitution in a place known as the Scarlet House, where rich and powerful Varyan patrons are able to sire royal-blooded heirs.

The two inquisitors also learn that Private Seminov and the two sergeants they met at the Marian Gate are not who they seem, for Essa informs them that the soldiers manning the garrison have all been shipped to fight in the East, and there are currently no plans to replace the garrison.

Ilya @Draken

Ilya returns to his family's grand tower in the Godsreach of Magnagrad, where he enjoys a meal with his family, barons of the Varyan ethertrade. He brings up training alongside his Omestrian warsiblings, and is surprised to hear that one of his comrades might have belonged to his family as a bloodslave.

He retires to his room, wondering who this could be. He also muses on the vision he saw at Culmination, and in which he finds himself alone with Father Ragnar aboard an deck of a ship he's never seen before.

***

Once again, if anything is out of place or if I've missed any pertinent details, please let me know. Also, I'll be writing some of the summaries every once in a while and will be adding them to the Zeroth Post just in case anyone needs a quick reminder.

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

Hey guys. Had a really long shitty week but have the rest of it off thank the gods. Will get back to everyone ASAP!

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@vietmyke

I edited the last post to include a quick reply from Tatiana to Galahad. @OppositionJ wrote it to start off our collab and I thought it'd be best to include it here as well. :p

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@shylarah Cillian being one of Ilya's family's bloodslaves would be interesting. That'd depend on if @Draken is cool with having someone like that for a classmate though.

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@CollectorOfMyst Argh! I completely forgot about that. This is what happens when the forum shuts down and you forget about the finer details! Thanks for bringing that up, regardless.

I think Indira would've noticed Cillian's strange Varyan patriotism and would see him as someone who didn't care about their lineage the same way Oren and Vivica did. She probably saw how he seemed to only be interested in being a good Protector and thus focused all her efforts on teaching him ether control and the like. Also, she is kind of wary of him, for reasons she keeps to herself.

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@shylarah @CollectorOfMyst

Myst has pretty much got it right. As they've only been recently ordained, Leviathan and Phoenix are supposed to be in their "internship" phase, where their members are given junior inquisitor posts throughout the empire. For some reason, the Church has deigned to skip this step in Phoenix's development and they've been shipped straight to El. As for Leviathan, all of its members are currently spread throughout the empire. Most of them are still in Varya, while others are in Muraad and T'sarae. Cillian is the only one in Lanostre at the moment, while of course Vivica, Ilya and Oren have been embedded within Phoenix. Oh and no, none of the other Leviathans have died, at least, those who survived to Culmination. :p

By the way, if Myst or @Draken have any character ideas for members of Warband Leviathan, let me know! Not that they'll appear in the story immediately, but it's good to have character ideas in the backburner.

Also, that's amazing shy! I love Ziotea's eyebrows! And is it weird that Rodion reminds me a bit of Kelso from the 70s show in that drawing? :)

As for reading your mutual backstory, I might have to end up doing that. Right now, I'm focusing on the Omestris and Lanostre groups, so I won't have to write anything Rodion related until it's his turn to move the story forward. I'll ask you more about that stuff then.

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

Father Cillian Gavran
Age: 20

A quiet and unassuming inquisitor currently serving his first tour of duty in Lanostre. As the Protector of Warband Leviathan, Cillian possesses a deep pool of ether and is talented in its manipulation, but has always lagged behind when it came to physical combat. Born the bastard son of a Varyan merchant and an Omestrian pleasure slave, Cillian was quickly given away to the Pipeworks and spent much of his early childhood in a cage before suffering through three years of blood draining, when his deep ether pool was finally noticed by a priest inspector and he was admitted into the Seminary. Despite the horrors of his childhood, Cillian doesn't appear to hold any anger or ill feelings toward the people who kept him as a blood slave for all those years, or the society that allowed such a practice to occur. He is as devout to the Church as anyone else in his Warband and has performed all of his inquisitorial duties without complaint.

Cillian was a considered a lone wolf by the rest of Warband Leviathan. He rarely spoke to any of the other members of his group, and instead preferred to spend his days alone in a small light-filled alcove of the Seminary where he cultivated a garden of beautiful plants and flowers. This garden was his pride and joy, and Cillian made Mother Indira promise him that she would make sure it would be looked after once he graduated.

Cillian didn't appear to outwardly dislike any of his warsiblings, Cillian just simply didn't seem to be very interested in them. This didn't stop him from carrying out his duties as the warband's Protector, a role which he excelled at. Due to his prodigious ability to maintain an aegis, the other members of the group willingly gave him his space, and never challenged Cillian's choice to maintain a respectful distance from his comrades. To them, Cillian was Cillian, and that was the way of things.

After Culmination, Cillian was sent to Lanostre to work under the guidance of Mother Elisheva, but was grievously wounded in the first encounter with a new breed of demons that mysteriously appeared one night.

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

Here's Cillian's profile. Sorry that took so long! @deathbringer



Father Cillian Gavran
Age: 20

A quiet and unassuming inquisitor currently serving his first tour of duty in Lanostre. As the Protector of Warband Leviathan, Cillian possesses a deep pool of ether and is talented in its manipulation, but has always lagged behind when it came to physical combat. Born the bastard son of a Varyan merchant and an Omestrian pleasure slave, Cillian was quickly given away to the Pipeworks and spent much of his early childhood in a cage before suffering through three years of blood draining, when his deep ether pool was finally noticed by a priest inspector and he was admitted into the Seminary. Despite the horrors of his childhood, Cillian doesn't appear to hold any anger or ill feelings toward the people who kept him as a blood slave for all those years, or the society that allowed such a practice to occur. He is as devout to the Church as anyone else in his Warband and has performed all of his inquisitorial duties without complaint.

Cillian was a considered a lone wolf by the rest of Warband Leviathan. He rarely spoke to any of the other members of his group, and instead preferred to spend his days alone in a small light-filled alcove of the Seminary where he cultivated a garden of beautiful plants and flowers. This garden was his pride and joy, and Cillian made Mother Indira promise him that she would make sure it would be looked after once he graduated.

Cillian didn't appear to outwardly dislike any of his warsiblings, Cillian just simply didn't seem to be very interested in them. This didn't stop him from carrying out his duties as the warband's Protector, a role which he excelled at. Due to his prodigious ability to maintain an aegis, the other members of the group willingly gave him his space, and never challenged Cillian's choice to maintain a respectful distance from his comrades. To them, Cillian was Cillian, and that was the way of things.

After Culmination, Cillian was sent to Lanostre to work under the guidance of Mother Elisheva, but was grievously wounded in the first encounter with a new breed of demons that mysteriously appeared one night.

***

I'll also start replying to some PMs tonight. @Drakey @Sisyphus Haven't heard from you guys, so until I do, I'm going to be taking control of Rodion and Hassan so as to not let the story lag behind.

The Last Embers (Dark Steampunk/Fantasy)

@Scout Ah, that's unfortunate for us, but I hope this is a good step in your career! Mind if I ask where you're headed? In any case, we'll be thinking of you!

As for Vivica, I'll take control of her until you get back. And yeah, we'll do our best to catch you up to speed when you return.

Sorry for the lack of updates this past week. I'll start things moving again this weekend.