"Why hello there, Anne! Do you need anything from me today? I'm happy to help you so you can count on me!" ~ Noctis' in-game text when talking to him. "A loner like me has to play the role of the heroine's best friend informant or something...? I didn't do something to deserve this torture after dying... did I?" ~ Alain, after finding out he has reincarnated as Noctis, of all characters available.
Basic Information
Character Name: Noctis Alegretto Isekai'd Human Name: Alain Willows Age: 16 Gender: Male Character Type: Ally / Non-Routable Alignment: Lawful Good
Personal and Historical Information (Noctis)
Personality: As a character, Noctis is a pretty sympathetic, friendly, and intelligent young man that quickly becomes friends with the heroine Anne Marielle from the first meeting between them. He'd always be ready to give her any information necessary regarding the route she (being controlled by the player) selected, as well as some tips on how to progress with that character, what exact gifts to buy, and what to talk about with the selected character.
Outside of his role, he is a studious and prestigious young man that has a high interest in the pursuit of the magic arts, especially in the control of the elements to aid people. He's a hard worker that always spends most of his hours chasing after theoretical and practical knowledge in order to master the control of magic. His dream was always to pursue the role of a scholar and a teacher, helping other people to use and control magic without any fear. Original Role and Background: Noctis is the 9th and youngest son of the Alegretto family, known to house some of the best mages and scholars who graduated from Starveil Academy. As such, he is now continuing the family tradition by also pursuing the same goal, though the only difference is that he wants to work AT Starveil Academy and not outside of it, like the rest of his older siblings who ended up working on different places like [CONFIDENTIAL_INFORMATION_UNLOCAKBLE_AS_YOU_PLAY].
His original role in Cross Heart Academy was as a member of Starveil Academy's Student Council, as well as the heroine's ally and friend. Noctis is programmed to give the heroine information on the character selected by her, tips on how to make said character happy, what he likes to receive as gifts, as well as some sidequests that would improve the heroine's stats that were desirable by the selected character, although not at a regular pace, but long intervals. Other:
Personal and Historical Information (Alain)
Personality: Alain is a pretty reserved person that was never used to having many friends, and just play games all day on his own. He wasn't fond of talking to people and was just so reserved that people actually believe that he was depressive or anything of the sort. But it wasn't that he had sad thoughts 24/7, it was just that Alain wasn't exactly fond of growing to people because of circumstances that made him feel different from the rest of the people his age.
But those who were close to Alain know that he's just a shy but kindhearted person that's a good listener before a talkative friend. He talks... not too much, but he does. He's reserved, and thinks more than he talks, but isn't a bad guy. The two friends Alain had in school were really close to him because he was a big support, especially whenever they were in a bad mood.
The reason why he feels different from others is that Alain is a PwD (person with a disability), specifically on his legs, so he has to walk in a wheelchair, which gives him an inferiority complex compared to people who can walk normally. Also, he is gay, so he likes men, which is something his own family has a prejudice against, as well as the LGBTQIAP+ community in general.
He's a visual novel and an otome game aficionado that loves playing these games to have that feeling of a more innocent romance, considering his community's romance games most likely include something "spicy" that isn't Alain's preferable aspect when playing VNs. He was drawn by the Cross Heart Academy through the game's anime style, the story, and some of the characters. Speaking of which, he has already completed the game's "delinquent" and "burly but cute" routes, which are his favorite trope when playing these games, and is drawn to the characters of this route like a fly to a lamp.
Reincarnating as Noctis left Alain mostly in shambles because he's nowhere near being comparable to Noctis as a person, and that has led him to develop a habit of overthinking at least 10 situations at once because he's the friendly Ally that the heroine/player speaks most of the time to get ways of progressing their route further. The only things that made Alain happy with this reincarnation is that he can walk like a normal person and that he can use magic.
History: Alain is the youngest of two sons from a simple and traditional family living in São Paulo, Brazil. Despite being American by nature, his father was relocated from his job in the U.S. when he was just a 1-year-old baby, so he rarely lived in his country of birth. Ever since he was born, Alain was diagnosed with a disability on both his legs, not having one of them spared. So he had to use wheelchairs from his childhood beyond, and no physiotherapy did result despite his and his family's efforts.
Alain's problems only got bigger when his father began to mistreat him because he couldn't walk. Despite his mother and his brother being at his side, the misogynistic, prejudicial, and harmful attitudes coming from his father affected him greatly, and he started to develop an inferiority complex. Also, because he would often lash out at his wife and his other son because they were helping him made Alain worry for their safety, which is why he began to distance himself from them in order to guarantee their safety.
Alain never had many friends at school, but the two he had at his side were his second family for him. They would play games, hang out a little and keep him safe from bullies who threatened and tried to abuse Alain because of his disability. This is what prevented Alain from losing hope and becoming depressive since he had people to count on outside of his family.
However, because of his limitations, Alain settled on video gaming as a hobby. To fill some of the voids he felt as a person, he started to binge on RPGs and visual novels where he could play protagonists being heroes and able to save the world from danger with their friends. Then, he dwelled on the more romance-centric part of visual novels and jumped directly onto Otome games. He started to get passionate and ended up discovering his own sexuality through these games. He tried the LGBTQIAP+ side of visual novels, but the "spiciness" of their content was a big turn-off for him and he just settled for the Otome games in general.
When he came across Cross Heart Academy, he fell in love with it and played it happily. Taking the control of Anne Marielle, he started to dwell in the world of the game as he played the "delinquent" route and ended up falling in love with it. Once he completed it, he started to play other routes, completing the "burly but cute" route as well and starting the "student council president" route, while also dwelling a little bit on regards to the lore.
Normally, in these types of stories, the person dies a rather normal death such as a car accident and gets sent into another world. However, Alain was a victim of a brutal tragedy. While he was playing the game, his father, exceedingly drunk and out of control, started to violently tear the house apart at the sight of the "family's failure" playing a "girly" game, which ended up leading to him getting a knife and harming both wife and son... while killing Alain in the process. The last sound he heard that day was sirens as his eyes closed and he only saw the darkness.
When he opens his eyes back to reality, he's in an unusual room that he never saw before. And when he looks at the mirror, a shocking revelation comes to his life, as he reincarnated as Noctis Alegretto, one of the important supporting characters in Cross Heart Academy...
Battle and Techniques
Abilities and Skills: As a character in-game, Noctis is an offensive mage-type ally, specialized in casting different elemental magic. Think of him as a classic "Black Mage" type character. He is a recruitable character by the player and is an ally in every route taken by them, without exception (until new routes are created where he becomes a permanent enemy), only being fought against in some tutorial events if the player chooses to take magic lessons and is the reward character for completing the magic lessons tutorial.
Noctis starts with only the basic spells for Water and Wind elemental magic, but as the player trains him within the game, he later learns Fire, Earth, Lightning and Ice elemental spells, making him a versatile character against every element. He cannot learn Light, Dark, Divine and Demonic elemental spells, as these elements are exclusive to special characters.
He comes with a special battle passive called Elemental Learner, which grants him a considerate resistance to all elemental magic except Light, Dark, Divine and Demonic elemental spells.
Outside of battle, Noctis returns to his role as the heroine's/player's route helper, indicating information necessary for the route to progress, as well as granting hints and tips to improve the relationship between the heroine/player and the selected route main character/love interest.
Strengths and Weaknesses: As often discussed by players throughout the Cross Heart Academy fanbase, Noctis is considered a beginner-friendly character for those who like to use magic, and a good character, in general, to use against enemies who aren't good against mages and have low character resistance. Because of his versatility, with an array of elemental magic at his disposal, he's also pretty good against anything since he can hit elemental weaknesses except Light, Dark, Divine and Demonic elemental affinities.
However, this comes with the problem of Noctis being a jack of all trades that is good at a lot of stuff, but focuses on nothing and is unable to excel at his work. At later levels in the game, depending on the route taken, Noctis is completely replaceable by other characters that are better at his job and can deal stronger damage by learning spells that he can't learn. This makes him get easily forgotten at battles near the endgame, where his skills become insufficient to deal with late-game bosses and the final boss of each route.
It's also important to notice that Noctis has very low to abysmal physical resistance, meaning that classes that take advantage of physical attacks can and will deal deadly damage to him, if not outright kill him in battle.
From a land where the concept of magic existed, you found yourself in a world where such things are non-existent. Whether you will try to find a way home or stay where you are, it's all up to you on this planet called Earth.
Plot
You are a being of fantasy, hailing from the world of Anima Mundi, where the concepts of magic, knights, demons, and other such stuff are reality. You were carving up your story as an adventurer, royalty, mage, or whatever you were back there, doing your job as best as you could to face whatever crisis presented itself in Anima Mundi. Life wasn't easy or anything, but you were enjoying it (or not, who am I to say) and doing the best with what you had there.
Out of nowhere, a strange "portal" appeared right in your direction. Curious as a child when getting a new toy to play with, you touch it and get sucked away from Anima Mundi. Dropped at a strange place called "New York", you now discover that you are in another world: Earth. A world where only humans are existent, the concept of fantasy is something that humans don't believe, there's this thing called "technology" that you have never used before, and so much other stuff that has suddenly dropped into your life.
Well, this is now your life. What will you make of it is up to you.
Explaining the RP Plot and Setting
So yeah, welcome to another of those Isekai RPs. This is what I call a "Reverse Isekai" though, with its basis coming directly from "The Devil is a Part-Timer" series. Instead of you being a human that dies and goes to a fantasy land, you're a fantasy being that suddenly ended up on Earth and now has to do the best with what you have now. And that's it. Simple, right?
The setting will be mostly in New York, where our characters live alongside modern society. At least for the beginning. We're not going to be restricted to NY or just the U.S., we can go to other places. But all characters start in NY and from there on, the story just continues.
Also, aside from the beginning being fixed, the plot onwards will be constructed by the players. Everyone starts in NY and from then onward, good luck with your plot. We can have character sub-plots, of course, but nothing will be fixed by me. You're responsible for your plot, your interactions, your character's lifestyle, etc. This RP is to be constructed by the players without following a fixed route or whatnot. And no, there isn't the MAIN PROTAGONIST here, all of us are equal, including me to you.
Elven, Demonic, Angelic, Beastkin, and other non-human races are permitted here, but they get a human form because this concept doesn't exist on Earth. They'll still keep with the physical and other abilities they had before, sure, and can even transform with a trigger or limitation, but they don't just walk around looking like they used to, they become human.
Battles between characters can happen, yes, but I'd like a bigger focus on the slice-of-life aspect than people going at each other's throats and blowing up buildings. I'm also not prohibiting the usage of magic during life events, but keep in mind that you're a magical being in a world of simple humans. If you don't want to get studied by the authorities, you might as well stay on your best behavior for now.
Another important topic is Romance. I will permit characters to get romantically involved with each other, but I AM ABSOLUTELY BANNING EVERYTHING +18. I don't want some hot and sexy scene of your guys going in a motel or whatever, you can make your character horny if you want but keep the romance PG-13. Anyone who steps out of line will be punished by this action.
Finally, you're free to play a human from Earth too, I'm not going to make you obligated to play Anima Mundi characters by default. They can even know that there are Anima Mundi characters around on Earth, but like these types of mangas/animes, they know and keep quiet about it.
Rules
NO GODMODDING: It's as it says, don't do stuff just so that you can have your own way. You godmod and I'm auto-banning you, NO QUESTIONS ASKED.
NO AUTO-HIT: Yup. While this RP isn't meant to be focusing on battles, don't go just hitting another player's character without their consent. You do that and I'll punish you in ways you'll definitely hit my PM to call me an asshole.
NO +18: As I said before, I don't want ANYTHING mature here. Adults as we may be, this isn't supposed to be some porn city. Be as horny as you want with your character, but keep it in your's and your character's pants.
NO MAIN PROTAGONIST: No one here, NOT EVEN ME, is the lead star in this RP. We're all on equal footing with our characters and that's final.
One Character per Player Only: I know how it's cool to have lots of characters to play. Believe me, I like it too. But for the sake of us keeping focus and not loading this place with characters and it becoming a mess, 1 PC per player.
Don't Rush Another Player: We all love RPing, but our timezones, lifestyles, and IRL problems are different from one another. Besides, we're here to have fun and be chill. So don't go rushing another player if they haven't posted yet, give them space and let them post whenever they can. If I get notified that you're pushing someone else, we're going to have a chat.
God Characters: And speaking of gods, no. No one, not even me, will put a god to live among humans. Your character can be powerful, I'll give you that much, but no gods.
Overpowering Skills: Look, be creative with your character's powers, don't just instantly spawn a Flandre Scarlet or a Dio Brando right out of the gate. Also, no immortality here either, everyone can die.
Necessary Skill Description: If you put up on your skills just "light manipulation" and call it a day, you're going to rewrite it. You don't need to give me an essay on your character's powers, but don't just do a one-liner and call it a day.
Character Sheet
I'm dropping the skeleton here, but feel free to style your CS in the way that fits you the most. I love seeing people do their own CS style using a skeleton, so go wild.
@MagusDream: Putting the tag error aside, I find it weird that the person's family name pre-isekai was 'Blueflame'. Could probably change that to be something a bit more 'normal'. Rest of the form looks fine to me otherwise, and it'll be an acceptance once I give an okay on the name.
I fixed it. And the tag error on Noctis' history was on purpose because since we don't have information on the rest of the game's world outside of the academy itself, I can't start creating stuff left and right so I put it in a way to make it seem that Alain hasn't played a route that unlocked that information.
"Why hello there, Anne! Do you need anything from me today? I'm happy to help you so you can count on me!" ~ Noctis' in-game text when talking to him. "A loner like me has to play the role of the heroine's best friend informant or something...? I didn't do something to deserve this torture after dying... did I?" ~ Alain, after finding out he has reincarnated as Noctis, of all characters available.
Basic Information
Character Name: Noctis Alegretto Isekai'd Human Name: Alain Willows Age: 16 Gender: Male Character Type: Ally / Non-Routable Alignment: Lawful Good
Personal and Historical Information (Noctis)
Personality: As a character, Noctis is a pretty sympathetic, friendly, and intelligent young man that quickly becomes friends with the heroine Anne Marielle from the first meeting between them. He'd always be ready to give her any information necessary regarding the route she (being controlled by the player) selected, as well as some tips on how to progress with that character, what exact gifts to buy, and what to talk about with the selected character.
Outside of his role, he is a studious and prestigious young man that has a high interest in the pursuit of the magic arts, especially in the control of the elements to aid people. He's a hard worker that always spends most of his hours chasing after theoretical and practical knowledge in order to master the control of magic. His dream was always to pursue the role of a scholar and a teacher, helping other people to use and control magic without any fear. Original Role and Background: Noctis is the 9th and youngest son of the Alegretto family, known to house some of the best mages and scholars who graduated from Starveil Academy. As such, he is now continuing the family tradition by also pursuing the same goal, though the only difference is that he wants to work AT Starveil Academy and not outside of it, like the rest of his older siblings who ended up working on different places like [CONFIDENTIAL_INFORMATION_UNLOCAKBLE_AS_YOU_PLAY].
His original role in Cross Heart Academy was as a member of Starveil Academy's Student Council, as well as the heroine's ally and friend. Noctis is programmed to give the heroine information on the character selected by her, tips on how to make said character happy, what he likes to receive as gifts, as well as some sidequests that would improve the heroine's stats that were desirable by the selected character, although not at a regular pace, but long intervals.>/list> Other:
Personal and Historical Information (Alain)
Personality: Alain is a pretty reserved person that was never used to having many friends, and just play games all day on his own. He wasn't fond of talking to people and was just so reserved that people actually believe that he was depressive or anything of the sort. But it wasn't that he had sad thoughts 24/7, it was just that Alain wasn't exactly fond of growing to people because of circumstances that made him feel different from the rest of the people his age.
But those who were close to Alain know that he's just a shy but kindhearted person that's a good listener before a talkative friend. He talks... not too much, but he does. He's reserved, and thinks more than he talks, but isn't a bad guy. The two friends Alain had in school were really close to him because he was a big support, especially whenever they were in a bad mood.
The reason why he feels different from others is that Alain is a PwD (person with a disability), specifically on his legs, so he has to walk in a wheelchair, which gives him an inferiority complex compared to people who can walk normally. Also, he is gay, so he likes men, which is something his own family has a prejudice against, as well as the LGBTQIAP+ community in general.
He's a visual novel and an otome game aficionado that loves playing these games to have that feeling of a more innocent romance, considering his community's romance games most likely include something "spicy" that isn't Alain's preferable aspect when playing VNs. He was drawn by the Cross Heart Academy through the game's anime style, the story, and some of the characters. Speaking of which, he has already completed the game's "delinquent" and "burly but cute" routes, which are his favorite trope when playing these games, and is drawn to the characters of this route like a fly to a lamp.
Reincarnating as Noctis left Alain mostly in shambles because he's nowhere near being comparable to Noctis as a person, and that has led him to develop a habit of overthinking at least 10 situations at once because he's the friendly Ally that the heroine/player speaks most of the time to get ways of progressing their route further. The only things that made Alain happy with this reincarnation is that he can walk like a normal person and that he can use magic.
History: Alain is the youngest of two sons from a simple and traditional family living in São Paulo, Brazil. Despite being American by nature, his father was relocated from his job in the U.S. when he was just a 1-year-old baby, so he rarely lived in his country of birth. Ever since he was born, Alain was diagnosed with a disability on both his legs, not having one of them spared. So he had to use wheelchairs from his childhood beyond, and no physiotherapy did result despite his and his family's efforts.
Alain's problems only got bigger when his father began to mistreat him because he couldn't walk. Despite his mother and his brother being at his side, the misogynistic, prejudicial, and harmful attitudes coming from his father affected him greatly, and he started to develop an inferiority complex. Also, because he would often lash out at his wife and his other son because they were helping him made Alain worry for their safety, which is why he began to distance himself from them in order to guarantee their safety.
Alain never had many friends at school, but the two he had at his side were his second family for him. They would play games, hang out a little and keep him safe from bullies who threatened and tried to abuse Alain because of his disability. This is what prevented Alain from losing hope and becoming depressive since he had people to count on outside of his family.
However, because of his limitations, Alain settled on video gaming as a hobby. To fill some of the voids he felt as a person, he started to binge on RPGs and visual novels where he could play protagonists being heroes and able to save the world from danger with their friends. Then, he dwelled on the more romance-centric part of visual novels and jumped directly onto Otome games. He started to get passionate and ended up discovering his own sexuality through these games. He tried the LGBTQIAP+ side of visual novels, but the "spiciness" of their content was a big turn-off for him and he just settled for the Otome games in general.
When he came across Cross Heart Academy, he fell in love with it and played it happily. Taking the control of Anne Marielle, he started to dwell in the world of the game as he played the "delinquent" route and ended up falling in love with it. Once he completed it, he started to play other routes, completing the "burly but cute" route as well and starting the "student council president" route, while also dwelling a little bit on regards to the lore.
Normally, in these types of stories, the person dies a rather normal death such as a car accident and gets sent into another world. However, Alain was a victim of a brutal tragedy. While he was playing the game, his father, exceedingly drunk and out of control, started to violently tear the house apart at the sight of the "family's failure" playing a "girly" game, which ended up leading to him getting a knife and harming both wife and son... while killing Alain in the process. The last sound he heard that day was sirens as his eyes closed and he only saw the darkness.
When he opens his eyes back to reality, he's in an unusual room that he never saw before. And when he looks at the mirror, a shocking revelation comes to his life, as he reincarnated as Noctis Alegretto, one of the important supporting characters in Cross Heart Academy...
Battle and Techniques
Abilities and Skills: As a character in-game, Noctis is an offensive mage-type ally, specialized in casting different elemental magic. Think of him as a classic "Black Mage" type character. He is a recruitable character by the player and is an ally in every route taken by them, without exception (until new routes are created where he becomes a permanent enemy), only being fought against in some tutorial events if the player chooses to take magic lessons and is the reward character for completing the magic lessons tutorial.
Noctis starts with only the basic spells for Water and Wind elemental magic, but as the player trains him within the game, he later learns Fire, Earth, Lightning and Ice elemental spells, making him a versatile character against every element. He cannot learn Light, Dark, Divine and Demonic elemental spells, as these elements are exclusive to special characters.
He comes with a special battle passive called Elemental Learner, which grants him a considerate resistance to all elemental magic except Light, Dark, Divine and Demonic elemental spells.
Outside of battle, Noctis returns to his role as the heroine's/player's route helper, indicating information necessary for the route to progress, as well as granting hints and tips to improve the relationship between the heroine/player and the selected route main character/love interest.
Strengths and Weaknesses: As often discussed by players throughout the Cross Heart Academy fanbase, Noctis is considered a beginner-friendly character for those who like to use magic, and a good character, in general, to use against enemies who aren't good against mages and have low character resistance. Because of his versatility, with an array of elemental magic at his disposal, he's also pretty good against anything since he can hit elemental weaknesses except Light, Dark, Divine and Demonic elemental affinities.
However, this comes with the problem of Noctis being a jack of all trades that is good at a lot of stuff, but focuses on nothing and is unable to excel at his work. At later levels in the game, depending on the route taken, Noctis is completely replaceable by other characters that are better at his job and can deal stronger damage by learning spells that he can't learn. This makes him get easily forgotten at battles near the endgame, where his skills become insufficient to deal with late-game bosses and the final boss of each route.
It's also important to notice that Noctis has very low to abysmal physical resistance, meaning that classes that take advantage of physical attacks can and will deal deadly damage to him, if not outright kill him in battle.
This is an interesting Isekai concept. I'm thinking of a male character that, by the game's terms, isn't dateable and has no route, but can become the friend of the heroine to help her with whatever choice she makes.
Knossos: "...No, Miss Kurama, I am not summoning an eldritch beast from beyond, AGAIN, for you to test this latest 'alien monster killer' potion on. The last time you tried the potion caused it to go berserk, and the result cost the locals three sheep, one head of hair, and a perfectly good local inn's roof."
In 1 month with the Caravan, Kurama already blew up stuff? Wow @Timemaster, she did not waste any time, huh? Hahahaha!
@MagusDream - Geeze, thank you! C: I was charmed by your characters and styling too, and the song picks slap. Korzan though...I can imagine Luca and Korzan at each other's throats within ten minutes of meeting each other.
Awww, thanks! I try to make it as unique as I can, though I hardly reached your levels of CS style.
Korzan has a prejudice against ranged fighters, but the big question is: who exactly Korzan isn't going to pick a fight?
♦ Lucalrith Endrose ♦ Luca ♦ Dark Elf / Sphel'ilf ♦ ♦ Thirty-Five ♦ One Year Tenure ♦
The Sphel'ilfre
The term Sphel’ilfre (sfell-ilf-ray) translates to “chasm people” in Sphelse, and when introducing themselves to outsiders, the people of the chasm only refer to themselves as elves, but the term dark elf or dust elf has become popular in the wider world of Alwyne.
The Dark Elves are smaller than their cousins and live shorter, fraught lives, but they mature quickly (physical, social maturity and legal emancipation by thirty years of age; by fifty, the right to own property and hold council is granted) and because of the nature of Asphodel, possess heartier constitutions. They have deep complexions with desaturated tones, grow black, grey, or white hair, and have black eyes with sclera in shades of grey. Their features are delicate and sharp. Their ears are wider than most elves’ and prehensile, and they have frighteningly acute hearing; little light reaches the bottom of the deepest canyons in the world, so they have developed echolocation, and understand their world through sound before sight. It follows that their eyesight, in daylight, is poor. Most find direct light painful.
In character, they are quiet, thoughtful, loyal, proud, aloof, and severe. They value silence and subtlety - in Sphelse, the concepts of evil, brightness, and harshness all share the same word. In conversation, they consider it cruel to pry for more information than is offered, tactless to provide more information than is asked for, and raising one’s voice above a certain octave in public is a punishable offense in some cities. Moral behavior is dictated by respect for those in one’s immediate area, and defense of one’s clan at any cost.
There are no rulers or representatives among the Sphel’ilfre. Instead, the rules of the hearth are the law of the land; each family is given complete sovereignty over their own home and the right to act as executioner should the need arise, and the law of public spaces is decided by a council of the families that share it. Other issues that pertain to more than one family may also be addressed by council.
Sphelse, the language, has two modes. The common, daily mode is known as Sphelse-soto or simply Sphelse, a whispered tongue that avoids using the diaphragm. The second, Sphelse-teno or Keen-speak, is a singing language that can carry for miles through the canyons and caves of Asphodel, and is used to communicate information between scouting parties or in emergencies, such a cave-in. Keen-tunneling is the process of psionically manipulating the larvae of the scaybeetle, a giant species of cicada, into creating small, smooth tunnels between settlements. These tunnels are keened down, allowing travelers to keep in touch with their families and news to spread between Sphelse cities quickly.
Finally, the Dark Elves worship only one unique deity - Wheye, the avatar of Entropy and Decay, is said to take the form of a dark elven woman with the wings of a moth, whose wispy hair sheds stardust and whose manifold robes fall to tatters with every step.
Asphodel
Nestled in the valley between the Obsidian and Edithic mountain ranges, Asphodel is a small, subarctic wasteland, and among the harshest climes in the known world - it seems more like the surface of an extraplanetary realm than anything natural to Alwyne.
Dunes of white, powdery sediment provide some barrier between the unseasoned traveler and the sheets of volcanic glass that coat the topography of Asphodel, but the region is known for its dust storms; wind exposes and erodes at these obsidian deposits and creates twisters of glass shards, so small as to be invisible to the naked eye, that flay skin like blades. Heavy, dark mists blanket Asphodel, toxic enough to kill a grown human over the course of several days if the right precautions are not taken.
Rainfall in this region is highly acidic, and the pools that cluster in the western basin of the wasteland are lethal, but so exquisitely clear and beautiful in color that many have attempted to brave the forsaken land to witness them. This pilgrimage destination is known as the Pillars of Wheye, named for the spires of gypsum and selenite that fence the pools.
Asphodel was not always a barren desert. 40,000 years ago, it was a flourishing steppeland, boasting herds of massive beasts, clans of centaur, and a seasonal flowering that painted the valley in majestic reds and purples. Sphelse legend claims that the basin is the site of an ancient ritual, cast by a collective of elven mages attempting to bring the divine realms to ground for some long-forgotten purpose - whether the alien, inhospitable environment we have today is their success or their failure depends on who you ask.
Regardless of its origin, Asphodel has been incapable of supporting life above ground for some time. In the canyons and caves that form a natural march between the desert and the mountain ranges, however, animals and people alike eke out a living.
↭
The famous bridgelike cities of the Dark Elves, built into the canyons of Asphodel, are structured like so:
To shelter the inhabitants of Sphelse cities from the dangerous weather above, tarps made of fungal leather are stretched across the top of the city’s gulch in layers, with a mesh of soil and mycelium padding between each tarp. Then, various plants and fungi are planted in the underside of the tarps and the walls of the canyon; a bridge is built below, with conjured sources of daylight to nourish the hanging gardens. These Gardens are the foundations of every Sphelse city. They filter both the poisonous air of the surface and the pollution from the below, they provide fresh produce and a healthy habitat for game, and their acidic soils grow rare ingredients used for vital, necessary trade with foreign nations.
Beneath the Gardens lies the Dwelling, where the poor and middle class carve apartments into the walls of the canyon and develop commercial districts on the bridges between. Beneath the Dwelling is the Elysian, the ‘waterfront’ property near the bottom of the ravine and where the palaces of the wealthiest families can be found. Finally, there is the Riverine, built on the banks of the canyon’s river if it has one. If it is one of the five cities that share a river deep enough to support schooners, docks can be found in the Riverine, but mining, fishing, and keen-tunneling can also be found at this level.
The eight Shelse cities are; Acharest, Abiis, Dirgest, Phens, Phassil, Sorics, Ulervest, Viis. Of these, Abiis is the largest - in fact, there is no Riverain district in Abiis, and its canyon is so deep that there is no documented bottom.
Appearance
[5’5”, 104 lbs, grey hair, black eyes] Luca is a short, thin, tired-looking young man. He has an ebony complexion and choppy, damaged hair that should be charcoal grey, but is more often muddled with ash and dust - his features are sharp like all dark elves, with some suggesting a distant mixed heritage, but it's difficult to tell - wide, bruised eyes, a slightly broken nose, prominent cheekbones, a short chin, a brittle smile.
In clothing, he prefers loose, sheer material with bright colors and patterns, precious clasps and buttons, embroidery, and other such embellishments. To put it simply - plain designs with heavy decoration. He often wears a wool poncho, clasped at the shoulder with a symbol of Wheye, and alternates between several earrings; plain copper hoops, a lapis teardrop, lyrebird feathers, and a carnelian stud. When he’s not wearing his blackened goggles, he’ll blindfold himself with gauze to avoid damaging his eyes during the day.
His mannerisms are boneless, but careful. His pace is measured, and he stops often to take account of his surroundings. His clothing and hair smell of cigarettes, spice, and clay. He’s soft-spoken, and his voice is easily his best feature, slow and silvery with a slight smoker’s rasp.
Timeline
The name Endrose can be found in any chronicle of medicinal and alchemical history; the members of this clan guard the secret behind synthesizing Cassandra, a hallucinogenic, paralytic drug said to imbue the user with powerful precognitive abilities (among other innovations, such as the cure to wasting disease). Centuries ago, they enjoyed wealth and power for their contributions, but time and misfortune set them on a steady decline. By the time Luca was born, it was to a clan that numbered less than a dozen.
♦ TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS AGO ♦
Luca’s mother brings them from Phens to the city of Leviathan, a melting pot of humans, dark elves, dwarves, and goblins and the closest port to Asphodel - meaning that all of the rare ingredients produced in Asphodel and nowhere else must be funneled through Leviathan before they are distributed to the rest of Alwyne. Drawing on her contacts in Dirgest and Abiis, she sets up an apothecary, vending illicit material under the table. It’s wildly successful, but it’s stepping on the toes of another prominent family in Leviathan.
♦ TWENTY-THREE YEARS AGO ♦
The Vedics, a clan of dark elves who control a large criminal syndicate in Leviathan, manufacture the death of the apothecary Avamava Endrose, orphan a twelve-year-old Luca, and resume their monopoly over the exportation of regulated produce from Asphodel. Luca’s inheritance is seized by the council that convenes over such matters in Leviathan and it is decided that the assets will be released to him on his fiftieth birthday, or sold to the highest bidder should he perish before then. Luca is placed in a small temple of Wheye.
Within a week of his stay in the temple, he was thanking his mother for the lessons in testing food before eating it; eight of the fourteen bowls of porridge he’d been allowed had been poisoned. Realizing that if he wished to survive the Vedics’ ambitions towards his inheritance, he’d need to stay out of the public eye, Luca leaves the temple. The next decade of his life is spent eking out a living in the underground of Leviathan, doing everything and anything it took to survive.
♦ TEN YEARS AGO ♦
Luca no longer needs to pickpocket, burgle, scam, or worse to make ends meet. He’s squirreled away enough stock and befriended enough proxies to make and sell his own Cassandra, which allows him to eat well, dress well, and most importantly, support the opium addiction he’s developed in recent years. The future seems promising, and Luca begins to build the connections he’ll need to keep himself safe when the time comes to claim his property.
♦ THREE YEARS AGO ♦
Luca makes the mistake of trusting a woman named Edilthshi, charmed by her biting tongue. He allows her into his home one night, and wakes a day and a half later in an unfamiliar wine cellar, mind-addled by a number of poisons, just cognizant enough to suffer severe withdrawal. He makes up for the time he’d spent sleeping in the days the Vedics keep him awake, trying to pry the secret of Cassandra from him through various tortures. It’s like trying to draw blood from a stone, but not because of an iron will on Luca’s part - had he been remotely coherent, he would have told them the truth a hundred times over. He would have murdered his own kin to stop the things they did to him.
He suffers three days of abuse before the magebane they’d been dosing him on lapses enough for him to drain the health from a sleeping guard and cast phase. He abandons the life he’s built for himself and leaves Leviathan.
♦ ONE YEAR AGO ♦
Luca chances upon the Pilgrim’s Caravan outside of a small orchard village. The caravan is convenient for his purposes. He signs on under the guise of an apothecary, but many caravanners are familiar with what he actually supplies, and he draws as much business from within the caravan as he does in the locations they visit.
Personality
His manner is vague and aloof, and you would think there was nobody shyer. Luca’s the quiet sort. He withholds information until he sees a clear benefit in revealing it, but he’s keen to watch others and compile observations. He’s reluctant in conversation and distrustful of most people, despite the fact that he’s desperately lonely. His poker face is excellent, but his nerve is lacking, and the only reason he’s so rarely been accused of cowardice is because he’s adept at covering his tracks when he decides to make like a coward and hide. He’s self-serving and callous, but non-violent by nature. He’s short on scruples, well aware of the fact that scruples can’t be eaten or otherwise imbibed, and he’s yet to find an ethical boundary he’s unwilling to cross; he calls this pragmatism, but his hedonistic quirks and addictive personality speak a different truth.
♦ [DESIRES] ♦
With an eye for the artistic, Luca covets all things beautiful. When he was small, this manifested as a tendency to hoard the textiles, jewelry, and sculptures he liberated from less appreciative audiences wherever he found the space, but necessity has made him sell or abandon his collections. The only comfort he’s found outside of inebriation is in his material possessions, and he wishes to live the tasteful life of a noble - to have clean, healthy hair, to wear tailored and flattering clothing, to sleep on silk and eat fresh fruit. It’s not about the luxury, really, it’s about the look. He already knows that there’s no earthly pleasure that can compare to a calm ocean under the stars, viewed through the lens of blue lotus - often, his desire to be blind on opiates and to look nice compete directly with one another.
♦ [FEARS] ♦
Physical pain and attachment. He’s had many experiences he wishes he could part with, experiences that have prompted his drug abuse to forget, but nothing has stuck with him like Vedic’s hospitality. Beyond that, he favors objects over people because dropping an earring doesn’t cut as deeply as losing a loved one.
♦ [MOTIVATION] ♦
He tells himself that he’s biding his time, waiting until he’s old enough to claim his property and powerful enough to protect it, and that when he’s the head of his own mercantile empire, the Vedics will get their due. The caravan presents a moving target while he’s building this future. Deep down, he knows he’s stalling; the more distance he puts between himself and Leviathan, the easier it is to forget his past, and lose himself in the pleasures of the present.
Skills
I. Spellcasting - Before her untimely death, Avam passed many of her skills down to her son, including her talent with transmutation.
II. Apothecary - Luca is an alchemist, but one of a very specific variety. While he’s familiar with the recipes for the tonics and aromatics one might find in the home of any village healer, his real talent is in distilling ingredients down to their component parts in the pursuit of the pleasurable effects they have on the body.
III. Stealth & Agility - Luca spent his childhood hunted. One won’t find him when he doesn’t wish to be found. He’s able to hold his breath and still his movements for up to a minute and moves comfortably across rooftops.
IV. Appraisal - His passion for art has led to a keen eye and a familiarity with the worth of various goods. He’s played the part of appraiser and pawnbroker many times before.
V. Scrimshaw - A hobby he picked up in his twenties. He’s not the most adept at it, but it keeps his hands occupied.
♦ [STRENGTHS / WEAKNESSES] ♦
Strength / Sphelse - Luca is more resistant to gaseous toxins than other variants of elves - while this is mildly annoying to his purposes, it’s still a boon he wouldn’t give up. He interprets the world through echolocation as much as he does through sight, and can see clearly in complete darkness, as well as detect the shape of objects through obstacles that block his vision. This sensitivity to sound has made his movements almost undetectable.
Strength / Observation - Always cautious, he watches and listens to the people around him and takes good notes. He can guess a number of things about a person just by the way they look, speak, and act, and the ability to remember others’ schedules serves him well when stealth is required.
Strength / Mercantile - He’s had two decades to get over his inborn shyness when it comes to haggling, and his familiarity with the worth of artisanal and illicit goods makes him a formidable opponent in the game of bartering.
Weakness / Sphelse - Though he’s long grown accustomed to the abrasive speaking voices of other races, sudden loud noises and shouts are still painful and disorienting. There’s no growing accustomed to the daylight, however. Exposure to direct light can blind him for up to two hours. With their small size and weakened lifespans, the dark elves are fragile; what bruises another might break Luca’s bones.
Weakness / Combat - He’ll remember a spell or two when cornered and can throw a punch, but Luca’s no warrior. He’d much rather run and hide than stand and fight.
Weakness / Addictions - He’s sampled a wide array of vices, but Luca’s addicted to opium and tobacco. He chain smokes around the clock, but is more conspicuous about his opium use - most who’ve been in close quarters with him will report that he’s quieter than usual towards the end of the day, and mean as a viper if he’s forced to speak. After two days without a fix, his hands tremble and what had been nausea progresses to intense vertigo. He’s incapacitated with pain by day three.
♦ [SPELLBOOK] ♦
Phase - the caster takes on an ethereal aspect for three minutes. During this time, they are rendered transparent and non-corporeal, may pass through solid objects, and are able to move on a vertical as well as horizontal axis, but may not manipulate solid matter that was not on their person before the spell was cast. Luca is able to cast this once every five days.
Telekinesis - the caster gains the ability to manipulate objects without physically touching them. Luca is able to cast this once a day, and it may affect up to four objects weighing a total of 100 lbs. within fifteen feet of his person.
Levitate - the caster is able to move on a vertical axis at halved speed for two minutes. The spell may fail if more weight is added to the caster. Luca is able to cast this twice a day.
Distort - The target of the spell is blurred to the senses for ten minutes, and thinking creatures are compelled to ignore it. This illusion spell may be cast on the self or targeted, and requires the sacrifice of a tiger’s eye gemstone.
Drain - A curse that saps the vitality from the target and feeds it to the caster. Luca is able to cast this three times a day.
Miscellaneous
♦ Alignment - Neutral / Neutral Evil ♦ Goddess - Wheye. Theoretically. ♦ Heart or Mind - Mind ♦ Color - Turquoise ♦ Animal - Magpie ♦ Time of Day - Between 3 and 6 ♦ Season - Summer ♦ Song - No Eyes by Baths
Not gonna lie, I loved EVERYTHING from your character: from himself to the formatting of the form. I'm stunned, honestly.
Member
Creative Chaos
Izurich
Tortoise
Ryik
Gerlando
