shaitarn

Shattered Skies [OPEN // ACCEPTING]

I have a couple of questions about therianthropes:

As their society is nomadic, do they travel with horses/tents/caravans like old-fashioned nomads or in mobile homes and cars with maybe a few members of the tribe scouting ahead on motorbikes?

Do they use some sort of weapon while fighting the vampires, or just their bare hands/paws, and if so, what sort (i.e., blades or guns? Do they need special weapons, like ones made of iron or coated in silver)?

And possibly a rather odd question, but what sort of names do people have in this setting? Normal type names like John Bishop or Ann Smith or fantasy type names Grian Lyfinder?

Goodnight Sweet Prince

We've lost the last of the great horror legends. RIP Sir Christopher Lee, soldier, actor, symphonic metal singer and gentleman.

Allevent: the Sky Pirates of Oceanica

Cally bounced on her toes in excitement as the boarding party leapt across the gap to the other ship, the metal and crystal of their assorted weapons winking in the light. A hot thrill went through her veins and she felt a mad impulse to follow them, an impulse that was checked by the doctor holding up an arm to bar her way. Well, that and the disconcerting suspicion that if she dared disobey the captain's orders he would tan her backside like a parent disciplining a child, and the thought of that humiliation was enough to cool the fire in her blood slightly.

She watched with interest, understanding how as a healer the doctor was perhaps more helpful to the rest of the crew by staying behind, particularly when he threw a vial that was clearly some sort of healing magic at Balder. She couldn't supress a giggle at the doctor's dry comment about helping his limp, but that was followed by a gasp of horror as poor Kimball was suddenly set afire! The sight of a living man suddenly transformed into a pillar of flame was the most horrible thing she'd ever seen - for a moment she tasted bile in the back of her throat and was horribly afraid that she would vomit up her last meal right there on the deck; if the suspicion of the captain's punishment was enough to cool her heated blood, this was enough to turn it to ice in her veins.

That thought had barely crossed her mind when the doctor shouted out a comment to Rei and turned back to her: "Now it seems we have no choice. Follow me, and don't look down!" He ordered. So it was with the sour taste of fear in her mouth and the tightly wound courage of desperation rather than heated enthusiasm that she sprang towards the opposite ship.

The gap between them held no terrors for her - she'd jumped bigger distances that this when playing 'sky pirates' with her brother when she was eight (though admittedly, that had only been some four or five foot off the ground), and taken part in the crew's run around the rail of the ship which they did at the end of every trading season until her father had caught her and threatened them all with unspecified dire punishments. She made the jump and landed on the deck with almost a foot to spare, her eyes widening with horror when she saw the doctor hesitate and stumble, falling short.

"Mister Octavius!" She shouted. Sprinting across to the doctor, she braced one foot against a securely lashed barrel and grabbed his wrists, throwing the centre of her weight backwards and pushing against the barrel for more leverage - if she could help him heave his shoulders over the side, than the rest of him would follow. Possibly finding a rope of some sort she could've used to help haul him aboard would've been better, but she didn't dare take the time to find one. She wished bitterly that she could manipulate the air - a gust of wind to push the doctor up and over the side would've been most helpful now. She also sincerely hoped that Rei was dealing with the pyurgist - the skin on her back was crawling with the fear of becoming the fireater's next target.

Allevent: the Sky Pirates of Oceanica

At the doctor's vague gesture towards her hand Cally glanced down, realised she was gripping her dagger and released it, a faint blush colouring her cheeks. She gave a slight grin at his comment on the pilot's skill; she had though Kai, the pilot on her father's ship, had been skilled, but the pilot here made him look like an amateur. In the relatively short amount of time she'd spent on the ship she'd developed a healthy respect for the crew - they were a tight-knit crew and all behaved like professionals - but it was probably Elara and the doctor she had the most respect for; they both seemed to be experts in their particular fields.

She absently tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear as he warned her to always be aware and prepared for the worst. She nodded as she took the supplies her gave her. "I'll remember." She promised.

Cally felt a tingling of excitement when he spoke of her following him, possibly even onto the enemy ship - she had thought she would be confined to somewhere belowdecks during the duration of the battle, but she fought to keep the excitement out of her voice as she simply answered "Yes, doctor." The last thing she wanted was for him to regard her as a child and send her away while the fight was taking place.

Shattered Skies [OPEN // ACCEPTING]

Definitely; just debating whether to go for a male vampire or a female therianthope.

Allevent: the Sky Pirates of Oceanica

"Tell me; do you see anything unusual in the distance?"

Cally blinked, slightly puzzled by the doctor's question: she'd been expecting simple things, like maybe grinding up some herbs in a pestle and mortar or laying out some bandages and gauze for treating any wounded, not questions. "Um-" she squinted out uncertainly in the direction he indicated. Her father had told her to learn what she could on this voyage, and he must have had a reason for asking, so she strained her eyes. "I don't think so, doctor." She said hesitantly.

"We're sailing around the cloud towers, of course, and have been sailing rather too slowly lately." There was a hint of disapproval in her voice: Caliana loved airships enough to think doing anything that could damage them was wrong. She felt the ship give another slight skip under her feet as it started to rise.

"Oh! Is that where the other ship is going to appear?" She asked. "The one we're going to attack?" Her voice was slightly breathless with growing excitement, and one hand unconsciously dropped to the hilt of the dagger at her belt, gripping it tightly.

Besieged

@RIGHEOUSwench

How many soldiers are in the fort? It fluctuates as recruits come and go, but I'd estimate somewhere between 500 - 700 (which means it is woefully undermanned as it was built to accommodate about 1,200 mean comfortably, 1,500 at a push). Three quarters of these are regular soldiers, the rest are ranger/scout types who patrol the nearby mountain passes.

There's a couple of reasons why the fort is so poorly maintained:

It's built in a mountain pass, blocking the only entry from the mountains into the empire; the tribes that live in the mountain are a fairly crude people. The last time they were a real threat to the empire was almost a century ago, when they last united under a single leader. After some fierce fighting they were eventually defeated and split apart into a dozen squabbling tribes fighting amongst themselves. No one ever thought they would be united again.

The empire has been weakened by complacency and internal strife: there was a struggle for the leadership between the previous emperor's descendants 15 years ago, and many of the old soldiers in the fort are decent men who happened to be on the wrong side when the fighting was over. As they swear an oath of loyalty to the people of the empire not the emperor they're still loyal men, but their posting to the fort is simply to get them out of the way and let them rot, and they know it - more than one has taken a leap from the battlements before now.

If the soldiers retreated and let the fort be overrun the tribes would have a direct road straight into the wide farmlands of the north - the tribes could spread out and overwhelm the soldiers pretty quick in the wider lands, and it would take time for the empire to get a large enough force together to defeat them - time in which civilians will be slaughtered and their lands razed. The fort in the mountain pass is the only place narrow enough for them to stand a chance of defeating them.

(If you've ever read Legend by David Gemmell it should give you an idea of what I'm thinking of here.)

Doctor Who?

Hi,

Just sent you a PM.

~~~The Harlequin's Shadow ~~~ A Supernatural Circus

Cassie almost rolled her eyes at what she thought of as overdone courtesy on Yulio's part - she hadn't considered herself a lady for a very long time - but she knew there was no point in protesting the Ringmaster's action; he came from an age where such deference was expected, and even if she wasn't sure it should be applied to herself she had to privately admit she liked to see some gentility in an increasingly coarse age.

She listened to his instructions in silence. A slight frown clouded her brow at his mention of London - that had been a bad night, one that still occasionally haunted her nightmares. "I'll stop them," she promised quietly, grimly.

Cassie glanced around at the other performers, waiting to see if any of them had any questions before dashing back to fetch one of her horses.

Shattered Skies [Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Supernatural RP]

Interested!