Strange Rodent

The 1st Magical Incursion [Reboot] [Accepting]

Writing up a post now, but tiredness is kinda slowing that down at the moment. Post will be soonish!

The Skies of Elysia: Airships, Aliens, and Adventure (Closed)

Vermillion LED's caress the darkness of their ship's bay in false warmth.

Kuonlos sat on the cargo door of The Chimera and watched the Reavers spill out of their ship and begin their slaughter. The citizens scattered in all directions, seeking safety. So long as none of them tried to find refuge on their ship. "Ah, shit. Dahal, get the ship fired up. We need out before we're expected to feed any", he called. No more watching them approach.
He walked to his weapon stash, located near the entrance of the cargo hold.

Errrr..... a nice hammer. Break their hands. At least then they might heal. This hammer he brought to the cargo door. The hands grasping for saftey it did meet, to shrieks of pain and despair. They'd not like the company on this ship, anyway.

Karna saw the putrid filth from his position of laid out upon the floor. "If you shut the door Kuonlos, we wouldn't be worried about uninvited guests." Responded Karna as he rose to his feet. "I believe we better help them now. If you won't I will." The statement was a blanket statement to his two comrades Kuonlos and Dahal.

Taking a moment to register his stability and shake off the remaining sensations of the night before. The populace here knew how to drink apparently. Removing a tattered burnt umber blanket from what looked at first as the outline of another being, instead it was Karna's secondary weapon of choice his VNX-99 .AP. "Dahal, keep the ship steady." Stepping beside Kuonlos who had returned with a hammer to fight off the people that tried to enter. "Always the one to get bloody." Karna said in jest as his left hand smacks into Kuonlos' shoulder. "Let me in there." Karna said as he shifts to the middle of the door.

What happened next was a variety of sounds best scribed as mechanical as magnetic anchors securely lock Karna against the floor of the ship as he raised his weapon to his shoulder. "Reavers, always a bore to hunt." He mutters to himself, falling silent as he takes aim, finger twitching to remove the safety. "Pilot us well Dahal. I'll save who I can without allowing them close to the ship."

Karna's helmet synced with his rifle allowing him to use real time calculations to callibrate shots. He saw the flashes of purple essence past overhead and the reavers falling one by one. Then Karna fired. The bullet, a modified armour piercing tracer round collided with a reaver fighter ship. The round punctured a hole through the chassis, electronics and pilot causing the ship to eratically veer to the right. A loud hiss escapes Karna's VNX-99 .AP ignored by the operator as he watched his mark collide with another ship and those two began to collide into multiple other ships in plumes of fire, smoke and shrapnel.

Up in the quarters, Dahal had been nuzzling his head into the softest mound of pillows, with the rest of his body splayed over the rest of the bed. The wonderful bliss of laying on a confortable pile of soft woundn't last much longer however, as the sounds of combat from outside began to stir him. It was Kuonlos' voice coming through the commes combined with the ship's AI bringing up warnings about the force outside on holographic displays that finally roused him.

The displays followed the Inari as he sat up, swinging his legs off the side of the bed as he manipulated the displays and gave commands to the ship. As he did so mechanical arms came down from the ceiling and began attaching his armor to his form, partway through his final crewmember, Karna, came over the comm. Dahal didn't respond yet, merely rolling his eyes and finishing with the ship setup and let it put his armor on

Once up he used his power to teleport straight down to the ships cargo bay, appearing a bit behind his teammates. As he walked up to behind them the ship's AI forwarded a message to his helmet:

"This is Captain Sardis of the Cerebrus Gate to anyone on this channel. There's a blockade forming around Teresg as we speak! We'll need to work together to get off planet! To anyone reading this that can get to air! Get to the Cerebrus Gate on the Southeastern side! We are setting up anti-air to cover any pursuit! I say again! If you can get off the ground, get behind the Cereberus Gate! We can only get out of this if we have as many ships as we can get!"

The Inari sighed as he came up beside his crew, streching out a hand toward one of the reavers behind the crowd. Dark purple energy would build up in his hand for a short second before lancing out in a beam, hitting straight through one of the reavers and killing it instantly "Oh let them cower in the hold Kuon, we have bigger problems than a few stowaways"

"What was that, Da? I can't hear you over this.". The hammer makes a dull whoosh, then a sharp THUD

A small chuckle, then a smiling voice "Eheh heh heh... Never gets old.

THUD

Dahal looked out over the situation and saw several Reaver fighters head towards the ship.
The AI was already on it however, and the booming sound of the ships defenses could be heard firing on the first squadron. As for Dahal he raised his hand again, this time holding it more toward the sky than the enemy. Dark purple energy would again build in his hand but this time it stayed there and a rift would open in the sky. From this rift came hurling a small comet, strikiing a fighter from the sky on it's way down before devastating another group of reaver soldiers coming for their ship.

"We'll be off the ground soon. Just keep the violent ones from getting aboard"

Karna's helmet synced with his rifle allowing him to use real time calculations to callibrate shots. He saw the flashes of purple essence past overhead and the reavers falling one by one. Then Karna fired. The bullet, a modified armour piercing tracer round collided with a reaver fighter ship. The round punctured a hole through the chassis, electronics and pilot causing the ship to eratically veer to the right. A loud hiss escapes Karna's VNX-99 .AP ignored by the operator as he watched his mark collide with another ship and those two began to collide into multiple other ships in plumes of fire, smoke and shrapnel.

---

Collab with @EvenGODSfall and @Zetsuko as Karna Vex Kartellas, and Dahal, with myself as Kuonlos Van Ochens.

The Unfortunate Thirteen

Ah, that's a shame :/

It was good to roleplay with you lot while it lasted though! Hopefully I'll see you all in another RP

The World of Telduria [Always open for applications]

Ah, it's up! And it's long...

That's the name of my sextape

The World of Telduria [Always open for applications]

Nar Zalaam and Toradeen Folgamer

Tarantis hadn't changed as much as Nar had hoped. It was still... well... Tarantis. To him it was a hometown, but not home. Regardless of this, he was still glad to be back. The streets were absolutely packed, which was nothing new. Around the milling masses, the dizzying glare of the marble scorched its way into Nar's retinas. Nar pondered how drunk the architects would've been to consider building this.

He walked through his old neighbourhood. A fierce nostalgia drew closer with every step he took, before rearing its head in front of his parents' old house. Posted on the exterior wall was a sign: For Sale. His parents... The meekly furious thought floated by, Is despair contagious?. He hadn't even been there for their funeral. Had they a funeral? It wasn't that he surprised that they weren't around anymore, it was that he wasn't there. He curled up in front of the house for an hour until a guardsman told him to leave. He didn't want to start shit, so he left. Spilling blood on his parents' doorstep wasn't something he felt inclined to do.

Wandering pointlessly for a time, he found himself outside the arena. Two meatheads were going at it in the center with wooden swords to cries of "No, X is the greatest warrior in the kingdom!". It seemed pointless to him. One duel isn't enough of a sample size to determine anything, let alone the greatest warrior. Saying that wouldn't prove anything, so he let them have their fun.

Something much more interesting happened in the market district.

The black carriage stopped with the grey horses skidding to a halt making strange rasping breaths which released plumes of almost smokey exhales, similar to how breaths are visible a cold day, all while the air around them was reasonably warm.
As the carriage had moved through the district the people had gone silent, several had moved inside and were nervously peeking through windows and doors.
The door opened and out from it stepped two smoldering daemon knights who oozed ember filled smoke, they stood ever at attention, holding the blade down in front of them like statues, their movements rigid and inhuman.
They stood at guard on each side of the door. From the same door, an ancient wizard clad in deep blue robes had trouble moving down the stairs of the wagon, his shaking hands guiding the staff and cane which he used to balance himself.

It was none other than Toradeen Folgamer, perhaps the most renowned battle mage alive. Or perhaps one should say infamous.
Many recognized the stories, some were terrified, some were simply spooked.
The aura of despair could be felt all around him, his old gaze still held a precision and purpose which made even the most resolute waver.

Folgamer recognized the reactions, always the same. The reason he had stopped was simple. Men have many needs, and right now one of his was to go to the loo, he hoped he could borrow the one at the inn which he stopped in front without making too much of a fuss.
With troubled steps he moved forth, the hellknights moving in perfect synchronisation to flank him on his sides.

Nar watched this wizened man with something that could only be described as wonder. He was ancient, but still held immense power. That despair was instantly recognisable. There was no doubt that he was the mage in Fool's Pass. He felt a fresh, deep sorrow rise in his throat for Fiona, and for Teth. The sorrow from his parents had never left him. He would have retreated into the faux comfort of loneliness to escape these horrid feelings, but it never worked for him in the past. Instead, he scrutinised these emotions, hoping to glean some insight. As with before, just a clean slate of nothing. That's okay. Maybe this man would have his own insights into despair?

Deciding it would be a good idea, he strode up to the Old Man. Despair was slowly backing off, but it'd never be totally gone. He was now only ten paces away, and in the least startling voice he could manage said, "I saw you at Fool's Pass. It was impressive, to say the least.". The soft words seemed loud against the backdrop of silence that had previously surrounded them.

With mirrored movements, the knights took two steps forth and raised their weapons to a guard pose standing between their charge and Nar.
The heavy footfalls and creaking metal overpowering the scene and some would have ran on the spot.
With a sigh, Folgamer muttered, pushed on the shoulder of one of the knights with his staff, and let something akin to 'Can't have a calm second in my life can I' and 'Get out of my way you oaf' before standing in front of his bodyguards, quickly adjusting his clothes and facing Nar.

After a good examination with a blue light dancing across his eyeballs, Folgamer spoke with a gruff voice.
"Impressive? Murdering weak people is impressive? I guess one could see it that way, see it as a sign of honor or glory.... pyromancer.... " He gave a slight pause and coughed slightly before resuming his response.
"I don't recall any mages that day, when I think of it I recall me sparing about ten people, and none of them were you... I also come to think of that I probably shouldn't be spouting military secrets... so, who are you? What do you want from me? If it is help in a battle you can forget it. If it is an enchantment to claim vengeance on some bullying fool the answer is the same. You are wasting your time."

Nar watched the old man turn. It would've been pitiful if you didn't know he was the greatest warmage alive. Or rather, the greatest warmage with one foot in the grave. He noticed that the older mage was putting him under much scrutiny, and allowed as much information to ooze into his body language as would fit. Folgamer spoke pure spite. Words full of suspicion and contempt. Nar figured it wouldn't be a good idea to act indignant, so he attempted to seem wise. He leaned to the right, and looked straight down into the old man's eyes.

"It is impressive. Maybe not totally ethical, but impressive.", he raised his right eyebrow and gave a slight smile before continuing, "I wasn't in Fool's Pass, luckily. I was several leagues away, but I still felt your power. And don't worry, I wouldn't ask others to do my dirty work. I'm far more than capable of dealing with that myself.". He cast a few furtive glances around, before reaching into his back to pull out the Book of Ishamel, and presenting it to the old man to ponder. "So... this is something I'd rather discuss without so many ears around. Do you know a spell to hide our words?, he said in a lowered voice, before putting the book back in his pack, and taking another glance around.

Folgamer raised an eyebrow and took a second glance at the younger mage.
He wasn't intimidated, that meant he was probably a fool. No matter, he didn't want things killed and was reasonably polite. On top of it the pyromancer had presented a rather interesting spellbook he seemed to want to discuss.

"I know the best spell, choose a good table in that inn, we'll buy some cider and we can discuss... but first... I have business to attend to." With that, Folgamer moved past Nar with the hellknights close. One of them turned its head ever upon Nar while otherwise mirroring the others movements. It was able to turn its head just a bit too much, further betraying its inhuman nature before it resumed a look straight forward.

With that Folgamer got inside and demanded access to the facilities, so to speak. The whole scene looked a bit odd with two hellknights guarding a toilet. Luckily it was out of sight.
After a while Folgamer returned to see if the pyromancer had gotten a good table or left because of boredom, many pyromancers tended to be impatient like the flame so Folgamer expected this one to be no different.

The disapproval was practically oozing off the older mage, but actions speak loudest. Nar decided the best way to prove this man wrong was to... well... prove him wrong. He sat at a windowside table that allowed the occupant to see the inside and outside of the door, just in case they needed to hide the book quickly. He called over a barmaid and ordered two glasses of an above average cider. He wasn't poor, but he wasn't filthy rich either. He thanked the waitress when she brought the cider around, and made a point of waiting for the old man to return before he began to drink. As he waited he contemplated his next line. He figured an introduction would do it. A handshake, too.

The old man slowly shuffled across the room before taking a seat across from Nar. He took his time, but it was only a few minutes tops. Absolutely no price to pay for a master's opinion. Nar waited for him to settle in his seat before speaking up. Wouldn't want to anger him. "So, before we talk business, let's talk introductions. My name is Nar Zalaam, and some call me the Wandering Pyromancer.", he said with a smile. He held out his sooty hand for the old man to shake. He didn't want to introduce the old man for him, and he really didn't want to feign ignorance as to who it was, so he let Folgamer take the initiative.

After eyeing the hand Folgamer returned the handshake, it was firm and with a single shake. After it he did pull out a handkerchief to wipe off the soot.
"I am Toradeen Folgamer, I am known by many names, you probably know many of them Nar. I prefer magelord the best though... one of my least known titles..." The old man's last words were bitter and quite.
He took his glass of cider and took a hearty gulp, exhaled loudly and looked in a remarkably better mood suddenly.
"Ah, finally i can sit down and simply drink some good cider... so, that book you had, you wanted me to evaluate it? Explain a complex part? Translate it?" His voice was that of man straight to the point and honestly a bit tired.

The meeting could have appeared like a normal meeting between two old wizard friends, if it wasn't for the two hellknights which stood guard at the table, smelling heavily of sulphur and adding to the glum atmosphere.
There was not a single cheer, hearty laugh or song in the inn. Just a few other patrons far away who kept to a low tone discussion.

Nar watched the old man wiping off his hand, slightly more than amused. Over his glass of cider he glanced at the doors, making sure nobody new was walking in. He looked at the hellknights, then to Folgamer.

"I've heard of you. Didn't want to introduce you for yourself though. I'll spread magelord as best as I can" he explained. He reached into his backpack, and hoisted the Book onto the table. He turned it so that it would be facing Folgamer, and opened it to the exact page he needed to with a practiced grace. "First off, don't spill cider on it. And yes, this is a spellbook, but a rather odd one. You see, it details the life of an old pyromancer named Ishamel, as opposed to explicitly instructing you on spells. You have to work it out yourself. I've had it for fifteen odd years, and read over it hundreds of times. Until I thought about this passage, I thought I had a good understanding," he points to a line near the top of the page. it reads:

And Ishamel watched the sun settle. Inevitable cycling would kindly allow it to begin again, but until then horrors would reign. Despair hollowed him from the inside out over this night, and he learned: The coldest ruler can never be warmed by a loving embrace.

"You see, I used to take it to mean that every hero has their fallen points. Their dark hours, so to speak. Well, when I faced mine I learned a lesson, too: This passage doesn't mean that. I am of the belief that it alludes to something far more profound. A flame powered by Despair.", he elucidated.

The air around the mages was charged with thought and contemplation. Strange, how time seeks to slow down in anticipation of something. The next few seconds that Nar waited for Folgamer's response were torturous. He took another sip of cider, and felt properly nervous for the first time in this conversation.

Folgamer suddenly got vastly more interested, a perplexing conundrum, a task for the mind. He took a hearty sip and put away the glass so as not to even risk spilling.
He murmured, read the passage several times as he ran he shaking fingers over the words while muttering the words. He pondered for a while before speaking.
"You have surprised me, I didn't see such an interesting topic coming from a mile away. As for pyromantic essence being fueled by despair, the idea is preposterous, ludicrous!" He paused for effect.
"Which is why it so interesting! How did you come to this theory? How do you think it will manifest?" Folgamer reached for and drank his entire glass before realizing there was no more.
"Barmaid!!! Bring us a bottle of this!"

Nar watched the old man fill with wonder at the sight of these words, and took a sip of cider. The glass met the table again with a hollow thunk. He looked at the book, reading the passage a few times as he gathered his theory into something succinct.

"Hm. Well I'm glad to have surprised you. As for how I came to this theory... It's a long story that winds up with me lost at sea, suffering from heatstroke. I think it undid me a little, to be completely honest", he laughed. The crows feet at the corners of his eyes showed that he was genuinely amused, too. "From a more logical standpoint, I believe that disparity is a law of nature. Light and dark, earth and sky, flora and fauna, you get the picture. However, something that you'll notice about all of these is the pairings. You see, the pairs they have are dissimilar from them, but not totally removed. Fire... fire does not have one. Water pairs better with shore, ice pairs better with lava, et cetera.", he said, in a respectful, but lecturing tone.

His brow furrowed as he moved to the next part of his hypothesis, "Now imagine, what could be the disparate twin to passion, the root of pyromany? Apathy was my first thought, but the thing with apathy is that you're still passionate about staying apathetic. No, despair made a lot more sense to me. It leaves you hollow, and totally devoid of anything. On the other hand, passion fills you with exactly what you need. Only thing is, something is off. It might be my approach to the casting of this magic. It may even be the whole thing was based off a fallacy from the start, but I'm not willing to give up this late in the game.".

At just the right time, the barmaid had brought back the cider. She was good at her job, and placed the bottle by the glasses, so it wouldn't spill. She filled them with a generous portion, to which Nar smiled and thanked her for accommodating them.

"So. What are your thoughts?"

Folgamer didn't even turn to look at the obviously nervous barmaid when he slid a silver dinar on the table in front of her and rubbed the beard over his chin.
He took another gulp from his glass and spoke.
"Ah yes, the importance of emotion. How a person can get inhuman strength, just from feeling the strong emotion to save a loved one. How spite can fuel your strikes and how loyalty can have you stand far longer than what seems natural. The same way emotion can be used with magic. However, is it really passion that fuels the flame? Or is it any strong emotion? Does not the flames of hatred burn bright as well?"

"Yes, exactly! Any strong 'fuel' emotion. Which is to say emotions that give you drive. The thing is with some of them, like anger, is that they burn hot fast, and unreliably.", he stops himself here. He was about to dive into how it can cause undesired collateral, but that was an inappropriate topic to breach with Folgamer.

"My problem is that despair is as far from a fuel emotion as you can get...", Was what he continued with, trailing off as if he had become lost in thought. He shook his head, blinked a few times, and took a sip of his cider.

"It is true, despair is not something you fuel yourself with. It drains you, hurts you, until you give up. I assume it would be possible to take despair from other....." Folgamer realized where his train of thought was heading, he did not like it.
"No, that is not an option. Even if it would be useful to ease the fear they feel..." He leaned back and drank some cider, he looked all so very old at that moment.

Nar's eyes widened at Folgamer's suggestion. It was simply genius, although potentially unethical. He let his train of thought run long enough to get through a mouthful of cider. That'd be worth saying, if only to cheer the man a little. The other patrons were starting to give them dirty looks. Even the weakest man can be made brave by alcohol.

"Ah, but if they give us their permission first. Either way, do you wish to make an exit? These fellows don't look too happy with us. I'm sure we could take them, but I don't think starting a scene would be a good idea.", he said, eyeing off the other patrons. He squirmed in his chair, and finished his cider in one long gulp.

Toradeen only now realized the grim looks of disdain coming from the other patrons, mixed with fear, mistrust and revulsion.
As he met some of their eyes, they turned away, but one didn't relent, the two held eye contact for a while before Folgamer's eyes rolled with blue energy.
This made the other patron look away, but begin to prepare his things, most alarmingly he fastened his sword belt. A metal plated belt with a nasty looking falchion upon it.
The old wizards reaction was simply a shake of the head.

"If anyone starts anything it will be their undoing, none here have the ability to stand against my bodyguards, let alone me... but I don't want to ruin this nice establishment, it'd be a waste." He studied the beams which held up the upper floor, he was almost serene, the fact that an armed man was preparing for something probably regarding him didn't bother him the slightest and if it did, neither Nar or anyone present was able to tell.
"So Nar, how do you think this power would manifest?" He asked this while taking a sip of cider, seemingly ignoring the possible danger.

"I... I have positively no idea. It may be an ice blue flame, but that's a wild guess. But... maybe we can finish this in your carriage? While I'm absolutely sure we can handle these guys I'd very much rather not have blood on my hands here. Of all places.". He paused, and he seemed to retreat into himself a bit. "At least,not this soon after...", he trailed off, then glanced around the room. The other patrons weren't making eye contact, but every single one looked away when Nar looked over his shoulder.

Anxiety shuffled into his head, making itself as comfortable as it can get. It's never truly comfortable because there's always something wrong. Shadows darkened, and the glances thrown their way seemed that bit more hostile than they might've otherwise. In a terrific hurry, he packed the Book back into his bag and left a tip for the waiter. "Come on. We're not killing anyone today.", and with this he hovered near the doorway, waiting for Folgamer.

As the ancient wizard saw the pyromancer scurry towards the door, Folgamer simply looked with a tired sigh upon his cup.
It was like it always is, no place welcoming, no place filled with rest.
A loud sigh was heard and he stood up with a few grunts.

As he moved out flanked by the hellknights the guy with the falchion, yearning for a fight to prove his worth ran up and shouted.
"That's right mage filth, run from us proper men, you are cowards anyway!" He had a cocky stance where he showed he was ready to draw his sword in a mocking way. Straight back and a smirk, positively gleaming with nervous pride.

Folgamer stopped in his tracks, the knights did a full turn and in sync assumed guard stances. The old man turned, took a good look upon the youngling while the pale blue magelight danced across his eyes.
"Filth... I suppose that is a fitting way to describe me, murderer of men, terror of war, archmage Toradeen Folgamer." With his strong loud words several of the patrons grew pale on the spot, one guy seemingly got panic and ran out while panting frantically.
"He seemed to have heard about me, while you young weak one have not." Folgamers words confused and angered the man with the falchion who now drew it, albeit with a slight shake to his grip.
"Although I don't appreciate you calling this gentleman over here filth, nor is coward a good way to describe me." His words completely calm as he gestured towards Nar, who was visibly freaking out over how the old fool was starting a fight.
"You don't scare me you old bastard!" The voice of the young man noticeably was filled with doubt as several of the patrons were hiding and some were gesturing for the man to stand down, hide and apologize.

He began to draw a throwing dart with his left, the motion was fluid and trained. But not as fluid and trained as Folgamers hand forming a circle in front of him which he blew into, blue energies formed a visible magical circle which shot out a pale dart which hit square in the chest of the falchion guy which went stiff, eyes rolled back, straightened up into attention and like a log falling over he fell to the floor with a loud thud.
As the sound startled the guests Folgamer was already leaving.
"Paralysis, works well on those few with such a weak magical essence as that poor excuse of a man. Let's leave." He said to Nar.

"Ah, lovely... Well. Why don't you folks put this man in a chair so he isn't on the floor when he wakes up. And uh...", he paused, taking a deep breath. "Next time it may be a good idea to show some decency to the other patrons, hey? Grow some fucking brains. Bartender! I'd like you to remember the faces of the ones who tried to start a fight in your tavern! We were just trying to leave and this man threatened us with a sword... My associate here was merely acting in self defense. Get him on a bloody seat!", as he raised his voice for those last words the other patrons scrambled to pick up their comrade and allow him some dignity.

He followed Folgamer out the door. When they exited the building, Nar spoke, "While they were the aggressors, maybe it would be helpful to utilise your defensive magics in situations like that.... He tried to be polite about it, but his disapproval was still somewhat evident. He was happy that Folgamer hadn't disintegrated the younger man. That was good of him. He walked slightly behind Folgamer as they walked over to his carriage, attempting to stay out of the way of the hellish guards.

Folgamer made a troubled smirk filled with regret as he said.
"Defensive magic... you clearly don't know me. Don't you know the old saying." He turned to Nar as he finished his sentence.
"Attack is the best form of defense."

He went a few steps and let out a slight giggle of sorts. Pulling forth the cider bottle to study it.
"At least I get to finish this one." He boarded his wagon with a bit of difficulty, being helped by his bodyguards.
"Young pyromancer, I feel we haven't really finished our discussion, care to join me on my trip to the military camp?" Folgamer was gesturing at the seat opposite him, the side with the back towards the horses.

"Well if you want both parties to end up dying, sure.", being a pyromancer, Nar had to say that one a lot. Aggression is fine and dandy, but when you put yourself at risk, a keen opponent will end you then and there.

"Of course. Huh... Maybe we could enroll. You could try and save your unit, rather than destroying the enemy's.", he said, spur of the moment.

As Nar boarded, Folgamer answered.
"It all depends on who you are fighting... saving my unit? Oh right, other mages usually work inside the units. It's easy to forget the trivial things. Haven't done that for years."
With that the door closed without input and the carriage began moving after the horses released a large burst of steaming breath.

The 1st Magical Incursion [Reboot] [Accepting]

Augie's song, because I love this bandwagon.

The Skies of Elysia: Airships, Aliens, and Adventure (Closed)

@Rusticgopher

Accepted, my man!

(please do not shoot me)

The Skies of Elysia: Airships, Aliens, and Adventure (Closed)

@Avant Not at all, my man! Accepted!

(I really want to see you take some other players sword)

The Unfortunate Thirteen

I was actually gonna ask if anyone was posting in this today. Seems like it.

The Skies of Elysia: Airships, Aliens, and Adventure (Closed)

Kuonlos Van Ochens

Name: Kuonlos Van Ochens
Age: Around 47 years old
Gender Male
Race: Ghelt
Culture: The Ghelt tend to be very goal oriented. The ends justify the means, so long as the ends suit them. They have very limited control over essence on their own, so they often use devices and technology to do so for them. As a result, they are extraordinarily advanced in their technology. They also tend to have considerably more stamina than humans, although they aren't stronger or faster on average. Their home planet was destroyed by a devil recently, and all specimens of this species died or have become drifters. All this isn't to say they're hostile, however. They could swing either way.
Racial Features:

• Pseudo-Vampire: We take the appearance of a Vampire but we never actually died.
• Physical Limits: We have significantly higher stamina than other species, but on average we're not stronger or faster.
• Magical Limits: We have a difficult time harnessing the essence all around us. Instead we use highly advanced technology.

Appearance

Occupation/Concept Kuonlos is a techno-warrior mercenary who is part of a three man hitsquad. Within this squad he fills the role of an armoured warrior, and can provide buffs of protection to himself and his allies.
Training:

• Melee Weapons: He is unusually good at using melee weapons. Not just swords, but polearms, axes, blunt weapons, and any kind of handheld weapon you can name. He has a preference for his sword, Bacus Uchin.
• Disguise: He must disguise himself as a human to do much interaction on a daily basis, so he's become quite good at this.
• Ship Maintenance: He's definitely no engineer, but he can perform minor repairs.
• Mounted Gunning: Kuonlos has picked this up recently, so he's still not great at it, but he can operate a ship's gun with a decent level of skill.
• Weapon and Armour maintenance: During fights things get bloody, dirty, and sometimes nicked. He has to know how to clean and repair his equipment so it doesn't become a larger problem, like rust.
• Intimidation: He is particularly large, wears a lot of armour, and carries two weapons with him wherever he goes. What about that could be intimidating? He tends to draw focus on the battlefield, because if you don't take him out, he will take you and your buddy out. In conversation he tends to cow those he talks to. If they're particularly susceptible to fear, he may even be able to deliver orders.

Powers:

• Absorb: Kuonlos forms a magical ward that fully encircles him. This is used to absorb impact more so than damage, causing him to power through other attacks. He absorbs 17% of damage through this. (think poise in Dark Souls 1).
• Decaying Touch: Kuonlos touches his opponent with a hand shrouded in evil souls drawn out of his sword. This applies necrosis to the affected area, and curses the target with the same enchantment that his sword does. (details under equipment)
• Unholy Strength: A fairly standard self buff. Causes Kuonlos to become stronger, and move faster as a result. (Enchanted creature gets +2/+1)
• Dark Pulse: Kuonlos emits a shockwave centered on him with a strength and range proportionate to the essence expended. Depending on strength, this can cause people to stagger, knock them over, or send them flying.
• Dark Plate: Kuonlos creates a suit of magic armour to surround an ally. It resists fairly well against everything except light magic. Dark magic is absorbed into the armour. This spell is quite potent, so it's a constant drain on Kuonlos. Usually he can only keep it up for about 1-2 mins.
• Twisted Armour: There is nothing a melee warrior hates more than an archer. Kuonlos can create a suit of armour on himself that causes all projectiles that hit it to fall to the floor harmlessly. It lasts five seconds, requires a moderate amount of energy, and can have ten projectiles hit it before it shuts down.

Equipment:

• PDA and universal translator. Everyone already knows what this is so I'll skip a description
• Full body suit: Amalgamated from pieces of armour, cloth, and bionics. It covers his entire body. It's mostly armour, but there's some cloth and a few bionics. The armour plates are balanced. Light, but not so light that they'll crumple. They're fitted similarly to gothic plate to provide very good protection while allowing good maneuverability.
• Assorted Maintenance Tools: Whetstones, files, sharpening steels, oilcloths, regular cloths, spare straps, spare rivets, hammer and small anvil, etc. He uses this to repair his weapons and armour should they get damaged.
• Assorted melee weapons: He owns all kinds of weapons. Typically he only carries two. Bacus Uchin, plus one other.
  
  Bacus Uchin

  
  
  A sword used by an executioner, before Kuonlos took a liking to it. Executioner swords gather evil within them over time, as the souls of the ones it kills pool up in its blade due to the lack of a point. This lends it to evil essence rather well.
  
  Because of the thick, wide blade and lack of a distal taper, cuts with this two handed sword are absolutely brutal. They can cut through unarmoured people extremely easily. To be fair, that's what it was designed for. On the other hand, it's fairly heavy and hard to use for long periods of time. Kuonlos' extra stamina allows him to fight longer than an ordinary human with it, luckily.
  
  Due to the evil pooled in the steel, Bacus Uchin has become a significantly powerful evil artefact. Cuts received from it go necrotic within a few days, often causing death or amputation. As an added bonus, when a live being dies to this sword or the necrosis it causes, it is resurrected for a period of five days under the thrall of their killer. The way this works is that when they die, the sword exchanges a soul with the person who inhabited the body: the one in the body goes into the sword, and one of the ones in the sword goes into the body. The one that enters the sword is corrupted over time, and twisted to obey Kuonlos. The one that enters the body is able to use it to enact Kuonlos' will for a preiod of five days.
  
  It is not uncommon to see bisected corpses crawling around after a battle involving Kuolnos.

Airship: The hitsquad is in possession of an airship, but Dahal owns and maintains it
Motivation: Kuonlos seeks to protect those close to him, and he has little other motivation. He lives for his friends.
Personality: Kuolnos has a strong drive toward what he wants, whether that be a long term goal, or a price cut on some food. He's not particularly easy going, either. Life is serious, life is for getting what you want, and if you disagree you're an obstacle. Then again, he isn't an idiot. He won't go around killing people just because they disagree with him, as that would cause too many problems. Instead, he uses his sword on people trying to kill him, and his armour on those who can be easily cowed.
Flaws: Due to his species, he can't manipulate essence too well, relying on technology to do it for him. Also due to his species he must remain disguised at all times, for fear of being rejected from society. As a character, he tends to use his blunt personality and strength to solve most problems. He isn't exactly dumb, but he finds himself at a loss when those don't work. From his training he tends to be weak against ranged attacks, and must get in close to do any kind of damage.
Bio: Kuonlos was born into a stable home environment which encouraged his every interest. Unfortunately for him, his fgamily was the only stable part of his life: His peers were vicious, their planet wanted to see everyone on it dead, and he was constantly troubled by nightmares. This sculpted him into an untrusting being, who knew how to keep himself alive. Despite his mistrust, he did manage to make two close friends. Karna and Dahal. Each of the three had their own shtick, and as they got older they each found ways to refine this.

Kuonlos enrolled in the Gheredin, the force of Ghelt that protects the Ghelt from the monsters that ravage their world. He was assigned to be a protector, meaning he specialised in melee combat and protective magitech. He was trained to the high standards of the Gheredin, although it was not easy. Nobody did well here. Not naturally, anyway. You would get nothing if you didn't fight for it, and because of this the strongest grew stronger and the weakest tried harder.

At the time this seemed cruel. But then Kuonlos started to notice things. Those who were stronger became complacent, and the weaker ones eventually took over. The new weak ones would feel shunned and seek to put the new stronger ones back in their place. And thus, an arms race began. This was backed by 12 hours a day of intense exercise and training: Weighted uphill running, Anti gravity training, Practical combat training, drills, teamwork exercises, and magic technique. Within this environment, Kuonlos appeared as "That guy over there". He was never good enough to be in with the strong crowd, but not bad enough to be considered weak. He did particularly well with combat, but not as good as was expected with magic.

After his training he was grouped with some others that complimented his abilities. They were assigned low risk missions to get them used to real world experience. Basically they didn't have to fight mountain wurms. Although one mission went terribly wrong. There was a low risk alert, but when they arrived, there was half a dozen demons who had sacked the village and hacked the alert machine. Now... 5 monster hunters were not nearly enough to take out 6 demons. Especially without backup. They managed to become split up by the demons, who then hunted them through the surrounding rainforest. Kuonlos was lucky enough to have his defensive magic to keep himself alive long enough to hide in the executioner's house. The next few seconds were a blur, but they ended with the demon being bisected from head to lung by the executioner's sword.

The sword felt revolting to the touch, as it had pooled the souls of all the criminals who had died by its blade within the steel. On the side, the words "Bacus Uchin" were woven into an intricate pattern of vines, corpses, and torture devices. Naturally, he took it for his own. At this moment he be became Exalted. Pure ecstasy rushed over him as motes of his essence swirled all over the town. They tore through the demons and the buildings, destroying everything that hadn't already been leveled to the ground.

After this, he met back with his old friends. They had each learned something new from their respective training, and off they went. Their first mission failed, but they kept going anyway. Kuonlos was acting as a bodyguard of sorts to Dahal while he collected information on the gods, which suited Kuonlos just fine. He was interested in the gods, but much more so in keeping his friend who knew more about them alive.

And so they have been for the past years, wandering the galaxy in search of divine knowledge.
Extra Info: Did you ever consider that dragons have cold blood, and breathe fire?