Veridis Quo

Darkblade: Legends [[OOC]]

Wow, the 1st post in the OOC looks great. The flamboyant purple is kind of fitting. Good job rehtel.

Is Ontos still with us?

Darkblade: Legends [[OOC]]

There won't be any need for that.

I'll be done with my work by this weekend, so free up that time for our collab.

Darkblade: Legends [[OOC]]

This and next week are maximum busy for me.

Darkblade: Legends [[OOC]]

Maxim said Do you mean to imply the rest of the post wasn't great? >:(

N-no! Not at all!

Darkblade: Legends [[OOC]]

Here is the Ismayel CS, remade from scratch. I'm happier with this one than the last, actually.

Ismayel Remade

Name: Ismayel

Age: 19

Weapon Type: Mainly hammers

Appearance:



Ismayel’s body is the testament to what human strength can achieve. Every bit of his body is the embodiment of raw power, as if he has stepped out of a painting, or the statue of a titan. He is at least a foot taller than your average man, and, depending on how you looked at it, the amount of muscle on him was either something to be awed by, or something to shake you to your bones with fear. In many ways, he looked greater than man, like an angel or a deity. In many ways, he looked like an unchained monster.

His skin is the colour of sand, and his eyes are a gray-blue. He has dirty blonde hair, and a persistent stubble on his face that seems to grow back whenever he shaves.

One of the most impressive features of Ismayel is the detailed tattoo covering his entire back. It shows all of the Gods of the Vayka, which number in the hundreds. Each God is represented by an artistic rendering of the constellations they form in the night’s sky. Ismayel can name all of them.

To battle, he wears thick armor that makes him even harder to take down, and a large shield to boot. But this armor also slows him down greatly. He carries a large, metal, two handed hammer that he can often swing with a single hand, while wielding his shield with his other. His armor, shield, and hammer are all made of silver material, with some parts gold. This colour scheme, in a way, exemplifies how they envision angels to appear.

History:

Ismayel was a baby orphan taken in by followers of the Vaykan faith, who resided in the north-eastern desserts. This religion was a just, honest, gracious one, but it was also harsh when it came to discipline and justice. Although the Vaykans claim to seek what is the best for humanity, they are known to lash out violently against those they deem evil, and their wrath against even the slightest offenses is unforgiving.

The Vaykan’s value purity of the soul, clarity of the mind, and strength of the body.

Purity of the soul. Although their acts against the unjust are violent and severe, Vaykans are often the most generous against the poor, and go to no ends to protect the weak. The elder among them may be harsh to their apprentices, but they often laugh the loudest and warmest at feasts, and radiate a comforting presence to those around them. Each Vaykan knows love for all, and keeps an even special place in their hearts for those they call friends.

Clarity of mind. A Vaykan is required to read and memorize the 13 books of their religion, each book spanning a few thousand pages. Every Vaykan will carry at least one of these enormous tones with him at all times, often hanging from his hip by a silver or golden chain (even though a single volume can weigh as much as a heavy rock). A Vaykan is not allowed to read anything else, as reading even a single sentence from another book can be seen as great sin, unless in absolute necessity to save a life. Their books cover a large range of subjects, from philosophy and mathematics, to martial arts and medicine. On top of this memorization, they are often found spending an overwhelming majority of their waking hours praying and meditating.

Strength of the body. If one were to observe a Vaykan temple, they would be confused by the amount of rocks and boulders that seem to be surrounding it, ranging in size and weight. The Vaykans use these rocks to become stronger. Pushing them, rolling them, hurling them, and even picking some of them up… these are just but few of the exercises they perform to strengthen their bodies, and they start at a very early age. A teen Vaykan boy, or even a girl, can lift and hurl objects that would be too heavy for your average man. The Vaykan is trained in combat, and prefers thick armor, shields, and heavy weapons to all else.

Personality:

Ismayel is a warm person. He finds it easy to enjoy the small things in life, and is quick to laugh or smile. Like any one of his fellow Vaykans, he feels it his duty to ease the suffering of others, and to stand for the weak. But, although he has unshakable faith in his religion, he has grown to fear what he may become. He has seen his elders and masters, who were all great men and women he looked up to, but also showed a side to him that shrouds his judgement in fear to this day. Ismayel sees his teachers as personal heroes, but he is afraid of their wrath, and of hos unforgiving they are to even the pettiest of thieves. He wishes to follow his religion, but he does not want to grow into a monster, even if it is only against the unjust.

Perhaps this is why the pilgrimage was made. After finishing his first book of the Vayka, a young initiate must embark on a journey across the continent, and maybe even across the world if it takes him there. They are to bring the second book with them, and read and memorize it whole, just like any other one of the 13 texts. But more importantly, a Vaykan must stay on his pilgrimage until he knows that he has found the answers he seeks.

Darkblade: Legends [[OOC]]

Also I liked that post. Not only was the writing great near the end, it also moved the plot forward.

Perhaps we should keep you waiting longer, since the agitation seems to help you make good posts like that that move the story. ;)

Darkblade: Legends [[OOC]]

Don't worry, I have a nice post planned (but not started yet, since university is keeping me pressured with work) and it is going to introduce yet another new character.

If we can stay in this fort for just a while longer, it would make adding that character to the story a lot easier.

But before that, Rethel and I should do a little collab on thursday or friday night, since Prince Evan seems to want to talk to Rael.

Darkblade: Legends [[OOC]]

I feel like I havent actually convinced you.

Then what about this, would you rather read/write:
*Warde equips a generic talisman from fire emblem and now he takes 2% less (or, since we're not worried about numbers, slightly less) magic damage.*

Or

*Our group goes on a quest to help an elder fire mage*
*He repays the favour by giving us each a special item*
*Warde receives a mystical amulet with a red gem on it*
*Wizard explains that it has the soul of a lesser drake trapped within it, and if you utter the right words, it can be activated once only to guard you from one fire attack completely, before turning to ash itself*
*Much later on Warde uses it to survive an insane attack that would have otherwise killed him, thus turning the tides of battle completely*

Isn't that so much better than "lol my character is slightly better at deflecting magic" ? The item is creative (obviously I had no time to think about this one, but you get the point), has backstory, and leaves an impression on the reader. And this was a "one use only" item. You could also have permanent items that are, once again, fun to read about but not over-powered. It's creative.

This is why the fire emblem items suck. If you read a lot of fantasy books, you'll realize that there are very few occurrences where a character gets an item that makes a very slight difference overall. It works in a video game, because you keep getting those items and you have to distribute them among your party intelligently (Tharja needs +4 magic defense so Im giving her 2 talismans before this battle!). But in writing, it's so much more exciting (at least for me, as a reader) if at least the magical items are creative.

You can still keep vulneraries, magic dust, and other things you could easily find at a store or wherever. Those are fine. But going back to the two options at the beginning of this post, which would you pick?

Darkblade: Legends [[OOC]]

I was referring to master-seal, I had just forgotten the name.

So if draco shield is an infinite use item, then it is basically a normal shield with no durability that you can't take off, which would limit my character if he already has a shield. On the other hand, if you can take it off, then it is just a normal shield, so then why not list every shield? Either way it doesn't work. And what if the character using it doesn't fit the style of having something attached to their arm?

The rest of your descriptions seem fine, but that alone is an incomplete package. What if I wanted a berry item that increased underwater breathing for an hour? Should we put that on the list? Should we not, just because it's not in the games? Should we put every item that will ever show up in the RP in a list? That would be a very long list, but if we're not going to do that, why bother writing that here in the first place? Why not let the writers come up with items on their own, assuming they don't god-mode, instead of limiting it to just these items?

And, once again, if we're not limited to just those items, what's the point of having that list?

What if I want a potion that permanently increases my characters defense? It's basically dracoshield. But oh wait, we already have that in the game.

Darkblade: Legends [[OOC]]

We should have written an intro OOC post before writing all of that. If a new guy comes in and sees a wall of text about races and stats(which I dont like anyway), he'll be scared off or bored away.

On Stats and why I hate them:
"Draco shield" is an item that has "1 use" and gives "+2 Def"
What does +2 def mean to us from an RP standpoint?
What does 1 use entail? Does a character just touch the shield, it disappears, and they get +2 def? If they have to hold the shield, then why does it have only 1 use, and why is there only a draco shield (aka no wooden-shield with +1 def or something)?

I'm not just picking on this item. Almost every item that has stats is very ambiguous. It works fine in a video game, but it feels clunky and awkward for RP.

In the fire emblem games, there was an item that allowed you to advance a class. Technically, if I wanted my character to ride a horse, he'd have to "use" that item, and then he'd know how to ride horses (as if he didnt already).

And finally we have durability on our weapons. I'm fine with having my sword replaced (if it is cheap) or repaired (if it is expensive) every now and then, but meticulously managing their durability seems, once again, clunky and obtrusive to the flow of writing.

Combine this with the fact that our characters themselves don't have stats, and you'd have to ask "What the hell are these stats doing here anyway?"