VitoftheVoid

Wilde Jagd

Darn, that's leaving a serious shortage of people.

Wilde Jagd

@Cherrywitch Daww, looks great, approved! Workin' on mytrainee guy so she'll have a classmate soon!

Wilde Jagd

Adopted Name: Unknown
Aliases: The Red Beast
Apparent Age: Early to Mid Thirties
Gender: Female
Classification: Class VI

Appearance (Human) : Red's human form resembles an adult woman, possibly somewhere in her thirties, quite tall and athletic-looking. She has wild, wavy ginger hair reaching halfway down her neck and a squarish jaw. Neither especially pretty-looking nor noticeably ugly.

She stands rather unusually tall, nearly six and a half foot high, something that makes her more than a little intimidating, even without the addition of her monstrous guise.

As with any Fragment, she possesses flaws. Aside from her unnatural height, she possesses scar-like fracture-marks across the skin on her arms and torso that look like fissures or cracks. These, in addition to her eyes, may begin to glow a red colour when she is angered or gearing up to fight. Possibly most unsettlingly, Red will cry tears of superheated blood.



Appearance (Monster): Red's Beast form is a large, hulking thing well suited to the name. Semi-bipedal but able to run on all-fours due to the grotesquely elongated forearms, the thing stands around ten foot high with a crooked posture. Its covered in a sort of wiry, matted fur that is interspersed with large, glowing cracks, cracks that emit a huge amount of heat and drip white-hot molten liquid onto the ground around the thing.

The head is elongated, almost canid-like, with two sets of sharp, very hard horns that are often used for butting and goring.

In addition to teeth, its jaw is serrated to create an additional set for biting.

Smoke and steam seem to perpetually rise from its body.

Skills: -Red is quite strong and has a great deal of endurance in her human form. In her monstrous form, even moreso. She has an impressive ability to keep fighting with damage that would have already killed most people.

- While her monster form is big, it is also surprisingly fast, able to run, jump, and chase down prey. A charge from The Red Beast is very hard to escape.

Special Ability: Combustion. Red can increase her body temperature to superheated levels, enough that she can cause most flammable material to combust at her touch. Additionally, Red is capable of unleashing a colossal wave of heat and force, like a small explosion, out in a wave in front of her, flattening obstacles and causing severe burns to those standing in the way.

Weaknesses: -Red is not the most tactical or strategic fighter. She pours all her effort into brute force and pure aggression, meaning that she is easily trapped or fooled.

- Red's blood is very hot, especially in monster form. Cold is potentially very hazardous to it. Cold water ingested by the creature will create bursts of steam that can blast holes in its body.

Other Fragments Consumed (If Known):

Around 5 as-yet unidentified Fragments around the time of the destruction of Saltmaw.

Persona: Red is infamous as a highly aggressive fragment with a burning hatred for Hounds. She is possessed by a burning resentment for the Wilde Jagd that seems to stem from her imprisonment, and has driven her actions up til that point, to the degree that that seems to subsume most everything else.

Known History: The Fragment known amongst Wilde Jagd as The Red Beast, or Red, was a major threat to hounds during the early days of the hunt.
An extremely physically strong and extremely aggressive manifestation, Red seemed to have some enormous degree of animosity towards the hounds, and would deliberately target them in her attacks.

During the destruction of Saltmaw she was known to have killed a large number of the guards and people present, before managing to escape to the mainland in human form. From there she left a considerable trail of destruction in her wake for two years. She killed hounds without a second thought, and seemed capable of absorbing massive amounts of damage. The continued harrying of all their patrols by this creature drove the organization almost to the edge.

That was until they gathered together some of their best and set out to trap the thing for good.
They were able to use Red's lack of foresight to its advantage and make use of its weakness, blasting a hole in the side of the Fragment before driving it back into a freezing river. From there they were able to catch it.

Since then, Red has been contained underneath Hunter's Court. Her hostility hasn't changed, but the researchers have worked out ways to turn the Fragment's colossal capacity for heat generation to their own advantage.

Wilde Jagd

@ihinka sweet! I better get to work on my trainee and hound.

Wilde Jagd

Hm... I might try for a Witch or a Fragment character, but I wanted to ask first. Do the Fragments need to consume other fragments, or is it that they simply can to become more powerful?

@ihinka

They don't need to to survive as such, no, a Fragment can just keep on indefinitely without doing so. Some, though not all, feel a strong urge or instinct to do so.

Wilde Jagd

Characters I currently have in mind to add myself:

-One senior hound acting as an instructor, for better or worse.

- One trainee, possibly a witch.

- One captured Fragment.

Take from that what you will, but I'm starting with a fairly even set, I think.

Wilde Jagd

roleplayerguild.com/topics/163842-wil…

Bit of a delay but now it is up! =)

Wilde Jagd

The Legend of Gabriel the Magician

The Legend

The apocalypse. The end of the world. That was the only way people who witnessed the days of the Old One, as it cut a swathe of destruction across the world. A hideous incarnation of primal destruction that rose from the depth of the earth to bring about the end of the world.

There had always been vague stories of the apocalypse, the coming of some ancient avatar of destruction that was prophesied to one day set upon the earth. For the religious men it had always been just a little way away. Each generation was the end times. And each generation passed without incident. Technology grew and people lost interest in much of that old fear and mysticism.

That was until the day the earth split and the great cities of man burned.

When the moon shone red in the smoke-choked sky and humanity faced the summation of its most old and primal fears.

It had no name. They called it many things. After the dust had settled, generations after the burning times, people would refer to it in hushed voices as The Old One.

A god of destruction and death and infinite malice, charged with taking apart the world and returning it to the days before light and life.

And it very nearly succeeded. So many died in those times. And so much progress was lost forever. Armies set loose their greatest and most advanced weapons in hopes of destroying this horrifying thing, and in doing so they would seem to blast it apart, only to watch in dismay as it reformed, unharmed.

Humanity stood on the verge of extinction when a man stepped forward with nothing but an ancient book in one hand.

The man's name was Gabriel Herne, and he would be responsible for saving the world.
A man of mystic knowledge and power, Gabriel knew that The Old One could not be killed. It was a force of nature, a constant that the world could never be rid of once awoken. Something like that could not simply cease to exist. The man had pored through every source, every old text he could find until the solution had present itself before him.

The Old One could not be killed.

But it could be split.

He faced the horrific thing, looked into the face of madness and death, spoke the words he'd spent years of his life searching for, and tore the Old One apart.

---

That is the story told to near any child when they are young. The story of Gabriel the magician and how he saved the world from this walking death. Of course a century has passed since then. None live who remember the burning times, and even even if they did, few who could say they knew anything about what transpired in the epic battle that took place.

That said, it was true enough that Gabriel Herne did manage to save the world.

What was left of it anyway.

The world is far from what it could have been.

They say that once mankind had all sorta of wonderful technology that every man, woman and child could make use of.
These days tech is a luxury. Unless you are a Lord or Lady, have cosied up to the latter, or are obscenely wealthy, the level of advancement would be little better than medieval times.

The land it split up into provinces that the Lords and Ladies rule over. For all the regal titles, these people are essentially warlords. Either they were vicious enough to hold the lands their mothers or father took after the burning times, or they were vicious enough to take it from someone else. They range from the fair but unspeakably tough, to the out and out psychopathic.

People aren't just more medieval in their technological level...but medieval in their attitudes. People are highly adherent to new gods and cults. They're wary of strangers. They hate and fear things that are strange or unnatural.

Which makes the occurrence of the Witch Gene even more tragic.

The influence of the old one, the dark energy it left in its wake, had a lingering influence, not just on the land itself, but the people.

A few years after the burning times children began being born with horrifying deformities. Claws, sharp teeth, single wings protruding from their shoulderblades. Progressively these things also manifested as strange, dark abilities.

People were disgusted by these tainted creatures, and shunned them. Most 'witch children' will not live past infancy, and those that do can anticipate a dangerous world.

And then, you have the Fragments. From time to time the reports filter through of death and destruction. Entire towns levelled and dozens of soldiers torn to pieces in the most horrific ways.

And if those stories are true then those who tell them might have run into something else. The people with guns and armour, and the silver badges that resemble a hunting hound. The hunters and jailers on whom the fate of the shattered world now rests. For it's known enough that the pieces of the Old One will seek to re-unite one day, and when they do, everything will be consumed with fire and darkness.

The Wilde Jagd.

The time of year has once again arrived. The last of the snow has started to thaw from the foothills of Mount Koan where Hunter's Court, the fortress of the Wilde Jagd, stands. A intake of trainee hounds has arrived to begin the first steps of their gruelling training.

But this year, it's possible that not all are completely human..

A small cabal of Fragments have a plan to destroy the Wilde Jagd from the inside.

---

Wilde Jagd

Wilde Jagd (lit 'Wild Hunt) was founded by the family of Gabriel Herne in the time following the escape of the fragments of the Old One as a means of retrieving them and returning them to indefinite confinement. With the burden proving too great to keep within the family, Wilde Jagd was a creation partially funded by the wealthy Lord Rodin, one of the more powerful, and relatively more benevolent, feudal lords.

Wilde Jagd operates out of one of Rodin's fortresses in the hills north of the province's main city, and, as a result of its funding, has access to old technology most would give their right arm in order to see. Computing devices, communication, advanced medical facilities, and working firearms.

A field agent of the Wilde Jagd is known as a Hound.

Hounds come from all walks of life and sometimes from far provinces, with Wilde Jagd proving a surprisingly unbiased employer, to the point that they are one of the few people who will take on Witches in their ranks. A Witch is treated with no less respect than his or her peers, and as such for the often reviled class of people, it is a very attractive prospect, to the point that many young Witches that would not see adulthood otherwise and up as trainees under Wilde Jagd.

Their kind treatment of their Hounds inspires a fierce loyalty as a result. Most Hounds have no problem putting themselves in danger in pursuit of the greater good, and that greater good is capturing the Fragments and returning them to imprisonment. This job is, of course, an extremely hazardous one. Death or severe injury on the job is a know and accepted risk.

However with so few prospects left, and the potential of fame and respect in the eyes of the people drives many to sign up for the arduous training.

---

Fragments

Fragment is the term given to the pieces of the Old One, the ancient god of death. Upon its split it was turn apart into a large number of individual entities which, left stunned by being forced suddenly into existence, were easily collected up and locked away from the world. Kept in isolation from each other, and from the outside, studied relentlessly, it's unclear if that was made some of them into killers, or whether they had always been that way.

Regardless, one day, the fortress once used to contain all of the Fragments, experienced the chaos of a mass break-out. People were killed, the places burned, and these pieces scattered across the world.

For ten years they've been free and walking amongst the human population.

A few have been recovered by Hounds in that time, and a great number of Hounds have died in pursuit of them. Whilst not all Fragments are inherently evil or malicious, some far from it, their destructive capacity alone has made them hugely dangerous.

And there are plenty of Fragments who more than live up to their name as Monsters.

A Fragment:

• Appears human at first glance, but this form contains small flaws. Pointed teeth, or slitted eyes, or some other subtly monstrous trait.
• Have a secondary, horrifying appearance that they will often revert to in order to fight.
• Will not naturally age, however can die of near any other cause that a mortal can (albeit a fragment tends to be considerably more durable than the average man).
• Retains one unnatural ability, even as a 'human'. This is near exclusively something frightening and destructive.
• Can kill and consume other Fragments in order to gain their power. This is what Wilde Jagd fears the most, as it not only makes them far harder to fight, but also brings the Old One one step closer to returning.
• If a Fragment is killed, their power will dissipate and spread out between all remaining living Fragments. This is similarly unwanted for Widle Jagd.

---

OOC Stuff

Wilde Jagd is a dark post-apocalpytic medieval-ish modern-ish fantasy focusing around the Wilde Jagd, a group trained to hunt and capture the pieces of a god of death that have taken living form.

A new intake of trainees have brought new faces to the ranks, but also potential infiltration.

The events will involve the training, the missions, and the potential betrayals that take place within them. There are a few wider plot ideas, but the general idea is to make it heavily character-driven and focus on developing the relationships between this group, both in their day to day lives, and faced with terrible dangers.

Rules

• Please submit characters on the OOC thread for review before putting them on up in the characters tab. Place aren't really limited or anything but I like to check everything makes sense first.
• Be polite in the OOC thread. Leave the bickering to the characters, lord knows they need the space.
• Take as many characters as you can handle, but only if you're comfortable with juggling them.
• Please be aware that for things to work out, the ratio of humans/witches and fragments needs to be at least even, preferably weighed toward the former. With that in mind, I will end up cutting off apps for fragments if it starts getting too weighed the other way.
• If you want your character to do something that will have a major effect on the group, please talk it over with me first. I like to try and keep things adaptable and loose, leaving way for people to have their own sub-plots, but I often have my own unspoken stuff running through out so it's good to check nothing might clash. =)

Character Sheet - Fragment

Adopted Name:
Aliases:
Apparent Age:
Gender:
Classification:

Appearance (Human) :

Appearance (Monster):

Skills:

Special Ability:

Weaknesses:

Other Fragments Consumed (If Known):

Persona:

Known History:

Other:

Character Sheet- Human/Witch

Full Name:
Aliases:
Age:
Gender:
Rank:

Appearance (Human) :

Skills:

Witch Mutation/s (If Character is a Witch):

Preferred Equipment:

Weaknesses:

Persona:

Known History:

---

Additional Lore

Fragments

A Fragment is a being that was created by the fracturing of the Old One at the end of the Burning Times by a spell cast by the famed mystic Gabriel Herne.

After their creation in those times, the Fragments created were placed in Saltmaw, an offshore spike of sandstone about half a mile from the coast, serviced by the family of Gabriel Herne, and some guards hired in from the general population.

This, for many years, served as sufficient containment for the Fragments, if not a very pleasant place to spend you time locked away in solitude. The Fragments trapped within the dark, dank spire became more restless and more aggressive as time went on.

They also gained greater control of their own inherent abilities.
Eventually something was bound to give.

One day, a Fragment tore its way out of its confinement and began killing guards.

As the rest of the forces rushed to try and subdue the thing, others took the chance provided by no longer being under watch to escape as well, and an irreversible gunpowder reaction started.

Within and hour the place was burning and bodies were scattered all over the structure. Very few survived the carnage, and nearly all the Fragments (who hadn't been consumed by others) escaped from the island onto the mainland.

In the meantime there have been many clashed between Fragments and Hounds of the Wilde Jagd.

Some have been killed (not entirely favourable) and some have been confined within the Wilde Jagd's fortress, Hunter's Court. These who have been recaptured in the last ten years have been subject to intense interrogation, scrutiny and study at the hands of some of the organization's researchers, and they've determined numerous additional information regarding Fragment biology.

They've determined so far that:

- A Fragment does not age, and will remain the same apparent age it was upon creation indefinitely.

-A Fragment is notably more durable than the average human and can survive damage a human might not, but can be killed by most anything that kills a mortal, aside from age.

- A Fragment has a small mutation even within their human form.

-The second form of a Fragment differs wildly in its nature and is subject to change as it 'grows' through the consumption of others. A second form will often adopt traits of other Fragments it has consumed.

Known Fragments are prioritised in Wilde Jagd's records by a classification system, based on power, and aggression, these are as follows.

Class 0 - Unknown, records missing.

Class I - Consumed no other Fragments, low aggression.

Class II - Consumed no other Fragments, high aggression.

Class III - Consumed no other Fragments, known Hound killer.

Class IV - Consumed small number of other Fragments (<10), low aggression.

Class V - Consumed small number of other Fragments (<10), high aggression.

Class VI - Consumed small number of other Fragments (<10), known Hound killer.

Class VII - Consumed high number of other Fragments (>10)

Hounds use this system to prioritise work. A class VII, regardless of aggression, is always highest priority.

Wilde Jagd

Wilde Jagd, or Wild Hunt, is the organization set up by the family of Gabriel Herne following the disaster at Saltmaw. Gabriel's grandchildren sought out sponsorship and received it in the form of the generous patronage of Lord Rodin, a ruler of a large province near the centre of the continent, known colloquially as The Core.

Rodin regarded the organizing of a force for fighting the Fragments and averting the potential crisis to be a great way to retain his image and to reassure a frightened populous, and as such was happy to pour money and resources into Wild Jagd and their home, Hunter's Court, a fortress near the northern border.

As such, the force formed and began to grow in its size and strength.

Wilde Jagd hire from all walks of life, discriminating little between province, faith, or even status as Witch, but their training is tough and unrelenting, and the tests that recruits need to pass to reach the much-coveted status of 'Hound' involves a lot of dedication...or, from time to time, so very special abilities.

An as-yet unqualified recruit is known formally as a Trainee, but more commonly and colloquially as a 'Pup'. They undergo training at the fortress under the supervision of more senior Hounds, and will often shadow qualified fighters on missions in order to test their reaction to real situations. In between this they're expected to aid with mundane tasks throughout the place, like cooking, cleaning, assisting in the infirmary, and running things back and forth.

A qualified Hound may work field missions and pursue Fragments, though may also specialize in other fields. Medicine, Research, Training, Diplomacy, Information Gathering, Guarding the Cells, numerous fields beyond simply fighting, though all are expected on some level to be able to hold their own in an emergency.

Beyond Hounds are the Hunters, the head of the organization, made up mostly of the Herne family. They're rarely seen often outside of official business, tending to be busy working on the level with local nobles to try and keep the organisation in check.

Hounds in the field tend to work in small field teams.headed up by a more senior Hound. Members are sometimes swapped in or out for sake of skills, but often teams are kept similar in order to encourage groups that trust one another and can work cohesively. Teams tend to have names for easy identification.

Witches

The Witch Gene began to take prevalence around the end of the Burning Times, as the world was struggling to recover from the horrific destruction.

Children started to be born with disturbing deformities.

Later this began to manifest into similarly disturbing abilities as well. Stories of children who set themselves alight, burning their houses to the ground or an infant whose very touch turned its mother to stone.

Of course, there was no certainty of these things truly taking place, but such things aren't hard to believe.

Witch powers range from the very minor to the alarmingly destructive, and as such they're often cursed by both the sporadic and volatile nature of their own abilities, and the fear and hatred a frightened world heaps upon them.

The reaction a Witch can expect to receive depends largely on the province. In some of the more settled areas they may live their lives and only face morbid curiosity from the locals. In the more brutal and more fervent districts a Witch child can be expected to be abandoned out in the woods at birth to perish of cold or starvation. That that reach adulthood might count themselves lucky.

Wilde Jagd is distinct is one of the few organized forces that will gladly take Witches among their members, and dedicate time an specialized trainers to help youngsters manage their own abilities. This seems to have worked in their favour so far, with their strange powers proving a useful tool against their targets.

As they've discovered, it is often more the brutal treatment their charges have experienced on the outside that has made them difficult to handle, far moreso than the powers themselves

(Dead) The Gifted World

Mags was, for a little while, genuinely wondering if this was some bizarre exsanguination-induced hallucination. She'd seen weird, but this was kind of on a whole other level that was making her seriously question it. A horse with letters appearing on it was asking her to apparently act as its translator for the iron man that was striding along the street.

It had quite an attitude for an equine billboard, but bereft of ideas on any other way to handle the situation, the young woman was about to relay the message.

It soon seemed clear however that the man didn't actually need the services of a horse-interpreter, and was simply dismissing it...as it happened, in favour of appealing to her for help.

'She's hurt.'

A sarcastic response of 'No shit' seemed totally inappropriate considering the weight of the situation, and so Mags bit it back in favour of turning her attention to the second person, who was, indeed, in very bad shape.

For a moment, Magdalene hesitated, biting on the inside of her cheek.
She had no reason to do this. She had no reason to trust these people.
For all she knew the guy could be using the injured woman for sympathy to get people to let their guard down.
Far all she knew the woman might not even really be injured and could be using some illusion nonsense.

And she was going to have to reveal the location of her stash if she was going to be of help.
As a factionless, friendless ashlander with no offensive ability, the Erubesco cache was pretty much all she had going for her at the moment.

On the other hand.. the one who was hurt looked bad. Even from where Mags was it was possible to see she ha some serious open fractures. Even if she somehow didn't bleed to death then she'd be done from the massive infection that would follow from those kind of injuries in the wasteland. To put it bluntly, she didn't stand a chance in hell.

"Not a healer...but.." Magdalene spoke up before she'd consciously decided.

"..I got a trauma kit back there..and I know my stuff. Can't promise any miracles but I reckon I could at least clean it up and get the bleeding under control if I can get the time and the space."

Why was she doing this?

It certainly wasn't doing her any good.

Mags was also a little dubious about the possibility that she was just a good person.

Misplaced guilt?

Yeah, probably that.

She bit back a sigh.
"Look. If you can handle the heat I'll get your friend out of the way and do what I can. You've got no reason to trust I'm not trying to pull something, but...likewise really. You can think about how to pay me back later."

----

"Left, Knight." ORIN spoke into Kora's earpiece.
"Don't you dare respond. Pursue the targets."

"Mouthy little punk." Kora snarled under her breath.
"Luckiest day of her goddamn life that I don't have time to deal with her shit."

"And yet they're never grateful.
I think now is a good time. Target A is effectively neutralised, focus on neutralisation of Target B. We can collect A when engagement is concluded. You're activated Knight. Have fun."

A smirk crossed the woman's dust-streaked face.

She was cleared for it.

Time to unleash hell.

---

Stood by Orion, Mags wasn't aware of the oncoming danger.
Not until it was almost upon them.

Not until a scream like some kind of enraged animal burst out of the dust and sand behind them, and a figure charged out towards the man on a full tilt collision course. Her hands were glowing white hot, trailing off red and yellow sparks, her eyes were a bright crimson, lit with some internal glow, and every crashing footfall on one leg left a bloody footprint as one knee was bleeding freely; how anyone could be running on that, let alone at such a speed was well beyond her.

She was just pretty certain this was not friendly.

"Metal guy! On your six o' clock!" she cried, poised half-ready to move as her feelings of obligation to help these people went to war with her strong, strong desire to be out of the flight path of that fire-giant running at them.
It found a middle ground in an instant.
"Give me your friend!"

Welcome to Marchand!

Kora was getting ready to move the things over to the room, when Tessa and her were approached by a girl whom she quickly understood to be the third roommate. Japanese, she was going to guess, though she didn't regard herself by any means and expert. Even within Europe she hadn't been all that many places. Regardless that was no reason not to be nice, right?

"Pleased to meet you. Kora Mari Norrevinter, Jarlinna of Vollr, well, effectively." she responded.
"Me and Tessa aren't really related but...my aunt is her godmother because she helped her mom give birth during a firefight. That's pretty metal."

Kora had to admit she was a little bit envious over not having been born during an actual battle, but you couldn't have everything.

She indicated the skull.

"And this is Bjorn Bjornson, my cave bear skull. He's probably a gift from the vanir, but more than anything he looks pretty badass."

Bones, furs, statuettes of ancient gods were all very much integral parts of the Norrevinter aesthetic. Other people's past was very much their present, and they'd fiercely kept hold of the old traditions.

Kora was no different, and was already more concerned with where her altar might go than most other things.

"Come on, let's move. Still got to check this in with the professors." she indicated the scabbard on her back.
She wasn't sure why she needed to, as such a thing was fairly hard to miss, but she didn't like the idea of potentially losing it completely. What was a warrior without their sword?