Wyndan Down (OOC)

Yeah, I'm trying again. Hopefully won't fall flat this time.

That said, before I get into long explanations, how many people would possibly be interested, with Double Soul and JoaT both going strong at the moment? If there's not a decent amount of people willing to join another RP I won't bother taking the time to write up a long drawn-out story.

Player List
Jade - Pandora Valentine
Drouth -
Bladed - Isoletus Krhaust
Grimmy - Lance Reinheart
Ray - Aurora Skye
Shogo - Arkaba Zoldark
Kitsune - Eden Asgard
Lady - Delwyn Rees
Blaen - Zela Metalmark
Genji -

I suppose that if it's an interesting enough Idea, I'll join. But I will be honest, I would rather focus myself, and the rest of the RPers in double soul so we can actually get an RP done. Making many RPs at the same time might end up killing all of the ongoing RPs much more easily. Like it happened in winter.

If you ask me, you should wait a bit more.

Yeah, I would join too if the idea is something I like. But I'd wait a bit more so that Double Soul can settle in.

Alright, I'll go ahead and put up a story (tomorrow though, I just realized it's past midnight -_- ) and see if it strikes anyone's interest, and then we'll wait a bit to actually start until the other ones are flowing a bit more smoothly.

I'd like to see what this one's about, and I'm probably going to try to port Mikey over to this new one (if it's possible, may have to edit the chara to fit the theme).

In relevant news, DS:I will update again soon. The first chapter of act 1 is at its climax and will draw to a close soon. The second chapter will start soon after that.

Interest piqued, participation pending on details.

LadyM wrote:Interest piqued, participation pending on details.

What the lady said.

STORY

Eons ago the Builders came. The creation of worlds was their craft and their art, and many worlds had they sculpted in their wake, and many more would they go on to create. But here was where they created Wyndan.

Leraje, the Huntress, sculpted earth and stone and bloomed green life upon the rocks.
Ronove, the Guardian, filled the seas and set the rains to the skies.
Gremory, the Watcher, placed the sun and filled the world with warmth and flame.
Valephar, the Seeker, blew the winds into their course and set light to storm.
Armadeus, the Forefather, breathed life into their completed work.
And Caligula, the Bondbreaker, completed the circle with death and decay, ensuring that which has finished its course would pass and make room for the new.

The Builders looked upon their works and found it good. Their art completed, they set for places unknown, to begin their next creation.

Life on Wyndan continued to flourish and spread. Two distinct species soon arose as dominant in the world: the humans - flesh and bone but without fur, fang or claw, but with mind superior to all - and the kreed - skin of shell and armor of bone, but lacking the instinctive ingenuity of their fellows. Side by side these two subdued the world, warred with themselves and one another, allied with the same, and rode the tides of history through years uncounted.

It was only a matter of time before what had grown and flourished began to diminish and fade. Wyndan, like its occupants, was not immortal. The time had come for the world to die, and the Builders were naught to be found. No, not even their names were known to the people of the realm they had crafted.

Facing the oblivion, the peoples of Wyndan devised a plan. By concentrating powerful forces of all six spheres of magic in a key location, the cycle of the planet's existence could be forcefully restarted - a rejuvenation of the world, so to speak. Representatives from every corner of the world, the most powerful in strength and spell and the most influential in word and deed, gathered at the Plateau in the barren and forsaken wasteland of Decarabia and forged the Grey Altar, where the ritual would be performed. Upon the Altar their magics were crafted and the Six Wraiths were created, the power that would be used to engineer the rebirth of the world.

Their plans succeeded far beyond anything they had ever expected. Not only was the downward spiral of Wyndan's destruction reversed, but those present at the Grey Altar that eventful day were given direct control over the Six Wraiths as they went about their destined task of reinvigorating the world. From the Plateau in Decarabia, these men and women could craft the world to their desire.

Once the task was complete, this strange and wondrous development brought new dangers to light. Surely, in time, Wyndan's cycle would return to this dangerous precipice between existence and destruction, and it would be necessary once more for someone to gather the Six Wraiths and make the journey to the Grey Altar to begin once again the rejuvination. What if such a person was a one of black heart, seeking ill for the world with the great power that was bestowed upon them? What dreadful things could be done with the power of the Wraiths from upon the Plateau? It was decided that it should be taught across the whole world the great duty of rejuvinating the world when the time came, and that those who would do so for their own personal gain must be stopped at all costs. To greater ensure their safety and further test those who would command their powers, the Six Wraiths were sealed in magical crystals and scattered to the winds, dispersed across the world far from Decarabia.

The cycle has repeated itself approximately every three or four thousand years, and the tales of those who have made the pilgrimages to find and command the Six Wraiths, battle those who opposed them, and at last ascend the Plateau to the Grey Altar and bring life once more - both for good and for ill - to Wyndan are nigh legendary:

Salira and Sethrinn, rivals and sisters, whose journey ended with a battle with their own father atop the Plateau itself, a battle whose auroras of power could be seen all the way from distant Dantalion.

The Eclipse Brigade - the aristocrat Syler, the assassin Malak, the barbaric Raina, the warlock Isaac - were the first to successfully usurp the will of the old scholars, and the regeneration performed at their hands led the world into a Dark Age the likes of which have never been experienced again: four thousand years of terrible tyranny before the sorceress Vanda and the enigmatic Synn brought an end to their reign and self-imposed immortality at the following rejuvenation.

The Company of the Crystal Orb - dashing Gauthier, unpredictable Rhea, roguish Maximilian, scholarly Shezzarin - whose duels with the dastardly dragon Aszimar culminated with their decieving the vile wyrm into destroying his own kind during the rejuvenation, negating his foul intentions. And so not one dragon walks Wyndan since the Crystal Orb was shattered.

Lady Sion Is'adora, the only known voyager to complete the rejuvenation alone, famed for her legendary mastery of the bow... with which she decimated the entire kreed army of the tyrant Merk Illekk Zoan singlehandedly.

King Ori Mala, mantis-lord of Andromalius, and his Knights of Orias, whose marching was as legion and whose numbers filled the barren wastes of Decarabia to the horizon and beyond as he stood upon the altar before their millions.

And many many more in Wyndan's years... but perhaps most famously of all was the last - when at long last it seemed the Builders heard the prayers of their creation. For as the ranger-prince of Alloces Nathaniel Nyte and his Scouts of the Red Wood performed the ritual, the wastelands of Decarabia were filled with the sounds of battle between the foul demon Astaroth and the warrior angel Balam, the Blind Guardian, who sacrificed her own freedom to bind Astaroth and his followers deep within Wyndan during the rejuvenation, when reality grows thin.

Now the time of regeneration grows near once again, and the wise men and women of the world have a new fear to dread. As Wyndan drifts once again towards death and reality once more thins to transparency, the living prison that is Wyndan itself grows ever less secure, and its dangerous captive ever more likely to escape. There is no way to tell, in the thousands of years that have passed, what became of the struggle between Astaroth and Balam, but if the fiend emerged victorious...

Come the next regeneration, would he return to his nefarious plans, whatever they might be?

And what of others who, as some always do, would seek to claim the power of the rejuvenation for themselves?

What if, the Builders forbid it, Astaroth aided them?

Would there be another Balam to save them? Or would they, as they had for so many years before, be left to fend for themselves?

And who, this time, will be the names left in the annals of legend as the bringers of life once more to Wyndan as it winds down?

This sounds awesome.

PEOPLE AND PLACES

The Races

Human: Humans are adaptive, ambitious, and exceptionally ingenuous. Almost all inventions and modernizations in Wyndan's periods of growth are due to human work and imagination. Humans also have an insatiable need to wander, to claim, and to conquer. In times past this was cause for great strife between them and the kreed with whom they share their planet, but in the past eight thousand years or so they have at last settled into some facsimile of a truce. This has not, of course, stopped the humans from battling between themselves, and seeking to recruit the kreed to aid them in their constant battles. Of the ten major kingdoms of the world, seven are ruled and mostly populated by humans, and all three of the kreed kingdoms have a fair number of human settlers in their borders.

Kreen: A kreen (plural: kreed) is an invertebrate being that is best described as a hyperadvanced insect with very humanoid features. Most kreed look mostly human, save only a unique obviously-insectoid feature or three - extra limbs, compound eyes, antennae, wings, claws, etc. - and the fact that they have exoskeletal shells (often of unusual colors) rather than flesh and muscle. A properly-colored and disgused kreen with a minor or easily hidden insectoid trait might pass for a human for a short time, but not for long and not under any form of scrutiny. Kreed are long-lived, patient, and thoughtful, and prone to viewing the more hurried humans as in a constant rush; humans, in turn, sometimes view them as ponderously slow and stupid, brutes with no intellect. Both sides are in part correct but mostly wrong: kreed can be extremely intelligent but are more prone to careful and contemplative wisdom. Kreed are most commonly found in any of their three kingdoms, but are fairly well scattered through human lands as well.



The Kingdoms

Dantalion: Dantalion is located to the far northwest of Wyndan, wedged between the Gaap Sea and the Bifron Glacier. The kingdom is most known for being the most technologically advanced of the entire world during the height of Wyndan's cycles, but during its periods of decay is the hardest hit. After the last rejuvination, the people of Dantalion created a master computer to run their country for them, named after the country itself; now that the world has begun to fade once more, the Dantalion AI has gone mad. The cause, beyond the "moving on" of Wyndan, has yet to be discerned, but refugees are fleeing Dantalion's borders as quickly as they can escape the insane AI's watch...

Alloces: Southeast of Dantalion is Alloces, the forest kingdom. Ruled by the ranger-prince and the Scouts of the Red Wood, the people of Alloces are hardy folk, living off the land and its bounty. The people of Alloces are trained with bow and blade, though the influence of their alliance with Guison to the east has begun to adapt them to using firearms as well. Due to the paranoia of the Dantalion AI they are currently at war - the martial and magical arts of the wood versus the technological might of the machines.

Guison: Occupying the rocky mountain land to the east of Alloces's woodlands, the people of Guison are primarily miners, gemcrafters, and metalworkers; among the many ingenuities of this rough land is a monopoly on the creation and distribution of firearms and explosives. Through ancient treaties they are allied with the forest kingdom, who has begun using their weapons in their ongoing battle of attrition with Dantalion.

Hagent: Southwest of Guison and southeast of Alloces is the kreed kingdom of Hagent, set in the rolling plains and valleys sloping down from Guison's mountain ranges. Distant from the threat of Dantalion, the kreed have not interfered in the war plaguing their northern neighbors, focusing their attention instead on their trade of produce and livestock with Marax to their west and Marchiosas to the south. The grand plains of Hagent produce some of the best farmland and ranchland in all Wyndan.

Marax: A mitaristic country, Marax traders make long journies to Guison for ore to make their armor, spears, and swords and survive off produce bought from the kreed of Hagent in exchange for the oils needed to work leather from their stock, which is most plentifully procured from the shellfish that live in the reefs of the Gaap Sea to Marax's west. Mighty generals and powerful wizards stand side-by-side throughout its history as regal figures of note and honor.

Buer: Buer rests along the southwest coast of the continent, as well as including several islands off the coast. Probably the most evenly-divided population of all kingdoms in Wyndan, Buer is ruled by an elected council of both kreed and humans. Their economy rests in rare dyes and sea trade. The foremost school of sorcery in Wyndan is found on Ose, the third island of Buer, and was founded in the fifth age by the kreen archmage Ipos; aspiring sorcerers from all across the world travel for months on end to apply for the chance to attend.

Andromalius: The last kreed kingdom, Andromalius rests between Buer's northeast border and the badlands of Decarabia, and consists of mostly desert. It is said by the kreed who live there that the only way to tell where Andromalius stops and Decarabia begins is when the oasises stop appearing. Its trade is mostly in precious spices grown in the arid climate. They are ruled by the sultan-like Mantis-Lord, who is served by the centurions, troops, and sha'ir sorcerers of the Knights of Orias.

Cimeies: Cimeies is a gerrymandered country consisting of territories that seceded from Marax, Hagent, Marchiosas, and Zepar; its odd shape winds between Marax and Hagent, down along Decarabia and Andromalius's northern border, and wedges itself between Decarabia, Zepar, and Marchiosas at its eastern edge. Its main profits are in travel, and often serves as a waypoint and a safe haven to travelers and refugees fleeing between the various lands.

Marchiosas: Like Hagent, Marchiosas consists mostly of rolling plains and low hill country, and is mostly concerned with the raising of livestock... not for food and supply, though, but for war - Marchiosas is a breeding ground for beasts of burden and battle. The warlike country is currently in strife with Zepar to its east, but the two have been at a stalemate for years.

Zepar: Famed for its marble and its beautiful shrines, Zepar consists of a small strip of land along the eastern edge of the continent next to Marchiosas, and a long archipelago extending out into the Ocean of Focalor. Marchiosas considers at the very least the landbound portion (and at the most the whole kingdom) to be a rebelling territory rather than a sovereign nation, but have been unable to battle against Zepar's superior navy, led by Sea Wizards who are second to none, and thus have placed the countries in an unpleasant stalemate for centuries.

Decarabia: This blighted land, which consumes much of the southern center of the continent, rests between Buer and Andromalius to the west, Hagent and Cimeies to the north, and Marchiosas to the east; impenetrable mountains to the south block off any access to the ocean beyond.. A harsh land of constant ash and clouds due to volcanic activity, the ground is a worthless wasteland of dust and sand even more blighted than Andromalius's desert. Yet hidden away at the center of this waste is the Plateau of Salt, where the ancient scholars built the Grey Altar - the cosmic keystone required to complete Wyndan's rejuvenation. The journey to the Plateau, through Decarabia, is the final portion of every pilgrimage to repeat that process of saving the planet. Decarabia has no rulers, but is roamed by migrant vagabonds... some of which are friendly to travelers and strangers, and some who are merely bandits by any other name.

Persons of Note

Astaroth: A powerful demon-like entity who appeared shortly before the last rejuvenation. No drawings of him were ever made, but writings of scholars during that time described him as "face of wolf, hair of lion, wings of bat, arms of ape, legs of bull, tail of serpent". He amassed a small army of followers and competed with Nathaniel Nyte, then ranger-prince of Alloces, to gather the Six Wraiths and begin the rejuvenation; before he could begin, he was stopped by the angel Balam, who sealed him within Wyndan during Nathaniel's ritual. The fear of historians and scholars is that now that Wyndan is "moving on" once more, Astaroth may escape his prison...

Balam: Known as the Blind Guardian, this angelic being appeared shortly before the last rejuvenation and claimed to come at the behest of the Builders. After imparting some knowledge of the Builders to the peoples of Wyndan, she turned her attentions to the fiendish Astaroth and his enigmatic plans for the coming reinvigoration. Their battle in Decarabia ended with her sealing Astaroth and his army deep within the earth, at the price of trapping her with them. Her fate is unknown.

Barbatos: A notorious pirate who operates in the south seas, plaguing ships bound from Buer to Zepar and vice versa. Rumor has it he may be in employ to Marchiosas.

The Crocell: The humans and kreed who joined Astaroth in his campaign and formed his army. Most of these were trapped with him and Balam deep within Wyndan after their battle in Decarabia; the majority of those who escaped this fate became the ancestors of Decarabia's various vagrant clans.

Dantalion: The supercomputer AI that runs the country of the same name. In recent years its sanity has degraded, turning it into a paranoid slavemaster. It ruthlessly executes anyone it catches attempting to enter or exit the country by any means other than those it specifically approves... and many of those it quickly forgets in its madness.

Count Furtor: Iron-fisted ruler of Marchiosas, this hungry warlord desires nothing more than to expand his borders - primarily, by swallowing up Zepar and Cimeies. The unbreakable stalemate his land-bound but powerful army has with Zepar's impenetrable navy infuriates him to no end, and prevents him from dividing his attention to conquering elsewhere for the time being.

Glasya Labolas: This human sorceress is the latest in the long line of successors from the Archmage Ipos to serve as the Resident Archmagus of the School of Sorcery on Ose. She commands great control over all spheres of magic despite being fairly young for the position - only in her late thirties.

Duke Haures: This aged man serves as the advisor to Admiral Orobas of Zepar, lending his many years of experience to the stoic soldier's long engagement against Marchiosas. He is known for being a silent, careful observer who speaks only when absolutely necessary.

Nicholas Ainodred: Ranger-prince of Alloces. Trained as a master of archery as well as a wizard of the druids' circle, he is able to combine bow, blade, and spell into a unique and complicated fighting style that is the specialty of the Scouts of the Red Wood. Though he has allowed his scouts and the other soldiers of his country to begin using firearms procured from Guison, he disdains them personally and prefers to stick to archery.

Admiral Orobas: The High Admiral of the Zepar fleet, this grizzled old seaman has many years of warfare under his belt; it is under his command that Zepar's navy has become much of the feared force it is today.

Lady Sitri: A Marquis of Hagent, this mothlike kreen has gained notoriety among her neighbors for being somewhat more interested in the goings-on of their countries than her superiors. She is currently serving as a diplomat to Guison and Alloces.

Vual Roht: Current Mantis-Lord of Andromalius. Due to increasing regularity of violent attacks from brigands and vagabonds out of Decarabia, he has begun organizing the Knights of Orias for a full-scale invasion. With the pressing urgency for the coming rejuvenation, however, his plans may be put on hold.

((Others will be added as they become relevant. Or as I remember them.))

Sounds cool.

MAGIC

Types of Magic

Magic is divided into six Spheres, or Influences, each defined by a specific color.

White Magic is the magic of Creation. It is associated with the elemental affinity of Light. White Magic is most regularly employed as healing magic, but also has the power to produce raw energy to be used offensively.

Red Magic is the magic of Chaos. It is associated with the elemental affinity of Fire. Almost purely an offensive sphere of magic, Red magic has little non-aggressive uses.

Blue Magic is the magic of Control. It is associated with the elemental affinity of Water. Protective magic and some healing powers are generally found among practitioners of Blue magic, though its Ice-based subspheres do offer some offensive capability.

Gold Magic is the magic of Freedom. It is associated with the elemental affinity of Air. Gold magic is most powerful when employed as a reactionary device, to begin an interaction between two forces or to react to such an interaction.

Green Magic is the magic of Order. It is associated with the elemental affinity of Earth. Growth and defense are both central properties of Green magic; what healing powers it provides are not supernatural immediate healing (such as White or Blue magic provide) but rather a hastening of the natural healing processes of the victim.

Black Magic is the magic of Destruction. It is associated with the elemental affinity of Darkness. Magic of death, decay, corruption, and the like are associated with Black magic. Easily the most dangerous sphere of magic even in its simplest forms, Black magic is always the last element to be taught to prospective sorcerers and wizards.



Magic Users

Sorcerers: Sorcerers are those who have devoted their entire mind, body, and soul to the study and mastery of magical arts. The stereotypical image of an elderly man in a robe carrying a staff is the basic image of a sorcerer. Sorcerers either specialize in one sphere of magic or spread their studies over all six; the latter are often referred to as Archmagi to differentiate them from the former. The terms "witch" and "warlock" are used as derogative terms for a sorceress or sorcerer.

Wizards: Also known in some places as eldritch knights (Hagent), hexblades (Marchiosas), spellswords (Guison), swordmages (Alloces), or warmages (Marax), Wizards are spellcasters who balance mastery of the magical arts with those of the martial, and combine them into a style that mixes strength with spell. The typical Wizard refuses the flowing arcane robes of a Sorcerer, opting instead for the flexible protection of leather armor or the sturdy safety of chainmail. Despite their nicknames, not all use swords - the Wizards of Alloces, for example, tend to apply their art just as often to ranged combat with bows or guns, while those of Marchiosas are fond of painful- and intimidating-looking spiked gauntlets or wrist blades.

Character Creation

Name:
Race:
Age: (Kreed reach maturity around 30, middle age around 55, old age around 80, and generally die around 120-140)
Gender:

Occupation: Your job. If your character has quit their job recently to become an adventurer seeking to aid in the rejuvenation, list their previous job.

Profession: Your adventuring skill(s). Warrior, Archer, Rogue, Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard, etc. etc. etc. If a magic user, list what spheres of magic you are skilled with. (There are only Sorcerer and Wizard - any magic user with another skill set has two. IE a "Druid" character would be a Sorcerer or Wizard who's also a Ranger. And so on and so on. Also there are no "Priests" - the Builders don't really have a religion. There are Healers' Orders though, that's probably the closest you'll find.)

Appearance:

Personality: (list alignment if you desire)

Possessions:

Backstory:

Other Notes:



Coded version for copy-paste convenience:

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