Now I am quietly waiting for
the catastrophe of my personality
to seem beautiful again,
and interesting, and modern.
The country is grey and
brown and white in trees,
snows and skies of laughter
always diminishing, less funny
not just darker, not just grey.
It may be the coldest day of
the year, what does he think of
that? I mean, what do I? And if I do,
perhaps I am myself again.
—Frank O'Hara; Mayakovsky
Stats & Facts Name: Alvina Adaeze (aH-dai-ZEY) Titles/Aliases/Nicknames: Vina Sex: Female Race: Ogofta (Nzumbe) Age/Height/Weight: 30/6'0"/143 lbs. Appearance: Beauteous teak skin, the color of melted chocolate. Alvina is an exotic ogoftan beauty, her entire body is a wash with a golden sheen, her skin burnished by numerous scented oils. Almond-shaped eyes that are like generous jewels; they are filled with a pregnant aura that speaks of a marrow deep loss in her life; they contain a constantly haunting erudition, which is mesmirizing but also quite unsettling; their color is most peculiar--pale orbs of pearl, banded by veins of a rainbow color, a natural result of light refraction. A nose that is prominent, aquiline yet straight and quite attractive. Lips that are full and the color of warm honey, they are banded by an outline of glittery olive powder. The strangest snowy-white hair, though it's not prematurely aged, whether natural or dyed, it is impossible to tell; the top is a lone mane of tenuous tresses, wavy and falling back to her shoulders; however the left side is completely shaved to a fuzz, where a number of melanistc leopard spots can be seen along her scalp. Alvina smells of cherry and spices of cinnamon, strong notes of amber intermingled with cocoa, and lasting undertones of incense smoke. Apparel: A thinly braided-circlet of silver and ivy adorns her head, coming to a single peak just below her hairline in the front; a single trillion-cut diamond sits. The most gorgeous silk gown of lavender, with a pleated skirt and train, and belted by a yellow silk overlay. A tremendous cloak of giant black leopard, which hugs her body tightly, the hood is a fearsome and regal panther's head. Golden arm-bands and jewelry around her biceps, silver and gold bracelets around both wrists. Practical and plain, but well-kept nails. Sandals of corded brown leather that have seen much use but are still in good repair. Background: Yejide the panther, a dream within the dream. Alvina honors this person. It is what drives her. Her reason for living so that others may live. Alvina is Nzumbe. To the Ogofta, she is both respected and feared. What is a life that serves no purpose, which is itself purposeless? It is an unnatural thing, a crime, and a wrong. Life should possess meaning, and drive, even the wildest and lowest of animal-kind are not without purpose. However, while theirs is pure instinct alone, sentience demands that man and woman serve as they so choose. This is what Alvina lives for, she searches and seeks out those Ogofta who have lost their purpose in life, but have not become Nzumbe, such as she. Her calling has imbued her for this, with a certain vocation as she calls it, named Ennui. Alvina may perform an emotional transference and bestow it upon a person. This is her calling, as she sees it, her one and only duty. Affiliations: Mage
Skills/Attributes Snows and Skies of Laughter
Moon's Eye
Alvina exists because Yejide is no more. She has no memory of this, or her former shamanistic and warrior life, and the need to hunt has left her spirit forever. But as to why that is, even she could not fain to tell you even if it was within her power to do so; Alvina is Alvina, and has always been naturally herself. Ogoftan culture still being young amidst the Eastern cities, a mysterious and many layered world yet to be deciphered by the people's of Bakara, this might seem odd, but to Alvina it is perfectly clear. Vina couldn't tell you anything even if she wanted to; what she would tell you, is based on experience alone. Her life is driven, and it is life itself that is the basis for this drive. She feels protected, blesséd even, by a force both outside and within. Her spirit is fueled by a higher purpose, and life's fulfillment to is to help those who have none; Alvina was endowed from her earliest memory with the power to drive others towards something else; amongst her people, they have said her eye is the light of the Moon, illumining the beauty of the world in silvery light amidst the darkness of their jungle home. Vina is painfully and sensitively aware of the brevity and impermanence of all things, beauty in endless hues; her eyes are effortlessly discerning, able to penetrate the very fabric of things, and peer behind the veil to see the truth in things. Her light is that eternal light of the Moon, always awake, forever observing, life and its unpredictable infinite patterns. Infinite Tsukuyomi: Alvina is able to see the veil between the waking world and the Spirit world effortlessly, her eyes she both at the same time, though to her it is never confusing, it has always been this way. She can naturally discern between living beings and spirits, though she as yet cannot speak with the dead. Alternatively, she can see through physical illusions created by spells or abilities, and they have no affect on her eyes. Mental or Mind magic affect her as normal.
Spells Mind
1 - Translate - Attunes your mind to that of a target speaker, allowing you to understand them no matter what language they are speaking. Light
1 - Tint - Filter the light emanating from an object in order to change the overall coloration of the item to the eyes. Dual: Mind/Light Lvl 1. Tsuki no Me - Through a combination of light and mind magics, draw a targets attention and mind to a subject. If the subject is a person, the target understands words spoken by them as if they were in the target's native tongue.
Let the mad poets say whate’er they please
Of the sweets of Fairies, Peris, Goddesses,
There is not such a treat among them all,
Haunters of cavern, lake, and waterfall,
As a real woman, lineal indeed
From Pyrrha’s pebbles or old Adam’s seed.
—Keats; Lamia
Stats & Facts Name: Leukothèa Nereusia Galatine Titles/Aliases/Nicknames: Thèa Sex: Female Race: Mer/Atarin Age/Height/Weight: Early twenties/5'7"/136 lbs. Appearance: A slyphish face of enchanting beauty, Leukothèa is pure warmth. A girl of nineteen or twenty, with a pleasingly gentle demeanor and an elegance that are refreshing; grace itself seems to permeate her every movement, down to the most minute flick of an eyelash or the simplest gesture. Thèa's possession of unparalleled charm was said to be her's from birth; her attractiveness an inherent part of her spirit. When still a toddler, she would run her mother's household without the ability to yet speak, only using her gentle little arms and the ease of command in her expressions to indicate her needs. The mixings of atarin and dryadic heritage, along with her Mer bloodline has given Thèa a complexion that is wholly unique, and remarkable; with the sheen of a pearl tinged a pale icy-blue, but yet remaining nacre and white, always shifting in a constant undulation of different hues when caught in a certain light. Voluminous and wavy hair, glittering electric-blue, her tresses fall down below her shoulders. Big, pastel-green eyes which shine faintly with a luminescent light; a membrane of protective film occasionally flashes over her eyes if she blinks rapidly enough, this protection keeps her eyes from drying out when out of water, and also allows her vision when underwater even with limited light. A small but well-formed nose, bone straight except for a slight upturning at the end; lips and mouth of supple pliancy, easily forming into smiles, they are full and womanly, cupid's bow top and an ever so slight bottom that tends to pout every so often. A body of curvaceous lines, sinuously S-rounded hips and a demoiselle waist perfectly hour-glass. Thèa smells like the tropics, faintly of salt air on the sea, and a minor base note of white grapes. Apparel: Background: Affiliations:
Skills/Attributes Boundless As The Sea Is Infinite, As The Soul Is Deep
Thèa's spirit is a completely unique union of magical nature, the mixing of mortal and immortal being alike to form something wholly new. Her spirit is a mass of the deep endless waters of the Elexian Sea, where thus far, amongst its endless depths, only myths and legends were born. Leukothèa is the embodiment of this world, her grace and charm a representation of Bakara's hidden beauties, and she possesses twice the natural charisma as normal. Galatèasian Splendor: Through the constant pulse of her inner spirit, whenever Leukothèa gains a Charisma effect, she immediately is empowered in the process, gaining new traits and benefits which empower her current level of Emergence. The maximum number of Charisma effects Thea may possess is 1 + the current level of her Emergence, where 1 is her natural Charisma. However, this unique relationship with her spirit is a part of her physiology, a perculiar symbiosis that limits Thèa's ability to cast spells, resulting in her ability to only learn and cast Spirit, Mind or Water magics. (While employing Charisma effects, either passive or active, additional Emergence traits become active relative to the amount of Thèa's current Charisma level.) Iridescence(Lvl. 2; Charisma Score: 2)
Leukothèa's beauty is unquestionable. Her spirit is a force of primal Bakara, natural and immense. Her entire being is made up of elemental forces, from deep within her heart to the very surface, her life-force is volatile like the tides. This glamour envelopes Thèa in pristine iridescence. Her body and skin are encrusted all over with shimmering microscopic jewels a veritable cornucopia of rainbow hues. Her spirit exudes incredible spiritual pressure like the pull of the oceans, the volatility of her heritage crashing like waves to the ebb and flow within her, all pulsing to reach the surface, bringing out her inner nature and turning Thèa into the very embodiment of her Mer spirit. Lvl. 1 - The crystalline scaling on Thèa's hands can be engorged to giving her control over ice and water, her hands are water tight and may slide through solid ice as if it were warm water. She has a natural flow effect over water she lifts in this way. Splendour - The crystalline scaling on Thea's hands can be made to shimmer in the light, drawing closer attention to her hand movements. Lvl. 2 - The crystalline scaling on Thea's arms can be imbued with the strength of waves, her pushes and pulls are made with an additional strength level and her bare-handed blows are slightly disorienting. Splendour - The wave like movement of Thea's arms increases the potency of any effect (such as bardic dances) based on her movement.
Spells Spirit
1 - Mark - By contact you can mark a person's aura which manifests in a glowing rune on their brow. Allows you to sense their presence. Can only have two people marked at a given time.
2 - Peer - You are able to see and decipher other people's auras, revealing their emotions. Water
1 - Filter - Wave your hand over up to a gallon of water to remove any minor impurities from it. Cannot undo potions, effects would be unpredictable. Mind
1 - Translate - Attunes your mind to that of a target speaker, allowing you to understand them no matter what language they are speaking.
Accessories Magical
> Fathom - A pearl encrusted coral mirror, gilted gold and heart-shaped. Its surface is roiling, always filled with under water scenes, and in someway tied to the waters of the Elexian Sea.
Weapons Magical Mundane
>>Ogygia - Thea's glass dagger she received as a gift from her mother on her 15th nameday. A duo of snakes make up the guard with a serpentine blade and smooth coral hilt ending in a pommel capped with a stone of sapphire. - Modifier 2 -
To answer your impending question: Yes, she's unfinished. lol
CXXXVI
I STEPPED from plank to plank
A slow and cautious way;
The stars about my head I felt,
About my feet the sea.
I knew not but the next
Would be my final inch,—
This gave me that precarious gait
Some call experience.
— Emily Dickinson
Stats & Facts Name: Havana Beatriz Bernardt Titles/Aliases/Nicknames: Ana; Sarsaparilla Anne aka "Black Sass"; Letita; Tía Obeah; the Terror of Tortugos; or more commonly in various circles as, "That buccaneer wench!" and a popular favorite of hers, "You mean that scantily-clad scallywag!?" Sex: Female Race: Human (Elexian urchin/Sylvan-Kurrian admixture) Age/Height/Weight: 30/5'9"/126 lbs. Appearance: Tawny and beautiful, a complexion of light but still swarthy color. Eyes that are tempted with constant mischief and adventure, filled with playfullness most times but having that special air and quality of disparateness when Ana is roused to anger or a situation calls for a more serious nature. For pirate royalty, she doesn't like to wear a lot of jewels, except for her ears; her left helix is bedazzled, encrusted and pierced by an array of gold hoops and rings, the lobe is pierced by a skull-and-crossbones with one ruby and one sapphire gemmed eye; her right ear is tattooed on the upper scapha by a black 'P', and is pierced by a single large emerald, the gem set in a golden tortoise. Ana smells faintly of pine tar, mixed with an undercurrent of palm trees, a spike of pineapple, coconut, and bananas--and somehow, always one of the Eastern Trade-winds. Apparel: Background: Ana Bernardt was born on the streets of Elexia to poverty and destitution. Her mother was part Sylvan and part Kurrian, and was said to possess a bewitching exotic beauty. This was probably what led to Anne's birth, as her father was an Elexian lord of some repute, or so her mother always told her. Ana looked up to her mother tremendously, and as part of her childhood, her mother would tell her stories about her papa, and how he was a trader and seaman; but the stories she really loved were always about the history of the Kurrs. Originally hailing from Tortugos, and having studied under a vodun priestiess in her youth before coming ot the mainland, Ana's mum knew a lot of the lore and history of the Eastern Sea and Kurrian Isles. Most of these stories were filled with romance and adventure, tales of thieves, pirates, swashbucklers and buried treasure. More importantly, they kept a young Anne distracted from an empty belly, or from asking where her papa was, and why wasn't he with them? It wouldn't be until many years later, after the death of her mother, that she finally was to discover the truth, that her father was actually a respected Elexian noble and famous privateer; the rest of that story, however, has Ana kept locked away in her soul to this very day. Affiliations: the Kurrs; Kurrian Pirate-Lords, and smugglers and blackhearts everywhere.
Skills/Attributes (Black)heart of Gold
Pact of the Pirate-Lords(Pact: 0; Gold: 0)
Acquisitions and Merchandise - Contraband
Weapons Magical
> Hispaniola - This lucky little lady is a unique and very well-crafted and cared for flintlock pistol of surpassing beauty, Ana charmingly refers to as 'Niola'. The hammer is silvered brass, and in the shape of a mischevious winkining woman, sighing and writhing in orgiastic pleasure. The handle and barrel are beautiful solid oak, filigreed with brass scrollwork drawn as roiling waves of the sea. Lucky Sevens: A specially modified barrarel and firing mechanism combines black powder with 7 uniquely entwined firing seals, allowing the pistol to shoot modified magical projectiles once per post, and each seal oncer per encounter, unless otherwise noted. The seals will reform overtime (About Oncer per Encounter unless a WM discretion notes otherwise).
1. Damn Yer Eyes! -
2. Batten tha' Hatches -
3. As The Crow Flies -
4. Shiver-Me-Soul -
5. Powderkeg O' Monkeys -
6. Cardinal Rose -
7. Seven Hells -
Mundane
> Puer Aeternus - Known as Pan's Blade, this is a very old sword, yet there is narry a nick in the metal, it remains fresh as the day it was forged. An intricate basket-hilt in the like of a seashell--legend has that its shimmering scale encrusted guard are the scales of mermaids. Exactly how it fell into the hands of a brigand pirate and blackheart like Ana is anyone's guess. It is a master worked sword, probably originally of atarin make, but with a straight double-edged rapier like blade, instead of the modern penne blades the cortegiano are famous for.
Spells
Plunder and Booty
> Majesty - A much faded, frayed but still beautiful blue pirate hat with a lighter blue feather jauntily stuck into it; golden tassels hanging back along the brim, with a tarnished silver circlet, which looks to be missing some jewels, sitting comfortably atop.
... The spider weaves the curtains in the palace of the Caesars
......the owl calls the watches in the towers of Afrasiab.
— Saadi; a major medieval Persian poet
Stats & Facts Name: Astarte /æˈsterra/ Titles/Aliases/Nicknames: Astera Faen; Dark-Star Sex: Female Race: Kindir Age/Height/Weight: 27/6'0"/156 lbs. Appearance: Green eyes of shocking clarity and depth, some have called them bewitching. The familiar sharp, long ears of her people. Ear-length locks of silvery-blond hair that it's almost white, short bangs touch her forehead, but for the most part, it's tied into a ritualistic top-knot and kept out of much of her face. A lengthy build and body of well-corded muscle, athletic but still maintaining a graceful manner. Aster has a smooth, listless way of speaking like slow dripping honey. Her gestures too, could be considered lackadaisical, but all of this to lull those around her into a false sense of safety and security. A single minuscule tattoo of a bleeding rose is inked on her neck right below the underside of her left earlobe. Wonderfully shaped cupid's bow top lip, with a full and voluptuous bottom, a touch of powder but mostly unadorned. A scent of roses with notes of mountain air mixed lightly with Aster's sweat, though altogether sweet smelling. Apparel: Hide and scale leather jerkin from an enormously large Gila, veined throughout by a blood-red pattern. A single gold earring that resembles a falling star. Sleek skintight pants of dark eel-skin. Soft and light stepping knee length black leather boots of form fitting snugness. Various pockets and compartments are sewn into her clothing all over her person. Background: There is little and less known about the vespertine warrior Aster, outside of the fact that she's an exiled tribesmen, her past shrouded in mystery. Her name in Kindirin, pronounced Aestera, means Star. Whatever the circumstances of her exile and lowlands sojourn, one thing is perfectly clear, tapped by the Lady herself, Aster is a rising star amongst the shadowy avenues of the underworld.
Skills/Attributes Darkstalkers(Wet Work: Lvl 1; Sneak: Lvl 2)
There are those criminals who are simply far too dangerous, depraved or deranged to be official marks for the general public to pursue. But amongst those who frequent the many locales, dens, and dives of ill-repute in Bakara there are whispers and whispers of whispers of a certain charter. A shadowy document whose contents contain certain information. Those few thieves who know of it simply call it, The List. Let the Law-Keepers fight the good fight, and the Peacekeepers coddle the masses, meanwhile Aster desires something of a far more personal nature. Astarte is a Blackguard, with all the privileges and duties that membership implies. Glint In The Shadows(Infamous: Lvl 0; Dirty Reputation: Lvl 1)
Aster is a criminal professional who survives on cool skill and a carefully crafted reputation alone. She is the consummate warrior thief, and to her, this life is far more than just a job or livelihood, but closely tied to her honor and exile. Her life is a shadow dance, forever following the twists and pitfalls of the Underworld. A life of infamy and fame that will one day carry her all the way to the top or, if she's uncareful, left behind in the dishonored shadows. Infamous criminals use their disparate skills, a larger-than-life persona and natural charisma to survive in the spaces between the light, following the murmurings of commoners and noblemen alike to exert influence and open doors that no one else can. (Gold: 0) Cool-Handed Killer(Combat Technique: Lvl 1)
Blackguards are naturally more unnerving than other thieves or warriors, Aster possesses a Double-Intimidation effect.
Lvl 1. Astera's situational awareness increases, allowing her to notice possible improvised weapons laying around others might overlook. (BPs: 0)
Armor
> Dark Gilascale Jerkin (modifier: 2)
Weapons Mundane
> Fenris - A dagger of steel with a beautiful ram-horn handle. Fenris is etched with the face of a monstrous Jackal, a karambit single-edged blade crescent shaped and ending in an index finger ring handle.
> Sanguine Blade - A silvered dagger with grooves running through the blade and a pommel of hollow crystal. If the pommel is empty, the blade naturally drains the blood of those it wounds to fill it. If filled with a poison or other substance, the blade naturally runs with the liquid and introduces it to the blood of wounded foes.
Spells
Tools of the Trade
- A curious black ledger Aster keeps on her at all times. She's taken to charmingly calling it, "The Bingo Book"
- A large, but damaged bears tooth.
- Copper wire
- Lockpicks
- A single mysterious coin known as a, piece of eight. Has peculiar Kurrian marks denoting its time of minting.
- A long, silk crimson scarf tied in a sash around her waist
"If there's any guy crazy enough to attack me,
I'm going to show him the end of the world—close up.
I'm going to let him see the kingdom come with his own eyes. I'm going to... let the ashes of death rain all over him..."
— Aomame; 1Q84, pg. 164 'The Human Body Is A Temple'
Blood follow'd, but immortal; ichor pure,
....Such as the blest inhabitants of heav'n
....May bleed, nectareous; for the Gods eat not
....Man's food, nor slake as he with sable wine
....Their thirst, thence bloodless and from death exempt
— Iliad V. 364–382
Stats & Facts Name: Camillia du Calmet (keimiə) Titles/Aliases/Nicknames: Princess-Règle; Mia Sex: Female Race: Dhampir (half-vampire/half-human) Age/Height/Weight: Mid twenties (nearly 50; Immortal)/5'10"/140 lbs. Appearance: Remarkable eyes of cherry red with flecks of sapphire, their gaze is as intense as burning flame. They are decorated and covered with dusky eye-shadow and liner. Auburn brown hair, dark and lustrous, streaked with coppery strands at random, it is intermittently strewn with rubies of minuscule size. A heart-shaped face, with slender curving cheekbones and slightly pointed chin. A constant haughty demeanor and a head seeming to always tilt or be carried with a certain hauteur. Perfectly cream toned skin, unblemished and smooth. Fingernails painted with a shimmering moonstone white. Full lips, the shade of pink wildflowers. An alluring, confident scent, heavy and sensual with a bit of bite; a nighttime scent that proceeds Camia everywhere she goes. Apparel: A gown with a body-fitting black lace bodice, sleeveless and bare-shouldered, but lining her shoulders and flaring out into a high fan-like collar which sits above the shoulders and surrounds her neck. A blood red bustier top, squeezing and emphasizing her neckline and décolletage rather nicely. A single round-cut diamond jewel on a thin white-gold necklace hangs just at the throat of her neck. The train of her gown streams in long black silk folds to her feet, which are bare-foot but still remain incredibly clean. Her toes are also painted in white moonstone. A number of toe-rings adorn her feet, and a lone white-gold anklet adorned with moonstones is worn on her left leg. Lastly, a body chain of small golden links slinks up from around her hips and encircles her navel, running the length of her torso, and wrapping around her elegant, prettily slender neck. Background: Unknown at this time. Affiliations: house Calmet; Count Cardalu
Skills/Attributes Blood Canticle
Camillia is one of an extremely rare breed of vampire, a Dhampir (a half-human/vampire hybrid sired by a Scion on a human mother). Like other vampires, she must feed, though the need to do so is lessened. The original Scion vampires were thirteen mythical Archmages and their ilk who sought the Eternal Spirit so long ago. Whatever followed has fallen into shadow, but it is from this origin all modern vampires have sprung. Sharing a common lineage and bloodline, this resulting delineation connects upwards to their Scion ancestor: stems and capillary veins running off from a central heart. What is known to vampire-kind as a Blood Fountain. It is from this powerful source all vampires draw their gifts, the feats and powers that have fueled local legend, and become terrifying realities to the unsuspecting populace of Bakara. Anàthema
The modern guilds and societies have very few limits and tenants that cannot be met, however for a girl like Camia there is just no fun in following those rules. Burning that bridge a long time ago, she is barred from joining guilds or societies, and the feeling is mutual, finding the bonds of their institutions to be just too constricting. Erudition - At one time or other, Camillia was a member of the Fraternity of Mages, and she studied a great deal during that time. In possession of and has the required knowledge to cast spells of advanced levels: 8, 9, and 10. Through A Glass Darkly
Crazed, nihilistic and beautiflly distorted, Cami sees the world just a little differently than you do. Her demeanor will never betray her emotional state, though a coldly controlled anger seethes just beneath the surface always. Cold Flame - Within Camillia is a kiln of ardeur, willfulness and pride. She is aware to any foreign attempts to alter her equilibrium, instinctively raising her natural defenses. When emotionally agitated, her eyes flush deep crimson, and gleam with a cold light. Her bodily charm and magnetism increase, gradually raising her attractiveness and charisma. (The power of this charm is fueled by the Spells used against her). Vampire Lineage
Scion vampires and their kin are creatures of great mental and physical strength, drawing their powers from the spiritual well that runs within their blood and preternatural prowess gained from the Eternal Spirit. Camillia, like all vampires, wield the powers of their bloodlines. Over time a vampire becomes less and less human, and with age their inner spirit matures manifesting physical changes. Entering into a state of change and emerging with new powers or gifts. (Up to WM descretion, A vampire may forgo the act of looting altogether instead choosing to feed their hunger, increasing the spiritual potency and power of their blood). Bloodline Mastery
> Might of Cerberus - Camillia is endowed with great physicality, though nowhere near the levels of her Scion kin, her natural physical strength is Strong.
> Flame Thaumaturgy - Cami is a daughter of Carmilla, an elder Scion vampire and the head of house Calmet. Her clan are descendants of the Flame Alchemist, masters of fire and blazing heat. Pyrokinesis is their natural talent as Lords of Flame, their tool, companion and life's blood. Where people see a burning candle they see much much more.
1 - Natural flames, extreme heat and your own conjured fire refuse to hurt you, their master. You may take hold of non-magical flames with your hands and move them from place to place, your magic fuels them while held.
2 - You may alter your fire spells to instead produce Phantom Flames. Bright red, phantom flames are twice the size of normal flames but burn with negligible heat.
Spells Fire
1 - Char - Release a small burst of red hot cinders from your hand.
2 - Fireball - Summon into your hand a semi-solid ball of flame that does not burn you and can be thrown. On impact it hits with the consistency of water.
Inventory Mundane
Weapons Mundane
> Sacrement - A billao dagger made of some dark red crystalline material. The blade is double-edged, leaf-shaped and asymmetrical. A handle made from the horn of a Latobius Bison, and wrapped in sheepskin, it is carved in the likeness of a hand gripping a bleeding heart as its pommel. -Modifier 3-
I know this will not remain forever //
.... However, it's beautiful.
Your eyes, your hands, and your warm smile, they're my treasure //
.... It's hard to forget.
Stats & Facts Name: Rysa Hawksbank Titles/Aliases/Nicknames: Sex: Female Race: Elf Age/Height/Weight: 17/5'6"/124 lbs. Appearance: Raven hair swept back and tied into interweaving plaits, creating a single heavy midnight black braid. Lovely jade eyes that are smokey and vaporous, constantly beset by rings of dark shadow from nights spent out of doors awake on some hunting stake or scouting mission. The typical knife-edged ears of her race, both pierced by an earring: the left is a quartz charm of a what appears to be a cyclone; the right ear is pierced along the helix by a series of golden hoops. A small thin nose, bone straight and slightly pointed. A smooth and fair complexion, unblemished and perfect. Small laugh lines appear at the corners of a face that seems made to smile, complete with distinguished cheekbones and a very petite chin that fits Rysa rather well. Slender throughout her frame, remarkably athletic, with tightly packed abs and corded muscles but still retaining the curves of womanly form. On the back of her left hand is a stylized Bakaran map tattoo in electric blue ink of rather astonishing detail with all the major landmarks and a small X somewhere in the Kurrian Islands. A scent of the forest, the dirt of fresh earth mixed with wild berries and fauna, mingled with a sweet smelling fragrance that smells of Summer. Apparel: A dark green thigh-length eelskin jerkin, reinforced with leather and inlaid with cloth of gold, close fitting and snug through the hips. The same small pauldrons of steel-stiffened leather Makeda wears, except crested with feathers of red, gold and green. A thick scarf of breathtaking tiger fur wrapped around her neck in loose folds, capable of being pulled up as a hood to protect from the elements or to find a touch of shade. A long-sleeved under tunic of gray wool with studded leather across the arms, tucked into eelskin bracers. Studded brown leather breaches of tough cowhide. Dark green and leather kneepads protect her knees, with calves covered and reinforced with horlin scale greaves that cut off at the ankles to leave her nimble feet bare. A large brown sash crisscrossing her waist, cinched together by a golden rectangle belt buckle and attached with a number of brown utility pouches both large and small. Deerhorn hunting knives sheathed in wood and leather, a gift from Makeda. Background: Rysa was on her own growing up, a refugee elf on the streets of Elexia and not finding any solace in the Port City, she soon hitched a sail and was scrapping out a living in the Kurrs; an urchin, tramp, and all around island vagabond eking out survival on the strength and cleverness of her own skill. How long the elf maid could have lasted in that life is unsure, as a chance encounter between the now twelve year old Rysa and a young Elexian noblewoman turned mercenary by the name of Lupin saw Rysa informally adopted by Makeda's band of fortune seekers and tumble-roughs. With a shrewd captain like Lupin as an adoptive older sisters and a horde of doting uncles made up of Bakara's toughest sellswords combined with the skills she earned surviving in the wilds, Rysa has blossomed into a peerless scout and capable mercenary in her own right. Affiliations: The Boys; Sentinels
Skills/Attributes Feathers Falling From The Sky
Growing up in the wilderness one picks up a few skills. Hunting your own food, for example, becomes essential to your well being but so too does hiding from the more dangerous predators or finding a safe spot to rest your weary head. For Rysa, climbing trees become tantamount to her survival. Whether it was outrunning a territorial three-horned boar sow of Barbudas or just hiding from island toughs on Bon Vivant after knicking food, she was to climbing as a leaf to a tree. Surefooted and dexterous, Rysa has yet to encounter a tree in Bakara she hasn't been able to conquer or sleep in. The Wild Hunt(Hunter's Prowess Level: 0; Score: 0)
There is a skill so ancient and respected it has become a rite of passage in all Bakaran cultures across the East. Old before the the advent of cities or villages it was revered by both gods and mortals, all possessing their own traditions and names for it: The Weald, Herlechin's Troop, The Horsman's Dance, but more readily to modern scholars, what was to become known as The Wild Hunt. Rysa gazed deeply into the true nature of Bakara during her wild youth, and Bakara gazed back. Neither has thus far found the other wanting. Rysa is a full member of the Sentinels Society, with all the duties and responsibilities that implies. Edges of the Weald Minor Barefoot, Fleetfoot - So long as Rysa has some sort of bare skinned connection to the earth or rooted plant life, her reaction time and speed are considerably enhanced.
Weapons Mundane Hawkeye - A peculiar Ironwood bow Rysa has created: a special recurve longbow equipped with a circular augment that utilizes a pulley to string the bow.
1. WindCutter Aug: Augment allows for increased and extended pull with less leverage allowing arrows to fly faster and hit at a higher velocity. Shots taken with this bow are Strong
> Beautiful twin steel hunting knives with deer horn handles
> Dressing knife
Animals Alerion - A rare white gray-spotted Alogean Falcon, Alerion is Rysa's Bondmate. Regal creatures, with fantastic wingspans but smaller than most of their kin, having to survive the threat of larger prey such as Storm Drakes, the falcons of the Alogeans are resourceful and intelligent, able to understand simple commands and even the emotions of their owners to an extant. As a bondmate, Alerion is noble and protective, from the little she has gleaned of her past, she has a close connection to the animus of all living things. Rysa uses her for tracking, reconnaissance, and to help scout for The Boys. They are constant companions.
Accessories Mundane
> A silver star pendant on a mithril chain with the initials: RBH
> An old portrait of a happy Makeda and Rysa surrounded by a motley crew in an island bar front
> Chamois Quiver of wooden arrows strung from the hip, wrapped with The Boys standard: A very detailed Map of Bakara marked with Stars gold defiant on a cerulean field: Pueris Bakara Futatrix
> Falconer's gauntlet
> Archer's tab and leather bracer
> Several bowstrings
> Numerous animal hides with bed roll and furs
> Cured deer jerky and rouse meat for extended time in the wilderness
> A standard company survival package containing trail rations, flint and tinder, a supply of water, and most everything else needed to survival on the march.
It's a Barnum and Baily world,
... just as phony as it can be,
But it wouldn't be make-believe
...... if you believed in me
....... "It's Only a Paper Moon,"
— Billy Rose and E. Y. "Yip" Harburg
Stats & Facts Name: Loire Eiriko Titles/Aliases/Nicknames: Eiri Sex: Female Race: Human (Eastern Islander) Age/Height/Weight: 17/5'4"/116 lbs. Appearance: Exotic and strikingly beautiful, almost disturbingly, though the kind of beauty that isn't derived from any kind of sexual desire, yet there is something about Loire that is plainly arousing and attractive. A small, slightly built and slender framed girl, in proportion to which her full breasts are ridicuously eye catching, and gorgeously shaped, they can be quite distracting. Pale yet warm skin, soft and smooth as silk. Her hair is straight and never-ending, of a black so dark it is darker than jet, with matching finely trimmed eyebrows. Eyes that are slightly off-set, and peculiarly mismatched, one a honeyed amber flecked with green and the other a turquoise flecked with gold. Girlishly thin lips, rosy pink and lacking any ornament or rouge. Lastly, a really charming scent of bamboo, and notes of orange blossoms, somehow mixed with a summer breeze fresh off of the Elexian coast. Apparel: A multi-tiered mage robe, split along each shoulder, where seperate layeres of cloth fall to her legs; it is a lovely pale green, threaded throughout with whirling cloth-of-silver patterns. The center tier has a matching hood, which Loire pulls up on occasion to protect her face from the elements, or just when she feels like it. Worn underneath her robes is a simple white cotton blouse, form fittingly warm. Learning from Myrdrinn that not all magic could be studied from the comfort of a candlelit archive, Loire wears a well-worn pair of pleated tan riding pants, not your typical foppish, ninny mage. Lastly, dark chamois leather boots adorn her feet, with matching gloves. Of note, a single thin silver chain with clasped locket; a silver square ring beset with an abalone round-cut stone on her right ring finger; and a star pendant earring in her left ear, very similar to the Mage Sigil, but more archaic. Background: Loire hails from a distant border nation somewhere close to Cathay. Of royal birth, she was spirited away from her home when her family's lands were overtaken as hostilities erupted and a border war ensued between the larger surrounding lords. Arriving in Elexia with a few loyal retainers, Loire was entered into the Mage Academy when she was little older than an infant. All she has left of her heritage and home is what she could learn from her cadre of protectors, the few royal guard who stayed ashore with her in Bakara to see she was raised properly. Adapting quickly, she was soon a young prodigy, taking the interest of a particular Archmage, she florished under his tutleage, buried in studies of magical theory and history, Loire forgot her home for a time, but no more; finally achieving graduation, the neophyte Taskmage has determined her sojourn is at an end, and readies herself to seek passage home. Affiliations: Mage's Academy (Epicrin); Apprentice of the Archmage Myrdrinn (deceased).
Skills/Attributes Tomefaire
Loire refuses to buy any but the simplest of spells from the scroll peddlers of Bakara. Instead choosing to learn through experience and analysis. Loire has an acute understanding of the nature of any spell she witnesses or feels being cast, especially if those spells directly affect her. Scholarly Interest - Loire can purchase only Level 1 spells from spell shops. The enmity between her and the scroll sellers of Bakara is entirely mutual. (She may learn spells from rare scrolls, though it leaves an unpleasant taste in her mouth.) Blue Magic - Loire's study and erudtion has bestowed her with a canonical memory and commanding knowledge of the Twelve Arts. She can remember each spell during an encounter that she witnesses or experiences being cast. This experience leaves an indelible and permanent measurable effect on her understanding of those spells. The effective base cost of each individual spell is reduced by -2 for each encounter in which Loire has encountered it or by -4 for each encounter in which she was affected by it, down to a minium base cost of 25. Filtered Through Intellect - Loire may return to her study tucked away in the Mage Tower at any time in order to reflect on her experiences and any spell she has commited to memory. She may learn any normally available spell she's encountered by using resources that cost the same amount as the spell, taking into account any discounts given by said exposure. This analysis and close reading has effectively turned Loire's memory into a Legacy Journal for any spell learned in this manner. All other rules regarding learning spells, such as knowledge of lower level spells still apply. A Close Study
Loire's matriculation as a student mage afforded her little else but time to perfect and master the relationship between a caster and the nature of magic. A top student in her graduating class, she never saw the advantage of focusing on one area or Art of study, instead choosing to delve into the interconnectedness of Natural Magic in the Bakaran wilds. This has left her with a focus and deeper understanding of how magic is weaved and expelled through spellcraft. Incanter's Trick - Loire may cast an additional Level 1 Spell per post as long as it doesn't share an Art with any Spell cast during the Encounter. Myrdrinn's Gift(Taskemagery Level: 1; Score: 4)
Myrdrinn was a simple peasant born in the area around Epicrin almost 100 years ago; incredibly long lived, he would become a local folk hero of sorts, legendary Archmage and teacher within the academy. A wizened old codger, he noticed Loire's potential from early on, and was to become her mentor and closest thing to a father figure. It was his guidance that started her down Jhaeros' Path, and it is in her that Myrdrinn's passion for magical study lives on. Through the vast and varied study of learning as many spells across multiple arts as possible, Loire gains a deeper understanding and mastery of the true nature of magic.
- Lvl 1. So long as you know any level 1 spell, you can extrapolate your magical knowedge from that and skip other level 1 spells.
Spells Known Light
1 - Lantern - Create a floating ball of light before you that follows you and lights your way with the intensity of a candle. Earth
1 - Sandblast - Release a burst of rough, scouring sand from your hand. Mind
1 - Translate - Attunes your mind to that of a target speaker, allowing you to understand them no matter what language they are speaking. Bestial
1 - Summon Ermine - Summons forth a white, short-tailed weasel to follow Loire's commands. She's taken to calling him Merlin, and he seems to have the disposition of an old man. Learned Researching
Weapons Magical
> Kusanagi - Loire's Mage Water dagger, a kujang dagger with a silver blade and smooth coral hilt. Can generate ice around its teardrop blade to turn itself into an ice-sword. Mundane
> Chrysalis - A peculiarly large wooden boomerang banded with leather on the tips. Loire carries this on her back, though she's unable to throw it as yet. (Modifier 1)
Various Sundries
- Thin silver chain possessing a clasped locket; contents unknown, Loire rarely opens the clasp, and only in the privacy of her study
- An interesting painted mask, of some sort of character, possibly used in theater
- Lovely green and black lace folded fan threaded with gold
- Base and pestel, along with miscellaneous herbs
- A sagemono which contains a writing brush and ink
- A small inro within her robes to carry her gold
- A beautifully lacquered wooden box with foreign pictograms and calligraphy: contains letters Loire received on her coming of age. Very personal (in her room).
Woodwind Symphony No. 1—At The Run's End A deceptively complex piece that interweaves ten distinct voices, some heroic and proud while others are villainous and twisting. These themes blend together in a turbulent manner, voices dropping out and surging back in a maelstrom of music until at last the villainous leitmotifs have dropped out completely, leaving only the triumphant refrain of the Heroes' Theme.
> Grants Kiku and up to four other allies a regenerative shield for five posts, its strength boosted by the current level of danger they are facing. Once per encounter.
Trust your instincts. If mercy's your aim,
be relentless in your mercy. Be absolute. Be yourself, until you bleed.—
Stats & Facts Name: Susano no Makoto* (Assumed) Titles/Aliases/Nicknames: Susano (Hidden Name) Sex: Male Race: Human Age/Height/Weight: 33/6'0"/176 lbs. Appearance: Unnatural and foreboding locks of hair, tenebrous strands with indigo-dyed tips, like a sheen of living shadow, parted at the front to either side of his head. Pale, ashen skin that is snaked with swirling blood red tattoos, accentuating the musculature all along his shoulders, down his forearms and wrists. The most amazing eyes, orbs of the grandest mien, imbued with an unsullied, inextinguishable light. An extremely mask-like face, painted and adorned to look like a Han'nya, a ghostly demonic entity of unknown origins said to have haunted the Eastern Sea and Kurrian Islands. Dark purple markings line the bridge of his nose and brow. A stern mouth, with very animated lips found often in varying degrees of expression. Susano smells of the Elexian Sea during an autumn storm, wind, salt and gathering clouds. Apparel: A sleeveless haori jacket with a high collar that is always flared, and left open. Embroidered with a scene of storms: crests of crashing waves breaking under the dark clouds of a lightning-filled sky of rain and roaring wind. Underneath is a loose fitting, rare black linen kimono, completely sleeveless. Laced harem style trousers, strung but left loose through the leg. Calf-length boots, layered burlap of a dark blue, lacquered and sealed tight. A horned demon's-head belt buckle, a visage with a leering mouth and splayed tongue. Hands that are wrapped to the wrists with white linen cloth. A non-sheer silk sash, tied and bunny-eared to fall on either side of his waist. Background: It has been many years, but the man cristened Susano, was at first a foreigner in a foreign land, though it is thought that he hailed from somewhere in the Eastern Sea. Little to nothing else is readily known about him. However, one thing that is utterly clear, is his devotion to the Unblinking Eye. Susano possesses the true soul of an Initiate. Affiliations: Infiltrator (Thief/Initiate)
Skills/Attributes
The House of Black and White(Wet Work: Lvl 1; Sneak: Lvl 1)
Susano is one of the most devout. A religious man with a templar-like devotion, one who will put the good of the church before his own well being. It is his duty to see that the secrets of the Thane remain just that, secrets. And nothing is going to stand in his way from doing so, his life be damned. If that means becoming a master at brushing elbows with the criminal underbelly of the five cities, associating with the lowest and deadliest knaves, rogues, and jacks, then so be it. Susano is an Infiltrator, with all the duties and privileges that membership implies.
The Church of the Unblinking Eye is an institution with a clouded and sordid reputation. On the face of it, they are a shadowy and surreptitious order of warrior priests, clergyman, and zealous devotees with questionable motives, but truly, at the heart of their heart, they are protectors; their tenets and mission there to serve the good of Bakara at all costs, even if that means being looked at as bogeymen, manipulators, meddlers and schemers; their burden is to be a preemptive measure against the chaos of the unknown, the secretive plots which threatened to sow discord and dissension amongst the people; but to do this, they fight fire with fire: trading in information and secrets, walking the path between the path to wage their war in the shadows, out of the sight of their former brethren and the altruistic revelations of the Light. The Red Sparrow - The swirling and mercurial eldritch tattoos, blood red markings entwined all over Susano's entire body, radiate throughout his limbs and torso with unknown power. He has learned an indelible enchantment similar to Crystal Dust Incoring, where imbuing his body with the crystal dust gives him a related physical property of the art used. (Traits are limited to a single imbue at a time).
Kusanagi
Dual Spell — Susano is a devout Initiate, a true believer in the heart and essence of church doctrines, in truth, a faithful servant of the Unblinking Eye. Through loyalty and long service, he has been bestowed an exaltation: through ritualistic magic, he has been blessed with arcane power, by utilizing a hidden technique, Susano can summon a deadly rare sword from the murky depths of his inner darkness comprised entirely of the dual elements of Dark/Water, a blade of condensed freezing cold, razor sharp ice and impenetrable shadow.
Faceless Mask - Infiltrators possess an uncanny ability when it comes to creating a spur of the moment disguise. Once per encounter they may alter their voice, accent, facial expressions, posture, gait and mannerisms to project a completely new identity. The persona created this way needs to be fictional, and can never be perfectly replicated due its improvisational nature. This affect is similar to the Impersonate spell, but entirely non-magical and arguably more convincing at concealing the user's true identity.
Accessories Magical The Ebon Compass - An octagon shaped ebony compass, overlaid with the Lidless Eye. It will hum faintly and the needle will point out the general direction of nearby secrets and hidden objects. Multiples of either located in different spots, and the compass will hum more violently and the needle will spin inadvertently in all directions. Mundane
'There is so little beauty in this world, and so much suffering.
Do you suppose that is what God had in mind?
That is to say if there is a god at all.
Perhaps there is nothing in this universe but ourselves. And our thoughts.'
Stats & Facts Name: Renatta Giovana Loren Simoni Titles/Aliases/Nicknames: Giana; Ren Sex: Female... I guess? Or androgynous. Race: Atarin Age/Height/Weight: 30/5'10"/134 lbs. Appearance: Not purely handsome or beautiful, but a strange mixing of the two, somehow appearing both stern and soft. Chiseled highborn cheekbones, a square minutely dimpled chin which is subtly round, a slightly bold nose not quite thin or broad but incredibly straight; a very imperceptible scar running across it. Lips that are dark blue and invitingly soft, a remarkably lighter blue skin tone and complexion with the faintest hint of teal. Stringy and porous hair that is typical of her race, a blue so deep it is almost black, pulled back and tied up into an elegant bun, except along the front where it has been curled into two protrusions much like antennae or horns. Meticulous cared for manicure, with nails kept short but with a narcissistic and razor-sharp fineness. A scent of sea-salt and a floral sweetness, with a faint undertone of sleeplessness, rum, and pleasurable sweat. Apparel: Effortlessly elegant. A reserved grace and manner encompasses every gesture Ren performs. Looking as if it were slept in, but an absolutely incredible brocade jacket of the most pure sapphire blue, large blue buttons all the way to the waist, lapelless but embroidered with a golden stitch throughout: all along two large pockets at the hips, high-collar, buttons, and hem; embellishments of underwater plant life and coral stitched in economic patterns litter the surface, schools of fish and wildlife hidden within the scenes. A white cotton dress-shirt, lace at the wrists and neck. Dark velvet trousers of the finest material, tucked into knee-high leather boots single heeled, and shined to perfection. Background: Giovanna is a member of the Betatide caste, hailing from the very heart of Ataria. She was an avid student of the past, a modern day relic in a stagnant and capricious empire. A quick study of court intrigue, and the cortegiano art of warfare and fighting to be considered a class prodigy, and one of the most celebrated pupils in years. Some thought Ren would rise to the upper echelons of guarding princes and the entourage of senators, but little did they know of the disgust and disdain she felt for everything they represented. Taking her education very seriously, Ren delved into the history of the Merchant Empire, all the way back to its roots. To many teachers and the Atarin senate, this was a taboo, that while their court life was based in theory on the past, actual practicing of those principles should be left as that, to theory and empty ceremonial displays of the kata forms performed and used for birthdays and special functions. Unsatisfied, wearied, and disillusioned, overrun with listless ennui and much of the time alcohol, Ren, in what would be a self-imposed exile from Atarin Society, left for the Bakaran mainlaind in search of something more than mere ceremony and the emptiness of court life. Ren is deeply insightful and a master at controlling emotional queues and nuances that accompany facial expressions, the lessons learned from years mired in politics; lessons that have bestowed her with refined wit and a keen eye for the imperfections of others. Crossing words or swords with her can be as equally deadly.
Skills/Attributes Savage Eloquence
Ren is fully trained in the Cortegiano style of fighting, a warrior poet in total control, an elegant and sophisticated fighter in both warfare and intrigue, just as likely to stab you in the heart as she is to poring out her soul into writing lines of heart-rending verse. As such, Ren is an expert duelist and fully trained fighter that is hell of a lot prettier than you are while doing so, and a hell of a lot more sophisticated too, but she's not one to point out the obvious to pedestrian riffraff, as a member of the Warrior's Society with all the duties and responsibilities that implies, that would be beneath her. A Taste for the Baroque
Showing a level of passion and interest for deep knowledge not encountered in the empire since its golden days of yore, Ren developed an obsession with collecting and discovering countless bits of erudition, quaint knick-knacks, and hidden treasure over the years, most of which were written off as lost or some that had simply gone missing because a régime or faction falling from favor and power changing hands. Alas, you would think a merchant empire would be privy to the art and usefulness of good book keeping. Underworld Leavings - Word tends to spread, and when word gets around, you can be damned sure somebody's heard something. A simple word in the right ear, or a bit of coin in the proper hand, and things tend to shake loose. Ren has intimate knowledge at any given time of the hidden markets and secret shops throughout Bakara. Warrior's Techniques(Level: 1; BPs: 0) Environmental Combat
Lvl 1: Ren has complete situational awareness, allowing her to notice possible improvised weapons laying around others might overlook.
Weapons
> Piumato Luna(Level: 0; LPs: 0) Possessed with a distinct soft curvature, this single-edged and elegant blade is known as the Feathered Moon. Hung in a sapphire sash from Ren's hip; two yellow streamers of ribbon tied just below the circular-hand guard, a hilt of ray skin battle-wrapped with sapphire silk cord, and capped by a bronze Moon being engulfed in crashing waves. The Piumato Luna is a Penne, an ancient style of sword designed for the archaic Atarin fighting art, translated roughly as Bladed Calligraphy. The penne is designed not simply for swordplay, but rather to carve literal runes of power known as Glifo into the air to supplement other attacks. Or so the stories say. Regarded as an artistic display at best and a complete waste of time at worst, any mention of practical in-the-field use for Bladed Calligraphy is treated with minimal respect. For now.
Spells Mind
Lvl 1. Charisma
Lvl 2. Veil
Accessories
> Worn edge-up, the lacquered sheath of Luna recalls the deep waters of the Eastern Sea
> A silk azure and gold stitched swordsman's cloth
> Special oil extract made from a sea anemone
> Blade treatment, used to purify and clean
Other Il Prince, The now rare but legendary and quintessential atarin political treatise on what it means to be a cortegiano, Il Machia, Betatide The Book of the Courtier, The second now legendary and quintessential atarin political treatise, by Caldassare Casatico, Alphatide An Anatomy of Influence, All Renatta has been able to glean and piece together over the years on what it means to be cortegiano. Adapted for present day readers. What Ren one day hopes will be the third legendary and quintessential atarin political treatise, by Renatta Simoni, Betatide Analysis of Perceived Meaning, a series of banned existential philosophies believed to be too esoteric for consumption, now almost impossible to find within the empire. Author unknown. The Disassembly of Reason, a mostly indecipherable book of nihilistic philosophy and questionable authenticity, which Ren enjoys to read and quote from time to time. Before The Fall, A history of the Atarin Merchant Empire.
> Raphael: A very phallic, very smooth coral shaft, about 6" in length, carved to look like a paint brush. 1. Oh, do I really have to spell it out for you.
A little later, remembering manʻs earthly origin,
ʻdust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return,’ they liked to fancy themselves
bubbles of earth. When alone in the fields, with no one to see them, they
would hop, skip and jump, touching the ground as lightly as possible and
crying ʻWe are bubbles of earth! Bubbles of earth! Bubbles of earth!’
—Flora Thompson, Lark Rise pg. 32
Stats & Facts Name: Valióna Marie Serwyn Titles/Aliases/Nicknames: Óna; Lady of Evenfrost; Daughter-heir of Gwynalendra Sex: Female Race: Human/Feynette (¼-Human/¼-Unseelíe/½-Fenette) Age/Height/Weight: Regal (18ish)/5'4"/102 lbs. Appearance: Supernatural and preternaturally fair, almond-shaped and remarkably deep-blue eyes that seem to be eternally sad. Silvery-blonde hair like sheets of water, tenuously floating and parted to either side, streaming elegantly to her shoulders. An earnest and oval-shaped face with bashful high-cheekbones and a small dimpled chin that is quite adorable. Ivory skin tinged with a slightly bluish-hue, it is incredibly cold to touch. Perfect cupid-bow lips. They are dyed red and outlined by a silver shimmer. A figure that might have been born from a Bard's tale, impossibly petite and yet amply curvaceous. A bosom like softly rolling hills, snow-capped and lined by tiny veins of blue. An hourglass frame and hips that flow into slender legs of unseemly length. Nails that are extremely hard like Diamonds, they are all about ½ an inch and never grow. A scent that smells like the first flurry of snowflakes on the air, a frozen waterfall, and a peculiar scent that reminds you of youth. Apparel: A magnificent airy confection of a gown made of silver chiffon with a backless and strapless black bodice top crisscrossing her bosom in folds. It is sequined to a point with astonishingly lustrous Faërwater Pearls as to appear entirely white and opalescent except along the borders where black bands still appear. This is attached to an incredibly sheer and flowing pleated skirt which is cinched tightly by a turquoise sash tied into a huge bow along her lower back. Two teardrop pearl earrings that match her sequined top. Inky black heels of about 4" adorn her feet, they are the current height of Sylvan fashion. Lastly, a wicker parasol with black silk cloth fabric embroidered with scenes of a winter hedgemaze and statues, each stitch is packed with a tinier scene of a microcosom of activity, little faces peering out at you the longer you look more deeply. Background: Val is a Sylvan aristocrat and a Fey noble, she's also a half demon, a subject you will soon find is an embarrassing topic for her should you untactfully broach the subject of her birth. Benevolent and caring, she has a deep empathy for things, but little else can be gleaned about the girl besides her personality and race, of that though it is clear she is someone of immense magical heritage. Affiliations: Mages
Skills/Attributes Portrait Of The Lady As A Young Demoness
Empathic. Ethereal. Magical. Charming. Enchanting. Valióna is a painting of Nature brought to life, a portrait that is Pure and Lovely as silver moonlight striking the frosted pool on a Winter's night. Valióna is an elemental creature, naturally nocturnal, her power and beauty derive from the very fabric of Bakara itself, her nature enhanced by the damaging cold and shadows of the dark and night. Her physical Strength level is Weak. Lunar Eclipse - Óna is imbued with a primal magnetism, an innate charisma so powerful that it affects the very environment around her, imbuing her with a weak Perception effect based on her beauty and desirability that draws the eye like filings to a lodestone. When in darkness natural or artificial, this power manifests itself into an Aura of silvery light around her whose properties are based on her Inner Spirit and personality. The Art of Quintessence
Through rigorous study and practice, and intense melding of the principals of Mind and Spirit Valióna has discovered a unique interconnectedness between the two arts, she can, upon learning a spell of either art, extrapolate knowledge of the other instead of the typical branch of progression. (For example, learning level 1 Mind can build into a level 2 Spirit, but once assigned a path, no longer level 2 Mind and vice versa. This has the side effect of Spirit or Mind being able to level up their respective knowledge bases. As a result of this deep study, and Óna's magical nature, she is only able to learn Mind and Spirit magics.) Gifts Ungiven A strong telepath, Valióna is the daughter of two magically gifted races of memory, emotions, and feeling, making Óna a twice gifted empath and Mind mage. To her, thoughts and memories are tangible things, ready to be plucked or read like a page in a book, they create waves that emanate into the world, reverberating like mental percussions, they echo and they ripple as would a drop in a pond. Some gifted Mind mages may attune themselves to these emanations, touching others' minds with their own and reading these hidden depths.
Lvl 1. You learn to pick the echoes of those nearby apart from the background noise, the echoes of echoes. You can always tell roughly how many people are in an area.
Lvl 2. You learn to recognize echoes related to you, and can pick out who and where they are coming from. However, the nature of those thoughts is still unclear to you.
Weapons Magical Basanos - Óna's black parasol with the winter courtyard, depicting an ancient castle. The tip contains her Mage dagger.
1. Mind - A steel rapier dagger. Parrying a weapon with this dagger instills a subtle suggestion your attacker's mind that their weapon is useless. The more you parry any given weapon, the stronger the compulsion to stop using it and switch to another weapon or just fight unarmed becomes.
Sundries
> A large portrait of immense virtuosity and skill of an aristocratic woman who strikingly looks like Óna or someone very close to her. Kept in a gilt frame in her room at the Academy.
> A silver and sapphire-inlaid vanity kit: containing various things from a small ornate mirror with an enchanted ice surface, hair combs and picks, sapphire encrusted stickpins and broaches; various rouge and powders.
> Tales of Bale the Bard, An old book of indecipherable poems and verse as far as anyone else can tell, but something Óna cherishes and seems able to read just fine.
> A small sphere that is painfully cold and filled with a tiny globe of water
Who is this Woman that beckoneth and warneth me from the Place where she is, and in whose Eyes is Woeful remembrance?
I guess who she is — "memorials of a love that has departed, has been — the record of a sorrow that is...."
from Thomas De Quincy's, Suspiria de profundis
Stats & Facts Name: Levana Titles/Aliases/Nicknames: Levana le Fay Sex: Female Race: Human/Fey (½-Wild Fey) Age/Height/Weight: Pernicious (ageless adult) /5'9"/105 lbs. Appearance: A Dark woman. Dusky hair enfolds her head as if it were a death shroud, tenebrae tresses manifesting like pure darkness, and caressingly falling to her waist; teased into a coiffure of regality and a single Sylvan-style plait of sheer silky magnificence. Of an age that is impossible to place; she at times appears old enough to be your mother, other times appearing maidenly enough to be a youthful crush, the effect is quite unnerving. She is a sprite, an apparition appearing human but with a presence that is unsettlingly real. Ghostly pale, and eerily surreptitious. Eyes that are a band of liquid jealousy, green and clear as crystalline glass; elegant hands with long spindly fingers naturally sharp-nailed. Levana smells faintly of burnished oils, a more pronounced fragrance of anise, and a spike of crushed Faëblossom, and the scent of a jealous lover. Apparel: Bedraped from head to foot in black finery. A tremendous gown, with a torso hugging, strapless velvet bodice, her shoulders are wrapped in a shimmering silvery drape with the fluidity of flowing water where it sits atop her bosom; intertwined on her left shoulder with the pelt and mane of an aslanyr. A giant circular silver belt buckle is nestled at her pelvis, its surface etched with tiny faces of faeries hidden in the foliage and underbrush. Her hips are ensnared by a pastel purple sash embroidered with a number indecipherable runes, it falls all down to her feet and runs around her back to cinch back into her belt buckle. The gowns train is completely sheer, a mass of pleated folds that when moved reveal her legs underneath. Black laced sandals, open-toed and free, golden charms run up and down the thong and clasp at her ankle. Background: The girl known as Daria is a former house slave of the Seelíe Court. Fathered by a human man on a minor fey, he was either an adventuresome fool, or a passing mage of tremendous irresponsibility, or both. Whatever the case, he saw fit to abandon his family and the newly pregnant mother of his child. Left at the mercy of the royal court, Daria grew up confined in their service. Watching her mother slowly waste away from overwork and neglect. There is little and less known about her life after her mother passed away. However, upon discovering a natural penchant of magical abilities, for a short while at least, she was adopted and raised by one of the noble families of the Seelíe Queen herself. But after this, following a string of disasters, and unexplained deaths, Daria disappeared, along with a few significant items of note. That was many years ago. Affiliations: Oathbreaker (Mage/Thief); her personal sigil is a black rose held by a pale bleeding hand.
Skills/Attributes Woeful Remembrance
Flowers are naturally beautiful. They grow, and they bloom under Mother Nature's grace, carefully cultivated by her hand into flourishing petaled-rainbows. But when the steward's hand that guides is bent towards malevolence, what form is left the resulting blossom to assume? Fleur du Mal - 2x Negative Charisma based on unsettling aura and fear. Solitude In Childhood
Daria saw years of abandonment and malnutrition, which destroyed much of any nurturing comforts and the natural growth of childhood. Mistrust, and cleverness were her allies. She led a life of solitude, and when she could, took comfort in reading anything that fell into her hands or anything that wasn't tied down. However, the oppressed can only remain oppressed so long, eventually something gives. In her case, she chose to live. And ever carefully formed a daring plan of escape, and patiently waited for the day in which she could break her bonds. Demoiselle - Weak; Immune to Emotion altering spells and effects. The Witching Hour(Lockpicking: Lvl 1)
Dark deeds, darkly answered: Levana's obsessions and compulsive-level of interest in acquiring the most obscure of arcanery and magical artifacts has lead her down a shadowy path of endless pursuit, one that has crossed paths with the Criminal Underworld of the Elexian Thieves guild; bringing her ever closer to achieving the covetous wish that is her heart's desire--utter supremacy over magical sovereignty. Eye of Avarice - Ability to sense items with strong magics within your visual range, they give off an aura of orange light.
Goetia: Spells and Sorceries Artless
Lvl 1. Void - Passive. Creates a pocket dimension you can access at any time, allowing you to seem to store or retrieve items from thin air. 1. Contains The Grim Grimoire Bestial
1 - Chakosan Moths - Summons a dozen flittering insects that trail irritating glowing golden dust motes which cause watery and allergic eye irritation.
2 - Fen-tailed Raven - Almaric: Summon a glossy black bird native to the Elexian coast, medium sized with a razor-sharp beak. It blends easily with shadows, and is intelligent enough to retrieve small items. Body
1 - Center Passive. Your body's mass shifts itself to alter your center of gravity, allowing you to keep your balance in most situations. Fire
1 - Ignite - Snap your finger to cause a very small intense burst of heat in a spot you are looking at. Can be used to start a small fire if used on highly flammable materials.
Malleus Maleficarum Magical The Grim Grimoire(Score: 0; Relic: 0)
The magical Tome stolen by the girl feyling, Daria from the Seelíe Court. However, it is clearly a mortal item, an immense Spellbook inscribed with an Elvish legend: Suspiria de profundis. The volume's origins are unknown, as well as how it ended up in the hands of the Fey. It is magnificently old, and quite dusty, possibly hundreds of years old. Leather bound in deep black, the cover itself possesses a mercurial nature: mutable, it will most oft appear pitch black, but if watched for a time, becomes marked with strange eldritch symbols of five alternating powers cycling into an array of 12 different colored glyphs. It is clasped by a silvered archaic version of the Mages sigil.
1 - Velleity & Reality: Spell scrolls can be absorbed into the Grimoire, making it a Legacy Journal. This prevents mind altering effects from inhibiting Levana's ability to remember or cast spells. Required Score: 1
2 - A New Mimesis: The tome's pages begin to reveal their secrets, and a chapter regarding one of the first attempts at creating the Modern Arts becomes legible. Levana may choose Sun, Flesh, Intangible, Realm, Unseen, or Fluid Magics. She learns a corresponding ancient spell from the chosen Lost Art, encompassing aspects of multiple Modern Arts. Required Score: 3
3 - Quickening: Three times per encounter Levana may Prism a spell stored in the Grimoire to one of the Lost Arts whose chapter has so far appeared. Increasing its strength and adding various Arted aspects. Required Score: 5
4 - Proto-Energies: A second chapter regarding one of the first attempts at creating the Modern Arts becomes legible. Levana may choose one of the five yet chosen arts, learning an ancient spell from that school. Required Score: 7
5 - Sources of Magic: More becomes clear to Levana, and a middle chapter regarding the first attempts at creating the Modern Arts becomes legible. Levana may choose one of the four yet chosen Lost Arts, learning an ancient spell from that school. Required Score: 9
6 - Deep Knowledge: The books dissection of the working of the Modern Arts allows Levana to extrapolate and apply that knowledge to non-spell ends. Any level 5 or higher spell stored in the Grimoire grants Levana access to one of the two skills or recipes in the matching tome. Required Score: 11
7 - Portals, Gateways & Dimensionality: A central chapter regarding one of the first attempts at creating the modern arts becomes legible. Levana may choose one of the three yet unchosen Lost Arts, learning an ancient spell from that school. Required Score: 13
8 - Arcane Insights: An obscure chapter regarding one of the first attempts at creating the Modern Arts becomes legible. Levana may choose one of the two yet unchosen arts. She learns an ancient spell of one the two remaining Lost Arts. Required Score: 15
9 - Leylines & Focii: The penultimate chapter regarding one of the first attempts at creating the Modern Arts becomes legible. Levana learns an ancient spell of the remaining unchosen Lost Art. Required Score: 17
10 - Abjuration & Protection: The very final chapter of the Grimoire becomes legible, regarding the casting aside of the Ancient Magics and need for Modern Arts. What is revealed here is beyond even Levana's direst dreams. Required Score: 19
Palimpsest de Magique — A single manuscript torn from a magical Tome, rolled and placed onto a scroll. The page is lined with overlapping script that has long since faded into obscurity. Each is a line of power, pulsing with a constant thrum of forgotten magic. The page acts like a Zircon, and natural medium for Entwining magics. The Palimpsest can absorb a single spell that is repeatedly cast into it, to be released at a later time. Whatever Art was last charged, leaves behind a trace of magic, which prisms the next absorbed spell. 1. Seal: Ignite 2. Memory Imprint - Fire
Weapons Magical Occuria - Spirit dagger. 'Our Lady of Sighs' is a bronze kila dagger, hilt and pommel resembling a hand holding a black rose. Those wounded with it bleed not only blood, but life-force, weakening and tiring them over time, even if their body is healed, dependent on the severity of the wound. The effect lasts until the end of the encounter.
Items of Significance Magical
> Eldritch Chitin – The carapace of the spiderlegs of the Chimera. Contains potent Creation magic. Can be forged into magical armor. Modifier 4. Mundane
> A set of lock picking tools
Stats & Facts
Name: Alvina Adaeze (aH-dai-ZEY)
Titles/Aliases/Nicknames: Vina
Sex: Female
Race: Ogofta (Nzumbe)
Age/Height/Weight: 30/6'0"/143 lbs.
Appearance: Beauteous teak skin, the color of melted chocolate. Alvina is an exotic ogoftan beauty, her entire body is a wash with a golden sheen, her skin burnished by numerous scented oils. Almond-shaped eyes that are like generous jewels; they are filled with a pregnant aura that speaks of a marrow deep loss in her life; they contain a constantly haunting erudition, which is mesmirizing but also quite unsettling; their color is most peculiar--pale orbs of pearl, banded by veins of a rainbow color, a natural result of light refraction. A nose that is prominent, aquiline yet straight and quite attractive. Lips that are full and the color of warm honey, they are banded by an outline of glittery olive powder. The strangest snowy-white hair, though it's not prematurely aged, whether natural or dyed, it is impossible to tell; the top is a lone mane of tenuous tresses, wavy and falling back to her shoulders; however the left side is completely shaved to a fuzz, where a number of melanistc leopard spots can be seen along her scalp. Alvina smells of cherry and spices of cinnamon, strong notes of amber intermingled with cocoa, and lasting undertones of incense smoke.
Apparel: A thinly braided-circlet of silver and ivy adorns her head, coming to a single peak just below her hairline in the front; a single trillion-cut diamond sits. The most gorgeous silk gown of lavender, with a pleated skirt and train, and belted by a yellow silk overlay. A tremendous cloak of giant black leopard, which hugs her body tightly, the hood is a fearsome and regal panther's head. Golden arm-bands and jewelry around her biceps, silver and gold bracelets around both wrists. Practical and plain, but well-kept nails. Sandals of corded brown leather that have seen much use but are still in good repair.
Background: Yejide the panther, a dream within the dream. Alvina honors this person. It is what drives her. Her reason for living so that others may live. Alvina is Nzumbe. To the Ogofta, she is both respected and feared. What is a life that serves no purpose, which is itself purposeless? It is an unnatural thing, a crime, and a wrong. Life should possess meaning, and drive, even the wildest and lowest of animal-kind are not without purpose. However, while theirs is pure instinct alone, sentience demands that man and woman serve as they so choose. This is what Alvina lives for, she searches and seeks out those Ogofta who have lost their purpose in life, but have not become Nzumbe, such as she. Her calling has imbued her for this, with a certain vocation as she calls it, named Ennui. Alvina may perform an emotional transference and bestow it upon a person. This is her calling, as she sees it, her one and only duty.
Affiliations: Mage
Skills/Attributes
Snows and Skies of Laughter
Moon's Eye
Alvina exists because Yejide is no more. She has no memory of this, or her former shamanistic and warrior life, and the need to hunt has left her spirit forever. But as to why that is, even she could not fain to tell you even if it was within her power to do so; Alvina is Alvina, and has always been naturally herself. Ogoftan culture still being young amidst the Eastern cities, a mysterious and many layered world yet to be deciphered by the people's of Bakara, this might seem odd, but to Alvina it is perfectly clear. Vina couldn't tell you anything even if she wanted to; what she would tell you, is based on experience alone. Her life is driven, and it is life itself that is the basis for this drive. She feels protected, blesséd even, by a force both outside and within. Her spirit is fueled by a higher purpose, and life's fulfillment to is to help those who have none; Alvina was endowed from her earliest memory with the power to drive others towards something else; amongst her people, they have said her eye is the light of the Moon, illumining the beauty of the world in silvery light amidst the darkness of their jungle home. Vina is painfully and sensitively aware of the brevity and impermanence of all things, beauty in endless hues; her eyes are effortlessly discerning, able to penetrate the very fabric of things, and peer behind the veil to see the truth in things. Her light is that eternal light of the Moon, always awake, forever observing, life and its unpredictable infinite patterns.
Infinite Tsukuyomi: Alvina is able to see the veil between the waking world and the Spirit world effortlessly, her eyes she both at the same time, though to her it is never confusing, it has always been this way. She can naturally discern between living beings and spirits, though she as yet cannot speak with the dead. Alternatively, she can see through physical illusions created by spells or abilities, and they have no affect on her eyes. Mental or Mind magic affect her as normal.
Spells
Mind
1 - Translate - Attunes your mind to that of a target speaker, allowing you to understand them no matter what language they are speaking.
Light
1 - Tint - Filter the light emanating from an object in order to change the overall coloration of the item to the eyes.
Dual: Mind/Light
Lvl 1. Tsuki no Me - Through a combination of light and mind magics, draw a targets attention and mind to a subject. If the subject is a person, the target understands words spoken by them as if they were in the target's native tongue.
Accessories
Magical
>
Weapons
Magical
Mundane
>>Mage Dagger -
Currency
200 gold
To live is to hope, and while we breathe, we hope and live.
To live is to hope, and while we breathe, we hope and live.
Stats & Facts
Name: Leukothèa Nereusia Galatine
Titles/Aliases/Nicknames: Thèa
Sex: Female
Race: Mer/Atarin
Age/Height/Weight: Early twenties/5'7"/136 lbs.
Appearance: A slyphish face of enchanting beauty, Leukothèa is pure warmth. A girl of nineteen or twenty, with a pleasingly gentle demeanor and an elegance that are refreshing; grace itself seems to permeate her every movement, down to the most minute flick of an eyelash or the simplest gesture. Thèa's possession of unparalleled charm was said to be her's from birth; her attractiveness an inherent part of her spirit. When still a toddler, she would run her mother's household without the ability to yet speak, only using her gentle little arms and the ease of command in her expressions to indicate her needs. The mixings of atarin and dryadic heritage, along with her Mer bloodline has given Thèa a complexion that is wholly unique, and remarkable; with the sheen of a pearl tinged a pale icy-blue, but yet remaining nacre and white, always shifting in a constant undulation of different hues when caught in a certain light. Voluminous and wavy hair, glittering electric-blue, her tresses fall down below her shoulders. Big, pastel-green eyes which shine faintly with a luminescent light; a membrane of protective film occasionally flashes over her eyes if she blinks rapidly enough, this protection keeps her eyes from drying out when out of water, and also allows her vision when underwater even with limited light. A small but well-formed nose, bone straight except for a slight upturning at the end; lips and mouth of supple pliancy, easily forming into smiles, they are full and womanly, cupid's bow top and an ever so slight bottom that tends to pout every so often. A body of curvaceous lines, sinuously S-rounded hips and a demoiselle waist perfectly hour-glass. Thèa smells like the tropics, faintly of salt air on the sea, and a minor base note of white grapes.
Apparel:
Background:
Affiliations:
Skills/Attributes
Boundless As The Sea Is Infinite, As The Soul Is Deep
Thèa's spirit is a completely unique union of magical nature, the mixing of mortal and immortal being alike to form something wholly new. Her spirit is a mass of the deep endless waters of the Elexian Sea, where thus far, amongst its endless depths, only myths and legends were born. Leukothèa is the embodiment of this world, her grace and charm a representation of Bakara's hidden beauties, and she possesses twice the natural charisma as normal.
Galatèasian Splendor: Through the constant pulse of her inner spirit, whenever Leukothèa gains a Charisma effect, she immediately is empowered in the process, gaining new traits and benefits which empower her current level of Emergence. The maximum number of Charisma effects Thea may possess is 1 + the current level of her Emergence, where 1 is her natural Charisma. However, this unique relationship with her spirit is a part of her physiology, a perculiar symbiosis that limits Thèa's ability to cast spells, resulting in her ability to only learn and cast Spirit, Mind or Water magics. (While employing Charisma effects, either passive or active, additional Emergence traits become active relative to the amount of Thèa's current Charisma level.)
Iridescence (Lvl. 2; Charisma Score: 2)
Leukothèa's beauty is unquestionable. Her spirit is a force of primal Bakara, natural and immense. Her entire being is made up of elemental forces, from deep within her heart to the very surface, her life-force is volatile like the tides. This glamour envelopes Thèa in pristine iridescence. Her body and skin are encrusted all over with shimmering microscopic jewels a veritable cornucopia of rainbow hues. Her spirit exudes incredible spiritual pressure like the pull of the oceans, the volatility of her heritage crashing like waves to the ebb and flow within her, all pulsing to reach the surface, bringing out her inner nature and turning Thèa into the very embodiment of her Mer spirit.
Lvl. 1 - The crystalline scaling on Thèa's hands can be engorged to giving her control over ice and water, her hands are water tight and may slide through solid ice as if it were warm water. She has a natural flow effect over water she lifts in this way.
Splendour - The crystalline scaling on Thea's hands can be made to shimmer in the light, drawing closer attention to her hand movements.
Lvl. 2 - The crystalline scaling on Thea's arms can be imbued with the strength of waves, her pushes and pulls are made with an additional strength level and her bare-handed blows are slightly disorienting.
Splendour - The wave like movement of Thea's arms increases the potency of any effect (such as bardic dances) based on her movement.
Spells
Spirit
1 - Mark - By contact you can mark a person's aura which manifests in a glowing rune on their brow. Allows you to sense their presence. Can only have two people marked at a given time.
2 - Peer - You are able to see and decipher other people's auras, revealing their emotions.
Water
1 - Filter - Wave your hand over up to a gallon of water to remove any minor impurities from it. Cannot undo potions, effects would be unpredictable.
Mind
1 - Translate - Attunes your mind to that of a target speaker, allowing you to understand them no matter what language they are speaking.
Accessories
Magical
> Fathom - A pearl encrusted coral mirror, gilted gold and heart-shaped. Its surface is roiling, always filled with under water scenes, and in someway tied to the waters of the Elexian Sea.
Weapons
Magical
Mundane
>>Ogygia - Thea's glass dagger she received as a gift from her mother on her 15th nameday. A duo of snakes make up the guard with a serpentine blade and smooth coral hilt ending in a pommel capped with a stone of sapphire. - Modifier 2 -
Currency
0 gold
To live is to hope, and while we breathe, we hope and live.
Stats & Facts
Name: Havana Beatriz Bernardt
Titles/Aliases/Nicknames: Ana; Sarsaparilla Anne aka "Black Sass"; Letita; Tía Obeah; the Terror of Tortugos; or more commonly in various circles as, "That buccaneer wench!" and a popular favorite of hers, "You mean that scantily-clad scallywag!?"
Sex: Female
Race: Human (Elexian urchin/Sylvan-Kurrian admixture)
Age/Height/Weight: 30/5'9"/126 lbs.
Appearance: Tawny and beautiful, a complexion of light but still swarthy color. Eyes that are tempted with constant mischief and adventure, filled with playfullness most times but having that special air and quality of disparateness when Ana is roused to anger or a situation calls for a more serious nature. For pirate royalty, she doesn't like to wear a lot of jewels, except for her ears; her left helix is bedazzled, encrusted and pierced by an array of gold hoops and rings, the lobe is pierced by a skull-and-crossbones with one ruby and one sapphire gemmed eye; her right ear is tattooed on the upper scapha by a black 'P', and is pierced by a single large emerald, the gem set in a golden tortoise. Ana smells faintly of pine tar, mixed with an undercurrent of palm trees, a spike of pineapple, coconut, and bananas--and somehow, always one of the Eastern Trade-winds.
Apparel:
Background: Ana Bernardt was born on the streets of Elexia to poverty and destitution. Her mother was part Sylvan and part Kurrian, and was said to possess a bewitching exotic beauty. This was probably what led to Anne's birth, as her father was an Elexian lord of some repute, or so her mother always told her. Ana looked up to her mother tremendously, and as part of her childhood, her mother would tell her stories about her papa, and how he was a trader and seaman; but the stories she really loved were always about the history of the Kurrs. Originally hailing from Tortugos, and having studied under a vodun priestiess in her youth before coming ot the mainland, Ana's mum knew a lot of the lore and history of the Eastern Sea and Kurrian Isles. Most of these stories were filled with romance and adventure, tales of thieves, pirates, swashbucklers and buried treasure. More importantly, they kept a young Anne distracted from an empty belly, or from asking where her papa was, and why wasn't he with them? It wouldn't be until many years later, after the death of her mother, that she finally was to discover the truth, that her father was actually a respected Elexian noble and famous privateer; the rest of that story, however, has Ana kept locked away in her soul to this very day.
Affiliations: the Kurrs; Kurrian Pirate-Lords, and smugglers and blackhearts everywhere.
Skills/Attributes
(Black)heart of Gold
Pact of the Pirate-Lords (Pact: 0; Gold: 0)
Acquisitions and Merchandise - Contraband
Weapons
Magical
> Hispaniola - This lucky little lady is a unique and very well-crafted and cared for flintlock pistol of surpassing beauty, Ana charmingly refers to as 'Niola'. The hammer is silvered brass, and in the shape of a mischevious winkining woman, sighing and writhing in orgiastic pleasure. The handle and barrel are beautiful solid oak, filigreed with brass scrollwork drawn as roiling waves of the sea.
Lucky Sevens: A specially modified barrarel and firing mechanism combines black powder with 7 uniquely entwined firing seals, allowing the pistol to shoot modified magical projectiles once per post, and each seal oncer per encounter, unless otherwise noted. The seals will reform overtime (About Oncer per Encounter unless a WM discretion notes otherwise).
1. Damn Yer Eyes! -
2. Batten tha' Hatches -
3. As The Crow Flies -
4. Shiver-Me-Soul -
5. Powderkeg O' Monkeys -
6. Cardinal Rose -
7. Seven Hells -
Mundane
> Puer Aeternus - Known as Pan's Blade, this is a very old sword, yet there is narry a nick in the metal, it remains fresh as the day it was forged. An intricate basket-hilt in the like of a seashell--legend has that its shimmering scale encrusted guard are the scales of mermaids. Exactly how it fell into the hands of a brigand pirate and blackheart like Ana is anyone's guess. It is a master worked sword, probably originally of atarin make, but with a straight double-edged rapier like blade, instead of the modern penne blades the cortegiano are famous for.
Spells
Plunder and Booty
> Majesty - A much faded, frayed but still beautiful blue pirate hat with a lighter blue feather jauntily stuck into it; golden tassels hanging back along the brim, with a tarnished silver circlet, which looks to be missing some jewels, sitting comfortably atop.
Treasure
200 gold
To live is to hope, and while we breathe, we hope and live.
To live is to hope, and while we breathe, we hope and live.
Stats & Facts
Name: Astarte /æˈsterra/
Titles/Aliases/Nicknames: Astera Faen; Dark-Star
Sex: Female
Race: Kindir
Age/Height/Weight: 27/6'0"/156 lbs.
Appearance: Green eyes of shocking clarity and depth, some have called them bewitching. The familiar sharp, long ears of her people. Ear-length locks of silvery-blond hair that it's almost white, short bangs touch her forehead, but for the most part, it's tied into a ritualistic top-knot and kept out of much of her face. A lengthy build and body of well-corded muscle, athletic but still maintaining a graceful manner. Aster has a smooth, listless way of speaking like slow dripping honey. Her gestures too, could be considered lackadaisical, but all of this to lull those around her into a false sense of safety and security. A single minuscule tattoo of a bleeding rose is inked on her neck right below the underside of her left earlobe. Wonderfully shaped cupid's bow top lip, with a full and voluptuous bottom, a touch of powder but mostly unadorned. A scent of roses with notes of mountain air mixed lightly with Aster's sweat, though altogether sweet smelling.
Apparel: Hide and scale leather jerkin from an enormously large Gila, veined throughout by a blood-red pattern. A single gold earring that resembles a falling star. Sleek skintight pants of dark eel-skin. Soft and light stepping knee length black leather boots of form fitting snugness. Various pockets and compartments are sewn into her clothing all over her person.
Background: There is little and less known about the vespertine warrior Aster, outside of the fact that she's an exiled tribesmen, her past shrouded in mystery. Her name in Kindirin, pronounced Aestera, means Star. Whatever the circumstances of her exile and lowlands sojourn, one thing is perfectly clear, tapped by the Lady herself, Aster is a rising star amongst the shadowy avenues of the underworld.
Skills/Attributes
Darkstalkers (Wet Work: Lvl 1; Sneak: Lvl 2)
There are those criminals who are simply far too dangerous, depraved or deranged to be official marks for the general public to pursue. But amongst those who frequent the many locales, dens, and dives of ill-repute in Bakara there are whispers and whispers of whispers of a certain charter. A shadowy document whose contents contain certain information. Those few thieves who know of it simply call it, The List. Let the Law-Keepers fight the good fight, and the Peacekeepers coddle the masses, meanwhile Aster desires something of a far more personal nature. Astarte is a Blackguard, with all the privileges and duties that membership implies.
Glint In The Shadows (Infamous: Lvl 0; Dirty Reputation: Lvl 1)
Aster is a criminal professional who survives on cool skill and a carefully crafted reputation alone. She is the consummate warrior thief, and to her, this life is far more than just a job or livelihood, but closely tied to her honor and exile. Her life is a shadow dance, forever following the twists and pitfalls of the Underworld. A life of infamy and fame that will one day carry her all the way to the top or, if she's uncareful, left behind in the dishonored shadows. Infamous criminals use their disparate skills, a larger-than-life persona and natural charisma to survive in the spaces between the light, following the murmurings of commoners and noblemen alike to exert influence and open doors that no one else can.
(Gold: 0)
Cool-Handed Killer (Combat Technique: Lvl 1)
Blackguards are naturally more unnerving than other thieves or warriors, Aster possesses a Double-Intimidation effect.
Lvl 1. Astera's situational awareness increases, allowing her to notice possible improvised weapons laying around others might overlook.
(BPs: 0)
Armor
> Dark Gilascale Jerkin (modifier: 2)
Weapons
Mundane
> Fenris - A dagger of steel with a beautiful ram-horn handle. Fenris is etched with the face of a monstrous Jackal, a karambit single-edged blade crescent shaped and ending in an index finger ring handle.
> Sanguine Blade - A silvered dagger with grooves running through the blade and a pommel of hollow crystal. If the pommel is empty, the blade naturally drains the blood of those it wounds to fill it. If filled with a poison or other substance, the blade naturally runs with the liquid and introduces it to the blood of wounded foes.
Spells
Tools of the Trade
- A curious black ledger Aster keeps on her at all times. She's taken to charmingly calling it, "The Bingo Book"
- A large, but damaged bears tooth.
- Copper wire
- Lockpicks
- A single mysterious coin known as a, piece of eight. Has peculiar Kurrian marks denoting its time of minting.
- A long, silk crimson scarf tied in a sash around her waist
Currency
15 gold
To live is to hope, and while we breathe, we hope and live.
Stats & Facts
Name: Camillia du Calmet (keimiə)
Titles/Aliases/Nicknames: Princess-Règle; Mia
Sex: Female
Race: Dhampir (half-vampire/half-human)
Age/Height/Weight: Mid twenties (nearly 50; Immortal)/5'10"/140 lbs.
Appearance: Remarkable eyes of cherry red with flecks of sapphire, their gaze is as intense as burning flame. They are decorated and covered with dusky eye-shadow and liner. Auburn brown hair, dark and lustrous, streaked with coppery strands at random, it is intermittently strewn with rubies of minuscule size. A heart-shaped face, with slender curving cheekbones and slightly pointed chin. A constant haughty demeanor and a head seeming to always tilt or be carried with a certain hauteur. Perfectly cream toned skin, unblemished and smooth. Fingernails painted with a shimmering moonstone white. Full lips, the shade of pink wildflowers. An alluring, confident scent, heavy and sensual with a bit of bite; a nighttime scent that proceeds Camia everywhere she goes.
Apparel: A gown with a body-fitting black lace bodice, sleeveless and bare-shouldered, but lining her shoulders and flaring out into a high fan-like collar which sits above the shoulders and surrounds her neck. A blood red bustier top, squeezing and emphasizing her neckline and décolletage rather nicely. A single round-cut diamond jewel on a thin white-gold necklace hangs just at the throat of her neck. The train of her gown streams in long black silk folds to her feet, which are bare-foot but still remain incredibly clean. Her toes are also painted in white moonstone. A number of toe-rings adorn her feet, and a lone white-gold anklet adorned with moonstones is worn on her left leg. Lastly, a body chain of small golden links slinks up from around her hips and encircles her navel, running the length of her torso, and wrapping around her elegant, prettily slender neck.
Background: Unknown at this time.
Affiliations: house Calmet; Count Cardalu
Skills/Attributes
Blood Canticle
Camillia is one of an extremely rare breed of vampire, a Dhampir (a half-human/vampire hybrid sired by a Scion on a human mother). Like other vampires, she must feed, though the need to do so is lessened. The original Scion vampires were thirteen mythical Archmages and their ilk who sought the Eternal Spirit so long ago. Whatever followed has fallen into shadow, but it is from this origin all modern vampires have sprung. Sharing a common lineage and bloodline, this resulting delineation connects upwards to their Scion ancestor: stems and capillary veins running off from a central heart. What is known to vampire-kind as a Blood Fountain. It is from this powerful source all vampires draw their gifts, the feats and powers that have fueled local legend, and become terrifying realities to the unsuspecting populace of Bakara.
Anàthema
The modern guilds and societies have very few limits and tenants that cannot be met, however for a girl like Camia there is just no fun in following those rules. Burning that bridge a long time ago, she is barred from joining guilds or societies, and the feeling is mutual, finding the bonds of their institutions to be just too constricting.
Erudition - At one time or other, Camillia was a member of the Fraternity of Mages, and she studied a great deal during that time. In possession of and has the required knowledge to cast spells of advanced levels: 8, 9, and 10.
Through A Glass Darkly
Crazed, nihilistic and beautiflly distorted, Cami sees the world just a little differently than you do. Her demeanor will never betray her emotional state, though a coldly controlled anger seethes just beneath the surface always.
Cold Flame - Within Camillia is a kiln of ardeur, willfulness and pride. She is aware to any foreign attempts to alter her equilibrium, instinctively raising her natural defenses. When emotionally agitated, her eyes flush deep crimson, and gleam with a cold light. Her bodily charm and magnetism increase, gradually raising her attractiveness and charisma. (The power of this charm is fueled by the Spells used against her).
Vampire Lineage
Scion vampires and their kin are creatures of great mental and physical strength, drawing their powers from the spiritual well that runs within their blood and preternatural prowess gained from the Eternal Spirit. Camillia, like all vampires, wield the powers of their bloodlines. Over time a vampire becomes less and less human, and with age their inner spirit matures manifesting physical changes. Entering into a state of change and emerging with new powers or gifts. (Up to WM descretion, A vampire may forgo the act of looting altogether instead choosing to feed their hunger, increasing the spiritual potency and power of their blood).
Bloodline Mastery
> Might of Cerberus - Camillia is endowed with great physicality, though nowhere near the levels of her Scion kin, her natural physical strength is Strong.
> Flame Thaumaturgy - Cami is a daughter of Carmilla, an elder Scion vampire and the head of house Calmet. Her clan are descendants of the Flame Alchemist, masters of fire and blazing heat. Pyrokinesis is their natural talent as Lords of Flame, their tool, companion and life's blood. Where people see a burning candle they see much much more.
1 - Natural flames, extreme heat and your own conjured fire refuse to hurt you, their master. You may take hold of non-magical flames with your hands and move them from place to place, your magic fuels them while held.
2 - You may alter your fire spells to instead produce Phantom Flames. Bright red, phantom flames are twice the size of normal flames but burn with negligible heat.
Spells
Fire
1 - Char - Release a small burst of red hot cinders from your hand.
2 - Fireball - Summon into your hand a semi-solid ball of flame that does not burn you and can be thrown. On impact it hits with the consistency of water.
Inventory
Mundane
Weapons
Mundane
> Sacrement - A billao dagger made of some dark red crystalline material. The blade is double-edged, leaf-shaped and asymmetrical. A handle made from the horn of a Latobius Bison, and wrapped in sheepskin, it is carved in the likeness of a hand gripping a bleeding heart as its pommel. -Modifier 3-
Currency
80 gold
To live is to hope, and while we breathe, we hope and live.
Stats & Facts
Name: Rysa Hawksbank
Titles/Aliases/Nicknames:
Sex: Female
Race: Elf
Age/Height/Weight: 17/5'6"/124 lbs.
Appearance: Raven hair swept back and tied into interweaving plaits, creating a single heavy midnight black braid. Lovely jade eyes that are smokey and vaporous, constantly beset by rings of dark shadow from nights spent out of doors awake on some hunting stake or scouting mission. The typical knife-edged ears of her race, both pierced by an earring: the left is a quartz charm of a what appears to be a cyclone; the right ear is pierced along the helix by a series of golden hoops. A small thin nose, bone straight and slightly pointed. A smooth and fair complexion, unblemished and perfect. Small laugh lines appear at the corners of a face that seems made to smile, complete with distinguished cheekbones and a very petite chin that fits Rysa rather well. Slender throughout her frame, remarkably athletic, with tightly packed abs and corded muscles but still retaining the curves of womanly form. On the back of her left hand is a stylized Bakaran map tattoo in electric blue ink of rather astonishing detail with all the major landmarks and a small X somewhere in the Kurrian Islands. A scent of the forest, the dirt of fresh earth mixed with wild berries and fauna, mingled with a sweet smelling fragrance that smells of Summer.
Apparel: A dark green thigh-length eelskin jerkin, reinforced with leather and inlaid with cloth of gold, close fitting and snug through the hips. The same small pauldrons of steel-stiffened leather Makeda wears, except crested with feathers of red, gold and green. A thick scarf of breathtaking tiger fur wrapped around her neck in loose folds, capable of being pulled up as a hood to protect from the elements or to find a touch of shade. A long-sleeved under tunic of gray wool with studded leather across the arms, tucked into eelskin bracers. Studded brown leather breaches of tough cowhide. Dark green and leather kneepads protect her knees, with calves covered and reinforced with horlin scale greaves that cut off at the ankles to leave her nimble feet bare. A large brown sash crisscrossing her waist, cinched together by a golden rectangle belt buckle and attached with a number of brown utility pouches both large and small. Deerhorn hunting knives sheathed in wood and leather, a gift from Makeda.
Background: Rysa was on her own growing up, a refugee elf on the streets of Elexia and not finding any solace in the Port City, she soon hitched a sail and was scrapping out a living in the Kurrs; an urchin, tramp, and all around island vagabond eking out survival on the strength and cleverness of her own skill. How long the elf maid could have lasted in that life is unsure, as a chance encounter between the now twelve year old Rysa and a young Elexian noblewoman turned mercenary by the name of Lupin saw Rysa informally adopted by Makeda's band of fortune seekers and tumble-roughs. With a shrewd captain like Lupin as an adoptive older sisters and a horde of doting uncles made up of Bakara's toughest sellswords combined with the skills she earned surviving in the wilds, Rysa has blossomed into a peerless scout and capable mercenary in her own right.
Affiliations: The Boys; Sentinels
Skills/Attributes
Feathers Falling From The Sky
Growing up in the wilderness one picks up a few skills. Hunting your own food, for example, becomes essential to your well being but so too does hiding from the more dangerous predators or finding a safe spot to rest your weary head. For Rysa, climbing trees become tantamount to her survival. Whether it was outrunning a territorial three-horned boar sow of Barbudas or just hiding from island toughs on Bon Vivant after knicking food, she was to climbing as a leaf to a tree. Surefooted and dexterous, Rysa has yet to encounter a tree in Bakara she hasn't been able to conquer or sleep in.
The Wild Hunt (Hunter's Prowess Level: 0; Score: 0)
There is a skill so ancient and respected it has become a rite of passage in all Bakaran cultures across the East. Old before the the advent of cities or villages it was revered by both gods and mortals, all possessing their own traditions and names for it: The Weald, Herlechin's Troop, The Horsman's Dance, but more readily to modern scholars, what was to become known as The Wild Hunt. Rysa gazed deeply into the true nature of Bakara during her wild youth, and Bakara gazed back. Neither has thus far found the other wanting. Rysa is a full member of the Sentinels Society, with all the duties and responsibilities that implies.
Edges of the Weald
Minor
Barefoot, Fleetfoot - So long as Rysa has some sort of bare skinned connection to the earth or rooted plant life, her reaction time and speed are considerably enhanced.
Weapons
Mundane
Hawkeye - A peculiar Ironwood bow Rysa has created: a special recurve longbow equipped with a circular augment that utilizes a pulley to string the bow.
1. WindCutter Aug: Augment allows for increased and extended pull with less leverage allowing arrows to fly faster and hit at a higher velocity. Shots taken with this bow are Strong
> Beautiful twin steel hunting knives with deer horn handles
> Dressing knife
Armor
> Eel-skin boiled leather and horlin scale greaves (modifier 3)
Animals
Alerion - A rare white gray-spotted Alogean Falcon, Alerion is Rysa's Bondmate. Regal creatures, with fantastic wingspans but smaller than most of their kin, having to survive the threat of larger prey such as Storm Drakes, the falcons of the Alogeans are resourceful and intelligent, able to understand simple commands and even the emotions of their owners to an extant. As a bondmate, Alerion is noble and protective, from the little she has gleaned of her past, she has a close connection to the animus of all living things. Rysa uses her for tracking, reconnaissance, and to help scout for The Boys. They are constant companions.
Accessories
Mundane
> A silver star pendant on a mithril chain with the initials: RBH
> An old portrait of a happy Makeda and Rysa surrounded by a motley crew in an island bar front
> Chamois Quiver of wooden arrows strung from the hip, wrapped with The Boys standard: A very detailed Map of Bakara marked with Stars gold defiant on a cerulean field: Pueris Bakara Futatrix
> Falconer's gauntlet
> Archer's tab and leather bracer
> Several bowstrings
> Numerous animal hides with bed roll and furs
> Cured deer jerky and rouse meat for extended time in the wilderness
> A standard company survival package containing trail rations, flint and tinder, a supply of water, and most everything else needed to survival on the march.
Coin
0
To live is to hope, and while we breathe, we hope and live.
... just as phony as it can be,
But it wouldn't be make-believe
...... if you believed in me
....... "It's Only a Paper Moon,"
— Billy Rose and E. Y. "Yip" Harburg
Stats & Facts
Name: Loire Eiriko
Titles/Aliases/Nicknames: Eiri
Sex: Female
Race: Human (Eastern Islander)
Age/Height/Weight: 17/5'4"/116 lbs.
Appearance: Exotic and strikingly beautiful, almost disturbingly, though the kind of beauty that isn't derived from any kind of sexual desire, yet there is something about Loire that is plainly arousing and attractive. A small, slightly built and slender framed girl, in proportion to which her full breasts are ridicuously eye catching, and gorgeously shaped, they can be quite distracting. Pale yet warm skin, soft and smooth as silk. Her hair is straight and never-ending, of a black so dark it is darker than jet, with matching finely trimmed eyebrows. Eyes that are slightly off-set, and peculiarly mismatched, one a honeyed amber flecked with green and the other a turquoise flecked with gold. Girlishly thin lips, rosy pink and lacking any ornament or rouge. Lastly, a really charming scent of bamboo, and notes of orange blossoms, somehow mixed with a summer breeze fresh off of the Elexian coast.
Apparel: A multi-tiered mage robe, split along each shoulder, where seperate layeres of cloth fall to her legs; it is a lovely pale green, threaded throughout with whirling cloth-of-silver patterns. The center tier has a matching hood, which Loire pulls up on occasion to protect her face from the elements, or just when she feels like it. Worn underneath her robes is a simple white cotton blouse, form fittingly warm. Learning from Myrdrinn that not all magic could be studied from the comfort of a candlelit archive, Loire wears a well-worn pair of pleated tan riding pants, not your typical foppish, ninny mage. Lastly, dark chamois leather boots adorn her feet, with matching gloves. Of note, a single thin silver chain with clasped locket; a silver square ring beset with an abalone round-cut stone on her right ring finger; and a star pendant earring in her left ear, very similar to the Mage Sigil, but more archaic.
Background: Loire hails from a distant border nation somewhere close to Cathay. Of royal birth, she was spirited away from her home when her family's lands were overtaken as hostilities erupted and a border war ensued between the larger surrounding lords. Arriving in Elexia with a few loyal retainers, Loire was entered into the Mage Academy when she was little older than an infant. All she has left of her heritage and home is what she could learn from her cadre of protectors, the few royal guard who stayed ashore with her in Bakara to see she was raised properly. Adapting quickly, she was soon a young prodigy, taking the interest of a particular Archmage, she florished under his tutleage, buried in studies of magical theory and history, Loire forgot her home for a time, but no more; finally achieving graduation, the neophyte Taskmage has determined her sojourn is at an end, and readies herself to seek passage home.
Affiliations: Mage's Academy (Epicrin); Apprentice of the Archmage Myrdrinn (deceased).
Skills/Attributes
Tomefaire
Loire refuses to buy any but the simplest of spells from the scroll peddlers of Bakara. Instead choosing to learn through experience and analysis. Loire has an acute understanding of the nature of any spell she witnesses or feels being cast, especially if those spells directly affect her.
Scholarly Interest - Loire can purchase only Level 1 spells from spell shops. The enmity between her and the scroll sellers of Bakara is entirely mutual. (She may learn spells from rare scrolls, though it leaves an unpleasant taste in her mouth.)
Blue Magic - Loire's study and erudtion has bestowed her with a canonical memory and commanding knowledge of the Twelve Arts. She can remember each spell during an encounter that she witnesses or experiences being cast. This experience leaves an indelible and permanent measurable effect on her understanding of those spells. The effective base cost of each individual spell is reduced by -2 for each encounter in which Loire has encountered it or by -4 for each encounter in which she was affected by it, down to a minium base cost of 25.
Filtered Through Intellect - Loire may return to her study tucked away in the Mage Tower at any time in order to reflect on her experiences and any spell she has commited to memory. She may learn any normally available spell she's encountered by using resources that cost the same amount as the spell, taking into account any discounts given by said exposure. This analysis and close reading has effectively turned Loire's memory into a Legacy Journal for any spell learned in this manner. All other rules regarding learning spells, such as knowledge of lower level spells still apply.
A Close Study
Loire's matriculation as a student mage afforded her little else but time to perfect and master the relationship between a caster and the nature of magic. A top student in her graduating class, she never saw the advantage of focusing on one area or Art of study, instead choosing to delve into the interconnectedness of Natural Magic in the Bakaran wilds. This has left her with a focus and deeper understanding of how magic is weaved and expelled through spellcraft.
Incanter's Trick - Loire may cast an additional Level 1 Spell per post as long as it doesn't share an Art with any Spell cast during the Encounter.
Myrdrinn's Gift (Taskemagery Level: 1; Score: 4)
Myrdrinn was a simple peasant born in the area around Epicrin almost 100 years ago; incredibly long lived, he would become a local folk hero of sorts, legendary Archmage and teacher within the academy. A wizened old codger, he noticed Loire's potential from early on, and was to become her mentor and closest thing to a father figure. It was his guidance that started her down Jhaeros' Path, and it is in her that Myrdrinn's passion for magical study lives on. Through the vast and varied study of learning as many spells across multiple arts as possible, Loire gains a deeper understanding and mastery of the true nature of magic.
- Lvl 1. So long as you know any level 1 spell, you can extrapolate your magical knowedge from that and skip other level 1 spells.
Spells
Known
Light
1 - Lantern - Create a floating ball of light before you that follows you and lights your way with the intensity of a candle.
Earth
1 - Sandblast - Release a burst of rough, scouring sand from your hand.
Mind
1 - Translate - Attunes your mind to that of a target speaker, allowing you to understand them no matter what language they are speaking.
Bestial
1 - Summon Ermine - Summons forth a white, short-tailed weasel to follow Loire's commands. She's taken to calling him Merlin, and he seems to have the disposition of an old man.
Learned
Researching
Weapons
Magical
> Kusanagi - Loire's Mage Water dagger, a kujang dagger with a silver blade and smooth coral hilt. Can generate ice around its teardrop blade to turn itself into an ice-sword.
Mundane
> Chrysalis - A peculiarly large wooden boomerang banded with leather on the tips. Loire carries this on her back, though she's unable to throw it as yet. (Modifier 1)
Various Sundries
- Thin silver chain possessing a clasped locket; contents unknown, Loire rarely opens the clasp, and only in the privacy of her study
- An interesting painted mask, of some sort of character, possibly used in theater
- Lovely green and black lace folded fan threaded with gold
- Base and pestel, along with miscellaneous herbs
- A sagemono which contains a writing brush and ink
- A small inro within her robes to carry her gold
- A beautifully lacquered wooden box with foreign pictograms and calligraphy: contains letters Loire received on her coming of age. Very personal (in her room).
Currency
15 gold
To live is to hope, and while we breathe, we hope and live.
Symphony No. 1—At The Run's End
A deceptively complex piece that interweaves ten distinct voices, some heroic and proud while others are villainous and twisting. These themes blend together in a turbulent manner, voices dropping out and surging back in a maelstrom of music until at last the villainous leitmotifs have dropped out completely, leaving only the triumphant refrain of the Heroes' Theme.
> Grants Kiku and up to four other allies a regenerative shield for five posts, its strength boosted by the current level of danger they are facing. Once per encounter.
To live is to hope, and while we breathe, we hope and live.
Stats & Facts
Name: Susano no Makoto* (Assumed)
Titles/Aliases/Nicknames: Susano (Hidden Name)
Sex: Male
Race: Human
Age/Height/Weight: 33/6'0"/176 lbs.
Appearance: Unnatural and foreboding locks of hair, tenebrous strands with indigo-dyed tips, like a sheen of living shadow, parted at the front to either side of his head. Pale, ashen skin that is snaked with swirling blood red tattoos, accentuating the musculature all along his shoulders, down his forearms and wrists. The most amazing eyes, orbs of the grandest mien, imbued with an unsullied, inextinguishable light. An extremely mask-like face, painted and adorned to look like a Han'nya, a ghostly demonic entity of unknown origins said to have haunted the Eastern Sea and Kurrian Islands. Dark purple markings line the bridge of his nose and brow. A stern mouth, with very animated lips found often in varying degrees of expression. Susano smells of the Elexian Sea during an autumn storm, wind, salt and gathering clouds.
Apparel: A sleeveless haori jacket with a high collar that is always flared, and left open. Embroidered with a scene of storms: crests of crashing waves breaking under the dark clouds of a lightning-filled sky of rain and roaring wind. Underneath is a loose fitting, rare black linen kimono, completely sleeveless. Laced harem style trousers, strung but left loose through the leg. Calf-length boots, layered burlap of a dark blue, lacquered and sealed tight. A horned demon's-head belt buckle, a visage with a leering mouth and splayed tongue. Hands that are wrapped to the wrists with white linen cloth. A non-sheer silk sash, tied and bunny-eared to fall on either side of his waist.
Background: It has been many years, but the man cristened Susano, was at first a foreigner in a foreign land, though it is thought that he hailed from somewhere in the Eastern Sea. Little to nothing else is readily known about him. However, one thing that is utterly clear, is his devotion to the Unblinking Eye. Susano possesses the true soul of an Initiate.
Affiliations: Infiltrator (Thief/Initiate)
Skills/Attributes
The House of Black and White (Wet Work: Lvl 1; Sneak: Lvl 1)
Susano is one of the most devout. A religious man with a templar-like devotion, one who will put the good of the church before his own well being. It is his duty to see that the secrets of the Thane remain just that, secrets. And nothing is going to stand in his way from doing so, his life be damned. If that means becoming a master at brushing elbows with the criminal underbelly of the five cities, associating with the lowest and deadliest knaves, rogues, and jacks, then so be it. Susano is an Infiltrator, with all the duties and privileges that membership implies.Apocryphal Learnings (Status: Initiate; Enchanting: Lvl 1)
The Church of the Unblinking Eye is an institution with a clouded and sordid reputation. On the face of it, they are a shadowy and surreptitious order of warrior priests, clergyman, and zealous devotees with questionable motives, but truly, at the heart of their heart, they are protectors; their tenets and mission there to serve the good of Bakara at all costs, even if that means being looked at as bogeymen, manipulators, meddlers and schemers; their burden is to be a preemptive measure against the chaos of the unknown, the secretive plots which threatened to sow discord and dissension amongst the people; but to do this, they fight fire with fire: trading in information and secrets, walking the path between the path to wage their war in the shadows, out of the sight of their former brethren and the altruistic revelations of the Light.The Red Sparrow - The swirling and mercurial eldritch tattoos, blood red markings entwined all over Susano's entire body, radiate throughout his limbs and torso with unknown power. He has learned an indelible enchantment similar to Crystal Dust Incoring, where imbuing his body with the crystal dust gives him a related physical property of the art used. (Traits are limited to a single imbue at a time).
Kusanagi
Dual Spell — Susano is a devout Initiate, a true believer in the heart and essence of church doctrines, in truth, a faithful servant of the Unblinking Eye. Through loyalty and long service, he has been bestowed an exaltation: through ritualistic magic, he has been blessed with arcane power, by utilizing a hidden technique, Susano can summon a deadly rare sword from the murky depths of his inner darkness comprised entirely of the dual elements of Dark/Water, a blade of condensed freezing cold, razor sharp ice and impenetrable shadow.Faceless Mask - Infiltrators possess an uncanny ability when it comes to creating a spur of the moment disguise. Once per encounter they may alter their voice, accent, facial expressions, posture, gait and mannerisms to project a completely new identity. The persona created this way needs to be fictional, and can never be perfectly replicated due its improvisational nature. This affect is similar to the Impersonate spell, but entirely non-magical and arguably more convincing at concealing the user's true identity.
Weapons
Magical
Kusanagi - Dual: Water/Dark
Lvl 1.
Spells
Water
Lvl 1. Chill
Dark
Lvl 1. Stash
Accessories
Magical
The Ebon Compass - An octagon shaped ebony compass, overlaid with the Lidless Eye. It will hum faintly and the needle will point out the general direction of nearby secrets and hidden objects. Multiples of either located in different spots, and the compass will hum more violently and the needle will spin inadvertently in all directions.
Mundane
Currency
25 Gold
To live is to hope, and while we breathe, we hope and live.
Stats & Facts
Name: Renatta Giovana Loren Simoni
Titles/Aliases/Nicknames: Giana; Ren
Sex: Female... I guess? Or androgynous.
Race: Atarin
Age/Height/Weight: 30/5'10"/134 lbs.
Appearance: Not purely handsome or beautiful, but a strange mixing of the two, somehow appearing both stern and soft. Chiseled highborn cheekbones, a square minutely dimpled chin which is subtly round, a slightly bold nose not quite thin or broad but incredibly straight; a very imperceptible scar running across it. Lips that are dark blue and invitingly soft, a remarkably lighter blue skin tone and complexion with the faintest hint of teal. Stringy and porous hair that is typical of her race, a blue so deep it is almost black, pulled back and tied up into an elegant bun, except along the front where it has been curled into two protrusions much like antennae or horns. Meticulous cared for manicure, with nails kept short but with a narcissistic and razor-sharp fineness. A scent of sea-salt and a floral sweetness, with a faint undertone of sleeplessness, rum, and pleasurable sweat.
Apparel: Effortlessly elegant. A reserved grace and manner encompasses every gesture Ren performs. Looking as if it were slept in, but an absolutely incredible brocade jacket of the most pure sapphire blue, large blue buttons all the way to the waist, lapelless but embroidered with a golden stitch throughout: all along two large pockets at the hips, high-collar, buttons, and hem; embellishments of underwater plant life and coral stitched in economic patterns litter the surface, schools of fish and wildlife hidden within the scenes. A white cotton dress-shirt, lace at the wrists and neck. Dark velvet trousers of the finest material, tucked into knee-high leather boots single heeled, and shined to perfection.
Background: Giovanna is a member of the Betatide caste, hailing from the very heart of Ataria. She was an avid student of the past, a modern day relic in a stagnant and capricious empire. A quick study of court intrigue, and the cortegiano art of warfare and fighting to be considered a class prodigy, and one of the most celebrated pupils in years. Some thought Ren would rise to the upper echelons of guarding princes and the entourage of senators, but little did they know of the disgust and disdain she felt for everything they represented. Taking her education very seriously, Ren delved into the history of the Merchant Empire, all the way back to its roots. To many teachers and the Atarin senate, this was a taboo, that while their court life was based in theory on the past, actual practicing of those principles should be left as that, to theory and empty ceremonial displays of the kata forms performed and used for birthdays and special functions. Unsatisfied, wearied, and disillusioned, overrun with listless ennui and much of the time alcohol, Ren, in what would be a self-imposed exile from Atarin Society, left for the Bakaran mainlaind in search of something more than mere ceremony and the emptiness of court life. Ren is deeply insightful and a master at controlling emotional queues and nuances that accompany facial expressions, the lessons learned from years mired in politics; lessons that have bestowed her with refined wit and a keen eye for the imperfections of others. Crossing words or swords with her can be as equally deadly.
Skills/Attributes
Savage Eloquence
Ren is fully trained in the Cortegiano style of fighting, a warrior poet in total control, an elegant and sophisticated fighter in both warfare and intrigue, just as likely to stab you in the heart as she is to poring out her soul into writing lines of heart-rending verse. As such, Ren is an expert duelist and fully trained fighter that is hell of a lot prettier than you are while doing so, and a hell of a lot more sophisticated too, but she's not one to point out the obvious to pedestrian riffraff, as a member of the Warrior's Society with all the duties and responsibilities that implies, that would be beneath her.
A Taste for the Baroque
Showing a level of passion and interest for deep knowledge not encountered in the empire since its golden days of yore, Ren developed an obsession with collecting and discovering countless bits of erudition, quaint knick-knacks, and hidden treasure over the years, most of which were written off as lost or some that had simply gone missing because a régime or faction falling from favor and power changing hands. Alas, you would think a merchant empire would be privy to the art and usefulness of good book keeping.
Underworld Leavings - Word tends to spread, and when word gets around, you can be damned sure somebody's heard something. A simple word in the right ear, or a bit of coin in the proper hand, and things tend to shake loose. Ren has intimate knowledge at any given time of the hidden markets and secret shops throughout Bakara.
Warrior's Techniques (Level: 1; BPs: 0)
Environmental Combat
Lvl 1: Ren has complete situational awareness, allowing her to notice possible improvised weapons laying around others might overlook.
Weapons
> Piumato Luna (Level: 0; LPs: 0)
Possessed with a distinct soft curvature, this single-edged and elegant blade is known as the Feathered Moon. Hung in a sapphire sash from Ren's hip; two yellow streamers of ribbon tied just below the circular-hand guard, a hilt of ray skin battle-wrapped with sapphire silk cord, and capped by a bronze Moon being engulfed in crashing waves. The Piumato Luna is a Penne, an ancient style of sword designed for the archaic Atarin fighting art, translated roughly as Bladed Calligraphy. The penne is designed not simply for swordplay, but rather to carve literal runes of power known as Glifo into the air to supplement other attacks. Or so the stories say. Regarded as an artistic display at best and a complete waste of time at worst, any mention of practical in-the-field use for Bladed Calligraphy is treated with minimal respect. For now.
Spells
Mind
Lvl 1. Charisma
Lvl 2. Veil
Accessories
> Worn edge-up, the lacquered sheath of Luna recalls the deep waters of the Eastern Sea
> A silk azure and gold stitched swordsman's cloth
> Special oil extract made from a sea anemone
> Blade treatment, used to purify and clean
Other
Il Prince, The now rare but legendary and quintessential atarin political treatise on what it means to be a cortegiano, Il Machia, Betatide
The Book of the Courtier, The second now legendary and quintessential atarin political treatise, by Caldassare Casatico, Alphatide
An Anatomy of Influence, All Renatta has been able to glean and piece together over the years on what it means to be cortegiano. Adapted for present day readers. What Ren one day hopes will be the third legendary and quintessential atarin political treatise, by Renatta Simoni, Betatide
Analysis of Perceived Meaning, a series of banned existential philosophies believed to be too esoteric for consumption, now almost impossible to find within the empire. Author unknown.
The Disassembly of Reason, a mostly indecipherable book of nihilistic philosophy and questionable authenticity, which Ren enjoys to read and quote from time to time.
Before The Fall, A history of the Atarin Merchant Empire.
> Raphael: A very phallic, very smooth coral shaft, about 6" in length, carved to look like a paint brush.
1. Oh, do I really have to spell it out for you.
Currency
55 gold
To live is to hope, and while we breathe, we hope and live.
Stats & Facts
Name: Valióna Marie Serwyn
Titles/Aliases/Nicknames: Óna; Lady of Evenfrost; Daughter-heir of Gwynalendra
Sex: Female
Race: Human/Feynette (¼-Human/¼-Unseelíe/½-Fenette)
Age/Height/Weight: Regal (18ish)/5'4"/102 lbs.
Appearance: Supernatural and preternaturally fair, almond-shaped and remarkably deep-blue eyes that seem to be eternally sad. Silvery-blonde hair like sheets of water, tenuously floating and parted to either side, streaming elegantly to her shoulders. An earnest and oval-shaped face with bashful high-cheekbones and a small dimpled chin that is quite adorable. Ivory skin tinged with a slightly bluish-hue, it is incredibly cold to touch. Perfect cupid-bow lips. They are dyed red and outlined by a silver shimmer. A figure that might have been born from a Bard's tale, impossibly petite and yet amply curvaceous. A bosom like softly rolling hills, snow-capped and lined by tiny veins of blue. An hourglass frame and hips that flow into slender legs of unseemly length. Nails that are extremely hard like Diamonds, they are all about ½ an inch and never grow. A scent that smells like the first flurry of snowflakes on the air, a frozen waterfall, and a peculiar scent that reminds you of youth.
Apparel: A magnificent airy confection of a gown made of silver chiffon with a backless and strapless black bodice top crisscrossing her bosom in folds. It is sequined to a point with astonishingly lustrous Faërwater Pearls as to appear entirely white and opalescent except along the borders where black bands still appear. This is attached to an incredibly sheer and flowing pleated skirt which is cinched tightly by a turquoise sash tied into a huge bow along her lower back. Two teardrop pearl earrings that match her sequined top. Inky black heels of about 4" adorn her feet, they are the current height of Sylvan fashion. Lastly, a wicker parasol with black silk cloth fabric embroidered with scenes of a winter hedgemaze and statues, each stitch is packed with a tinier scene of a microcosom of activity, little faces peering out at you the longer you look more deeply.
Background: Val is a Sylvan aristocrat and a Fey noble, she's also a half demon, a subject you will soon find is an embarrassing topic for her should you untactfully broach the subject of her birth. Benevolent and caring, she has a deep empathy for things, but little else can be gleaned about the girl besides her personality and race, of that though it is clear she is someone of immense magical heritage.
Affiliations: Mages
Skills/Attributes
Portrait Of The Lady As A Young Demoness
Empathic. Ethereal. Magical. Charming. Enchanting. Valióna is a painting of Nature brought to life, a portrait that is Pure and Lovely as silver moonlight striking the frosted pool on a Winter's night. Valióna is an elemental creature, naturally nocturnal, her power and beauty derive from the very fabric of Bakara itself, her nature enhanced by the damaging cold and shadows of the dark and night. Her physical Strength level is Weak.
Lunar Eclipse - Óna is imbued with a primal magnetism, an innate charisma so powerful that it affects the very environment around her, imbuing her with a weak Perception effect based on her beauty and desirability that draws the eye like filings to a lodestone. When in darkness natural or artificial, this power manifests itself into an Aura of silvery light around her whose properties are based on her Inner Spirit and personality.
The Art of Quintessence
Through rigorous study and practice, and intense melding of the principals of Mind and Spirit Valióna has discovered a unique interconnectedness between the two arts, she can, upon learning a spell of either art, extrapolate knowledge of the other instead of the typical branch of progression. (For example, learning level 1 Mind can build into a level 2 Spirit, but once assigned a path, no longer level 2 Mind and vice versa. This has the side effect of Spirit or Mind being able to level up their respective knowledge bases. As a result of this deep study, and Óna's magical nature, she is only able to learn Mind and Spirit magics.)
Gifts Ungiven
A strong telepath, Valióna is the daughter of two magically gifted races of memory, emotions, and feeling, making Óna a twice gifted empath and Mind mage. To her, thoughts and memories are tangible things, ready to be plucked or read like a page in a book, they create waves that emanate into the world, reverberating like mental percussions, they echo and they ripple as would a drop in a pond. Some gifted Mind mages may attune themselves to these emanations, touching others' minds with their own and reading these hidden depths.
Lvl 1. You learn to pick the echoes of those nearby apart from the background noise, the echoes of echoes. You can always tell roughly how many people are in an area.
Lvl 2. You learn to recognize echoes related to you, and can pick out who and where they are coming from. However, the nature of those thoughts is still unclear to you.
Spells
Telepathy
Lvl 1. Fade
Lvl 1. Retain (S)
Empathy
Lvl 2. Touch (M)
Accessories
Magical
Mundane
Weapons
Magical
Basanos - Óna's black parasol with the winter courtyard, depicting an ancient castle. The tip contains her Mage dagger.
1. Mind - A steel rapier dagger. Parrying a weapon with this dagger instills a subtle suggestion your attacker's mind that their weapon is useless. The more you parry any given weapon, the stronger the compulsion to stop using it and switch to another weapon or just fight unarmed becomes.
Sundries
> A large portrait of immense virtuosity and skill of an aristocratic woman who strikingly looks like Óna or someone very close to her. Kept in a gilt frame in her room at the Academy.
> A silver and sapphire-inlaid vanity kit: containing various things from a small ornate mirror with an enchanted ice surface, hair combs and picks, sapphire encrusted stickpins and broaches; various rouge and powders.
> Tales of Bale the Bard, An old book of indecipherable poems and verse as far as anyone else can tell, but something Óna cherishes and seems able to read just fine.
> A small sphere that is painfully cold and filled with a tiny globe of water
Currency
15 gold
To live is to hope, and while we breathe, we hope and live.
To live is to hope, and while we breathe, we hope and live.
Stats & Facts
Name: Levana
Titles/Aliases/Nicknames: Levana le Fay
Sex: Female
Race: Human/Fey (½-Wild Fey)
Age/Height/Weight: Pernicious (ageless adult) /5'9"/105 lbs.
Appearance: A Dark woman. Dusky hair enfolds her head as if it were a death shroud, tenebrae tresses manifesting like pure darkness, and caressingly falling to her waist; teased into a coiffure of regality and a single Sylvan-style plait of sheer silky magnificence. Of an age that is impossible to place; she at times appears old enough to be your mother, other times appearing maidenly enough to be a youthful crush, the effect is quite unnerving. She is a sprite, an apparition appearing human but with a presence that is unsettlingly real. Ghostly pale, and eerily surreptitious. Eyes that are a band of liquid jealousy, green and clear as crystalline glass; elegant hands with long spindly fingers naturally sharp-nailed. Levana smells faintly of burnished oils, a more pronounced fragrance of anise, and a spike of crushed Faëblossom, and the scent of a jealous lover.
Apparel: Bedraped from head to foot in black finery. A tremendous gown, with a torso hugging, strapless velvet bodice, her shoulders are wrapped in a shimmering silvery drape with the fluidity of flowing water where it sits atop her bosom; intertwined on her left shoulder with the pelt and mane of an aslanyr. A giant circular silver belt buckle is nestled at her pelvis, its surface etched with tiny faces of faeries hidden in the foliage and underbrush. Her hips are ensnared by a pastel purple sash embroidered with a number indecipherable runes, it falls all down to her feet and runs around her back to cinch back into her belt buckle. The gowns train is completely sheer, a mass of pleated folds that when moved reveal her legs underneath. Black laced sandals, open-toed and free, golden charms run up and down the thong and clasp at her ankle.
Background: The girl known as Daria is a former house slave of the Seelíe Court. Fathered by a human man on a minor fey, he was either an adventuresome fool, or a passing mage of tremendous irresponsibility, or both. Whatever the case, he saw fit to abandon his family and the newly pregnant mother of his child. Left at the mercy of the royal court, Daria grew up confined in their service. Watching her mother slowly waste away from overwork and neglect. There is little and less known about her life after her mother passed away. However, upon discovering a natural penchant of magical abilities, for a short while at least, she was adopted and raised by one of the noble families of the Seelíe Queen herself. But after this, following a string of disasters, and unexplained deaths, Daria disappeared, along with a few significant items of note. That was many years ago.
Affiliations: Oathbreaker (Mage/Thief); her personal sigil is a black rose held by a pale bleeding hand.
Skills/Attributes
Woeful Remembrance
Flowers are naturally beautiful. They grow, and they bloom under Mother Nature's grace, carefully cultivated by her hand into flourishing petaled-rainbows. But when the steward's hand that guides is bent towards malevolence, what form is left the resulting blossom to assume?
Fleur du Mal - 2x Negative Charisma based on unsettling aura and fear.
Solitude In Childhood
Daria saw years of abandonment and malnutrition, which destroyed much of any nurturing comforts and the natural growth of childhood. Mistrust, and cleverness were her allies. She led a life of solitude, and when she could, took comfort in reading anything that fell into her hands or anything that wasn't tied down. However, the oppressed can only remain oppressed so long, eventually something gives. In her case, she chose to live. And ever carefully formed a daring plan of escape, and patiently waited for the day in which she could break her bonds.
Demoiselle - Weak; Immune to Emotion altering spells and effects.
The Witching Hour (Lockpicking: Lvl 1)
Dark deeds, darkly answered: Levana's obsessions and compulsive-level of interest in acquiring the most obscure of arcanery and magical artifacts has lead her down a shadowy path of endless pursuit, one that has crossed paths with the Criminal Underworld of the Elexian Thieves guild; bringing her ever closer to achieving the covetous wish that is her heart's desire--utter supremacy over magical sovereignty.
Eye of Avarice - Ability to sense items with strong magics within your visual range, they give off an aura of orange light.
Goetia: Spells and Sorceries
Artless
Lvl 1. Void - Passive. Creates a pocket dimension you can access at any time, allowing you to seem to store or retrieve items from thin air.
1. Contains The Grim Grimoire
Bestial
1 - Chakosan Moths - Summons a dozen flittering insects that trail irritating glowing golden dust motes which cause watery and allergic eye irritation.
2 - Fen-tailed Raven - Almaric: Summon a glossy black bird native to the Elexian coast, medium sized with a razor-sharp beak. It blends easily with shadows, and is intelligent enough to retrieve small items.
Body
1 - Center Passive. Your body's mass shifts itself to alter your center of gravity, allowing you to keep your balance in most situations.
Fire
1 - Ignite - Snap your finger to cause a very small intense burst of heat in a spot you are looking at. Can be used to start a small fire if used on highly flammable materials.
Malleus Maleficarum
Magical
The Grim Grimoire (Score: 0; Relic: 0)
The magical Tome stolen by the girl feyling, Daria from the Seelíe Court. However, it is clearly a mortal item, an immense Spellbook inscribed with an Elvish legend: Suspiria de profundis. The volume's origins are unknown, as well as how it ended up in the hands of the Fey. It is magnificently old, and quite dusty, possibly hundreds of years old. Leather bound in deep black, the cover itself possesses a mercurial nature: mutable, it will most oft appear pitch black, but if watched for a time, becomes marked with strange eldritch symbols of five alternating powers cycling into an array of 12 different colored glyphs. It is clasped by a silvered archaic version of the Mages sigil.
1 - Velleity & Reality: Spell scrolls can be absorbed into the Grimoire, making it a Legacy Journal. This prevents mind altering effects from inhibiting Levana's ability to remember or cast spells.
Required Score: 1
2 - A New Mimesis: The tome's pages begin to reveal their secrets, and a chapter regarding one of the first attempts at creating the Modern Arts becomes legible. Levana may choose Sun, Flesh, Intangible, Realm, Unseen, or Fluid Magics. She learns a corresponding ancient spell from the chosen Lost Art, encompassing aspects of multiple Modern Arts.
Required Score: 3
3 - Quickening: Three times per encounter Levana may Prism a spell stored in the Grimoire to one of the Lost Arts whose chapter has so far appeared. Increasing its strength and adding various Arted aspects.
Required Score: 5
4 - Proto-Energies: A second chapter regarding one of the first attempts at creating the Modern Arts becomes legible. Levana may choose one of the five yet chosen arts, learning an ancient spell from that school. Required Score: 7
5 - Sources of Magic: More becomes clear to Levana, and a middle chapter regarding the first attempts at creating the Modern Arts becomes legible. Levana may choose one of the four yet chosen Lost Arts, learning an ancient spell from that school. Required Score: 9
6 - Deep Knowledge: The books dissection of the working of the Modern Arts allows Levana to extrapolate and apply that knowledge to non-spell ends. Any level 5 or higher spell stored in the Grimoire grants Levana access to one of the two skills or recipes in the matching tome. Required Score: 11
7 - Portals, Gateways & Dimensionality: A central chapter regarding one of the first attempts at creating the modern arts becomes legible. Levana may choose one of the three yet unchosen Lost Arts, learning an ancient spell from that school.
Required Score: 13
8 - Arcane Insights: An obscure chapter regarding one of the first attempts at creating the Modern Arts becomes legible. Levana may choose one of the two yet unchosen arts. She learns an ancient spell of one the two remaining Lost Arts. Required Score: 15
9 - Leylines & Focii: The penultimate chapter regarding one of the first attempts at creating the Modern Arts becomes legible. Levana learns an ancient spell of the remaining unchosen Lost Art.
Required Score: 17
10 - Abjuration & Protection: The very final chapter of the Grimoire becomes legible, regarding the casting aside of the Ancient Magics and need for Modern Arts. What is revealed here is beyond even Levana's direst dreams.
Required Score: 19
Palimpsest de Magique — A single manuscript torn from a magical Tome, rolled and placed onto a scroll. The page is lined with overlapping script that has long since faded into obscurity. Each is a line of power, pulsing with a constant thrum of forgotten magic. The page acts like a Zircon, and natural medium for Entwining magics. The Palimpsest can absorb a single spell that is repeatedly cast into it, to be released at a later time. Whatever Art was last charged, leaves behind a trace of magic, which prisms the next absorbed spell.
1. Seal: Ignite
2. Memory Imprint - Fire
Weapons
Magical
Occuria - Spirit dagger. 'Our Lady of Sighs' is a bronze kila dagger, hilt and pommel resembling a hand holding a black rose. Those wounded with it bleed not only blood, but life-force, weakening and tiring them over time, even if their body is healed, dependent on the severity of the wound. The effect lasts until the end of the encounter.
Items of Significance
Magical
> Eldritch Chitin – The carapace of the spiderlegs of the Chimera. Contains potent Creation magic. Can be forged into magical armor. Modifier 4.
Mundane
> A set of lock picking tools
Currency
0 gold
To live is to hope, and while we breathe, we hope and live.