The Iconar Collective (OUTDATED)

[Chasmgoat]

whoo hoo!

[+JesterLavorre]

12 hours ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

Heya, frens! If anyone would like to cameo themselves in a potentially significant character, now's the time to act!

I.E. I need some names help me plz

Hmm... how about Narjette? She’s a D&D character I made awhile back. Pronounce the J however you want .

[Knight of Iron]

Knight works very well as a last name, I think, otherwise you can use my first name. Or cameo somewhere else.

Also I should continue reading after chapter one, shouldn't I? Hm. I'll find time.

[Enter a username]

I'd like a cameo!

Maybe someone the instructor needs to remind to stop reading the textbook and get on task? (This has happened to me. Several times.)

[The Unknown Ajah]

Sure, a cameo would be cool, I could comedically fall off a tower when some characters are talking. Also:

Mezora, Teltin, Honin, Byzchon, Kurotan, Bequan, and Geldar.

[Ghanderflaffle]

If you still need one Fadran, I’d do a cameo. I really like the story so far. Ghanderflaffle doesn’t fit great though, but one of the names I use for rp is Kriti.

[Random Bystander]

Dang it! Why did I read this? Now I just want to read more, and there isn't more yet. WHY? *curls into a ball and starts to sob* Why? 

All joking aside, that was really good. 

[Channelknight Fadran]

4 minutes ago, Random Bystander said:

Dang it! Why did I read this? Now I just want to read more, and there isn't more yet. WHY? *curls into a ball and starts to sob* Why? 

All joking aside, that was really good. 

Thanks pal 

[Random Bystander]

Just now, Channelknight Fadran said:

Thanks pal 

Well it's true. I finished the last chapter and I think my sister might have thought I was crazy, because I started yelling at the screen. An then I took about 15 minutes to see if there was another chapter that you had forgotten to add to the original post. Unfortunately for me, there wasn't. So now I'm hooked. I have... mixed feelings about that. I don't want to be hooked, because now I just want to read more, and I do want to be hooked, because now I want to read more. 

[Channelknight Fadran]

10 minutes ago, Random Bystander said:

Well it's true. I finished the last chapter and I think my sister might have thought I was crazy, because I started yelling at the screen. An then I took about 15 minutes to see if there was another chapter that you had forgotten to add to the original post. Unfortunately for me, there wasn't. So now I'm hooked. I have... mixed feelings about that. I don't want to be hooked, because now I just want to read more, and I do want to be hooked, because now I want to read more. 

Well... I mean... I do have one more chapter that I might post... eventually. Not for awhile though.

[Channelknight Fadran]

Well.

10,000 posts, now, huh?

What better to do with it than to post one more chapter?

Spoiler

Chapter XVIII - The Traveling Merchant

Third Waterlight | Feylore Midway

    That one, Icona said, the younger of the two.

    You sure?

You’re talking to God, Fadran; of course I’m sure.

Alright, then.

    “You there!” Fadran called, pointing to a young, blonde-haired girl. “Could a beautiful young lady like yourself be interested in one of my handcrafted flutes?”

    She jumped slightly—poor thing. She had no idea what was going on. “No, sorry.”

    “We don’t have any money on us.” The older one told him.

    Fadran chuckled a little. “I never said I wanted money. If wealth was only determined by crescents, then this would be a sad, dark world.”

    “We should probably… go…” The older one said, awkwardly sliding away from him. The younger one followed her, eyes still on the merchant.

    Fadran nodded. “We’ll meet each other again.”

    The two of them watched him anxiously as they left. Just before they were out of earshot, he chuckled slightly. “What do you say, Icona? Channelgirl or no?”

    You’re asking me? Fadran, I’m—

    That was a rhetorical question! I’m intriguing them.

    Well, you’re doing a right awful job of it. Go follow them!

    Why would I do that? They’d call the guards to stab me in the face.

    Icona sighed, evidently allowing Fadran to win this argument. Fadran smiled to himself, then began calling to people to sell his wares: flutes, rings, and other various trinkets he’d found from all across the Iconar Collective. Sometimes he’d ask their names; they only gave him the one they were given. Just a word or two; nothing more.

    As the night drew on, the streets started clearing of regular pedestrians. He packed up his wares, shouldering his backpack and hiking out into the more narrow streets. Fadran whistled to himself, glancing about himself instinctively. He didn’t expect that anybody would want to rob him of his current items; most of them wouldn’t realize their value. They’d maybe take the crystals from Feylore, what few crescents he had on him, and leave it at that. They wouldn’t take anything that he would miss.

    Where are you going? Icona asked.

    “Wherever I’m needed, hopefully.” Fadran replied.

    What’s that supposed to mean?

    “Not sure.”

    Icona sighed. You know, for a guy literally Bonded to the god of the Iconar Collective, you’re pretty disrespectful. Back in my day, people would be tripping heads-over-heels to Bond with someone like me.

    “Back in your day? What does that mean for an ever-present deity like yourself?”

    Oh, I’ve hardly been around for an eternity, Fadran. Only… what, two billion years? How old is the Omniverse?

    “I wouldn’t know. You’re the god here. In any case, though… times change, Icona. It’s kind of hard to have faith in a massive pantheon of gods if some of them are supposedly supporting the other side of the war.”

    Sunken Deep isn’t supporting the demons. She’s a reckless one; has been since the demons came around.

    “What?”

    What, what?

    “Oh, sorry. It’s just kind of weird picturing gods with… personalities.”

    I’m going to take that as an insult. Ouch, you hurt my feelings.

    Fadran turned a corner. “I meant as in picturing gods as normal people. You guys are… well… gods.”

    We’re just as individual as the next person. Or… well, not exactly.

    “What do you mean?”

    Well ah… it’s a little difficult to explain. I guess… everyone’s divine, Fadran, in their own way. Every living thing a little piece of a god.

    “Really?”

    I guess you could say the same about gods. We’re just a bunch of little pieces of divinity taped together into what you call deities. More powerful, longer-lived, yes; but also with normal personalities and lives.

    “There is no way a god would live a ‘normal’ life.”

    You’d be surprised! We have friends and enemies, just like you. Ivinan and Sunken Deep were best of friends; still are, actually. They find your war… amusing.

    “Amusing? After what happened back at…” Fadran shook his head, pushing the memory aside. “Are you all really that uncaring? People are dying, Icona, and you ‘gods’ are laughing about it around the dinner table?”

    I… you have to forgive them, Fadran. Death is a foreign concept to those who cannot die.

    Fadran sighed, then turned another corner. He realized that he didn’t know where he was

Perfect.

Fadran? Icona asked. You seem… weirdly euphoric about the fact that you’re lost.

“Well, if I’m lost, then someone else is too, probably.”

And how exactly are two lost people supposed to help each other?

Someone was crying in a side-alley; a tributary of sorts. Fadran hesitated at the corner, debating how he should enter the scene. The crying continued; they obviously weren’t aware of him standing there.

Fadran retreated to the end of the alleyway, then began whistling and walking loudly towards the side-alley. At least now they would hear him coming.

He glanced down the side-alley, and could almost hear Icona sigh a mixed sigh of relief and possibly affection. Around the corner, a young girl—she couldn’t have been much older than four or five—clutched her wrist and sobbed uncontrollably. He watched as she wet her hands trying to wipe her eyes and keep her wrist clutched at the same time; she ultimately failed, and the tears kept coming.

Fadran hesitantly stepped into the alleyway: she did not stir. He carefully removed his backpack from his shoulders, then set it on the ground and began rifling through the various oddities stuffed inside. The girl started at the noise, letting loose a whimper mixed with a sob as she turned her head away from him.

He found what he was looking for: a bag of trail rations. He liked to keep a couple on him in case of emergencies, like when he was being mugged by a hungry beggar or a squirrel kept pestering him for food; or, in this case, to put a child at ease.

He cracked open the bag and started popping the various food items into his mouth; nuts, mostly. He kept his eyes on the wall in front of him, not on the girl crying not far away from him. Fadran could see her out of the corner of his vision as she cracked an eyelid to see what he was doing. He leter her watch him for a few seconds before turning his head towards her.

The movement made her jump, and she scurried backwards into the shadows.

“It’s alright!” Fadran said. “I won’t hurt you.”

It wasn’t the words that he had said that had been intended to set her at ease, but rather the tone of voice; the spirit behind the tones he put on the letters of the language most called ‘common.’ Most people were too mature to fall for his ‘tricks,’ but the sound calmed the girl down enough.

She peeked her head out of the shadows, and Fadran held a hand full of trail mix out towards her. She eyed the food, glancing between it and Fadran as if wondering if it was some sort of trick.

“You look hungry.” Fadran said simply.

The girl hesitated, but eventually crept her way forwards and picked the mix out of his hand with her good arm. She scurried back the moment she did so, as if expecting some kind of punishment for coming near.

Poor thing. Fadran thought to himself. He set the bag down between him and her, then started picking through his backpack for something else. He took his time, waiting for her to come back and snatch the bag. He had expected her to run off with it back into the shadows, but instead she sat down by the bag, eyeing the contents hungrily before carefully fishing out the nuts.

After Fadran was relatively sure that the girl was comfortable enough in his presence, he asked, “can I see your wrist?”

She leaned away from him instinctively, but then scooched towards him and held up her hand. Fadran winced at what he saw: a large red mark that extended across her hand almost to her elbow. It looked as though she had fallen from a tree and tried to catch herself… or possibly somebody had given her a forceful beating.

“You’re going to be alright,” he decided, “just close your eyes, okay?”

She obeyed, a lot quicker than he thought she would’ve. He held her arm with one of his hands, hesitantly placed a finger on the wound. She winced, but didn’t pull her arm away.

Fadran Forged a Spirit Bond to her wrist, and began Healing.

By siphoning his own Health and emptying it into her, the wound on her wrist began to heal. The redness faded into the pink of young skin. He could feel her hunger, fatigue, possibly a disease or two, all being washed away by the magic. The girl took in a sharp breath, then cracked open an eyelid as the pain vanished. After a moment of staring at her arm in awe, she touched the new skin with her finger, then gave Fadran a questioning look.

“What’s your name?” She asked.

“You can call me Fadran. What about you?”

She hesitated. “I’m… I’m Kendrea.”

“That’s a nice name,” Fadran decided, “would you mind if I added it to my collection?”

“What?”

Fadran finished searching his backpack, taking out a slip of paper and a pen. “Just sign your name here, and be honest about it. It’s a… way I remember people.”

“I can’t spell.”

“That’s okay. Just do your best.”

She hesitantly took the items, then signed her name, one letter at a time. There was an endearing methodicality to her writing, how she took the time to write out each letter broadly so that it could be read easily, all concentration on the pen in her hand and the letters on the paper.

Kendrea finished writing her name, taking a moment to look over it, then handed it back to Fadran.

“What do you know?” Fadran told her. “You spelled it perfectly. Good job.”

Kendrea giggled a little, cracking a smile.

Fadran read over her name a couple times, then sought the inner meaning of the identity written there. He placed his fingers on the paper, Forging a Spirit Bond to the unique personality of the girl that had written that name.

His mind was suddenly flooded by emotions, memories; thoughts and feelings. For as long as he had been doing Spiritcalling, the experience of realizing another person’s true self was always just as overwhelming as the last.

“You’re afraid.” Fadran said to Kendrea, starting with the basics: things he would have known without Spiritcalling. “You don’t know where you are.”

Kendrea fell quiet, then scooched a little closer to Fadran.

“You… don’t know where your parents are.” Fadran realized. “You don’t know what happened to them.”

“I miss my mommy.” Kendrea whispered.

“Your life’s been hard.” Fadran said. “And you don’t know why. Everyone’s been harsh to you, treating you like something less than human. All you want is someone looking out for you.”

Kendrea’s chin started to quiver.

Fadran felt a lump form in his throat. “You don’t know where you are, in real life or in your own head. You’re worried that you’ll never find a way out.”

He didn’t have to look to see a tear slip out of her eye. “They told me that my mommy and daddy didn’t care about me. They wanted me to give them my mommy’s ring. I told them no, and they—” her voice choked. She clutched her wrist.

Someone’s coming. Icona said.

Fadran watched Kendrea for a few moments, then wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She didn’t start; a few seconds later, she was crying into his forearm. She didn’t have enough experiences for him to continue Spiritcalling—he hadn’t expected her to, either. He was actually quite surprised that there was enough in her short life to make such a thorough Spirit.

The thugs rounded the corner a minute later. There were six of them, each tall, burly, badly dressed, and wielding jagged pieces of wood. One of them—Fadran assumed he was their leader—looked like he hadn’t skipped a meal in weeks. Not fat; just healthy.

Kendrea whimpered, instinctively putting Fadran between herself and them. Fadran was all too aware of what she was feeling: he had, in fact, just looked through her life’s emotions and impressions.

The thugs sized Fadran up; it took them long enough. Some of them eyed his backpack, though they waited for their leader to make the first move.

Fadran got to his feet, standing between them and Kendrea. He held the girl’s hand, feeling her move further and further behind him. One of the thugs gave her a harsh glare, which she returned with a frail whimper.

“Don’t worry, boys.” Fadran said. “I’ll take care of her from here. You don’t have to worry about her anymore.”

A couple of the thugs laughed to themselves, then quickly shut up as their leader didn’t react. So they were dependent on him, then? More likely they were scared of the more muscular thug.

“Listen, you.” The leader said. “This is our turf. You’re on it and so is she. You two better pay up right now or we’ll teach you a lesson you’ll never forget.”

“The best teachers I’ve had don’t tend to use violence to teach their students.” Fadran replied. “And as I understand it, this one’s already paid you.”

“She paid for last week.” The lead thug replied, fishing something out of his pocket: a small ring. “Once we get our buyer, this is going to fetch me a pretty crescent.”

“What more would you have her give you? You’ve taken everything she has.”

“There are plenty of uses for a kid like her. You can make anybody a good servant with the right motivation.”

The words servant and motivation were enough to set Fadran off. “You leave her alone, alright?” He snapped. “Give her ring back and get out of here before I teach you guys a ‘lesson.’”

The leader nodded at his thugs. “Get him.”

They ran at Fadran, clubs brandished high in the air. In a split second, Fadran reacted by Forging a Spirit Bond to the cobblestone ground. He shifted the floor just enough to topple all the running thugs.

The leader growled in frustration. “You idiots!” He shouted, then ran at Fadran himself.

You’ll want to make an example out of this one. Icona said.

I was thinking the exact same thing. Fadran replied.

The leader brought his club down to strike Fadran’s head, but found himself swinging at open air as Fadran shifted to the side. With the leader off-balance, Fadran brought his hand down straight at his spine. The leader gasped, collapsing hard onto his chest.

Fadran was reluctant to hurt him any further, but delivered one kick to the side anyways; hopefully that’d give the thug second thoughts about doing the same to somebody else the next time they had them down. He grabbed the thug’s club, smashing it over his knee; he wondered how many splinters he had just given himself. Not that it mattered.

The other thugs retreated away as fast as they could, and the leader scrambled away from Fadran, fear all throughout his eyes.

Fadran lit his hand on fire.

“The ring.” Fadran said.

The thug fumbled through his pockets, eventually tossing the ring back at Fadran before getting to his feet and running off.

Fadran extinguished his flame, leaning down to pick up Kendrea’s ring. He turned around to face the girl, who was still whimpering. He held out his hand, holding her ring back to her.

“Be careful not to lose this, okay?” Fadran said.

She took it hesitantly. “Okay.”

“It’s a lot more valuable to you than just crescents, isn’t it?” Fadran asked.

“Yeah. Thanks.”

“You can thank me by showing me the way out of here.” Fadran replied. “Because I have no idea where I am.”

Kendrea giggled lightly, then held out her hand. When Fadran took it, she began leading him out of the alleyway. He didn’t watch the path they took; only the journey they had together.

They seemed to be out of the alleyways all too soon.

Fadran scanned the streets before Kendrea spoke, trying to gather his bearings.

“Do you have to go now?” Kendrea asked.

“Not yet.” Fadran replied. “How about you come with me for a little ways?”

Kendrea smiled. “Okay.”

Fadran led her along the streets, this time checking signs and landmarks to make sure he was going the right way. Kendrea ambled alongside him contently, no longer glancing left and right to see if she was in any danger. She held onto his hand with both of hers, occasionally half-swinging from it like there was nothing to it. Fadran couldn’t help but wonder if that was something she used to do with her own parents before they left her.

He arrived at his destination, Kendrea looking around in pure awe at her surroundings. She glanced back up at Fadran as he knocked on the door.

“Where are we?” She asked.

“I’m just introducing you to someone.”

A tall, motherly woman opened the door, holding a baby in one arm and the doorknob in the other. A couple toddlers dashed around her legs, giggling and trying to poke each other. When the woman saw Kendrea, she somehow managed to sigh in both exasperation and pity.

Kendrea’s grip on Fadran’s hand tightened. “My mommy and daddy aren’t coming back.” It wasn’t a question.

Fadran could only nod, then dropped to one knee and placed his hands on her shoulders. “You’ll be safe here. They’ll take care of you.”

“But I don’t… want to leave you…” Her chin was quivering lightly.

“You wouldn’t want to live my life. It’s… hard.” He brushed her hair behind her ear. “Though I guess you’re pretty used to hard things, aren’t you?”

She nodded quietly, a tear coming down from her eye.

“So do you think you can do one more hard thing,” Fadran asked, “for me?”

Kendrea sobbed, then hugged Fadran and cried into his shoulder. He hugged her back, letting her let out her emotions.

“Go make some new friends, okay?”

When she finally pulled away, she nodded, still crying. “Okay.”

Fadran put his hand on her shoulder. “I’m proud of you.”

Kendrea nodded again, then pulled off her ring and held it out to Fadran.

Fadran blinked. “Are you sure?”

“My mommy and daddy aren’t coming back.” She repeated.

Fadran hesitated, then took the ring. “Thank you.”

Kendrea smiled, then hugged Fadran one more time before stepping through orphanage doorway. One of the children poked her in the side, and she started chasing him down the hallway, giggling at the top of her lungs.

The orphanage mother gave him a grateful smile before closing the door, Kendrea’s laughter the last noise he could hear from the building.

He stood facing the door for a minute, fingering Kendrea’s ring. Looking closer, he could see that it was probably made of silver, studded with a small stone. Probably worth a crescent or two.

Fadran pocketed the ring, glad that it meant more to him than how much he could sell it for.

“That’s how two lost people help each other, Icona.” Fadran said.

He walked into the breaking dawn, another story having been told.

 

[Chasmgoat]

Yay for a 10,000th post! that happened to be a double post

[Channelknight Fadran]

Hey guys! I have a new chapter for y'alls! It's not very long, though...

Chapter XIX: A Jester's Escapade

Spoiler

Chapter XIX - A Jester's Escapade

Right around... now | Evitcelloc Ranoci Eht

"Hah!" The king's wit jester said, staring directly at the reader. "You thought! APRIL FOOLS, YOU FOOLS. YOU SHOULD SEE THE LOOK ON YOUR FACE."

 

[The Unknown Ajah]

29 minutes ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

Hey guys! I have a new chapter for y'alls! It's not very long, though...

Chapter XIX: A Jester's Escapade

  Hide contents

Chapter XIX - A Jester's Escapade

Right around... now | Evitcelloc Ranoci Eht

"Hah!" The king's wit jester said, staring directly at the reader. "You thought! APRIL FOOLS, YOU FOOLS. YOU SHOULD SEE THE LOOK ON YOUR FACE."

 

The look on my face is laughing. 

[+JesterLavorre]

8 hours ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

Hey guys! I have a new chapter for y'alls! It's not very long, though...

Chapter XIX: A Jester's Escapade

  Reveal hidden contents

Chapter XIX - A Jester's Escapade

Right around... now | Evitcelloc Ranoci Eht

"Hah!" The king's wit jester said, staring directly at the reader. "You thought! APRIL FOOLS, YOU FOOLS. YOU SHOULD SEE THE LOOK ON YOUR FACE."

 

*Gasp*

How could a fellow Jester do such a thing?

[Experience]

13 hours ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

Hey guys! I have a new chapter for y'alls! It's not very long, though...

Chapter XIX: A Jester's Escapade

  Hide contents

Chapter XIX - A Jester's Escapade

Right around... now | Evitcelloc Ranoci Eht

"Hah!" The king's wit jester said, staring directly at the reader. "You thought! APRIL FOOLS, YOU FOOLS. YOU SHOULD SEE THE LOOK ON YOUR FACE."

 

I'd better see this chapter in the book. Or maybe that can be on the back cover.  

[Frustration]

Just now, Experience said:

I'd better see this chapter in the book. Or maybe that can be on the back cover.  

It can be in the annotations of the Iconar collective at www.ChannelknightFadran's_real_name.com/Annotations/Iconar

[Experience]

3 minutes ago, Frustration said:

It can be in the annotations of the Iconar collective at www.ChannelknightFadran's_real_name.com/Annotations/Iconar

Darn. That link doesn't work.  

[Channelknight Fadran]

Hello humans, fey, fleekers, dragons, dwarves, demons, and necromids! I'm not posting another chapter, but I figured that making three SUs in a 24 hour period would be a bad way to announce that I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED CHAPTERS MCSCUDDING 27 AND 28. They've taken me AGES. But I'm DONE!!!!!!

[Bejarden]

@Channelknight Fadran I just found your book on here...

before I start it, how long is it? I see the number of chapter but what’s the approx word count

 

[Channelknight Fadran]

12 minutes ago, Bejardin1250 said:

@Channelknight Fadran I just found your book on here...

before I start it, how long is it? I see the number of chapter but what’s the approx word count

Total word count is 78K, but the word count for the chapters on here is... *checks doc*... about 57K. Holy scud is that more than I expected to post on here...

Edited May 6, 2021 by Channelknight Fadran

[The Unknown Ajah]

On 5/5/2021 at 7:19 PM, Channelknight Fadran said:

Total word count is 78K, but the word count for the chapters on here is... *checks doc*... about 57K. Holy scud is that more than I expected to post on here...

Does that include the Jester's Escapade?

[Channelknight Fadran]

10 hours ago, The Unknown Order said:

Does that include the Jester's Escapade?

No, I suppose it doesn't 

[Frustration]

Congrats Fadran

[Frustration]

@Channelknight Fadran

I know you have unrealeased chapters.

Also I may or may not have tried to do @fadran