Era 8 Character Thread

[BridgeBoi]

Here, I redid Aredos 's character sheet with a more full backstory and personality. spoilered for size.

Spoiler

Name: Aredos

Appearance: Elantrian, tall man who looks to be around 20 (actually in his 70s) with short hair. Wears white robes and a headband. In disguise, he  transforms into a more weathered 40s something man with brown hair, blue eyes and a cheek scar.

Affiliations: None, works for his own interests

Personality: Aredos is kind and generous to the common people. However, he despises those he thinks are evil. He has a very white and black worldview with those who are good being worthy of protection and those who are evil being worthy only of destruction. Because of this, he shows no mercy to his enemies and those who cross him. He particularly hates those who kill for money/ mercenaries. He carries himself with a confident air and is quite self-righteous. 

Concept: Former mercenary who is trying to kill those who used him to kill.

Motivation (Short & long term goal): His long term goal is to kill all mercenaries and those who hire them. In the short term, he wants to hunt down and kill Oladan, the leader of his former mercenary company and a mentor/father to him. Oladan manipulated him and he wants to get his revenge

Merits:

Minor: 1) He knows his way around most weapons. He is at least a decent fighter with any weapon. In addition, he has seen them in combat before.

2) He is tough and stubborn. He is not shaken by pain and is willing to go through it to achieve his goals.

3)He is friendly to those who are poor. He tries to use his powers to help them out in any way he can.

Normal: 1) He is quite a good sword fighter. He’s not a true master but he can beat most people in sword fighting.

2) He is extremely experienced with AonDor. As his mentor, Oladan was an accomplished Aondor scientist, He’s a fast drawer and is creative with the different Aons and putting them together. 

Major: 2) Experienced Elantrian. 

Flaws: 1) Paranoid. He was manipulated before and is extremely scared of being maunplated again. However, if he wants to be successful in achieving his goal, he will need to be able to trust others.

Relationships (Eg. Family and Friends): Oladan: Oladan was his father figure and mentor. He was an accomplished scientist who cracked the way to leave Sel and worldhop. He unkeyed AonDor and founded a group of mercenaries. Aredos viewed him as a great man and almost worshipped him. Therefore, when Aredos realized that he was hurting people as a mercenary, all that worship and respect turned to hate for one who had led him astray. Oladan believes in survival of the fittest and that as the fittest, the elantrians should rule the Cosmere. Aredos now hates Oladan with a burning passion.

Home Planet: Sel (Arelon)

Current Residence: He has a hideout in New Halladren.

Backstory: Aredos’s story started around 15 years after Elantris was restored. Oladan was a clerk who was taken by the Shaod. He spent ten years learning AonDor and becoming a master. However, Oladan was discontented by the life of a mere Elantrian and wanted to leave. He therefore in secret, worked on finding a way to worldhop. He managed to unkey AonDor and manipulate his connection through maps. He took some AonDor and left Elantris. He used this to found a mercenary group of Invested Individuals. He built a fortress in the Cognitive realm of Nalthis. This is where Aredos enters the story. Aredos was taken by the Shaod as a five year old around 35 years after Elantris was restored. He was taken from his family by the priests to be prepared to enter Elantris. He however, as a five year old, got scared and thought he would never see his family again. He escaped the priest and tried to go back to his family. However, he got lost in the countryside. This is where Aredos and Oladan crossed paths. Oladan was collecting more Dor for his mercenaries when he found a lost Elantrian child. He saw the usefulness of having another Elantrian. Therefore, he removed young Aredos’s memories and left Sel. Aredos was raised as a weapon. Oladan taught him AonDor and the mercenaries taught him how to fight with weapons. After being trained for around twenty years, Aredos began to be sent on missions. For the next twenty years, he traveled the cosmere, manipulating connection and using unkeyed AonDor. However, his life changed on a mission to Nalthis. He was sent by Oladan with a couple others to assassinate a small noble. Aredos, as commanded, used a lot of dor to draw a large Aon Daa and destroy the noble’s house. However, as they went into the noble’s home to check and see if they finished the job, Aredos saw the noble’s wife and young child. He was horrified that he had caused this to happen. He turned on his companions and after a fight, managed to kill them all. He then traveled back to Oladan’s fortress and stole his unkeyed Dor. He used a large portion to destroy the castle and most of the mercenaries inside. However, Oladan escaped and left Nalthis. Vowing revenge, Aredos spent twelve years hunting Oladan across the Cosmere. However, Oladan disappeared suddenly. Aredos, while searching, heard legends of the Alleyverse, and realized that Oladan went there. He spent two years searching for the way in and finally found it. He came to the Alleyverse and has heard rumors that Oladan is somewhere in Alleycity. He has spent two years there looking for Oladan’s hideout. 

Loose ends (What is unfinished in their life?): He wants to kill Oladan because Oladan manuiplated him into killing for his company. Oladan escaped before, he won’t again.

 

@Koloss17

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[Koloss17 She/They]

17 hours ago, RoyalBeeMage said:

same character but with a fresh paint job! not sure how they are planning to join the plot yet but i'll work something out closer to the time for now i present to you Eleos 2.0!

sorry if the formatting is weird...

Is this a retconning of Eleos? I don’t particularly see how this Eleos evolves from the Era 7 Eleos. We can retcon it, even if it would have some weird implications. I would need to know for sure what your thought process on that is before I can further look into the character.

7 hours ago, WhiteHairedDrifter said:

Yes, I thought that would need a little explanation. It would partially depend on whether or not the Alleyverse has an Investiture rich atmosphere as mentioned by Twinsoul in TLM. I think I would need to think on exactly how much water and investiture is needed to use the ability. I will also need to research whether it is a born or given ability. The way I wrote they backstory sort of assumed that it was born, but I'll have to look over the mentions of aetherbound in Tress and TLM.

What I picture for how it functions is that he's basically a porcupine. He creates spines like the Lumar spores, he can only grow them directly from his body, and, while he can choose which direction they go, he can't change their shape. He can change the size based on how much investiture he uses and I'm thinking about allowing him to modulate the diameter, but the shape is always a spine.

He is easily startled and when he is, he can be seen to visibly prickle. He's gotten better at controlling it, but you can still see what look like thin red hairs grow from the back of his hands when he flinches. They are generally short enough that they look almost like red glitter, unless he purposefully makes them longer. The same effect could be seen on his arms and down his back and neck as well as in his hair. These are usually concealed by his red hair and thick clothing. The spines disintegrate after a few moments once he has calmed down and he simply brushes them off as dust. This whole process is very subtle and is rarely noticed, and when it is, it's usually just passed off as a trick of the light

As you can imagine, when he actually uses his ability, (which is rare,) he goes through a lot of clothes.

As for his back story, I'll have to look into that. I wish we knew more about Dhatri. I'm thinking about actually changing his home world to Lumar as we know more about the geography and culture.

I'll post again with an updated backstory.

His power looks faintly reminiscent to Quill from X-men. (Live action, not cartoon. He doesn't have fur.)

Well, whatever backstory and magic you land on, let me know! I think me can make whatever work.

The Alleyverse’ atmosphere is going to be kinda like Scadrial’s, so Earth-like. There is a Cognitive and Spiritual realm, but as far as I’m aware no perpendicularity. There is an Alleystorm that only really shows up when it’s relevant to the plot, and there’s a bunch of weird dimensions like the Nowhere and Alleys (which is extra weird as it’s a unique dimension to this RP), but generally Alleyplanet is “normal” by Cosmere standards.

@BridgeBoi

Overall it’s a vast improvement from the previous character sheet. My main thoughts are these:

-You character has a mission to track down someone that is a non-PC, which can complicate things. Obviously your character seems to be the type to go on side quests, but having the ultimate goal being to face an NPC leads to potentially non-interactive RP, as you either have to roleplay Oladan yourself or have someone else roleplay Oladan, which might lead to you feeling that they didn’t do the character justice. This is something we can make work, and maybe the character arc is that they don’t have to seek revenge, but it’s definitely a more complex dynamic than you’d expect.

-Experienced elantrians are really strong. With proper flaws and nerfs, they can be balanced, but on its own, an Elantrian that knows what they’re doing is probably mistborn levels of strength. Given that we’re in a plot where there will be mistings and even non-powered folk running around, this could lead to a weird power imbalance coming into play. 
 

That said, sometimes that’s a good thing. For example, my main character last Era was very strong, and while not Mistborn levels strong, was definitely above the curve. However, that was kind of the point. He was the villain of the era, and his strength invited other characters to group up against them.

This era, we have a secret organization that is made to deal with folks with high investiture reliance, but it is a tricky thing. I would have to talk with some other folks on how they would feel about having a fully fledged Elantrian with very few downsides in the plot, but I would hazard you against playing it as your first Alleyverse character.

This is not to say you can’t play the character, just that you might need some flaws to balance out the strength of the Elantrian powers. Maybe there’s some sort of mental or physical weakness that they have to play around. Maybe they have a moral code that restricts their ability to use their magic in specific circumstances. Maybe they have some sort of magical interference with their abilities, acting as a sort of curse.

These are just ideas, but adding something like that can help mitigate the power problem as well as create interesting hurdles for your character to overcome.

 

Edited January 2, 2025 by Koloss17

[𝖂𝖍𝖎𝖗𝖙𝖊]

Spoiler

Name

Mordyial Kein

Appearance

6 feet tall, short red hair, wears enveloping clothing designed to cover as much skin as possible, the clothing is ragged and upon closer inspection appears to be riddled with tiny holes, pale skin, slender frame, quiet and unsettling.

Affiliations

None (yet)

Personality

Closemouthed and shy, realizes the need to make alliances but doesn't enjoy trusting people more than necessary, avoids physical contact not for fear of getting hurt but instead fears injuring others, hates taking life.

Concept

Crimson aetherbound who fears the destructive power of his ability.

Motivation

Short term: Find a place to stay without drawing attention.

Long term: Find a way to live in peace without causing any more deaths.

Merits

Major: Crimson aetherbound. This ability allows him to grow spines only from his skin. The spines are blood red and reflective. They have similar properties to glass, but are much stronger. They can be shattered by bladed weapons but doing so is very difficult. Heavy blunt weapons are most effective. The spines turn to dust after a while when not in contact with his skin. He can also dismiss them to the same effect.

Normal: Excellent lockpick, excellent sneak

Minor: kindly(Builds trust quickly), passable with a dagger if forced, loyal(perhaps to a fault)

Flaws

Has difficulty controlling his aether abilities and they tend to be heavily effected by his emotions, fears forming relationships with people, fears hurting people with his ability, despises violence and will only fight as a last resort, has PTSD from accidentally killing his childhood friend with his aether and is subject to panic attacks under stress, needs a near constant source of water to survive, Has a major phobia of physical contact. His abilities dehydrate him at a startling rate.

He is easily angered due to the nature of his condition and the Intent of the Crimson Aether that infects him. If he gets angry enough, it can lead to him losing control. This makes him more powerful but causes him to lose all self control and distinction between friend and foe. It is unsure what would happen if he fully lost control. Doing so is one of his greatest fears.(possible future Kaladin vs Pursuer / hulk out scene.)

Relationships

His parents still live on Lumar, He accidentally killed his childhood best friend and has been permanently scarred by the event which has caused him to shy from forming relationships.

Home planet

Lumar

Current residence

None. Recently arrived in the Alleyverse and is looking for a place to stay.

Backstory

He grew up on Lumar. His story started when he was about fourteen years old when he left his home to find his friend, Jonathan.

Mordyial was not popular, even then. He was bullied by adults and other children alike, but he took comfort in the fact that Jonathan stood up for him. He was not bothered by the others. He didn't feel the need to be popular anyway. Jonathan was enough for him.

He approached Jonathan's home and made as if to knock on the door. He stopped as he heard laughter from within. Mordyial walked around to the window and peeked inside. Jonathan was there with another boy from the village. He was a bulky young man who was one of Mordyial's worst detractors.

Mordyial listened in on their conversation. What he heard horrified him. Jonathan, his one and only friend, the one person he thought he could trust, was responsible for all the mockery and abuse. He was the source.

Mordyial listened as his presumed friend shared secrets told to him in confidence. He fled.

The next day, on his way to school, Mordyial passed Jonathan on the road. He kept his eyes on the road and tried to pass him without speaking. Jonathan called for him to stop. Mordyial pretended not to hear and kept walking. Jonathan put his hand on mordyial's shoulder. Mordyial looked at him with, a slight tinge of fear in his eyes. Jonathan started telling a joke and anger welled up in Mordyial. How could he lie so well? Jonathan's voice trailed off as he realized that his audience wasn't listening. He asked if Mordyial was okay. Mordyial looked at him, his eyes wild with rage. Jonathan tried to console him, but Mordyial could only rage at the false face Jonathan wore. He looked away and saw the boy who he had seen in Jonathan's house the day before and his rage reached a new height. He felt a surge through his body as he listened as if something had Snapped.

"That idiot Jonathan is still standing up for the twerp," the boy said to his friends. "I went to his house the other day to talk to him. He was so friendly I was almost sick. When I started asking about Mordyial though, he finally grew a backbone and kicked me out."

Mordyial heard this and froze. Had he misread the situation? He looked to Jonathan. He looked with horror at Jonathan's corpse speared on the crimson spines jutting from Mordyial's body. He remembered the surge of energy he had felt and cried out. He shook and broke off the spines and pulled them out of Jonathan's body. He knelt by Jonathan and wept, begging him To wake up. He never did.

After a few moments of stunned silence, everyone present started shouting and running for Mordyial. He ran and his in an alley. A few hours later when people had stopped rioting, he put on a cloak to conceal himself and made for the docks. His eyes were sore and red, and he had no more tears left to cry.

He got a job on one of the ships leaving the harbor and said goodbye to his home.

He sailed with the crew for a few months and and saw much of the world. Eventually, the captain, being rather daring, took a job that required sailing through the crimson sea. The sailors hesitantly agreed. They were not long into thensea before they encountered the rains. The ship was destroyed in the first night.

Mordyial screamed as he fell from the deck of the collapsing ship and into the crimson spores. To his amazement, he broke the surface a moment later. Thenspores had solidified beneath him. ONLY beneath him. The seethe continued, but the sea held firm under his feet. He felt a sort of pulse from the direction of the crimson moon, hanging low above the horizon. He watched as the ship sank.

The spores hardened in a path off towards the horizon. Seeing no better option, Mordyial followed the path. He walked for many days and nights. When the rain came, he expected to be torn apart, but the spines parted around him and none pierced him. The rain made him feel rejuvenated.

Mordyial felt oddly... Peaceful. It was a feeling he had not felt since Jonathan died. He was always worried about hurting people, but here... There was nobody to hurt. Mordyial made up his mind to stay. The water from the rains sustained him and he had no need to eat. As if in response to this thought, the spores became soft and he fell in. They surged forward, carrying him forward with urgency. Eventually, he reached the edge of the midnight sea.

Mordyial shivered and tried to step back, but the crimson spores urged him onward. Reluctantly, he stepped onto the black spores as the seethe stopped. He was quickly ambushed by midnight essence. After struggling for some time, his vision went black.

When he awoke, he found himself in a well furnished room. Standing by the fire was a woman with silver skin. He tried to call to her, but all that came out was a chirp. He looked down in horror to find himself in the body of a bright red songbird. The woman just laughed. He lived as such for almost three years.

One day, the tower was invaded by a group of strangers. Mordyial ignored them, not really caring, until his cage was knocked over. He hopped out in annoyance and looked around. He watched as a strange man took on the same glow as the sorceress. Eventually the sorceress said something about leaving. Mordyial didn't think, he just followed her.

After a few weeks on board what now appeared to be a FLYING TOWER, they passed a black hole in space. Mordyial had some knowledge of space and knew the danger of this. He perched by a window and watched. They vessel trembled and started to shake. He heard the sorceress cursing, but was not there long enough to hear the end. The window shattered and he flew into the cold of space.

He was sucked toward the black hole and felt a strange sense of disconnect as he lost consciousness. He awoke in madness. He was in a sort of void that seemed to defy natural laws. He watched his life flash before his eyes and heard his own words spoken without speaking. He saw himself and looked back. He was thrown suddenly onto a very real street. He looked back at the alleyway he had flown out of. He was to glad to be alive to waste time wondering what the heck had just happened.

A strange little man with slate gray, almost crystalline fingernails approached him. He reached for Mordyial's hand and shook it, breaking into a wide grin. 

"You look new!" He said. "Welcome to the Alleyverse!"

Loose ends

Mordyial cannot rest peacefully until he is reconciled with Jonathan, or at least with himself. He has no idea how he is going to do so. For know he just wants to avoid hurting anyone else.

@Koloss17 Is this any better?

[Wits instant noodles he/him]

Quote

Name: Kalel dalar

Appearance: male, 6’6” well muscled and large from black smithing. Shock white curly hair and blue eyes. A straight thin scar across his right forearm. slightly ragged but fairly well kept clothes. belt filled with hammers and metal ingots and such 

Affiliations: none but is willing to work with UFO

Personality: relatively calm but upbeat demeanor, a little bit figety and absent minded. Slow to anger but slow to forget. Very proud of the weapons he creates. Treats all people equal unless given a reason not to. Only deals with invested people if he decides they aren’t going to use their abilities to push around or harm non invested people. To some this comes across as rude. 

Concept: world hopping weapons smith 

Motivation (Short & long term goal): short term he wants to set up a shop and be successful selling invested weapons or specialized weapons to invested individuals. Long term he wants to find out more about the dark ally’s goals as he doesn’t like the rumors he’s heard about them, potentially even wants to find a way to stop them but doesn’t know for now as he doesn’t have enough Information to act on. Is willing to help with UFO but doesn’t want to fully commit due to seeing things a little differently. He believes in giving non invested people a leg up but also wants to do it using invested weapons.

Merits:min1) good cook, min2) picks locks min3) plays uke N1) proficient in almost all weapon types N2) incredible blacksmith and weapon smith Maj1) has roughly 3,500 breaths (tucked away In various items, uses them mainly for making weapons that have invested abilities)

Flaws:is deaf and completely unable to hear sense birth.(so he’s really easy to sneak up on.) non invested he has breaths but no longer keeps them in himself and never uses them for himself. 

Relationships: none yet

Home Planet: Nalthis, Hallandren

Current Residence: a shop with a apartment above it in the new hallandren paid for by money he’s gathered in his long years of life

Backstory: Kalel was born deaf to a blacksmith. due to him being deaf he had a hard time connecting with anyone and mostly just put himself to working his trade as a smith. Due to his incredible skill he grew to own several several shops and thanks to his humble life style he started building wealth, with that wealth he experimented with breaths purchasing large amounts. He used it to start experimenting with weapons and tools that used breaths or helped awakeners. One day while exploring the jungles of Hallandren looking for wood to be used as handles he stumbled upon the perpendicularly there. Going through he had discovered the cosmear. From there he returned to his shop to collect his wealth and breaths and head out to explore the cosmere. He traveled to several planets including Scadrial, Roshar, sel, Lumar, and Taldain among others. At each planet he learns of the different weapons and materials collecting them and storing them. He also study’s the investiture and how it’s used. How it could be bolstered or halted by the use of different weapons and tools but also sees that on every planet the non invested are pushed around by those with more power then them. Seeing this Kalel decides to put his breaths in objects and not use them for himself. Eventually while traveling the cosmear he learned of a land filled with people from all corners of the  Cosmere and beyond. kalel with his vast wealth, knowledge, and materials gathered from worlds all over the Cosmere. When he arrives he learns of the UFO and finds himself agreeing noninvested people should have a way to fight back but thinks that using invested materials and items is still too much of an advantage. He hears of a shadowy organization called the dark ally that he doesn’t like the sound of it. But has decided to try and learn more about them before making any decisions regarding them. He buys a small unassuming shop in New Hallandren and starts crafting weapons for uninvested people and invested people alike specializing each weapon to the users needs and abilities. 

Here’s a character I’ve been working on for a bit let me know what you think.

[RoyalBeeMage he/him]

4 hours ago, Koloss17 said:

Is this a retconning of Eleos? I don’t particularly see how this Eleos evolves from the Era 7 Eleos. We can retcon it, even if it would have some weird implications. I would need to know for sure what your thought process on that is before I can further look into the character.

it's more of an update to hopefully make more sence... i changed the backstory, the goals and slightly tweaked the loose ends. the main difrence is that he has a few difrent abilities such as being a 4th ideal stoneward with armor

[BridgeBoi]

20 hours ago, Koloss17 said:

Is this a retconning of Eleos? I don’t particularly see how this Eleos evolves from the Era 7 Eleos. We can retcon it, even if it would have some weird implications. I would need to know for sure what your thought process on that is before I can further look into the character.

Well, whatever backstory and magic you land on, let me know! I think me can make whatever work.

The Alleyverse’ atmosphere is going to be kinda like Scadrial’s, so Earth-like. There is a Cognitive and Spiritual realm, but as far as I’m aware no perpendicularity. There is an Alleystorm that only really shows up when it’s relevant to the plot, and there’s a bunch of weird dimensions like the Nowhere and Alleys (which is extra weird as it’s a unique dimension to this RP), but generally Alleyplanet is “normal” by Cosmere standards.

@BridgeBoi

Overall it’s a vast improvement from the previous character sheet. My main thoughts are these:

-You character has a mission to track down someone that is a non-PC, which can complicate things. Obviously your character seems to be the type to go on side quests, but having the ultimate goal being to face an NPC leads to potentially non-interactive RP, as you either have to roleplay Oladan yourself or have someone else roleplay Oladan, which might lead to you feeling that they didn’t do the character justice. This is something we can make work, and maybe the character arc is that they don’t have to seek revenge, but it’s definitely a more complex dynamic than you’d expect.

-Experienced elantrians are really strong. With proper flaws and nerfs, they can be balanced, but on its own, an Elantrian that knows what they’re doing is probably mistborn levels of strength. Given that we’re in a plot where there will be mistings and even non-powered folk running around, this could lead to a weird power imbalance coming into play. 
 

That said, sometimes that’s a good thing. For example, my main character last Era was very strong, and while not Mistborn levels strong, was definitely above the curve. However, that was kind of the point. He was the villain of the era, and his strength invited other characters to group up against them.

This era, we have a secret organization that is made to deal with folks with high investiture reliance, but it is a tricky thing. I would have to talk with some other folks on how they would feel about having a fully fledged Elantrian with very few downsides in the plot, but I would hazard you against playing it as your first Alleyverse character.

This is not to say you can’t play the character, just that you might need some flaws to balance out the strength of the Elantrian powers. Maybe there’s some sort of mental or physical weakness that they have to play around. Maybe they have a moral code that restricts their ability to use their magic in specific circumstances. Maybe they have some sort of magical interference with their abilities, acting as a sort of curse.

These are just ideas, but adding something like that can help mitigate the power problem as well as create interesting hurdles for your character to overcome.

 

This is really interesting. As for the power issues, I had one thought and a proposed flaw/weakness. One big weakness for Aredos is that he isn't good at teaming up with people (paranoid and with problems trusting people). This might lead to him to being ganged up on by the UFO or other people. Sure an elantrian is strong but against a group of killers, he would struggle. 

If you still feel that an elantrian is too strong, I can add some trauma. If Aredos is engaged in too much fighting, he begins to lose his grip on reality. He sees instead of his opponent's faces, he sees the faces of the mother and child he killed on Nalthis. He then is extremely distraught and unable to fight for too long. (similar to Taln in dragonsteel prime if you have read it) This affects him in long fights. Since he knows that he will probably freeze in big fights, he will run from most fights and only engage in select and short combats.

Another proposed weakness is that Aredos was limited in what Oladan taught him. He might not know how to soul cast for example, or might only know combat AonDor. 

A Third and finally one is that Aredos relies on a medallion for his connection to the Alleyverse. If he loses that medallion, he's powerless. Also I don't know the rules in connection to the Dor, but if there is no Dor, then he relies on stores of unkeyed Dor for his powers.

Feel free to propose any other fixes you see for the character.

Edited January 3, 2025 by BridgeBoi

[Koloss17 She/They]

21 hours ago, WhiteHairedDrifter said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Name

Mordyial Kein

Appearance

6 feet tall, short red hair, wears enveloping clothing designed to cover as much skin as possible, the clothing is ragged and upon closer inspection appears to be riddled with tiny holes, pale skin, slender frame, quiet and unsettling.

Affiliations

None (yet)

Personality

Closemouthed and shy, realizes the need to make alliances but doesn't enjoy trusting people more than necessary, avoids physical contact not for fear of getting hurt but instead fears injuring others, hates taking life.

Concept

Crimson aetherbound who fears the destructive power of his ability.

Motivation

Short term: Find a place to stay without drawing attention.

Long term: Find a way to live in peace without causing any more deaths.

Merits

Major: Crimson aetherbound. This ability allows him to grow spines only from his skin. The spines are blood red and reflective. They have similar properties to glass, but are much stronger. They can be shattered by bladed weapons but doing so is very difficult. Heavy blunt weapons are most effective. The spines turn to dust after a while when not in contact with his skin. He can also dismiss them to the same effect.

Normal: Excellent lockpick, excellent sneak

Minor: kindly(Builds trust quickly), passable with a dagger if forced, loyal(perhaps to a fault)

Flaws

Has difficulty controlling his aether abilities and they tend to be heavily effected by his emotions, fears forming relationships with people, fears hurting people with his ability, despises violence and will only fight as a last resort, has PTSD from accidentally killing his childhood friend with his aether and is subject to panic attacks under stress, needs a near constant source of water to survive, Has a major phobia of physical contact. His abilities dehydrate him at a startling rate.

He is easily angered due to the nature of his condition and the Intent of the Crimson Aether that infects him. If he gets angry enough, it can lead to him losing control. This makes him more powerful but causes him to lose all self control and distinction between friend and foe. It is unsure what would happen if he fully lost control. Doing so is one of his greatest fears.(possible future Kaladin vs Pursuer / hulk out scene.)

Relationships

His parents still live on Lumar, He accidentally killed his childhood best friend and has been permanently scarred by the event which has caused him to shy from forming relationships.

Home planet

Lumar

Current residence

None. Recently arrived in the Alleyverse and is looking for a place to stay.

Backstory

He grew up on Lumar. His story started when he was about fourteen years old when he left his home to find his friend, Jonathan.

Mordyial was not popular, even then. He was bullied by adults and other children alike, but he took comfort in the fact that Jonathan stood up for him. He was not bothered by the others. He didn't feel the need to be popular anyway. Jonathan was enough for him.

He approached Jonathan's home and made as if to knock on the door. He stopped as he heard laughter from within. Mordyial walked around to the window and peeked inside. Jonathan was there with another boy from the village. He was a bulky young man who was one of Mordyial's worst detractors.

Mordyial listened in on their conversation. What he heard horrified him. Jonathan, his one and only friend, the one person he thought he could trust, was responsible for all the mockery and abuse. He was the source.

Mordyial listened as his presumed friend shared secrets told to him in confidence. He fled.

The next day, on his way to school, Mordyial passed Jonathan on the road. He kept his eyes on the road and tried to pass him without speaking. Jonathan called for him to stop. Mordyial pretended not to hear and kept walking. Jonathan put his hand on mordyial's shoulder. Mordyial looked at him with, a slight tinge of fear in his eyes. Jonathan started telling a joke and anger welled up in Mordyial. How could he lie so well? Jonathan's voice trailed off as he realized that his audience wasn't listening. He asked if Mordyial was okay. Mordyial looked at him, his eyes wild with rage. Jonathan tried to console him, but Mordyial could only rage at the false face Jonathan wore. He looked away and saw the boy who he had seen in Jonathan's house the day before and his rage reached a new height. He felt a surge through his body as he listened as if something had Snapped.

"That idiot Jonathan is still standing up for the twerp," the boy said to his friends. "I went to his house the other day to talk to him. He was so friendly I was almost sick. When I started asking about Mordyial though, he finally grew a backbone and kicked me out."

Mordyial heard this and froze. Had he misread the situation? He looked to Jonathan. He looked with horror at Jonathan's corpse speared on the crimson spines jutting from Mordyial's body. He remembered the surge of energy he had felt and cried out. He shook and broke off the spines and pulled them out of Jonathan's body. He knelt by Jonathan and wept, begging him To wake up. He never did.

After a few moments of stunned silence, everyone present started shouting and running for Mordyial. He ran and his in an alley. A few hours later when people had stopped rioting, he put on a cloak to conceal himself and made for the docks. His eyes were sore and red, and he had no more tears left to cry.

He got a job on one of the ships leaving the harbor and said goodbye to his home.

He sailed with the crew for a few months and and saw much of the world. Eventually, the captain, being rather daring, took a job that required sailing through the crimson sea. The sailors hesitantly agreed. They were not long into thensea before they encountered the rains. The ship was destroyed in the first night.

Mordyial screamed as he fell from the deck of the collapsing ship and into the crimson spores. To his amazement, he broke the surface a moment later. Thenspores had solidified beneath him. ONLY beneath him. The seethe continued, but the sea held firm under his feet. He felt a sort of pulse from the direction of the crimson moon, hanging low above the horizon. He watched as the ship sank.

The spores hardened in a path off towards the horizon. Seeing no better option, Mordyial followed the path. He walked for many days and nights. When the rain came, he expected to be torn apart, but the spines parted around him and none pierced him. The rain made him feel rejuvenated.

Mordyial felt oddly... Peaceful. It was a feeling he had not felt since Jonathan died. He was always worried about hurting people, but here... There was nobody to hurt. Mordyial made up his mind to stay. The water from the rains sustained him and he had no need to eat. As if in response to this thought, the spores became soft and he fell in. They surged forward, carrying him forward with urgency. Eventually, he reached the edge of the midnight sea.

Mordyial shivered and tried to step back, but the crimson spores urged him onward. Reluctantly, he stepped onto the black spores as the seethe stopped. He was quickly ambushed by midnight essence. After struggling for some time, his vision went black.

When he awoke, he found himself in a well furnished room. Standing by the fire was a woman with silver skin. He tried to call to her, but all that came out was a chirp. He looked down in horror to find himself in the body of a bright red songbird. The woman just laughed. He lived as such for almost three years.

One day, the tower was invaded by a group of strangers. Mordyial ignored them, not really caring, until his cage was knocked over. He hopped out in annoyance and looked around. He watched as a strange man took on the same glow as the sorceress. Eventually the sorceress said something about leaving. Mordyial didn't think, he just followed her.

After a few weeks on board what now appeared to be a FLYING TOWER, they passed a black hole in space. Mordyial had some knowledge of space and knew the danger of this. He perched by a window and watched. They vessel trembled and started to shake. He heard the sorceress cursing, but was not there long enough to hear the end. The window shattered and he flew into the cold of space.

He was sucked toward the black hole and felt a strange sense of disconnect as he lost consciousness. He awoke in madness. He was in a sort of void that seemed to defy natural laws. He watched his life flash before his eyes and heard his own words spoken without speaking. He saw himself and looked back. He was thrown suddenly onto a very real street. He looked back at the alleyway he had flown out of. He was to glad to be alive to waste time wondering what the heck had just happened.

A strange little man with slate gray, almost crystalline fingernails approached him. He reached for Mordyial's hand and shook it, breaking into a wide grin. 

"You look new!" He said. "Welcome to the Alleyverse!"

Loose ends

Mordyial cannot rest peacefully until he is reconciled with Jonathan, or at least with himself. He has no idea how he is going to do so. For know he just wants to avoid hurting anyone else.

@Koloss17 Is this any better?

yeah this looks really good! My main objective with approvals is figuring out if you have a character that will roleplay well with others, and creating a three-dimensional character is a big part of that. I have faith that you will RP well with the character. Approved!

 

20 hours ago, Wits instant noodles said:

Here’s a character I’ve been working on for a bit let me know what you think.

FYI the Dark Alleys haven't really been active in a while, as there's currently no characters that are in the DA. However, that seems to be a minor point.

Overall, I'm a big fan of the character. I think its quite interesting, and I think you did a good job at balancing the character. My only concern is that your character has a nature that actively avoids RP. While its not a lone wolf character, someone that mostly sticks to one place and struggles to interact with others is difficult to do in an RP environment. That is something that we could make work, but your character would either need to be pushed out of their comfort zone or made to do something uncharacteristic of their normal actions. The whole UFO thing could do that, but it would be something that you would have to plan out or manage. I hesitate to approve a lone wolf character without faith that you'll figure out a way to RP around that fact. 

Its completely possible that you could pull it off, but given this is your first character in the Alleyverse, I just don't know. So here's my thought. I will approve this character, but I'd sincerely recommend planning ahead with other characters to lay plans for RP potential. I've seen people excited to play a character only to be disconnected from any real plot because they were adhering more to what their character would do, which is avoid all that. Now, I think its imparative that you create a realistic scenario for your character, so that you can be actively RPing and getting involved without acting counter to what would be realistic for the character. Does that make sense? Let me know if you need me to better explain things. Your character is approved, but with a warning. I believe in ya, you just need to put in some extra effort.

18 hours ago, RoyalBeeMage said:

it's more of an update to hopefully make more sence... i changed the backstory, the goals and slightly tweaked the loose ends. the main difrence is that he has a few difrent abilities such as being a 4th ideal stoneward with armor

So is the Eleos that we saw in Era 7 the same Eleos we're seeing now? Did they go through the same events? If you want to retcon it, we can, as Eleos didn't do all that much in Era 7, but if this is the same character that has just gone through a major shift in morals and bond in the past 6 months (as Era 8 is taking place roughly half a year after Era 7), I would need that to be more spelled out.

 

2 hours ago, BridgeBoi said:

This is really interesting. As for the power issues, I had one thought and a proposed flaw/weakness. One big weakness for Aredos is that he isn't good at teaming up with people (paranoid and with problems trusting people). This might lead to him to being ganged up on by the UFO or other people. Sure an elantrian is strong but against a group of killers, he would struggle. 

If you still feel that an elantrian is too strong, I can add some trauma. If Aredos is engaged in too much fighting, he begins to lose his grip on reality. He sees instead of his opponent's faces, he sees the faces of the mother and child he killed on Nalthis. He then is extremely distraught and unable to fight for too long. (similar to Taln in dragonsteel prime if you have read it) This affects him in long fights. Since he knows that he will probably freeze in big fights, he will run from most fights and only engage in select and short combats.

Another proposed weakness is that Aredos was limited in what Oladan taught him. He might not know how to soul cast for example, or might only know combat AonDor. 

A Third and finally one is that Aredos relies on a medallion for his connection to the Alleyverse. If he loses that medallion, he's powerless. Also I don't know the rules in connection to the Dor, but if there is no Dor, then he relies on stores of unkeyed Dor for his powers.

Feel free to propose any other fixes you see for the character.

If you want him to be a fully fledged elantrian we can probably make that work, but here's my rationale in more detail.

Generally, a character's arc across an Era would end with some sort of power boost. This could be a physical power boost, i.e. swearing a new ideal or getting a new weapon, or it could be a skill increase. While your character arc could lead to your character being weakened (magically cursed or suffering a physical injury), few players actually go that route. If you start with a high powered character, and they just keep getting stronger, that can end up being a problem.

Secondly, the stronger the character, the more careful you have to be around godmodding. So if you are facing or even allying with another PC, your disproportionately powerful abilities have greater potential to either physically strip the other person of their agency (like "I teleport your character away and then shoot them before they have a chance to react"), or restrict the percieved options of the person (If a mistborn can take down an army on their own, what use would a random coinshot be on their side?). While a more experienced RPer, especially experienced in the free form DMless RP that the Alleyverse is, this can be carefully avoided and worked around, but with this being your first time RPing in the Alleyverse, having more comparable powers to other characters mitigates that complexity.

I think options 1 or 2 for limiting powers both have their own merits, and its your call on where you want to take it, but I would recommend doing something to at least mitigate or create a substantial enough weakness to compensate for the normally extremely powerful abilities.

[Wits instant noodles he/him]

6 hours ago, Koloss17 said:

That is something that we could make work, but your character would either need to be pushed out of their comfort zone or made to do something uncharacteristic of their normal actions. The whole UFO thing could do that, but it would be something that you would have to plan out or manage. I hesitate to approve a lone wolf character without faith that you'll figure out a way to RP around that fact. 

Yeah that makes sense and something I’ve been thinking about, and I think the idea is that with the UFO representing similar beliefs but disagreeing with some of they’re actions will bring him to join the fray. Don’t know how feasible that is because I’m not sure how top secret the UFO is but hopefully something like that would work.

[Koloss17 She/They]

28 minutes ago, Wits instant noodles said:

Yeah that makes sense and something I’ve been thinking about, and I think the idea is that with the UFO representing similar beliefs but disagreeing with some of they’re actions will bring him to join the fray. Don’t know how feasible that is because I’m not sure how top secret the UFO is but hopefully something like that would work.

That’s a question to ask @Stormlightsong on the UFO thread, as I’m not 100% sure.

[RoyalBeeMage he/him]

On 1/4/2025 at 3:09 AM, Koloss17 said:

So is the Eleos that we saw in Era 7 the same Eleos we're seeing now? Did they go through the same events? If you want to retcon it, we can, as Eleos didn't do all that much in Era 7, but if this is the same character that has just gone through a major shift in morals and bond in the past 6 months (as Era 8 is taking place roughly half a year after Era 7), I would need that to be more spelled out.

It’s a complete retcon. 

[KnightSkye Reforged They/Them]

Spoiler

Name: Kaiden (Kai)
Appearance: Alethi boy of 17 (earth years), rather short for a Rosharian (about 6.5 Scadrian feet) with delicate features, blue eyes and black/red hair almost reaching his waist and usually held back in a messy braid. He has a soldiers build and wears an Alethi-style Windrunner uniform, blue, but distinctly deeper than Kohlin blue.
Affiliations: Kaiden was a member of the Windrunners on Roshar, and is likely to seek a group of Windrunners out. He has had to defend against several Ghostblood attacks, and is hostile towards them, but not actively hunting them.

Personality: Kaiden is shy with strangers most of the time, and is bad at picking up on social cues, which comes across at best as nervous and at worst as brusque or grouchy. He does better with a solid command structure; disciplined, respectful to those above him and compassionate to those under him socially or under his command. 

In times of crisis though, he shines. Kaiden has had to deal with over stimulus, hard social situations, and his own panic enough that when others start panicking, he is calm and level headed, often taking command unless there is someone there in authority over him.

Concept: A scared kid finding his way into adulthood.

Motivation (Short & long term goal): Short term goal: find a group of radiatns to talk to and tell him about the city.

Long term goal: to Establish a home for himself and his spren in Alleycity, then find a way to get back to/ find his family and bringer them to Alleycity to be safe.
Merits: Minor merit 1: enjoys drawing, but isn't that good.

Minor merit 2: passable cook.

Minor merit 3: he is very good with kids.

Normal merit 1: above average swordsman, specialising in the style of Greatsword/Shardblade

Normal merit 2: He's good at teaching others in combat, especially sword.

Major merit: Windrunner of the fourth ideal

Flaws: Kaiden is bad with people, most of the time, and doesn't really like them. He tends to be very defensive, and has a bad habit of pushing most people away so they can't get close enough to hurt him. He can't read. He has rather Severe PTSD and chronic depression, and even though he recently swore the fourth ideal, he still suffers from nightmares frequently, and has his fair share of dark days. In a fight, he will lock up if someone in the fight has blue hair or looks like a family member or friend, as he's having nightmares about accidently murdering them. In a hostage situation, Kai will lock up and be unable to fight, likely dismissing his blade if summoned. The terror he feels that someone he loves or that is innocent might get hurt by him is paralysing. It would likely take the death of said person, or direct attack on Kai to shake him out of this state.

Since he swore the fourth ideal very recently (less than a week ago) he is not at all practiced with his armor, and has never worn shardplate, making him more of a damger to himself and his housing than enemies.

While Kai is above average with a sword, he is by no means an expert. He has lost about 3 out of 5 sparring matches with other windrunners or full shardbearers, and couldn't defeat someone with living plate and blade.

Also, not so much a flaw as a difference that is a disadvantage, he is AuDHD. 

Relationships (Eg. Family and Friends): Kaiden came from a rather large 1st Nahn family; his parents, three little sisters, and his little brother (15, 12, 9, and 6 years old respectively) are all still stuck on Roshar, in Azir, where they fled after the conquest of the Tower. Kiaden also was very good friends with another Windrunner, Nitha, who he sees as an older sister, and who helped him reach the fourth ideal. His spren, Skyelarin (though she goes by Skye), is not what you would call a traditional honorspren, but she supports Kai well and holds to the ideals of the windrunners. Kaiden has lost more then most people around him in his life so far, probably contributing to him becoming Radiant; the ones that hurt the most that he thinks about often are his grandfather, who died from organ failure before radiant healing was reinstated, and a friend, Rikin from about 5 years ago who died in a construction accident that Kai saw and couldn't prevent. Kaiden has one more little sister that was taken prisoner or killed when his town was conquered, named Carys. He hopes that she is still alive and wants to find her.

Arashen, a friend of Kaiden's from childhood, was taken at a young age and joined the Skybreakers. Kaiden only found this out recently, at a battle in Emul before the conquest of the tower, when Arashen tried to assassinate him. 

Home Planet: Roshar, Alethi/Veden.
Current Residence: none as of yet, because he just arrived in the Alleyverse. He will likely seek out New Urithiru.

Backstory: Kaiden came from a first nahn, mostly good family, in the Kohlin princedom. Unfortunately for them, it was right before the True Desolation. 

Kai attracted a spren about 6 years ago, when he broke ties with someone he thought was a friend who was merely a bully, to defend someone. Neither he nore his spren are quite sure how they were overlooked by the skybreakers, but Skye thinks that they assumed the possible radiant was Arashen and that they successfully recruited him. 

Kaiden and the rest of his family fled when their town was conquered and they were in hearthstone when the fourth bridge arrived. He was discovered by Nitha on the way back to Urithiru and given the option to join the Windrunners at Urithiru. He accepted, hoping to find Carys during the fighting. The rest of his family went to Azimir via Oathgate and stayed there.

Kaiden was then taken as a squire to Nitha, despite having his own Blade already, because he needed more training in actual combat. His first mission as a full windrunner was one of the battles in Emul. During a fight with the Skybreakers, Nale pushed him through Dalinar's perpendicularity and he got lost in the spiritual realm, eventually finding his way to another perpendicularity, this one leading to the Alleyverse.

-Ideals (i am going to include details on how Kai reached each of his ideals here, so as not to make a book put of the backstory. If more detail is desired, i would love to provide it):

-First Ideal: The night Kai almost killed himself, he swore the first ideal. He sat there, back to the wall, and knife in his hands. Blood dripped down his arms from the cuts he'd carved into his shoulders. "why?" he whispered, "why should i stay? Can you honestly give me one good reason to stay here, Skye? In this cold and dark?" 

"Because" Skye said, "there are those still here who love you. People you destroy if you left. What is more importent to you, your life, or theirs?"

"...I care for them. I do not want them to suffer me."

"They will suffer more without you." She waited. One minute. Two. Finally, he answered.

"Then i will stay. For them. I will live before I die." 

And those Words. Those words had power. Kaiden dropped the knife, and words, whispered in the dark, spilled from him. "Life before death." I will live before I die. "Strength before weakness." When I am strong, I will help those who are weaker than me. And I will seek help from the strong when I am weak. "Journey..." Kai stood, pushed himself back against the wall and stood "Journey before Destination."  I know where I am going. I will try to make my path there the right one. (sorry for the extra wordieness on the first one, but I've always thought that the first ideal, and what it means to the person swearing it were really importent.)

-Second Ideal: Kai swore the second ideal after trying to defend Arashen from a gang of bullies. He failed. It took Arashen years to figure out how Kai recovered so quickly from the royal beating he took in his attempt.

-Third Ideal: Kaiden swore the third ideal after an intense family fight, where, to put things lightly, somethings had been said that inspired hatred in Kai. People had refused to lisetn to him, to believe him, to see him as trustworthy. And he hated them for it. He wanted to see them burn. And so he swore. He swore to protect even those who hurt him, so long as it was right.

-Fourth Ideal: Five days ago, in Emul, almost behind enemy lines to a captured city. Almost able to prove to himself that he could save Carys. Almost able to convince himself she was still alive. Almost able to convince himself that they could win this war and save people. And they were attacked by Skybreakers. Radiants. People who should have been on their side. A friend tried to kill him. Someone he had defended, someone he had trusted now tried to kill him and those he protected. 

Then he was slammed into the perpindicularity by Nale. He was slammed into it and through, in a way he hadn't felt before. Light and darkness swam around him, showing him images of his past, his mistakes, and his family, unprotected and killed. And so he swore. He admited something he had known for too long now; that he couldn't protect everyone.

The burst of power and clarity this gave him let him find a way out, which lead to the Alleyverse. He doesn't know how long it's been, or how to get back, or even where.he is, really.

Loose ends (What is unfinished in their life?): The Skybreaker Arashen still wants to find and kill Kai, he still wants to save his family and Carys, and he wants to find a way to meet Nitha again.
Links (Eg. Theme song, a spotify playlist, a pinterest mood board, or reference images): Theme song (kinda basic for a windrunner, but I like it) 

 

This is my first character for a rp I've made.

Spren

Spoiler

Name: Skyelarin (Skye)

Appearnce: Full size Honorspren, about 5.6 feet tall (scadrian feet) violet eyes, short, jagged chin length hair (looks like she just chopped off a ponytale at the nape of her neck). Very fit, and more muscular than you'd expect.

She wears a simple outfit of military style pants and jacket over a simple tank top.

Personality: Skye does not act like most other honorspren would expect of her. She is playful, sarcastic, rude, rebellious, and emotional. She doesn't like people all that much, and doesn't like Shadesmar. She likes making corse jokes and embarassing Kai from time to time. She also has a tendency to enjoy gambling way too much. 

But she has supported Kaiden every step of the way. She has listened, and encouraged and comforted him time and time again. And she fiercely defends her choice of bonding him.

She shows herself to other only when talking with them, and usually lets Kai know by coloring the tips of her hair purple.

 

Edited January 7, 2025 by KnightSkye

[TwinStorm He/Him]

1 minute ago, KnightSkye said:

  Hide contents

Name: Kaiden (Kai)
Appearance: Alethi boy of 17 (earth years), rather short for a Rosharian (about 6.5 Scadrian feet) with delicate features, blue eyes and black/red hair. He has a soldiers build and wears an Alethi-style Windrunner uniform, blue, but distinctly deeper than Kohlin blue.
Affiliations: Kaiden was a member of the Windrunners on Roshar, and is likely to seek a group of Windrunners out. He has had to defend against several Ghostblood attacks, and is hostile towards them, but not actively hunting them.

Personality: Kaiden is shy with strangers most of the time, and is bad at picking up on social cues, which comes across at best as nervous and at worst as brusque or grouchy. He does better with a color command structure; disciplined, respectful to those above him and compassionate to those under him socially or under his command. 

In times of crisis though, he shines. Kaiden has had to deal with over stimulus, hard social situations, and his own panic enough that when others start panicking, he is calm and level headed, often taking command unless there is someone there in authority over him.

Concept: A scared kid finding his way into adulthood.
Motivation (Short & long term goal): Short term goal: find a group of radians to talk to and tell him about the city.

Long term goal: to Establish a home for himself and his spren in Alleycity, then find a way to get back to/ find his family and bringer them to Alleycity to be safe.
Merits: Minor merit 1: enjoys drawing, but isn't that good.

Minor merit 2: passable cook.

Minor merit 3: he is very good with kids.

Normal merit 1: above average swordsman, specialising in the style of Greatsword/Shardblade

Normal merit 2: He's good at teaching others in combat, especially sword.

Major merit: Windrunner of the fourth ideal
Flaws: Kaiden is bad with people, most of the time, and doesn't really like them. He tends to be very defensive, and has a bad habit of pushing most people away so they can't get close enough to hurt him. He has rather Severe PTSD and chronic depression, and even though he recently swore the fourth ideal, he still suffers from nightmares frequently, and has his fair share of dark days.

Also, not so much a flaw as a difference that is a disadvantage, he is AuDHD. 

Relationships (Eg. Family and Friends): Kaiden came from a rather large 1st Nahn family; his parents, three little sisters, and his little brother (15, 12, 9, and 6 years old respectively) are all still stuck on Roshar, in Azir, where they fled after the conquest of the Tower. Kiaden also was very good friends with another Windrunner, Nitha, who he sees as an older sister, and who helped him reach the fourth ideal. His spren, Skyelarin (though she goes by Skye), is not what you would call a traditional honorspren, but she supports Kai well and holds to the ideals of the windrunners. Kaiden has lost more then most people around him in his life so far, probably contributing to him becoming Radiant; the ones that hurt the most that he thinks about often are his grandfather, who died from organ failure before radiant healing was reinstated, and a friend, Rikin from about 5 years ago who died in a construction accident that Kai saw and couldn't prevent. Kaiden has one more little sister that was taken prisoner when his town was conquered, named Carys. He hopes that she is still alive and wants to find her.

Arashen, a friend of Kaiden's from childhood, was taken at a young age and joined the Skybreakers. Kaiden only found this out recently, at a battle in Emul before the conquest of the tower, when Arashen tried to assassinate him. 

Home Planet: Roshar, Alethi/Veden.
Current Residence: none as off yet, because he just arrived in the Alleyverse. He will likely seek out New Urithiru.
Backstory: Kaiden came from a first nahn, rather healthy family, in the Kohlin princedom. Unfortunately for them, it was right before the True Desolatiohn. 

Kai attracted a spren about 6 years ago, when he broke ties with someone he thought was a friend who was merely a bully, to defend someone. Neither of them are quite sure how they were overlooked by the skybreakers, but Skye thinks that they assumed the possible radiant was Arashen and that they successfully recruited him. 

Kaiden and the rest of his family fled when their town was conquered and they were in hearthstone when the fourth bridge arrived. He was discovered by Nitha on the way back to Urithiru and given the option to join the Windrunners at Urithiru. He accepted, hoping to find Carys during the fighting. The rest of his family went to Azimir via Oathgate and stayed there.

Kaiden was then taken as a squire to Nitha, despite having his own Blade already, because he needed more training in actual combat. His first mission as a full windrunner was to the Second Battle of Narak, during the final ten days. Kai got seperated from his squad during the fighting and when the oathgate transfered back to Urithiru during the retreat, he was left behind and so tried to escape through Odium's perpendicularity, but instead ended up in the Alleyverse.

Loose ends (What is unfinished in their life?): The Skybreaker Arashen still wants to find and kill Kai, he still wants to save his family and Carys, and he wants to find a way to meet Nitha again.
Links (Eg. Theme song, a spotify playlist, a pinterest mood board, or reference images): Theme song (kinda basic for a windrunner, but I like it) 

 

This is my first character, and my first rp, so I would love sugestions to make this character better.

first of all wat spoilesr

not sure how we deal with that in rps

@Koloss17

[Steel Speedster ♂]

I would assume that the spoiler policy applies here as well, so, unfortunately, we probably have to wait 5 more months before being able to include information from WaT here.

On the other hand @KnightSkye, it seems like you should be able to work around the spoiler-ish elements pretty easily. If you really wanted to keep them in, you could probably just put spoiler tags over them. We’ll have to hear what Koloss17 thinks.

Btw, I think this thread is mainly for asking a mod to approve a character, so if you’re specifically looking for feedback, the character discussion thread is a better place.

[KnightSkye Reforged They/Them]

1 hour ago, Ookla the Irreplaceable said:

first of all wat spoilesr

not sure how we deal with that in rps

@Koloss17

 

28 minutes ago, Speeding Steelrunner said:

I would assume that the spoiler policy applies here as well, so, unfortunately, we probably have to wait 5 more months before being able to include information from WaT here.

On the other hand @KnightSkye, it seems like you should be able to work around the spoiler-ish elements pretty easily. If you really wanted to keep them in, you could probably just put spoiler tags over them. We’ll have to hear what Koloss17 thinks.

Btw, I think this thread is mainly for asking a mod to approve a character, so if you’re specifically looking for feedback, the character discussion thread is a better place.

Ack! I forgot about the spoiler period while making him, sorry. I can redo him and set his story back a book. Thanks for mentioning it.

Sorry again.

[TwinStorm He/Him]

26 minutes ago, KnightSkye said:

 

Ack! I forgot about the spoiler period while making him, sorry. I can redo him and set his story back a book. Thanks for mentioning it.

Sorry again.

your good

appreciate it!

[Koloss17 She/They]

On 1/1/2025 at 9:40 PM, RoyalBeeMage said:

same character but with a fresh paint job! not sure how they are planning to join the plot yet but i'll work something out closer to the time for now i present to you Eleos 2.0!

sorry if the formatting is weird...

Alright. Knowing that its a retcon, lets take a look at this.

1. I actually like the whole forced shield thing, and I think that has a lot of potential. An alternative is doing something akin to Lift and Wyndle, where the form is variable, but is forced to be a nonlethal weapon. However, whatever floats your boat.

2. The socialism route is something I honestly wasn't expecting. I think it will be interesting to see in action, but seems out of left field for a radiant. What inspired such ideals, and how is that reflected in his oaths? Socialism is a fairly broad political idea, and so I'm wondering what inspired that and what in specific are Eleos' goals with it? I could see an attempt to break down class divides, as the whole lighteyes-darkeyes thing is a big element of at least Alethi politics. Altruism is a fairly standard radiant thing, and so attempting to encourage systems where people are accomodated for based on needs rather than social status has potential. I just think getting more specific than "socialist policies" and reflecting that in Eleos' backstory would be useful.

3. Speaking of backstory, I'm honestly considering forcing people who want radiants to explain their oaths and how they got there. That might cause an unintentional barrier to entry for people wanting to play radiants, which is why I'll probably not instate that, but still. Ideals are important moments of character growth, and I feel that including how your character got to the ideal that they got to is valuable for building up the character. I'm not going to make you figure out your ideals, but I do want some backstory as to how Eleos got up to fourth ideal, and what major events/character changes were required to make that happen.

4. I know that the ideals of Stonewards and Windrunners are very similar, but right now Eleos is feeling much more like his values are about protecting those that need protecting, rather than being there when needed and general dependability. I think that can be expressed in a stonewardy way, but clarifying that is important. Why did Eleos become a stoneward? what actions or morals led to that being the path he went down?

5. With any radiant, a NPC is kind of required in the form of their spren. Given that, dedicating a portion of the character sheet (or even a mini separate character sheet) dedicated to their spren is useful. While its mostly the personality of the spren that matters to me, its important to know that you have a three dimensional side character of a spren rather than pretending the spren doesn't exist or just acting as a voice in your main character's head. One of the most interesting things to me about radiants is their relationship with their spren, and knowing that you have the beginnings of that relationship already somewhat explored before RPing is useful.

The concept is there, I just need more depth and explanation, especially in the backstory. Radiants are all about backstory and the intersection with morals, and I think its important to emphasize that rather than skim over it when playing a radiant. 

3 hours ago, KnightSkye said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Name: Kaiden (Kai)
Appearance: Alethi boy of 17 (earth years), rather short for a Rosharian (about 6.5 Scadrian feet) with delicate features, blue eyes and black/red hair. He has a soldiers build and wears an Alethi-style Windrunner uniform, blue, but distinctly deeper than Kohlin blue.
Affiliations: Kaiden was a member of the Windrunners on Roshar, and is likely to seek a group of Windrunners out. He has had to defend against several Ghostblood attacks, and is hostile towards them, but not actively hunting them.

Personality: Kaiden is shy with strangers most of the time, and is bad at picking up on social cues, which comes across at best as nervous and at worst as brusque or grouchy. He does better with a color command structure; disciplined, respectful to those above him and compassionate to those under him socially or under his command. 

In times of crisis though, he shines. Kaiden has had to deal with over stimulus, hard social situations, and his own panic enough that when others start panicking, he is calm and level headed, often taking command unless there is someone there in authority over him.

Concept: A scared kid finding his way into adulthood.
Motivation (Short & long term goal): Short term goal: find a group of radians to talk to and tell him about the city.

Long term goal: to Establish a home for himself and his spren in Alleycity, then find a way to get back to/ find his family and bringer them to Alleycity to be safe.
Merits: Minor merit 1: enjoys drawing, but isn't that good.

Minor merit 2: passable cook.

Minor merit 3: he is very good with kids.

Normal merit 1: above average swordsman, specialising in the style of Greatsword/Shardblade

Normal merit 2: He's good at teaching others in combat, especially sword.

Major merit: Windrunner of the fourth ideal
Flaws: Kaiden is bad with people, most of the time, and doesn't really like them. He tends to be very defensive, and has a bad habit of pushing most people away so they can't get close enough to hurt him. He has rather Severe PTSD and chronic depression, and even though he recently swore the fourth ideal, he still suffers from nightmares frequently, and has his fair share of dark days.

Also, not so much a flaw as a difference that is a disadvantage, he is AuDHD. 

Relationships (Eg. Family and Friends): Kaiden came from a rather large 1st Nahn family; his parents, three little sisters, and his little brother (15, 12, 9, and 6 years old respectively) are all still stuck on Roshar, in Azir, where they fled after the conquest of the Tower. Kiaden also was very good friends with another Windrunner, Nitha, who he sees as an older sister, and who helped him reach the fourth ideal. His spren, Skyelarin (though she goes by Skye), is not what you would call a traditional honorspren, but she supports Kai well and holds to the ideals of the windrunners. Kaiden has lost more then most people around him in his life so far, probably contributing to him becoming Radiant; the ones that hurt the most that he thinks about often are his grandfather, who died from organ failure before radiant healing was reinstated, and a friend, Rikin from about 5 years ago who died in a construction accident that Kai saw and couldn't prevent. Kaiden has one more little sister that was taken prisoner when his town was conquered, named Carys. He hopes that she is still alive and wants to find her.

Arashen, a friend of Kaiden's from childhood, was taken at a young age and joined the Skybreakers. Kaiden only found this out recently, at a battle in Emul before the conquest of the tower, when Arashen tried to assassinate him. 

Home Planet: Roshar, Alethi/Veden.
Current Residence: none as of yet, because he just arrived in the Alleyverse. He will likely seek out New Urithiru.
Backstory: Kaiden came from a first nahn, mostly good family, in the Kohlin princedom. Unfortunately for them, it was right before the True Desolatiohn. 

Kai attracted a spren about 6 years ago, when he broke ties with someone he thought was a friend who was merely a bully, to defend someone. Neither of them are quite sure how they were overlooked by the skybreakers, but Skye thinks that they assumed the possible radiant was Arashen and that they successfully recruited him. 

Kaiden and the rest of his family fled when their town was conquered and they were in hearthstone when the fourth bridge arrived. He was discovered by Nitha on the way back to Urithiru and given the option to join the Windrunners at Urithiru. He accepted, hoping to find Carys during the fighting. The rest of his family went to Azimir via Oathgate and stayed there.

Kaiden was then taken as a squire to Nitha, despite having his own Blade already, because he needed more training in actual combat. His first mission as a full windrunner was one of the battles in Emul. During a fight with the Skybreakers, Nale pushed him through Dalinar's perpendicularity and he got lost in the spiritual realm, eventually finding his way to another perpendicularity, this one leading to the Alleyverse.

Loose ends (What is unfinished in their life?): The Skybreaker Arashen still wants to find and kill Kai, he still wants to save his family and Carys, and he wants to find a way to meet Nitha again.
Links (Eg. Theme song, a spotify playlist, a pinterest mood board, or reference images): Theme song (kinda basic for a windrunner, but I like it) 

 

This is my first character.

Similar thing with @RoyalBeeMage's character here. I like the idea of it, but I need a bit more from you, especially since you are playing a radiant. Points 3-5 of the above text also apply to your character, so I'll not rehash all of that here. Basically working on solidifying morals, backstory as to how the character got to the fourth ideal, why they became the order that they are along with what actions caused them to be noticed, and a brief section of the character sheet or separate mini sheet covering the spren, with an emphasis on comparing and contrasting between the radiant and spren's personality and values.

And yeah, WaT spoilers is something to watch for. Slight backstory, so long as it is not spoiling any major plotpoints of the book is fine, but the RP does adhere to the Shard's spoiler policy. From what I'm reading as of right now, it seems fine, but I would be very careful about spoilers when getting into the actual RP. Specifically with the Spiritual Realm stuff, it's really tricky to navigate without relying on WaT stuff. I think it can slide, but as someone approving your character, I would want to know what their trip to the SR looked like and how it affected them.

Beyond the backstory, which needs work (specifically with points 3-5 of my commentary on Eleos), my next biggest thought is that of power levels. This is something I went over with RoyalBeeMage when they first made the idea of Eleos in era 7, but radiants are powerful. Especially Windrunners. To explain why, I'll compare it to Scadrian magic systems.

Say we had a character that was a lurcher, which is one of the more respectably powerful allomancers on Scadrial. I'm using this example because we actually have a lurcher in @Lunamor's character, Eza. Lurchers, combat-wise, have the ability to strip enemies of their metal components, which can be played around and accounted for. They can have increased mobility in the right indoor environment, and can also pull on small metal objects around the room and use them as potentially dangerous, or at least distracting, projectiles. But that's about it. Good crowd control, nice tricks and shenanigans that can be pulled off, and generally quite a formidable powerset.

A Fourth Ideal Windrunner, however, can do most of that and more. For one, they can just straight up fly, with no real restrictions. Additionally, they can cause other people to fly, be immobilized, or have their weapons thrown about with relative ease. See the opening chapter of the Way of Kings for a great showcase on that, or Kaladin's badass scene against Lezian in RoW. Through the use of Stormlight, any radiant also has incredible self healing abilities, with the ability to brush off just about any blow so long as they have stormlight to spare.

Beyond the power set, a fourth ideal radiant is also a full shardbearer, but better. With a shapeshifting shardblade that can instantly appear and disappear, a radiant has the ability, with at least a nine foot reach (assuming only 3 foot wingspan and a 6 foot blade) with the ability to instantly kill someone if the blade so much as touches someone. And may I remind you that shardblades are incredibly light, meaning they are much faster than you would expect a blade of that size to be (compare to a koloss sword, which are hefty even with pewter). Additionally, they are in full plate, which means that most blows deflect off of them, the majority of the impact of a blow is absorbed, and it provides the wearer with superhuman strength and speed (probably comparable to constantly burning pewter).

A fourth ideal windrunner has the capability to singlehandedly take down an army, without taking any serious damage themselves. Heck, there's plenty of discussion on if a radiant could beat a full Mistborn, and if we're talking a TFE mistborn without atium, I think a radiant would win 100% of the time. 

That is not to say that you can't play a fourth ideal radiant. Especially this era, as there is going to be an organization that specializes in dealing with highly invested entities like radiants. What I am saying, however, is that there needs to be handicaps put on the character. If you haven't read the character creation section in the Alleyverse rules and etiquette guide, there's more on what I'm talking about there. Essentially, because you are dealing with a character that unhindered would be more powerful than the majority of other characters, having flaws that pull that power more in line with other characters is kind of necessary. I'm just going to quote a previous response I gave earlier in this thread on why that matters and how it can be achieved. This was in response to an elantrian character, but the same reasoning applies here, if not more so.

On 1/2/2025 at 2:51 PM, Koloss17 said:

With proper flaws and nerfs, they can be balanced, but on its own, an Elantrian that knows what they’re doing is probably mistborn levels of strength. Given that we’re in a plot where there will be mistings and even non-powered folk running around, this could lead to a weird power imbalance coming into play. 
 

That said, sometimes that’s a good thing. For example, my main character last Era was very strong, and while not Mistborn levels strong, was definitely above the curve. However, that was kind of the point. He was the villain of the era, and his strength invited other characters to group up against them.

This era, we have a secret organization that is made to deal with folks with high investiture reliance, but it is a tricky thing. I would have to talk with some other folks on how they would feel about having a fully fledged Elantrian with very few downsides in the plot, but I would hazard you against playing it as your first Alleyverse character.

This is not to say you can’t play the character, just that you might need some flaws to balance out the strength of the Elantrian powers. Maybe there’s some sort of mental or physical weakness that they have to play around. Maybe they have a moral code that restricts their ability to use their magic in specific circumstances. Maybe they have some sort of magical interference with their abilities, acting as a sort of curse.

These are just ideas, but adding something like that can help mitigate the power problem as well as create interesting hurdles for your character to overcome.

 

 

On 1/3/2025 at 2:09 PM, Koloss17 said:

If you want him to be a fully fledged elantrian we can probably make that work, but here's my rationale in more detail.

Generally, a character's arc across an Era would end with some sort of power boost. This could be a physical power boost, i.e. swearing a new ideal or getting a new weapon, or it could be a skill increase. While your character arc could lead to your character being weakened (magically cursed or suffering a physical injury), few players actually go that route. If you start with a high powered character, and they just keep getting stronger, that can end up being a problem.

Secondly, the stronger the character, the more careful you have to be around godmodding. So if you are facing or even allying with another PC, your disproportionately powerful abilities have greater potential to either physically strip the other person of their agency (like "I teleport your character away and then shoot them before they have a chance to react"), or restrict the percieved options of the person (If a mistborn can take down an army on their own, what use would a random coinshot be on their side?). While a more experienced RPer, especially experienced in the free form DMless RP that the Alleyverse is, this can be carefully avoided and worked around, but with this being your first time RPing in the Alleyverse, having more comparable powers to other characters mitigates that complexity.

I think options 1 or 2 for limiting powers both have their own merits, and its your call on where you want to take it, but I would recommend doing something to at least mitigate or create a substantial enough weakness to compensate for the normally extremely powerful abilities.

If you have any questions, either about backstory or power level, let me know! I'm here to help.

[AonEne he/him]

On 12/29/2024 at 10:55 PM, Koloss17 said:

Alright, character time!

Updated Perses, who is now an OP character

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Name: Perses, Prince of the Alleys
Appearance: Decently tall, but his stature isn’t what makes him imposing. He has minor scarring around his body, but mostly around his eyes, where two spikes are pounded through them. These spikes are smaller than an inquisitor’s so doesn’t pop out the back and can be concealed with glasses if needed. His hair is cut short, and while Perses is certainly not muscular, he is still generally fit, though doesn’t use his muscles to get the job done. 

Clothing-wise, he is known for his signature awakened mistcoat, which has bone blades at the ends of the tassels that slice anyone who gets too close. The mistcoat is black dyed leather with bone plating, partially for added protection, mostly for intimidation. However, he does have an ordinary mistcoat, if he needs to be less obvious.

Affiliations: Perses is the self-proclaimed protector of the Mistwarrens. He keeps organized crime from building, and he keeps the districts from meddling with them. While he doesn’t actively improve the area, and is more holding it as a power play, he is doubly a feared and respected power in the area.

Personality: Perses is a cold-hearted, arrogant crime lord. He thirsts for power, and has a very short temper when something doesn’t go his way. He very much thinks of himself as above others, and when working with people, he needs to feel that he has control over him. He has a decent amount of trauma, some from years of being ignored due to his blindness, some to do with his dealings with Belias. One of the main ways this manifests is an uncontrollable rush of adrenaline whenever conflict arises, which leads him to escalate and make rash decisions.

Concept: Has morphed over time, but is at this point an arrogant, power-hungry crime lord that is meddling with powers that they do not fully comprehend (see: Belias).

Motivation (Short & long term goal): Short term, Perses wants to expand his influence. At this point, through both his own will and Belias’, Perses has lost sight of *why* he wants power. In his mind, he needs power to stay relevant, and what he does with that power has not been thought through. Currently he doesn’t have any conscious long-term goals, but much of what he truly wants is freedom, and realizing that power does not equal freedom could be a big step for him.

Merits (and a brief description on when they were acquired):

Minor:

-Awakened mistcoat, awakened with the command “act as my bodyguard and fight alongside me.” It’s resistant to damage and ruthlessly attacks and deflects melee attacks, giving Perses a dangerous edge in close range. This was created by Pygma in Era 7.

-Pseudo-bond with Belias, a powerful Alley Denizen. Belias gives Perses protections from the Alleys, allowing Alleytravel, and provides Perses with control over Wickwillow Manor, a pocket of the Alleys seeping into Mistkeep. This was established in the Era 7 epilogue.

-Above Fifth heightening. While a talented awakener might make better use of this, Perses mostly uses it for basic commands on occasion, with the main benefit being perfect lifesense, which can be stored in F-tin to great effect. This was gained between Era 6 and 7 offscreen, but had held breaths for a year or two before then.

Normal:

-A-bronze, reverse compounded with F-Tin to great effect. Perses is able to tell the amount and type of allomancy or feruchemy being used, while being able to detect most other types of kinetic investiture. Is able to recognize surgebinding, but is unable to easily tell what type of surgebinding is being used purely through bronze. This is something Perses was born with.

-Aluminum super-pistol. A double barreled pistol, with an internal safety and toggle between the two barrels, with corresponding magazines. Both mags hold 8 .45 caliber bullets, with one bullet set being dense tungsten to be enhanced with a steelpush, and the other has aluminum bullets. This was created by Venser in Era 7.

Major:

-hemalurgically granted A-steel and A-iron. Perses has gotten around a year to get used to these powers, but generally uses them as tools of brute force, and are not used tactfully. The spikes are fairly charged, but a naturally born coinshot/lurcher at the same weight as Perses would be able to overpower him in that specific mettle of confrontation. The ability to reverse compound steelsense is also quite useful, allowing Perses to properly “see” most things, especially more invested things. I’ve decided to not give Perses proper inquisitor sense, as him being born blind might affect his ability to have that. Though I’m not sure that type of sense is intrinsically tied to sight, I think being born without sight probably affects things. This was granted to him between Era 6 and 7.

-F-Tin. This allows Perses to see, hear, and feel things with great precision, as well as reverse compound a variety of other things. In effect, this lets him never be snuck up on, be able to be incredibly quiet when needed, and be excellent at anticipating and dodging attacks. It also enables him to store pain, which is a minor but not insignificant advantage. The multitudes of reverse compounding, especially with A-Bronze, leads him to almost certainly being an F-Tin savant at this point. This was something Perses is born with, and something that he has used to great effect his entire life.

Flaws: Perses was born blind, which means sight is not a strong sense for him. While he can somewhat see with his steelsense, he is still unable to read or discern details that are not three-dimensionally apparent. This also means that he is bad at reading facial expressions, picking up social cues only through his other senses. Personality-wise, he is incredibly troubled. He is slightly mad, partially due to the spikes, partially due to trauma, and partially due to Belias’ meddlings. He has never done well with people, and his thirst for power has exacerbated that issue. He’s a rash, psychotic control freak, and while he still thinks himself as having some amount of morals (eg not causing harm to innocents without a  good reason), his morals are in reality very flimsy and will be bent if they get in his way. He is clever and incredibly perceptive, his overstimulation of senses paired with his mania leads to things very possibly slipping under the radar, with clever distractions having real potential to work on him.

Relationships (Eg. Family and Friends): has had some amount of contact or confrontation with just about everyone in Era 7, as he was the main antagonist, but generally struggles to maintain relationships. His self-inflicted loneliness is a lot of what makes his character the way it is, and certainly affects his relationship with Belias, as he is the closest to a friend Perses has had in quite some time.

Has a mentor/partner relationship with Belias, an Alley Denizen that is gradually taking more and more control over Perses. While Perses thinks this is a mutual partnership, with Belias giving Perses further power in exchange for potential to influence Alleycity, in reality Belias is poisoning and parasitizing Perses, and is tactfully and definitively in control of the relationship.

Home Planet: Era 2 Scadrial, from one of the outer cities.

Current Residence: generally exists in the Mistwarrens, though uses Wickwillow Manor as a home base, which is in a remote part of Mistkeep.
Backstory: 

Perses is a Scadrian from some of the outer cities about 50 or so years after era 2 of Mistborn. He’s mostly lived off of what he could get and survived alone. His dad was never around, and his mother disappeared when he was young. Very little relationships were formed, but he made do. Perses was taken advantage of quite a bit, and got into some minor crime. 
 

Eventually Perses got tied into a gig that was much larger than he thought it was, taking him off-world. He learned some about the Cosmere and got himself into a very peculiar situation, which ended him with about 500 breaths and basic training. 
 

During his time with this Cosmere-wide crime syndicate, he discovered the existence of Alleycity. A few members were thinking of going and hoped it would be a way out, and a place of new beginnings. Perses decided to join up with them, but soon after their arrival, the forgery erased them from existence.

After the events of Wickwillow Manor, he became lost within the manor, abandoned by those that accompanied him. He was subjected to the Alleys, and, with no metal reserves and no one to save him, was driven mad by the experience. He wasn’t completely mad, and has mostly recovered, with trauma and voices in his head as scars to his experience.

He was rescued by a member of the Dark Alleys, who gave him a new goal: power. He has done away with his need to fit in and belong—all that he wants now is to make the world respect him, and for it to adapt to his will.

During Era 7, Perses got what he wanted. Through a partnership with Asylum Smedry, he grew his influence in the Mistwarrens, taking down a variety of crime syndicates that lattes the area. His acts, such as demolishing Pewter Ironworks, as well as the massacres in Coppercloud Inn, Dancing with Death Diner, and later his involvement in Asylum’s prison break, ending with Perses eventually killing Asylum, he quickly grew a reputation of being a powerful and unstoppable force in the Mistwarrens. He decreed himself the protector of the Mistwarrens, and warned that any organized action against him in the Mistwarrens will be met with violence and bloodshed.

All the while, the voices that he had been hearing had been getting stronger. Shortly after the events at the Smokestack Constabulary, Perses learned of the existence of Belias, a powerful and similarly ambitious Alley Denizen that was responsible for Perses’ trappings in Wickwillow Manor. However, all this time, Belias was searching for someone strong and malleable enough to be a tool to extend his foothold into Alleycity. Promising power and a more transparent partnership, Belias stepped out of the shadows to Perses and gave him the ability to travel the Alleys under his protection, as well as enable Perses to control Wickwillow manor and the creatures within. Though the manor cannot extend its influence past its walls, the manor has been slowly expanding, as Belias’ powers grow. The Manor has been Perses’ home base, as it is both unknown and secure.

In the half year or so between Era 7 and 8, Perses has been solidifying his foothold in the Mistwarrens. While he has meddled in the affairs of Smokestack and the Corridor, his meddlings have been minimal. He has kept away from Mistkeep, but has ambitions to expand his power. 

Loose ends (What is unfinished in their life?): much of Perses’ arc was covered in Era 7, and Perses will not be as impactful this era. However, his yearning for power is even stronger, and has no signs of slowing down.
Links (Eg. Theme song, a spotify playlist, a pinterest mood board, or reference images): N/A

 

I will be posting another character soon, but wow is Perses a lot.

@Voidus, but more likely @AonEne can either of you give the character a look-through?

Definitely an OP character but I'm fine approving him, looks good! 

[Koloss17 She/They]

17 minutes ago, AonEne said:

Definitely an OP character but I'm fine approving him, looks good! 

Hype! Thankies!

[KnightSkye Reforged They/Them]

2 hours ago, Koloss17 said:

Alright. Knowing that its a retcon, lets take a look at this.

1. I actually like the whole forced shield thing, and I think that has a lot of potential. An alternative is doing something akin to Lift and Wyndle, where the form is variable, but is forced to be a nonlethal weapon. However, whatever floats your boat.

2. The socialism route is something I honestly wasn't expecting. I think it will be interesting to see in action, but seems out of left field for a radiant. What inspired such ideals, and how is that reflected in his oaths? Socialism is a fairly broad political idea, and so I'm wondering what inspired that and what in specific are Eleos' goals with it? I could see an attempt to break down class divides, as the whole lighteyes-darkeyes thing is a big element of at least Alethi politics. Altruism is a fairly standard radiant thing, and so attempting to encourage systems where people are accomodated for based on needs rather than social status has potential. I just think getting more specific than "socialist policies" and reflecting that in Eleos' backstory would be useful.

3. Speaking of backstory, I'm honestly considering forcing people who want radiants to explain their oaths and how they got there. That might cause an unintentional barrier to entry for people wanting to play radiants, which is why I'll probably not instate that, but still. Ideals are important moments of character growth, and I feel that including how your character got to the ideal that they got to is valuable for building up the character. I'm not going to make you figure out your ideals, but I do want some backstory as to how Eleos got up to fourth ideal, and what major events/character changes were required to make that happen.

4. I know that the ideals of Stonewards and Windrunners are very similar, but right now Eleos is feeling much more like his values are about protecting those that need protecting, rather than being there when needed and general dependability. I think that can be expressed in a stonewardy way, but clarifying that is important. Why did Eleos become a stoneward? what actions or morals led to that being the path he went down?

5. With any radiant, a NPC is kind of required in the form of their spren. Given that, dedicating a portion of the character sheet (or even a mini separate character sheet) dedicated to their spren is useful. While its mostly the personality of the spren that matters to me, its important to know that you have a three dimensional side character of a spren rather than pretending the spren doesn't exist or just acting as a voice in your main character's head. One of the most interesting things to me about radiants is their relationship with their spren, and knowing that you have the beginnings of that relationship already somewhat explored before RPing is useful.

The concept is there, I just need more depth and explanation, especially in the backstory. Radiants are all about backstory and the intersection with morals, and I think its important to emphasize that rather than skim over it when playing a radiant. 

Similar thing with @RoyalBeeMage's character here. I like the idea of it, but I need a bit more from you, especially since you are playing a radiant. Points 3-5 of the above text also apply to your character, so I'll not rehash all of that here. Basically working on solidifying morals, backstory as to how the character got to the fourth ideal, why they became the order that they are along with what actions caused them to be noticed, and a brief section of the character sheet or separate mini sheet covering the spren, with an emphasis on comparing and contrasting between the radiant and spren's personality and values.

And yeah, WaT spoilers is something to watch for. Slight backstory, so long as it is not spoiling any major plotpoints of the book is fine, but the RP does adhere to the Shard's spoiler policy. From what I'm reading as of right now, it seems fine, but I would be very careful about spoilers when getting into the actual RP. Specifically with the Spiritual Realm stuff, it's really tricky to navigate without relying on WaT stuff. I think it can slide, but as someone approving your character, I would want to know what their trip to the SR looked like and how it affected them.

Beyond the backstory, which needs work (specifically with points 3-5 of my commentary on Eleos), my next biggest thought is that of power levels. This is something I went over with RoyalBeeMage when they first made the idea of Eleos in era 7, but radiants are powerful. Especially Windrunners. To explain why, I'll compare it to Scadrian magic systems.

Say we had a character that was a lurcher, which is one of the more respectably powerful allomancers on Scadrial. I'm using this example because we actually have a lurcher in @Lunamor's character, Eza. Lurchers, combat-wise, have the ability to strip enemies of their metal components, which can be played around and accounted for. They can have increased mobility in the right indoor environment, and can also pull on small metal objects around the room and use them as potentially dangerous, or at least distracting, projectiles. But that's about it. Good crowd control, nice tricks and shenanigans that can be pulled off, and generally quite a formidable powerset.

A Fourth Ideal Windrunner, however, can do most of that and more. For one, they can just straight up fly, with no real restrictions. Additionally, they can cause other people to fly, be immobilized, or have their weapons thrown about with relative ease. See the opening chapter of the Way of Kings for a great showcase on that, or Kaladin's badass scene against Lezian in RoW. Through the use of Stormlight, any radiant also has incredible self healing abilities, with the ability to brush off just about any blow so long as they have stormlight to spare.

Beyond the power set, a fourth ideal radiant is also a full shardbearer, but better. With a shapeshifting shardblade that can instantly appear and disappear, a radiant has the ability, with at least a nine foot reach (assuming only 3 foot wingspan and a 6 foot blade) with the ability to instantly kill someone if the blade so much as touches someone. And may I remind you that shardblades are incredibly light, meaning they are much faster than you would expect a blade of that size to be (compare to a koloss sword, which are hefty even with pewter). Additionally, they are in full plate, which means that most blows deflect off of them, the majority of the impact of a blow is absorbed, and it provides the wearer with superhuman strength and speed (probably comparable to constantly burning pewter).

A fourth ideal windrunner has the capability to singlehandedly take down an army, without taking any serious damage themselves. Heck, there's plenty of discussion on if a radiant could beat a full Mistborn, and if we're talking a TFE mistborn without atium, I think a radiant would win 100% of the time. 

That is not to say that you can't play a fourth ideal radiant. Especially this era, as there is going to be an organization that specializes in dealing with highly invested entities like radiants. What I am saying, however, is that there needs to be handicaps put on the character. If you haven't read the character creation section in the Alleyverse rules and etiquette guide, there's more on what I'm talking about there. Essentially, because you are dealing with a character that unhindered would be more powerful than the majority of other characters, having flaws that pull that power more in line with other characters is kind of necessary. I'm just going to quote a previous response I gave earlier in this thread on why that matters and how it can be achieved. This was in response to an elantrian character, but the same reasoning applies here, if not more so.

 

If you have any questions, either about backstory or power level, let me know! I'm here to help.

Thank you! I have edited my character sheet and made a mini one for his spren. I will happily make further adjustments as needed.

[Koloss17 She/They]

1 hour ago, KnightSkye said:

Thank you! I have edited my character sheet and made a mini one for his spren. I will happily make further adjustments as needed.

I'm a big fan of the backstory details, as this shows me you have a good idea of your character and what makes them the way they are. Great improvement there, and I have no need to prod further.

Power-wise, I like the potential of a radiant still inexperienced with their plate, but I don't think it is quite enough to even out the sheer power of a skilled windrunner. Maybe rather than a physical flaw, it could be a mental flaw. Perhaps Kaiden is used to fighting with a team, and feels easily overwhelmed when facing someone alone. Perhaps his PTSD gets the better of him during combat, which leaves him vulnerable or unable to help at times, both assisting his fourth ideal while also making him struggle with it, as its this time his fault rather than others' choices that prevent him from protecting people. Something like that would be juicy, as it would be a point of character growth beyond "oh well he just needs some time to get used to his plate". This could be in addition to that flaw, or it could be instead of it. Flaws aren't necessarily just handicaps to put on a character because I tell ya to. They can be excellent motivators for change, as well as being something that defines how they interact with the world. And obviously these are just brainstormed ideas for the character, and you could probably come up with something better for your character.

Also, exactly how recently has Kaiden arrived in the Alleyverse? Has it been a month, where Kaiden has been able to catch up on the going ons of the city and get used to the layout? Has is been a week or two, with enough time to get used to this weird new world? Has it been only a day or two, with enough time for him to come to terms with the fact that this is his home now, at least for the foreseeable future? Has it been less that 24 hours, where he still doesn't know what in damnation is going on? Will his first scene be him entering the Alleyverse? 

Any of these time spots are A OK, I'm just asking to get you thinking about how your first post will look like and what would be at the front of Kaiden's mind.

Edited January 7, 2025 by Koloss17

[KnightSkye Reforged They/Them]

4 minutes ago, Koloss17 said:

I'm a big fan of the backstory details, as this shows me you have a good idea of your character and what makes them the way they are. Great improvement there, and I have no need to prod further.

Power-wise, I like the potential of a radiant still inexperienced with their plate, but I don't think it is quite enough to even out the sheer power of a skilled windrunner. Maybe rather than a physical flaw, it could be a mental flaw. Perhaps Kaiden is used to fighting with a team, and feels easily overwhelmed when facing someone alone. Perhaps his PTSD gets the better of him during combat, which leaves him vulnerable or unable to help at times, both assisting his fourth ideal while also making him struggle with it, as its this time his fault rather than others' choices that prevent him from protecting people. Something like that would be juicy, as it would be a point of character growth beyond "oh well he just needs some time to get used to his plate". This could be in addition to that flaw, or it could be instead of it. Flaws aren't necessarily just handicaps to put on a character because I tell ya to. They can be excellent motivators for change, as well as being something that defines how they interact with the world.

Also, exactly how recently has Kaiden arrived in the Alleyverse? Has it been a month, where Kaiden has been able to catch up on the going ons of the city and get used to the layout? Has is been a week or two, with enough time to get used to this weird new world? Has it been only a day or two, with enough time for him to come to terms with the fact that this is his home now, at least for the foreseeable future? Has it been less that 24 hours, where he still doesn't know what in damnation is going on? Will his first scene be him entering the Alleyverse? 

Any of these time spots are A OK, I'm just asking to get you thinking about how your first post will look like and what would be at the front of Kaiden's mind.

I can totally write in a more physiological struggle for him. Perhaps he locks up and can't fight if there is a hostage, or lightning makes him remember his town being overrun and he freezes, or forgets to use his blade. 
Thank you for the suggestions!
Also, his first scene (if it works for other people) will be Kai arriving in the Alleyverse.

[Koloss17 She/They]

8 minutes ago, KnightSkye said:

I can totally write in a more physiological struggle for him. Perhaps he locks up and can't fight if there is a hostage, or lightning makes him remember his town being overrun and he freezes, or forgets to use his blade. 
Thank you for the suggestions!
Also, his first scene (if it works for other people) will be Kai arriving in the Alleyverse.

Okey doke! When you come up with a psychological flaw, lemme know, and you’re likely to get your character approved!

[KnightSkye Reforged They/Them]

1 hour ago, Koloss17 said:

Okey doke! When you come up with a psychological flaw, lemme know, and you’re likely to get your character approved!

This is the struggle I gave Kai: In a fight, he will lock up if someone in the fight has blue hair or looks like a family member or friend, as he's having nightmares about accidently murdering them. In a hostage situation, Kai will lock up and be unable to fight, likely dismissing his blade if summoned. The terror he feels that someone he loves or that is innocent might get hurt by him is paralysing. It would likely take the death of said person, or direct attack on Kai to shake him out of thos state.

I already modified my character sheet with this. Thank you for the help!

[Koloss17 She/They]

17 hours ago, KnightSkye said:

This is the struggle I gave Kai: In a fight, he will lock up if someone in the fight has blue hair or looks like a family member or friend, as he's having nightmares about accidently murdering them. In a hostage situation, Kai will lock up and be unable to fight, likely dismissing his blade if summoned. The terror he feels that someone he loves or that is innocent might get hurt by him is paralysing. It would likely take the death of said person, or direct attack on Kai to shake him out of thos state.

I already modified my character sheet with this. Thank you for the help!

Looks good! Approved!

[Koloss17 She/They]

On 12/28/2024 at 10:10 PM, Stormlightsong said:

Richard Peterson

  Reveal hidden contents

Name: Richard Ivan Peterson
Appearance: Richard looks like a stereotypical mad scientist: immaculately frizzled hair, long open front white lab coat revealing plain work clothes underneath, thick black opaque safety/welding goggles, and a leacher taser and aluminum hand gun hidden at his sides.
Affiliations: head scientist and co-founder of UFO.
Personality: Richard is a bubbly and humorous Reckoner who loves making silly and misleading acronyms (see UFO and all the sects) he is so friendly and silly that it is easy to forget he is a trained soldier who is willing to put his own life and his goals above the lives of individuals.
Concept: a silly Reckoner that designs almost all of UFO’s weapons and gear.
Motivation (Short & long term goal): 

Short term: keep developing and learning about anti-investiture tech.

Long term: replace all human investiture based technology with electrical and mechanical based ones.
Merits: 

Minor: decent military training, charismatic personality, and intensive understanding of engineering and investiture science.

Normal: aluminum hand gun and leacher taser.

major: control of all UFO technology design and production.
Flaws: reckless, impulsive, and lacks empathy.
Relationships (Eg. Family and Friends): Melancholy: other UFO co-founder

Autonomous Investiture Destruction Unit (A.I.D.U): magnum opus 
Home Planet: Earth (Reckoners)
Current Residence: UFO HQ
Backstory: Richard Ivan Peterson’s parents thought they were funny when they named him, and Richard agreed. 
Richard loved discovering how things worked so it was not a surprise when he went to get a degree in engineering. Richard became quickly bored of normal physics though, so when the Epics arrived Richard was intrigued. He was not an idiot though and knew danger when he saw it, so he joined the Reckoners and began making motivators. 
One day, Richard’s Reckoner group killed a powerful epic named Wormhole. Wormhole was a dimensionalist who had the ability to create portals. More curiously was his ability to go into a portal, stay in there for a bit, and then make a new portal right behind someone and surprise them. This pocket dimension he went into between portals was both fascinating and terrifying to the Reckoners, so they were careful what they sent through the portals they were making as most of the time, it never came back. 
Richard on the other hand really wanted to see what was there, so he went against orders, made the wormhole motivator portable, and carried it and all the other parts of Wormhole through the portal. Immediately after entering it the portal collapsed, and Richard found himself in a world of shadow. He could see the room he came from around him and yet it was dark and distorted. As he kept walking his world started to fade and, more curiously, new ones started to appear. He saw alien planets full of magic and wonder and finally one world encased in a giant bubble. This world was different it seemed more attached to this world than the other ones. So, quickly fixing up the wormhole motivator, he pointed it at the bubble and made a portal into the Alleyverse.

After living in Alleycity for a few months, Richard started to notice problems with alien magic. It was limited, some were only accessible to people with certain genes, and almost all of it was hard to acquire. Soon Richard met someone who agreed with him, Melancholy, and together they founded UFO. one year in, Richard was able to make the wormhole motivator work again and used it to get access to earth. He then made an underground (literally and figuratively) Aluminum mining operation. This allowed UFO to get huge amounts of aluminum and expand their production and influence. 
Recently, Richard has created his magnum opus, the Autonomous Investure Destruction Unit, a robot designed to take down highly invested humans.
Loose ends (What is unfinished in their life?): Richard has so many inventions to make, and still needs to convince people to call him Ricky (no one wants to).

 

Overall looks good! My main caution would be wary of not making it a gimmick character, and make sure he has more deep character than just “goofy mad scientist,” but knowing you, and knowing that your last character was both a gimmicky character and incredibly interesting, I will trust that you can handle that. Approved!