Seonid

Whoops. Posted in this topic, not The Dalles. Consider that a "The new post is up!" announcement...

If you wait long enough, I'll have Arvin flying into town on a dragon. I'm sure we could work something out.

Count me in on that ListTM! In other news, I should have a Paladin post up later today, as well as resolving the latent confrontation between Arvin Weeks and Ranger.

Sorry I've been out for a day or two. I finished my exam yesterday, so that's a load off of my mind. Joe is right, I think. 1375 shows up on all three ballots, and was also Voidus' first choice. Tulir is ok with all of them. I'll leave the other ones for spinoffs in the future, if we get enough interest. Tomorrow evening, I will post 1375-specific cultural information. There will be a lot about Menkor, the Tribunal and the Court of the Gods, the Church of the Martyr and the Inquisition, and regional politics. I'll also have brief information sets about other areas, just in case one of you wants to play a traveler from a far-away area (a Svalding or a Nessei mercenary, for example, or a Taravoy weapons dealer - a good source of gunpowder in this year - or a Rakalli Zealot, a former slave from the Jyid, or any other interesting character). Thanks for the interest!

Sounds like a good idea. As this is my first forum RP (other than being a player in the Oregon one), are there any preferences for style? We could run this as an open universe like the Oregonverse, or we could do a bit more structured of an adventure, like a D&D game, complete with dice rolls and everything (I prefer 3.5/Pathfinder, but that might just be because those are the books I have access to), or somewhere in between. I rather like the idea of an open world, freestyle sort of game like Oregon, especially as on the Internet, dice rolling can get to be somewhat of an impediment - and the mechanics in general can sometimes get in the way of the storytelling - but I worry that the setting won't be quite familiar enough to most people to make that a live option. What do you guys think? And the time periods are here! I essentially chose 6 interesting events that had continent-wide ramifications (or at least close to that), and picked a year or two after them. Most of them Hope you enjoy the descriptions! All of them except the last one also have suggested cities, and the blurbs are focused around them. Winter, 1088 S.E. - Kingdom of Corento Summer, 1199 S.E. - City of Corle Spring, 1299 S.E. - Malach Crossings Autumn, 1375 S.E. - City of Menkor Summer, 1416 S.E. - City of Leoned Spring, 1424 S.E. These are just brief blurbs, designed to give an overview of the year and the time period. My recommendation, based solely on the character ideas posted so far, is Autumn, 1375. But most of the characters could be made to work with any of the dates. (Inquisitors of the Church of the Martyr will work with any but the first, as that is the founding event of the religion.) As you may have noticed, I haven't actually gotten around to posting the cultural information. I'm working on it, but there's a lot more than I expected. This should give you a taste of the world, though, and several of the different cultures. As always, I'll be on point to answer any questions you have.

Finally getting around to posting these. Paladin: Guardian: Ranger: Ironmonger: Miner: (Given to mail-mi) Will O' the Wisp: Safari: Quicksand: Ghostknife: The Lizard: Deceased:

More Oregon threads?! We are going to take over the RP forum. Watch us take over the Cosmere! Watch Funtimes learn to Awaken! Cringe as Lightwards resurrect a Chasmfiend Warrior! Flee in terror as Nighthound becomes a master of Hemalurgy! ...I may go crawl under my bed and cry now. And then Nighthound died. And then Nighthound died. And then Nighthound died... It's not working, folks. I'm sorry!

Later today. Or tomorrow after my (next) physics exam. If I can get all of my studying done today, though, it will be today.

Ooh boy. Spiked Inquisitors of the Church of the Martyr. I knew that the Metallic Arts had to be behind the fall of the Corentine Patriarchate somehow. It's Ok. My RL is getting more hectic than I expected. See below. This is an excellent question that deserves a good answer. So when I originally posted this thread, I intended to try to get it started about two weeks from then (so sometime this week, from now). However, I just got hired on for a new job that I start next Monday. Double the hours, about 2 and a half times the pay I'd been getting. Good gig all round. Except for the fact that, between that new job and my full-time university schedule, I'm going to be a bit time cramped. So the bottom line is this: I hope that I will be able to start this in the next week or so, but I won't know until Monday how well I'll be able to work in homework and my new job. If it works out, we'll get startedd sometime next week. If not, I'll postpone it until Dec. 12, when I finish the semester. (I'm only going to be going to the university half-time in the spring semester, so there won't be any time worries after the end of finals week.) Hope that that works out for all y'all.

It sounds like you have Miner's personality pegged. Unlike the other Epics of Ringmaster's group, Miner actually approached with the intent to join up. It didn't stop Ringmaster from hypnotizing him anyways, but Miner definitely would have considered it his alliance. And Ironmonger would definitely be rather common knowledge around these parts. Tunnels, chasms, eh. It's all the same thing. Well done. That was a good post.

The world is largely Earth-like (within 5% on most of the relevant parameters.) The species are imported, and so Terran ecosystems are the primary modes of life. I haven't closed the door on non-Terran species (either imported from other planets or native to this world), but none of them have yet been major plot points in any of the stories I've explored. But then again, I haven't focused much on the landscapes in any of those either, so that's not saying much. I'm glad you feel that way, on all counts. This particular corner of the material realm is, like Lightsworn Panda points out, running roughly in the medieval/renaissance period. Other planets during the time period of interest have interstellar drives (which is how humans and other Terran species got here in the first place), but they don't feature into the plot. In fact, none of them are even aware that humans live on this world. Nobody cared enough about the refugees (the original human settlers of this world) when they left to take note of where they were going, and nobody remembers them now to wonder what's happened to them. As far as countries and kingdoms and politics and cultures and religions and histories and other such wonderful things, look for updates to the OP. There's placeholders there for a lot of content I hope to put in. Eventually, I hope to take all of the clarifying statements I make in the comments here and work them into the OP, so that newcomers don't need to go through the whole thread to find things out. But it's not like I have huge amounts of time right now to do that. Well, here is my response to BreathTaker's character idea of a magical bounty hunter. So the Church of the Martyr has a whole Inquisition, that has even ruled nations at some points in the religion's history. The Tribunal (think vaguely Greek-type gods with Roman Catholic-level theological and organizational sophistication) has an order of Paladins in their service; at times this order has functioned at an Inquisitor-level. There are likely some political organizations that have similar functions as well. The Navaran Empire definitely has Inquisitor-like political structures that help maintain control of the populace. So I think that you'll find more than one organization to suit your fancy.

I fully agree. I mean, I have definite positions on the cultural issues surrounding it - I believe there is a definite correct and incorrect side in the arguments - but browbeating and shame have no place in meaningful public debate. Logical, well-supported arguments are what public policy should be based off of, not which side can shout loud enough to make the other one shut up.

As both a devoutly religious person and a committed scientist (or at least an aspiring one), I'm not offended. That might be because I find nothing of offense in either the topic or the presentation. My thoughts are that even someone who doesn't accept evolutionary theory shouldn't find its presence in a work of fiction offensive. I would hope that they would be able to accept it as part of the fictional world without thinking that the fictional world is making a truth claim about it that they need to oppose. Fixed that for ya!

And you were doing so well, Backtrack!

Gotcha. That makes more sense. I meant for the end of the Ringmaster post to be the moment that Torch impacted there, but I see that it needed a clarifying post. I was planning on giving a Paladin perspective anyways, so I'll add some clarification in there.

Gotcha. Sorry. Quick question - what, specifically, did you find to be unclear? (I ask because I'd like to improve my writing.)

Umm...I thought I had. Maybe I need to go back and check. My last Ranger post had him walking through the burned ashes of the platform area, poking the dead bodies to make sure they were dead. So just in case my writing was unclear (I've had that problem before...lol), Ringmaster, Torch, Deadeye, and Bubbles are confirmed kills. Paladin is sure he killed Ghostknife, but he's wrong. She, however, is so traumatized that she's going to stay ethereal for a while. And then go to The Dalles. But all of my folks have left the platform, and are out of the area. Miner is free to go wherever he wants. This was...amazing.

Definitely true about the ancient star knowledge. I was referring to the knowledge of the common people, which in this setting ranges from medieval peasant-level to dark-age barbarian level. If we are going to talk about the small highly educated class, then that's a slightly different story. The priests and shamans are often notorious star watchers, and the elites in certain cultures might have relatively high levels of astronomical knowledge (approaching Babylonian or Mayan levels of expertise), but the knowledge almost never filters down to the common people. There certainly isn't any realization of the modern concepts of solar systems or galaxies, but the models are similar to Classical concepts. Some few are even heliocentric (and so jump from Classical to late medieval and early Renaissance), and there are one or two folks that speculate that the other planets that are visible are inhabitable spheres like their own. (The idea of a habitable zone is definitely not developed yet.) But for every one that has insights ahead of his time, there are twelve that argue that the conjunctions of the planets control magic, or that the sky and the visible heavens are the incorruptible dwelling places of the gods. (It should be noted that this is a brilliant description of the outer realms, and is therefore true in some meaningful sense, but it completely lacks basis as a scientific theory to describe their solar system and local star cluster.) About terrestrial geography, by "they have no idea of the existence of other continents," what I mean is that no believable report has come back to them about the existence of other continents. Other continents are, to them, like the existence of the Americas to Europe in 1450. Sure, Leif Ericson had come across the ocean. Sure some other ancient cultures may have had some limited contact with the continent, allowing for limited exchange of plant species. But there are no historical records. Nothing is believable or demonstrable about it. Modern sailors treat it as legend, if they think of it at all. It exists in concert with a thousand other imaginary lands, and no way to distinguish that this one actually exists. And wow. That was what we in the business call an info-dump. Sorry about that. But thank you for pushing harder on the subject. Pushback tells me either where my concepts are weak or where the explanations are weak. Both are extremely valuable. Thanks for the compliment. And yes, you can ascend to a higher class by being invested. In fact, it is the most common means of such ascension.

That sounds wonderful. If you hadn't claimed him, I was just going to kill him in the crash, so as far as plans go, he's scot free. Miner is a free agent right now. However, he is the kind that would prefer working for Ironmonger to working for Vondra or someone of his ilk. Quicksilver has too little ambition for him. Actually, let's put it this way. Miner would have worshipped the ground Koschei walked on. Ironmonger is moving towards trying to set himself up as a god. This alone would likely attract him. Actually, after you've got a Miner post or two out, if you wanted to collaborate on a Miner/Ironmonger post, that might be a really good way to introduce the villain.

Thanks! I look forward to seeing them. The summary is almost 100% correct. Mages draw their power from physical objects (or severed bonds between spirits and bodies), not spirits. But other than that, you're right on. I might make a few adjustments to whether sorcerers use their own familiars exclusively, or whether the bulk of their magic is performed by other spirits bullied into serving them for the duration of one spell, while the familiars are bound to long-term service. I'm leaning toward the second option, but I need to think it through a little further. And yes, most mages do have to touch a source to draw energy from it, at least initially, though the most powerful can do this remotely. And thanks with the clarifying questions. Keep asking away if you think of more! I didn't have half of this stuff worked out until you folks started asking these detailed sorts of questions. It's really useful so far. It's late tonight, and I have an early morning, so I won't get the time periods post up, but I'll do that tomorrow sometime. Look forward to it!

And another Ranger/Arvin Weeks post is up. Mostly Arvin, trying to be badchull but missing only slightly because pistols don't penetrate ceramic body armor very well. Also, unicorns! In Oregon! This RP just got a whole lot more ponyfied.

Gravel crunched as Ranger crossed the now-deserted parking lot. The vanillas had fled as Torch came down out of heaven for a second time, blazing like a meteor. Not all of them had made it. Sparking useless vanillas, he thought. Why can't they learn to get out of the way? A family of three stood up from where they had taken shelter behind an old electrical box. He sneered at them contemptuously, opening his mouth to make a biting comment. He checked himself. No, this isn't right, he thought. It's happening again. No! Vanillas are people, too. They matter. He repeated it like a mantra. Vanillas still matter. Vanillas still matter. He was afraid that, deep down, he didn't actually believe it, but by Calamity, he'd fake it until he made it. He wanted to care. He wanted to believe that they mattered just as much as he did. And that would have to be enough for now. He forced himself to smile. "Is there anything I can do to help?" The mother just backed away with a look of fear on her face. "Don't come any closer. We don't want any trouble." With a sigh, Ranger turned away and continued on. Towards the center of what had been the crowd. Ground zero for Torch's impact. The ruins of the platform lay in a wide hole left by Torch's incineration. Ash swirled in the wind. The smoldering pile of rubble still radiated heat as he approached. He thought he had seen the tell-tale flash as Guardian and Paladin teleported out just before impact, but he had to make certain. And check that all of their targets were dead, too. Torch and Ringmaster lay tumbled together at the bottom in a macabre embrace. The flamboyant hypnotist's garish suit was charred beyond recognition, but the top hat was unmistakeable. Torch himself had no burns, but his neck twisted at an angle no human was ever meant to twist at. Not to mention a double dose of a deadly neurotoxin in his veins, which had apparently caused him to lost control of his fire as he died. A little more searching through the ash found Bubble's corpse, blown clear of the platform. But, of course, he'd known that she was dead. People didn't live after he'd shot them. Not normally, at least. He tapped his mobile. "Ranger here. All targets accounted for." His earbud crackled in response. "Roger that, Ranger. Let's get you out of there." As he looked up from the ash-strewn parking lot, his eyes caught sight of something shining for a brief moment in a stand of small pines, about a quarter-mile off. It looked like a modern, gravitonic car. That was definitely out of place. "Belay that, Guardian," he said. "I've got something I need to check out. * * * * * * * * The inside of the jail was dank. It smelled like it hadn't been cleaned out in months. Which, reflected Weeks, it probably hasn't. He kept a firm grip on the pistol in its holster as he crept towards the stairway to the lower level. Down to the cells, he thought. That's the most secure place in this town. His nightly stakeouts and reconnaissance had revealed that an Epic named Stonekey guarded the cells. No one in the town had seen him since the battle with Ironmonger, 18 months ago, and their memories of his powers were limited. With his access to the intelligence files of The Dalles, however, Arvin had been able to find much more information. Unfortunately, his weakness was not in the archives. Stonekey had fled The Dalles after Koschei's rise to power, because he was unwilling to join the putative god. He was a rather weak Epic, able to control stone as if it were water, but only in small quantities. Arvin hoped to get the drop on him, hamering him with .45 cal explosive rounds until he dropped, unable to use his powers to defend himself. The shattered window behind him let in a cool evening breeze as he crept down the stairs. There was a body at the bottom of the stairs, against one of the walls. With a silent prayer of thanks, Arvin crept forward. Sure enough, it was Stonekey, lying in the doorway of the break room as if he'd fallen asleep at his guard post. Or maybe drunk. A bottle of wine lay next to him, leaking onto the floor. Something felt wrong. He pulled out his flashlight, red-filtered to avoid ruining his night vision. The shape wasn't moving at all, not even the slow rise and fall of a drunk's breathing. The flashlight played across the Epic's head. That was it. The back of his skull was caved in, as if from a single heavy blow. Arvin heard the clink of chains behind him, from the hallway leading into the cell block. He threw himself to the side just in time as a massive spiked chain slammed into the ground where he had been. His flashlight spun out of his hand, rollin across the floor to end up against the wall, pointed squarely at the doorway to the cell block. There, blocking the view behind him, was a monster of a man. 7 feet tall, and nearly 400 pounds, the Epic Hammer was an awesome sight. His right arm ended just below the elbow, capped with a metal brace from which protuded a heavy warhammer. His other hand grasped a the chain, pulling it back, laughing maniacally. His laugh filled the room like his bulk filled the doorway. His old training coming back to him like a second nature, Arvin pulled out his gun and fired 6 rounds in a quick spread, centered on the chest. This would be his best chance, maybe his only chance. Hammer shrugged off the bullet fire, stepping into the light. Body armor covered him from head to foot, almost certainly impervious to Arvin's small arms fire. Arvin groaned softly. He was dead this time, and he knew it. The giant Epic laughed again as he walked forward, raising the hammer. At that moment, the ground shook violently. A bright flash of light, red-tinged like a fire, flooded through the window above, then vanished. Hammer dropped to the ground, twitching. Warily, Arvin sprinted past him. He didn't know why the Epic had become incapacitated, and he didn't know how long it would last. He had to work quickly. Last cell on the right. The heavy electronic door was locked with a simple padlock - most of the high-tech gadgetry no longer worked. Pulling a set of bolt cutters out of his backpack, he snipped the lock. The door swung slowly open. This was it. The reason he'd come to this Calamity-forsaken town in the backwoods of Nowhere. He stepped into the cell. He didn't know what to expect. He'd prepared for a briefcase marked 'Classified,' or maybe a sample of some exotic material. Even a specialized weapon that could be used to drive Ironmonger away, a substitute for the weakness. What he did not expect was a girl of about 9 or 10, chained to the wall. The manacles clung together, and several of the links of the chain were stuck to them as well. Magnetic? But why? The girl's eyes went wide as she saw him. "Who are you?" Her voice was a soft whisper, barely audible even in the still air of the cell. "I'm here to rescue you. Don't be afraid." Arvin set to work with his bolt cutters on the chains and manacles. Slontzes! What the sparks are they thinking, keeping a little girl chained up like this. I don't care how much of a tactical advantage she might have been... He kept ranting, punctuating each, more violent mental condemnation with a snip of the bolt-cutters. The circumstance was eerily similar to...he couldn't think it. I will not be a coward again. Even now, two years later, he still suffered from the guilt of that monstrous day. He doubted it would ever leave him. But I can vow never to be party to that again. By my life and by whatever sanctity my tarnished honor has left. I will not. That was a dangerous line of thinking. Too long, and those explosive bullets in his clip would look far too attractive as a way of making amends. Things were too delicate for that now. He had a duty, and he would do it. To her credit, the girl didn't seem afraid. "Good for you. You're being a brave little girl." He hoped that it would sound soothing. "Of course I am," she shot back. "I'm ten. And that means I'm a big girl now." She said it matter-of-factly. "Big girls are always brave." The links were cut. She was free. He had to get them both out now. There would be time later to figure out who she was and why she was in there. In a fraction of a second, his priorities had shifted dramatically. That had always happened when children were involved, except for...his mind shied away from the dreadful memory. He would do penance his whole life and never erase it, but at least he could feel as if he were working towards it. He grabbed her hand and began to hurry back down the long hallway of the cell block, throwing open the door. He didn't know how much time they had, but... The Epic climbing to his feet told him that that time had just run out. He pushed the girl behind him as he drew his gun again. 7 shots left in the clip. Another clip on his belt, but there wouldn't be any time to reload. The Epic's booming voice filled the room and the narrow hallway behind. "Trying to sneak past me? There's no way out of this place from in there!" Arvin fired again, emptying the rest of his clip into the faceplate of the body armor. The armored vision-glass spiderwebbed with cracks, but did not break open. Hopelessly, he snatched the spare clip from his belt, frantically trying to reload before the Epic recovered. The broken glass bought him some time while Hammer removed the helmet. Apparently he couldn't see anymore. That was a stroke of luck, or providence. He finished reloading just as the Epic picked up the chain again. As he raised the gun to fire at the now exposed head, the chain snaked out, catching him in the left arm and slamming him against the wall of the hallway. The gun went off, the recoil sending it spinning away from his suddenly loosened grip. He blinked, trying to clear away the black spots from his vision. Had he killed the Epic? No, the footsteps were moving closer. It had been a long shot anyways. Groaning, Arvin began to feel towards his gun again. The chain slammed down again, inches from his questing fingers. The girl behind him cried out in fear. "Not so fast, vanilla. You don't get a second chance down here." Hammer's booming voice echoed in the small cell. Hammer stepped forward again, now just feet away, raising his right arm with its attached weapon. A loud whinny, as clear as silver, sounded from the doorway. Hammer flinched, spinning around to face a new threat. There, silhouetted against the light from the open doorway, was a brilliant white horse. It almost seemed to glow with an inner light. With shock, Arvin noticed the single horn sprouting from the forehead, rising in a pearly spiral to a silvery tip. Is that...a unicorn? The majestic beast slowly stepped forward, growing brighter with each step. Hammer looked amused. "This?! An overgrown horse with an absurd hood ornament? This is no rescue!" His booming laughter filled the room as he flicked his chain towards the beast, wicked spikes glinting in the rays of sunlight. And then the horn was there, somehow interposed. With a brilliant burst of light, the chain burst asunder, flying links disintegrating. Hammer backed away, angling towards the door to the back room. The unicorn charged. Hammer broke and ran towards the doorway. Covering Ari's eyes, Arvin bolted towards the stairs, heading for his car, for daylight. His life had just gotten more dangerous. Hopefully, it had just become that much more meaningful, too.

I've got an Atium Seer with a Shardblade and Radiant Shardplate. Everyone else post their epics that mimic Brandon's Cosmere powers

I like that idea. Backtrack should become a permanent fixture in The Dalles. How would Backtrack react to Weeks, I wonder? Or Paladin?

Here's his profile, then. Miner Powers - Can create mine shafts and tunnels at will, and can shape them to a minute degree of detail. Can sense deposits of any type of metal ore or other mineral. Can change dirt into stone in a small area (no more than 10 ft by 10 ft by 10 ft). Examples of his fine level of detail - he was able to create a shaft small enough to insert his arm into, and then change a ring of dirt into rock tight enough to serve as a tourniquet. Weakness - Curry. Physical description - short and heavy, with thick, black hair and beard. Lost an arm very recently, still wearing the ring of stone that served as a tourniquet to save his life.