Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

Posted: **Sat Mar 16, 2019 5:28 pm**

References - Eyes

EYE - IRIS - COLOR REFERENCES

Red - Instinct or Danger.

Red

Orange - Enthusiasm or Irritation.

Orange

Yellow - Confidence or Stubbornness.

Yellow

Green - Compassion or Jealousy.

Green

Blue - Focus or Sorrow.

Blue

Indigo - Sensitive or Arrogance.

Indigo

Violet - Curious or Disconnected.

Violet

Ocean Blue - Neutral state, when none of these are active.

Ocean Blue

Copper Brown - Overwhelmed, when there are 4+ active.

Brown

Silver/Gray - Memories/Trauma.

Gray

Gold - External magical influences on his mind.

Gold

White/Iridescent - Ambition/Excitement/Bliss. [Highest Highs]

White

Iridescent

Black - Shame/Guilt/Remorse. [Lowest Lows]

Black

Posted: **Mon Apr 08, 2019 3:45 pm**

Application to Zarik:

Ether Acrobat (Transmutation Spark): Discovery and Experimentation. intuitive, driven, prying, invasive, artistic, arrogant, and reckless. Fascinated with adaptability and removing/pushing boundaries or limitations of self. This theme leads the Spark to constantly urge Zarik to try new things, to go farther / faster , do more, push the boundaries of himself and others constantly.

Becoming

Pack Mother (Becoming Spark): Transformation and acquisition. intense, bestial, instinctive, impulsive, savage, and aggressive. Chosen for the sole purpose of satisfying his husband's desires to produce heirs, and their ardor for one another, this Spark encapsulates this premise. Zarik has become a powerful support to Alistair, in devotion to their ambitions, and as such, the Spark is obsessed with maintaining this esteemed position. Due to the bestial nature of the Spark, it encourages Zarik to act more savagely toward potential threats to his role as secondary-lord and to control the environment in which they live.

Any household that is claimed by Zarik or Alistair is considered his Territory and he views even minor threats with impulsive aggression, though expressed through his own personality. He cannot allow people he does not know to live within his Territories and requires certain symbols of loyalty to be paid to him, including the familiarization of the person's scent and taste.

Similarly, he views his offspring with the greatest priority. His bestial Spark encourages an intense level of protection for these children, and if he perceives threat to them, the spark will urge him to take care of it - quickly and brutally.

Theme Examples

Transmutation: Ether Acrobat

Fascinated with adaptability and removing/pushing boundaries or limitations of self. This theme leads the Spark to constantly urge Zarik to try new things, to go farther / faster , do more, push the boundaries of himself and others constantly.

When a mage carries more than one Spark, there is always the potential for two or more to interact over time, producing strange and curious mutations that are the result of the blending of the Sparks. Also, many mages but not all will typically have a dominant Spark. This is often the first Spark they receive, but may simply be the Spark they have used and helped grow the most. This relationship of dominance over the lesser Sparks may carry over into mutations from any of the Sparks.

Spark Personas

Becoming: Becoming is a Spark of transformation and acquisition. It drives mages toward the collecting of totems and the experimentation of forms. For Becoming, all is in motion and nothing need be still. Becoming is a Spark obsessed with life in all forms and the exploration of bodies. While it is perfectly content to stay in a new body for as long as the mage wants, it will also push that mage to try new ones as they have time or inclination. Becoming is one of the more animalistic Sparks, high on instinct and borrowing heavily from the totems it comes in contact with. Its transformations and mutations tend to visit those spiritual, mental, or physical aspects on other parts of the totem. The mind and the soul are preserved between shapes, so Becoming actually tends to have mutations that favor those areas rather than physical ones that inhibit the forms it takes. A Spark may decide it favors a certain subset of totems over another, prefers a certain shape as its own, and any other kind. Becoming Sparks are intense, bestial, instinctive, impulsive, savage, and aggressive.

Transmutation: Transmutation is a Spark of Discovery and Experimentation. Where Graft focuses exclusively on the organic, Transmutation expands its curiosity and exploration to anything that could grant insight through sensation. It tends to be a tactile Spark, drawn towards certain sensations of substances that it, through the mage, enjoys. Transmutation is a magic of altering and improvement. Transmutation is never at ease with complacency and seeks to leave its mark on all substances and objects around it. The Spark seems enamored with the tools of man, almost as much as Dustforge. But whereas Dustforge focuses more on creation itself, Transmutation likes to be additive, to augment or edit rather than shape wholecloth. It prefers to work from a base. Transmutation Sparks drive their mages to be seekers of sensation and danger, to constantly test their limits and improve upon themselves. The Sparks are generally intuitive, driven, prying, invasive, artistic, arrogant, and reckless.

Posted: **Mon Apr 08, 2019 3:46 pm**

Dark and Troubled Past - Zarik used to be a sweet, precocious kid that spent his time playing on the Manila galleon ship he called home. His parents were angry, violent folk, his sisters bullies to him, and the crew was the rowdy picture of sailors hardened by the sea, but Zarik was a happy boy all the same. When his parents split up, and his father kidnapped him, then barred him from returning to life at sea, his life took a sharp turn into desperate banditry, and subsequently descended into darkness after that.

Meaningful Name - Zarik is based on his father's name, Zalazar, and his last name, Ki'Enaq, has meaningful relation to the world of Idalos.

Obfuscating Stupidity - Part of his past, Zarik was trained by his father to seem dumber, more cowardly, effeminate, and weaker than he actually is. This was a key part of acting as bait and fooling potential targets for his father to rob, torture, and kill. These habits were ingrained in him through the years and he has only recently started to pick apart when he is acting this way so to decide for himself if he wants to purposefully obfuscate or not... but he is well-aware of it.

Ditzy Genius - Zarik is a prodigy in most things he focuses on, due to an inherently high intelligence. However, he is barely twenty arcs old and has limited scope when it comes to tact or common sense logic (often regarding socialization). Dangerously, he is impulsive and reckless and thus, he frequently acts before thinking which leads to trouble and/or regret more often than not.

Even Evil Can Be Loved - Despite his troubled past with his father, Zarik determinedly loved him and still loves him even after his death.

Stutter Stop - While in casual scenarios or simple chats, Zarik can get tongue-tied and stammer frequently, when he focuses his energy on what he wants to say and feels it particularly important that he is understood, these stammers and issues all but vanish. This is mainly because Zarik's priorities change to make sure his words are heard rather than allowing for his usual insecurities to express themselves; and also because he learned to speak common (for the first several years of his life, he spoke Rakahi) by eavesdropping snippets of conversations from travelers, as well as reading technical and philosophical texts, and agreements/contracts, aloud under his father's supervision but not learning how to casually converse in socialized scenarios.

Innocence Lost - Zarik was exposed to true evil at an early age. While he saw the uglier side of sailor life with physically abusive parents who directly fought each other and a mostly apathetic crew, it was life with his father that truly changed the course of his life. Not only being exploited as bait to lure victims to his father, but then witnessing a multitude of murders caused by him acting as bait. To put it in perspective, things got better when he became a torturer assistant for his father. Whatever innocence Zarik clung to, was completely lost in Ashan 719 when he went from being his father's son, a mere boy - to being a husband and father, and thus by biqaj considerations, a man. There is no more innocence for him to lose at this point. He has lost it all, forever.

Questionable Consent - What is acceptable and what is unacceptable is an incredibly blurry line for Zarik. With his past, he is familiar with being exploited to the point where he simply expects it. Thus, however, he also assumes that other people are meant to be similarly used and manipulated because that is the way the world works. He struggles between whether consent is appropriate or not to concern oneself with: For if it is, he feels deeply shameful toward what has happened in his life... but if it isn't... well...

Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon - Zarik is, by most standards, a pretty boy. When he was a child, he was frequently mistaken for a girl (then he grew very tall and most people stopped making that mistake). He is fair in features, soft rather than hardened in his skin, and appears like a good old-fashioned lover boy and for most, is considered incredibly attractive. Thus, for any who get to know him beyond surface level, it can be shocking to find out just how much filth and darkness lurks in Zarik's mind. This doesn't stop at his past experiences, but also in that while he looks benevolent to the eye, he is capable of maliciousness and sadistic tendencies. Regardless if he is upfront or deceptive about his actual thoughts, due to the juxtaposition, the discovery tends to feel more extreme and jarring than it otherwise would be.

Mystical White Hair, Black Heart? - The more time that Zarik spends in Emea or studying his magic, the whiter his hair gets (compared to when he spends time outdoors in sun, his hair gets more gold in it). Coupled with a pale, handsome, vaguely-effeminate face, this only adds to his angelic veneer.

Corrupt the Cutie - Zarik doesn't break. He is too adaptable, too flexible, and before he ever gets close to breaking - he changes himself to avoid such psyche destruction. With the loss of his innocence, dealing with questionable consent situations, through Ashan 719, his personality irrevocably developed into something more aggressive, bolder, and devious. Not only did his entire lifestyle change, but his internal morality has become a mess of conflicted paradoxes.

Did You Think I Can't Feel? - Despite his troubled past, and issues with morality, Zarik can't catch a break. His adaptability leads him to being able to put up with a great deal of bullshit, to take problems in stride, and continue on... He is willing to do almost anything for those he cares about, and at times, nothing seems too extreme for Zarik has an intense and almost obsessive loyalty to those he feels affection for... but that doesn't mean he is emotionless. This was most notably shown with the separation of his marriage, in which he tolerated immense amounts of emotional and even physical abuse, only for it to continue to the point where he ran away.

Death Glare - Zarik has been known, from time to time, to cast a menacing look that is unlike all his other expressions. He only displays this glare when he believes no one is watching him or noticing his features... and if one does happen to catch it... it can abruptly break the "Face of an Angel" facade. He has only shown it a few times, and only once purposefully to be seen by another, and it often is reserved for snarkers.

Beware the Nice Ones - Zarik can be exceptionally polite. He can be sweet. He can be so very gentle. He prefers peace over conflict, most of the time. He is a "pacifist" (see Technical Pacifist below). But if you cross his lines, so help you.... it won't be pretty. He will display intense violence if pushed into a rage, and after the events of Ymiden 719, this can also be turned onto people themselves.

Talking Your Way Out - He will use anything and everything to escape dangerous situations. He prefers to engage in conversation far before any physical confrontation, and will go through a long list of possible approaches before resorting to violence. This usually becomes a lecture as the conversation turns one-sided due to application of his high intelligence to the task.

Break Them By Talking - Another way that he uses words before violence. He'd rather run someone into the ground through his words far before making use of fists or blades.

Glowing Eyes - Zarik's eyes change color due to his biqaj blood... but they also glow now that he is a mage. This is determined by the power of his emotions, but also can display when his magical power increases as well.

Technical Pacifist - When the choice comes to killing or not killing, Zarik prefers not to kill. Prefers. Until Ymiden 719, he never killed anyone in his life and was an Actual Pacifist. Now that he has... things have changed somewhat.

There is No Kill Like Overkill - And when he does kill... he kills them unmistakably dead without any chance of survival.

Cutting the Knot - When it comes down to complex problems, even with Zarik's high intelligence (or maybe because of it), he will often cut to the chase rather than beat around the bush. Rather than take the time to figure a clever strategy out, he just takes the most direct route to get the results he needs - regardless of the side effects. He frequently and repeatedly Takes a Third Option, for better or worse.

Not Even Human - For Zarik, if something doesn't have an obvious mind, body, and soul, then it is completely acceptable to treat horrifically and kill. He doesn't include this in his pacifism because that is for "real people" and is not extended to mere sapient life, only sentient. He expresses this most in terms of "real" or "not real".

The Atoner - Zarik believes that he needs to try and help people as much as he can so that he can try to atone for all the victims of his father that he lured in when he was younger. The reason for his Pacifism is this. He currently takes responsibility for all murders/killing he has witnessed by the hand of those he loved, resulting in no small amount of shame for him.

Sharp-Dressed Man/Man of Wealth and Taste - Zarik enjoys luxury, he especially enjoys luxury attire with tailored fashion. He no longer can abide by clothing that isn't perfectly suited to his silhouette. He also tends to prefer pristine monochromatic schemes, whether white (Man in White), black, or otherwise.

Agent Peacock - Zarik likes to look good, he likes to dress well (as above), he likes to take care of himself, and he's getting over his insecurities about all that... and at the same time, he's also learning to be effective... His Unarmed Combat isn't called Stylish Style for nothing.

Eccentric Mentor - Zarik is an odd sort, he attracts the oddest of mentors and thus, ends up being highly eccentric when he teaches others as well.

Bi the Way - Bet you didn't see that one coming! ...or is it Anything That Moves? With Becoming, it all gets a bit blurry anyway, doesn't it?

Brains and Bondage - Highly intelligent, exquisitely cerebral, and extremely kinky.

Too Kinky to Torture - Or truly threaten. Because Zarik is corruptible rather than breakable, and due to his proclivities combined with certain situations where it was a good thing he could heal, he is much more likely to make things extremely awkward for the person attempting to intimidate him before they will ever achieve the sort of result one might find from an ordinary, average person. This also tends to be the reason for most Threat Backfires when it comes to Zarik.

Posted: **Tue Apr 09, 2019 2:15 pm**

outdated

Second Set Mutations

Catching up with the double Mutation Sets since he's now MB.

Transmutation

Spark Persona: Ether Acrobat ("Ea")
Theme Concept: Elegance, Flexibility, Surpassing Boundaries, Seeking Challenges.

Original Set of Mutations Approved Here:

First Set Changes
I'd like to make a couple minor visual edits to Llyr's original Competent and Expert mutations.

For Llyr's Boneturner Legs mutation: This mutation was his very first, and a lot has happened since then, so I'd like to represent the development of how this mutation tends to actually be described in play. The crystalline aspect of the legs (the second layer of skin/flesh) and inorganic aspect of this mutation has become the focus - so I'd like to officially amend it so it is less about organic appearance (bone) and more about the inorganic (marble and quartz crystal) materials. This aligns it more with Transmutation, the spark's relation to inorganic materials, and Llyr feeling a bond to those materials through his magic.

Here is an official rewrite for this mutation (only visuals have been edited, the rest is left the same):
Original: wiki/index.php?title=Category:Boneturner_Legs

Edited:

Crystalline Legs

Llyr’s legs have mutated with the appearance of quartz crystal and white marble instead of actual skin. They glitter with iridescent hue from the midpoint of his thighs down to his toes. The actual mutation results in greater momentum when it comes to jumps and increased resistance when it comes to landing, kicking; or anything in similar use of his legs. If he extends his legs beyond his endurance or strength, the crystalline specks spread into thin, flat cracks. Beneath this split skin, it appears as if there is a second skin underneath made from pure crystal similar to quartz.

If his legs break, they take twice as long to recover. Once recovered, the limbs will have the appearance of heavy cracking (smooth to the touch, similar to glazed ceramic that has cracks under the glaze) in the place where the pressure/break occurred, thus exposing more of the crystal-like underskin. He still bleeds silver if sliced/cut, but the cuts must be deeper than on the rest of his body to break through the second layer of mutated skin.

For Llyr's Gossamer Wing mutation: After playing with the mutation for some time, it has become clear that it makes more sense that Llyr has started to develop the ability to fly with them. It would be paired to his skill of Flying tier. The Spark-side reasoning for this is because he is far more likely to channel ether through the wings in order to shape them for actual flight, otherwise he tends to leave the wings in their natural passive state.

Original: wiki/index.php?title=Category:Gossamer_Wings

I'd like to remove the reference image and edit this section: "He cannot properly fly with these wings like how one would expect a bird to fly, but he has the potential to levitate and hover up to six feet, though it requires discipline and endurance to maintain. If he expends ether, he can push past the limitation and fly similar to how a dragonfly would, but he is fatigued afterward and his body requires rest approximated to how long he flew."

Edited:

With Flying Skill directly related to his ability, he can properly fly with these wings as well as the potential to levitate and hover up to six feet. Both flying and levitation requires discipline and endurance to maintain. Actual flying tires him out the same as running would.

Proposed Second Set of Mutations

Competent - "The Shape of Things": Llyr's ether is more than simple color or light. His iridescent ether is made of minuscule symbols and shapes that have the potential to give him insight into existence. For those able to see ether, these shapes will be nearly imperceptible because they are so small (much like trying to see water droplet in an ocean). However, it gives his ether an exceptional quality of perpetual motion and is more substantial than other mages who have more light-based ether.

Expert - "Taste of Wealth": Llyr and his spark are now obsessed with materials, especially luxury materials, beyond mere interest. He cannot stand wearing, or resting, on any material that is not of fine quality. If he wears any material that is cheap or coarse, it will feel perpetually itchy and unpleasantly restrictive to him. To manage this, he might imbue his attire with qualities (or invest in better clothes). Along with this, he also acquired impulses to sense materials through hearing, scent, taste, and otherwise. Specifics depend on the material. For instance, sometimes gemstones will sing to him, certain silks will smell like mint, onyx might taste sweeter than candy while copper tastes bitter, etc.

Master - "Strange Waltz": The more the mage moves, the more he desires to channel ether. The more he channels ether, the more he feels the desire to move. It is a perpetual loop between the two influences, in a continual dance between his body and soul, and can be expressed through flying, dancing, fighting, and other combinations - as long as he is in motion. The longer he continues to exchange between motion and ether, the greater euphoria that he feels. Due to Llyr's capabilities, he must exert discipline to break this ebb and flow as he can endure breaks upon breaks of this spelldancing and not fall into exhaustion.

Master 2 - "Mutation Name":

Becoming

Spark Persona: Mistress Magpie
Theme Concept: Acquisition, Feminine, Creation, Legacy, Territorial.

Spark Info

The Relation between Spark and PC: Mistress Magpie and Llyr have an incredibly complex relation to one another. Llyr did not necessarily want to accept a Becomer's Spark into him. He chose it out of warped, pressured logic. During initiation, he came very close to rejecting the spark and turning into a Mimai. The process of being faced with himself was an incredibly difficult for the young mage - even more traumatic than the physical pain of his Transmutation initiation. The acceptance of this spark into his soul impacted his psychology in profoundly irreversible ways.

However, the Becomer's Spark struggled to define itself when it realized the powerful Transmutation Spark, Ea, already resided within the soul. It only struggled more when Llyr had little interest in what usually drives Becoming sparks in their hosts. Things like primal natures, or feral behavior, simply didn't tempt nor encourage Llyr to build on the sparks' power. When it dabbled with things like eating of raw meat, while Llyr partook in the compulsions, he immediately researched how to [lessen the spark's influence with intention to suppress and weaken it.

This caused the spark to stop what it was doing. The Becomer's Spark was aware enough to realize these sort of expressions would accomplish the opposite of what it wanted: which was more power and channeled ether. It lingered and focused on the reason why Llyr had accepted it into his ether-rich soul. Legacy was a defining factor, motherhood was second... and so...

...the spark formed the persona that would become Mistress Magpie.

The persona of Mistress Magpie adapted to attribute Llyr's interest in dreamwalking and the underlying structure of his mortalborn soul. As Llyr grows in his abilities of his own domains, through his immortal half, the more his mind fractures into separated psychologies. Mistress Magpie is the dominant byproduct of these two factors (the becomer spark and the mortalborn mental fracturing).

After the Fall of Emea, and after Llyr rejected revelation with Ea, Mistress Magpie's hope of revelation has been renewed. She is not as powerful as she would like to be. During this time, she has learned more of Llyr and his tendencies and what might encourage him to increase and further her influence.

Ultimately, Mistress Magpie wants to be the primary persona. She wants to dominate over Llyr himself, and change the way he interacts with others and the world. If it weren't for Llyr's discipline and meditation, she might have already succeeded. But as Llyr strengthens himself, so too does Mistress Magpie find ways to grow in power as well. Still, Mistress Magpie isn't an entirely different person. The foundation of the persona is based in aspects of Llyr's soul that are drawn out and isolated through Mistress Magpie, many of which had been buried during the course of his life.

Current Set of Mutations: here.
The first set of mutations for Becoming is entirely based around the spark's interest to bring a legacy about through the physical matter of Idalos.
Crossbreed
Magpie's Collection

Proposed Second Set of Mutations:
Competent "Cold Hearted": Llyr is not an ordinary Becomer mage, by any standard, and the spark has realized and adapted to this in order to continue to grow in power. Instead of the usual attachment that Becomers feel toward their totems, Llyr is especially callous toward the loss of totems... to the point where he acts recklessly with them, uncaring as to if they are destroyed through experimentation or otherwise. On occasion, he will destroy his own totems for various moderate reasons. Along with this, he is unable to recognize his totems as "family" or "companions", instead seeing them as mere vessels for his soul with the only exception being his natural born self (or versions of his self-totem) and the Spark's Persona totem (Mistress Magpie).

Expert "Augmentation": A furthered development of the mutation, Crossbreed, Llyr has developed a scientific approach to borrowing traits onto his totems. He has become fascinated by biological structures, but in a twisted way due to his own preferences. Llyr tends to despise most of the animal kingdom, as he doesn't like animals. Combined with his Mortalborn domain of Civilization, this veers him (and subsequently his spark) into a very peculiar development of mental fascination toward biomechanical concepts. For instance, rather than seek to create a totem of a horse simply to acquire a horse, he will feel intense desire to augment the totem through various methods into something that might no longer be considered a horse at all...

New Set of Mutations:
Master 1 - "Territoriality": Llyr feels an intense need to mark the boundaries of his personal territories in obvious ways. These can range from the grand and elegant such as banners, sculptures, monuments, and so on… to the gruesome and horrifying such as fences made from bones, twisted warnings, scented blood of executed threats, and so on. He will try to include multiple senses in the marking of perimeters: visual, scent, auditory such as in the form of wind chimes. As long as he has his boundaries marked, he has tripwire intuition when a threat enters his territory: knowing so far as to the general location and a notion of the threat’s level (such as how many, how powerful, etc.).

Master 2 - "Mutation Name": Write-up Blurb.

Master 3 - "Mutation Name": Write-up Blurb.

Master 4 - "Mutation Name": Write-up Blurb.

=

Draft 1 Backup

Second Set Mutations

Catching up with the double Mutation Sets since he's now MB.

Transmutation

Spark Persona: Ether Acrobat ("Ea")
Theme Concept: Elegance, Flexibility, Surpassing Boundaries, Seeking Challenges.

Spark info

The Relation between Spark and PC: Ether Acrobat was Llyr's first spark. His initiation very nearly killed him, as he almost didn't come back from Emea during the course of it. When he did survive, however, the Spark realized the potential that its host had for endurance and then, that Llyr had a Mortalborn Soul. Ether Acrobat immediately did everything in its power to drive Llyr to build its power, in the instinctive hope that it could reveal before Llyr realized the nature of sparks and their impact on a mage.

It very nearly succeeded too. If it wasn't for that damn, meddling Attunement Spark that showed up to help manage the annoying lesser Becoming Spark. Ether Acrobat, however, remains the most powerful of the three sparks. It is a bully to these other two, often overriding and attempting at primary control over Llyr as its host.

Ea purposefully drives Llyr into dangerous situations where he might be forced to make use of the more destructive elements of the magic. The lure of a challenge is how Ea accomplishes this, and by stoking the innate curiosity of the young mage. Exploration, study, experimentation, all of it can lead to obstacles and danger that whether Llyr uses Ea as a preventative measure prior to the encounter, or more instinctual as sheer ether manipulation to survive, Ea is incredibly flexible at what it can use to manipulate Llyr into deepening its power.

Llyr, on the other hand, has been learning of Ea over the past seasons. If it weren't for the Fall of Emea, and Ea being silenced for the season after initiation, he might've simply thrown himself into revelation without much consideration about the matter. But that is not what happened. Llyr went to the brink of revelation, then denied the chance, turned away from revelation and never looked back. Ea now seeks to increase their power in other ways, though remains watchful in the case Llyr lapses and revelation becomes an option again.

Current Set of Mutations: here
The first set of Mutations developed around Llyr's inherent attraction to the act of climbing. For Llyr, climbing is a symbolic behavior for him. It represents escape from the world, freedom from imprisonment, and getting away from the filth and grime of the street levels. He likes the space near the sky, where he can overlook the surrounding areas.
His first competent mutation centered around legs that helped his flexibility and strength for climbing, jumping, and landing.
His expert mutation of wings offered control for any falls or jumps to do with climbing, which he was falling often back then because he was still in the competent level of climbing.
His master mutations were bold as Ea got arrogant in its expression through Llyr. The limbs are a direct means to climb much higher as well as elevate himself over others, similar to how he can sometimes levitate with the wings now.
His halo is the only mutation that only has adjacent use for climbing. Instead, his halo represents Llyr's internal draw to the qualities of light and shadow and how often he thinks about such things (thus above his head).

Proposed Second Set of Mutations:
For the second set of mutations, instead of a retroactive application, I'd like to play these out through story moving forward. Because the second set is from his mortalborn soul, I'd also like for some dynamic between the mutations and his (or his father's) domains. This will also start to suggest to Llyr story-wise that something might be odd about him since he continues to get mutations past recorded awakenings for other known mages.

Llyr's Domains: Contracts, Civilization, Cultivation. | Chamadarst's Domains: Isolation, Glass, Commerce, Neutrality.

First, I'd like to make a couple minor visual edits to Llyr's original Competent and Expert mutations.
For Llyr's Boneturner Legs mutation: This mutation was his very first, so it is likely to have mutated further due to Llyr's particular development - so I'd like to amend it that it has become less about organic appearance (bone) and more inorganic (marble and quartz crystal). With this slight change, which aligns it more both with Transmutation and Llyr, I'd like to switch the name of the mutation to what it is often referred as IRP: Crystalline Legs.

For Llyr's Gossamer Wing mutation: After playing with the mutation for some time, it has become clear that it is highly probable that Llyr has started to develop the ability to fly with them. So, I'd like to remove the line: (line here) And it would still be paired to his skill of Flying tier,. The Spark-side reasoning for this is because he is far more likely to channel ether through the wings in order to shape them for actual flight, for the control and agility it will provide him through doing so.

New Mutation Set (the second set from the MB double whammy):

Competent - "The Shape of Things": Llyr's ether is more than simple color or light. His ether is made of minuscule symbols and shapes that have the potential to give him insight into the science of existence. For those able to see ether, these shapes will be nearly imperceptible because they are so small (much like trying to see water droplet/molecules in an ocean). However, it gives his ether an exceptional quality of being in constant motion and more substantial than mere light rays.

Expert - "Taste of Wealth": Llyr and his spark are now obsessed with materials, especially luxury materials, beyond mere interest. He cannot stand wearing, or resting, on any material that is not of fine quality. If he wears any material that is cheap or coarse, it will feel perpetually itchy and unpleasantly restrictive to him. To manage this, he might imbue his attire with qualities (or invest in better clothes). Along with this, he also acquired impulses to sense materials through hearing, scent, taste, and otherwise. Specifics depend on the material. For instance, sometimes gemstones will sing to him, certain silks will smell like mint, onyx might taste sweeter than candy while copper tastes bitter, etc.

Master - "Strange Waltz": The more the mage moves, the more he desires to channel ether. The more he channels ether, the more he feels the desire to move. It is a perpetual loop between the two influences, in a continual dance between his body and soul, and can be expressed through flying, dancing, fighting, and other combinations - as long as he is in motion. The longer he continues to exchange between motion and ether, the greater euphoria that he feels. Due to Llyr's capabilities, he must exert discipline to break this ebb and flow as he can endure breaks upon breaks of this spelldancing and not fall into exhaustion.

Master 2 - "Mutation Name":

Becoming

Spark Persona: Mistress Magpie
Theme Concept: Acquisition, Feminine, Creation, Legacy, Territorial.

Spark Info

The Relation between Spark and PC: Mistress Magpie and Llyr have an incredibly complex relation to one another. Llyr did not necessarily want to accept a Becomer's Spark into him. He chose it out of warped, pressured logic. During initiation, he came very close to rejecting the spark and turning into a Mimai. The process of being faced with himself was an incredibly difficult for the young mage - even more traumatic than the physical pain of his Transmutation initiation. The acceptance of this spark into his soul impacted his psychology in profoundly irreversible ways.

However, the Becomer's Spark struggled to define itself when it realized the powerful Transmutation Spark, Ea, already resided within the soul. It only struggled more when Llyr had little interest in what usually drives Becoming sparks in their hosts. Things like primal natures, or feral behavior, simply didn't tempt nor encourage Llyr to build on the sparks' power. When it dabbled with things like eating of raw meat, while Llyr partook in the compulsions, he immediately researched how to [lessen the spark's influence with intention to suppress and weaken it.

This caused the spark to stop what it was doing. The Becomer's Spark was aware enough to realize these sort of expressions would accomplish the opposite of what it wanted: which was more power and channeled ether. It lingered and focused on the reason why Llyr had accepted it into his ether-rich soul. Legacy was a defining factor, motherhood was second... and so...

...the spark formed the persona that would become Mistress Magpie.

The persona of Mistress Magpie adapted to attribute Llyr's interest in dreamwalking and the underlying structure of his mortalborn soul. As Llyr grows in his abilities of his own domains, through his immortal half, the more his mind fractures into separated psychologies. Mistress Magpie is the dominant byproduct of these two factors (the becomer spark and the mortalborn mental fracturing).

After the Fall of Emea, and after Llyr rejected revelation with Ea, Mistress Magpie's hope of revelation has been renewed. She is not as powerful as she would like to be. During this time, she has learned more of Llyr and his tendencies and what might encourage him to increase and further her influence.

Ultimately, Mistress Magpie wants to be the primary persona. She wants to dominate over Llyr himself, and change the way he interacts with others and the world. If it weren't for Llyr's discipline and meditation, she might have already succeeded. But as Llyr strengthens himself, so too does Mistress Magpie find ways to grow in power as well. Still, Mistress Magpie isn't an entirely different person. The foundation of the persona is based in aspects of Llyr's soul that are drawn out and isolated through Mistress Magpie, many of which had been buried during the course of his life.

Current Set of Mutations: here.
The first set of mutations for Becoming is entirely based around the spark's interest to bring a legacy about through the physical matter of Idalos.
Crossbreed
Magpie's Collection

Proposed Second Set of Mutations:
Competent "Cold Hearted": Llyr is not an ordinary Becomer mage, by any standard, and the spark has realized and adapted to this in order to continue to grow in power. Instead of the usual attachment that Becomers feel toward their totems, Llyr is especially callous toward the loss of totems... to the point where he acts recklessly with them, uncaring as to if they are destroyed through experimentation or otherwise. On occasion, he will destroy his own totems for various moderate reasons. Along with this, he is unable to recognize his totems as "family" or "companions", instead seeing them as mere vessels for his soul with the only exception being his natural born self (or versions of his self-totem) and the Spark's Persona totem (Mistress Magpie).

Expert "Augmentation": A furthered development of the mutation, Crossbreed, Llyr has developed a scientific approach to borrowing traits onto his totems. He has become fascinated by biological structures, but in a twisted way due to his own preferences. Llyr tends to despise most of the animal kingdom, as he doesn't like animals. Combined with his Mortalborn domain of Civilization, this veers him (and subsequently his spark) into a very peculiar development of mental fascination toward biomechanical concepts. For instance, rather than seek to create a totem of a horse simply to acquire a horse, he will feel intense desire to augment the totem through various methods into something that might no longer be considered a horse at all...

New Set of Mutations:
Master 1 - "Territoriality": Llyr feels an intense need to mark the boundaries of his personal territories in obvious ways. These can range from the grand and elegant such as banners, sculptures, monuments, and so on… to the gruesome and horrifying such as fences made from bones, twisted warnings, scented blood of executed threats, and so on. He will try to include multiple senses in the marking of perimeters: visual, scent, auditory such as in the form of wind chimes. As long as he has his boundaries marked, he has tripwire intuition when a threat enters his territory: knowing so far as to the general location and a notion of the threat’s level (such as how many, how powerful, etc.).

Master 2 - "Mutation Name": Write-up Blurb.

Master 3 - "Mutation Name": Write-up Blurb.

Master 4 - "Mutation Name": Write-up Blurb.

old/discarded

Competent - "Fairy Prince":Llyr's Gossamer Wing mutation has evolved from two pairs (one upper, one lower) into multiple pairs of two upper and four lower set of gossamer fairy-like wings. The spark has realized that Llyr is more likely to channel ether through them if the wings provide greater range in regard to flying, as well as levitating. This will require him to learn through the skill of Flying, and with practice, he'll have a great deal more control and agility. Part of this is because he is capable of feeling his wings more keenly. If they are damaged or torn, it will cause reasonable pain. If they are torn out completely (by yanking the ether from the rooted mutation in his backbones), it takes around seven uninterrupted trials for his ether to fully return his wings.
Master 2 - "Mistress Magpie": The Spark has become obsessed with taking the Emean form of Mistress Magpie into reality through a totem. Only... the persona is insatiable and discontent with nearly all results. This turns into a constant borrowing of totems with no end in sight. Mistress Magpie desires to be the dominant body and constantly needles at the back of Llyr's mind. Whenever his discipline is weakened and his impulses heightened (such as heavily intoxicated), if his magic is safely possible, he will succumb and transform into the current Mistress Magpie totem. If he doesn't have one, he'll change into any female totem he has available... however, he should always have a Mistress Magpie totem, though it is also likely he will have multiple that Mistress Magpie might claim to use as vessel.

Master 3 - "Mind Nature": Along with the drive to have a totem for Mistress Magpie, but the spark has only gotten its persona so far along by using mental fracturing of Llyr's mind whenever he uses his mortalborn abilities, in which it steals part of his consciousness to build itself. The more that Llyr uses his mortalborn abilities, the more that Mistress Magpie strengthens as her own mind and personality - within Llyr's soul. It is still "Llyr", but it is a distilled version of very specific aspects that have been drawn together by the spark's influence.

Posted: **Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:48 pm**

Name: Interrogation

Overview

Just tell them what they want to know...

Interrogation...

Techniques of Interrogation

Key Related Skills

Detection:
Deception:
Discipline:
Endurance:
Forgery:
Intelligence:
Investigation:
Persuasion:
Politics:
Psychology:
Research:

Seduction:
Storytelling:
Tactics:
Torture:

Novice: 0-25

The interrogator

Competent: 26-75

At competent, the interrogator

Expert: 76-150

An expert interrogator

Master: 151-250

The master interrogator

Investigation

Name: Investigation

Overview

Investigation has a range of professional application from criminal investigation to examination of mysteries and causes for happenings. These two tracks often overlap with one another, especially in cities where most criminal activities have elements of mystery to them and causes for things often lead to criminal dealings. It is important for investigators (also known as detectives or sleuths) to know where they stand with the city they are within, whether they work with the local guard or law enforcement, or if they work outside the bounds of polite society as a hired freelancer, or if they're just a busybody vigilante who sticks their nose where it doesn't belong.

Elements of Investigation

Evidence
More important for those looking to follow the law's justice (rather than "street justice"), the collection of evidence is key to build a case in criminal dealings or to convince others of a finding that involves a mystery.

Networks
A professional investigator never goes it completely alone. Whether a companion to help them out, or entire groups and factions, a sleuth rarely chooses to work alone - and those who do, it usually isn't by choice. To be an investigator's assistant has been rumored to be a dangerous job.

Equipment
Tools of the trade such as magnifying glasses, long trenchcoats, stylish hats, umbrellas and canes, journals, stamps, stationary, lots of red string, and a handkerchief.

Key Related Skills

Detection:
Discipline:
Endurance: Stake-outs and following possible targets around can require a lot of stamina.
Intelligence:
Interrogation:
Persuasion: Making a case for your concluded findings.
Politics: A lot of things can be solved by understanding the political details of an area.
Psychology:
Research:
Storytelling: Another way to make a convincing case.
Tactics:

Supplementary Related Skills

Appraisal:
Business Management: If freelancing as a private eye.
Combat (Unarmed): It sure doesn't hurt to know.
Deception:
Etiquette:
Forgery:
Leadership:
Logistics:
Running: Also a good skill to have for this... whether chasing or fleeing.
Seduction: Charisma rarely hinders when it comes to gathering information.
Socialization: Depending on the type of investigator, those more involved with city guards might want to know the ins and outs of socializing with the others.
Sociology:
Trap Making: For those times when you need to catch someone or something.

Novice: 0-25

The investigator

Competent: 26-75

At competent, the investigator

Expert: 76-150

An expert investigator is recognized professionally by the areas they operate within. Those guards and law enforcement in their resident city know who they are, and either have favorable or unfavorable relations with the detective.

Master: 151-250

The master investigator

wald's detection

Wald Lowca wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 8:40 pm
Name: Detection

Overview

Detection is the primal ability of honing one's raw awareness of the physical world around them. There are many kinds of senses within this field, many of which help countless trades and situations. The typically accepted natural senses are:

Sight: The ability to see distinctions within one's environment and through obstacles.
Hearing: The ability to sense footfalls and general noise within the environment.
Smell: The ability to sense distinctions within the air, or aromas of objects
Taste: The ability to sense distinctions in flavor between foods and anomalous additives.
Touch: The ability to sense differences in one's environment through tactile involvement.

While some have a natural predisposition to others, this is the process of refining one's abilities. A blind woman might be able to train herself to sense sound better than her friends, and a deaf man might be able to train himself to rely on his sight to be more aware of his surroundings.

Pattern recognition is an important facet to detection. Through a combination of senses, one may be able to feel that a door is heavier than usual and something may be weighted upon it, or that a floorboard is particularly loose as they step on it. It is the ability to see and otherwise sense disruptions in the flow of a room, or even forest floor. While it won't help matters covered by cryptography (like cyphers/codes/curtain patterns), it may be the tipping point in helping realize that something is out of place.

Sight

Sight is one of the most classically handy senses.

The raw information one might be able to gain from sight can vary. Someone might be able to discern that two supposedly similar objects are actually different, or that someone has been tailing you for the last few hours by catching glimpses of them in the shadows.

Training one's sight might make them able to see thin tripwires or even hidden traps. It may as well help them see someone trying to sneak on them or someone trying to hide in a crowd.

Hearing

Hearing is another classical sense that many take for granted.

Unlike sight however, there are more variables to training one's sense of hearing. The footfalls of a man versus an animal will be hard to tell the difference between unless one has experience. However with training one might even be able to hear things that are trying to stay hidden.

Training one's hearing might make them able to hear someone's footsteps in a house when they're trying to hide. It's also handy to eavesdrop and separate out voices.

Smell

Smell is a classical sense that some don't often consider.

With the raw information alone in smell, one might be able to pick up on scents before their partners. While it takes experience and at sometimes learning a trade to familiarize with an array of scents, it's something that's deceptively useful.

Training one's sense of smell might allow them to detect a rotting corpse faster or even be able to smell a poison or at least something wrong with a meal.

Taste

Taste is a classical sense that's often overlooked.

Sometimes some things just need to be tasted. While rarely used it is most useful in determining the age of various objects or even being able to tell what they're made of.

Training one's sense of taste might allow them to differentiate between a wide array of materials and food. Biting down on a piece of silver nell just to find out that it tastes like lead might just prove that the coins are a forgery.

Touch

Touch is a classical sense that is rarely considered.

The raw sense of touch is something that's used in everyday life. Touch helps determine how fragile something is and whether or not it's something to be grabbed in the first place. It can also tell you if there is a change in weather if you are aware enough. Even telling the difference in weight between two objects when held.

Training one's sense of touch might allow them to feel the difference between materials as well as their general physical properties.

Relevant Skills

Detection allows you to gather information for other skill. Because of this fact, there is not many skills that are not relevant to its use. Trade skills benefit from being able to from its use to study both their own and other's work. Combat skills benefit from the ability to see an opponent's attack. Social skills benefit from seeing physical cues.

The key to all of this is that Detection gives you raw information about the physical world. It is up to your other skills to piece it all together.

Detection factors into many existing skills. These are the ones that seem to rely on trained senses the most, but is by no means the full list:

Appraisal: Helps with assessing quality and properties of an item
Caregiving: Helping keep an eye on the changing condition of your ward
Discipline: Helping see through supernatural illusions
Etiquette: Helping with noticing the minutiae of expected behavior
Forgery: Helps with quality forgeries by noticing any personal mistakes
Hunting: Helping with tracking prey
Investigation: Helps with finding hidden clues to be examined
Medicine: Helps with noticing symptoms key to diagnosis
Navigation: Helps stay on course during rough conditions
Psychology: Helps with noticing physical tells and tics of a person
Seafaring: Helping gauge distance and course while sailing
Sociology: Helps notices differences between cultures
Teaching: Helps with noticing things with your ward

Trade

All trade skills require a steady hand, a sheer focus, and a keen sense of what you are doing. Being able to feel how gently you need to make a weave, or how heavy a piece of dough is. It is up to your physical senses, and honing them through your trade that allows for true perfection.

Though someone not trained in the trade will still have no idea of what is going on. Even if you are a master of detection, you will not know just how much dough is needed for a bagel, or how much slack is needed for your fishing line. It takes a someone with skills in the trade to understand the information given though detection.

Combat

The flow of battle, the hum of the blade, and the varying steps in between. Combat is all about out doing your enemy, with skill or with knowledge. Detection is used to help read your opponent, where he is standing, how he is holding his weapon, even how he is breathing. All these can be used to your advantage.

Just because you can see what your opponent is doing, does not mean you know how to react to it. It takes honing your skill with the weapon to counter your opponent. Detection just gives you the raw information to work with, you will not beat someone from it alone.

Social

Detection is an auxiliary skill to many social approaches. While one can see the raw input from other people, the minutiae of culture, motive, deception, etc., will be lost on the person. These are covered by relevant social skills such as: Sociology (Studying/Understanding culture), Psychology (Studying/Understanding motives and the mind), and so on.

Since detection is about gathering physical information it will not be able to tell if; Someone is lying, Someone is angry at you, Someone is learning well, or How someone should act. It is only used to gather tells for their appropriate skills.

Counter Play

While picking someone out of the crowd or out of the dark is something that detection is good for, combining methods to better hide one's self such as acting and disguise, can put off the perceiver as they have no means of pointing out that you are not who you say you are.

Stealth: Physically hiding what you are doing
Acting: Putting on an act to give false information
Disguise: Hiding your true face or use of different clothing to give false information
Deception: Physical Deceptions such as sleight of hand, or distractions to remove focus

Novice: 0-25

A novice of detection is just learning how to comb for details from the world around them. They may be able to pick out a specific scent and partially follow it if it's strong enough, hear someone's conversation in a private room with a thin door, or be able to perceive the general characteristics of an object when touching and tasting it in relative good detail.

Competent: 26-75

At competent one's senses will begin to be more clear to the user, allowing for better understandings of their surroundings. They have a decent shot at picking someone out of a crowd, if that person isn't trying to be hidden. They are able to follow strong odors a small distance to their point of origin, and even catch traces of faded trails. At this competency, many are able to vividly get raw information for basic materials, allowing for specialist skills to step in.

Expert: 76-150

The expert of detection is someone who is keen on their surroundings. They may approximately half of the time, find the person that they're looking for in a crowd, eavesdropping in a noisy room is also possible. Well hidden traps may also be found by the senses. At this point in one's training they may as well be able to see those trained in stealth in clear conditions most of the time, and obscured conditions around a quarter of the time.

Master: 151-250

The master of detection is a person that carries with them a high degree of understanding of their environment. They are able to spot discrepancies in the environment that are likely traps or weaknesses, as well as eaves drop in a bustling room with little issue. Trace odors and remnants of objects can be detected without pause. The only obstacle to these folk are ingenious trap makers, highly trained stealthy individuals, high physical deceptions with slight of hand or camouflage, and highly obstructive weather such as pitch darkness or hurricanes.

Credit: Wald Lowca

Posted: **Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:48 pm**

Name Griffith Clark
Race: Human
DoB: 13 Cylus, Arc 683
Title: Professor
Skills: 90 Logistics, 85 Cartography, 80 Research, 80 Teaching, 76 Field Craft, 60 Socialization, 55 Storytelling, 51 Leadership, 51 Mount (Flying), 45 Navigation, 40 Investigation, 30 Writing, 35 Detection, 30 Endurance, 26 Climbing, 26 Cryptography, 26 Running, 26 Swimming, 20 Etiquette, 15 Seafaring.

Griffith Clark is the fourth son of a wealthy family that has minor nobility bloodlines that overlap between different cities. He was well-educated, tutored through most of his arcs, and attended the Scalvoris Academy when he was younger where he received a Licentiate in Cartography at the Institute of Technologies and a Charter in Immortal History at the Institute of Metaphysics.

Griffith has a strong sense of wanderlust and cannot keep away from the opportunity of field expeditions. His entire interest in cartography has to do with his passion for mapping undiscovered areas that have historical significance to them. He used to spend most of his time at the academy, researching potential locations and putting together teams to explore such places.

At the Institute for Innovation, he does much the same... only he offers the opportunity for students to come along on his expeditions to learn the practical skills demanded from such pioneering. When he is on campus, he does open-form lectures instead of structured classes and he usually has sign-ups for his next expedition. Griffith is incredibly passionate about his work, and if given the opportunity, he can easily spend an entire trial gushing about his newest map, the dangers it took to acquire the information, or a possible location he wants to explore.

Once the next expedition's sign-ups are filled, and everything prepared, he heads back out to map these new locations and teach those who come along. He will spend campfires to tell stories about previous adventures, especially daring brushes with near-death, as well as mini-lectures on various relevant subjects. Griffith has expert knowledge of Immortals and the historical context of them. He has an overly positive view towards Immortals with an openly expressed fondness for Cassion and U'frek. Most of his expeditions have to do with areas that have some significance to Immortal history.

Credit: Llyr

done

Curious Constellations

ABOUT THE PC
- Character Name: Llyr Llywelyn
- Current Wealth Tier: 4
- Business Management Skill: Competent.
- Profession's Main Skill (your level in it): Negotiation (Master)
ABOUT THE BUSINESS STARTUP
What is your target tier? Wealth Tier 10
- Step 1: What is your startup wealth differential? -6
- Step 2: What is the base cost of set up for your business? 55 WP
- Step 3: What is the startup cost? (Step 2 - Step 1)? 61 WP
- Step 4: Is this business a small or large business? Large. [61 x 1.5 = 91.5 WP = 92]
- How will this be funded? 50% Discount used from Small Renown Reward (46 WP).
  Remaining paid with Loans: 46 WP.
  16 WP from The Shadeblade Gang
  30 WP from an unnamed official Etzos Bank.
  - Suggested Payment Plan:
  - +4 WP to Shadeblade Gang per Cycle (+25% of any earnings during that cycle, rounded up, and applied to initial loan amount)
  - +5 WP to Etzos Bank per Cycle (+1 WP interest per cycle, not applied to initial loan amount).
ABOUT THE BUSINESS
Business Name: Curious Constellations
Business Location: Headquartered in the Commercial Ring of Etzos.
Business Description:
No matter the oddity or unique nature of the request, Curious Constellations is here to help! It is rumored that no matter how outlandish or unusual the request, C.C. won't turn away anyone in need of help... barring the need for strictly illicit activities, of course.

Referred to as C.C., this Curiosity shop also serves as headquarters in the city of Etzos.

The shop within the Commercial Ring of Etzos keeps an assortment of antique Household Items, Crafting Materials available for purchase, second-hand books, trinkets, and artifacts, and an assortment of Etzori properties and land plots.

Despite this, C.C.'s primary trade is not of a material nature, but rather networked resources, information, and various assistance requests.

Though international in scope, local business operates much faster than foreign arrangements. C.C. also sells informative reports of different regions, cities, and areas. Specific location requests can be made, and the waiting period is dependent on payment, travel times, and contact/courier locations.
Physical Shop Description:
Ground-floor Level: Open to the Public.
Used as storage for the assortment of Household Items, Crafting Materials, books and trinkets. Most of the household goods are second-hand and/or antique. Not everything here is always for sale, though most is.

Odd items can be found tucked away in the shelves or barrels or crates or trunks or various other spots. Size of items range from very large to very small. It is cluttered, filled to the brim with a fair amount of lamps, lanterns, and otherwise hung on the ceiling. No space is wasted, but the place is not dusty and is well-kept otherwise.

Here one can find the majority of the Business NPCs going about their trial: Madam Miller can be found at a glass display case, where she usually is attending to paperwork or other employees.

This space leads into a larger side area that is also filled with goods, but has various furniture. It is used as a lounge for customers to sit and socialize if they wish to, though there are no food/drink refreshments offered - just seating (of which can be sold). NPC employees can often be found here between jobs/tasks. Sometimes it is used as a space for meetings between people.

Basement Level: Not Open to the Public. Invitation-Only.
There is a locked wooden door that leads to a staircase that goes underneath to what the previous shop owner used as storage.

The space is split into two different rooms by a stone wall and is used for the other services provided by C.C.

The right-side room is used for storage and private consultations (for information requests and contract negotiation). It is immaculately clean with different maps and name/bounty postings hung up on the walls. In a locked cabinet, the more rare and expensive goods are kept (such as gemstones).

The left-side room is used for interrogation. It is sparse and filled with torture tools and weapons. There is a locked iron door that leads to a back exit on the other side ofo the ring, rather than through the shop.
Number of Employees: 8 Main NPCs, numerous lesser npcs who work on gig/freelance status rather than salaried employment. Star (or Head) is a term for the lead of the corresponding division, and these are the retained employees. All are currently headquartered in Etzos with exception of the Courier who frequently travels.
Which Categories from the Shoppe does your business sell? Property and Land. Household Items. Crafting Materials (including gemstones and writing supplies).
Which non-Shoppe items / goods / services do you provide? Second-hand trinkets. Books. Arcane goods (not on public display). Information. Contacts/Names. Interrogation. Assistance.
Are there any exceptions (eg: Weapons, but not bows) No direct Financial Assistance.
Which Wealth Tier does your business target at? Wealth Tiers 3-10.
What is your Business Management Skill? Competent.

Goods & Services Available

Rules:

Since this is a PC run business, you may buy certain items here at a lower cost than the Shoppe.
Only the goods & services identified in this post may be purchased.
This location is open for you to post in: any and all purchases must be posted with time stamps below.
You can make multiple purchases per season, but log only ONE purchase post
If you make a thread out of your transaction, the link should be posted here.

Secretary

Name: Sonja Mlynárik
Nickname: Madam Miller
Race: Human.
Date of birth: 32 Saun 658
Citizenship: Etzos. (Born in Melrath)
Job Role: Head Secretary
Skills: 30 Intelligence, 30 Research, 20 Tactics, 20 Seduction.

Appearance: 5ft 6in. Average weight. No visible scars. White and gray-streaked, once blond, hair. Blue eyes. Often wears a woolen knit shawl and lots of skirt layers to her long dress.
FC: Julie Christie

Personality: Madam Miller is a pleasant older woman most of the time. She believes entirely in the adage: You get more flies with honey than vinegar. And even flies seem useful to her as no person is too lowly or scrubby to consider as a potential source of information. She speaks in adages a lot, and plays up her age far more than she needs to as she's still sharp of mind and fairly active in body, but she'll still complain about aches and gripe and get the younger people to do things for her instead.

Other information: One of the most public faces of Curious Constellations, this is the most likely NPC for a potential client to run into. She corrals a handful of younger secretaries under her tutelage, but if anyone wants to speak with the owner, they have to make an appointment through her. It can sometimes be off-putting and scary how much Madam Miller seems to know about people and their dealings, though she doesn't let on unless she feels it is necessary. Don't be surprised if she knows that one secret of your's... you know, that one.

Listener

Name: Snorri Steingrímr
Nickname: Snorri
Race: Mixed (Human/Biqaj)
Date of birth: 19 Zi'da 665
Citizenship: Nomadic (Born in Yaralon)
Job Role: Head Listener
Skills: 30 Linguistics, 30 Socialization, 30 Interrogation, 10 Torture.

Appearance: 5ft 7in, above average weight with a plump build, got lash scars on his hands and back of shoulders, gray-streaked hair that used to be brown, hazel eyes. Often wears cotton, breathable tunics and trousers, usually looking like he belongs down on the docks lifting cargo. He has a bow-legged stance from too much time spent at sea.

Personality: Snorri is a happy man. He is grateful for the life he has and the people around him. He is incredibly loyal to Madam Miller and would seemingly do just about anything for her. He can be gruff with others, depending on how early in the day it is as he isn't a morning person. He enjoys heavily drinking in the evenings and swears on his mother's life that he doesn't have the guts to bother with torture. He interrogates compassionately, if he ever is brought to say it. But Snorri doesn't like to talk much about himself. He doesn't like to talk at all. He much prefers to listen, and he has unending patience for those who will talk to him.

Other information: The second most public face of C.C. Snorri is a well-known man, with a reputation for being a wonderful listener. He'll listen to all your troubles and woes, he is always open to conversation and will even let you cry on his shoulder. He's such a good guy. It is rumored that he is either involved or related to Sonja (Madam Miller) depending on who you ask.

Watcher

Name: Watcher.
Nickname: Watcher.
Race: Human
Date of birth: 37 Vhalar 696
Citizenship: Quacia.
Job Role: Head Watcher
Skills: 30 Detection, 30 Investigation, 30 Stealth, 10 Climbing.

Appearance: 5ft 8in, average build with average weight, no visible scars, muddy brown and curly hair, blue eyes.
FC: Tom Payne

Personality: A solitary Quacian fellow, he often comes across as either stoic, sullen, or a mix of the two. He usually has his hands in his pockets or his arms crossed. His posture isn't great, a constant slouch to his shoulders and a darting gaze about unless something in particular catches his eye. He can go for a very long time without blinking. In this way, he can sometimes be intimidating, but most often, he just seems like an ordinary guy who doesn't want to talk with you.

Other information: The namesake for this position. Watcher keeps to himself and well, he tends to watch. He can sometimes be found on rooftops, balconies, etc... but only if he wants to be. He is a professional eavesdropper and witness, and under C.C. now trains/leads a division network of similarly skilled watchers. He cannot be found outside of this. He does not seem to have a life beyond his work and being a perpetual shadow among the city streets.

Fixer

Name: Lochlann O' Ruanaidh
Nickname: O'no (pronounced: Oh... no!)
Race: Mixed (Human/Avriel)
Date of birth: 12 Cylus 680
Citizenship: Etzos
Job Role: Head Fixer
Skills: 30 Combat (Thrown), 30 Combat (Bludgeon), 30 Intimidation, 10 Combat (Unarmed).

Appearance: 6ft 1in, muscular and heavy weight, plenty of scars on his body and yet none on his face, black-brown hair in waves to his shoulders, blue eyes, and often wears beaten-up leathers.
FC: Henry Cavil

Personality: Lochlann is a wonderful guy when you're in good with him. He's an awful scare when you're not. He has a lot of patience though and enough discipline to work under someone else without letting himself get too carried away. His little gang of thugs that follow him around mean a lot to him and he won't sacrifice them if put to the test. He enjoys drinking and can sometimes be found with Snorri at taverns in the late evenings. He spends his mornings with Madam Miller, helping her out and such. He believes it's very important to help old ladies, otherwise you're just a heartless chump.

Other information: Pray you never meet Lochlann on the wrong side of things. He works at C.C. as the Fixer, with a gang of ...less than reputable sorts under his command. What exactly he fixes? Well, that depends on the client... and the payment. Whatever it is, you can assure the problem will be solved once he's done with it. He only follows orders directly from the owner, but if you ask either of them, they'll both deny that to the very end. Lochlann, of course, officially follows jobs given to him by Madam Miller. If you run into him while he's off the job, though, he tends to be a down-to-earth fellow... and by that, it means he's as grimy as he is grounded in practicality.

Upper

Name: Emeline Holt
Nickname: Princess
Race: Human
Date of birth: 102 Ymiden 699
Citizenship: Etzos
Job Role: Head Upper
Skills: 30 Politics, 30 Etiquette, 30 Rhetoric, 10 Writing.

Appearance: 5ft 2in, thin underweight, no scars, long black hair, brown eyes, often wears expensive outfits.

Personality: Emeline hates most people. She considers herself superior to almost everyone she deigns to acknowledge. She hasn't much experience with the outside world but she has a streak of curiosity in her. Emeline is capable of smiling, but she's awful when it comes to hiding how she feels because she simply doesn't care enough to deceive people who are so beneath her anyway.

Other information: Emeline, better regarded as Princess, is known for her high status in Etzori society. She is a socialite, through and through. The youngest daughter of extremely wealthy gem merchants, she knows the ins and out of The Tower and Citadel, and everything to do with anything of worth or importance. She is haughty, rude when she doesn't think a person matters, and always draped in finery. As her father expects of her, she has her eye on marrying well. In the meantime, she finds it intriguing to provide assistance to C.C... though she doesn't get along with Lochlann in the slightest, yet somehow they always seem to run into each other!

Assistant L

Name: Gerolf Vymont
Nickname: The Crimson
Race: Human
Date of birth: 4 Saun 682
Citizenship: Rharne
Job Role: Assistant/Bodyguard L
Skills: 30 Combat (Blades), 30 Endurance, 30 Strength, 10 Mount (Equine).

Appearance: 6ft 4in, muscular and heavy weight, a few scars, copper-red hair, gray eyes, and sometimes gets mistaken for a Lotharro, but he's strictly human. He wears his one set of red-dusted steel armor that he owns, and he wears it almost all the time.

Personality: Gerolf is a man who tries for honor when he can, but slips up from time to time. He tries to be discipline, but he... slips up from time to time. He tries to be faithful and well... he has a tough time with consistency. Still, most of the time, he has a loyal and good heart with a strong arm.

Other information: Direct assistant, and bodyguard, to the owner of C.C., Gerolf moved to Etzos from Rharne to take care of his sister's family after she passed away from plague. He is now the guardian for five children, and his elderly in-laws. He used to have a fairly free-spirited guard's life in Rharne, but found the Etzori guards to be much different than what he was used to. He's gone into private hiring of his capabilities as such.

Assistant R

Name: Jacquelle d'Amboise
Nickname: Jacq (pronounced: Jack), Jackal
Race: Biqaj
Date of birth: 34 Vhalar 698
Citizenship: Scalvoris
Job Role: Assistant/Bodyguard R
Skills: 30 Combat (Thrown), 30 Combat (Unarmed), 30 Stealth, 10 Mount (Avian).

Appearance: 5ft 7in, lithe muscular weight, some scars on her body from old sparring matches, short curly black hair, brown eyes that change colors. She wears a mixture of cotton and leather for easy mobility. She keeps a lot of knives in different hidden spots on her person.

Personality: A tomboy, she tends to wear boyish clothing and doesn't seem to care about what others think of her. She is energetic and moves quick. She doesn't laugh easy, if at all and tends to glare about her instead. She's always on the look-out for her scum of a brother who she's currently hunting down along with some associates from Scalvoris that she'd like to pay back for certain grudges held. This occupies most of her thoughts.

Other information: Second assistant, and bodyguard, to the owner of C.C. The panther to Gerolf's lion, the cat to his dog, Jacq comes from the damper and dingier parts of Scalvoris. She came to Etzos to hunt down her brother, and in the meantime, needs to make coin. She has a distaste for overtly criminal types, and an unfounded superiority when it comes to most things. She doesn't dislike Gerolf, but they don't necessarily get along either. Not yet, anyhow.

Goods & Services

Shoppe Items
Certain items from the Shoppe may be purchased here at 1 Wealth Tier lower than usual. (eg: if you are Tier 5, you may purchase items for sale here as though you were Tier 6)
Specifically, the following categories of items may be purchased here:

Property and Land
Household Goods
Crafting Materials (including Gemstones, Writing Supply Kits, etc.)

Exclusions: If any items from that/ those categories are not included, please state so here.

This business is targeted at clients at Tier 3-8. This represents the majority of NPCs who shop here. PCs from any Tier may frequent a PC business.

Goods / Services Not Explicitly Listed in the Shoppe
The following Goods and Services not listed in the Shoppe are available here.

Contacts / Names.
Network referrals.
Courier Services.
General Assistance.
Temporary Protection Escort.
Regional Information Updates.
Unique Requests for Assistance.
Arcane Goods (not on public display)
Information (Research or Investigation).
"Interrogation" (Torture Services).
"Messages" (Intimidation Services).

Job information

Jobs are available here. To apply for a job, contact the player.

Player notes

Put notes from the city's mod(s) to the city's players here. Also put a "transaction template" for PCs?

Change log

Record any changes here that have been made to the location.

Posted: **Sun Apr 14, 2019 4:04 pm**

Kinnaird & Kinnaird Law Firm

Founded by brothers Sorley and Lesley Kinnaird, the firm has been going strong since Arc 688 after branching off from a previous firm the brothers used to work at.

Lesley Kinnaird, the younger brother of the two, is a well-known figure within Etzos. He is charismatic, sophisticated, and has a dangerous silver tongue. There are few other living individuals who are known for such a pleasant ability to wheedle and achieve success in the courts like Lesley can. He has a near-impeccable case record and most people consider Lesley to be the reason why the firm has found success.

Sorley, the older brother stays in the background, but he manages almost all of the paperwork and technical details of the firm's business. For arcs he has endured backtalk and cruel jests when people observe the vast difference between the two brothers. Sorley is a lawyer, and does have a decent case record, but he is far from the celebrity figure that his younger brother has become.

Comparably, where Lesley is handsome and charming, Sorley is bland and boring. Though they often attend events and parties together, it is easy to not even notice the sallow and quiet Sorley compared to the spotlight that Lesley seems to always have on him.

Overall, the Kinnaird Law Firm is known for taking the most heinous cases, from murder to assaults to tax evasion. They represent the wealthy and the working class, and sometimes... just sometimes, against the wishes of his older brother, Lesley takes on cases for the poor on pro-bono if he finds something of interest, or if there's another type of incentive to take it on. There are a few clients of their's that they are on retainer for, mostly merchants.

Lesley pioneered the approach of representing clients through the use of populace interest. He likes to get the people of Etzos involved with high-stake cases, talking to the press and making enough of a controversy that people feel drawn to take sides. In the past, sometimes people have even attended the trials because of this and created protests when they disagreed with the judge rulings... leading to an overturn due to populace demand.

It is not unheard of that when another lawyer finds out they'll be going up against Lesley... they simply drop their client to avoid the inevitable dramatics. This might have helped his case record, in the long-run, as clients have to scramble to find someone willing to take their case to argue against the mesmerizing Lesley Kinnaird.

Types of Services

Kinnaird & Kinnaird can handle most any needs in-house with little need for outsourcing. They have litigation and transactional departments. The transactional department advises clients and handles legal work such as drafting contracts, handling necessary legal applications and filings, and evaluating and ensuring compliance with relevant law; while the litigation department represents clients in court and handles necessary matters (such as discovery and motions filed with the court) throughout the process of litigation.

Kinnaird & Kinnaird are both for-hire to represent anyone who has enough nel to do so. They aren't exactly picky about their clients either, but more so will only take cases in which they feel have a good chance at coming out victorious in court. If they believe a case will fail, they'll refer a potential client to a neighboring law firm that is lesser in reputation.

NPCs

Name: Sorley Kinnaird
Age, Race, Gender: 58-Arc-old, Human Male. (42 Ashan, 661)
Skills: 76 Business Management, 54 , 36 Intelligence, 35 Etiquette, 34 Detection, 30 Politics, 25 Leadership
Biography: Managing Partner.

Sorely

Name: Lesley Kinnaird
Age, Race, Gender: 53-Arc-old, Human Male. (3 Saun, 666)
Skills: 99 Rhetoric, 85 Persuasion, 80 Negotiation, 75 Deception, 55 Intelligence, 50 Etiquette
Biography: Figurehead Partner.

A smooth-talking lawyer, Lesley has a sharp eye for how to represent his clients and get them away with... well, almost everything. He is polite, and displays proper etiquette often. Lesley is a professional manipulator with flamboyant confidence. He doesn't believe in self-doubt or second-guessing, and employs any deception if it will help him or his clients. Narcissistic, he believes himself superior to most everyone else and all his cases are a reflection of his superiority (thus why he's willing to take whatever measures necessary to win).

Still, even with this, sometimes he does truly care about his clients and their cases. He sometimes gets emotionally invested and too close to his clients, leading to a few scandals in his past... but with that silver tongue of his, he always manages to turn it around to grow his reputation. When it comes to Lesley, truly there is no such thing as bad gossip... he can twist anything into being beneficial.

Lesley is corrupt, in every meaning of the word. He has no issue with fabrication of evidence, lying, blackmail, and extortion but he's also incredibly careful of how he goes about this. Being a lawyer, he knows the lines to dance around so he never gets himself on the other side of the court. That said, most judges begrudgingly like Lesley because he is incredibly entertaining when he presents cases whether in prosecution or defense (he leans toward defense cases though) and breaks up the usual monotony and boredom of other lawyers.

Name: Sylvia Desmond
Age, Race, Gender: 32-Arc-Old, Human Female.
Skills: 76 Research, 60 Writing, 30 Rhetoric, 30 Etiquette.
Biography: Managing Secretary
FC:

Credit: Llyr

TrustFair

Trust & Fair Appraisal and Valuation Services

Founded by Richard Trust and Jenifry Fair in Arc 569, this family business has come a long way from the starting trials while operating out of a small home in the Outer Perimeter.

With an impeccable reputation for third-party evaluations, Trust & Fair grew their business from residential and insurance claims, to taxation assessments, to development and planning strategies for local businesses. They notarize their assessment reports and are well-regarded in the Etzori courts in cases of arbitration between conflicted parties. Often, judges will order an evaluation from Trust & Fair to decide divisions of assets in the case of inheritance, argument, or otherwise.

Since the founding, Trust & Fair has expanded operations. Their headquarter office moved to the Commercial Ring in Arc 594 and has been remodeled twice since then.

The business itself has been passed down through the generations. Jenifry Fair’s eldest son (Elmond Fair) and Richard Trust’s youngest daughter (Sowena Trust) were wed and the two families merged into what is now-known as the wealthy Fairtrust family. The current incarnation of the business is owned by their descendant, Merrin Fairtrust.

The front entrance opens to a reception foyer. If a person does not have an appointment, this is where they can schedule a time for a consultation. Drop-ins are highly discouraged, and actively scorned, and it is considered common etiquette to send word ahead by several trials if one wishes to meet in-person. Consultations are not free, though they are reasonably priced if a person is willing to wait for an appointment. The more immediate the need, the more costly the fees will be.

If a potential client, or visitor, manages to get past the iron double doors behind the receptionist desk, they will find themselves in a red-carpeted hallway that splits into three paths.

At the end of the left corridor is a locked iron-bar door with a spiral stairwell. It leads to a basement that stores administrative filings and records. On the right corridor are several narrow doors that each lead into various small studies, work rooms, and employee offices.

Straight ahead, the majority of clients will be led to an immaculate office with one chair meant for Merrin Fairtrust (or Spring Hale, depending). Clients are expected to stand during the consultation, though exceptions are made for those of wealthier status. Each consultation lasts exactly the length of a sand-timer that is flipped as soon as the visitor walks through the door. If the timer requires to be flipped again, all fees are doubled. Rarely does the timer ever flip a third time.

There are three other exits to the building, but that is employee-only knowledge, and thus why employees are rarely seen going through the foyer or main entrance. This has given to many rumors over the decades about hidden doors in the record chambers of the basement.

In the aftermath of the Lisirra assault on Etzos in Ymiden 719, Trust & Fair lost the majority of their employees. This left the core family to operate the business and they are struggling with the steadily increasing workload during the rebuilding of Etzos. There is a waiting list for consultations, of which the meetings have been reduced to even briefer times allotted in attempt to keep up with the demand.

Types of Services

There are a great range of services offered by Trust & Fair, ranging from business valuations to residential appraisals to third-party judgment of insurance claim values. They also perform consultations regarding investments, potential liquidity or merger development, estate planning, and providing litigation support on contracts. Other general areas offered are business, residential, damages, losses, antiques, estates, investments, assets, fraud detection, loan accumulation (for creditors usually, not debtors), and taxes.

Trust & Fair prides themselves as a professional, accurate, and established local business. They encourage employees to gain Licentiate from the Academy, with accreditation in Business, Trade & Commerce, and Diplomacy & Law (Etzos Law). Trust & Fair offer accredited experts in their company to assure the quality of all valuations performed for clients.

The common procedure that is followed:

Consultation Appointment
Cost Estimates for Services
Order (and prices) Agreed on
Contract Notarized
Scheduled Valuation
Inspection Appointment
Report Compiled
Quality Checked by either Merrin Fairtrust (or Spring Hale)
Report Notarized
Final Notary Report Delivered

NPCs

Name: Merrin Fairtrust
Age, Race, Gender: 73-Arc-old, Human Male.
Skills: 76 Business Management, 54 Appraisal, 36 Intelligence, 35 Etiquette, 34 Detection, 30 Politics, 25 Leadership, 15 Teaching
Biography: Accredited with a Licentiate in Business and Etzos Law through the Etzos Academy, Merrin used to also teach in his younger arcs at the educational establishment. He doesn’t anymore, however, due to enough student complaints about his harsh grading practices - with only a 10% passing rate for those in his classes. Since then, he has settled into managing his family's business with a grumble and a mean eye for inaccuracies or errors in any reports.
FC: David Bradley.

Name: Spring Hale
Age, Race, Gender: 39-Arc-old, Mixed Biqaj/Human Female.
Skills: 76 Appraisal, 44 Business Management, 35 Negotiation, 30 Research, 27 Etiquette, 13 Intelligence
Biography: The bastard daughter of Merrin. Technically the day manager of Trust & Fair, she doesn’t own any of the business though she is well-known as performing most of the responsibilities. She’s been working at her father’s business for about twenty arcs. Accredited in Trade & Commerce and Etzos Law, she oversees most operations and occasionally takes on direct work herself. She is the representative of Trust & Fair, if required to present a report within the courts.
FC: Chloë Sevigny.

Name: Clover Hale
Age, Race, Gender: 20-Arc-Old, Human (1/4 Biqaj) Female.
Skills: 76 Research, 35 Appraisal, 34 Writing, 25 Rhetoric, 15 Bookbinding, 15 Etiquette.
Biography: The daughter of Spring Hale, father unknown, she started as a messenger and courier when younger, but now has taken on a lot of various work. Clover is recognized as a pleasantly ambitious girl. She currently attends the Academy and is working for her Charter in Diplomacy and Law, focused on Etzos Law, though she hopes to expand to Trade & Commerce coursework soon. However, most of her time is spent handling the administrative upkeep of Trust & Fair.
FC: Elle Fanning.

Credit: Llyr

Posted: **Tue Apr 23, 2019 11:48 pm**

The Question

Protagonist: Llyr Llywelyn

Explicit or Implicit
not vague, understand enough to form a specific question.

a. What specific question is in the beginning?
Possibilities
- How will Llyr make ends meet?
- Will he be able to not only survive, but flourish within Etzos?
- What is the state of Sintra's influence in Etzos?

b. Explicitly write the question
Examples:
"Where now? Who now? When now? - Samuel Beckett
"Now that I've found the way to fly, which direction should I go into the night?" - Ally Condie
"This is really Earth?" - Debbie Macomber

c. Implicitly write the question
Examples:
"I am an invisible man" - Ralph Ellison (how is that possible and why?)
"Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting" - William Faulkner (who is hitting what and why?)
"There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it" - C.S. Lewis (how could anyone possibly deserve that name?)

Check

A. What moment is the true beginning of your story?
A1. At what moment in the story could you delete everything prior to it without confusing readers?

B. What character(s) does your opening scene introduce?
B1. Have you introduced them by name?
B2. If not, why not?
B3. Can you identify one way to introduce the essence of their personality or story role through action and one way to introduce it through dialogue?

C. In your opening scene, what does your protagonist want?
C1. What is preventing him from achieving his goal?

D. What can your characters do in this scene that will keep them in motion?

E. Where does your opening scene take place?
E1. How can you offer at least a sense of the setting in the opening line?

F. What tone does your opening create?
Examples: Optimism, pessimism, defeat, fear, hope, sadness, joy, cynicism, idealism, anger, awe, disappointment, remorse, contempt, aggression, other.

G. What specific words or images have you used to achieve this effect?

FIRST LINE

Starter:

A. Does it introduce the protagonist?
B. Does it raise a question?
C. Does it introduce at least a sense of setting?
D. Does it set the tone?

Revised:

The DRAMATIC Question
Plot/Theme/Both, always yes-or-no answer.
When this question is answered, this story is over.
Sum it up in generics
Refine it with specific details

Foreshadow FPP within first scene/thread.

Opening Checklist

- Have you introduced characters by name?
- Have you indicated the characters general ages?
- What important physical characteristics need to be shared to help readers form a visual image of the characters who are present in the opening?
- What defining facts about your characters can you supply right away?

Occupations?
Prominent Personality Traits?
Defining actions?
Other?

- If more than one character is present, what is their relationship?

How can you demonstrate this?

- What setting details can you provide early on to help readers visual the surroundings?
- During what season does your story open?
- On what date/day does your story open?
- If any of the specifics about thte time of day at which you open are important, how can you share tehse details?
- How can you introduce your character's goal in the first paragraph?
- By the end of the first chapter, why will readers continue on?

1% to 25%

Set-up

Foreshadowing
Heavy and Light

Heavy Foreshadowing: Plants a solid clue of what's to come later. FMPP.
"Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that..." - Charles Dickens

Light Foreshadowing: Remind readers of previous heavy foreshadowing.
Tension/Symbolic motif.
Marelly's face in the door knocker.

In one column, list all important characters, settings, activities, props, events that will occur in the story.
In the second, write ideas fore foreshadowing these elements.

Subplots
Thematic explorations of the protagonist's personality or aspect themes.
Introduce character depth via situations that are off-limits from the main plot.
Introduce now to fruition in second part.

Example Categories: Romantic, Career, Family, Best Friend, Minor Character Arc.

(source: K.M. Weiland)

Posted: **Thu Apr 25, 2019 8:18 am**

North side Etzos

A pair of hulking minders stood on either side of the booth, arms crossed, heads and eyes constantly scanning the "gentle folk" patronizing the Fancy Franny that evening. The usual Etzosi crowd. Whores and laborers, clerks and thieves, beggars and drunks and sellswords and merchants and killers and carpenters and renegades and all that made a city so prosperous. Now and then a quarrel would break out but this was a place for food and drink and merriment.

There were the drinks being bought and the card games being played. The food being served and, yes, in this place it was fairly easy to see the circling street-walkers picking out their potential clients and approach them. Then there was the layer under that. The furtive deals in books and corners. The hands slipped under tables, exchanging coins and packages of all kinds. Things that got dropped off or picked up.

Crassus and Fessus were within that layer, this pub the center of their little fiefdom on the North Side, where all faces were known and protection could be relied on.

Waxhaw brothers.
Arc 705
viewtopic.php?f=169&t=11044&p=75847

"Some bastard cut up one of Lydia's girls. Badly. Second time it's happened this season, on my side of town, at least. I hear tell that last season, same cunt had visited a couple of other brothels on the North Side. Left the same damage, too."
-
"I can make it worth your while if you stay," he said, voice lilting between coaxing and commanding. "Fifty gold nels, each trial, rest of the season. C'mon, Kas, you know this is going to be when those bastards who've been gobbling up every other crew are going to move on us! The North Side is pretty much sewn up. Weak cunts there either pay them to leave them be, or work for them. That means they're..."
-
Even more than usual, now he wasn't paying that old cunt Vorund.
Fuck him, he thought for the thousandth time, smirking at the notion of the wrinkled wanker going apeshit over his precious lost "taxes". He's getting old and slow and he's getting squeezed by those cunts in the north. Time to move on, lad. Greener pastures.
-
"Everyone's been nibbling at us for the best part of an arc now - not serious chunks, mind, but enough that they're doubting us. Now your man shows the whole city the quality of the men you have on your side. If we rally those men now, send them north, into their turf-"

"I am not going to war with those bastards. Not now, not with our friend in the Guard vanished and the city sweltering and on edge and Foster's on the brink of bloody war with these pirate-"

"Then this is the time for us to strike, crush the cunts, stop them now and show-"
Al’Angyryl - Noth viewtopic.php?f=118&t=5083
-
Standing where the other man was sitting, Kasoria slid his gaze over to him. Clever boy. He seemed to have a little more guile to him than before. The season had been fraught for Ilos, with Vorund nearly hurling him out of his sight when he spoke out once too often. Wanting to use Kasoria's reputation, of all fucking things, to marshal their forces against the Al'Angyryl massing to the north. A man who managed to beat back a Naerikk and her Gift of Shadows was, after all, quite a man to rally behind.

"I'm a busy man and, from what I've heard, so are you. Those North end cunts have been falling like wheat in Ymiden or vanishing like mornin' dew or just plain bending over and turning their coats, getting onto your crew. Well, that's them. My question is, where does that leave us, Mister Prince?"

There was a brief and threatening prelude to their discussions as Vorund highlighted the realities of gang life in Etzos. It was true that the Northern gangs and thugs had been falling in droves to Al’Angyryl, gobbled up and assimilated into the ever-growing secessionist faction, or else entirely annihilated in violent strikes which lasted merely a single night. The shock and awe factor had left the criminal underworld in shambles in certain places, and the sudden loss of many distinct racketeering organizations had overall driven away some of those filchers and gangsters to greener pastures… or in many cases, into his open talons. It would be a mistake to assume that Al’Angyryl was merely another criminal empire, however… they partook in illicit activities and certainly turned a profit in the process, but there was so much more to them. They drilled like soldiers, wore quality armor and equipment, fought in formation, in tactics, employed the undead and other fierce beasts… they were not a gang… they were a gathering rebellion.

“Of course, Mr. Vorund. I have no intention of trotting upon the toes of the well-established any more than is strictly necessary.” He paused, a flicker of memory flashing back to those gangs that had once existed… their demise had been strictly necessary. “In truth, the Northern gangs were disorganized, inefficient, corrupt, and filled with the vilest examples of leadership that could possibly be contained by our pleasant city. Their resources have been undeniably useful, their operations have been assimilated, their thugs are now my soldiers, but in the end, they were not the South.”

“As I understand it, you run the operations of the South. I do question why you never decided to expand your operations to the opposite side of the road, as it were. Regardless of your reasons… I have an ultimately unfortunate reality to bestow upon you.”

“I don’t want it.” He paused for several moments, his gauntlet-covered fingers idly rattling against the table as a brief sigh flickered out from beneath his armet. “I neither want the criminal element of the North, nor do I particularly have any interest whatsoever in the criminal elements of the South. In fact, I’d be perfectly willing to simply hand over the consolidated mass of territories to you at the drop of a hat were it not for the fact that I still require some measure of resources.”

“I am not a crime lord, Mr. Vorund. I understand that I may give that perception, but I am a far more dreadful type than that. I am a warlord. I do not care for profits, nor do I care whatsoever for gold and silver and copper except for that they are useful for procuring equipment for my troops. The only thing that I care about at this current juncture is that I possess enough militant support that my future claims to power are not immediately dismissed, and that I am able to facilitate operations in a more shadowy capacity in the meantime.”

“Change… is coming, Mr. Vorund. It is an inevitability, and my victory has been assured by the future itself. I merely require the Underworld’s assistance to get there, and they will be rewarded in kind.”

...
"T'answer yer first question - y'know, the one you most loudly did not ask-" Vorund smiled slyly at his guest, letting him know that such passive-aggressive touches were appreciated but, alas, ineffective, if grinding at his esteem or patience were his objective. Still, it was always refreshing to negotiate with someone who played the game a few levels above the usual. "The reason I ain't expanded north is, well... you answered it yerself, in fact. Cuz they're a bunch of cunts. No discipline, no vision, not a trustworthy bone among the lot of 'em. I do business there, but I don't have business there. I'm sure y'get me. Yer more like me than yeh'd like to admit."

Again that chuckle. That amusement that rang of nothing more than honest mirth, as if he found something worthy of a jape and was simply appreciating it. Kasoria's brow creased almost imperceptibly, and he flicked a glance at his master. Was the old man trying to provoke the feathery cunt? Was he drunk? Or was... was it poison? Before he had a chance to wonder further, Vorund finished his glass and plowed on.

"Now, the lad to my left? I'm sure he nearly cacked his breeches when you offered up the North Side like a treat to a dog, back then," he said with a smile, thumbing briefly at Ilos. The younger racketeer flushed for a moment and then bowed his head as Vorund tapped his empty glass. Off he went, like a good boy, filling it back up. "Sure that sounded good t'him. Double the turf, double the income... pah... double the problems, lad."

The last word was directed at Ilos himself as he placed the glass in his boss' hand. Vorund patted him on the shoulder as he sat down.

"What I got now is tight, controlled, efficient... and loyal. All that shite you said the North didn't have. Y'know why that was? Because they were all a bunch of horizon-chasing cunts, who got tripped up by the shite right in front of their eyes. That ain't me, son. Never has been, either.
...
Nevertheless, the crimson-eyed bird was not quite so inconceivably foolish to actually interrupt the inbound lecture, not necessarily out of any semblance of respect for the Vorund, but rather because he recognized it would absolutely spoil any further conversation over the matter. Vorund spoke of the reason why he had not taken to conquering and subjugating the remainder of Etzos, and highlighted that the Northern criminals were less than disciplined, and far more cutthroat than they were effective. Perhaps that had been true before he had united so many of them under a singular flag, whipped any dissenters to death, paid them in droves of loot, and brought them under his regime, but they were a far different animal than they had once been.

Even as the criminal lord spoke of the similarity between the pair, and further discussed that he possessed business in the midst of the North, but that it was not his to own, a particularly troubled crossbowman began to crease his brow. No matter where he turned, the precariously dangerous thought of usurpation rattled around the confines of his skull. He was paid… but was it enough? The endless hole of greed was such an easy exploitation for a being as ancient and capable as the Beast, and it flourished in mental environments of such blaring selfishness, whispering thoughts of additional gold, of greater reward, of grander fame. After all, he certainly possessed a weapon… and Vorund, while he had been at least a fair boss, would not be missed, would he?

..
They conversed further, Vorund questioning him on what his actual interests in the South side were, whether or not he was interested in acquiring some measure of partnership, or perhaps more soldiers to his army, or perhaps even simply the acquisition of further coins. The avian tittered briefly at the list of options, disinterested in the implications that each carried, though he was not so foolish as to ignore any potential benefit that might arise from any of them. Cost and benefit, as it were. There was a request by Vorund that he keep his soldiers and their ilk away from the South-side, as though he were convinced that a simple statement such as the one he had made would somehow preserve any dignity within his territory. Perhaps he was genuinely convinced that the North had no effect on the South, but, regardless of their general direction… Etzos was a single city. Noth listened further to the demand until it was rather brusquely interrupted by the man at Vorund’s side, and it became the hybrid’s turn to chuckle, a short sound that emanated from within his chest. “Nice dog.” He uttered briefly, before motioning for the fellow to continue.
..

"I'm guessin' yer talkin' t'me because youse know there ain't no-one else'll listen to ya. North Side? Heh, you've got them dogs whipped, by the sound of it. Lotta' obedient, not much leadership," the old man winked at the lean, rangy gangster at Noth's side, enjoying the flush of insulted pride he saw flare up. "An' the Fence? Shite... if she ain't keen on workin' with me, she'll take yer fucking head off the moment you meet. So as far as... figureheads, aye, that's almost the word, I was yer best option, hmm?"

...
"Point bein', lad, that while you may require shit from me, I don't require a fuckin' thing from you." Vorund's eyes slid up from Noth and into Thane's pinched, outraged face. "Or these Northern monkeys y'came with. I run my business safe an' under the note a' the Council, an' I ain't looking for a partner that'll bring every Blackjack and soldier and shadowy cunt Vuda an' the High Marshal has on the payroll down on my head. Y'wanna come South an' look fer muscle? Feel free. Just make sure they ain't mine."
....
"Though, if we're honest," Vorund continued, waiting until he guessed Noth was about to reply and then cutting him off at the knees. Or the tongue, more accurately. "Don't see why you'd need more'n what you got right now, for yer little coup. Got Thane over there, an' all the North Side garbage he can muster, which I'm guessin' ain't some small number. Got that warehouse in Fosters, got others like it. Got Thane's wee sister, an' that big bearded cunt Ox, an' yer little army in the shadows playing at war."

Vorund paused and shrugged, letting his words sink in for a moment or two.

"Got more'n that in the wings, I'd wager. All that magical shite y'seem to be so fond of. Oh, I hear things too, Mister Prince. Forty years in this life, if y'thought I didn't have friends an' snouts an' ears an' eyes North, South, East, and West, yer fuckin' dreamin'. But most of all, what I hear about youse? That there ain't much to hear. You've filled in plenty a' those blanks, an' for that I thank ya. F'Ilos here was makin' the decisions, might be things'd be different. But I am, an' ain't, so I'll be turnin' youse down an' wishin' youse good luck. With the same warning as before."

The pipe finally came out of his mouth and Kasoria heard what followed, but only distantly.

In truth, he was too busy panicking.

"Stay away from anything attached to me. The men I hire, the businesses I protect, the money I make." The old man spoke quietly and slowly, rough gutter accent vanishing, every syllable crystal clear. "Do that, and we won't need to be all chummy, Mister Prince. You make your way, and I will make mine. Never the 'twain shall meet, nor blood need be spilled."

Why would you say that? Why the fuck would you say that?!
...

Vorund attempted to dissect the reason for the hybrid’s visit, insinuating that the leadership currently scattered around the Northern remnants was faulty in some regard or another. While it was true that the hybrid had encountered little more than jumped-up thugs and their assorted yes-men when he had established his dominion over them, he was under the impression that his efforts in regards to the Fiends had shaped them into far more capable leaders, at least when it came to acts of violent action. In truth, the leadership that he provided in many cases was limited to strategic and tactical decisions, but he didn’t particularly care what his men did in their free time so long as it didn’t affect their efficiency or that of their mutual operations.

...
"Aye, seems like," Vorund said as Noth gave them his parting words, responding with a shrug of his own. "Pretty much how things are now, innit? Youse fuck away off, I fuck away off, an' we all keep makin' money." The Avriel turned on his heel and the North Side delegation started to go for the door. The Southsiders left them with a low, mocking chuckling oozing into the holes that sufficed for ears under the mutant's cloak. "Oh, we'll put on a spread fer whoever y'send. Rest assured a' that."

Noth and Kas
viewtopic.php?f=169&t=13297&p=92069

-
Some maniac from the North Side, who'd had a whole crew of cutthroats thrown at him and sliced and chopped and bludgeoned and battered them all into paste. Walked out of his wrecked house alive, with only a single wound. The stories said that man was named Kasoria, and since that night, he'd not been seen in that part of town.

He was getting closer to his home. He'd moved after that clusterfuck in the North Side, deciding that staying in the South, in the heart of his master's territory, was a smarter option. But you never knew, not for certain. In the aftermath of that night, Bangun had talked with him about the "message" he'd been given. From The Fence. The one power in the Etzos underworld that could not just rival him, but crush him. Such an organization, well... they wouldn't give much of a shit about turf.
viewtopic.php?f=169&t=13328
-
Al'right," Vorund said, slamming down the glass hard enough the break his reverie. The old man got to his feet without tremble or pause, sweeping out from behind his desk and snatching up his jacket. "Last meeting of the day, downstairs. Afterwards, get the lads together and I'll tell them to get spreading the word. South Side and the people we know in the North. Trial or two, every fence in the city will know I'm looking for that little thing."

He stopped at the doorway, and the watcher stepped forward, at his side. Silent and careful. Managing a half-smile to the grin that Vorund gave him.

"Then you'll go hunting, Kas."
...
"An' you ain't the only fence on the West Side, Screevy. Or the North, or the South-"
...
"Yer name is Freyda. Yer a pickpocket. Y'sell what y'steal to Screever, an' some others on the North Side. An' now I know what y'look like. Why am I tellin' you all this, girl?"
viewtopic.php?f=169&t=13989

-
They'd all heard the story from the Underground, which had a grapevine and gossip line as thick and voluble as any collection of chattering maids. Word was, Vorund's precious boy had a knife to the throat of a North Side whore when the Blackjack in question smashed down the bedroom door. He'd spat his hatred at the copper and started cutting her up, with the words "My father will have your-" on his lips.

He never finished. The Blackjack apparently did not care for the boy's father, and neither did the short sword he rammed through his throat.
-

Ilos did as he was asked, not as he was told. Already Kristo could see the swagger in the young man's step. Becoming a prized underling of Bangun Vorund certainly elevated one, both financially and mentally. He didn't know all the details, but an arc or two ago, Ilos had been a petty conman on the West Side. He was smart, and he could fight, so he could protect himself from the meatheads who would extort of profits of his cleverness. The Fates threw him in front of Bangun Vorund, and the old boss was impressed.
viewtopic.php?f=169&t=14758

-
Finn weighted the grizzly men of Pike’s against the stone-faced killers that Vorund had gathered. Vorund would catch ‘em by surprise, but he wouldn’t be fighting on his own turf. With luck the whole lot would tear each other to shreds and the neighbourhoods on the West and South would be a great deal safer for it.

-
"Stay outta Vorund's places," he said, stopping in front of the man, and his view, just to make sure he was noticed. "North side of town is where youse ply yer trade. South Side's outta bounds. Cuz next time, I might not be there t'get y'out."
-
Didn’t Vorund have some contacts around the city that Kasoria could freely use if necessary? Why’d he come here for? It wasn’t unthinkable that Vorund wouldn’t have any people in the North, now was it?
-
"I can make good on that right now," he said, casting a quick, querying look at Arlen before continuing. A nod of her head told him it was safe to speak around the younger mage. "Take it yeh've heard about this "Prince a' Eternal Mercies" wanker causin' havoc on the North Side? Mebbe beyond?" Sima's expression told him she had, to his utter lack of surprise. "He met with Vorund, couple a' seasons ago. Wanted t'recruit the old man an' his family into some sorta' plot t'take over the city. Fuckin' birdman's planning a revolution."
viewtopic.php?f=169&t=15650
-

The last man standing was making no move to end the job quickly, and Kasoria silently rejoiced. Oh, thank fuckery: he had a Talker. They always wanted to savor the moment, draw it out, babble on like they were in some knight's majestic tale, and not working a contract in North Sodding Etzos.
-
He’d brought them to ‘Old Jim Slims’ Pub’, a somewhat dingy-looking building in the same adobe style as most houses in the area. It was a tad larger though, albeit not by much. The windows were marked with stains from rain and weather to the point that they almost looked frosted. Only light and the shadows of patrons inside could be seen through them. The door was old and wooden, splintered at the top and bottom, and showed cracks in which green … stuff grew. The knob was bronze, shiny and light-colored where many hands hand grabbed and pulled, but almost bluish-grey on every other part. Above the door hung the wooden sign designating this place as a pub, weathered and chipped, with the lettering having faded over the years. It was only barely legible.
viewtopic.php?f=169&t=18819

Melinda's

A North side tavern in the Outer Perimeter.

Melinda's is now under the management of her three surviving children: Melisa, Melco, and Melcelo.

Related NPCs:

Melisa
Born in Arc 687.
Human Female.
30 Business Management
30
20
20

Melco
Born in 691.
Human Male.
30 Mixology
30
20
20

Melcelo
Born in 696.
Human Male.
30
30
20
20

Quacia

Lucretia Clement (mage mentor)

Date of Birth: Cylus 13, 677 (42)
Race: Biqaj
Organization: Ex-Seeker

Skills:
Empathy (76), Attunement (51), Mirage (26)
Writing (40), Research (30), Intelligence (26)

Bio: Lucretia Clement used to be a very ambitious young scholar from Rynmere. She followed her heart’s delight, seeking knowledge and unlike her parents who were both lecturers, she wanted to learn through experience rather than theorize about the mysterious wonders of magic.

This desire to experience for herself turned Lucretia from a plain young girl into a woman irreversibly marked by the domain sparks she undertook - both visually and mentally. She fled to Quacia with a handful of other Seekers to escape The Mantis. From the far distance, she has devoted herself to a different sort of work - one more suitable to what her parents had expected of her all those years ago. Lucretia writes, now, and she writes prolifically about a great many subjects - though she mostly keeps to magic and magical theory.

However, Lucretia left the organization of the Seekers - isolating herself due to her sparks and mutations. She’d invaded people’s private emotions, one too many times, and chose to separate herself and become independent. She lives in Quacia in a modest but large two-room suite in the Gleam above a storefront, where she spends almost all her time researching and writing. Her mutations dictate her life, the very act of obsessive researching a consequence of her sparks, as well as controlling her habits as she is mutated to be unable to go into sunlight. It is for these reasons that she is seeking not only a student - but an assistant for her endeavors.

Appearance: Height: 6' 7” (mutated) ; Weight: 145lbs
Lucretia is a visibly marked, and highly mutated, mage. In her quest for arcane knowledge and dangerous glances with overstepping, her mutations have changed her a great deal. Most notable examples: She is unable to go out in sunlight, otherwise her skin starts to flake off and expose the flesh underneath - in which it becomes very painful to be exposed to air. She is unable to wear clothing over her arms at all, due to a black stone-like texture that covers the forearms like a glove and will ether-burn away any clothing/fabric that she tries to wear over it. She glows in the dark with faint blue light. She has wisp trails of black wing-like shadows that follows her, no matter where she goes or what she is doing. They aren’t particularly pretty either, misshapen and often moving. Her eyes are heavily dark-lined and perpetually glow cyan regardless of her biqaj blood. When she starts reading a new manuscript/tome, she must finish reading it in entirety within the same session otherwise she becomes very ill for several days.

Relationship:
This is a Mage Mentor NPC who will be played out. Zarik will learn of Lucretia through her work during his studies, in which he will then find out through his Intelligence skill that Lucretia actually resides within Quacia. He will seek her out, to ask her questions, in which they will get to know one another. She will ask him for help in exchange for her answers, and he will provide assistance to her. Whether or not she initiates him into her magic will be a drawn-out conversational process between the two over the time; and first she will serve as a non-magic Writing/Research mentor instead with potential for Empathy initiation later on. It is likely that Lucretia will remain at Zarik’s side for a very long time, to mentor and teach and provide support, after that happens.

Watcher (Intelligence Contact)

Based in: Quacia
Lives in: Shanty
Operates in: Gleam, Shanty, Lair
Occupation: Professional Eavesdropper
Arcs Known: ~3 arcs

Moppet (Intelligence Contact)

Based in: Quacia
Lives in: Fortress
Operates in: Gleam, Fortress
Occupation: Professional Eavesdropper
Arcs Known: 0

Rocco (Intelligence Contact)

Based in: Quacia
Lives in: The Gleam
Operates in: Gleam, Fortress
Occupation: Jeweler

Edmond Lahew (Intelligence Contact)

Based in: Quacia
Lives in: The Gleam
Operates in: Gleam, Fortress
Occupation: Antique Shop Owner (Treasures of Idalos)

Posted: **Thu Apr 25, 2019 8:18 am**

Unarmed Combat (Stylish Style)
WIP

Primary Focuses:

Distance Control
Dynamism / Freeform
Tactical Theatrics
Confidence / Flamboyance
Hands Down Style
Youthful Creativity
Hard-hitting Kicks
Motion/Rhythmic Movement
High Precision
Environment Interaction
Crowd Communication

"It is meant to make you second guess your own talent and moves. It makes you worry more about what I’m going to do than what you can do, which then gives me more time to be more creative. It messes you up. Soon, the game plan you came in with is thrown out the window because you're worrying about me making the first move - which is never good."

Novice

Comp

Expert

Master

Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

Llyr's Plot Notes

Reference: Eye Colors

Reference: Slot 1

Reference: Tropes

Dev: Mutations

Development: Skill Write-ups

Development: Bizness