The magi live peacefully as mediators of the magical world, resolving conflicts and attaining peace among magi, common folk, and the famed magical creatures. This is how it has always been, and how the story has always been portrayed. However, the Keep tends to keep with its tradition of secrecy, hiding any unfortunate events that may happen around the magi. One such incident involved a spell gone wrong, one which cast a faint charm on the air, and led to a strain of unusual curses on young common folk children.
It should be realized, of course, that magic is, and always has been, a rare trait; those few lucky young ones who show signs of a magical aura at birth are sent off to the Keep before their seventh year. The ability had been for centuries a nascent trait, but with the event of a poorly manufactured spell, this trend appeared to change. Though still uncommon, children who were most certainly common folk began to develop magical abilities; a child who was one year just a simple boy or girl could be well on their way to becoming a magi in training. Of course, the Keep had to take these unusual cases in, for training young magi was the Keep's purpose, but the legitimacy of these children's powers soon became a very important issue.
It was not long after the "new magi," as the developed magic users were called, appeared that certain magi began to show signs of a new power type. At some apparently random time, some magi (including the "new magi" who powers had appeared later in life) would very violently change shape into a magical creature. While shape-shifting magi, those naturally talented in the complex magical art of changing form, had existed in the higher ranks, these random shape-shifters could be young or old, well-trained veterans or new trainees.The shifting was also quite different, for the magi would be in pain for the transformation, and they often briefly lost control of their body, truly becoming the wild creature they appeared. It was uncontrollable, and though most of these transforming magi turned into peaceful creatures, like Jerboa Rats and Axolotls, the threat of uncontrolled, effectively wild Dragons and Hellhounds became unnerving to the Council of Magi for obvious reasons. It was deemed that any mage who shape-shifted like this would be confined as a creature and given guards as a human, in case of the transformation occurring again.
But these two instances were rare and recent cases; for the rest, the Keep has remained the safest haven in the world, for both magi and creatures. The students continue to learn and practice their magic, while the more experienced magi teach, and the creatures continue to bond with their owners, assisting them as they have for centuries. Now it is your turn to be a part of that community, but you are destined for something beyond merely being a part of the Keep's body of magi; you, and your companions, are destined for greatness.
Guides You are a person in the Keep; I leave the rest up to you, whether you are a magi or not, dark or light, unique or not. Obviously, I would prefer if you begin either in or on your way to the Keep, as this will keep the plot easier. There is no age limit, but if you have a very young or old character with a certain degree of skill, please give reason for their abilities or lack thereof, however the case may be. You must be human, Naga, Centaur, or Mermaid; if the site gets more allies while this roleplay is active, then those will count as playable characters as well. Magi are included as humans, though the half-human allies may also use magic. In addition to the traditional magi, who are born with their powers, there are common folk, new magi (those who develop powers later in life), and the Cursed (magi who randomly shape-shift into one type of magical creature). New magi and the Cursed are unfortunately outcasts among fellow magi at the Keep due to their odd traits, but they are not the only unusual cases. There are always a few magi who stand out because of unique talents, skills, histories, or traits. Please only use creatures from the Magistream world as your companions; your character may have as many as they like, but it would probably be best to only have a couple of creatures out at a time. Remember that in a world of magic, nearly anything is possible. All that I ask is that you fill out all parts of the form, stick to the rules, create an interesting character, and above all, have fun.
(Now, onto the boring part. I do expect you to read these rules, though.)
Rules (The Basics)
~ Follow all Magistream rules, including those of the Roleplay Stage.
~ Censor your swearing, should it come up.
~ Please do not use real names or try to make characters based off of people you know, for the sake of privacy.
~ Romance is allowed and encouraged, but do not go further than kissing. Keep it PG-13.
~ The same goes for gore; keep it PG-13 and don't go into excessive detail.
~ Treat all users with respect, and never flame in the roleplay or in the OOC thread.
~ Please do not power-play*, god-mod**, or otherwise control other characters beyond what they have already done.
~ Characters will die only by the consent of their user. If you decide to leave, your character will be up for grabs if another user wants to take them. If you simply vanish, I will keep track of your character’s form, but we will continue as though they never existed. Just pretend that everyone’s mind was erased if that does come to happen. If you would like to join up again, everyone will remember you again (magically!) and your character will have a spectacular excuse for having missed the past week/month/year.
~ Try to post at least once per week, though more often is certainly encouraged. If you will be gone, just PM me or post in the OOC thread. If you are gone for more than three weeks, I will PM you; if there is no reply, I will assume that you no longer can or want to be a part of this roleplay.
~ Write as much as you like in each post, but keep in mind that the story is more interesting if you post more. One liners are the only things I will not accept in this roleplay; if you are struggling to add detail to your post, consider your character's history, thoughts, and surroundings.
~ Use proper grammar and spelling. If there are superfluous mistakes in your form, I will reject your entry, and likewise if your posts are littered with mistakes that affect the legibility of the post.
~ Post your character form in the OOC thread.
For those who do not know: * Power-playing is the process of taking your character and making them dramatically better in every way than one other or all of the other characters. You are also power-playing if you try to make events happen that are always beneficial to your character, unfortunate to other characters, or completely over-the-top. Forcing twenty dragons to come out and attack the group while your character shoots them all down is an extreme, but not unheard-of, version of power-playing.
**God-modding is controlling other characters beyond what the other users have already said that they have done. Posting as another user, controlling their actions, words, and creating new traits or features for their characters are all considered god-modding. If in a fight your character injures another, you may not confirm yourself that the injury "will cause a scar," or "knocked the wind out of him." You may attack and note your character's expectation that such a thing would happen, but it is up to the attacked character to confirm the extent of the damage. However, if the user does not specify small, presumable actions such as breathing, moving, or blinking, your character may implement such an action in their post, for example, "Jack noticed that when Jill blinked, one of her eyes was a slightly different color than the other" (obviously this would only pertain to a character who already has two different-colored eyes).
(Special for this RP)
~ Please only keep a few creatures with you.
~ Your character may not be a Cursed and a rank-five magi, and a new magi, and a shapeshifter, and... In other words, don't go over the top in making them. You may have characters with many unique abilities, but if you feel even slightly concerned that they may be too powerful compared to the other characters, them PM me about it. You can have very powerful characters, but they must have proportionate weaknesses as well.
~ Your may have up to four characters.
~ I expect your weaknesses to actually affect you; if a character grows tired after an attack, then they may not use that attack again until they have legitimately rested. In this respect, having "tiredness" as a weakness seems to be a bad idea, but I will allow it if you use the weakness.
~ Creature types should be proportionate to the character's rank; obviously, a rank-one would not normally have "a Crystalwing and a Celestial Dragon, and a Tinsel Wyrm, and, and a...a Unicorn, and a Bone Dragon, and an Ice Dragon..." Seriously, be reasonable, and come up with a reason if you have a rare pet at a low level.
~ You can invent your own forms of magic; no one says that you are limited to element-controlling and shape-shifting.
~ Be creative; yes, that is a rule. Violation of this rule will result in my slapping you with a herring.
~ Classes are dynamic as the keep; you can go to whichever class you like, or you can make up a schedule, or you can simply study alone and not go to any classes. Quests are given out to only a few students at a time, so we won't be going on any quests to other locations. You can be coming back fro a quest, however.
Form (This is an example for with what should be filled out in each section. Please do a good job on the form, and post it in the OOC thread.) Username: (Your Username. Hint: it is that second word in the "Welcome _____" on the main page when you are logged in. If you have trouble remembering this, I fear that I cannot help you in any way, shape, or form.) Character Name: (Please put something that you would want your character to be called here. If you put something that you do not want your character to be called, then I reserve the right to call your character exclusively by that name.) Age: (If you can't decide, that your best guess; I will allow unusual ages if you give me a good excuse.) Gender: (It will usually be one of two things.) Appearance: (Minimum of one paragraph; picture may be included as well, but please list the site and/or artist of the image.) Personality: (Minimum of one paragraph; like the above traits, this is fairly self-explanatory.) History: (Minimum of one paragraph; this can include your character's personal history, background, family history, ect.) Favored Creature: (If your character has one creature that they travel around with, add them here; if not, then give your character's most desired creature.) Powers and Skills: (Any spells, abilities, or skills that your character specializes in; each physical skill has a limit, and every magical ability has a weakness; if you do not include a weakness, I will make one for you >;} ...) "Achilles Heel": (Your character's greatest weakness; if you would like to include all of their weaknesses, go ahead, but remember that this must be a challenge for your character to deal with regularly.) Rank: (Magi can be ranked from one to six; one is a new arrival to the Keep and a training magi; two is a magi who has covered the basic spells and is working on their specializations; three is a magi who has nearly mastered a specific skill and is sent on more dangerous quests; four is a magi who tutors younger students and works at specializing in several different fields of magical studies; five is the rank of a teacher and a masterful magi, one who has advanced control over every basic realm of magic, as well as a unique specialization; six is the rank of a Council of Magi member, the highest rank attainable by anyone other than an Archmage, who is also ranked at six, even if their skill is higher than any of the other council members. Most of us will be level four or lower.) Favored Magic: (Which area of magic does your magi hope to study and master? Or, which one do they have the most talent in, or, which one do they find the most interesting? This can be anything, but you may only list one type) Character Type: (Is your character a traditional magi, a new magi, an ally, or a cursed? Or are they something else entirely? If you would like your character to be a unique type, like a non-magic user or a permanently-shifted magi, then PM me.) Other: (Again, self-explanatory; if you want your character to carry around a weapon, jewelry, have a crush, or use or do anything else unique, then write that here.)
*Also, if you would like to be a shape-shifter, know that you must be a Cursed or a rank-four+ magi. Cursed can only take on one creature form, rank-four+ magi can take on one small (cat-sized) and one medium (horse-size) creature form, and any rank above four can take on up to three forms. You may chose more forms if you want to be able to turn into a plant or an inanimate object.
Appearance: Up until recently, he appeared to be a gangly young magi with curly red hair, faint blue eyes, freckles, and a long nose. However, ever since his spell mishap, Raylone looks much like any regular Anaugi. He is approximately a foot and a half long from snout to vent, with another two feet of tail. His belly is light tan fading to deep orange-red and then a dark red along his back, with dark brown stripes flowing down from his spine. His face is more yellowish than green, and his feet are all colored red like his back. His spinal ridges are all dark brown, and his tail is tipped light yellow in the last few inches. Raylone usually doesn't wear anything aside from a little message carrying case strapped along his back. His eyes are still blue, which, along with his ability to talk and his message bag, helps to set him apart from the Keep's actual Anaugi. Raylone cannot move his mouth for human speech, but he has cast a spell over himself which allows him to project his thoughts out loud, so that he can be heard as though talking.
Personality: Raylone is generally a kind person, a hard worker for sure, but he is extremely stingy and uptight throughout most of the day. His schedule is packed and he considers himself perpetually busy, to a degree that results in him gladly burning whatever gets in his way on a delivery. However, he tends to be sympathetic toward younger magi, or those who have similar problems to his. He enjoys the company of the Cursed out of pity for both them and himself. Raylone is very kind to the Keep's creature inhabitants (except for water creatures; as an Anaugi, those creatures are naturally unacceptable). Raylone would in fact love to skimp on his duties and get into trouble, as a natural prankster at heart. However, he is kept in line by his messenger duties, and knows that the threat of humiliation is his punishment for getting in trouble -- humiliation by way of a bath. Raylone despises water in every and all forms.
History: Raylone was born in Synara City, from a large and wealthy, but not aristocratic, family. He was the first in his family to be born as a magi, one of his younger sisters following as a new magi only recently. As a magic-user, Raylone was immediately isolated from his family, in a social way. He stuck to books primarily, his family being famous in the city for their artistic calligraphy. Raylone developed sharp writing skills as a boy, and sought to become a great historical writer, but his powers as a magi meant that learning to harness his abilities came before vocational ambitions. He was sent off to the Keep when he was nine years old, though not unhappily.
Raylone trained for many years to become a skilled magi, aided by his small-sized creatures, and he eventually gained recognition as a skilled magi. Upon reaching rank three, Raylone decided that he wished to specialize in shape-shifting, and worked very hard to invent proper shape-shifting spells. He could turn himself into small objects and tools quite fine, but Raylone looked more ambitiously at creature shape-shifting. His first attempt to transform into an animal, once he reached rank four, was a test to see if his self-invented spell worked, backfire rather seriously, and Raylone became stuck in the form of an Anaugi. Shamed by his failure, Raylone spent a few years back at rank three, where he specialized instead as a telekinetic. He finally maintained rank four again, but he was through with shape-shifting attempts -- his other shape-shifting spells did not seem to work with him as an Anaugi.
The Council of Magi decided to place him as the Head of Letters and Messages around the Keep -- which, despite its fancy title, was one of the lowest positions a magi could hope to acquire, and one that was hardly ever sought out. Raylone accepted the position, however, and reignited his interest in writing. Despite his apparent inability to write, as a lizard, and the fact that his job doesn't specifically entail writing, Raylone is decently happy being around books and paper. If any messages are to be sent around the vast expanses of the Keep's territory, Raylone must see that they are delivered. His Cinersus also transports messages to magi away from the Keep, those on Quests or near questing sites.
Favored Creature: Although Raylone transformed himself into an Anaugi, this was intended only to be a test -- one which clearly failed. His most constant companions are Pudgeons, which he uses to carry and deliver messages around the Keep, as they have been bred to do. Crispin is by far his favorite Pudgeon, and can almost always be found at his side.
Powers and Skills: Raylone, as a fourth-level magi, is decently skilled in all basic magics. His specialty was decided as shapeshifting, until the incident which left him in a lizard's body, and now he is unable to shift forms at all. As a result, Raylone has had to change his specialty to telekinesis, though he is currently studying teleportation as well. A few other special spells that Raylone uses on a regular basis include the "store item" spell which allows him to place more objects in his little message bag than ordinarily would fit, and the "climb" spell, which lets him climb along any surface, even though as an Anaugi he would ordinarily only be able to grip surfaces with his claws. As an Anaugi, he can spit fire at anything that he finds displeasing.
"Achilles Heel": Well, he's a lizard. As such, he is rather small and has a limited ability to cast certain spells accurately, particularly those which require the caster to pick a target for the spell. He cannot recite spoken spells, either. The most frequent problem that Raylone comes to face on a regular basis is that of closed doors; his telekinesis does not work on doorknobs. He also cannot use his fire-breathing if he is wet.
Rank: Four
Favored Magic: Up until a short while ago, shapeshifting. He now favors more useful magics like telekinesis and remote manipulation.
Character Type: Traditional Magi, though trapped in Anaugi form.
Other: Though he has many more, the creatures which Raylone most often uses to help him deliver letters (aside from the Keep's assigned Pudgeons) include the following:
Ckeifu - Dawn Cinersi (Male) Dodil - Kiwi (Male) Uneghleia - Solar Hippogryph (Female) Crispin - Light Pudgeon (Male) Meimil - Ziraafa (Female) Coutale - Etain Quetzalcoatl Hatchling (female) Egg - New Arkai Egg - New Arkai
Username: PKGriffin Character Name: Saimlee Courge
Age: 18
Gender: Female
Appearance: Large; she stands over six feet tall and shows as a bit heavy, but Saim is quite strong and knows every inch of her body and its capabilities. She has brown hair cut short, an imitation of a male style. Her eyes are a plain and simple brown, a shade darker than her hair, and her skin is usually tanned from being in the sun so often. She has some rather nasty scars on her face, but no single one sticks out above the others. Saim wears brown leather all around in a modified hunter's suit, padded with reinforcement down to her gloves, which are finger-less for maneuverability. Her pants are less reinforced as simple cloth, but Saim wears large, thick boots on her feet. She has an earthy-green cloak that she wears when travelling through towns.
Personality: Saim is a fighter, quite simply. She would rather be fighting monsters than studying or waltzing around the town with friends, but she can attend less physical activities with tolerance. She likes to hang out with friends at Remy's, but Saim does not drink any more than an ordinary person. She can be a surprisingly sociable person sometimes, but do not mistake Saim for a "gentle giant" -- she would just as soon punch a man's face in as greet him warmly. Saim is, however, not a fool, and she takes a great deal of care in observing dangerous situations. She is an excellent tactician as well as a fighter, and she can hold back from joining the battle when necessary. The girl falls short in her magical studies, however, and she does not always get along well with magical creatures.
History: Siamlee Courge, often called "Courage" by her friends as a girl, always stood out among her friends. Her strength and size made it easier for her to fit in with young boys as a child, and while her sisters were learning how to knit and sew and wash, Siam learned how to swing a sword and fire a bow. She trained with her older brother daily, and eventually surpassed him and his friends in skill. In her small village, one to the south of the Keep, but not too far off, Saim became renowned as a fighter and a hunter. Her mother (a widow since her husband's death, when Siam was six) was not pleased with her daughter's developed skills, believing the girl to be better suited learning "feminine skills" than gallivanting around with foolish boys. When Siam reached age fourteen, and was, by her mother's standards, a woman, her mother forbade her from going hunting, fighting with weapons, or even leaving the house without permission. Siam was extremely upset about this, and disliked having to learn what she considered useless and boring skills. Within the year, however, Siam began to show signs of being a magi.
To both her dislike and her mother's, Siam shipped out to the Keep upon request by the Council of Magi. She has been there for a few years now, but has not progressed much with her magic. After a few years, she managed to just barely get through the basics of magic, and chose to work on attack and defensive with force-fields and shields. She is still not very strong with magic, but she can aptly form shields and basic weapons out of magic. The girl is eager to go on quests, and usually spends her time in the small patches of forest around the Keep.
Favored Creature: Siam has a particular dislike for most creatures, but she gets along well with those that are similar to household pets. Winged Cats are her favorites to be around.
Powers and Skills: Siam is adept at fighting with nearly any weapon, with the exception of those particular to certain remote regions. The favors long-swords, but she can make do with nearly anything else available, whether bows, knifes, clubs, axes, spears, slings, or even rocks and branches. Her natural size and strength makes her capable of overpowering most smaller opponents, even if they are skilled at hand-to-hand fighting. She is also an excellent runner, climber, and swimmer. Siam's magical powers center around creating shields and force-fields in the shape of objects; she can cast a convex shield around herself or another object, or she can create a rod of pure magic to use as a bludgeoning weapon. She can create an edge on this magical weapon, but the edge will never be sharp enough to cleanly cut through anything. Siam is also only able to cast one shield or force-field at a time.
"Achilles Heel": Siam is a poor magical fighter, as one who is not particularly skilled, has forgotten most of her fighting skills, and does not get along well with creatures. She is terrified of horses and will never trust a magical creature who shows its supernatural abilities. The powers which Siam uses regularly are the only ones which she can reliably call upon at a moment's notice. As a large figure, she is also quite noticeable in public places, like cities, so she finds it difficult to hide herself around people.
Rank: Two
Favored Magic: Force-Field Creation and Alteration
Character Type: New Magi
Other: She carries around a number of weapons, including a longbow (with arrows and quiver), a long-sword in one of her belt sheaths, a short-sword in the other, five throwing knives, a buck-knife, a lead sling (only used in emergencies), a short javelin, and twin crossbows, one stowed over each shoulder. This can clearly make her cumbersome at times, but Siam rarely goes anywhere without all of her gear. She also has very few creatures, but she has raised a few, just like any magi should. She doesn't often have any of them with her, though Lilya likes to follow Siam around the Keep sometimes.
Username: Woxai Character Name: Thal Siband - inactive
Age: 26 Gender: Male Appearance: Thal is a tall, pale man with dark brown hair tied back in a low ponytail and electric blue eyes. His appearance is different from that of most magi, simply because he's too thin and fragile looking. An unknown disease is to blame for his bad physical health. Thal likes to wear heavy robes to hide his thin and sick body. The colors of his robes use to be a mixture of purple, dark red, gold and dark green, sometimes with a bit of other colors in the mix. As for shoes, Thal wears a pair of light, dark purple shoes. Here you have something to go by. (Artist Credit: Created by anndr Website Credit: Found at deviantART.com) Personality: Thal is a slightly shy yet friendly person. He doesn't get angry or upset that easily, and he likes to take his time to enjoy his surroundings as he's aware of his current health. He doesn't rush if he doesn't have to, and you can somehow relax in his presence, he is very calm and controlled. History: Thal grew up around the keep with his parents and younger sister. At the age of 5, Thal showed his first signs of magic, and he was soon sent off to the Keep to train and learn to control his abilities. During his education, Thal also came to show signs of his illness, and it soon grew worse. But Thal refused to stop studying, he made frequent visits to the healers to have his weak body temporarily repaired. At the age of 13 the teachers noticed that Thal was very skilled with summoning beasts of different kinds, so they talked to him, and he agreed to only focus on his summoning magic. As he graduated, Thal mastered a variety of different summons such as elemental demon spirits, arcane demon spirits and demon animals.
To be able to enjoy himself and make a decent amount of money, Thal opened a small tea shop in the outskirts of a town near the Keep. The shop became quite popular, maybe because of the good tea, or because Thal was such a kind and gentle host. As a side job, Thal also started giving lessons at the Keep, mostly in summon magic. He holds his lessons once or twice a week, depending on his health. Favored Creature: A male black Pearl Wyrm named Aak. Powers and Skills: Thals original element is actually water, but he specializes in summoning magic, or the art of summoning spirits/demons/creatures from the spirit realm. He is able to summon a spirit of each element, Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, Metal and Ice, though he can only summon one demon at a time. Apart from that, Thal can summon a total or three arcane spirits and a total of two animal spirits, again only one at a time.
To keep his spirits in the real world, he has to feed them his energy (or magic if you say so), and he must never hesitate, if the spirits notices, they could turn against him. When Thal runs out of power, his summon disappears, often leading to Thal being unconscious because of the sudden loss of power. The summon needs a bigger amount of energy to return then to stay in the real world, if the summoner is weak, the demon will simply take his or her power and return home. In some situations, powerful summoners have been known to merge with their summon, taking the powers and abilities of the spirit for a short time. Upon separation, the summon will tear away from the summoner, often hurting him/her in the process. However, Thal has never done this, as it would probably kill him because of his weak health. His ability to summon demons comes from his large amount of spiritual energy and his strong head, which allows him to bring the spirits into the real world, keep them there and stop them from turning against him.
Apart from that, Thal studied most elemental and arcane magic, other than dark and light magic, as well as healing magic. He did try to learn how to heal himself, but he was unable to get good results, so he focused on the other kinds of magic. It's unsure if Thal would be able to use elemental/arcane magic on a higher level, or normal for that matter "Achilles Heel": Thals biggest problem is his health. He cannot take any heavy punches, nor can he withstand high/low temperatures. When his illness decides to kick in, Thal often starts coughing, sometimes it can be so bad he starts coughing blood. He also becomes dizzy, unable to focus and he loses some of his body control. He can't walk far, nor travel quickly, in other words, his physical health is very very bad. And Thal knows that he could die if he over work himself, or if his illness becomes worse. Rank: 5 Favored Magic: Summoning magic, as described above. Character Type: Traditional Magi Other: Thal lives for his tea shop and his small garden. He wouldn't want anything other then what he already have. When he decides to take a walk or go somewhere, he brings his staff for support. It's a simple wooden staff, made out of dark wood and with a small gemstone hidden away inside the wood.
Username: Magius Character Name: Ancient
Age: 21 Gender: Male Appearance:http://cdn.myanimelist.net/images/clubs/1/91624m.jpg (general appearance) He has light silver eyes with a piercing gaze. He is 6'5, 280 lbs, muscularly built but doesn't look very large. He has tanned skin, not too dark. He wears a silver shirt that is tight around his abdomen. The right sleeve of the shirt is long enough to cover his arm up to the elbow and the left side is sleeveless. The shirt bares rips and tears 1-3 inches long from brutal fights with other magi and his dragon kin. He wears loose silk black pants that sag slightly with white stitching of flames on the bottom and black converse. He wears a glove like in the picture on his right hand, as that is where his power is contained. Ancient also has a 5 ft long black dragon tail with silver spines that are 2 inches long protruding from the top of it due to his history. Both his hands and left foot are dragon parts also, black scales with shiny 4 in black claws that he can retract with ease. He has two 4in. scars on his shoulder blades, indicating where his wings erupt. Personality: Gemini; adventurous, loyal, quick to act. History: He was brought up around the idea that dragons were his kin, as he spent his entire childhood around them and being taught around them. He practiced spells and casts with the dragons, attained the power over the air element as his main choice of magic, and gained 4 black/silver wings as a gift from the leader of the clan he was in. Along with his practice, he developed the ability to morph into a 170ft tall black and silver dragon with 4 assorted color black/silver wings. He bears the scars from his wings in his human form due to his early transformation into the beast at age 6. The rest of his powers came from an emerald given to him when he was 13 by the leader of the clan he was in and studying with, which harnessed his abilities to teleport, become invisible, control his air element, and tap into his morphing power. He ran away from the clan when he turned 13, realizing there was more out there in the world besides studying and being taught and also since the old leader, Ancient, had died. He took on the old leader's new name, promising to keep his wild spirit alive. Favored Creature: A Rewin Ancient named Zenic, although his most desired creature to have is a Valcerian Dragon. Powers and Skills: Shape-shifter from being a Cursed, teleportation, invisibility, calling on the air element from his years of practice. "Achilles Heel": Cold climates, icey attacks, polluted or filthy air. Rank: 4 Favored Magic: Any concerned with dragons or air. Character Type: Cursed (Void Dragon) Other: Ancient has these creatures with him:
An Ember Drake named Kunera (female) A Dragon Koi named Watson (male) A Hellhound named Quill (male) A Regular Rewin named Shayan and another named Yentai (both male) A Soulflame Cerberus named Ryperes (male)
Username: Twiggy Character Name: Idin Gale
Age: 21 Gender: Male Appearance: Idin has short dirty blond hair and dark brown eyes and stands at only 5' 2". He has a medium build and slightly tanned skin. On his body he has a number of scars from being attacked, like most members of his family, and he has a single one under his left eye. Idin tends to wear traditional clothing from his home village on the out skirts of the jungles of Raza. Which is usually tan baggy pants tucked into boots and a large wrapped red and yellow belt covering his waist and his blue sleeveless shirt. His robe is a short plain white one with some red markings on it though he can tie the sleeves to keep them from covering his hands. He also still carries his knife, which is one of the most important items that ever belongs to a Razan, even after he left his village. Personality: Idin is a happy go lucky type of guy who likes a good laugh and to have fun and even though he has left his village he is still a little paranoid. Idin's sense of fun can be that of climbing trees or just simply running around and messing with the hatchlings around the keep. Idin does make sure not to harm them he can jump into jungle mode if he is suddenly attacked, luckily he has managed to get himself to trust most of the creatures in and around the keep. While Idin can be a happy person he can talk about certain subjects as if they do not bother him such as being attacked by a wild creature or being lost in the woods as to him his own life growing in and around the jungle has desensitize him. Most of the time his stories and humor can be a bit dark for those who do not understand how he has been raised around constant danger. At times he can be hard headed.
History: Idin comes from a long line of jungle guides that sometimes work for the keep and help new magi and their students go deeper into the jungle. Most of the time they work as a group as more pairs of eyes are better than just one set. One of his great grand parents was a earth magi and came over to Raza many years ago. Idin comes from a large family which all live in the same village on the Northwest side of the jungle. There they run plant shops, herb shops and many other services that travelers travel to in order to stay out of the jungles. With five older brothers and two younger ones Idin never had a lack of friends to play with within the gated area of the village. Oddly enough he's the only one in his family to show powers ever since his great, great grand father and still he blew them off and kept them hidden until they got out of control. But even in the safe areas Idin has seen his share of attacks inside his village and outside of it. At a young age he watched his pet get swallowed by a python and has seen the horrors of seeing family members and friends come back maimed and on their death bed after doing their job.
But even after seeing so much blood and death come from the jungle he was more then happy to go and run into it on his first day of being a man, age 15. Ever since he was allowed to head into the jungle he helped his family with their guide and has been attacked more than once while trying to protect their person. He stayed and helped his family until his abilities almost ended a trip into the jungle when his powers flared up and almost caused the group to be attacked by a pride of panthers. After that he decided that he would go for training to become a magi and left the village, being the first to do so.
Favored Creature: Kiwi birds, he finds them to be so funny Powers and Skills: Idin is a decent hunter and gather, but he shouldn't be relied on for a large meal if your out in the jungle or lost in the woods. Idin knows how to live and survive in the jungle for short amount of time and how to keep his wits about him while there though, he knows that one day he will get lost in the jungle and won't be able to make it out safely. Idin is also somewhat of a healer and can help someone who has been hurt badly with a number of herbs and stitching, yet his skills only go as far as stopping the bleeding and bandaging the wound. "Achilles Heel": While Idin does suffer from being insensitive at times, he does struggle greatly with an old wound that he has kept silent about for about ten years. He's too pride full to say that he can't see out of his left eye very well and rather put others in risk rather then say that he can't see. Also after hurting himself so many times on his trips in the jungle he suffers from terrible pain when the weather changes. Rank: Rank number 3 Favored Magic: light magic Character Type: Traditional Magi Other: He likes a girl from one of the cites around Etain Desert. He also keeps a number of Kiwi's with him as well as a male Arkai(2011) named Flash.
Username: Twiggy Character Name: Shay Oxro
Age: 18 Gender: Male Appearance: Shay used to look like any other kid within his group until he was turned. Now a days he stands at about 5' 1" with his horns . Human appearance wise, he has silver eyes and dark greenish gray hair that he pulls back with a simple tie allowing it to fall between his shoulder blades. Having slightly tanned skin there are a few dark marks that resemble the coat pattern of a mist stalker though no fur. Yet his mist stalker features stand out the most out of him. Having a pair of horns on his head seem to not bother him as large cat like ears sit on top of his head with them. Mouth wise his teeth are sharper than a normal humans and are made for eating meat. His body build is lean muscle though it keeps from showing his bones. His hands end in black claws and never fail to become dull. But the largest unhuman part of Shay is from his tail bone and hips down where it appears that a mist stalker was cleaved in half and attached to Shay as the rest of his body down to the claws and paw pads on his hind legs.
Shay sometimes doesn’t bother with clothing as it gets into the way with walking on all fours but he hates having people look at where his skin ends and fur starts up at and tends to wrap a short cloth around the area to keep people from looking. Time to time though, mainly when he has to be out in public sight for long periods of time he tends to wear a long gray color cloak that he can hide in.
Personality: Shay is a quiet teen, not having much say with his former master he is used to going along with what others say. He is naïve and having come from a submissive rank with his master he is at awe at certain things and tends to trust other peoples words even if he might get hurt by them. Mainly a kind and gentle person he can quickly move backwards if annoyed or angered and will growl or hiss to keep people away. Having been played with and lied to by his former master he see's himself as a person who will never fit in with normal humans and will have to follow someone with magic to remain safe. Thus the reason as to why he watched the nearby town after his master died. Shay can become very nervous if he is left alone with non magic folk and will quickly want to retreat from them or find some comfort in being in a group of stalkers. Because of this it is unknown on just how he will react if and when he is able to become human looking again. History: Shay was born into a group of nomadic travelers and unfortunately never got to know his father. Being raised by his mother and the rest of the group though wasn't too bad for Shay and seemed to be having a normal life. But around his seventh winter, both him and his mother got separated from the group and were soon hopelessly lost from the rest of the group. Living off the little they carried with them and the little they could find with winter storms beating down on them Shay's mother slowly passed while trying to give her son a chance. While chances of surviving were slim Shay managed to find a trail of smoke lifting out of a frozen swamp and without a second though ran to it in hopes for food and help. Believing that there was someone to help him he soon was captured by a group of mist stalkers and dragged to the hut of their master. While the older man would of tried to get rid of the boy, he took him in and after making him comfortable made him drink a new potion he was creating. Getting to the end result was painful for Shay as bones and muscles changed without control or remorse leaving Shay appearing to be part mist stalker cub. Soon after he was the dark magi's servant and care taker of his mist stalkers. Remaining hidden from normal humans and having his mind filled with doubts, worries and lies he stuck with his master and did his bidding until the master died. He was only found when people from a near by town grew more and more worried about the population of mist stalkers growing in the area as well as a 'monster' that was spotted watching the village. After being found and captured he was soon found to not be a really large threat, since he had no magic or the ability to dissolve into mist, he's been granted stay at the keep for a way to return him back to normal though the high ups tend to keep a close eye on him making sure he's not dealing with any dark magic. Favored Creature: The same creatures he was made mostly into as well as raised with Mist stalkers. Powers and Skills: Shay may have worked under a dark magi but he has great skills within tracking and herb finding. In fact he enjoys tending a small herb garden which he allow others to use, since he has no other idea on what to do with herbs other then toss them on some meat. Being able to track almost anything is limited to anything that left tracks as his sense of smell is no better then a normal humans. Oddly enough he is more then capable of understanding other mist stalkers and can be seen having 'conversations' with them none of them being one sided either. But this ability doesn't carry to other creatures. "Achilles Heel": Telvian panthers, no matter what ever happens he can not get along with or work with these panthers and will attempt to fight them. Also he has no magic ability either thus he can not turn into mist at will, turn into a real mist stalker or cast a spell. If he feels that he's threaten and happens to get injured while in 'fight or flight' mode he can be pushed into a feral state of mind and become a danger to himself and others. Rank: Most likely 1 Favored Magic: Anything that can break the curse placed on him. Also while he can't perform any magic he does enjoy earth magic mainly for the fact that it makes most plants grow. Character Type: Non-magic type, trapped in cursed form Other: Shay uses a staff at times to help get around as walking on his hind paws can be tricky. Most of the time he moves around on all fours finding that its faster and easier for him to move in such a way then on just his hind legs. Shay can most commonly be seen with other mist stalkers and their cubs as he finds joy in being around them.
Username: Mathcat - inactive Character Name: Rykian
Age: Early 40's (though, as is common for a magi, he looks younger) Gender: Male Appearance: With his habit of glaring at anyone who annoys him, his rather beaklike nose, and his rather untidy brown hair (which stands up in tufts when he runs his hands through it, as he often does when faced with a difficult problem), Rykian bears a striking resemblance to his beloved gryphon, Kestrel. Tall and angular, he manages to look quite formidable, though he's not nearly as unpleasant as he seems. Rykian is more tanned than one would expect for a research magi, but his studies often take him to far-distant locations. Rykian dresses simply, unless the occasion absolutely calls for more formal dress, either in the traditional plain magi robes or in something more practical for traveling when out on his travels. Personality: Usually short-tempered, frequently quick to take offense, and prone to being at the center of arguments, Rykian can be very hard to like. While he's mellowed somewhat with time (and the steadying influence of his partner, Tobran), he's still not someone that most people choose to spend time with. Those he mentors, though, are quick to rise to his defense - they've been around him long enough to tell genuine insult from an attempt at humor, and have seen how quick he is to render aid to them when needed. While Rykian prefers to work alone, decades of experience have taught him just enough tact to (usually) be able to cooperate with others (as best he can) when absolutely necessary. History: Rykian grew up in Gryphon's Roost, a small town between the Keep and Synara City known for the large flocks of gryphons that call it home. When he first showed signs of magical talent, he was proudly sent off to the Keep for training, along with a gryphon hatchling, Kestrel. Rykian proved to have a natural talent for magic, easily picking up skills, which led to considerable resentment from his yearmates (and even some of the older students). They bullied him and teased him, causing an already uncertain temperament to deteriorate further, and it wasn't until late in his studies (when he met Tobran) that he began to make any real friends.
Instead of focusing on any one elemental specialty, Rykian decided instead to become a research magi. While this mainly involves paging through dusty books and parchment at the Keep's library, he does do a surprising amount of traveling, and has been heard to remark that it's not a proper research assignment unless he's risked his life at least once. Favored Creature: Kestrel, a brown gryphon. Powers and Skills: In terms of learned magic (as opposed to magical research, which can involve anything and everything that interests him), Rykian chose breadth over depth - he knows a little ice magic and a little fire magic, for example, but can't conjure a blizzard or snuff out a wildfire. In deference to the expectations for a rank four magi, he will usually cite whatever he's researching at the time as a specialty, even if it's something he never plans to return to again. That being said, common areas of interest include teleportation, shapeshifting, unaided flight (as opposed to flight on the back of a creature or with the aid of a machine), and the truth of old legends. The obvious weakness to being a research magi is that having researched how a certain spell might work does not translate into actually being able to perform the spell.
Rykian can shapeshift into two forms - a brown gryphon and a rewin dragon. He avoids the former because he's had trouble in the past with being overwhelmed by gryphon instincts and the latter because he thinks it makes him look undignified, but has no trouble changing form. "Achilles Heel": Without a doubt, his temperament. After years at the Keep, he still has a knack for being off-putting and for alienating people. Rank: 4 Favored Magic: If pressed, he'll usually go with air magic. Character Type: Traditional magi. Other: Gentle, soft-spoken, rather sweetly vague Tobran is Rykian's partner and closest friend. What they see in each other might be unclear to outsiders, but there's no denying that the attachment is present and very strong (and it's also clear to the observant that there's far more to Tobran than immediately meets the eye). Tobran's favored creature is Moonfeather, a pegasus, who he sometimes loans to Rykian.
Rykian's most notable creatures include: Kestrel, a brown gryphon Hawk, a hippogryph (Kestrel and Moonfeather's son) Cerulean, a rewin dragon (a gift from Tobran) Zephyr, a rewin dragon (also a gift from Tobran) Malice, a calico tienko Mort, a frozen decessus hatchling (courtesy of Malice)
Username: Mathcat Character Name: Larathen
Age: Late 20's Gender: Male Appearance: Larathen is of average height and rather thin, with shoulder-length untidy blond hair and brown eyes. His habitual grin holds no malice, and he has a knack for coaxing a smile from others. Larathen dresses for comfort, not style - neutral-colored clothes (usually the traditional magi robes) that are easy to travel in, and certainly nothing fancy. The overall impression he gives is of being completely harmless and unremarkable - the former is certainly true (for the last part), but the latter isn't necessarily. Personality: Larathen is very laid-back and easy-going. He prefers to fade into the background when he can, even sometimes masking strong emotions under his habitual grin, and likes to avoid conflict (almost to the point of seeming passive at times). Larathen takes a strong interest in others, and has developed the knack for getting along well with just about anyone. He's developed a strong love of travel during his time at the Keep, and since finally advancing to a rank three magi (with the definite possibility of advancing to rank four in a few years), he's recently spent more time away from than at the Keep. A born storyteller, he's especially fond of relating stories of his travels (he manages to make most of his excursions sound like one large adventure), but also enjoys hearing the stories of others. History: Larathen was born in Synara City. The youngest of a large family, he was considerably overshadowed by his other siblings. Magi talent ran strong in his mother's side of the family, so he grew up being teased by his magi siblings and relatives with horror stories of the Keep. He was greatly relieved not to have magical powers himself, as he'd always dreamed of becoming a trader like his father.
Larathen was well into his teens when everything changed. The first time he sent a belligerent older brother across the room without laying a hand on him, Larathen tried to explain away what had happened as a backfired spell or unacknowledged aid from another. When other (though more minor) magical incidents kept happening around him, though, his parents finally insisted that he go to the Keep to learn magic. Thus, at an age when most magi were well into their studies, Larathen was just beginning magical training. A knack for making friends meant that he wasn't quite so badly ostracized as some of the other new magi, but Larathen would still have been quite lonely without the company of Cora, a parting gift from his parents.
Despite considerable early promise, Larathen seemed a mediocre student at best, doing just enough to get by and taking ages to learn all but the most basic spells. He hoped to be sent home, and was on the brink of having that happen when Rykian intervened. Larathen's act had most of the other magi fooled (it helped that many of them already thought poorly of the new magi), but not Rykian. He gave Larathen a brief, acerbic lecture on living up to his potential, loaned him a hippogryph and a map, and told Larathen to come back once he'd found his purpose. Larathen returned a few weeks later with an alphyn pup, a piasa egg, and a new-found love of travel, plus the dedication to finally give his studies the attention they deserved. Favored Creature: Cora, a rewin dragon (usually accompanied by Corwin, her mate). Powers and Skills: Like Rykian, he doesn't really have any of the traditional elemental specialties, though he does have some skill with air magic (and is thus weak against earth magic). He also shares his mentor's interest in old lore, though he still sometimes lacks the necessary experience to temper his credulity. Larathen's strong interest in people sometimes makes him a little too trusting - he hasn't been robbed (yet), but is a little too willing to believe the best of people. His final skill is a growing talent for constructing small charms and tokens - nothing ground-breaking or earth-shattering, but at least a good way to earn some money. "Achilles Heel": His strong desire to avoid conflict or attracting too much attention, which can make him seem almost passive at times. Rank: 3 Favored Magic: Air, if he's pressed to declare one. Character Type: New magi. Other: Larathen is, to the best of anyone's knowledge, completely uninterested in forming any sort of romantic attachment.
Larathen's creatures include: Cora and Corwin, a pair of rewin dragons Grace, a female savannah alphyn Cloudy, a female pinto pegasus Shadow, a male black winged cat
Username: Euphoria Character Name: Kia Desiren
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Appearance: Kia is just over five feet tall, but has a good body shape and sinewy muscles, even though she is quite thin. Her straight raven black hair is usually tied up in a long pony tail, which swings over her lower back when she moves. Kia's eyes are the same color as her hair, but they glow a fierce white when she is using high level magic. Her skin is a soft bronze from training in the sun, and she often wears a sleeveless black tunic paired with a tight-fitting pair of pants. She wears black leather sandals, as she believes that the buckles on boots interfere with her magic. A black belt is fitted around her waist, and she never goes anywhere without her black hooded cloak.
Personality: Kia is cold-hearted, and doesn't care for company, as she'd rather be alone by herself, or with Lyren. She'd rather devour books and practice spells (on the poor trees) than 'hang out' with any of the other students in the Keep. She is very observant, and her trust is very hard to gain, especially if you insult her in any way. There are only a few people who have conversed with her in any way. However, she is very gentle to creatures, but obviously ignores those who have anything to do with light magic. She is more street-smart than book-smart.
History: Kia was born on the streets to a poor couple, who were extremely disappointed when they had a girl instead of the boy that they were always hoping for, and even worse, discovered that she was a magic user. They sold her as a slave to a mysterious, old woman when she was seven, but soon Kia found out that she was in fact a dark magi. However, the magi had never treated her as a slave, instead teaching her to master the dark arts of magic, which Kia became more or less obsessed with. Her mentor died on Kia's thirteenth birthday, leaving the young girl with everything she owned, which was to be given to Kia on her eighteenth birthday.
When Kia arrived at the Keep at the age of ten, she was taken in by a good friend of her mentor's, and has been constantly trained by him ever since. She was and still is his only student, but as the years went by, Kia found herself sitting in other magic lessons, most of which she mastered quite easily, and brought her up to rank four. However, when she was requested to attend a lesson about light magic, she punched the other magi in the face and literally disappeared into thin air.
Favored Creature: Kia is fond of Akhluts, as they are of great use to her when travelling by water, but since they aren't of great use on land, she has another constant companion instead, a female Lethe Kelpie named Lyren.
Powers and Skills: Kia is skilled in all basic uses of magic, but her strongest is dark magic. This includes balls and bolts of dark magic which she can shoot out of her hands and mind magic (telekinesis, mind-reading and bending people’s minds to her will). She is currently working on mastering shape-shifting into a dark creature, which every dark magi must learn to do at some point in time. She is quite skilled with her twin scimitars, often hacking away at trees whenever possible to improve, but she also practices a lot with her magical bow and arrows, which slightly heightens the accuracy of the owner. The thirteen arrows return to the owner when they all have been shot.
"Achilles Heel": Light magic – Kia can’t stand it. It’s the only thing (if used properly) that can stop her from using strong magic completely for a long period of time, and she would be forced to fight without magic until she regains her powers. Kia is also strongly weakened in a hot climate, so she avoids all fire magi or creatures, or anything to do with fire.
Rank: Four
Favored Magic: Dark magic, as she uses it often.
Character Type: Traditional magi.
Other: Kia keeps her magical bow and arrows with her all the time, and an emergency knife under her cloak in her belt. The belt also holds a small leather pouch with collections of medicinal potions, and a pair of twin scimitars which she uses for combat fighting, when she doesn’t have enough time to call in her magic.
Lyren – Female Lethe Kelpie Crios – Male Caramel Xocomel Exon – Male Akhlut
Username: ChibiAsh Character Name: Cade
Age: 17 Gender: Male Appearance: Cade is tall, about six feet, with shoulder length black hair. He keeps his hair tied back into a lazy pony, and has the tendency to wake up with it braided by the small nymphs that follow him. His bright Green and blue eyes are his mot obvious feature, as each reveals an animal he can shift to. The black cat was his start, he was born with this ability, and was the reason for his journey to the Keep. The second he developed as he grew through his training, a white bengal. For his choice of clothing, it is usually slacks and a loose fitting black shirt, as these need to allow him to shift easily without the chance of being destroyed. Personality: He is a true ladies man, but he treats everyone with respect. While he believes in the old time ways of chivalry, he is still very much a magi of the 'here and now'. He can easily find a way to help anyone, but is a bit...shy in starting that. As most students now-a-days do not "require" help, or so they think. History: When Cade had first arrived at the Keep, he was shy, and hid from most. He quickly grew out of this, and became one of the first newbies to move up in rank. His intelligence was uickly found and through the years he studied in class, and outside of class to become better. His ability to become a black cat had quickly become one of two. His second form came to him in dreams soon after his move to rank four, and within a few weeks after, he had added white tiger. Though his forms are know to the older magi, and his peers, the younger magi rarely know. Favored Creature: Water Nymphs Powers and Skills: Cade's skills are to shift into the two Cats. However, this can only be done when he is in perfect peace with himself, or extremely angry. When he is angry though, the cat's instincts have complete control, and he does not. "Achilles Heel": His weakness is a pretty lady. As cliche as that is, it is true for him. He cannot focus in the least when he sees Kia, and thus cannot shift. Ever since the refusal in advances by Saimlee, he has, for lack of better word, ignored the pull from her. Rank: 4 Favored Magic: His Magic is Shape Shifting, and he is intent upon it's mastery. Character Type: Traditional Magi Other: Since Kia arrived at the Keep, Cade had been trying to pursue her, to not much avail, yet he is determined to stay until she sends him away.
Username: Piney Character Name: Hsina
Age: 16 Gender: Female Appearance: She looks like your standard female naga. Her skin is light blue, speckled with blue scales around her shoulders and on her back, and she has blue stripe markings around her arm. She has white straight hair that reaches down to the middle of her back, sometimes adorned with feathers and or traditional naga jewelry. Her eyes are gold and she has pointed ears. Although her upper body looks like a normal human's (besides the odd skin color and ears), her lower body is serpentine and consists of deep blue scales. Although she doesn't wear clothes normally, she has a white piece of cloth around her breasts for modesty's sake. Personality: Cheerful and upbeat, Hsina is eager to make friends with anyone at the Keep. Her exuberance sometimes makes her an annoyance, as well as her ignorance of human customs and cultures. She's very tenacious and determined and doesn't give up easily. If for some reason she isn't very happy, she hides it because she doesn't want to bring down others. She has a habit of apologizing excessively and not speaking her mind in fear of offending someone. Hsina is very curious about anything and everything and likes to ask a lot of questions. History: Born and raised in an isolated naga tribe, Hsina hasn't experienced much of the world outside the Jungles of Raza until she came to the Keep. She is an ally of an older, experienced Magi and though she is privately tutored by him she also attends public classes. In her tribe, she is a shaman-in-training, but she would rather learn a different kind of magic other than talking to ancestor spirits, creatures, and plants. This sort of interest and her not-so-demure personality made her a misfit in her tribe so she doesn't have many friends back home. Favored Creature: Puvias are her favorite creatures, followed by Raza Queztalcoatls, although she is comfortable with most creatures native to the Jungles of Raza. Powers and Skills: She is very intuitive with all living things, including plants and non-magical animals, to the point where she's one step short of being able to talk with them directly. She also has a vast knowledge of plants and other magical reagents that can be used for healing and potions. Hsina is decent with a majority of the beginner spells and is exceptional with elemental magic, which is her favorite. "Achilles Heel": Being a cold-blooded creature, Hsina doesn't function well in the cold. During the winters, she has to stay indoors or use magic to warm herself up. She is ignorant of human cultures or customs, which can be detrimental sometimes. She doesn't read English that well and so requires verbal instruction instead of written. Rank: 1 (close to 2) Favored Magic: Elemental (she doesn't know which element yet) Character Type: Ally Other: She has a staff that helps concentrate her magic, the top of it carved into a cobra's head and made from the branches of a mystical tree back home. This staff is also quite sturdy and she can hit people with it if they annoy her, though she's not an expert in staff combat by any means.
Hsina has two creatures she brought with her: A female Puvia named Ashiah and a male Raza Queztalcoatl named Ekhatl.
Username: KKGrey Character Name: Thupelli Cuarden
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Appearance: Of average height, Thupelli sports a head of dark, slightly curling brown hair. He tends to keep it short, but often finds himself so caught up in things that he goes quite a while without cutting it. Usually it finds a happy medium, the ends barely brushing the base of his neck. His eyes are hazel, and he often squints, the result of poor eyesight brought on by years of studying ruins. Thupelli has a couple scars, randomly placed about his person and not too severe. They are either the result of a mishap with a creature-- his own fault, usually-- or brought on by his own excitable clumsiness, such as tripping while running away from something. His skin is pale, though not deathly so; he gets outside just enough to give him a smattering of color. He has high, slightly widened cheekbones, and a sharp jaw, but other than that he doesn't have a lot of angles about him. He prefers to wear loose clothing, so as to not restrict his movement, but not flow-y, so it doesn't get caught on things; he picks his magi robes based on these guidelines. His robes have many pockets for storing things, and he carries a brown bag made of reinforced leather for his supplies-- he doesn't want it tearing. He prefers muted, natural colors that won't catch the eyes of people-- or potentially dangerous creatures.
Personality: Thupelli has, first and foremost, a very short attention span. Anything that can catch his attention will have it completely and utterly-- but only until something else takes it away. He has trouble concentrating, which is a severe issue with his studies. When he starts out wanting to accomplish one thing, he'll end up delving into a completely other thing. This is both good and bad; while his original goal may be forgotten entirely, something much grander may be discovered. In other areas of life, this concept doesn't quite apply. He has a rather... strong sense of self-preservation. In less flattering terms, he's a coward, and a kleptomaniac to top it off. If the heat gets turned up, he'll run as fast in the opposite direction as is humanly possible, and if someone else is left behind while he does so, he'll likely have the mentality of 'better them than me'. He thinks about himself above all others, and as such, it's easy to appeal to his greed. Be it money, or, more attractive to his tastes, power-- if the offer is good enough, he'll do almost anything. He does, however, have a sense of morals. Unless the offer is unbelievably good, there are some things he simply won't do. There are many things he'd rather not do, but, though he'll feel very guilty, will carry out anyways. He is far from a dark magi, but due to his nature, it's easy for him to sway that way unintentionally, and get caught up in it before he realizes what's happened.
History: Born and raised in a moderately sized village in the Silva Forest, Thupelli's life wasn't that spectacular. He did pick up some unsavory habits, notably his talent for thieving. He was the second of his family to exhibit signs of being a magi-- his older brother had been shipped off to the Keep some years before, but unfortunately was lost on a quest. With some reluctance on the part of his family, at the age of eight he was sent off to the Keep as well. His studies progressed as normal, and with some difficulty he passed all the basic forms. The most frequent complaint of his instructors was that he didn't seem motivated enough to pay attention, even on dangerous tasks. As his studies grew more independent, so did he. He began to wander around, and before long his aforementioned "unsavory habits" got him in trouble in cities and some larger villages. As such, he tends to avoid them, unless he's certain he won't be recognized. Every couple of years or so he visits his family, but more out of obligation than anything else-- with his multitude of siblings, he doesn't worry about his parents being neglected in their old age. This state of self-reliance is largely the majority of his life. He's sort of like a nomad, with the exception that he must return to the Keep frequently.
Favored Creature: Thupelli rarely remembers to take care of himself, let alone a creature, and so he's fond of those who require as little maintenance as possible. The better they can take care of themselves, the happier he is. He gets along well with busy-body creatures, such as skioros and talvars.
Powers and Skills: A level three magi, Thupelli can manage most basic spells, though he greatly dislikes to use magic in its traditional form. If it can't be done with the use of ruins, he'll probably say it isn't worth doing. His specialty is runic magic. He can do many things with runes, from summoning to elemental control. A very convenient aspect of it is that, as runes don't draw it's power or energy from him as many spells do, he can accomplish things he wouldn't be able to at his level otherwise: though he often has difficulty controlling them, and it's very possible for it to backfire spectacularly. Some basic spells require the use of one, maybe two ruins-- the more complex ones can require dozens. What he really wants to accomplish isn't great power in any specific branch of runic magic. He wants to unravel the threads of magic and the heavens itself, to change everything, revolutionize the concept of magic as it is known. On this goal, he has barely brushed the surface, and is absolutely nowhere close to accomplishing it.
"Achilles Heel": His greatest weakness is the same as his greatest strength: his field of magic. Runes require time and a certain degree of security to make. Hence, he can't do much if there's an ambush, or if he's suddenly being chased by a direwolf. In the time it takes him to kneel down and draw the runes for a shield in the dirt, the wolf could already have his throat torn out. Another drawback is supplies-- while runes can be drawn with anything, from a stick in dirt, a finger in dust, or chalk on a blackboard, they draw their power from the supplies he brings with him, much like ingredients in a potion, if you will. There's only so much he can carry with him, and the stronger the runic spell, the more powerful ingredients it requires-- and the rarer those ingredients are to find.
Rank: Three
Favored Magic: Thupelli is very fond of ruins, rather than the more traditional forms of magic. He likes to pick at the seams of things, and the goal he has set for his lifetime isn't to master a specific type of magic, but with the help of ruins to revolutionize the concept of magic itself. Unfortunately, his short and easily excited attention span limits this goal.
Character Type: Traditional Magi
Other: He carries a short knife with him, but it's mostly for show. Other than the basics, he's completely useless with it.
Because he dislikes having to take care of creatures, he has very few of them. Two follow him about fairly often, and the last, the direwolf, mostly just meets up with him at the Keep every now and them for companionship.
Cedonia-- Red-breasted Talvar; often around him to help him with his runic studies and other pursuits, but to his frustration is prone to disappearing randomly and reappearing just as much so. Etna-- Skioros Theodoric-- Direwolf
Age: 12 Gender: Male Appearance: Carrow has black hair and hazel eyes. He stands at 4'11ft and weighs 34kg. Carrow's nose is straight and his chin is rather pointed, while he usually glares at everything and everyone. He wears a plain black robe. Personality: Carrow is a quiet but by not means timid boy. He is quite studious and hungers for power while being very headstrong and stubborn. Despite his quietness, if provoked, he can go into fits of rage where he is highly violent and dangerous to untrained or non-magical folk. History: Carrow comes from a small family of magi. He is the youngest of the family and generally looked down upon. As such he hungers to rise to a high, if not the highest position and show his family what he is made of. Favored Creature: Hellhound called Inferi. Powers and Skills: Carrow has an affinity for fire and can produce fireballs the size of his palm or jets of stream that can reach up to 10ft. He is skilled at using a bo staff, and sometimes incorporates his fire attacks with its strikes, though someone with sufficient strength could snap it, rendering it useless(he uses a bo staff, not two sticks...). "Achilles Heel": Very proud and very rageful, meaning he can be easily provoked into doing things or acting rashfully and hastefully without thought. Rank: Two Favored Magic: Fire Character Type: Traditional Magi Other: Carrow carries a bo staff on his back.
Username: Payton Character Name: Payton
Age: 17 Gender: female Appearance: she has blonde hair and light blue eyes. Her skin is pale, and she is 5"8, weighing in at around 100lbs. She wears a pure white cloak Personality: She loves to laugh, and loves new people. At times, she is a little nosy, but usually she is just trying to help. History: Her parents are missing, they have been ever since she was a young girl. She joined the Magi Acadamy at first because of the shelter, but stays because of the friends she has made. Favored Creature: Her albino direwolf, Ice, and Arkenien Kitsune, Akira Powers and Skills: She is very agile and quick, and a skilled archer "Achilles Heel": She isn't very strong, mainly relying on speed in a battle Rank: 3 Favored Magic: Ice Character Type: Traditional Other: she carries a bow and arrow with her. The arrow pack is light blue, as are the arrows, and the bow is retractible so it can fit inside the pack.
Username:Ittybritty196 Character Name:Danton
Age: Looks like he's in his late 30's but is probably much older Gender: Male Appearance: Danton is about six feet tall and rather lanky. He has pale skin, grey/blue eyes, Medium length black hair that's beginning to show flecks of grey, and a square face. He typically wears a rather nondescript blue robe with a White belt that has two rather large pouches attached for holding trinkets and snacks, under the robe he wears plain cotton pants and durable boots. He is rarely seen without his walking stick. The walking stick is made out of oak. Personality:Danton is very kind and caring. He's always willing to lend a hand when asked and tends to be rather forgiving. Danton can be rather scatter brained and easily distracted as well as easily amused. He loves laughing and is almost always up for a good joke, sometimes even if a joke would be rather inappropriate for the situation. He rarely gets focused on anything, but when he does get focused on something, it's very hard to snap him out of it. Danton isn't very patient and tends to get bored rather easily. The results of his boredom vary between practical jokes, odd projects, and combinations of the two. History: Like most magi, Danton was sent to the keep at a young age to learn more about the art of magic and to grow as a magi. At that young age he was rather reckless, and continued to be reckless throughout his early adult hood until he had an accident involving a wild Cehual boar that left his right leg severely broken. After that accident he focused his studies on healing magic and staying away from Cehual boars. Favored creature: Danton has several creatures, but his two most common travel companions are two minicorns, a female dark minicorn named Daylin, and a male light minicorn named Abel. Powers and Skills:Danton is extremely skilled at healing magic, but cannot completely fix his leg for some reason. He's also extremely knowledgeable about creatures. "Achilles Heel":Danton's leg never fully recovered from the Boar attack. As a result, Danton constantly walks with a limp and has to use a walking stick. He tends to take forever walking from one place to another. He can run, but not without a lot of discomfort, and not very fast, and certainly not without his walking stick. Rank:4 Favored magic: Healing Character Type: Traditional Magi Other: Danton has a cart that is often pulled by his two minicorns. He uses this cart for traveling outside of the keep.
Username: DoctorAwkward Character Name: Solstice (Soli for short)
Age: 16 Gender: Female Appearance: Soli is about 5'3", with blue-grey eyes. She is slight, tipping the scale at 100 pounds soaking wet. She has copious reddish-blond hair that nearly reaches her waist. She usually keeps it tied back in a floofy ponytail or a thick braid. She is pale-skinned, freckled and wears spectacles. Without them, she can barely see. She prefers to dress comfortably, almost invariably wearing long pants and a short-sleeved shirt or tunic. At first glance, she appears plain, but looking closer one notices the intricate designs she paints on her fingernails or a note scrawled on her hand (the only place where she won't lose her reminders... hopefully). Personality: Soli is intelligent and has a great sense of humor. She loves to read, and only on very rare occasions is she found without a book somewhere on her person. She is good in school, but absent-minded- she has a mind like a steel...sieve. She also likes to play tricks- for example, she's probably conjured up something toothy with too many tentacles behind you right now. Once she has made up her mind on something, it is nearly impossible to get her to change her position. Because she would usually rather bury herself in a novel than gossip, she is sometimes (often happily) detached from the social aspect of life in the Keep. Among people she doesn't know or doesn't like, she is quiet and polite. Around her closest friends, she can be downright goofy. History: Soli was born into a non-magical family in a village near the Keep, where she was told tales about great magi of old. One day, while playing make-believe that she was a magi, one of her 'spells' actually worked! She was immediately taken to the Keep to be checked for signs of magic, and it was confirmed that she was a natural-born magic user. Her parents were so proud to have a magi in the family. As a going-away present, they bought Soli a tiny black Tienko kitten, which she named Annabel after one of her friends. She was six years old when she entered the Keep to begin her training. Favored Creature: Soli's favorite creature is a (lazy) black Tienko named Annabel. Her dream, however, is to befriend a Celestial Dragon. Powers and Skills: Soli's favored magic is the Light element, and she is very skilled at bending and refracting light to create illusions. Right now she can only do small to medium conjurations in any detail, but eventually she will be able to make it look like anything is happening- from a dragon attack to an approaching army to a winning hand at cards. She loves art, and often spends hours drawing anything and everything that comes into her head. She often uses these drawings to help her envision her illusions. Something she can do almost invariably is produce a bright, almost blinding flash of light. It's a knee-jerk reflex that is useful when trying to scare off an attacker or wild creature, not so much when she is startled in class or jolted awake. There are other conjurations she can do almost without thinking; Annabel, a butterfly, and a rolling gold coin among them. "Achilles Heel": To create the majority of her illusions, she either needs peace and quiet to focus, or have something to work off of, like a picture or a model. If she is interrupted, the illusion could flicker, lose crucial details, or fail outright. Also, it takes considerably more power to work an illusion in darkness than in light. The downside to light magic is that it is not a good offensive weapon; the worst injury it can produce is a bad sunburn or temporary blindness. Also, the illusions must be silent, as she cannot control sound. Rank: 3 Favored Magic: Light magic Character Type: Traditional magi Other: Nothing I can think of.
Username: Spectrospecs Character Name: Thalia
Age: 16 Gender: Female Appearance: Thalia is on the small side, with a narrow frame and height just an inch or two over 5 feet. She has straight, dirty blonde hair that goes just past her shoulders, and is often wind-tossed due to her preferred method of transportation. She has bluish-gray eyes and a freckled face, and wears spectacles that are constantly slipping down her nose. She usually keeps her hair tied back in some fashion, because she hates when her hair obstructs her vision. Thalia usually wears a necklace with a thin whistle attached to it, and an interestingly braided belt. Personality: She's generally a nice person, but she's very nervous and self-conscious when meeting someone for the first time. Since becoming a Magi, she's gotten more negative attention than positive, so she almost unconsciously does her best to avoid drawing any attention to herself. She loves books and scrolls, and is pretty smart. However, she does have a small problem with absent-mindedness, so she leaves herself notes so she won't forget. History: She was born into a normal family, with no apparent magical talent for most of her childhood. When Thalia was a little girl, she loved hearing stories about the wise, powerful Magi who protected the land. When she turned 7, and she'd displayed no weird abilities, she was forced to abandon her hope of becoming one of them. She didn't completely leave her childhood dreams behind, though. After years of saving up whatever scraps of gold she could from any odd jobs she could find, she eventually bought a Roc egg from Remy's Inn at the age of 12. Since then, the Roc, which she named Kia, has become her most trusted companion. She was a regular girl, until an incident the summer after she turned 13, when she first became aware of her magic. It was a scorchingly hot day, and her chores had taken her hours longer than they usually had. She had slumped down under a tree, the shade providing almost no relief from the heat. She fanned her hand in front of her face, wishing for nothing more than a cool breeze. And then suddenly, there was one! She stopped fanning to enjoy the sensation of cool air on her face, but the breeze died off as quickly as it began. She sagged, disappointed, and went back to fanning, and the breeze was instantly back. It didn't take her long to connect the dots, and she was sent to the Keep once it was certain that she was indeed a Magi. Favored Creature: A Roc named Kia Powers and Skills: She's a good shot with the bow and arrow, and she does carry a small knife with her. She tells herself that it would help her if she gets attacked, but in truth she most likely wouldn't be able to do much damage. She uses the whistle that she keeps with her to call Kia, and so far she's trained the Roc in a few basic commands. (Fly, land, go away, attack, etc.) She is also training in Wind magic. So far, she can move the air around pretty effectively, sometimes hard and fast enough to shatter masonry. She's begun to understand the concept of using air to make other objects move. She's currently working on learning how to fight while riding Kia, when the air currents are faster and more unpredictable. "Achilles Heel": She is terrified of deep and/or open water, because she never learned how to swim. She's also uncomfortable on boats unless she stays close to shore. She's fairly claustrophobic, but only if the space is fully enclosed or she gets stuck. She isn't afraid of heights, but she is afraid that, one day, her safety devices will break. Thalia is also almost cripplingly shy. She knows that she's out of place, being a New Magi, and she never knows if somebody is going to hold it against her, so she often tries to blend in as much as possible. She's also a little absent-minded, and prone to forgetting things. Rank: 2 Favored Magic: Wind Character Type: New Magi Other: She uses her braided belt as a safety device, which attaches to a harness on Kia's back, so she won't fall off of Kia while fighting or during difficult maneuvers.
Username: TangleLore Character Name: Minerva D. Ralia Age: 13 Gender: female Appearance: figure thin and milky pale she seems to have a somewhat bluish unhealthy glow as if she's constantly sickly. Her hair a lovely brown and is scattered with silver and grey and hangs about her head in waves reaching to her shoulders but no further. Having no bangs her hair sweeps about her face in a oval showing off her pale face all the more and black rings under her eyes. Having been around the keep for many a year most people are use to her appearance as she isn't really all that sickly at all it's just she appears so. Her clothing always seems a bit ragged as she loves to run about and curiously poke her nose in every place she can find dangerous or not. Personality: friendly and happy she is slow to respond but easily able to grow excited and speak rapidly. Clumsy to a fault she will wring and worry at the hem of her shirts or robes and shift from foot to foot when shy or stressed in some manner. When angry she'll grow a sudden temper, shout and yell before bursting into tears and refusing to listen to another for awhile. Eventually when calmed or soothed enough she'll pout and then mumble an apology followed by more tears and sniffles. History: At a very young age she typically like other magi was found to carry a strange. .. aura, one that made the area around her dark or seem deeply shadowy. This disturbed a bit of her family and maybe the magi who gathered her up a little as well, for a magi with a dark affinity. . .it wouldn't be all that strange if she chose a darker path. But with the advice of the magi and careful raising from her parents Minerva turned out to be a friendly kind child who once was old enough was sent to the great keep for new training. Favored Creature: Male Lunestre Dragon (green) name of Rue Powers and Skills:dark smog: Minerva is capable of creating a dark pitch black fog capable of stopping the brightest light from penetrating and blinding all who stand within it. The only side effect is any magical orb of light created can weaken and eventually displace the darkness. Sapping mist: Minerva can also create another type of smog much lighter in color that surrounds plants and animals capable of sapping their life away unfortunately this smog can work on her too. black eye sight capable of seeing through the darkest recesses including magical darkness she is capable of dispelling such darkness easily with a mere tampering of her own dark magics. Her ability's are still growing thus only these three are available to her right now. "Achilles Heel": Light the brighter it is the worse it is on her, she winces and grows headaches often having to shield herself from the sun she is somewhat depressed by this unable to play and laugh under the sun just as carefree as other children. Her dark fogs and mists plus other abilities makes the strange dark aura around her grow worse and seeming to sap the strength straight from her, the magic she has is raw and uncontrolled thus takes all of her energy at this moment to use making her very tired and somewhat sick as her constant ability to see in the dark is always active. Not only is natural light a problem though but magical is far worse, this in itself makes her sick and feeble thus why she seems somewhat sickly at all times, so much magic good and bad floating about it's bad for her light allergy. Rank: one Favored Magic: dark magics though only because she feels knowing them can teach her how to counter act them. . .she wishes to learn how to cure curses when she is older. Character Type: Normal, but cursed in a different way. Other: loves blackberries but strangely hates sweets and sugary things.
Magius wrote:Username: Magius Character Name: Ancient Age: 21 Gender: Male Appearance:http://cdn.myanimelist.net/images/clubs/1/91624m.jpg (general appearance) He has light silver eyes with a piercing gaze. He is 6'5, 280 lbs, muscularly built but doesn't look very large. He has tanned skin, but it is not very dark. He usually has tight black short sleeve t-shirts on, with baggy black jeans that sag and black converse. He wears a glove like in the picture on his right hand, as that is where his power is contained. Ancient also has a 5 ft long black dragon tail with silver spines that are 2 inches long protruding from the top of it due to his history. Both his hands and left foot are dragon parts also, black scales with shiny 4 in black claws that he can retract with ease. Personality: Gemini, adventurous, loyal, quick to act. History: He was brought up around the idea that dragons were his kin, as he spent his entire childhood around them and being taught around them. He accidentally injected himself with a small vile of the leader's blood, and therefore became one of them. His parents made him an outcast as they couldn't stand to see such a sight, and Ancient has been an outcast ever since the age of 12, and has even taken the leader's name for his, Ancient. Favored Creature: A rewin ancient named Zenic, although his most desired creature to have is a Valcerian dragon Powers and Skills: Shape-shifter, teleportation, invisibility, calling on the air element. "Achilles Heel": Cold climates, icey attacks, polluted or filthy air. Rank: 4 Favored Magic: Any concerned with dragons or air. Character Type: Cursed Other: Ancient has these creatures with him:
An ember drake named Kunera (female) A dragon koi named Watson (male) A hellhound named Quill (male) A regular rewin named Shayan and another named Yentai (both male) A soulflame cerberus named Ryperes (male)
Is this an ok entry PK?
{For future reference, I would prefer that forms be posted in the OOC Thread. Here are a few other slight problems that I would like you to deal with before being accepted:
You may want to change his clothing a little, as I don't think that "Ye Olde Magi" had jeans. I would also like you to explain more about his powers and possibly his history at the Keep, if you could, just so that I can get an idea of how he developed his powers. Is he a shapeshifter because of his being a Cursed? If so, then explain what creature he turns into.
Once you fix these up, re-post the form and I will add it.}
Just as the sun was setting on the first day of the New Year's Celebration, the Arkai Magi came out onto the clear wooden stage and prepared to send up their renowned firelights, as was the traditional starting ceremony for the celebrations. The eldest chanted in a little-known tongue known only to those from the far south of Voltar, and a dim orange globe formed in front of him, illuminating his hands. The elderly magi smiled at the eager crowd, and winked playfully, as his younger apprentices and companions began their own magical lights. Tensions rose in the Keep's audience as the lights grew brighter, first slowly, then faster, with more energy, until they burned bright like little suns and coughed out sparks from all sides. The master magi stopped chanting, and his companions followed, until at once they all yelled a simultaneous musical word and threw their lights into the sky in unison. The orbs flew high into the air, above the tallest walls and towers of the Keep itself, until they reached a particular height and exploded into spectacular plumes of color, fire, light, and magic. Even as the first firelights faded, more formed in their place and exploded with the same tenacity, illuminating the euphoric faces of the vast crowd below. The New Year's Celebration had begun.
* * * * *
The festivities were a short relief to one particular magi of the Keep, whose duties were tied short because of the party. Raylone Sham, for all of his appearance a simple Anaugi, was lying on a barrel next to a warm stall. The stall sold freshly-roasted meat on sticks, lightly salted and seasoned. The smell was heavenly, even for the Anaugi magi who only ate vegetables, but he preferred the warmth of the magical embers that kept the meat heated. Ray closed his eyes lazily, basking in the heat as the firelights went up with loud whistles and long, drawn moans.
The Anaugi magi was pleased to have this time to relax, as he rarely had time to himself on ordinary days. Always busy and running about, sending this message here or there -- every minute counted in the courier branch, and there were never fewer than a hundred messages or packages to deliver each day to the magi around the keep. But while everyone was celebrating the winter festivities, Ray could finish his duties early and rest alongside the other party-goers.
He grinned to himself, rolling to one side to make the barrel more comfortable. His long tail thrashed on its own a few times, eventually landing in the hot embers. He yawned happily, shifting his legs and twirling his tail around the hot embers. As a fire-lizard, he was resistant to the coals, and rather enjoyed them. "Hey, you," the man behind the counter grumbled at the Anaugi magi. "Get out of there, you silly beast, you'll catch fire."
Hardly, Ray yawned, disinterested in the gruff, young cook's antics. Anaugi are flame-resistant. Surely you would know this, as a Keep cook? I hear that the fire-loving beasts often go down to the kitchens and play around in the coals of the fires after a meal. He turned and sneaked a look at the cook, opening one light blue eye, glinting with joy at the surprise on the man's face. The cook was young, likely a few years short of Ray himself, and a surprisingly thin man for his low voice. This cook had not been briefed about the Keep's magi, at least not well enough to know of those who could shape-shift. This was hardly surprising, though, with the true shape-shifters few and far between.
Out of good (or perhaps bad) humor, Ray slapped his tail hard on the young cook's embers, sending ashes around and up in the air. "Hey, quit that, you!" the man yelled, nudging the lizard's tail away with iron cooking tongs. He seemed keen to ignore the magi's comment, perhaps thinking it a figment of his mind that a lizard should be capable of human speech, but the frightened caution with which he pushed Ray away was a sign enough that Ray had upset this man. Good, he thought to himself, this time refraining from speaking aloud. He should think better of all of the Keep's creatures, shape-shifters or not. Hopefully he will learn in the coming weeks.
How undignified, he sniffed playfully at the man, pulling his tail off of the stall, and clambering down the barrel. Ray shot another mischievous glance at the cook, smiling as a true Anaugi never could, before running off between the shuffling feet of the Keep's crowd. He eventually came to a fence, the outreaches of the training grounds where the celebration was currently being held, and clambered up onto it, relieved to be out of the reach of clumsy feet.
* * * * *
Siamlee Courge stood some distance away from the crowd, watching the lights with half-irritated, half-tired eyes. She wasn't in any way opposed to the festivities, and in fact enjoyed such colorful celebrations in her home town of Karenth, to the southwest of the keep. But this was not Karenth, and she was not among her friends and family. Saim was also unfamiliar with the magical lights that the Arkai Magi sent up into the sky, and preferred to keep her distance until she could confirm that the falling embers were in no way harmful. These Arkai Magi were recent visitors to the Keep, travelers from a good distance to the far south, yet when Saim had seen them in the Keep, their master seemed cold and only spoke to the higher-ranking magi -- magi whom Saim had always mistrusted. Whether they were unrehearsed in the central land's customs, or were merely sour in personality, Saim could not tell. Regardless, she was wary of the Arkai for their dealings with the Council members.
"Magic," she grumbled,rolling her eyes to the sky and pulling up her doeskin hood. The magic was only a small part of her poor temperament toward the celebration; day in and day out, Saim spent her hours training it this training field, which at the moment was cluttered with local villagers, magi, stalls, banners, creatures, and performers. This made it rather difficult to play around with her weapons, as Saim enjoyed when others were fooling around at parties, and because the next few days were set aside for celebration, the Quest Organizers had made it clear that no menial adventures would be put out for at least a week. Thus, Saim had to find her own unique forms of entertainment.
She ventured to the stalls along the edge of the dancing area. Bloody fools, she thought bitterly as she watched the dancers running about to the faint music played from behind the wooden stage. They're scuffing up my training arena. When Saim reached the meat stall, she spoke to the cook. There were numerous non-magical people around the Keep, or those with weak abilities, who stayed around to perform simple tasks like cleaning and cooking. Saim often talked to these people rather than the flashy magical students. "Ronshen," she called to the flimsy new cook. "I'm heading out again. Do you need any venison or rabbits. Pheasants, wood-chickens, perhaps?"
The man turned away from cleaning his stall -- a large amount of ash had scattered around the ebony-wood rim -- and looked at Saim with surprise. "Oh, I didn't hear you come up. Shouldn't you be dancing or celebrating? It's the New Year in a few hours, after all." He beamed happily, enjoying the hungry and appreciative looks of the younger magi as they ravenously wolfed down his treats. Ronshen was becoming known around the Keep as one of the best butchers and meat cooks.
"Naw," Saim huffed. "I'm heading out. Keep you and the others stocked. Not everyone can be lollygagging all of the time here. So I didn't hear an answer; how much, and what do you need?"
"Nothing, really. We have everything we need for tonight. Everyone'll be stuffed with snacks and treats within the hour, so I don;t want any of your hunting to go to waste." He smiled sympathetically and with good intentions, though his forehead was creased with wariness. Many of the people who talked to Saim wore the same expression.
She smiled warmly, and then said in a rough voice, "I'll bring your two stags and some rabbits. Maybe a boar, if I find one. They're rare, but I think I can manage. Yes, yes I think I'll bring you a nice, strong boar." She began to walk off, relishing the hunt that was to come soon, and the smile quickly faded from Ronshen's face.
"N-no, wait!" he called back, waving scarred and burned hands. "Wait, I don't need all of that, honestly! I'm fine, I have plenty of game stocked up! Saimlee!" She wasn't quite out of hearing distance yet, but she ignored him all the same. Ronshen grumbled something, and then weakly called again, "Leave the Kirin and Jackalopes alone this time, will you?"
Saim laughed richly. He was joking, as was she, but the threat of accidentally harming one of the Keep's magical creatures was something of an issue. There were numerous Keep creatures that, at a distance, much resembled the ordinary animals that Saim hunted as a young girl. The difference was always apparent, however, when the animal burst into flame or vanished into thin air. She had never had the bad luck of accidentally hitting a Keep creature.
But as Saim was heading off past Lake Lakira and into the first patch of forest, and dark figure crossed her path. A wigged cat, black and silken-furred with a few light patches, arched its back and mewed playfully. Saim sighed, shooing it away with her hands. The cat was Suvon, one of her own, she was sure -- somehow, magi could always tell their own creatures apart from the thousands of others around the Keep -- but Saim never particularly liked this cat. Suvon was mischievous and cold-hearted, as far as Saim could tell, and not the adorable, fluffy cat that Liyla was. Saim attempted to step past the cat, but Suvon jumped and caught her boot, grabbing at it with sharp claws, mewing again.
"Let me go!" Saim growled. She considered shaking the cat off of her boot, but Saim was not so harmful to the Keep's creatures. Suvon looked at her with mismatched eyes, revealing her teeth and moaning like she was in pain. "What do you want? I don't have food for you. Go home!" The cat continued to yowl and make all of the various cat noises that she could, and Saim still tried to get past. "Fine," the magi yelled. "You don't want me to go into the forest, you want me to stay at the party? Fine! Just shut up already, will you?"
The cat hissed, then mewed gently, rubbing along her master's foot like there was nothing wrong. She then sped off up the hill, back to the Keep and its loud celebrations. Suvon sat about thirty feet away, watching Saim and licking her paw. The magi took a step forward, thinking, I must be mad to follow a cat around, but doing so anyway. Suvon sneezed once, then ran off at full speed, heading for the party and its beautiful firelights.
Out of all of his years at the keep, Idin could never bring himself to stop feeling a sense of joy and wonder when ever the new year lights light the sky. Not once in his life had he ever seen such a wonderful sight, not even during his own training. Shouting and cheering with the others the lively 21 year old soon went to join the other dancers and magi on the wooden dance floor and swung his arms about the other dancers and joined them. Locking arms they soon took part of a ever circling dance.
Sure, he could not see half of the world that the others were enjoying, but the part that he could see without a doubt he was enjoying. Moving back and forth with the others in the circle the groups quickly spun which way and that making them laugh and holler in fun. "Lets speed it up!" he shouted as everyone started to moved faster and laugh as some stumble and bumped into another.
Unlike any New Year Celebration that he had celebrated back on the out skirts of the jungles of Raza, this was a nice change of pace. One thing that was for sure was the fact that there was a lack of danger to their celebration, no one had to worry about cobras or panthers coming into the village while they had their fun. The food wasn't turtle or fish with fruit but an open variation of food and drink items to enjoy. But most of all there were fire works provided, that quickly laid any fire dances and poles to shame.
Laughing and dancing until the faint music came to an end, Idin was almost lost on what to do as he stumbled around laughing with a few friends as he looked for a safe place to lean on.
Meanwhile in the on a nearby hill, unseen by most of the party goers, was a cloaked member of the keep. With the distance sounds of the party echoing up from the keep as well as the faint light shining down on the hill a spooked teen clung to his cloak as he looked at the festival taking place. Not once had he ever seen such a large amount of people gather in one place as lights glimmered and danced in the air above them. But perhaps it was best for him to keep his distance from the crowds with his curse.
After all looking part mist stalker and yet part human was something that would make him stand out of the crowd. But then again there was the lies that he was fed over the years, even after his master's death he knew that hanging out or near non magical people was dangerous. Yet he couldn't even think as to why he was brought here in the first place and out from the swamps he was hiding in.
Hugging his cloak he rubbed himself lightly feeling normal skin as well as thick winter fur that covered his lower body. Flicking his ears back he soon blinked as a few twig snaps were heard behind him and looked around only to spot a small pride of mist stalkers and cubs who were giving a few purrs and growls in welcome to him. With the large green fur stalkers coming up to him and rubbing against him the cool air was broken as he soon laid with them as the cubs quickly took to playing on the adults including himself.
Back at school!!
If I go poof it's either: 1. Food 2.Class 3.Work 4. Doing something outside of the internet
Left to his own devices, Rykian would have gladly spent the entire New Year's celebration either in his favorite alcove in the Keep's library or in his quarters. He hated noise and crowds, and the evening's celebrations were full of both. Rykian stifled a curse as yet another person jostled him and straightened his robes, more as a nervous reflex than because of any great care for his appearance.
Cerulean squawked a complaint as he was jostled, and Rykian reached a hand up to soothe the rewin. He'd have preferred to have Kestrel along, but the training grounds were crowded enough without adding a gryphon to the mix. A small, noisy rewin was a poor substitute, even if Cerulean had proven himself a useful guard in the past.
Rykian glanced around for Tobran, not wanting to get too far separated from him, even if (he reminded himself) the man was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. Tobran was the only reason Rykian was here tonight, really - he'd wanted Rykian to come along so badly, and Rykian hadn't had the heart to say no, not after so nearly losing him to firebane fever earlier that year. Besides, he knew Tobran well enough to know that he'd have just convinced Malice to not-so-gently persuade him to leave his room - Tobran's habitual sweetly vague expression masked surprising depths.
He finally spotted Tobran's unmistakable hair - so pale a blond as to nearly be white and looking perpetually like he'd just gone walking in a windstorm, no matter what he did to it - not far away. He'd found a booth selling skewers of meat, and had just bought one. Tobran looked up as Rykian approached and frowned slightly. "You're not enjoying yourself," he said. There was no accusation in his voice, only a mere statement of fact. The illness had left him looking even more ethereal and less of the vagueness was feigned, now, but the excitement of the festival seemed to have restored some of his lost health.
"I'm enjoying watching you having fun." That was true enough - Tobran had approached everything with childlike glee, from the fireworks on. Rykian sighed. "Look, you know this really isn't my kind of gathering - I can hardly think with all this noise. It's not like Gryphon's Roost - they knew how to celebrate the new year properly." It was an old complaint, but one he was glad to see could still bring a smile to Tobran's face. "After a night of quiet reflection on the past year, they light the bonfire, make a wish for the new year, and then all go to bed. No fireworks, no noise, no bother."
Tobran chuckled. "And half the town wakes up the next morning with headaches, as I seem to remember, from all of the...quiet celebration. Besides, I thought you liked the fireworks."
"Oh, I did, but that's not the point." Rykian was about to continue when Cerulean nipped his ear. Sometime during the conversation, Rykian had inexplicably acquired the meat skewer, and the rewin was letting him know he wanted his share. Sighing, he pulled off pieces of meat and fed them to Cerulean. "Look, I'm glad to stay here as long as you want me to, but don't expect me to display my usual sunny good nature," he said at last. Tobran smiled, patting his shoulder meaningfully - Rykian had wondered why Tobran hadn't brought any of his own rewins to the celebration. "Careful - I might just abandon all dignity and take you up on that, and then you'd have Cerulean and myself to deal with," Rykian said. He didn't really like taking on rewin form, though at least unlike when he took on gryphon form, it was more because of loss of dignity than loss of self. He'd taken to being a gryphon like a capricorn to the ocean, but could barely fly as a rewin. "For now, though, I'll just display my usual sweet disposition to any revelers who get impossibly annoying." Tobran chuckled at this, draping an arm around Rykian's shoulders, and the two moved on.
((I'll either edit in Larathen's intro later or make a new post. Writing time is slightly limited at the moment, but I wanted to at least get half my intro post up.))
Though I haven't quit, I'm in "lurk mode" right now and will mainly be logging in if I have a new story to post. If you want to contact me, it's better to use one of the other sites I'm on.
