tylermalan
First Post
Alright, we’re going to use Invisible Castle to make your rolls, and I generally like a narrative approach to describing what your characters do and how they act (as per this game for an example), but if you would prefer to do it more traditionally, here’s some rules that I like using for posting:
Actions in *asterisk*
Thoughts in italics
Text in color unique to each character and in “quotes”
Spoilers for rolls, linking the Invisible Castle page within. Also use spoilers for OOC stuff and secret information
Regardless of which way you want to express your character, try to use color and quotes for text, and spoilers for rolls and OOC anyway.
The large nations of Constancy ruled by King Gregory Constantine, The Perfect Carving ruled by Head Cleric Kurak of Moradin, and Neila ruled by Highmage Dable Lakefront lived in relative peace. After repelling multiple significant incursions of all manner of creatures over their century-long histories with each other, the leaders of each had come to learn that the only way to exist was to co-exist. This was especially evident after a massive incursion of Orcs allied with Lizardmen to the north that threatened to wipe out every other nation 500 years ago.
Open trade had been in effect for more than a hundred years, and everyone was so prosperous that it often seemed to the common man that there was no distinction between the three great countries aside from climate and often publicly voiced disputes over mere acres of land. War was unheard of, though small skirmishes in border towns were barely more common. Though on the surface things seemed as though nothing could go wrong, matters were not nearly as simple underneath.
The leading Dwarves of The Perfect Carving had a bit of religious zealotry among their ranks, and often went to the extreme with sending missionaries and religious diplomats into the other nations. Though they worshipped the God of Dwarves, they saw no reason why he wouldn't want more followers regardless of race, and openly accepted anyone into their organization of worshippers, though only Dwarves could become clerics, save a few very rare exceptions. This not only annoyed the Elves of Neila, but often times angered them, which resulted in an exile of multiple groups of religious Dwarves from the woodlands throughout the years. This was seen as a bit extreme by the Dwarves, and as such, religious peace between the two nations was not common.
The situation was never helped by the Elves perceived - and often expressed - superiority over the other races and countries. Trade was controlled more strictly in Neila than in any other nation, as they wanted to ensure racial inequality in favor of themselves and control market prices in favor of their natively produced goods. This overall attitude generally spilled over into every aspect of the Elves relations with the other races and nations, including the races that lived within Neila. In addition, the first appearance of Half-Orcs came about just after the major Orcish incursion into Human lands 500 years ago, which the Elves immediately despised. They saw the half-blooded to be an aberration, a dangerous threat and overall unnatural entity to be kept from Elven lands, and as such, there are no Half-Elves in existence. Needless-to-say, the Elves had better relations with the Humans than with the Dwarves, due mainly in part to the greater size of the Human lands compared to the Dwarven lands (referring to necessity in trade), and to the general religious neutrality the Humans exhibited.
The Humans and Dwarves were not as friendly towards each other, however, due to the war held between the two in centuries past. All of the conflict was over land and a particular town called Hardfought, and the Human nation eventually emerged as the victor, claiming all the land in dispute, including Hardfought. The Dwarves and Humans have been at odds ever since, and only over the past few decades have things eased up a bit.
In recent years, the Dwarves of the Perfect Carving had begun to develop technology that would eventually lead to the construction of airships. Once the Elves of Neila caught wind of this, they conscripted the best Gnomish engineers in the country to develop the same technology. Due to the gap in power between the Dwarves and Elves, the Elves caught up to the Dwarves technology relatively quickly, and both were approaching the actual production of the airships. During this time, the Humans became increasingly irritated at the tyrannical control the Elves exercised over the trade market going into and out of Neila, and skirmishes started to erupt in the borderlands between Constancy and the Elven lands, which continued for a few years.
After constant negotiations, the Elves grew too tired of arguing and attacked the Human lands with their newly built airships referred to as the Double A's, or Augmented Automatons. Charged and sailed by magic with mechanical support, these flying ships could cover great distances much faster than any other vessel and were outfitted with enough firepower (consisting of cannons that fired Thunderstones, among other things) to support large-scale conflicts. After completely decimating the Human cities of Milys and Sharniq, the forces of King Constantine struck back, and the first battle of the war was fought at a small Gnomish fringe settlement called the Green Gaggle. This is where it all began, an instance referred to as The Leading.
The Gnome Malexander was a scientific and magical leader of the community of the Green Gaggle. One night, he awoke with a start from an alien dream of Half-Orcs and other odd half-beings. Everyone seemed to notice a change in Malexander as he constantly pondered this dream in the following weeks. Eventually, his curiosity got the better of him, and some say, insanity did, too.
He set out with his apprentices to capture a Human boy named Ecord and an Elven girl named Skryala as he slowly slipped farther from society. Over the following months through magic, coercion, and manipulation, Malexander warped the children to his own particular needs, eventually leading to the conception of a female child between the two, all unbeknownst to the other leaders of the Green. A mere week after the girl was born, the border dispute between the Elves and Humans erupted in its first battle, which was held within and around the Gnomish community.
As the battle ensued, the Elves discovered Malexander's hideout beneath his home - containing Malex, his apprentices, Ecord, Skryala, and their Half-Elven offspring. At the same time, Human soldiers burst into the house, and in the ensuing chaos Malexander escaped, as did Ecord and Skryala, now in love with each other. All of Malex's apprentices were killed, and the Half-Elf was captured by the Elven forces, even though the Humans ended up winning the battle and keeping control over the Green Gaggle. Malexander, Ecord, and Skryala have not been seen since.
The land was fraught with turmoil. The Elves of Neila went ballistic with the discovery of the Half-Elf, claiming that the Humans were responsible for this abomination, as none of their kind would ever do such a thing. The Humans denied the Elves accusations, citing negligence on the part of the Elves, and saying that it wasn't as bad as the Elves were making it out to be while pointing out a rogue Gnome as the individual culprit. The following year consisted of much conflict and a very tense cease-fire, as both sides argued and debated over many things, including the fate of the Half-Elf child.
It wasn't long until the Elves had whipped themselves into a frenzy, which is when they first struck. After a week of constant defeats at the hands of the Elven Double A's, the Humans called out for help from their Dwarven neighbors. Seeing this as a good opportunity to test their mettle and technology and as a way to expand into Human lands to hopefully gain a political foothold, Head Cleric Kurak accepted the alliance, along with a tribute of land. Suddenly, the Humans had airships of their own, and the tide started to turn against Neila. Care for the Half-Elf's well being was forgotten and she was thought to be dead or otherwise imprisoned, though no one knew for sure.
_________________________________________________
Now you sit on the morning of the eve of the largest airship campaign ever launched. Spending the last 3 days in a tent city surrounding the staging area, you are among your fellow shipmates, each preparing his or her things for the morning flight. You’ve had plenty of time to meet most of the people that you will each be working with, and in some cases, that includes each other. There are mobile shops of every kind among the grounds, providing for almost any service you could need, though luxuries are inherently absent, save the ale, which is in plentiful supply thanks to the Dwarves. The past 2 nights, your leadership has kept things relatively quiet, but today they have decided to loosen their grip a bit, as tomorrow the fighting will begin. You have one day and one night before takeoff.
[See spoilers for additional information regarding individual characters.]
Actions in *asterisk*
Thoughts in italics
Text in color unique to each character and in “quotes”
Spoilers for rolls, linking the Invisible Castle page within. Also use spoilers for OOC stuff and secret information
Regardless of which way you want to express your character, try to use color and quotes for text, and spoilers for rolls and OOC anyway.
[size=+3]The Sky Breathes All Life[/size]
Background/Introduction
The large nations of Constancy ruled by King Gregory Constantine, The Perfect Carving ruled by Head Cleric Kurak of Moradin, and Neila ruled by Highmage Dable Lakefront lived in relative peace. After repelling multiple significant incursions of all manner of creatures over their century-long histories with each other, the leaders of each had come to learn that the only way to exist was to co-exist. This was especially evident after a massive incursion of Orcs allied with Lizardmen to the north that threatened to wipe out every other nation 500 years ago.
Open trade had been in effect for more than a hundred years, and everyone was so prosperous that it often seemed to the common man that there was no distinction between the three great countries aside from climate and often publicly voiced disputes over mere acres of land. War was unheard of, though small skirmishes in border towns were barely more common. Though on the surface things seemed as though nothing could go wrong, matters were not nearly as simple underneath.
Political Tension
The leading Dwarves of The Perfect Carving had a bit of religious zealotry among their ranks, and often went to the extreme with sending missionaries and religious diplomats into the other nations. Though they worshipped the God of Dwarves, they saw no reason why he wouldn't want more followers regardless of race, and openly accepted anyone into their organization of worshippers, though only Dwarves could become clerics, save a few very rare exceptions. This not only annoyed the Elves of Neila, but often times angered them, which resulted in an exile of multiple groups of religious Dwarves from the woodlands throughout the years. This was seen as a bit extreme by the Dwarves, and as such, religious peace between the two nations was not common.
The situation was never helped by the Elves perceived - and often expressed - superiority over the other races and countries. Trade was controlled more strictly in Neila than in any other nation, as they wanted to ensure racial inequality in favor of themselves and control market prices in favor of their natively produced goods. This overall attitude generally spilled over into every aspect of the Elves relations with the other races and nations, including the races that lived within Neila. In addition, the first appearance of Half-Orcs came about just after the major Orcish incursion into Human lands 500 years ago, which the Elves immediately despised. They saw the half-blooded to be an aberration, a dangerous threat and overall unnatural entity to be kept from Elven lands, and as such, there are no Half-Elves in existence. Needless-to-say, the Elves had better relations with the Humans than with the Dwarves, due mainly in part to the greater size of the Human lands compared to the Dwarven lands (referring to necessity in trade), and to the general religious neutrality the Humans exhibited.
The Humans and Dwarves were not as friendly towards each other, however, due to the war held between the two in centuries past. All of the conflict was over land and a particular town called Hardfought, and the Human nation eventually emerged as the victor, claiming all the land in dispute, including Hardfought. The Dwarves and Humans have been at odds ever since, and only over the past few decades have things eased up a bit.
The Leading
In recent years, the Dwarves of the Perfect Carving had begun to develop technology that would eventually lead to the construction of airships. Once the Elves of Neila caught wind of this, they conscripted the best Gnomish engineers in the country to develop the same technology. Due to the gap in power between the Dwarves and Elves, the Elves caught up to the Dwarves technology relatively quickly, and both were approaching the actual production of the airships. During this time, the Humans became increasingly irritated at the tyrannical control the Elves exercised over the trade market going into and out of Neila, and skirmishes started to erupt in the borderlands between Constancy and the Elven lands, which continued for a few years.
After constant negotiations, the Elves grew too tired of arguing and attacked the Human lands with their newly built airships referred to as the Double A's, or Augmented Automatons. Charged and sailed by magic with mechanical support, these flying ships could cover great distances much faster than any other vessel and were outfitted with enough firepower (consisting of cannons that fired Thunderstones, among other things) to support large-scale conflicts. After completely decimating the Human cities of Milys and Sharniq, the forces of King Constantine struck back, and the first battle of the war was fought at a small Gnomish fringe settlement called the Green Gaggle. This is where it all began, an instance referred to as The Leading.
The Gnome Malexander was a scientific and magical leader of the community of the Green Gaggle. One night, he awoke with a start from an alien dream of Half-Orcs and other odd half-beings. Everyone seemed to notice a change in Malexander as he constantly pondered this dream in the following weeks. Eventually, his curiosity got the better of him, and some say, insanity did, too.
He set out with his apprentices to capture a Human boy named Ecord and an Elven girl named Skryala as he slowly slipped farther from society. Over the following months through magic, coercion, and manipulation, Malexander warped the children to his own particular needs, eventually leading to the conception of a female child between the two, all unbeknownst to the other leaders of the Green. A mere week after the girl was born, the border dispute between the Elves and Humans erupted in its first battle, which was held within and around the Gnomish community.
As the battle ensued, the Elves discovered Malexander's hideout beneath his home - containing Malex, his apprentices, Ecord, Skryala, and their Half-Elven offspring. At the same time, Human soldiers burst into the house, and in the ensuing chaos Malexander escaped, as did Ecord and Skryala, now in love with each other. All of Malex's apprentices were killed, and the Half-Elf was captured by the Elven forces, even though the Humans ended up winning the battle and keeping control over the Green Gaggle. Malexander, Ecord, and Skryala have not been seen since.
The Sky Erupts
The land was fraught with turmoil. The Elves of Neila went ballistic with the discovery of the Half-Elf, claiming that the Humans were responsible for this abomination, as none of their kind would ever do such a thing. The Humans denied the Elves accusations, citing negligence on the part of the Elves, and saying that it wasn't as bad as the Elves were making it out to be while pointing out a rogue Gnome as the individual culprit. The following year consisted of much conflict and a very tense cease-fire, as both sides argued and debated over many things, including the fate of the Half-Elf child.
It wasn't long until the Elves had whipped themselves into a frenzy, which is when they first struck. After a week of constant defeats at the hands of the Elven Double A's, the Humans called out for help from their Dwarven neighbors. Seeing this as a good opportunity to test their mettle and technology and as a way to expand into Human lands to hopefully gain a political foothold, Head Cleric Kurak accepted the alliance, along with a tribute of land. Suddenly, the Humans had airships of their own, and the tide started to turn against Neila. Care for the Half-Elf's well being was forgotten and she was thought to be dead or otherwise imprisoned, though no one knew for sure.
_________________________________________________
Now you sit on the morning of the eve of the largest airship campaign ever launched. Spending the last 3 days in a tent city surrounding the staging area, you are among your fellow shipmates, each preparing his or her things for the morning flight. You’ve had plenty of time to meet most of the people that you will each be working with, and in some cases, that includes each other. There are mobile shops of every kind among the grounds, providing for almost any service you could need, though luxuries are inherently absent, save the ale, which is in plentiful supply thanks to the Dwarves. The past 2 nights, your leadership has kept things relatively quiet, but today they have decided to loosen their grip a bit, as tomorrow the fighting will begin. You have one day and one night before takeoff.
[See spoilers for additional information regarding individual characters.]
Last edited:
