Ashy
First Post
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NEW IC thread
NEW OOC thread
OLD OOC thread
RG thread
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Darkness surrounds and envelops you.
You lie on your backs, but are somehow suspended in mid-air; small puffs of what seem to be cinnamon-tinged winds cross over you, tickling your nose and causing your entire body to weave and bob like a beacon in a dark harbor. All within and without you seems wholly good and right – it seems like where you are now is exactly where you should be.
To your ears comes a voice, aged but strong and carried on yet another breeze that smells faintly of cinnamon, sweet and pleasing yet tinged with an unfinished and raw edge. This voice is familiar to each of you, yet you cannot place it at this moment.
“Tol’Mara is doomed… Half of our world languishes and wallows in darkness, both literal and spiritual; but this course began long before the Enemy reached up into the heavens and snuffed out one of our twin suns. From the blackened side of the globe pour forth legions of abominative armies; foul creatures the likes of which should have never been conceived. They stream into our lighted realms and spill the blood of our people, sow their foul and perverted seed amongst our kind, and enslave all who do not fall beneath their claws, their steel, or their sorcery. So much blood has been spilled…so much….blood…”
The voice pauses for a moment, and for the first time, a tinge of sorrow intrudes into your sanctified, sacred places; for a moment you experience a wave of horrific sadness so intense that it can barely be comprehended. Then, the emotion is gone and you find yourself wondering if you imagined it in the first place.
The voice continues.
“Now, the Enemy has begun to rifle its accursed fingers through the hearts, minds, and souls of all good folk and the very tenements of what has so long bound us together are beginning to crumble. War wages on every border, social anarchy flares forth from the most meager spark of conflict or disagreement, brother strangles brother over a scrap of bread or a scrap of respect. We are becoming something that is little more than animalistic, devouring our own innards from within while the true Beast strips away our flesh from without, and dining on our entire beings at its leisure.
All of these things are well known to each of you, for you have lived through them. You have seen these horrors and atrocities take place in your own time. No one should be forced to see such things happen, especially to their own beloved people: their mothers, their fathers, their brothers and sisters. We have known, for centuries, how the Enemy, always striking from outside, has managed to embolden its forces in our world: they wait and watch, snatching the most powerful of our heroes from our world’s embrace when they could most aid us in the fight. Rarely do these heroes return, but when they do, they are merely shadows of their former selves: little more than lost, forlorn husks that desire nothing more than to return to the accursed realm in which they were cursed. Always these departures and arrivals are heralded by the same two similarities: their utterly unpredictability and the black flocks of ungodly birds which consume the souls of those they ensnare.”
Familiarity echoes in your mind: you have all heard tales of these black flocks and of their ability to snatch up folk, both common and extraordinary, without provocation or warning. Red rage simmers on the edge of your mind, slowly growing into a massive haze that obscures and engulfs everything around you. Gone is the sensation of peace and harmony that cocooned you mere moments ago – now, all is red…
…red infinity…
The voice returns, and a measure of pride and strength is there now, adding the tang of steel to the cinnamon. “Those times are gone. Through much trial, toil, pain and sacrifice we have discovered a way; a way to send you, our selected champions, into the realm of the Enemy to do the same to them that they have done to us – we must take the fight to them. This is the task that lies before you: discover the secrets and weakness of the Enemy (should they have any; for we feel that in their realm surely they are not so guarded) and exploit those secrets and weaknesses if you can, and find a way to tell us of the same. We do not know if you will be able to return to us and if you can, we cannot tell you how, this is something that you, as well, must discover. Know that you are our selected champions and that the decision to choose you was not made lightly. We have placed our faith in each of you…we must…for if you fail, we are all doomed.”
The voice fades quickly, and the red infinity in your mind’s eye intensifies, growing more real and more three-dimensional. The landscape around you merges and flows into flowing, fluid smooth shapes of red. Slowly, as if your eyes were adjusting to a bright light, these amorphous, moving contours merge into the gentle rolling profiles of sand dunes.
Blood red sand dunes that stretch in every direction as far as the eye can see. Far off in the distance, the red of the dunes bleeds outwards and upwards in a shimmering wave of heat towards the breathtaking sky of a vibrantly setting sun. Your eyes have perceived all of these things before, but here, in this place – all of them seem somehow more real…more vibrant and defined. The red, which is in fact made up of endless varying hues of red, is the most beautiful color you have ever seen. The sweat that seeps from your pours is an extraordinary feeling, each droplet like a tiny symphony of feeling upon your skin. The sunset and the colors in the sky are utterly mind-boggling and for a long time you simply cannot find the words to express what you are seeing and feeling.
A slight breeze, tinged with the coolness of a coming night in the desert, blows across your sweat-laden bodies and shakes your mind from its forced reverie. In this slight moment of clarity, you realize one thing:
You have arrived upon the Forge, the home-world of the Enemy, and you are intruders. You do not expect a warm welcome…
OOC: Welcome to the Forge, albeit not the way you expected, I bet.
Your characters are a hand-picked group of saviors each selected for your special talents and gifts. You have known and trained together for the majority of your lives and each of you knows (for the most part) the capabilities, weaknesses and usual strategies used by the other. I will allow you to section off certain areas of your character as private knowledge, but you must indicate those areas on your character write-up as such, everything else will be considered general knowledge among the group.
Please note that there is no reason to alter your backgrounds in anyway. Consider them accurate, it was after the events which you have posted that you were “drafted” and began training with this group (which resulted in the bulk of your listed experience points, by the way). If we like, we can fill in these historical gaps with flashbacks (and maybe even side adventures) later.
Your knowledge of the Forge is, while by no means extensive, more so than the knowledge that most seeds have upon their arrival, however, this knowledge has been gleaned from those that sent your from your home-world, and that same knowledge has been somewhat altered by centuries of conflict with the Enemy as well as the passage of time itself. Each character gains the skill Knowledge (the Forge), which is based on your Intelligence or Wisdom, which ever is higher. You can use this skill to essentially query me for information about the world that your character wants to know. Also, for the most part, anything that is generally considered player knowledge from the book will very likely be known by your characters. Use your best judgment on this, and rest assured that I will call you on it if you step out of bounds with this “general knowledge of the Forge”.
You are a pseudo-military organization, under the head of the church of Pelor from the world of Tol’Mara. Your undisputed party leader is Kiera and the second-in-command is Xerxes.
See below for a pic that kinda gives you an idea of what your characters are looking at...
NEW IC thread
NEW OOC thread
OLD OOC thread
RG thread
[/SIZE][/smallcaps]
Darkness surrounds and envelops you.
You lie on your backs, but are somehow suspended in mid-air; small puffs of what seem to be cinnamon-tinged winds cross over you, tickling your nose and causing your entire body to weave and bob like a beacon in a dark harbor. All within and without you seems wholly good and right – it seems like where you are now is exactly where you should be.
To your ears comes a voice, aged but strong and carried on yet another breeze that smells faintly of cinnamon, sweet and pleasing yet tinged with an unfinished and raw edge. This voice is familiar to each of you, yet you cannot place it at this moment.
“Tol’Mara is doomed… Half of our world languishes and wallows in darkness, both literal and spiritual; but this course began long before the Enemy reached up into the heavens and snuffed out one of our twin suns. From the blackened side of the globe pour forth legions of abominative armies; foul creatures the likes of which should have never been conceived. They stream into our lighted realms and spill the blood of our people, sow their foul and perverted seed amongst our kind, and enslave all who do not fall beneath their claws, their steel, or their sorcery. So much blood has been spilled…so much….blood…”
The voice pauses for a moment, and for the first time, a tinge of sorrow intrudes into your sanctified, sacred places; for a moment you experience a wave of horrific sadness so intense that it can barely be comprehended. Then, the emotion is gone and you find yourself wondering if you imagined it in the first place.
The voice continues.
“Now, the Enemy has begun to rifle its accursed fingers through the hearts, minds, and souls of all good folk and the very tenements of what has so long bound us together are beginning to crumble. War wages on every border, social anarchy flares forth from the most meager spark of conflict or disagreement, brother strangles brother over a scrap of bread or a scrap of respect. We are becoming something that is little more than animalistic, devouring our own innards from within while the true Beast strips away our flesh from without, and dining on our entire beings at its leisure.
All of these things are well known to each of you, for you have lived through them. You have seen these horrors and atrocities take place in your own time. No one should be forced to see such things happen, especially to their own beloved people: their mothers, their fathers, their brothers and sisters. We have known, for centuries, how the Enemy, always striking from outside, has managed to embolden its forces in our world: they wait and watch, snatching the most powerful of our heroes from our world’s embrace when they could most aid us in the fight. Rarely do these heroes return, but when they do, they are merely shadows of their former selves: little more than lost, forlorn husks that desire nothing more than to return to the accursed realm in which they were cursed. Always these departures and arrivals are heralded by the same two similarities: their utterly unpredictability and the black flocks of ungodly birds which consume the souls of those they ensnare.”
Familiarity echoes in your mind: you have all heard tales of these black flocks and of their ability to snatch up folk, both common and extraordinary, without provocation or warning. Red rage simmers on the edge of your mind, slowly growing into a massive haze that obscures and engulfs everything around you. Gone is the sensation of peace and harmony that cocooned you mere moments ago – now, all is red…
…red infinity…
The voice returns, and a measure of pride and strength is there now, adding the tang of steel to the cinnamon. “Those times are gone. Through much trial, toil, pain and sacrifice we have discovered a way; a way to send you, our selected champions, into the realm of the Enemy to do the same to them that they have done to us – we must take the fight to them. This is the task that lies before you: discover the secrets and weakness of the Enemy (should they have any; for we feel that in their realm surely they are not so guarded) and exploit those secrets and weaknesses if you can, and find a way to tell us of the same. We do not know if you will be able to return to us and if you can, we cannot tell you how, this is something that you, as well, must discover. Know that you are our selected champions and that the decision to choose you was not made lightly. We have placed our faith in each of you…we must…for if you fail, we are all doomed.”
The voice fades quickly, and the red infinity in your mind’s eye intensifies, growing more real and more three-dimensional. The landscape around you merges and flows into flowing, fluid smooth shapes of red. Slowly, as if your eyes were adjusting to a bright light, these amorphous, moving contours merge into the gentle rolling profiles of sand dunes.
Blood red sand dunes that stretch in every direction as far as the eye can see. Far off in the distance, the red of the dunes bleeds outwards and upwards in a shimmering wave of heat towards the breathtaking sky of a vibrantly setting sun. Your eyes have perceived all of these things before, but here, in this place – all of them seem somehow more real…more vibrant and defined. The red, which is in fact made up of endless varying hues of red, is the most beautiful color you have ever seen. The sweat that seeps from your pours is an extraordinary feeling, each droplet like a tiny symphony of feeling upon your skin. The sunset and the colors in the sky are utterly mind-boggling and for a long time you simply cannot find the words to express what you are seeing and feeling.
A slight breeze, tinged with the coolness of a coming night in the desert, blows across your sweat-laden bodies and shakes your mind from its forced reverie. In this slight moment of clarity, you realize one thing:
You have arrived upon the Forge, the home-world of the Enemy, and you are intruders. You do not expect a warm welcome…
OOC: Welcome to the Forge, albeit not the way you expected, I bet.
Your characters are a hand-picked group of saviors each selected for your special talents and gifts. You have known and trained together for the majority of your lives and each of you knows (for the most part) the capabilities, weaknesses and usual strategies used by the other. I will allow you to section off certain areas of your character as private knowledge, but you must indicate those areas on your character write-up as such, everything else will be considered general knowledge among the group.Please note that there is no reason to alter your backgrounds in anyway. Consider them accurate, it was after the events which you have posted that you were “drafted” and began training with this group (which resulted in the bulk of your listed experience points, by the way). If we like, we can fill in these historical gaps with flashbacks (and maybe even side adventures) later.
Your knowledge of the Forge is, while by no means extensive, more so than the knowledge that most seeds have upon their arrival, however, this knowledge has been gleaned from those that sent your from your home-world, and that same knowledge has been somewhat altered by centuries of conflict with the Enemy as well as the passage of time itself. Each character gains the skill Knowledge (the Forge), which is based on your Intelligence or Wisdom, which ever is higher. You can use this skill to essentially query me for information about the world that your character wants to know. Also, for the most part, anything that is generally considered player knowledge from the book will very likely be known by your characters. Use your best judgment on this, and rest assured that I will call you on it if you step out of bounds with this “general knowledge of the Forge”.
You are a pseudo-military organization, under the head of the church of Pelor from the world of Tol’Mara. Your undisputed party leader is Kiera and the second-in-command is Xerxes.
See below for a pic that kinda gives you an idea of what your characters are looking at...
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