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Story
The Empire of Parthos, ruled by the human Merevir Dynasty, had all but conquered the known world. The centaur clans of the western plains had at last been pacified after years of bloody warfare and the lizardfolk incursions of the uninhabitable swamps of the great deltas in south had been put paid to after cooperation with King Gaaro IV of the lionfolk. Several harsh winters in the great northern forests had left the barbarians too weak to make any forays into the imperial lumber colonies, and the southern cavalry garrisons once again outsmarted and scattered the raiding orc hordes. In addition, the Elven nation of on the island of Velsemin was
in a stable alliance with the empire at that time and enjoyed a period of free trade with the Parthano merchants. For some three generations, the world seemed to have been pacified: all external threats to the peace had been extinguished. Parents looked to the future their children would inherit with optimism and hope for continued peace and prosperity.
The age of peace, as we of course now know, was not meant to last. Ten years into the reign of Emperor Lucian Merevir I, the very empire was put into jeopardy, not from external enemies as before, but from within. A man known to history as Vaalos, or the Heretic, wandered the empire spreading the word to those that would listen to him that he was born as the mortal avatar of Verturio, the god of justice, order, and law. He is said to have performed miracles that not even a mighty lich could accomplish to verify that he was a god. His mission, he declared to a growing number of followers, was to rectify what he saw as a number of grievous errors and sins perpetrated by the Merevir Emperors and the Parthano people. He called for a new world order built on the principles he advocated.
Word of Vaalos soon reached the ears of Lucian Merevir I and The Temple: the religious authority of the empire. Vaalos was immediately declared a heretic, blasphemer, and rabblerouser by the Archon of the Temple and his inquisitors, who quickly scrambled to seek out Vaalos and his followers. The inquisitors made no progress, and those who had did make headway in unraveling Vaalos' network of followers were found murdered in cold blood or never heard from again. The Archon, at this point, realized the situation was dire, and suggested that Lucian
Merevir I send the Legion to lands that likely harbored the Heretic Vaalos. Lucian complied, and the Legions were mobilized to suppress dissent or heresy. When the Legion's own spies and soldiers began to turn up dead or missing at the hands of the supporters of the Heretic, Lucian began to see the magnitude of the situation he faced. Faced with few options, he sought to turn the people of the empire against Vaalos. He placed a bounty of 100,000 parthanos, an unfathomably huge sum of money, on Vaalos. The great fortune would be redeemable for anyone, regardless of race, who could bring the Heretic in - dead or alive.
Lucian's announcement of the mighty bounty on Vaalos' head failed to get the Heretic's close supporters to betray him as the emperor had hoped. Instead, it inspired a host of people of diverse races, skills, and backgrounds to take up arms against the Heretic. The Emperor, despite being annoyed that now he had Vaalos, his heretics and mobs of armed lynching gangs roaming the empire, agreed to leave the bounty up hoping that it might still persuade one of the Heretic's trusted supporters to betray him.
It is in this environment that two groups are formed in to hunt down the Heretic Vaalos and bring him to justice. One being a group of noble heroes motivated primarily by loyalty to the Parthos Empire and religious zeal to bring the blasphemer Vaalos to justice; the other a band of less-honorable misfits, pariahs, and ne'er-do-wells. They seek notoriety, adventure, action, and of course the chance at the fortune of a lifetime. As a citizen of the vast Empire, you have been compelled to join the hunt for the Heretic.
But which of these two parties will you join? Choose wisely, lest you fail to earn your cut of the bounty.
*Thanks to Gorgenmast for writing up the story*
Intro
Greetings! Welcome to our humble RP. This was constructed by us members of the RP community here on the Minecraft forum to try an encourage new members to fall in love with a style of RP that has greater longevity and better structure and depth. First, a few things to remember:
1. Do not be put off by any walls of text, you should only be required to read are the rules, the story and the application guidelines. (Unless of course there's some lore you'd like to check or reference).
2. Come with an open mind and to have fun. We may have slightly higher writing standards, but we'll be lenient with new members.
3. This is an RP that should be treated as a collarborative story where you play the role you apply as. This is different from treating it like a game. There are no stats, your abilities are specified in your app and your actions and their effectiveness are played out at your discretion. Remember to be fair and play by the rules.
4. This isn't a server, you can find servers in the servers section of the forum .
5. This is the in character thread. For the out of character, please go here.
Parthos map
Red is the kingdom of men. There are populations of different races here. Certain regions have varying degrees of autonomy, and a few areas of the kingdom even have majorities of peoples other than men (dwarf vassaldoms in the mountains and plateaus to the east, for example). Regardless, all these territories ultimately owe their loyalty to the king of mankind. Humanity tends to settle anywhere they can survive, so the Kingdom's land borders are usually formed by areas with inclement environments or native races that have managed to keep men out of their lands.
The blue island in the south is the island homeland of the elves. The elves have their own governing body and have no loyalty to the kingdom of mankind, but thanks to their similarities they are allied with the human empire and keep strong relationships with it.
The green lands around the great deltas to the south are home to the lizardmen. The fact that this territory is not controlled by the Kingdom shows that despite its value as arable lands, the empire was never able to take the territory from the lizards. Only the northern lizardmen tribes trade with other men and even that happens rarely as both sides usually lack things the other would desire. Diplomatic relations between most lizard folk tribes and the Kingdom are strained at best, with the lizardfolk being beastmen and the frequency of confilct between the two races
The plains to the west are the lands of the centaurs. Men like plains for agricultural cultivation, and the centaurs like the plains for hunting roaming game. This conflict of interest has resulted in border clashes certainly more than once. The two entities since seem to have reached a state of equilibrium - with neither side crossing into the other lest they upset the tenuous balance. Men have built series of border outposts and forts along the border to defend their frontier from centaur raiding parties. The diplomatic situation between between the centaurs and the kingdom are tense, if not openly hostile. Limited trading between merchants from the kingdom and centaur traders occurs under pre-existing arrangements.
Yellow coloring shows the humid grasslands home to the lionfolk. One of the two kinds of catfolk, the lionfolk call the tall grasses home. This race has very little common border with the small enclave of human control beyond the southern mountains, so limited trading, if any, is occurring with this race. The orange land is the land of the lynxfolk - close relatives of the lionfolk who inhabit the magical forests to the south east. The two catfolk lands were once joined, but lizardfolk have since taken control of the swath of the land that connected the two territories, leading the two to develop separately over many generations. The lionfolk and lynxfolk are very hostile to the lizardfolk, but out of inability and disinterest in regaining their old lands, neither of the two catfolks have even tried to do so.
The brown coloring in the far south shows the arid plains orcs reside in. Few other races would like to live in the area, and those who do are quickly driven out or massacred by the savage orcs. Their plains border the lands of humans, lionfolk and lizardmen, all of wich the orcs frequently raid in desire of war spoils and territory, but all their excursions end in defeat due to their poor management of supply lines and lack of any battlefield tactics.
In the far northwest, the dark green lands are the frigid coniferous forests that the northern barbarians call home. While not the homeland of another race, but rather a population of men that have not been integrated into the Kingdom, it is easy to guess that relations between the two groups of men are rather poor. The existence of colonial enclaves on the nearby coast suggests that the Kingdom would gladly control this realm - if they could.
*Thanks to Gorgenmast for making the map and writing up the land details*
Races Info
Humans: One of the more diverse races, humans of all sizes and colors fill the continent with the biggest territorial claim; the great Empire of Parthos. Though there is are independent barbarians in the northwest, most humans belong to this empire and its religious order of The Temple.
The humans of the world are the model humanoid race that all peoples are familiar with. They are a culturally and ethnically diverse race whose skin ranges from nearly white skin in the northern lands, to bronze or nearly brown in hotter climes. The origins of humanity, like most races, are not well understood because the religious authority of the Parthano Empire frowns upon archaeological studies and so human history prior to written records is extremely unclear. The similarities to races such as elves, dwarves, orcs, and centaurs shows that humanity certainly shares some kind of the common ancestry with the others.
While several barbarian clans exist to the northwest and maintain their sovereignty, the vast majority of human civilization falls within the great Empire of Parthos which dominates the continent. The Kingdom of Parthos began on the northern shore of the continent and gradually expanded across the continent. Humans willingly united, using the momentum and strength of the expanding human empire to expel most non-human races to the fringes of the habitable world. The exceptions to these expulsions were two mountain kingdoms of the dwarves, Redvael and Strond, submitted to be vassals of the Parthano Empire and the three invasions of the island homeland of the elves that were turned back by elven fleets.
While the barbarians of the North continue to worship older, primitive nature deities, the Empire of Parthos is dominated by an ancient monastic order known officially as the Antakirostoi, or "Bulwark of Piety" (From the ancient root words Anta, meaning faith or piousness and Kiro - Shield or defense.) This religious authority, however, is known colloquially as "the Temple" and is synonymous with the official religion of the Parthano Empire.
Lionfolk: One of the two Catfolk races, the lionfolk take strongly after their namesake in appearance, ferocity, and even behavior. The lionfolk have an ethnic focus on strength and battle.
Physical description:
When Lionfolk males reach adolescence, they grow a brown mane that is often used as a status symbol. Female Lionfolk do not grow a mane, but can still match a male in strength most of the time. Lionfolk bodies develop over age much like humans do. Lionfolk cubs are asexual in appearance.
Lionfolk wear silken robes most of the time to allow their bodies to breath in the humidity of their homeland. Different grades of silk and patterns denote a Lionfolk's wealth. In order to be prepared to defend their honour at any time, Lionfolk carry their preferred weapon around with them.
Religion/beliefs:
"It is as if they are not concerned with their very creation, all that matters to them is their actions." -Excerpt from a missive written by an imperial envoy to the Lionfolk kingdom
Lionfolk philosophy and thought about the creation of the world has commonly come to the conclusion that, though tides of fate may always change the world, the world is eternal; it has always existed and always will exist. Therefore, their religion does not revolve around gods that have made the world, but rather omniscient ancestors that have ascended to godhood by the magnitude of their honour. As grovelling and prostrating oneself for the mercy of a benevolent being is detrimental to the pride of a Lionfolk, they do not worship their gods, but rather respect and revere them and their laws, and aspire to their achievements.
Their main god is named Ra'alus, a powerful warrior most commonly depicted as an invincible Lionman with a mane made from ever-burning flame, clad in armour and wielding a trident. Ra'alus is associated with leadership, and the strength of the Lionfolk kingdom. Ra'alus is said to have been the Lionman who united all the ancient prides of Lionfolk and marched out on a campaign to secure and construct the Lionfolk kingdom known to this day. Ra'alus met his demise by a wound that took him after slaying his final enemy. He was said to have ascended to godhood that day, along with a collection of his companions; Tirsan, the warrior Lionman that wrote the fundamental code of law and honour in the Lionfolk kingdom, Verda, Ra'alus' partner and the Lionwoman goddess associated with good fortune and patience and Gadthan, the Lionman monk god of discipline and knowledge.
Fighting style:
"In order for a Lionfolk to retain its [sic] status, it must be prepared to fight for it for every step it takes on the Earth below it." -A excerpt from an imperial missive from an human envoy to the Lionfolk kingdom
Lionfolk are often regarded as fantastic duellists. They fight with a slightly animalistic ferocity, the style of which can vary between each individual according to their own preference. This makes Lionfolk versatile, from brutish axe users, to quick and crafty broad swordsmen. The main distinction of any sort of Lionfolk fighting style is that a particular style is trained each day for a Lionfolk for as long as that Lionfolk can hold a weapon. It is a rare sight to see a Lionfolk change his/her fighting style in his/her lifetime unless the style has become redundant or ineffective.
The Lionfolk use a variety of equipment in battle. The armour of their standing army is most commonly cuir boulli leather plates and/or lamellar armour. This is because leather is common and of good quality in the Lionfolk kingdom and most Lionfolk fighting styles require uncanny mobility that metal simply does not allow for, except in rare cases. Nevertheless, if metal armour is used my Lionfolk, it is most often imported from neighbouring dwarfish hamlets.
Lionfolk carry weapons into battle according to their fighting style. Spears, swords, bows, axes, various kinds of shields, maces and hammers can all be seen used by Lionfolk. Lionfolk assigned in armies are organised into units that contain individuals with similar or identical weapons and fighting styles, giving Lionfolk generals consistency and options on the field of battle. This is especially important on the open field, which makes up most of their kingdom.
Despite their skills with using weapons, the quality of the equipment they make produces artisan works that are far harder to find than any human piece. Most quality equipment is either imported or privately commissioned.
Lionfolk mages are slightly less common than human mages. Those who do have a grasp on magic have a strong connection with the sky and the rain and are mainly revered as healers or soothsayers. Due to honourable combat required to involve no magic whatsoever, Lionfolk mages have not had the years of experience and experimentation that other races have with offensive magic, meaning that even if they wanted to sacrifice their pride to use magic in combat, it would be basic and not honed at best.
Lionfolk cavalry are a rare sight and only come from the one place where horses are bred in their kingdom (the slightly more arid south eastern corner). Horses count as ‘external help’ in duels and are thus only used as livestock, work animals and mounts for generals and their bodyguard in battle.
Territory:
The Lionfolk kingdom spans the rolling, humid grasslands between the lower section of the eastern mountain ranges, the Lizardfolk swamps of the south-eastern delta and the wild land to their south. The yellow section of the map further up is Lionfolk territory.
The weather there is humid because of the moisture that comes from the swamps and pockets itself along the mountains. Trees are sparse and the sun is hot. The majority of the land is covered in tall grasses where wild game graze and the Lionfolk drive herds or hunt. The environment is also one of the few places where silk worms thrive.
Government:
"There are no weak leaders of the Lionfolk, lineage means nothing if you are a runt." -Excerpt from a missive written by an imperial envoy to the Lionfolk kingdom
The Lionfolk kingdom is a Timocracy-Kratocracy-Monarchy: A government ruled by a king who earned his power through honour, and where only honourable citizens and property owners are treated with respect. Those who are honourable property owners strong enough to seize power (in an honourable manner, like a duel) can attempt to take the throne at any moment by challenging the king.
Because of their carnivorous diet, Lionfolk have a natural affinity for hunting, but have domesticated livestock to feed their population. They sometimes employ medicinal herbs and tea but cannot digest them in large quantities. They naturally avoid any recreational drugs or alcoholic drinks for fear of being challenged while vulnerable. Naturally then, livestock is the most important commodity and is the best property a Lionfolk canown. To know the wealth of a Lionfolk, one need only see his or her herd.
Those who do not own cattle, sheep or any other livestock belong to a quiet working class of the Lionfolk. This working class still holds true to the Lionfolk concepts of honour, but must live by working for Lionfolk who do own property. In order for a working class Lionfolk to own property and become eligible for any higher positions, he/she must challenge his/her master to a duel and win in open combat. The same goes for any Lionfolk property owners who wish to ascend to a position in court or to own more property.
Lionfolk honour: An additional section about honour and duelling in the Lionfolk kingdom.
Honour is respect, honour is power. Honour means everything to a Lionfolk, more than wealth or property. In order to gain honour, a one must abide by the ancient Lionfolk code of honour written before their gods ascended. The code is lengthy, but generally amounts to upholding integrity, chivalry, self-sacrifice, strength and responsibility.
Lionfolk culture is such that a property owner with no honour has no right to his or her property. Therefore, property and power often changes hands through honourable duels. Any Lionfolk can challenge another to a duel at any time, but there are a few rules.
In war, a Lionfolk is not fighting for his/her own honour, but the honour of the kingdom. Their attitudes change to reflect this; they see two opposing armies as combatants in a duel. To retreat is to yield, to yield is to give up ones country.
Foreign relations:
Lionfolk have maintained a healthy alliance with their neighbouring dwarfs. For years, they have traded metal goods and masonry for livestock, silks, and leather goods, creating wealth in both nations and peace between their borders. Because of the drastically different environments in which they live, only the merchant Lionfolk and dwarfs ever really interact. Lionfolk don’t like being underground because their gods are not watching them and Dwarfs don’t like being in open plains because they don’t like the humid heat. Nevertheless, they have come to respect their differences over the years and helped each other out.
Lionfolk relations with neighbouring Lizardfolk have always been tense, if violent. Their rivalry casts back to wars fought year ago over territory, memories of which have left a bitter taste in the mouths of both sides. Today, they live in an uneasy peace. Incursions into either territory have always ended in disaster for the invader due to either nation’s adaptation to their home turf.
Other races and Lionfolk have always seen each other as rather exotic, their interaction has been minimal, save for some failed annexations from the human empire. Most Lionfolk have never seen an elf or a centaur. They believe that Lynxfolk are to be feared because of their magic, their strange appearance to them makes them like bogeymen to the Lionfolk, the subject of scary stories. But there have been tales of Lionfolk who travel to the tundras to purchase antidotes or healing magicks from the Lynxfolk in times of need, so opinions of them are mixed and likely ignorant.
Architecture:
Due to the lack of wood, Lionfolk architecture is mostly made from clay and ochre bricks with foundations of stone, sometimes they employ wooden frames. Their homes are tiled-roofed houses that are a brown-red. They are often very boxy and angular.
More important structures, like castles or temples are built with more stone and have a lot more thought and time put into their construction. They are boxy, like the houses, but have occasional arches, columns and statues. Their buildings are not unlike ancient Egyptian buildings. But they are a red ochre colour of the bricks they are constructed with.
Dwarf: Short, proud warriors, who honor gods both old and new and live within various mountain strongholds as well as their own districts within the human empire.
Physical description:
Appearance:
Dwarves are short, standing much shorter than even a lizardman. Their skin tone can range anywhere from a ghostly white, to an extremely dark brown, depending on where they live. Rarely will you see a male dwarf who doesn't have a beard of some sort. All dwarves tend to be very muscular, even the shamans and females, thanks to the environments that they live in.
Male dwarves are either warriors or blacksmiths, and female dwarves are shamans, though you may find a mix of genders for each profession, as well. Warriors wear iron armor head to toe, even trainees. Meanwhile, Shamans will wear leather, with a cloth robe lying over the top. General dwarven citizens tend to wear a combination of cloth and leather at all times. In the human cities, dwarves wear more cloth than anything.
Beliefs:
True dwarves, AKA, those who are still loyal to their own king, worship the old gods; The Titans. They have various statues scattered about their mountain cities depicting these massive being, which the dwarves believe formed the earth. Out of respect for these Titans, dwarves usually will create their sentry's, Golems, in the likeness of the Titans. However, when the humans came, many dwarves abandoned their belief in the Titans, following the human God Arkalon; The Master of War. The dwarves believed that this God is how the humans beat them, and as such, devoted themselves to him. This, of course, caused tension, and eventually led to the followers of Arkalon to be banished from the mountain kingdoms. To this day, friction between the followers of the Titans, and the followers of Arkalon still run rampant. If they ever see one another, a fight almost always breaks out between the two Dwarves, which, of course, the mountainous Dwarves almost always win.
Fighting Style:
"We dwarves are the children of the mountains, and as such, must fight like such. Strong and sturdy, with the ability to erupt at any moment. This is how a true dwarf fights." -Quote from Igen Stormhammer, Superior of the Dwarven Army. c114.
Dwarves tend to either use two-handed weapons, out of which they mainly use maces and axes, or an axe with a large shield. All dwarven weapons and armor are mide from iron, with occasional leather armor for the shamans. Because of their short size, and great endurance, Dwarves tend to fight using a more defensive style than others, allowing their enemies to ram into them, instead of vice-versa. When dwarves fight, they are strong and sturdy, much like the mountains which they come from.
Meanwhile, shamans fill the roles of healers in battles, collecting the wounded, applying and dispersing medicines, wrapping up wounds, and just generally helping the wounded out of the warzone.
Territory:
Officially, the dwarven cities lay in the Western mountains, scattered about the area from the North to the South of the western side of the continent. Unoficially, dwarven communities are scattered throughout the entire human empire.
Government:
Dwarves follow a monarchy, though which monarch they follow depends on where they live. The followers of Arkalon follow the human king, and the followers of the Titans recognize Majir Stonefist as their King, as he is the true king of the Dwarves.
Archietecture:
Dwarven architecture is always made from carved stone, usually build into the walls of caves within the mountains. In human cities, all dwarven run buildings have a hammer carved into the stone, above the door.
Orc: Descendants of elves, the less-than-intelligent orcs are brutes with incredible strength and edurance. What they lack in sense and self-control they make up for in size, numbers and dedication to their warchief.
Physical Description
"Despicable creatures, a mockery of elves that needs to be killed off before they kill off everyone else!" - Unknown
On average, an Orc is an impressive 7 feet tall and 250 pounds of pure muscle. Orc skin is usually many various shades of green although in rare cases grey and pitch black orcs have been observed. Their eye colors range from yellow to red to orange. Orc hair is almost always black or grey depending on the age of the Orc. Orcs are very strong and can lift up to three times their own body weight and a direct punch can break a puny human's ribs.
Orcs being of elven descent have pointy green ears although their nose is short and thick unlike an elve's nose.
Orcs move faster than their intimidating size may lead you to believe as they at max speed can go 16 miles per hour although it takes a bit of time for them to reach this speed and once moving it is hard for them to stop unless they trip over or smash into something.
Orcs have very sharp fanged teeth that constantly grow back and a large underjaw and their teeth are often lost due to their almost entirely meat diet with some vegetables and herbs to compliment although orcs are pretty much carnivores primarily.
Beliefs and Culture
Orcs do believe there are gods because all the other races talk about them, but they hate gods and anything to do with gods including magic due to the elven subjugations they experienced thousands of years ago. Orcs have no religion or faith, just blind obedience to whoever their warchief/supreme warchief is because if they disobey the chief, they often are brutally beaten by the warchief of the clan him/herself or killed by the warchief of the clan him/herself depending on the offense.
Orcs have no code of honor they follow, except for two things: To never retreat from the heat of battle for any reason and never turn your back on the enemy. This is less a code and more instinct for orcs, as it is in orc nature to constantly fight and even when they are obviously losing horribly they will fight down to every last orc!
Orcs only show respect for power and strength even with their enemies, and this reflects in who is often the war chief of a clan or the supreme chief as the chief orcs are often the most toughest, most cunning and most brutal orcs in the whole orc empire and most orcs show high obedience and loyalty to the chiefs except for the orcs who believe they should be the chief.
Orcs as a side effect of their lower than average intellect are have superstitions like if you kill a bird eating carrion in the battlefield an earthquake will happen or if you don't put spikes on the watch towers and strongholds strong winds will blow the whole camp or city down. Most notably they believe that they most use every bit of a corpse for something (even just decoration) or else massive worms from deep underground will gobble up the clan whole!
Orcs don't have much use for money, but often use it to buy spices from traveling merchants who dare cross over to their lands for higher than average amounts of cash, mainly because they don't really have many other uses for money as orcs usually make their own shacks to live in and hunt for their own food and share it among their other clan members so they just give them extra money and the only reason orcs don't attack merchants is because they are afraid that if they do, a spice famine will happen.
Fighting Style
In combat, orcs are very brutal and fearsome foes who like to use axes and maces to smash the skulls of their opponents or hack off their limbs. Orcs will usually attack in blind fury in the heat of battle and are not accurate with their weapons instead relying on their brute strength to rip through their opponent's defenses and show little true tactical skill in combat instead dual wielding weaponry to double the damage they do to their adversaries.
Orcs alongside their hordes of infantry are known for using war beasts such as rhinos that are chained up and restrained by orcs that get let loose in the general direction of the enemy to stampede out enemy forces and poorly trained raptors that are ridden by some orcs to hunt down enemy cavalry and cause general destruction.
Orc general army tactics are often to charge their opponents with everything they got and will often use thousands of orcs in a single battle to rush the line and slaughter infantry before they can do the same and they in every fight may have at least four to five rhinos let loose and only use their own calvary if they see the enemy using calvary. Orcs only charge when the warchief demands they charge by yelling "Chaaaaaarge!" at the start of battle.
Technology
Orcs make and use iron as their main metal due to lacking the advancement of technology to refine steel weapons and equipment with their armor often consisting of leather (of various types) and iron. Orcs have a habit of using spikes in their equipment, tools weapons and even buildings with no practical purpose besides as a last resort bashing tool. Orc buildings are easily identified by how crudely and poorly made they are with logs being cut into a sharp cone on one end and placed into the ground as their main supports with thick hides making up the walls and the floors/ceilings being made of simply many different sizes of sliced wooden planks.
In larger orc cities, structures grow not in height but in land size with major buildings like the main stronghold taking up multiple square miles of land with the tallest orc building being three stories in height at best. Orc buildings are quickly built as long as there are enough resources and easily destroyed (often by orc infighting more than enemy attacks).
Orcs are really good at grilling meat and usually use grilling spits and all the best herbs they can find when cooking food and eat 90% meat with veggies on the side roasting usually creatures they hunted down themselves or fresh carrion from their last battle. The only things orcs will store are veggies, hides, wood and gold often in large quantities in storage shacks for each orc.
Government
The orc government is a Stratocractic Kratocracy, or the state and military are the same and chiefs are chosen by which orc is the most powerful, brutal and cunning. Orcs can kill the chief to become chief leaving only the hardiest and toughest orc at the top of the structure who is declared the War Chief and who the war chief is can change as fast as overnight or the same chief can reign for years depending on the ruthlessness of the war chief in charge.
Alongside the many outlying clans in orc territory there is the main orc clan formed to create a much larger defense against the human genocide attempts made hundreds of years ago that has been named Orcentar where the supreme chief resides; the toughest, most violent and cunning orc who rules over the Orc Empire resides. Most of the orc empire is under the rule of the supreme chief with warchief clans under the chief of chief's command acting as an equivalent to human nobles having control over their personal clan, but needing to take part in the chief of chief's councils and deciding what to do next (usually attacking someone).
Despite the supreme chief, there are many splintering clans who have stayed out of the supreme chief's grasp and have yet to be part of the Orcentar due to either refusing to be and being strong enough to defend themselves against Orcentar or simply too out of the way to be noticed.
Territories
The main orc stronghold/city is Orcentar, located at the heart of their territories where the Supreme Chief resides. Most of the orc clans are under the warlord's command except for some clans who have splinters off from the main clan and often may (unless well hidden enough) find themselves fighting orcs from the chief of chief controlled clans alongside the normal attacks from empires of other races, mostly humans and lionfolk.
Other:
Orcs intellect wise aren't super dumb, but are known for being prone to angry outbursts and tangents. They may not be intelligence-wise around a human, but they aren't overly stupid either, just superstitious as hell and have anger problems at times. Although that being said, they are not the race for you if you like intellectual debates.
Lizardfolk: With claim to the jungles of the south, the somewhat short yet agile lizardmen train from birth either to become swift and dangerous hunters to support their tribes or to become the mysterious shamans and invoke the force they believe encompasses all.
Physical appearance:
"It took me several months before I started recognising the subtle differences between males and females." -
Athane Graymoore, Scales in Lamplight: Mysteries of the lizard folk, page 27
(Down left) Artist's depiction of a native lizardman. Author: Gorgen Mast.
The lizardmen are most similar to humans in their pose, standing tall on two legs and having two arms. They are usually about five and half foot tall and weight from 50 to 60 pounds, being skinnier than humans. Young lizardmen mature earlier than other races, estimated at about 12 to 14 years. Should a lizardmen live long enough to die of old age, he will be around sixty years old when he leaves the realm of the living.
As the only race able to survive in the harsh conditions of the hot and humind jungles and swamps on the very south of the continent, Lizardmen are resistant to the numerous diseases thriving in the area and able to catch even the most elusive prey.
Lizardmen eat much less that other races do, and as a result they are generally weaker than members of other races of about the same age. An exception are their strong, long legs wich allow them to run faster than any other race of Parthos with the exception of centaurs, and help them to be the excellent swimmers and limbers
they are. The rest of the body is weaker but still very agile. However, lizardmen are quick to tire under strain.
The whole body of a lizardman is covered by scales of varying size. These provide some protection, but shatter easily and cannot protect against any sort of weapon. The color of the scales is not the same for all lizards - the most common colors are green and beige altough blue and brown also occasionaly appear. Many lizardmen also have various patterns on the skin, ranging from spots to various snake-like imprints.
Religion and beliefs:
"Do not bother to look for any kind of a sacred place in the jungle, you would be wasting your time. For the lizards, the whole world is one big temple." - Fergus of Granitekeep, Pilgrim's Guide to the Southeast, page 80
In accordance to their simple culture, lizardmen know no gods or even nature spirits. Instead, they simplyworship a single living force that encompasses everything: fate, magic, nature, the world and it's denizens. Everything comes from that force and everything returns to it when it ceases to exist. Lizardmen don't have any name for this force - they simply say "it" whenever they are reffering to it.
Ordinary lizardmen never try to adress the force directly, but always relay their requests to a shaman who then performs the necessary rituals. In a ritual, a shaman can plead for almost anything, the most common being good weather, hunt or revealing the future to them.
Fighting style:
"Their skill in throwing stones is mindboggling, if I hadn't seen it in person I wouldn't have believed it. In a fight, they could easily be as effective as our archers." - Athane Graymoore, Scales in lamplight: Mysteries of the lizard folk, page 248
Lizardmen don't make use of any complicated tools. A spear, made by tying a sharp stone to a straight stick, is probably the most advanced tool the lizardmen can make, but simple stones and hand axes are used most often.
However, it's not the quality of tools that is most important for them. From young age, lizardmen have to hunt on their own, using only spears and stones. Failing to kill something means starvation. This quickly leads them to developing uncanny skills with their simple tools and combined with their speed it allows them to match much better equipped foes.
Due to being weaker than most other races, Lizardmen use agility as their main tactic. Their speed allows them to choose the battlefield wich they often use to their advantage. Ambushing the enemy from treetops or from underwater is common, but any cluttered battlefield suits them well. On the other side, flat and open areas put lizardmen into a significant disadvantage, as their mobility finds little use in such places.
Unlike the rest of the lizardmen, a shamans always avoid fights and when pressed into one they try to distract the enemy and disappear as fast as they can. Shamans never accompany common lizardmen into battles, sometimes they wait behind to tend to their wounded and often not even that.
Few lizardmen leave the swamps to roam the human Empire and even fever can defend their lives in the foreign
environment. However, those who do survive are quick to learn how to use human tools and weapons. They are
almost always looked down upon and most let themselves to be hired as mercenaries or assasins.
Territory:
"I'm not surprised the lizard folk wants to expand. I wouldn't want to live in the jungle too." - Athane Graymoore, Scales in lamplight: Mysteries of the lizard folk, page 300
Lizardmen originate from the jungle on the very south-east corner of Parthos. Through numerous conflicts they have gained and lost large areas of land, with most notable victory being cutting the former single catfolk territory in two and the most notable loss being a large territory near their home swamps conquered by the Lynxfolk. Nowadays, their territory consists of jungles, swamps and partially temperate forests, all in the northeast. On the west they share borders with the orc badlands and Lionfolk savannas while in the north they neigbour with the human Empire and the Lynxfolk enclave.
While the lizardmen are usually peaceful, from time to time their territory starts being overcrowded. When this happens, several lizardmen tribes try to move to territory of other races and settle, wich usually gets them in conflict with the local population. This happens fairly periodically about once each sixty years. The last time it happened the lizardmen were brutally defeated by joined forces of the human Empire and the Lionfolk.
Goverment:
"I have never seen any social structure beyond the tribes, but somehow several tribes working together always goes perfectly without any tension." - Athane Graymoore, [font=lucida sans unicode,lucida
grande,sans-serif]Scales in lamplight: Mysteries of the lizard folk[/font], page 97
There is no real goverment in the lizardman society, instead the lizards group into tribes. Usually their tribes have 20 to 80 members, very rarely over a hundred. Should a lizardmen tribe grow too big, it splits into two smaller ones of about the same size of wich one will travel to an unoccupied territory. Tribes are usually lead by a lizardmen determined by a challenge of agility. This challenge can take many different forms - it may be a race or a challenge to hunt down a specific hard to catch animal or any other that comes to the mind of an advice-giving shaman. However, lizardmen almost never fight for the position of a chief. Lizardmen from different tribes behave friendly to each other and whenever their tribes cooperate it happens without much friction. This may be both because of different mentality of the lizards and because there simply isn't much to envy, as life of all lizardmen (except shamans) is an endless cycle of hunting, tool crafting and hanging out with the rest of the tribesmen.
Shamans never hunt, but exchange their services for food. They usually heal diseased or wounded lizardmen, though performing rituals, telling fortunes or simply giving advice to tribe leaders is not uncommon. Most of his time a shaman collects various herbs and dries them on peculiar treetop platforms built for this purpose. These herbs, along with some basic magic, are then used for healing.
Shamans usually live alone, away from other lizardmen, and work for many tribes at once. Only a few of the largest tribes have a shaman of their own, who usually acts as the tribe's leader. Whenever a shaman grows old, he chooses a young lizardman as his apprentince and teaches him all his knowledge. The apprentince then takes over the shaman's role when he dies. If a shaman dies without an apprentince to take over or if the numbers of lizardmen grow too high, a shaman might teach multiple apprentinces in his life.
Architecture:
"Always accept if a lizardmen invites you to his hive for the night. It may be cramped and dirty in there, butit still better than the thousand of horrors outside." - Fergus of Granitekeep, [font=lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif]Pilgrim's Guide to the Southeast[/font], page 13
Lizardmen don't have any true architecture as they never build any sort of structures. Often they simply sleep in the treetops. When settling at a place for a longer time, they hollow out a part of a tree to sleep in. These 'hives' tend to be quite small and high over the ground with tiny holes for entrance, so even a very observant person may not recognize them.
Lynxfolk: The other of the two races of Catfolk, the nearly anthromorphic lynxfolk lay claim to the magical tundra in the east. There they connect with the energies in ways few other races understand.
Physical description:
*Concept drawing by Gorgenmast*
*More concept drawing, this time, by DrNightKOT*
Partly because of how much they moult, partly because they are more comfortable and closer to nature with little clothing, lynxfolk will only wear minimum clothing; often they only wear as much as a loincloth with a few belts and a bag. Their fur keeps them warm in the tundra and their introverted tribal culture has not accepted the clothing habits of civilised races.
Religion/beliefs:
"Their symbiotic relationship with the ethereal energies around them defies much of what we understand about magic and mediumship. Rather than bending magic to their will, they seem to survive side-by-side with it." -"The Forest Cats: Journey to The Land of The Lynxfolk" Dalien Girada, human mage and explorer.
Lynxfolk have a deep-seated connection with nature and the enigmatic spirits of the forest that surround them. Most tribes worship their own interpretations of the spirits, sometimes giving the spirits names and offerings.
The lynxfolk communicate with the spirits via their spiritual leaders, the shaman and witches. The shaman and witches differ only in gender. They serve tribes not only as healers and powerful mages, but as a conduit with the spirit world to draw upon their power and guidance. Some lynxfolk shaman and witches prefer to live more reclusive lives, away from other sentient creatures in general.
Missionaries from other faiths have often tried but always failed to convert many lynxfolk. Those lynxfolk that absolve themselves of nature’s spirits quickly find themselves feeling secluded, lonely and weak. The condition worsens until the lynxfolk lose the motivation to eat and starve to death.
Fighting style:
"They killed almost the entire legion. Picked us off bit by bit. The only safe place was in the open, even then, they had clear shots at us. The ones that survived learned to fear any fleeting shadow or tree, but I think they have just left us alive to tell the tale." -Written in the journal of an imperial human soldier after a failed incursion into lynxfolk territory.
Because lynxfolk have no access to metal tools except what is stolen or scavenged from other races, their weapons are primitive. They use bows, spears, wooden shields and clubs, with obsidian and wood being the most common materials. Lynxfolk are especially adaptable to the use of short swords and daggers.
The lynxfolk accept that they are not the most brutish and strong race in the world, so they adapt by using ambushes, swiftness, traps and poisons on their enemies. If a threat should be too great to be dealt with using these methods, the enemy is to be pitied, as the witches and shaman are trumped in war magic only by the most experienced mages. A fearsome sight is the sight of a witch or a shaman calling upon his or her magical skill, even if the magic was to place a curse on their enemies, draining their life force slowly and excruciatingly into the ground.
Territory:
Lynxfolk live in the Tundras near the east of the continent, marked as the small orange area on the map. The land there is frigid and blanketed in snow most of the year. Vast forests of coniferous trees cover much of lynxfolk territory.
Government:
"Their shaman refused to commune with me, but rather the cartographer in our group, who had happened to have seen the most winters." -"The Forest Cats: Journey to The Land of The Lynxfolk" Dalien Girada, human mage and explorer.
Lynxfolk are split into tribes that claim a portion of land around their village as their territory, where they are free to roam and hunt. Depending on the size of the local population, lynxfolk can be ruled by anywhere between one and five shamans and/or witches that form a council. Only the wisest and oldest of the lynxfolk have much influence.
Wider lynxfolk society is an elder geniocracy - Government ruled by the most intelligent and wise elder. This is a government in the loosest form of the word. This government calls meetings with an elder representative of each village once a month and meet at an ancient circle of standing stones on top of a hill. They collectively perform a ritual there to talk with the spirits before discussing issues that may be of concern to the lynxfolk people.
Lynxfolk hold a far more trusting and relaxed concept of ownership than other races due to their small communities. Most trade is done by bartering. Borrowing is very commonplace between lynxfolk.
Though it is not written down (except partially by foreign explorers), the lynxfolk have a set of common laws that command equality and sustainability. Most laws are to alleviate greed, but they cater for other common issues as well. Punishment for these crimes can be rather harsh, from banishment, to mutilation, to a debilitating curse from a shaman or witch.
Foreign relations:
Lynxfolk villages that border their forests will willingly trade with brave outsiders, various crafts, brews and medicines that they produce are often traded for building materials, tools and, occasionally, weapons.
Most races regard the lynxfolk as spooky and enigmatic. Lynxfolk see outsiders as strangers and do not trust them easily.
Normally, few lynxfolk ever wander, so they don’t see much of other races apart from humans, lizardfolk and sometimes dwarfs. Lynxfolk regard humans as tall, aloof, shaven and always complaining of the cold, a bit difficult in general. Most lynxfolk bear resentment towards lizardfolk, this is due to common fighting between the two races. To lynxfolk, lizardfolk are the evil reflection of themselves. Dwarfs and lynxfolk rarely encounter each other, but they are rightfully mistrusting of each other.
Because diplomacy to other nations can differ between lynxfolk villages, different villages can have vastly different opinions and experiences to another with other races.
Architecture:
Most lynxfolk are able carpenters. Buildings are constructed out of the abundant wood around them. Exact architecture can vary from village to village but generally villages are walled off with a circle of tall palisades to keep out predating creatures, while the rest of their small huts are made from logs and thatched roofs, sometimes with a bit of clay or stone. The huts are normally made up of a common room that would house a family of lynxfolk and a sunken, burrowed lower level for storage. In the centre of a village is always a set of large stones placed in a circle, this ‘sacred circle’ is where shaman or witches perform ritual ceremonies and where the lynxfolk often gather. Next to the sacred circle is the shamans’ hut, normally a larger hut than the others and is decorated with all sorts of idols and bones. More importantly, the shaman’s hut includes an area to host meetings.
Elves: Civilized elves are a highly magical race who dwell on the island south of the main continent. They are a tall, slender race with pointed ears, who tend to focus on ambushes and hit-and-run tactics when they can't use magic.
Physical appearance:
Average elf:
Formal clothing/Mage Robes:
Although generally taller than humans, elves possess a graceful, fragile physique that is accentuated by their long, pointed ears. Their eyes are wide and almond-shaped, and filled with large, vibrantly colored pupils. Elven skin-tones can range from being very pale, to a somewhat Mediterranean tan, based on where they live, and what they do as a living. While elven clothing often plays off the beauty of the natural world, those elves that live in cities tend to bedeck themselves in the latest fashion.
Beliefs:
The elves believe in, what they call, Great Spirits. These are different from Gods for them because, while Gods rule over things, the Great Spirits live among and help out people. This is what keeps the elves civil, and has prevented many civil wars within their island kingdom; If one of these Great Spirits was walking among you, you would never know it. And killing a Great Spirit is said to bring misfortune to you and all your loved ones.
Fighting Style:
"Speed, distance, silence, and accuracy. That is what all elven warriors are taught." -Selain, elven scholar, speaking of elven warfare tactics in his book "A Brief Look at Elves for the Simple Minded: v.1"
Elves tend to stay away from close combat, thanks to their weaker bodies. However, when they do need to get up close, they are taught to be silent, swift, and deadly. Ambushes are common things to expect when facing a large amount of elves. And when you have to fight a large number of elven sorcerers, the only advice anybody who survives those attacks can give is "Run as if your life depends on it." This, of course, doesn't mean they're invulnerable. If fact. If you can land an arrow quick enough, or sneak up behind an elven sorcerer, they might as well be dead already.
Elven hand to hand combat, specifically, uses similar styles of many various martial arts. In a fistfight, a trained elven warrior will have knowledge of the locations of all pressure points, and know how to exploit them. Using swords, elves have the advantage of almost always having an enchanted sword on their person, and thus just need to focus on avoiding getting hit, and knowing when to strike back.
However, the most common thing you will see with elves is the dagger-bow combination. The non-mage elves, especially those who are dwelling in the human kingdoms, will use this combination most. They focus on their bow, and have their dagger for close-range emergencies.
Territory:
Elves inhabit the small island to the south of the main continent, where they have resided for thousands of years.
Government:
Elves have a council of elders as their government system, where all the greatest scholars, warriors, and mages rule.
Architecture:
While most elven cities are simple, and close to nature, their capital is a large, grand city, where buildings are made from elegant white and black marble.
Race appearance: The Wavemen of Illestreth are a dark race, humanoid, but in the most extreme sense. They have two legs and two arms, although the arms have evolved to also have a use as legs, and can give the waveman an extra burst of speed. A waveman’s body is quite long, generally about two and a half meters, although it can vary from one meter to three. The body of a waveman is shaped like an eel, about the diameter of a human torso, and it is extremely flexible, able to bend itself into extreme shapes. The skin is made up of dark purple or light blue scales that cover the torso of a waveman, but not the head or limbs, these scales are very weak, and can crush inward when hit. Covering the scales is a thick, slimy substance that burns ferociously. The skin of the head is much more human, a sort of skin, but is much stiffer, and can be a range of colours, depending on the gender of the waveman. Females can be coloured red, orange or yellow. Males can be pink, purple, blue or green. It is not uncommon for a waveman to have a head made of two distinct colours, and a record has even been made of a waveman with three. The waveman has a mouth and eyes, although the eyes are usually black, if not very dark and allow a waveman to see underwater. A waveman also has ears on stalks that shrivel up when underwater, a waveman does not have a nose, and therefore cannot smell anything. The skin on the limbs is the same as the torso, except the scales are much larger, and the limbs are generally the size of an adolescent human’s.
Wavemen do not wear clothes, their contact with outside races has been limited and their need to fish for food means that clothes are a hindrance. The warrior class of the wavemen does wear armour however; it is made of tree bark, hardened in the sun and then reinforced with cross lying pieces of bark. This armour is fitted tight to a waveman when it has stopped growing, and it is not removed after that, not even in death. The removal of the armour is an act that demeans the waveman and afterwards the waveman generally lives in shame. Usually the waveman that wears the armour will carve horns, teeth and heads into the armour to terrify the opposing army. Sometimes whole scenes will be depicted on the armour, and this tactic helped to drive away other races over time. The armour is not very effective against weaponry as it was developed for show.
Race territory: The wavemen originated on a small island just inside eyesight on a clear day if one is looking from the shore of the lower lionfolk lands. This island is known to the wavemen as Illestreth. The island only rises about two meters above the sea, and is a perfect circle when looking down at it, the diameter being five meters. Slightly off-center is a small cleft that lowers down to a dark, seawater flooded grotto. On this grotto hundreds of eel-like waveman rest on the rocks. Carved into these rocks are small, roughly cut rectangles that house a pregnant mother waveman. A pregnant waveman is huge and the wavemen are curled into the rectangles while the give birth, afterward they will leave and a large batch of eggs will rest in the rectangles, though out of these hundred or so eggs only five to ten will survive. Also carved into the rock are scenes of debauchery and torture. Bloody scenes that the wavemen did not carve, but they worship the beings that carved them there. There is one other entrance to the grotto, through the pool of water that takes up more than half of the large grotto are several circular tunnels, each leading out into the ocean.
The waters around Illestreth are a beautiful light blue and seaweed flutters on the ocean floor. Fish abound in the waters, and are the main food source for the wavemen. It is rare you see a waveman in the water, as they generally only come out at night, although sometimes they emerge from their home to sink the ships of travellers near their island and honour their dark gods by performing the acts illustrated in their ancient grotto.
Race government type: The government type of the wavemen is a theocracy. The priest elite control what happens in the grotto; they control who dies, who lives, who gets food and who starves. They claim that it is the will of their god, that they rule by the grace of the lords who first came and paved the way for the wavemen to live under the island, in the cave left by the other races.
Inside the wavemen government is a class system. You are born into class by the colour of your head and your gender. Women have no place in the hierarchy, despite being just as strong as and smarter than their male counterparts. The classes are the Marth Darven (Commons), the Grekthen Darven (Warriors), the Histhen (Priests) and the Hisorsa Namal (loosely translated to Divine Speaker). To be in the commons class the head is purple, pink or blue, for the warrior class it is green, to be in the priest class you must have a twin-coloured head, although it must be two clearly defined colours, and to be a divine speaker your head must be three colours, or more. To kill a Srakthen (kinsman) of a higher class is basically insulting the gods and their ‘higher order’ and will get you killed. To kill a kinsman of a lower class will have no consequences.
Racial history: The wavemen evolved from a particular need in eels to be able to live above land. They developed arms, legs, mouths, ears, and even eyes that work both above and below water. They centered around one island in particular, because of its huge bounty of fish, and the grotto underneath. The grotto was a perfect place for the wavemen to develop, give birth and create their society. From the beginning the strong vied for control and struggled together. Until one day of transcendence, when a god told them of their uniqueness and their strengths. He implored them to rise, not apart, but together, and to create the glorious society that they are now part of. This message came from a simple member of the society, his face was coloured in waves, like a rainbow, and most wavemen listened to the message. Those that did became the priests, and because of the birth of a whole class, the next peoples to listen to the priests became the warriors, who enforced the rule of the priests and the divine speaker.
Over time as the grotto was developed into a society, carvings were found, and the priests proclaimed their significance, that they were carvings made by their predecessors, the gods themselves. Great respect grew for these carvings, and the priests made elaborate frames for some carvings that they took out of the rock and placed in the priesthood square. Wavemen began following the acts and rites inscribed in the very rock around them, and soon the wavemen began venturing from their grotto to places never before seen by the eyes of wavemen. They discovered islands with great, strong, tall trees on them, and pulled the bark from these trees to create the armour that the warriors wear as a symbol of strength, and every moon cycle, when more babies are born, several wavemen venture to these islands and reclaim more bark for the new warriors.
The wavemen did venture out onto the main continent, however the sheer size terrified them, they were not overly fond of land, and the lack of quick access to water was more than they could handle, they silently went back into the sea, and escaped back to their grotto. Glimpses of other races had been caught, and the priests conferred, around this time another divine speaker (the second ever) arose, and spoke among those who would listen. He talked about the other races and what the wavemen should do if they saw the other races approaching. He told them that these other races were unworthy, a failed test and he told them that wavemen were the success in the test. He told the wavemen that the other races deserved death and if any of the other races should approach, do as their god would do. Kill them.
The names of the various leaders of the Darven Orsa are not known, there are no chronicles, because the leader does little, really he is there in case of wars, he would lead armies protected by their god, but in reality that would never happen, because of the way they fight. The leader is really just an ornamental figure, which is shown by the way he is part of the warrior class, and addressed as one. The real powers are the priests, they tell everyone how to live, and they are turned to for guidance because occasionally a Srakthen (kinsman) will not follow the normal behaviours patterns of the wavemen. Usually women, because of their increased brain capacity, they question the pack mentality and want to evolve, build and improve things. The priests, believing their gods want them to live like they do, usually banish such thinkers rather than killing them, to provide a show of caring about those ‘chosen by the gods,’ soon after banished, a select sect of the warrior class is sent after those banished to kill them. The only people that know about the death are the priests and the warriors that kill the banished. Very rarely, a banished Srakthen will escape the warriors and find a life somewhere else, but because of the hatred of land they will usually live in the sea or steal catches from fishing boats, occasionally even sinking those fishing boats.
Around forty years ago there was a great upheaval, several free thinking women and a couple of men had spread dissent among the common populace, leading to a great resistance against the warrior and priest classes. Barricades were built and set in place and the warriors found themselves cornered facing a force over five times their size, the priests were in a similar situation on the other side of the grotto. Facing a revolt the priest class began praying, reciting words in Orsa Golo to the very rocks upon which they were doomed. Then the Marth Darven (commons) charged, and it was a slaughter, with their backs to the wall the warriors fought desperately, and having trained in the warrior arts the punched and heaved with all their might and the commons fell, wave after wave. With no combat training all they could do was pile onto the warriors and hope to eventually squash their resistance. Eventually though the warriors tired out, and having killed hundreds of srakthen, the vengeance of the commons was going to be vicious. Until a saving grace arrived, the priests, having claimed to commune with their god, ordered the stop of all fighting, and the commons, trained to be obedient to their spiritual leaders stopped. Those free thinking srakthen that had started the resistance saw their error and fled. The status quo was restored, and once again the commons were squashed under the heels of the priests, believing that their god really did want it to happen.
Additional Information (Because I didn’t know where this stuff should go): The wavemen are a very secretive race. They have had limited contact with other races (known to them as ‘Dar Juli’ which has been translated as ‘Unworthy Man’) and so little is known about their language, customs and in fact very few actually know about wavemen. Some people have read about wavemen, or heard sailors talk of eel-like creatures that sink boats and kill, but most people dismiss these thoughts as fanciful. The wavemen are very aggressive toward those that come near their small island, so they have no idea of trade, although some have taken weapons from sunken ships, and so occasionally one might find a waveman armed with more than his hands.
There are three languages a waveman must learn from birth. Marth Golo is the language a waveman first learns, and is used to speak to commoners, if you are a higher class than them. Darven Golo is the second language learnt and is used by commoners to speak to those of a higher or identical rank, and is used by the ranks higher than commoner to speak to each other. Orsa Golo is the language written on the rocks by those that came before the wavemen, the wavemen only have a very basic understanding of this language, and it is never used in speech except by the Hisorsa Namal, and only then to Histhen (priests). Very little is known about the three languages, but some facts can be gleaned: Golo is the word for language as it exists in the name of all three languages. Darven appears to be people, as it is prevalent in two of the class names, and orsa seems to mean divine, or god, as it is in the class name of the divine speaker, and the language on the rocks, written by the wavemen gods. This means that the waveman name for the race, Darven Orsa, translates as People of God, or God’s people. What is known about the waveman language is thanks to a waveman captured by the empire years ago when it was exploring Parthos, it learned a rudimentary form of the human’s speech and was forced to give a basic understanding of its culture, although it did not reveal anything about the religion or the language, everything that is known was discovered by various members of the empire.
Adnay
Race Name: Adnay
Race appearance: They have very pale, but human-colored skin. The men have light blue eyes and the woman have light purple eyes. Everyone's eyes are very sensitive to light and their bodies are very thin. The men have thick wings made of muscle and covered in white feathers. They can use these to fly very well, but their flying skills are reduced to those of the women's when their feathers are exposed to sunlight. The women have iridescent thin wings that vary in color. They can only use these to fly for small periods of time and jump high. The men have very dark hair that is usually black or sometimes a very dark shade of a color while the women have colorful light-colored hair that matches the color of their wings. Both the men and the women wear white cotton robes.
Race territory: Very deep in a cave on an uninhabitable mountain in the men territory. Over the years, adnays have made the empty space in the cave bigger through mining. Greenish-bluish crystals line the ceiling of the cave and glow. On the ground in the cave, there is a fenced-off area for farming. The adnays farm using the crystals as sunlight and water from a man-made lake that goes around the village in a semi-cirlce. At the end of the lake is the rock wall. This was filled with water from the snow on the mountains over centuries. There are large tents in various places with torches that bear the crystals on the top for light. These tents have signs in the adnay language that specify what kind of tent it is. There are waste tents that have toilet-like things above holes that go far enough into magma. There are also bathing tents that have rectangular holes in the ground lined with iron (like a normal bath, only in the ground) with a small hole (usually covered buy a plug) that leads the the pipe system which purifies water before giving it back to the lake. Lastly, there are living tents in which the adnays keep their beds and clothes. In the center of the village, there is an area that the farmers bring their produce to. This area also has cooking equipment, but the adnays don't eat meat-they only eat fruits and vegetables. Tall and thick iron pillars extend from the ground to the ceiling to ensure the cave will never crumble. Many things in the village are made from iron due to the abundance in the cave of iron. Most adnays make machines to make mining more efficient or cook for the entire village while two adnays live both in the cave and on the surface so they can bring news to the village.
Race government type: If their is an issue that will affect more than 25% of the population, the entire village will vote on the issue. An elder will count the ballot. However, there are rarely any issues the adnays encounter due to such a low population. They go by eye-for-an-eye for laws.
Racial history: The adnays are very few in number. During ancient times, they had a brutal war with a species that was bred out of existence centuries after the war. The adnays are one of the oldest species in the world, however,nobody knows where they live, but most know of their existence. This is mainly because of the two messengers that will go out and bring news to the cave. It was when they lost the war that they also lost their home. For a while, they lived a nomadic existence, but it was not in vain. During the time that they had no home, many adnays recorded critical historical and scientific information. Some even drew maps of where they wandered. The adnays never had a religion, and were always incredibly scientifically advanced in ways that they understand many things in nature. Adnays tend to be very smart, as well.
It was after a few years of wandering that they came across a cave in which they could never be found by the opposing species. It is this cave they had grown to call home. In modern times, they are very up-to-date with news and have technology to ensure a safe and resourceful life. This means advanced mining machines, farming machines, etc. They still, however, otherwise seclude themselves from the other species to live in their own little cave, with a population of only fifty. It is this partial isolation that also makes them lack a need for any combat, making it so nobody has weapons or any knowledge/skills of combat. Despite their lack of offensive skills, their wings make it easier to defend, and they also learn incredibly fast, so they would be able to learn sufficient combat skills in a shorter amount of time if someone were to teach them.
Satyrs and Centaurs are also playable. Their race sheets are still in the process of being created, however. Please talk to somebody in the OOC threat if you wish to play either of these before their sheets are up!
Rules: Yup, we have em
Rule violation is normally inadvertent, but you run the risk of being warned and/or then banned from the RP if you break any of these rules without asking. Don’t worry, we’ll be cool most of the time.
First things first; if you can’t pass an English assignment that you enjoyed making explicitly because your grammar hasn’t improved since grade 4 (or if you are in grade 4 or lower), consider practicing some more before applying. We will be fairly lenient, but multiple miscommunications and/or pieces that have quite obviously been boiled through in a small pot of Google Translate or similar stock will probably not promote a good RP. Also, please make an effort not to attract these things.
No god-modding (no blatant ass-pulling without permission or running away on your own plotline. Cackling with your hands in the air in the process is a common side effect and does NOT pull chicks).
No ubering (don’t dodge un-dodgable attacks, don’t shake off crippling blows. Generally don’t be invincible. You can act within reason but something’s got to give eventually (don’t worry, this will always be the same for any opponents you will face)). GM's and Moderators WILL enforce this rule, and call you out if you try to pull any of this.
No power playing (Do not control other character’s actions. You want another player to rescue your drowning character? Let that other player post for him/herself, or do the logical thing and have your character shout for help! This also counts indirectly for combat. You wouldn't sit idly by if someone tried to punch you in the teeth, if you could help it. Give other players time to react if interacting with them).
Example: CORRECT: “Barry throws a clothes horse at Brian”. INCORRECT: “Barry throws a clothes horse at Brian. It hit him directly.”
No Metagaming (Differentiate what you know and what your character knows. Your character is not all-seeing and all-knowing like you are.)
The moderators and I have the final say for most issues unless veto’d by a majority of other players.
Please avoid posting until your application is accepted and you're on the members list. Either a mod with sufficient rights or I will ALWAYS get to your application eventually, exercise patience and you will receive a response. Still think we/I missed you? Throw one of us a PM.
Make a habit of skimming through your post before putting it up to make sure that people will understand what your character is saying or doing.
“It seems obvious, but so many illogical things are posted in Roleplays all the time.” –(Neilsaur)
If you’re not going to be posting for a while, please let me or one of the mods know so we can mark you down as inactive. Anyone who doesn’t post for a while will be marked as inactive, but it’s good courtesy to let me know of your absence so you’re less likely to leave the RP hanging.
Corrolary: If, for any reason, you cannot continue to RP with us, it is better for everyone if you tell us beforehand. We won’t judge you, we all know stuff happens in life.
Flame wars will be extinguished with a chemical that is very bad for the environment. For the sake of the capybaras, please be nice to each other and don’t be an absolute d**kbag.
If you need to cuss, keep in mind the time period. Also avoid modern lingo.
Every time you post a one-liner, a capybara has a heart attack. Only post one liners if there are at least 8 circumstantial excuses to do so. Run out of Ideas? Write about what your character is thinking, what surrounds him/her/it/foo or even what your bodily gestures and facial expressions they’re pulling.
If you apply with a perfect character, a capyb-… you get what I mean. Give you character some flaws in their personality and weaknesses in their skills or physique. (As a general rule, I’ll let you have two beneficial strengths. After that, your character must have at least one weakness for every strength.)
On the subject of perfect characters, you cannot and will not be accepted if your character starts with the ubersword of the ubergods +1 or any other piece of equipment that generally breaks a great deal of the challenge in the RP. Start with mediocre equipment and you’ll find better stuff along the way.
Read on, for beyond yonder semi-colon is imperative information; A reference to capybaras in your application’s suggestion section or otherwise will verify that you are worthy for acceptance.
Make it obvious when talking OOC by placing the text between ((Double brackets)), **asterisks** or whatever makes sense.
Try to avoid pointless OOC posts without any RPing. PM me, or the other players, if it is so important. (Better yet, use the OOC thread. You can find the link down below).
If you grovel at my toes, I might be flattered, but it won’t get you any closer to becoming a moderator. I’ll offer moderator positions based on activity and commitment.
Wizards and magic. It's a general rule that if you're gonna be a magic user, you're gonna be old, and probably spent your entire life devoted to magic. A master wizard also will only know a handful of spells, most of which will be of the same variety. So keep that in mind.
2/5 ratio for pets. If there are 5 people in your group, only 2 of them may have pets. If
there are only 3 people when you join, either wait it out (which may lose you your spot in that group), or just accept you won't have a pet.
This RP has allowed for ONE player to have a musket, and said player has already been decided. They are trusted to keep it balanced and fair, however, so don't worry. There's only minimal risk of getting shot in the back.
Finally, (this is unlikely to ever be enforced here): Your allocated smut limit (Don’t google ‘smut’, Wikipedia it. I am not liable) is anything that could be on TV in the 1970’s-80’s. Use the Sean Connery James Bond films as a reference point for detail. Write cheap paperbacks in your own time, please. Of course if you actually have the opportunity to actually break this rule, you will have awoken true surprise in me.
*Thanks to Muttonhawk for the general rule layout*
Character Sheet
Name: (Obvious, right?)
Age: (Obvious)
Gender: (Hopefully obvious?)
Race: (Choose from the ones listed, OR look below for the form to create your own. Keep in mind, creating your own race, and implementing it into the lore successfully will take a lot of time, patience, and writing. So only do so if you are ready to commit to that responsibility. If you try to join as a new race, but don't have the race form, you will be denied until you present said form.)
Appearance: (Physical appearance. Includes armor/clothing and accesories.)
Weapons/Equipment: (What they have on their person at the start. Includes weaponry, rations, supplies, etc. Remember. You don't have a vidoe game bag, and you can only carry so much.)
Biography: (Story of their life, up until this point.)
Other/Suggestions: (Anything else you need to say, or any ideas you want us to consider discussing? Put those here.)
New Race Form *WARNING: ALL RACES WITHOUT AN ELABORATE BACKSTORY WILL BE DECLINED. EVEN WELL WRITTEN RACES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED IF THEY DON'T FIT THE RP*
Race appearance: (What do they look like. Be as detailed as possible here. This is how everyone will need to visualize the race.)
Race territory: (At this point, must be off of the main continent. Perhaps an outlying island?)
Race government type: (Monarchy, chiefdom, etc)
Racial history: (If you want your own race, you have to be detailed. Write out the entire lore of this species. This probably will be more than a couple paragraphs.)
Member/Character list/Group
[GM] Feokris - Kayle Ajam (Ragtag)
[GM] Gorgenmast - Crispus Varangelis (Noble)
[Moderator] DrNightKot - Dia "Tayra" (Ragtag)
[Moderator] Hugthezombies - Emmerich Sturmvohnreim (Noble)
[Moderator] oZode - (TBA)
PeaceForMounties - Fisyn (?????)
Snivy - Thunder Scale "Robert" (?????)
Crafting_Mines - Tirsen Ga'aten (?????)
~DED
His instructor for the past 17 years of his life was waiting for him, just outside his house, it was a small house, with stones making up the most of it while the roof was made of straw...it didn't seem very human to be content with such a small abode, but his instructor was. On my way to the house, I spotted a wanted poster, now, there were plenty of wanted posters littered around the streets of this town, but what caught his eye was the crimes that the poster listed...Murder, Sacreligion, and Being the mastermind of a criminal gang, I took the poster down and asked Quintis, my instructor, about it. "Ah, I've heard of him...that foul man has been acting like he's some sort of god. 'Spreading the truth' he often says, as well as 'Spreading the divine light' feh! I've seen thieves more divine than that man!" He explains to me, later adding "That vile man has gather a cult to do his bidding for him, I'll bet he's never even seen a fight in his life...you know...the king's hiring people to go find this man, maybe you ought to join them." Clearly, Quintis didn't exactly like the man, or believe in his values, the poster never looked more true than it did at this moment, and at this moment, instead of magic lessons, I set off to find this man. I took the nearest carriage ride to Parthaeum, hoping it wouldn't take too long.
After a long, boring, and more importantly, bumpy carriage ride, I end up in the city of Parthaeum. The city's beauty nearly blinded me, it's much brighter, much bigger, and much more populated than the humble town I often visited...Unfortunately, it was also much louder with people screaming their heads off about one product or another, or some miricale cure that's supposed to heal anything in no time at all. It was obvious, even to me that most of this, if not all was pure jest, or lies. Not even the shaman, who was simply called 'The Spiritwalker' at the peak of his skills couldn't hope to make a potion that could do as this man claimed. It didn't take long to find the palace, though it was grueling...I had to cover my ear-holes to cancel out some of the noise of the citizens.
Unfortunately, once I make it to the palace, I am stopped by two of its many gaurds. Apparently, due to what I am, I looked like quite a suspicious character. "Halt!" one of the gaurds exclaims, placing his sword between me and the door, he then asks "What buisiness do you have in the palace, lizard?" I then think for a bit What would get these people to let me in? Hmm...no, I don't want to lie, perhaps if I simply tell them that I am here to rid the world of the heretic, they'll listen... I then start to say "Well, I am actually here to get rid of that Vaalos that has been a thorn in the king's side for apparently years!" The two gaurds start to communicate amongst eachother, finally saying "And how do we know we can trust you?" I then start to think for a bit Now what was it that made humans know that you are trustworthy...? Well, I suppose dropping my weapon...no, that's probably not going to work...hmm...I don't want to give them my sword, after all, unlike them, I only have one... I later come to the conclusion of "Well, there are lots of you aren't there? If I wanted to do anything bad to the king, I wouldn't be coming in through the front door, would I? Nor in the middle of the day."
The two gaurds nod in agreement, and let me into the palace of King Merevir. Wow...this place is so beautiful, so big, and the stones it's made of shine like the sun...why...it may even be bigger than the city that holds it. I think as I walk down the carpeted area and towards the throne. After a bit of a walk, as I wasn't in too much of a hurry at this time, I find myself in the presence of the king...his gaurds all giving me a dirty look that says that they'd kill me if I sneeze in the wrong direction. Ignoring that, I bring myself to say "Your majesty, I'm sure you're aware of the evil man plagueing the country. I'm here to bring that foul man to justice, and I would like to do so by applying for a position in your army." I then excitedly await the king's response, hoping that it would be a yes.
Age: 22
Gender: Male
Race: Dwarf
Appearance: Obviously short and a tad chubby, ( Oh who am I kidding Felix has a beer belly that looks like he has a whole deer stuffed in there), Long beard and strong arms to mix with his whole miner proffesion.
Weapons/Equipment: Iron boots and a leather chest garment and leggings, iron pickaxe with a few torches and steak.
Biography: Felix was born in the belief of the Titans and never gave up this belief even after the humans came. He respected the mountain carving behemoths and their power, he drew and carved statues of them and their appearances. His father raised him in the belief of titans while his mother tried to raise him under the belief of Arkalon. Since his father had a stronger leash upon Felix he listened to him more often, his father also lessoned him in Dwarven ways to fight with strenght and work with prosper. But a flaw of Felix's was, was his drinking habit, his father always drank so that repelled onto him, in some cities they called Felix the "Drunken Dwarf" and enjoyed his presence with laughter and cheer while other cities frowned upon his name and called him the "Dwarven Lunatic".
No matter what Felix never changed for others and around the coasts in his sober state he built magnifecent mines and strong holds. And all through out his life, he kept his beard in a clean and fresh smelling state.
Other/Suggestions: None really, I love your intelligence and basically RP, I hope to be accepted and see you soon!
(Also, you've forgotten about the rule.)
As he licked his hands and cleaned his fur, he could not help but remember home. It had been so long since he was free among nature, so close to the spirits. He decided not to just waste his time away, but sit and meditate. He was no shaman, he could not commune with the spirits, but still he prayed to them, sent them praising thoughts; hoping that they would show him good fortune in his current quest.
Soon Tirsen was lost in his thoughts, and time slipped away. His companions began calling his name into the trees, startling him and sending him scrambling to make himself "decent" as many humans would say. As he turned to the direction of the shouts he saw between the trees a great castle. The castle of the Human Emperor. It was elaborate and beautiful, and it convinced Tirsen of the bounty's true worth. A bounty that he and his comrades would be sure to claim, and a bounty that perhaps held the key to Tirsen's acceptance, his place in the world. Invigorated by his time of solitude, prayer, and nude-ness, Tirsen picked up his bag and marched forward, eager to learn where the armies would be marching to; so that he might get there first and claim his prize.
(())
A cadre of plate-armored honor guards opened the mighty double-doors of the cathedral, allowing Inquisitor Crispus Varangelis to stride in from a walled courtyard characterized by well-manicured lawns, fountains, and neatly-trimmed topiaries shaped into perfect cones. He walked confidently up the long, white and gold carpet laid out across the narthex on the cathedral's cold marble floors, past the pairs of statue-like honor guards who flanked him on either side - all as motionless at the marble pillars holding the ornately-carved ceiling over his head. The sentinels silently watched the newcomer from underneath their helmets and moved nary a muscle as he strode by, but despite their stillness they were constantly ready to skewer him on their blades should he try to threaten the Archon seated at the throne at the head of the cathedral.
The morning sunlight filtering in from a gothic window facing eastward illuminated the Archon with a column of golden light flecked with motes of floating dust - something the architects of this magnificent building planned meticulously for. A flock of doves soared past the window and left a blur of passing shadows over the empire's highest religious authority as Crispus slowly climbed the stairs of the dais the Archon was enthroned upon. Crispus threw back his hood and kneeled just before the Archon and proceeded to kiss his white velvet slippers. The Archon, dressed in an exquisite white, red, and gold robe on a throne of an opal encrusted marble padded with golden fabric, did not seem to acknowledge the inquisitor kneeling before him.
"I am at your service, holiest Archon." Crispus greeted, remaining on his knees.
"This is good, Inquisitor. I have need of your... abilities now more than ever." Said the soft-voiced Archon.
"You must mean to speak of this false prophet the emperor is so concerned with... this Vaalos. While there is no doubt that Vaalos must be silenced, Emperor Lucian is overreacting. This Vaalos is naught but a mere heretic with a loyal following. I have cut down greater threats to our faith with my own blade; the emperor's bounty is ludicrous. The allure for those one hundred thousand parthanos has every knave in the empire in arms. I fear civil unrest from the armed maniacs roaming the land far more than this so-called false prophet." Explained Crispus.
"Then you and I are in agreement." The Archon agreed.
"Holiest Archon, give me then a writ of prosecution for Vaalos. By Verturio and Arkalon, I swear I would deliver the rabble-rouser's head to you within a fortnight."
"I already have it written out for you." The Archon said, producing a neatly-rolled scroll to the inquisitor and handing it over. The inquisitor took it from the Archon and read over it, his pupils stopping midway through the document.
"I will not be going alone?"
"No." The Archon confirmed. "You will be accompanying a number of these bounty hunters seeking Vaalos. Today they shall be petitioning the Emperor for their own writ to hunt down Vaalos. They carry themselves as a noble group that is more concerned with safeguarding the empire than the bounty... but I cannot be too sure. Having such a large band of armed adventurers roaming the land has a potential to be... problematic. I want you present to ensure that they do not go astray in their mission."
"Holiest Archon, are you certain this is the best way for me to combat this heretic?"
"I am, Inquisitor Varangelis. I dismiss you now... Go now to Merevir Palace and await the bounty-seekers."
"Understood, holiest Archon." Crispus said with a frown. He rose back onto his feet and retreated back to the double door manned by the honor guards.
Merevir Palace, Parthaeum (Present) ((This is the capital of the Empire, by the way.))
Inquisitor Varangelis stood before an ornate fountain not far from the entrance to the grandiose palace of Emperor Lucian himself. As the gurgling fountain behind him showered his back with mist, he watched patiently for anyone who didn't seem to be one of the dozens of legionnaires patrolling the palatial grounds. His frown betrayed a sense of disappointment. Crispus, who thought that he might be the inquisitor tasked with slaying the heretic Vaalos, had just been relegated as the chaperone for a band of self-righteous adventurers.
Despite his disappointment, he would serve the Archon's command dutifully -and of course, the promise of a share of a hundred thousand parthanos had to cheer him up at least a little.
Crouching in the split of two branches on the large, but short oak tree. This would be Fisyn's last hunt in this town for a while. All he could do was think of Rann. A sole teardrop began to run down Fisyn's face. A large black colored rabbit moved its foot in the brush, a little less than 7 meters away. It caught Fisyn's eye, he knocked an arrow, drew back. Fling the arrow soared through the air and into the brush. A little whelp came, and Fisyn knew he had hit it, <Did i kill it ?> he asked himself. No movement came out of the brush anymore, he knew he had gotten the rabbit. <Hmm, maybe i can sell it to that one lady who loves to make soups with my catch. I'm sure the butcher wouldn't want a rabbit.> He jumped out of the tree. Oomph he let out a breath as he landed. He walked to the brush and picked up the rabbit by the tail. Staring at it in the eyes, he was proud to be serving his emperor, but he was going to miss the solitude of hunting.
Arriving back in the town, the usual carts were in place, to the left of the jewelers shop. Every time he passed the jewelers shop it made him think of his parents, whom he longed to see again. Going to the lady who liked to make soup, <Oh, what is her name?> he couldn't remember, hopefully she wouldn't make conversation. As he approached, with the rabbit in his pack. "Hello, boy." she said, he voice was old and broken. "Hello." he said with a fake smile, as he pulled the pack off his back. "What have y...you got for me today?" she asked, revealing an almost toothless smile. "I shot a rabbit, clean shot too. Wondered if you had interest in it." he said admiring the shot as he spoke. "Why y...yes i can make a good amount of soup with that size a rabbit." she replied. They traded and he was off to the city.
He packed his belongings, there wasn't much. He liked the town, not many people in it. It was a small, quite, and everyone kept to themselves. But the city was not a place Fisyn enjoyed much, it was so busy, and loud and all the rich people flaunting their success to everyone. He never spent much time in the city, but his military duties called him to it at times. His commander had told him he was to take a horse and set off for the capital. He would be serving his emperor as much as possible now, he would hunt this heretic and his minions.
...Dia sat on one of the wagons, looking at the closing city and thinking about different useless things. Every practical thought was thought of before and developed deeper and now Dia knew that she needs more information to proceceed. Everything the Nobles gave her was the fact that there is a hertic, he must be killed, some groups have possibility of forming and Dia must do some sort of counter espionage in one of them (Noble group is prefered). Why did they send her there? Why did the groups matter so much? Those questions pussled Dia since the start of her adventure. She was looking forward to getting those answers - from pure curiosity.
The caravan was moving through the city towards the marketplace. Dia needed nothing in the marketplace - everything was obtained already and she wasn't in the mood to risk her money and health in one of the least safe parts of any city. So she waved goodbye to the merchants and warriors and jumped off the wagon. The bones reacted instantly as she dropped off to the ground - she wasn't walking for so long. After stretching herself for some time and loudly and lazily yawning Dia looked around. She must get to that noble group and she has no idea where is it.
That's what the
fodders for pickpocketsordinary citizens are made for. Dia walked towards one of them and tried to make the most relaxing face she could do with a face covering mask. "Hello there. I've came from a distant land an--" she started and got rude answer "I can see that kitty. Off with you." and the man walked away. Dia didn't get stunned from the unexpected answer and didn't stop asking some people about the possible locations of the bands. Finally she found someone willing to tell her at least some information "'Ell, they won't let ya in anyway. Y'know, for empire, not fer bount'. But," the man rose his red finger, obviously damaged from some kind of dangerous chemistry "but, ye'r not the only one who would get kicked from the 'alace, and you know what I mean..." the man started nodding with a strange grin "I guess you hint me that there might be a second group of bounty hunters?" Dia questioned, already possessing such information. Useless people are useless.Nevertheless Dia decided to search for both on her feet. Being very aware of the enviroment and everything people say (and trying to ignore those stares from the ordinary people) she walked around the city, searching at least for someone looking like a warrior that hunts for money. She must find or speed up the formation of the group - she didn't want to be in this city for long.
As he walks in, about half of the drinkers go silent. The other half are too drunk to worry about a lizardman. Scalia strolls up to the man serving drinks, spear still in hand and asks, "Do you know about the bounty?"
The man is hesitant, but decides to tell Scalia a little bit of truth. "All I know is, that whomever kills or captures the heretic will get 100,000 pathanos." The man knew more, but is reluctant to tell it to a 'mere' lizarman.
"Thank you." Scalia says, before leaving the tavern.
I already know all of that. Looks like I'll have to come up with my own answers, Scalia thinks.
He walks up the crowded street towards the center of the city.
As the group drew closer to the heart of the city, its denizens seemed more and more alive, in even greater numbers; some too busy with their activities to give the group a second thought, some all too curious about the cat-man and the thugs.
"Oy, that place, there!" voiced Lysander, one of the men in Tirsen's group, as he pointed to a tavern up the road. The other men nodded in approval and began walking toward it, motioning Tirsen to follow. As they neared the establishment, he saw heads turn as a short, red, spear-wielding lizardman left the bar. Memories began to flood his mind, and he grasped his lizard-skin bag tightly.
"What is it?" Lysander asked, apparently unaware of the lizardman. Tirsen pointed in its direction, and Lysander grimaced. "What is that doing here?"
"I'm not sure," Tirsen said, "but I've got a feeling he's not here to see the sights," he added, noticing the swift gait and impatient look of the lizardman.
"Yeah," Lysander remarked, "he's definitely here for the bounty. Come on, let's go find out what he knows-" as Lysander walked in the direction of the lizard, Tirsen grabbed his arm.
"...Our kinds don't exactly get along." He told his friend. "It might be best if we tail him instead."
"Fine." Lysander said exasperated, and he pulled his arm away from Tirsen. Then he motioned to the other bandits of the group to stalk the lizardman, and they split up, mingling with the bustling crowd. Tirsen kept his distance, letting the crowd mask him, but kept his eye on the out of place lizardman; which was realtively easy amidst the mainly human crowd.
The emperor perched upon his mighty, gilded throne and dressed in a quilted navy blue jacket lined with sable fur, rolled his eyes. The clean-shaven man, with graying hair protruding out from under his golden crown despite only being in his late thirties, redirected his eyes back to his visitor and leaned forward on his throne toward his visitor.
"Merciful Mother, I'm more concerned about the bothersome..." The emperor paused for a moment, restraining himself from uttering some slur for Lizardfolk. "...fellow plaguing my throne room without an appointment, to join the Legion no less. I would hope, sir, that you have not have mistaken me, of all people, as a Legion recruitment officer? Furthermore I don't believe I should have to remind you that our Legion does not permit your kind to serve within their ranks. Your drive for justice is certainly admirable, but I fear that neither I nor a Legion recruitment officer can help you. Good day." The emperor dismissed Thunder Scale with a grimace.
"Guards! Please show this gentle... fellow the way outside!"
At the emperor's orders, two armor-plated guards each carrying a broadsword in one hand came up behind the lizard and forcibly grasped him by his scaly wrists, wordlessly shoving him down the corridors and out of the presence of Emperor Lucian Merevir.
Once Thunderscale and his legionnaire escorts were assuredly out of earshot, the emperor turned to one of his advisers standing on the dais near his throne.
"Can you believe that, Tertullio? A lizardman asking the me to join the legion," The emperor remarked with a snerk.
"Not something you see every day, majesty. I can't say that the lizardpeople are the brightest."
He passes a stall selling jewellery, and decides to have a look at what it has to offer, although he doesn't have money. When he casually walks up to the counter, the owner, a wrinkly old man, gives him a look that suggests he is scared of something. Instead of welcoming Scalia to his jewellery shop, the owner just stares rudely.
After a few seconds of looking around, Scalia realizes the possible reason for the man's fear. A large part of the shop is devoted to lizard teeth. Rage starts to fill Scalia, but he manages to keep it in, due to the fact that he would get kicked out of the city if he hurt the man in anyway, no matter what his reasons are, because of the heavy racism a lot of humans had towards the Lizardfolk.
So instead of stabbing the man straight through the heart with his spear, Scalia leaves the stall and doesn't look back. He once again sets his eyes on the palace and tries not to get distracted again.
The mouse suddenly looked up, startled. His tail! Damn it, half the time he couldn't even control the damned thing. At least it was good for balance, but hell, most of the time it flapped around like it had a mind of its own. He rushed forwards, sprinting as fast as his paws could take him, he was almost to the mouse, he could hear its tiny little heart beating frantically, he raised a paw, smacking it down and... missing. He hissed in frustration, wishing he could actually curse for real. Nightwind looked down at his paws, furious.
Northwind looked towards the city in the distance, he didn't really feel like tracking another damned meal so he would probably have to find something there. Maybe the Inn, the barkeep sometimes left tasty morsels for him, maybe a few cuts of meat, a small bowl of milk. He sometimes even forgot that he could speak with his mind, but he rarely used it, not many people would react positively to a cat speaking to them.
Making his way down, he quickly reached the town, he walked slowly up to the gate, the guards paying him no mind, as he was a cat. He scrunched his noise as the sounds and the smells hit his senses, he hated it in large towns, but they did give up nice rewards. Soon enough he had made his way down the market, the many people running around not noticing him. A small stand was set up, with a rather scrumptious and plump looking rabbit laying on a pile of other small mammals, it would be good to have a nice and large meal like that, so he decided that he would 'borrow' it from the man, who was a fat and short man with a large belly. He looked like he made enough money, not like he would notice if he took a little thing from him.
Sneaking his way up, he hid behind the small stall next to the fat mans stall, licking his lips in anticipation, he took slow, uneasy steps on his way towards the small basket of dead animals, he was almost there, only about a tail length away from the rabbit, but just then, he felt a smack to his side. Northwind cried out in pain, which ended up as a loud yowl, the fat man stood above him, angrily shouting at him. "Git' out of here y' damn vermin! Go find 'nother man to bugger!" Northwind took off, eager to get away from his failure, he didn't want to be hit again. He ran to an alleyway, crouching down in the shadows and sighing in his own mind, sometimes it was awful being a cat.
My tail... it's so... fluffy. <;o
Not even bothering to see if it had followed, Kayle continued to move through the streets, holding the fish at his side, while keeping an eye out for more potential recruits. He sighed, seeing most of the posters had been collected by guards, but continued searching anyways. After a bit more walking, Kayle finally decided to take the simple way out, and stood up on a well, before calling out to the crowds. "Anyone wanting to go after this bounty, there will be a meeting at Leoch's Pub at sundown! If you want to take part int he hunt, and get a share of the bounty, head there!!!" Smiling, Kayle hopped down off the well, sitting on a bench next to it instead, and placed the fish next to him, as he tried to look around to see if he was followed by the cat.
~DED
Following the man closely, he tried to stay close just in case he lost 'im. The man looked like he was searching for something, maybe a person? Whatever, all Northwind wanted was the fish. The man approached a small well in the center of clearing, he stepped up onto it, hanging onto the top of it. Many of the passing people stopped to look up at him. The man spoke up: "Anyone wanting to go after this bounty, there will be a meeting at Leoch's Pub at sundown! If you want to take part int he hunt, and get a share of the bounty, head there!!!"He seemed to exclaim it fairly loudly, which wasn't needed. The man smiled happily and sat the fish down, it seemed like he was looking for some local adventurers to join him on something. Northwind quickly snapped at the fish, pulling it backwards and feasting, taking this time to think if he should stay or not.
My tail... it's so... fluffy. <;o
Her legend... Sociophobic, pacifist, a bit shy, jokester and very talkative with her friends. Hates her past, not speaks about it unless very desperate. Optimistic, a bit naive. Healer. Lacks one eye. Pseudoname: "Tayra". Dia reminded herself the role made a deep breath out and suddenly started walking with a skill of greatest actors - she walked through the street shyly, looking around regulary, with eyes darting from side to side. Then after she got around the another corner she saw a man sitting on bench and looking quite unusually among the people around here - and he had a company. Quick calculations passed in the mind of Dia and she decided that this man is the one that she needs. After peeking at him in the way he would notice it (as nervously as possible) Dia started slowly walking to the man, keeping notice of the cat that is apparently going to steal the fish he put on the bench.
Dia finally made her last step as the cat grabbed the fish and retreated. "S-sir, your fish was stolen..." Dia said, being grateful that her fur and mask covers possible blush - since she can't immitate one, her face would have been extremelly white. But the head angle, eyes, right hand holding left hand behind her and the leg digging the ground under her... Dia even thought if she is overplaying. At least no one, expect professional psychologist and liar would suspect that this is fake. She knew no one who did - and thus she would continue with her strategy. After looking for some time at man, with a look like she was prepearing something, she finally quickly said "I want to join." and then paused again, awaiting for reaction of the man. But the pause wasn't long, as she said "And I don't know where is the pub you were speaking about..."
"Anyone wanting to go after this bounty, there will be a meeting at Leoch's Pub at sundown! If you want to take part int he hunt, and get a share of the bounty, head there!!!"
Quite intrigued and excited about the man's offer, Scalia decides to talk to him. He slips through the crowd like a snake, soon spotting the man and whom appeared to be a lynxwoman, talking to him. Instead of approaching them, he stays back, watching the scene unfold.