Hercine, City of Wonders and Magic - Intest, Worldbuilding and Signup

Alright! Sorry for the delay.

Moerin: Well I like her, though I worry about how referential she is about the valley girl stereotype. I don't mind some mannerisms and such as long as she is her own character and person and not just a funny parody. I would ask you to sheet up and make it a bit less... referential to that. She can keep her mannerism and back story... though I would like it if you changed her order a little bit. They can be an order which fell to vainess, appearances and manipulating politics and the people... thus being referential to the stereotype while still adapted to the fantasy world and making a little bit more of sense.

Raineh: I won't say no without looking at it... but know that it would be hard. I can't have someone killing people indiscriminately on a regular basis without taking the issue a little seriously and doing something about it.

Eh, I'm interested, although I find my profiles to just be made quickly based around one concept, and not as fleshed out as I hoped it to be. So I'm not sure if there's anything that needs tweaking and such.

• Name: Johnathan Baker
• Species/Race: Werewolf
• Gender: Male
• Age: 52, although halted aging causes him to look more like 20.
• Appearance: Jack is 5'11 feet tall with a muscular build. He has short, messy brown hair, and has grey eyes full of vigor. He has a handsome, youthful face He carries himself with a confident stride. For clothing, he wears a slightly puffy long sleeved tunic under a brown leather vest. He wears brown slacks tied with a leather belt, with similarly brown boots. He also has a wide brimmed grey hat that he cherishes, aside from hiding the wolf ears that he has underneath.

• Possessions:
  • A long glaive that is carried on his back.
  • A sling that can be used to throw any small object, usually some rocks on the ground.
  • For living area, he has no permanent residence, and so stays at inns generally.
• Personality: Quiet, stoic and does little to interact with others. However, he in truth is very bloodthirsty, and often itches for a battle. However, he does appreciate kindness, and will return it if possible. He doesn't lie, and will either tell the truth, or bluntly say that he won't say. When there's a full moon, his bloodthirsty aspect shows up, causing him to be a lot more open with his emotions.
• Skills:
  • John fights with inhuman strength and speed, and is resistant to conventional weaponry.
  • He has enhanced senses, mostly his hearing and smell.
  • He can undergo a wolf form only at night, and can either stay in his humanoid form with lupine features, or as a large wolf, with his possessions seemly gone until he goes back to normal. His physical ability is increased even more, although it can be difficult for him to break away from a fight.
• Bio: A long ago, a large beast roamed the land, sometimes attacking only cattle, and at times attacking children. It eventually attacked John, a boy who had no parents, and was taken care by a friend of theirs. At the brink of death, it was a miracle that he survived, and even more that he seemed even more healthier than before, albeit more prone to fighting with others. Eventually, he joined a mercenary company, before splitting off to go on his own way. Around this time, the beast that had rampaged was found dead, with both cuts from a blade, and marks from a beast...
• Other: Left blank for now.

edited 19th Jan '12 3:19:47 AM by Runekn

It looks good. Though do know that there are some Werewolves living within the city. If he stayed for some amount of time in Hercine he would have met them.... and if he is a new guy in town then they would go seek him out eventually.

Well he's new to Hercine, so the latter would happen.

So am I accepted?

Yup, you are.

A Palidin huh? Is Chandri going to have to start carrying a sheet of lead around?

edited 19th Jan '12 2:40:35 PM by tricksterson

Hmmm, yeah... I think I went a little too far with that, ahah. But I'll make some adjustments later. I'm just glad that she'd be allowed with only a small bit of adjustment, to be honest. And at least now I know what the limits to sillyness are in this, ahah~

• Name: The Formless; more commonly known as Narcissa.
• Species/Race: Whilst superficially human, the Formless is actually a monster that would be confused by its own existence. It's been so long since she reverted to that state that she couldn't recognise it. A cloud of smoke that possesses those of weaker will is the most accurate description for something that defies normal comprehension.
• Gender: In its own body, neither, but long, long experience and gradual humanisation (though is morals are still nowhere near a sensible plane) have rendered it female and, as a consequence, every body it has adopted for the past two hundred years is also undoubtedly female.
• Age: Physically in her early twenties, active for at least several centuries, and her true age, amidst comparatively brief periods of awakening, is completely indeterminate.
• Appearance: Setting aside the form of a cloud of smoke, Narcissa's body is one that cannot help but draw looks. She would never choose a body that doesn't appeal to her, after all. What appeals to her, however, appears to be youth and life more than anything else: she's obviously not the most athletic person, though not what you'd call fat, either, and she scarcely reaches the five foot mark. Her breast size is also completely unremarkable. So what draws the looks?
  
  Hair. Knee-length, white hair, too perfect to have been bleached by chemical or herbal means. It is, without a doubt, her most distinctive feature at a glance, and goes well with the gold-embroidered coat she wears. Not so much with the hardened, contrasting leathers beneath, but it certainly fits the coat. Narcissa's most distinctive feature close up, however, would be her right arm: beneath the numerous, heavy bandages, the coat, and the leather is a limb that is nothing more than scarlet-flecked ashes, formed into an approximation of a natural limb.
  
  They say the eyes are the windows to the soul; the Formless's crystal gaze is one that's distinctly uncomfortable.
• Possessions: Aside from her clothing, the Formless owns this body's property: a run-down shack in a poor district, completely at odds with the attire that she retrieved from her previous sanctuary. Needless to say, she plans to work her way back up to the richer places; her previous home is notoriously difficult to occupy due to the sheer number of traps its 'long history of owners' have placed upon it.
• Personality: Narcissa's personality is best described as playful. Success or failure is irrelevant, so long as she enjoys herself—the only problem being that she's one of those people that can't stand to lose and will keep up an argument long after any reasonable person would finish in search of her victory. There's also the problem that her games are a little... warped by human standards. 'Can I find someone to my tastes and control them'; 'can I find someone beautiful and make them break'. Elaborate mind-games and periodic slaughter are her pastimes, as is climbing from rags to riches and starting all over again. She can't stand to have any less than three games on the goal at any one time.
  
  Monster that she is, the Formless pretends to be in relationships for love but, ultimately, is after her own physical satisfaction... and in watching her current plaything fall under her sway, to be broken or remade as she sees fit. A monster such as this is always a monster, no matter how long the development.
• Skills: Aside from basic proficiency in dozens of craft-related skills, some of them not even in use in the city's current climate, and a knowledge of the city's streets second to none, Narcissa's skills all tie in to that arm. It's the closest link to her own shape. With it, she can attempt to move herself from one body, leaving the former a dessicated husk, to another. Or start magical fires, that works too. Since the arm is the only part of her that's immediately vulnerable to harm (the bodies are just containers, to her, whilst that is an extension of the original monster), she rarely extends it to its full ability.
  
  Interestingly, as a result of draining bodies of their life and original owner, Narcissa could live for anything up to five hundred years in one body before starting to age. It's only her boredom that causes her to seek out a new form once every twenty or so years.
• Bio: As stated above, the Formless was once just another monster; almost mindless in its ferocity and with alarming natural strength. Foolhardy souls would come, be consumed, and eke out a brief life in the wilderness before she grew bored and abandoned it. The status quo finally changed when someone of unusually strong willpower came across her hunting grounds. For months, if not years, they held her off and attempted to get to someone with skills in exorcisms... only to fail at the last hurdle. If this had been any previous body, the Formless would have fought, killed, and generally given in to base instincts. The time fighting against this fleshy mind had changed her, however, imparting the beginnings of rational thought. She was still a mindless killer of the slums, but this was centuries ago, and eventually things began to improve.
  
  Closer to the modern day, her killings for fun have dropped to once every year or two, and even those are suicides and the like rather than murders and her body-hopping every decade or two. This body was acquired only a year or two prior, so not only are people safe from body-theft, if they don't fall into her machinations, they're fine. It's this slow rate of killing, combined with the lack of any implications of murder, that keep her safe.
• Other: To be honest, in her original form she's more a malevolent spirit or force of nature than a creature. It's why she hasn't returned to that form, lest she lose all her development.

Sorry for the delay Raineh.

Right now I'm inclined to say no... Based on what I'm reading I can't very much see how she will be able to interact with the other players.

Hmm? What do you mean? Are you saying that she would have no reason to interact with others or no ability to? Neither is actually the case. o.o

Well I see she can act human, so I don't doubt she has the ability to interact... however her motivations, desire to always win to the point of being incredibly hard to deal with and such will make it hard for anyone to interact with her for any significant amount of time. Not to mention that her primary motivation seems to be breaking people.

Her primary motivation is actually entertaining herself, so interesting events in general help. And the type of breaking meant is a very, very drawn-out process. Not something that would happen in a noticeable timespan. =/

Hmmm aside from being highly competitive can she find some satisfaction in regular events? Carry out a normal relationship even if it is just for show? She won't act mostly as a loony right?

Yes, she can. So long as people don't start acting like accountants, she'll mostly be a cloudcuckoolander that advocates... unusual solutions to problems. But, for the most part, she'll act normally.

Hmmm I'm a bit iffy but at the same time I'm curious how it will develop. She is approved and let us see how it turns up.

Crap. Emptied until I finish what I was typing.

edited 30th Jan '12 8:06:00 AM by Thrombin

so, I have this character idea, but I would like to know if the basic idea alone is allowed before I spend hours on fleshing it out: An (animal) spirit is changed into a human form. Though it bears no malevolence against humans, it's not familiar with human culture, which in turn will likely lead to shenanigans. The character is going to be brutally honest to everyone solely due to the fact that he/she doesn't know how to lie, but isn't actively trying to hurt someone's feelings either.

Long story short: as far as psychology goes, think of a young child being trapped in an adult's body.

If the base idea is allowed, I'll make a full character later on.

Such an idea is allowed.

Okay then ^_^. In that case, I'll start on writing up my charrie. Expect it to be up tommorow.

EDIT:

• Name: Felis
• Species/Race: Physically human, but mentally a young cat. (See Other for more info)
• Gender: female.
• Age: physically about 18, but has the mindset of a 6-year old. (That is to say: very curious and trusting, but brutally honest and a general lack of understanding of society's rules.)
• Appearance:
  • Head/face: Felis has long red-brown hair, deep green eyes and a near-perpetual smile on her face. She has cat ears on top of her head, which she can move at will. Said ears are the only cat-like feauture on her head; she doesn't have whiskers, her eyes and nose are shaped normally (bar the somewhat unique green eye color, that is.). Felis also wears a pink-red flat hat on the top of hear head.
  • Body: Felis is about 1.70 meters long (5.57 Ft), has long, slender arms and legs. She has extendable claws on her hands, but these are too short to do any real damage in a fight. They hurt like hell on humans and other "soft" targets though, so you still don't want to get scratched by her. Felis also has a tail that she has some control over. However, it's not strong enough to actually grab onto something, let alone lift/pull it.
  • Clothing: Felis generally likes to wear loose-fitting clothes and dresses in lieu of heavy armor. This for logical reasons: it's pretty hard to cut a hole in steel, and she really doesn't like being forced to curl her tail against her body too much. At most she'll wear something like leather armor, and even then only if she has to.

• Possessions: Felis doesn't own a whole lot. All that she has on her are a magic staff and the clothes she's wearing. she currently stays with a witch (named Marin) living in the part of the city where most mages live. Aforementioned staff is specially enchanted to be able to hit ghost, spirits and other intangible foes.

• Personality: Felis is very trusting towards others and can easily make friends with just about anyone willing to. However, it's hard to win said trust back when you lose it. She's also pretty curious and easily gets distracted by shiny things and small moving things (not to mention the scent of fish. Do NOT get in between Felis and fish.). Felis is brutally honest, mostly due to the fact that she doesn't understand the concept of lying. This is not the only thing about human society she doesn't quite understand though; When she's hungry, for example, she'll likely just take some food. Without paying, that is. This has gotten Marin into a lot of trouble more than once, and every time she punished Felis for what she did. It never seems to stick though; after a while Felis goes right back to "taking" food when she's hungry.

• Skills: Felis is currently being trained in magic, but not the general black or white magic you might be familiar with. Instead, she is being trained in Nature magic (Green magic?). This allows her to (for example) summon animals that happen to be around, heal allies, summon a cloud of mist in order to escape and call up a strange smoke that sends the enemy to sleep (Doesn't always work, nor does it work instantly.). She's pretty weak on the physical end of the spectrum though, likely even losing to a *insert weak opponent here* when forced into melee. However, she's also very fast, allowing her to simply run away when push comes to shove. If she gets cornered though, she's pretty much screwed.

• Bio: Felis has been living with Marin for as long as she remembers, which isn't all that long, actually. She wonders why her memory is so hazy sometimes, but then figures that she has other things to do. Though she knows that said witch isn't her mother, she has no idea who her real parents are. She now refers to Marin as "Master", hacing too much respect for her to be on a first-name basis.

• Other: Felis is actually a cat turned into a human by Marin (Why Marin did that? Who knows.), but only Marin actually knows this. Though she doesn't operate solely on instinct, she doesn't have the wits most regular humans have either, and her instincts do tend to pop up at times. Felis also has a minor case of aquaphopia and an aversion of water in general. At times, Felis will fall into cat mannerisms (hissing, meowing, purring etc.). This mostly tends to happen when she's excited in one way or another.

Is this good enough?

edited 1st Feb '12 12:47:53 PM by neobullseye

So skill set wise she's basically a druid/shaman? Cool.

Approved! Shall you be playing Marin or will you be leaving that up to me?

Bloody character idea, requiring two people in the end to work properly. Gah. Especially because I accidentally lost it all after writing the first bio the first time around... >.<

Oh well, good practice, I guess.

• Name: Niarra
• Species/Race: Human (base), though since their main ability is to take on any form they can think of, Niarra may not consistently remain human,
• Gender: Niarra's concept of gender identity is... fluid, at least with regards to themselves. Regardless of what sex they initially possessed, the shapeshifter has ceased to view themselves as anything more than what they appear. Whether this makes them neither, both, or either is an exercise best left to the observer.
• Age: ~200. Any shapeshifter that would fall prey to time's grasp is a very poor shapeshifter indeed, seeing as how that entire discipline revolves around changing your physical form and ageing is an extension of that.
• Appearance: As the above sections indicate, Niarra is a shapeshifter and expecting a consistent appearance is akin to demanding that a kestrel stop flying or a goldfish come on land. Nevertheless, despite this, Niarra does have a trio of preferred forms. In descending order of commonness, they are:
  1. The Child: For whatever reason, the shapeshifter's most commonly assumed shape is that of a child and the one that shopkeepers and the general public are most likely to see when Niarra is about on business. Rather than an orphan waif that might get a smattering of respect, this child is plainly well-fed rather than starved and dressed in a cotton smock of the purest white, along with sandals of some description, rather than rags. Her hair is tied into a stomach-length golden ponytail with an ostentatiously large crimson bow.
  2. The Androgyne: The second most commonly assumed form, mostly used when people refuse to deal with an unusually mature child or dealing with a child would be somewhat reprehensible, is that of an androgynous youth whose sex could only be determined by persuading Niarra to remove the loose and garish silks that shroud their figure. Hair and voice are no clue, with their hair being messy, indigo, and somewhere between short and long; Niarra's voice is similarly in a halfway point between masculine and feminine. It is quite plausible that there is no sex or that the sex of this form changes every time it is assumed.
  3. The Mountain: The least used of Niarra's reused shapes is, at base, huge. A seven and a half-foot tall mountain of flesh and muscle, this shape is mostly used when Niarra has agreed to do some sort of physical labour for a person—transferring goods from a warehouse, for instance, or giving a blacksmith chance to rest an injury. With a mane of wild, black hair, grizzled features, and rather a lot of hair in general, this shape is most aptly described as a half-shaved, half-tamed bear.
• Possessions: Niarra actually owns very little, keeping exactly two items on their person. One is a brutal-looking knife tightly bound around their waist, good for cutting but not so good at anything else other than intimidation, and the other is an amulet. Said amulet consists of a blank disc of gold hung on a length of cord and serves as a reminder about those who are not so fortunate at escaping time's grasp. Any other possessions, if they indeed possess any, are stored in a house belonging to Niarra's partner, though should their relationship fail (and the shapeshifter doesn't think that it will), they'll move on to working for bread and board.
• Personality: An optimist, at heart. Niarra believes that everything will eventually turn out for the better, that people are at heart good, and that failure can be overcome through sheer stubbornness. This combines in odd ways with their altruistic streak, leading them to find it perfectly accpetable to squander magical ability in favour of doing manual labour for the destitute, such as fixing their roofs, and looking after children (though considering that they're perfectly willing to teach the children to write, too, that might not be such a bad thing). There's also a self-sacrificing side, hidden amongst the rest, and Niarra is quite willing to throw himself in harm's way and take a blow even if there's a veritable army of thugs raised against the defender.
• Skills: Having forgotten the basics of the other magic they once knew, Niarra's skills boil down to shapeshifting, something that have honed to a somewhat alarming point. Without any effort whatsoever, the shapeshifter can go from a small child to a spine and scale-covered feline. This does, of course, have a number of limits: firstly, only organic matter can be formed from the transformation, allowing clothing but barring any chance of creating jewellery or weaponry; secondly, there is a finite amount of mass to go around, though the sheer size of Niarra's third common transformation indicates that this is likely to be a rather large amount; and finally, if an organ or body part is not naturally occuring on the human body, it must be studied intensively if Niarra wants to be able to properly form and use it. This also enables the shapeshifter's own injuries to be healed extremely rapidly, making a war of attrition something of a foregone conclusion.
• Bio: Niarra was born to a wealthy merchant, one who believed that the best course of action, with their second child, was to send them to learn magic. Naturally, they were extremely annoyed when Niarra opted to learn shapeshifting rather than anything that would have an easily-used commercial application and, when the young shapeshifter refused to relent, disowned them entirely. This spurred the mage into abandoning their previous identity. Some might say that it worked too well, with Niarra's forgetting their original form in its entirety.
  
  Over time, the angry, passionate youth has calmed down without losing their original zeal to help people. Whilst they've experienced rather a lot, very little of it is of much interest, save for what happened during their brief stint as an adventurer. One of Niarra's closest friends got killed by the wildlife and, since then, the shapeshifter has done their best to avoid any possible reason to leave Hercine.

• Name: Lia Emerux
• Species/Race: Mongrel. You know how there's half-breeds all the time? Well, this is the end result of the half-breeds breeding with others of mixed origin for at least half a dozen generations, resulting in a girl that has no idea what they actually are or what to expect. The only things she's been able to determine so far is that, yes, she's going to remain on the short side and that she ages incredibly slowly. Lia only hit puberty at 60, for a start.
• Age: 134, looks about 21.
• Appearance: The most obvious thing about Lia is that, at the most, she's about four foot six. It's kind of hard not to notice that someone running around in red and gold silk, complete with a rapier, is not that small. The second thing you might notice is that her hair is long for someone a foot taller, with the dark blue strands threatening to engulf her.
  
  The rest of Lia's physique matches rather well with her height. She's thin and dexterous rather than stocky and strong, suggesting that the size is unlikely to come from dwarven ancestors. Her eyes, fittingly enough, don't match, with the right being green and the left brown.
• Possessions: Lia's possessions are... well, they're not exactly the most numerous ever. She's got her clothing, a matching hat with a jaunty feather in it, and a rapier enchanted to never break or wear down under the sort of strains that it's meant to endure. Aside from that, she has a house that barely avoids being in slums of some description and the bare necessities needed to house two.
• Personality: Significantly more grounded than Niarra, though still a generally helpful person, is a good way of describing Lia. She is, however, prone to flights of fancy and getting distracted into imagining a complex scenario from the smallest events. Unlike Niarra, she refuses to work for free, though she'll at least wait until after your life is saved before demanding that you pay her.
• Skills: Fencing. When it comes to a trial of strength or endurance, Lia will fail every time. If a fight is decided by who strikes first, however, or who can avoid taking damage for the longest whilst harrassing their opponent, she'll win. It serves rather well against most monsters, which could easily overpower someone of her kind.
• Bio: Whilst Niarra gave up any attempt at adventuring after the disastrous first attempt, Lia... didn't, taking her lover's normal philosophy to heart and continuing onwards, spending as much time in the city as she can between breaks. Before that is something of a blank slate, since she doesn't talk about it.
  
  She just got back to the city from whatever it was she was doing, so the pair of them have enough money to get by for a while.

edited 2nd Feb '12 8:09:40 AM by RainehDaze

hmm, having a race of shapeshifters does raise some interesting questions about Lakan's human-variety only brand of shapeshifting.

Niarra there is, by default, completely human. They'd be using magic to change shape, not some natural ability. ^^;

Both are approved Raineh, quite interesting concepts the two of them, though I'll keep and eye on the exact endurance of Niarra should battle occur.