It has been three centuries since the sun turned her full warmth on the continent of Premara. Ice and snow grip the land in a brutal, endless winter. Ruins from the glorious civilizations of the era of the Golden Summer dot the landscape, protected from brutal Ork raids by the ferocious, mindless constructs that maintain them. Nomadic bands of humans, elves, and avians wander the northern forests and tundra, hunting and foraging to survive. To the south, small settlements barely eke out an existence during the short times of the year agriculture is possible, stockpiling and fortifying themselves against raids for the colder parts of the year.

Life is survival, and little more.

All roads lead to Krisonsis; a Dwarven citadel buried in the heart of a dormant volcano. Krisnosis is the last bastion of civilization on Premara, a place where members of any race can gather in relative safety and partake in activities of an older, more advanced time, such as mining or smithing. There are rumors of other enclaves elsewhere, and of a faraway place where the old ways of Magic are guarded by a select few. But these are the lives of the clever and fortunate.

Magic on Premara is intrinsically linked in the mysticism and legend of the tribal ways. On Premara the world really is a plaything of the mind, magic being an individual's ability to channel their own power and the power around them into forming the world according to their will and whims. While spectacular feats may be performed by those with training in the magical arts, either shamanistic or scholarly, those with enough experience in any occupation can, through sheer power of belief or skill, perform magical feats themselves. Stories of swordsmen with legendary ability drives warriors today to magical acts. Tales of mythic items capable of anything spur the finest craftsmen to create weapons with magical properties themselves, from common materials.

Around the world there are signs of powerful magic long dormant. Records of spell circles nobody is sure the meaning of, sightings of powerful spirits, echoes of the roar of dragons high in the mountains. Above them all is a fable about a brilliant gem, one that stole part of the sun's light and warmth, a gem that can usher in a new Summer again. Surely magic of such great potency couldn't exist, could it...?

---

Winter of Premara is an epic post-apocalyptic fantasy RP. Player Characters are Heroes, individuals not necessarily heroic in deed but instead ability; those born with an inclination to magical or supernatural personal feats. A world enshrouded in perpetual winter has a single hope, an ancient tale of the Sol Adamas, and where most everyone in the world labors hard simply to stay alive, there are none who can search for a mythical stone.

Until you, for whatever reason, decided that such a legendary calling was right for you.

Character creation is almost completely open-ended. You can design whoever you want, capable of whatever you want, as long as it can fit into our very flexible magic system. Player-created races are welcome as long as you put good effort into them. Try to keep it Super Scale 2; we're people with supernatural abilities or a slice of Made of Iron and a teeny bit of Reality Warper, not out-and-out mythical heroes ourselves. Yet.

Just putting up a character that works, however, doesn't mean you're accepted. We're going to be reviewing applicants roleplaying ability, and it would greatly help if in the application you can include a link to other roleplays you think you've done well in, maybe directly to a specific post if you'd like.

Character Application:

• General
  • Name
  • Race
  • Gender
  • Age
  • Build
  • Equipment
  • Specific Features:
    • Height
    • Eye Color
    • Hair Color
    • Notable scars
• Physical Description
• Mental/Emotional Description
• Backstory
  • How you find yourself in Krisnosis
• Powers and magical abilities
  • Secondary (non-magical) or trivial abilities. (Left handed? Can speak different languages besides Premaran and their racial tongue?)
• Other Notes and Miscellany

edited 7th Jun '12 8:41:05 PM by SOCR

How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?

Race: R'jyjem

Physical Attributes

R'jyjem- literally translated, 'Sky kin'- appear as slim humanoids with distinct avian features. Their mouth has been replaced by a hawkish beak with a bifurcated lower half, which combined with a flexible forked tongue allows for understandable speech. Their heads, necks, backs, outer thighs and lower legs all sport white feathers accented with various light colors depending on lineage, while the front of their bodies, throat, face, and inner thighs all feature exposed humanoid skin. The boundary between the two is marked by the feathers shortening and flattening out onto white scales, before merging together and disappearing under the skin. Discounting wing feathers, the longest feathers on a R'jyjem body can be thirty centimeters, coming off the head in a crest (on both males and females) and running down the spine, ending in a tail; a fan of feathers closer to 60cm in length.

Their arms have actually adapted into wings; their broad hands are possessed of a thumb and six fingers. The last three fingers are adapted into long pinions for flight feathers, anchored to these digits and the underside of the arm are primaries and secondaries that can grow to be a meter in length on a mature adult. R'jyjem wingspan is typically double their standing height, and while they are not capable of powered flight for long periods of time, these proto-wings are more than sufficient to allow short bursts of flight to great altitudes, or gliding for hours on end.

The other notable alteration is their feet; R'jyjem legs, at the ankle, appear to be very bird-like in construction. The foot is extended and covered in a rough scaly material, and at the ball of the foot isntead of toes are four talons; two facing forward, one opposable, and one facing reverse. An adult's toes are a fifty centimeters in length, ten of these dedicated to a jet black, extremely sharp talon.

Despite all these avian qualities, R'jyjem are not actually related to birds at all. Physiologically their closest relatives are elves; under the feathers and the wings and the morphed face they share the general tall but slim build1

and anatomical features2

down to the long, pointed ears. With the lack of humanoid facial structure below the eyes or any sort of hair, breasts are normally the sexual indicator to other humanoid races

. They can communicate in humanoid languages even with their alien jaw arrangement, and indeed their racial tongues are pronounceable by humans even though some R'jyjem indicate certain sounds are difficult to produce, indicating a much closer relation sometime in the race's history.

Culture

Standing and personal value

R'jyjem tribal society is always centered around hunting. Individuals hunt for the tribe, and the tribe as a whole typically has its own goal pertaining to hunting or searching. Your skill and prowess while hunting is reflective of your personal ability as a while, and turns the necessary into a competition amongst R'jyjem hunters. Because of this R'jyjem put great effort into physical conditioning, but not necessarily strength. Speed and stealth are very important factors, and cleverness also plays a part- traps are not 'off-limits'.

Most magic a R'jyjem would perform is going to be magic that increases their own ability. R'jyjem reach this magic usage not through any formal education, though certain specific techniques may be passed down, but instead by accumulated experience and practice in their own personal ways. Because of this many R'jyjem abilities will vary from individual to individual, but most veteran R'jyjem learn the basics of amplifying sensory perception, strength, speed, or endurance, the veterans of the wilds even learning extremely limited tactile telekinesis (such as making items they carry lighter, or be able to throw them farther or faster than normal), and the most hardened hunters may learn to project ranged attacks from their weapons of choice. It is extremely rare that an R'jyjem besides a tribal elder would use any ability linked to the elements, they put too much pride in personal accomplishment.

For a culture of flight-capable creatures, flying does not really take a significant part of their culture. The wings themselves, however, have their own set of customs while interacting with other races. Around those of other kinds, usually R'jyjem will pull their primary feathers back against their forearm and tie their wing to their forearm with a wide colorful band that represents their tribe. Each tribe has their own pattern, similar to Scottish clans and their kilts. They are not allow to unbind their wings around outsiders unless they are about to use them (There are no restrictions on the act of flying itself, though as an extension of the rule some choose not to fly unless it is necessary). The reason behind this tradition is lost to time, but most R'jyjem feel it would be impolite to those around them to flaunt their wings, akin to bragging.

The pack in which an R'jyjem holds their belongings is an almost sacred item to them. It's usually handmade by the individuals wearing them, and holds literally everything they own (details on that can be found in the section below). They usually only part with it while sleeping (at least, the ones who don't use it as a pillow) and touching it is a sure way to get handed a feathery beatdown. Somewhere on the backpack is another pattern band for their tribe, and a simpler one as a personal identifier, usually on the shoulder or chest straps or the outer surface. In many cases the backpack straps across the shoulder and chest are padded with extra furs, and itself made into a chest covering for warmth (and for the females, decency).

Only part of the reason for combining the functions of a travel pack and a shirt are for convenience. R'jyjem clothing is very minimal, because clothing would take up a large amount of the little space they have available for storage. Clothing is almost exclusively furs, in warmer temperatures they are more likely to cut down on surface area covered than change the material entirely. Luckily they are gifted physiologically with a partial coat of feathers. Clothing generally only covers the upper chest (integrated into the travel pack harness) and pants to the knees, with simple wraps for the midriff and the neck. The rest of a R'jyjem's body, except the face, is covered with adequate down and outer feather layers. R'jyjem clothing may have cords around the edges to draw them closed around the limbs or parts of the body they protect.

Attitudes towards property, personal space, and privacy.

The most striking thing about R'jyjem that some other races find difficult interacting with is how they view property ownership. To an R'jyjem, you only own what is actually in your physical possession. R'jyjem spend their lives literally under the weight of all they own, and when they stop to rest their packs never stray far from their persons. This can be extrapolated to the extremes; to an R'jyjem not acclimated to other cultures, handing them something so they can examine it would be seen as giving it to them as a gift. In an R'jyjem is somehow incapacitated and rescued (presumably by carrying or dragging the inert body) the rescuer owns the R'jyjem's life, or at least is owed a debt for gifting the life back without compensation. It is only proper to consume food you yourself have hunted, or that a member of your tribe has (and that individual gets first dibs). It works in reverse as well; if you drop and leave an item you relinquish ownership of it, transferred to the next person to pick it up. Requiring another's assistance in transporting an object gives them co-ownership of it.

This has several cultural implications; first and foremost traditional R'jyjem are unable to form settlements- at least without a very communal society- because they cannot exert ownership over a structure. Tribes do not actively defend their territory, because the only territory they actually control is the territory currently in-use. Physical contact initiated by someone other than a friend or tribemate is a threat of the highest order. Being a guest of certain, more generous cultures is uncomfortably close to being treated as if unable to care for oneself. Fiat currency is literally worthless to an R'jyjem, or worse than worthless; taking up space and weight that could be used for more valuable items (and currency made of precious materials is barely tolerable; R'jyjem put great stock in practical items)

Most R'jyjem deal with other cultures by interpreting the rules in a more metaphorical sense; if you are in possession of a key you own the house or chest and everything in it, because you own the only method of access to the property. Close friends can be interpreted as an abstract tribe, because within tribes the rules are somewhat more relaxed. R'jyjem are very secretive outside their tribes, real or informal, but within them R'jyjem society is extremely open. A tribe is in effect one singular entity; property within the tribe is to some extent shared between all individuals, and the 'rules' of possession are more relaxed.

They put great stock in familial bonds, and similar bonds could be adopted between a R'jyjem and anyone they consider crucial in their lives. Courtship is proceeded by or initiated with an exchange of all possessions between the individuals. An embrace is one of the most romantic gestures, as one physically holds (and therefore owns) their partner, and a gesture only extended to one's beloved, immediate family, and tribal elder. R'jyjem do not have any ceremonial bond such as marriage, though traditionally one keeps their family members and partners identity patterns alongside their own on their packs, to show the possessions within can be extended to those individuals. Removing one's individual pattern from the colorful weave would represent denying that individual further access to your belongings, and by extension, yourself.

edited 5th Jun '12 2:09:10 AM by SOCR

How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?

Roight, 'ere we go...

Da Orks

As old as any other race, the Orks are a people of raiders, fighters, and experimenters. They are also arguably one of the most technologically advanced tribes in Premara, obsessed with the weapons and equipment of the bygone Golden Summer. Nowadays they use it all to power their raiding efforts or to ornament themselves. Magic is also in heavy use by this people, often to make the piles of broken technology they salvage function. As a race, the Orks prefer to be nomadic, but when they settle down, the place is often heavily fortified with whatever they can find. Wherever they go, conflict often follows, as the other peoples are usually seen as raiding targets. To say that these fierce folk are universally hostile would be a lie, however. Some of their Clans (for the Orks are by no means united as a people) trade with and even work alongside the other races, recognising that while many enemies are fun to fight, to have many more isn't always so great for the safety of the Clan.

Da Orks: Physique

Like many of the other dominant races of Premara, Orks have the shape of a man: Same number of limbs, same number of facial features, and even much of the same outline. Where an Ork differs is unmistakable. Most obviously, their colour of their skin is invariably a shade of green or grey (in their legends, this is thanks to the gods being jealous of their prowess), from a dark moss to lighter and louder shades. The next difference is their sheer enormous size compared to Men, in musculature as well as body mass, a quarter of a ton not considered an unusual body-weight for a fully grown raider. They move with a slightly stooped gait, which only limits their imposing height but a little, often at or nearing seven feet. The face is somewhat different as well, sharp tusks protruding from the lower jaw, curling as the Ork ages. The face is wide, with a big rounded nose, a sloping forehead, and large, oft-narrowed eyes. This is set usually under a mop of coarse hair, and the ears are jaggedly pointed.

Da Orks: Technology and Magic

Every Ork is expected to seek out more of the Golden Summer's technology wherever they go, and to bring it back to their Clan for immediate use or repurposing. While any piece of it has great value to the Orkish community, its state of intactness determines how much the finding is hailed (although that is higher still if the piece happens to be a weapon). When the artifacts are brought back, the status of the Orks whom found it rises. Every piece is scrutinised heavily by a large part of the Clan for uses, and much haphazard testing goes on. Mere baubles are typically just given back to the raiders whom found them, sometimes with a rune for luck or protection inscribed. Devices and weapons on the other hand are brought to the Clan workshops, to be pieced together to the best possible state if broken, and simply cleaned up if miraculously intact. Broken or damaged artefacts are always heavily inscribed with runes and writings, to help them function in the ways the many tinkerers guess that it would, sometimes filling in for missing parts and lack of first-hand knowledge. It's said that when some Orks managed to find and repair a gonne to (barely)working order, they found the half-hearted blast to be unimpressive, so they inscribed away until the sound of it was almost deafening, and the blast itself explosive.

---

edited 6th Jun '12 4:34:39 PM by Colonial1.1

This post was thumped by the Stick of Post Thumping

The Danse Macabre Codex

Are we just in the worldbuilding and race-creating stages or this, or can we actually make some bios? 'Cause I'm interested.

Allurand and surrounding world loading, 28%...

Make some bios, go right ahead :3

The race descriptions are just to illustrate what we have that isn't standard Fantasy fare.

edited 7th Jun '12 7:32:59 PM by SOCR

How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?

Alrighty then! There'll be a completed bio here soon enough!

• Name: Melancholy, but his friends call him "Mel." That is, if he had friends.
• Race: Human
• Gender: Male
• Age: 17
• Build: Lanky, but still slightly muscled from years at the forge.
• Specific Features:
  • Height: 5' 11"
  • Eye Color: Heterochromatic: Green left eye and a blue right eye.
  • Hair Color: Brown, like milk chocolate.
  • Notable scars: Mel has three claw marks on corner of his right cheek, after a cat clawed at his face when he was a kid.
• Physical Description: Mel is one of those "farm-strong" people, in that he is much stronger than his slight musculature and thin stature indicate. He doesn't stand too high, doesn't weigh all that much, and has few noticeable things about him aside from his heterochromia and his scars.
• Mental/Emotional Description: Mel is not usually a happy guy, usually fitting in a more self-deprecating and sarcastic disposition. He is often very inquisitive about the world around him, which has led to Mel becoming very educated. He seeks the approval of others and feels very inadequate of his abilities as a human.
• Backstory:
• Powers and magical abilities:
  • Secondary (non-magical) or trivial abilities:
• Other Notes and Miscellaneous:

edited 9th Jun '12 3:42:31 PM by Insano

Allurand and surrounding world loading, 28%...

edited 8th Jun '12 1:31:28 AM by Starbound2

I do need help. I'm working on the bear-people (working name: Aravah)'s physiology and the head is giving me a headache (no pun intended); more specifically, I can't figure out if a polar bear's mouth area (the jaws, the lips, etc) needs to be modified so that the Aravah will be able to speak human languages, and if so, how.

The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground

From what I recall, the inability of most animals to mimic human words is a result of their lack of ability to manipulate the lips and tongue to get the right sounds, though with chimps I think it was because something with their vocal cords made them completely incapable of forming words. I'd expect an species on par with humans and that has the expressed capability to communicate with language would have mastered these hold-ups.

So, basically, I can say that A Wizard/God/Whatever Did It?

The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground

Yep.

Well, this took a while to come up with; lemme know what you think, D Ms. I also appologize if the length of this scares anyone off, but hey; these R Ps encourage that sort of detail.

Ymar Svarogsson

General

• Name: Ymar Svarogsson
• Race: Barghasti
• Gender: Male
• Age: 20
• Build: Lean yet wiry
• Specific Features:
  • Height: 5’09” when hunched, 6’07” when fully erect.
  • Eye Color: orange
  • Fur Color: brown
  • Notable scars: a long, thin one runs along the underside of his left arm, starting below the wrist and ending just before the elbow.

Physical Description

Ymar is rather tall in comparison to most humans, standing a good six feet seven inches in height when fully erect; that said, the hunched posture common to most barghasti brings him down to five-foot-nine. His coat is a rather dark shade of brown, save for some grey on the chest, and his eyes are a vivid shade of orange. Being an adolescent, he is rather lean by the standards of his people, but Ymar’s limbs are nonetheless corded with wiry muscle. A thin scar runs along the underside of his left arm, starting at the wrist and ending just before the pit of his elbow; this wound was a souvenir of a mammoth hunt that almost went disastrously wrong, and were it not for the interventions of Wise Larfey, the pack shaman, he would have lost the use of that arm.

Like most of his kind, Ymar does not wear much clothing; a loincloth is sufficient to preserve his modesty. He carries both a tomahawk and a knife on his person, stored within small bands on his forearms and hips to prevent them from jostling and making noise while on the hunt, and similar bands hold the arrows for his bow. Leather bracers adorn his wrists, to protect them from injury while using his bow.

Mental/Emotional Description

From an early age, Ymar has been fascinated by the legends of his people; as a pup he would often be the first of his siblings to take his place around the campfire at night, listening with rapt attention as Wise Larfey regaled them with songs of legendary heroes, mythic quests, and an awe-inspiring world so very different from the one he knew. Such tales stoked his curiosity, and when not partaking in hunts he would often lose himself in flights of fancy, wondering what it would be like to see the sun shining high in the sky as the snow and ice vanished. Such traits would have made for a good shaman, and had matters been different he might have pursued an apprenticeship under Larfey; alas, she already had several apprentices among his siblings, and as far as Ymar’s father Svarog was concerned such a promising hunter should not be wasting his time in memorizing the pack’s oral traditions and learning the ways of the spirit world when his skills could be put to better use in this world, against their prey. Thus was that path forever barred to him, and though he may hide it well Ymar still feels a degree of bitterness towards his sire for how things turned out.

Ymar is not used to being on his own; up until now, his entire life was spent in the company of his pack and he could always rely on his parents and siblings to help him out if things ever went wrong. For the first time, however, he finds himself apart from his family, heading off into the unknown on a voyage that may well be the last he ever takes; he could very well die on this voyage, hundreds of miles from the people he loves and the woods he called home, and this notion frightens him. Yet he persists in spite of his fear; for he knows how important this quest is, and to not undertake it would sully the entire Svarog pack with his cowardice—an edict from the spirits is not something that you refuse, after all.

Ymar is not yet sure what to make of the other races that inhabit Premara, having had little experience with them save for the occasional territorial scuffle between his pack and the tribes of the humans, the elves and the orks. As such encounters were typically hostile, he will be wary of them at first and may find himself slow to trust these furless ones, though circumstances may cause him to warm up to the other races as his quest goes on. He also has a soft spot for children, which stems from having to help raise his younger siblings when he was old enough, and woe betide anyone who harms a child in his presence.

Backstory

Fifth of nine children born into the current generation of pack Svarog, Ymar Svarogsson is a promising young man; though still an adolescent at twenty years of age, he has already proven himself to be a skilled and competent hunter, and under different circumstances he might have been chosen to succeed his father as leader of the pack when Svarog inevitably passes on. Alas, a growing rift between father and son has put paid to any possibility of that happening.

How you find yourself in Krisnosis: One night, Ymar had a particularly vivid dream, a dream so real that he could still feel the warmth of it after waking; in this dream, he found himself entering the mouth of a fiery mountain and standing before a radiant golden stone, and as he approached the stone let out a blinding pillar of light which seared the clouds from the sky and bathed the land in a warm glow like nothing that he had ever known before. Uncertain of what this dream might mean, but sure that it had some significance, Ymar went to Wise Larfey, the shaman of clan Svarog, and told her everything. After communing with the spirits on this matter, Larfey determined that Ymar’s dream was a portent from those who had come before, one that foretold the end of the long winter; for they had recognized the stone in his dream as Sol Adamas, the legendary artefact capable of bringing spring to the land, and understood that Ymar’s destiny was tied to it in some fashion.

The spirits had spoken, and their will was clear; Ymar would go to Krisnosis, the fiery mountain of which his dream had spoken, and from there begin a quest to find the Sol Adamas. No one in the pack was happy to see him go, least of all Ymar himself, for they knew that his quest would take him far away from everything he had ever known, place him in perils the likes of which he could scarcely imagine and could very well cost him his life. Even so, they understood that this had to be done; the spirits had decreed that his fate would be entwined with the Sol Adamas, and to deny this destiny would be to deny who he was. And so, after taking a week to say his goodbyes and make his preparations, Ymar left his pack and began the long journey to Krisnosis; it was a trek that would take many days to complete, leading him across countless miles of unforgiving wilderness, and by the time that he finally arrived the youth was nearing the point of collapse. Here, his quest would truly begin…

Powers and magical abilities

By virtue of his upbringing, Ymar possesses many of the skills needed to survive in the wilderness. He is a competent archer, though he generally prefers the more direct approach when it comes to bringing down prey, and knows how to fletch arrows in order to replace any that he might lose during his hunts; in addition he is a skilled tracker, and has enough medicinal knowledge to treat any minor injuries that he might incur—though life-threatening wounds are beyond his expertise. Ymar also has a bit of a knack for magic, though sadly his potential has largely gone unrealized until now; at present, he is only capable of invoking the spirits to briefly heighten his sense of smell, or enhance his ability to move stealthily for a short time.

The Danse Macabre Codex

Huzzah! A character!

Very cool. I think I'll begin working on a R'jyjem...

It's been fun.

Reserving an Orc, but I'm going to be away for a week.

Not a substitute for a formal medical consultation.

After a false start, trying this again...

• General
  • Name: Nora Ridge
  • Race: Human
  • Gender: Female
  • Age: 16
  • Build: Lean, with a bit of muscle; in a word, "sporty."
  • Equipment: Aside from some worn armor she wears over her thick furs, the only thing Nora carries on her of note is her sword. Her big sword. Her bigass, monstrous 5 foot (6'6" if we count the handle) sword. As thick as her arm and worn down from generations of use, the 4"-by-2" diamond-thick iron blade is more of a spire-shaped club than a sword, only capable of cutting with its cleaving edge due to its massive weight... and the sheer strength of its wielder.
  • Specific Features:
    • Height: 4'11"
    • Eye Color: Sky blue
    • Hair Color: Brunette
    • Notable scars: Not really; a few scratches here and there, but nothing dramatic.
• Physical Description: A short-haired, short-statured teen girl who, despite a centuries long winter falling over the continent, still somehow managed to get a tan - must be in the genes.
• Mental/Emotional Description: Tomboyish, energetic, and headstrong, what Nora lacks in smarts she makes up for in earnest spirit and optimism. Friendly and always seeking new adventure. Also idolizes her father to ridiculous levels.
• Backstory: Raised in a small agricultural village to the south, Nora grew up being wowed by stories from her father, Anthony, about his journeys, the boisterous man once a nomadic wanderer before setting his roots down in the settlement with his wife, Lilia. Despite the harsh conditions of the world, Nora fantasized about heading out herself on her own adventures, seeing what sights the snowy wonderland of Premara had to offer. On her 16th birthday - the age of adulthood, according to her father - Nora inherited the family sword and decided that she would off into the world to show it what she was capable of.
  • How you find yourself in Krisnosis: Adventure! More particularly, with Krisnosis being the center of civilization that it is, Nora figured that it was a great place to start herself off.
• Powers/Magic Abilities: Nora has problems visualizing herself using magic; it doesn't really fit her mental self-image, and as such she can't really cast externalized magic such as fireballs, barriers, mental influence, and so on. What she can picture though is being strong: even as short as she is, she can wield her sword with ease, and with enough determination can cut in half objects thicker than her sword's length. She's also made of tougher stuff, able to take several brutal hits before she'll go down, even having a small, subconscious healing factor. Despite all this, she'll insist that she has no idea how to use magic.
  • Secondary Abilities: She has some skill with a sword, though she's mostly self taught. Also knows a bit about crops and such due to her rearing, and how to fish and ice-fish. Fishing is a bit of a hobby of hers.
• Other Notes and Miscellany: n/a My dad can beat up your dad!

• General
  • Name: Sniper Farsight Hakar—Sniper's more of a rank/birthright, he generally just goes by Farsight.
  • Race: Ork
  • Gender: M
  • Age: 25
  • Build: Farsight's a lot more skinny than your average Ork; he's not barrel-chested, but has the arms and legs of someone who does a lot of running and climbing. Athletic, not a body builder.
  • Equipment: A Golden Summer-era wand, with the name Last Argument carved on the side; it has an adjustable and removable scope, a heavy and sturdy shaft, and it's about four and a half feet long. Farsight keeps it well-cleaned and maintained at all times, and held in an oilskin bag slung across his back. When he squeezes the shaft—shut up—a blast of blue energy fires out of it, packing incredibly high kinetic force. He also has a coat/pants combo with a matching ushanka, warm and patched with black and white to camouflage in the perpetual winter. He also carries a grappling hook and set of climbing pitons.
  • Specific Features:
    • Height: 5'10"
    • Eye Color: Blue
    • Hair Color: Brown
    • Notable scars: Notable in that he doesn't have any.
• Physical Description: Hakar has a very warm, animated expression at all times. His face is rather blocky; lots of harder edges in it, strangely juxtaposing his expression. He has skin on the darker side of the ork green spectrum, and his eyes and ears are a lot larger than a normal ork's. He keeps his hair in a short and well-kept crew cut.
• Mental/Emotional Description: Hakar is a very straightforward guy: he sells you his services with his staff, you write about it, and he hangs onto the report. He's basically a businessman or an average merchant, only he kills people. Hakar fails to see any sort of moral problem with this, and considers his skills just like any other good or service. He makes eye contact with everyone, and shakes their hand firmly. While polite and efficient, he does not plan to kill everyone he meets.
• Backstory

Sniper Farsight Hakar comes from a long tradition of other snipers, as far back as the third generation of Hakars—Farsight is on generation 12 right now—when Bowman Longshot Hakar discovered a massive cache of high-powered wands in an Ork raid. Our current Hakar was given his at a young age and taught to shoot for the tribe, differentiating target priorities, learned to take out only the targets only he could kill. His father sent him journeying around the world at 18. Hakar's natural aptitude, in addition to his strange stillness, prompted the tribe to send Hakar out for glory, and to possibly find lost technology some day.

• How you find yourself in Krisnosis

Hakar wandered the wastes of Premara for two years, killing what he could and living off the land, the kindness of the people, and the fact that even with the world so harsh, people will still pay you to kill their fellow man. It was good living, really. Just him, the road, his coat, and his staff, wandering the world. Krisnosis was just one stop on his journey that became much longer than that. He discovered that here, of all places, people wanted his services even more than usual! So he bought a house and settled down, for a given measure of "settle."

• Powers and magical abilities: Sniper Farsight Hakar is above all a skilled sniper, obviously. He can't blow the wings off a fly or anything, because that would be ridiculous, but he can definitely aim at something very far away and make it dead by using his staff. His hands are extremely steady and to enhance that Hakar has trained a magical spell that can, for minutes at a time, completely stop his heart and remove any need for air, further stabilizing his aim. This magic can also be funneled into the Staff to charge it. Hakar is also very athletic, capable of traversing terrain virtually wherever he wants. In a pinch, he can also use his rifle as a decent bludgeoning weapon, too.
• Secondary (non-magical) or trivial abilities: Can recite the entire Hakar family tree from memory.
• Other Notes and Miscellany: He has a shitload of bullets, and schematics to make more.

edited 11th Jun '12 9:52:57 PM by Taco

• Golden Summer technology had not progressed to the point of manufacturing cartridge ammunition or bolt-action firearms; think mid-1600s with clockpunk and rudimentary steampunk. Long guns would have been muzzle-loaders and unrifled. And with the tehcnology now, that crossbow you mentioned would be unreplicateable tech from the Summer era as well.

• Ammunition is literally non-existant. Only those who are very adept at magic can make use of guns, generally using pebbles or specially carved wooden standins for ammunition. Firing a gun on Premara at this time is a completely magical act, only only the most experienced of Orc tinkerers or those warriors well-versed in the lore of the tribe can actually use one to even rudimentary effect. Technically the guards of Krisnosis have their own dedicated supply or iron musketballs but they aren't interested in selling it to anyone- their own gunmages don't want anyone else to have the advantage of their premium ammunition.

• Twenty generations have not passed since the winter began, it's only been about 300 years, or somewhere around ten to fifteen.

edited 11th Jun '12 9:47:27 PM by SOCR

How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?

...is Nora okay? <.<

• Right, I figure I can turn the rifle into a sort of stafflike thing that just fires bolts of magical energy of some kind and has a scope, which he can charge with magical power from himself. Prevents bullets from being an issue, and hey, now I have a laser. It's like the Dungeon Punk equivalent of a rifle, which seems like the kind of thing you're going for.
• I just used '20 Generations' because I wanted to get the point across the the Hakars are a super huge and old family.

There, he's been edited. What do you think now?

... (cough)

Even with super strength, carry and using a sword like that is going to be incredibly unwieldy for a girl her size.

Well, in this setting, everyone has innate magic, right? Nora's would basically provide all the Required Secondary Powers necessary to actually use the blade.

Sorry I've been busy, will look over all this by tonight.

How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?