Greed and Glory - The Red Queen's Legacy

Greetings, adventurers!

400 years ago, the Kingdoms of Savras and Kwalrah fought in the War of the Great Divide - a terrible, unforgiving conflict that claimed countless lives and split the continent in twain, until the island-state of Tar-Konath intervened and mediated a peace, bought at a great price.

Such days are long past. Both kingdoms now live in harmony and prosperity, leaving the war relegated to the history books. But wars and rumours of wars still linger and breed in dark corners and there are those would see a return to the days of violence - and, in turn, those who would do anything to stop such machinations.

Our tale begins in the city of Jeralta, a bustling hub of activity on the Savran coast, and home to countless men and women of various races. Some will find a a letter delivered to their residence - a letter from the Curators, indicating that they have been selected for their skills to to be part of a task force venturing into the Great Divide and beyond...

---

So Pyrite and I made a game! Here's the rules:

• The TVTropes Forum Rules and RPG Subforum Rules apply. Above all... Don't be a dick.
  • A note about PVP: while we're not against it in principle, it has led to flare-ups and conflicts in the past. As a result, any players wishing to engage in PVP (e.g. friendly duels) should have the limits of said engagement pre-discussed and clearly defined with the G Ms and each other.
  • We're not just a "whatever" freeform RP, but full systems would be too involved, so we're using Risus, with the advanced options for hooks, tales, and single pumps. Please read those rules. It takes four minutes. If you don't want to download their PDF, there's an HTML page here.
• Magic and Technology: Medieval Stasis and Fantasy Gun Control are in full effect. Technology is roughly at Medieval levels, and it's been that way as long as anyone can remember. There're no pesky things like "guns" and "cannons" to make you start questioning the utility of bows, armor, swords, and castles.
  • Magic, while common enough to not be "scary" and completely unknown to laypeople, is still a bit rare, only being used by those who were fortunate enough to both be born with a knack for it and then spend years studying applications and theory. Healing magic is the most common, as it is taught by all sorts of different orders, but there are mages of various fields. The majority of mages in Savras are taught at the Mage's Tower on an island to the north off the southern coast.
• Character Creation: While the game itself is going to be pretty simple, the majority of the rules involve character creation.
  • Basically, you get ten "points" to put into up to five cliches.
    • You can have an extra point if you give your character a "hook", which is defined as "some significant character flaw - an obsession, a weakness, a sworn vow, a permanently crippling injury - that the GM agrees is so juicy that he can use it to make the characters life more interesting (which usually means less pleasant)."
    • You can get another extra point if you come up with a tale about your character's backstory (within reason). It could be anything, really, ranging from combat exploits to sitcom-like situations. Maybe it's the tale of the only woman that the Casanova-type loved and could not keep, that one time the Orc fought a bear in the woods to save a group of orphans, or when the huntress accidentally killed a nomadic tribe's holiest bird.
  • Your character's race is passive if you choose something mundane and not too different from humans, like elves or dwarves, and doesn't count against your cliche cap. If you choose something that you'll clearly want to use actively, like being a centaur or jumps-really-high-guy or something, then you'll have to give it a level and treat it like any other skill.
  • No cliche should go over four points to begin with - there needs to be room to improve, since leveling up is going to be half the fun! A four in a cliche means they're not a master, but they've at least got a bit of experience and can do a good enough job at it.
  • Remember, people aren't swimming in magic, and no religious aspects are provable, so try not to have a demigod, celestial, energy-based, or just obscenely powerful, race.
  • How specific a cliche is (e.g. wizard vs frost mage) will alter how hard or easy something is for your character to do. A fire mage will find it much easier to, say, set things on fire, but might be at a relative disadvantage compared to other mages if other types of magic (namely, anything that doesn't involve setting things on fire) are required. Likewise, the Wizard might be able to do it all, but they'll never come close to a specialist in that field.
  • Don't worry about minmaxing. Combat skills are almost all going to be treated equally under the Risus system, so it's the social aspects of your character that you're going to want to define. It might be nice to have nothing but combat skills, but you'll have terrible luck doing anything that doesn't involve breaking skulls! In conversations, would you rather have a Race-With-Bones-Made-Of-Steel(3), Wizard(4), Loud-Guy-Who-Fights-With-A-Sword-His-Own-Height(3), or an elvish, Suave-and-Ruggedly-Handsome-Country-Boy(4), Lumberjack (4), Guy-Who-Secretly-Practices-The-Lute(2)?
  • Pets: Instead of a skill, you can have a pet. You can put up to two of your cliche dice towards a pet. If you want two pets or a pet with a ton of points, we ask that you give your character at least three levels in some skill that reflects being good with animals, like tamer, farmer or whatever. You could also have your character be a falconer if your pet is a falcon, or something like that.
    • They have the same restrictions as a player character, but they only have as many total dice as you give them. So if you give two points to a cat, it's a cat (2). A pet can have multiple cliches if you'd prefer to do that.
  • Special Magics - You don't have to use these names, it just seemed like someone might want to use these types of magic, so here's some mechanics for them:
    • Blood Magic/Adrenaline Rush/Heroic Effort/Whatever You Want To Call It: Magic/rage/whatever that is used to enhance the user's physical strength, though the strain causes the body and mind to tire. Gameplay-wise, it pretty much lets you pump a skill and lose dice from this skill instead of the main skill. You can add as many dice from this skill as you want when you're rolling something that has to do with physical feats, like jumping, falling, etc, but then you lose those dice as if that cliche were injured in battle.
    • Healing Magic: In combat, the player rolls a die to determine how much healing is done (1-3 heals a point, 4 and 5 heal two points, 6 is a critical heal that heals 3 points) at the expense of one of this skill's die. The player can heal themselves by one die by rolling all of their dice and averaging over 3, with 6 being a critical heal (2 dice). Healing magic regenerates fast like a social skill instead of a combat skill. Outside of combat, healing works like any other challenge.
• Apart from the above restrictions... Be creative! You'll have a limited pool of cliches to play with, but it's what you do with them in-game that really matters. Your character has to be from Savras, but that includes the rather mysterious Great Divide, so your character can be pretty much anyone you want them to be.

---

NPC Organizations: Though, your characters could potentially be very low-ranking members of some of these groups if you want*

But, I mean, If the description has the words "secret" or "not much known", then they are NPC-only groups.

• City Groups:
  • The Spotters: The city's guards and enforcers of the law, who guard the city from internal and external threats.
  • The Curators: The closest Jeralta has to an archeological society. They are concerned with the study, procurement, and restoration of artifacts and relics from the days of old. They fund excursions into the Wild Lands??? and Southern Divide???, and have agents scouting countless marketplaces and stores, examining every trinket. They fund themselves by selling everything they find to the highest bidder - normally nobles looking to adorn their mantles - once it's been thoroughly documented and recorded, but there are rumors of objects of tremendous power that they keep for themselves.
  • The Guild of Artificers and Merchants: The well-respected labor guild of Jerela, representing the majority of the upper- and middle-class merchants and craftsmen.
  • The Brickmen: The other labor guild in the city, claiming to be "A union of like-minded businessmen and workers dedicated to protecting the interests of its members" - in other words, a union that is utterly corrupt. It operates in the poorer districts and slums of town, and it is involved in crimes ranging from protection racquets and arson to dealing in various drugs and potions and blackmail. Proud "businessmen", they hate the Moonlighters, considering them cowards who can't even show their faces.
  • The Moonlighters: The guild of thieves in Jeralta. Most of the "somewhat unlawful transfer of property" in the city is conducted by their members, and they make sure to stamp out any unauthorized thievery. It is said that every beggar, whore and stableboy in Jeralta is in their employ. It's also said that there's a master thief, known as The Thunder Chief, who controls all the goings-ons of the Moonlighters. Their organizational structure means that most thieves will tend to only know a few members - and one higher-level contact - in the organization. They look down on the Brickmen, considering their tactics primitive and brutal.
  • The Blackcloaks: A band of vigilantes in the city, named after the black cloaks and facial wraps which all their members wea. Not much is known about them, but they lurk in the city, usually at night, jumping down from the rooftops and attacking Ne'er-do-wells, leaving their bodies for the guards to find.

• Non-City Groups:
  • The Pryalls: A very secretive society that not much is known about.
  • The Lumbermen: A small group living in a village in the forests to the east, where the people have spent years cutting lumber, though no one knows why.

---

Locations and Stuff
First, here's a crudely-drawn map◊, and a crudely-drawn map with some crudely-drawn labels◊.

• Countries:
  • The Kingdom of Savras: The Kingdom where all of the player characters were born, raised, and live. Encompasses the land between the Wild Lands and New Divide.
  • The Empire of Kwalrah: A country that is mostly made up of desert lands, "Kwalrah" is the ancient word for "desert". The sentient races populated this country long before they migrated east to the Kingdom. Minimal trade and communication has been maintained between the Kingdom and the Empire ever since the war created the New Divide.
  • The Exalted Holy State of Tar-Konath: A reclusive country, ruled by a council of mages, with magic users making up the nation's nobility. They believe that the island is a sort of holy land, killing any outsiders they capture, with ships never straying far from the coasts. It is rumored that years of breeding and smothering has caused everyone on the island, even if not a magic user, to carry at least a trace of magic in their bloods.
• Locations in Savras*
  That we actually bothered to describe
  :
  • Cities and Towns:
    • Jeralta: The city that the RP takes place in. It is an enormous walled city with multiple districts that takes up the entirety of the peninsula it's on, as well as part of the inland, with all sorts of races living throughout, and a slight human majority. It's along the coast (it has docks on its south side), and there are numerous political and societal groups within. It's ruled by the Duke of Jeralta, who is part of the royalty of Savras.
    • Samod: The capital city.
    • Yiunt: A small port city in the most southwestern point of the Great Divide. Utterly corrupt due to its extreme distance from the core of the Kingdom, it's always buzzing with thieves, cut-throats, pirates who are in port, and bands of hunters who go out into the forests to try and steal from the nomads*
      If everything that was alleged to be an aphrodisiac actually worked, the nomads would have died of overpopulation ages ago
      . Expeditions into the southern regions of the wastelands sometimes pass through, though only if escorted.
    • Abegon: A sizable city in the Great Divide, mostly consisting of descendants of nomadic tribes that have decided to be less nomadic, but don't want to go east into the more urban cities.
    • Meltwater: A mining city, and the kingdom's main source of iron and coal. The the northernmost city in the Kingdom. Beyond it lies the frozen wastelands, generally considered inhospitable to humans.
  • Other Locations:
    • Fort Trassik: The westernmost fort in the Kingdom, located an the extreme west end of the Great Divide, just before the New Divide. Once a well-respected fort that kept the path between the kingdom and the empire clear, for the last few hundred years it's been a dumping ground for commanders who refuse to retire and soldiers who refuse to conform.
    • Fort Ofird: Located on the east side of the great divide, Fort Ofird separates the "civil" half of the Kingdom from the "wild" half.
    • Ilouas Keep: Located near Meltwater, the keep protects the northern border from wild yetis and fights off troll raids. A smaller tower is located high up on Widow's Peak to serve as a lookout.
    • Lumbermen's Camp: The camp the lumbermen have set up on the outskirts of the forests.
• Geography:
  • The Great Divide:The large forest that separates the plains of the Kingdom from the deserts and wastelands. Technically a part of the Kingdom, but only conceptually, as it would be impossible to patrol or collect taxes, and there are some tribes that no one has ever seen. It is mainly populated by various nomadic groups of nearly every known race.
  • The New Divide (The Wastes): The large strip of land between the Great Divide and the Desert Empire. Was created four hundred years ago during the war, when it was corrupted and devastated by ancient magics and plagues. Its climate and geography varies wildly, with different areas being comparable to forests, deserts, plains and swamps, though with darkened skies and
  • The Wildlands: The forested area to the east of the Kingdom. Those who wander deep into the region are presumed dead. Only the Lumbermen are known to return, but they do not talk about any specifics with outsiders.
  • The Great Sea: The endless ocean that borders the continent to the south. Ships that venture far out into it are never seen again, causing captains to stick to the established trade routes between ports.

---

Character Skeleton

• Name:
• Age:
• Race:
• Appearance:
• Personality: Stop! Wait! Your character's personality comes from how you write your posts and how they use their cliches, so only mention something here if it's not an obvious thing.
• Cliches: Remember, up to five*
  four if your race is already being used as one
  cliches, ten points total, four max per cliche
  • First Cliche Name (Level): Stuff you'd expect to be able to do with that cliche
• Equipment: Whatever your character needs for their cliches. Just know that the more stuff your character has, the more stuff they can lose. And like we said, people aren't tripping over magic items left and right, so your sword's not possessed by an unquenchable bloodthirst and your armor doesn't let you turn invisible... yet.
• Place of Residence: Where do you get your mail?
• History:
• Hook: Optional
• Tale: Optional. You might want to get the character approved first.
• Misc:

---

• Arimil Moonbrook - Karl Kadaver
• Aduth Norwood - Plumbum
• Kuon Mauer - Mantlemask
• Admiral Loser - Firock Finion
• Aber of the Street of Smiths - SKJAM

edited 16th Sep '12 10:20:43 PM by nman

Post reserved for miscellaneous stuff, Q&A, and other assorted nonsense.

edited 5th Sep '12 7:36:41 AM by Pyrite

Not a substitute for a formal medical consultation.

Here's my character sheet for approval. I'll be happy to answer any questions or make changes as needed:

• Name: Arimil Moonbrook
• Age: 19
• Race: Human
• Appearance: He's around medium height with mousey brown hair and grey eyes. His skin is a little on the pale side from spending a great deal of his time in libraries. Rather that wearing the robes that most mages are known for, he prefers to dress in the outfit of his village: a simple shirt and pants and sandals.
• Personality: I don't think that there are any aspects of his personality that aren't apparent from his sheet.
• Clichés:
  • Apprentice Mage (3): General spellcasting. “Jack Of All Trades/Master Of None” kind of wizardry.
  • Nerd (3): Reading, writing, comprehending, expressing interest in things no one cares about, being awkward around the opposite gender
  • Nature Lover (2): Herbalism, identifying flora and fauna
  • Adventurer (2): performing odd jobs, basic outdoor survival skills
• Equipment: A knapsack containing the following items: 2 spellbooks (~20 pages each), 1 journal, ink, quills, beef jerky, loose money (unknown amount)
• Place of Residence: The Mage’s Tower, East Wing, Third Floor, Room 12
• History: Once in a great while, there comes a Hero, chosen by the Gods to deliver the land from The Darkness. Blessed with the might of heroes before him, he will slay the dragon, marry the Princess, and rule the kingdom with a heart of solid gold alongside his stalwart companions for the rest of eternity.
  Arimil is not that guy. In fact, he’s quite far from it. Born the son of humble farmers, he destroyed his family’s entire crop after finding a spellbook and clumsily stumbling over the words within. Kind of a bad thing when you have a habit of muttering to yourself when you read and the spells aren’t labeled for convenience. Some would say that his parents were overjoyed to learn that their son was one of the Gifted, a magic user. Some would say that his parents were utterly devastated to learn that their son was one of the Gifted, a magic user. In any case, they hastily petitioned the lord of their village to petition the Master of the mage’s Tower to study there. Far away from home. For many, many years. Many years. Far away from home. Arimil himself was quite overjoyed at the prospect. During his time at the Mage’s Tower, he completely lost himself in his studies. No one is entirely sure why he dedicates himself so much to studying magic, but no one is complaining. As long as he doesn’t burn any more fields.
• Misc: Did I mention that he likes studying magic?

edited 6th Sep '12 7:46:16 AM by KarlKadaver

Give the world the best you have and you will get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

We think your guy's pretty good, but want to know what sort of magical things he can do, since we're not sure what "general" encompasses. Also, just want to confirm: do you not want to use hooks or tales? Its probably better to have a character approved before putting effort into a tale, so I guess you can have some time to work on one.

"General" encompasses the four Elements (Earth, Water, Fire, Wind) and Healing. He doesn't know any debuffs or illusions.

I'll think on a hook or tale. I was thinking that his defining trait is that he's a nerd and kind of an outcast, since his history strongly implies that he was banished. I dunno. Maybe something along those lines.

Give the world the best you have and you will get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

Hmmm... Looks good, Nman. Gimme a few minutes, I'll roll up an ise zumi.

EDIT: A monk that channels sorceries through his tattoos. It might take longer as I'd like a good hook and back story.

edited 7th Sep '12 11:48:05 AM by mantlemask

The hits keep rollin'!

Is this based on a game system?

Trump delenda est

For now, the standard ten pointer is accepted, while you think about the rest. I hadn't really considered healing part of the standard wizard package, but we discussed it and figured that it's okay. But to be fair to anyone who makes a healer down the line*

, since he isn't specialized in healing, he can't heal himself in combat or get a critical heal.

Yeah, Risus. It's linked in the OP.

edited 8th Sep '12 8:21:59 AM by nman

Colour my interest. I'll make up a character when I get back. I've got and idea for a Bear Grylls-y kind of survivalist guy who intentionally has no social skills.

Just a couple of questions; Do we have to use clichés from a list someqhere, and how many points would have to go into a dog (that can hunt and attack dudes) as a pet?

Curse the ill fortune that led you to me.

Plum, you're back? And I didn't know about this?

But there's no predefined list of cliches, you make up ones that that fit the setting. Just remember, the more stuff a single cliche can do, the worse it'll be at doing those things compared to a specialist. As for a dog, it's up to you. Just follow the guidelines up there. So if you only wanted to give it one point and have a dog(1), you're free to do that, it just wouldn't be a very good attack dog.

edited 8th Sep '12 8:56:35 AM by nman

I also signed up for Radio City, which you're in IIRC. Didn't notice me there? Also, I've not long got back, signing up for RC was my first post on return.

Anyway, yeah, dog's probably only gonna have one point, it's meant more to be his companion than anything else. I'll edit into this post when I get back to my PC.

• Name: Aduth Norwood
• Age: 29
• Race: Human
• Appearance: Because I'm lazy, I'm using a video game character who will donate his face.◊
• Personality: About the main thing that shouldn't become readily apparent is that Aduth is completely uneducated. Notably, he cannot read or write. I'm also going to try for that as a Hook, but I do not expect it to work
• Clichés:
  • Survivalist (4): Aduth more than knows how to survive in the wild, he knows how to hunt, with traps and his bow, and how to find or make clean and safe water.
  • Archery (3
    four if my hook is accepted as such.
    ): Years spent honing his skills with a bow have paid off big style.
  • Imposing Presence (2): Okay, I went back on that social skills bit. Either way, Aduth is able to threaten for what he is after. If that doesn't seem likely to work, he can use the same presence to impress people.
  • Pet (1): Ashe◊ (Yes I used my real-life dog, but you call that thing not cute!)
    • Basic Canine Skills (all of that 1 point Ashe has): Ashe can hunt small animals - and is usually self-sufficient for food and fight in self-defense. It can also sniff out things of interest and try to warn people if little Timmy falls down the well
• Equipment:
  • Bow + Arrows
  • Sharp Knife
  • Pans (2)
  • Flint
• Place of Residence: Meltwater
• History: Born into a militaristic family, Aduth was trained from an early age in archery, in fact, even earlier than most. By age 12 he could shoot a bow straight. It didn't last long though, as most of his family perished in a mine collapse when he was fifteen. A mystery illness had prevented him from working in the mines that day. He found companionship eventually in a young pup that seemed to wander down from the wastelands - she was injured and separated from her mother and clearly wouldn't last long on her own. He took the pup in, and this gave him a realisation. He could well end up like the pup did - hopeless - if he didn't learn how to survive. He has since then lived a lifestyle of spending longer in the wilderness than in his home in Meltwater.

edited 8th Sep '12 11:14:58 AM by Plumbum

Curse the ill fortune that led you to me.

Pyrite has to give him a looksie to make sure you aren't pulling a fast one on us, and we'll discuss anything relative, but before one of us hands down an official GM statement™, I do have a question: Is Ashe the same dog he found 14 years ago?

edited 8th Sep '12 1:16:42 PM by nman

There is a time gap there. I didn't explicitly mention it, (I said "Eventually"), but if needs be, she's a descendent. (An idea I quite like actually)

But yeah, that was just a derp on my part originally. Above are my designated asspulls.

edited 8th Sep '12 1:24:42 PM by Plumbum

Curse the ill fortune that led you to me.

Anyway, Nman, where do you put the hook? Same place where the cliches go?

edited 9th Sep '12 7:24:45 AM by mantlemask

The hits keep rollin'!

Alright Plumbum, we talked it out and you're good to go, and your hook's fine.

And, yeah, Mantle, I guess I forgot to put a bullet in the signups for the hook. As long as it's somewhere it would be good, but I'll go add bullets to the sign up so there's an "official" place.

edited 9th Sep '12 7:21:13 AM by nman

Pulled a derp; I meant 'cliches'. Do they hooks go right next to the cliches?

The hits keep rollin'!

Nah, no worries, I got what you meant, so I went back and added a "Hook" bullet if you want a specific place. But if you had put it in with the cliches or somewhere else, one of us would have found it eventually, I hope.

edited 9th Sep '12 7:34:32 AM by nman

Took me a while but here you go. Hope it's meets your requirements.

• Name: Kuon Mauer

• Age: 28

• Race: Human

• Appearance: Growing up near Yiunt, Kuon is a product of the cosmoplitan nature inherent in a port city. He stands at around 6 feet, with tanned skin and black hair usually cut short. His features are plain and pleasant, exactly as you'd imagine a wandering ascetic, though his lean frame is hardened by over two decades of training and practical application and covered in scars. He dresses in the manner◊ expected of a wandering monk, with bandages wrapped around his fists and forearms. The colors of his clothes usually autumn-toned while the wooden beads around his neck inscribed with various mantras, prayers and earth-themed motifs.

• Personality: First impression is that he is a reticent individual who tries to be one with the background. Engage him in conversation, and he will smile and return the attention, though he will do much of the listening. Actions not words is his motto.

• Cliches:
  • Elemental Monk (4): As first (and last) disciple of the Raging Earth School, Kuon has almost mastered partial elemental transformation, infusing his limbs with the unyielding power of earth and adding much 'oomph' to his mastery of a style already based on endurance and hard counter-attacks. Along the way, he has picked up a few practical lessons on medicine and even survival. But determined as he was, Kuon simply was not a good enough academician when it came to doctrine. To the detriment of the history of martial arts, his might and skill are all that remains of his school's legacy, try as he might to take down all that he remembers.
  • Helpful Adventurer (3): From the ruins of his monastery near Yiunt, he has journeyed across the sea to shining Jeralta and beyond, in service to peace and the welfare of his fellow men while on the quest for true mastery of his abilities and any knowledge he can find of the School of Raging Earth.
  • Amateur Woodcarver (2): A hobby he had taken up in his spare time. He loves the sound a carving knife makes upon a block of wood, of how the images of his mind take shape with but a calm afternoon of scraping and whittling. He never keeps any pieces he makes, always giving them away. He takes no payment, but if money is pressed into his palm, he will give it away.
  • Happenstance Vigilante (2): In spite of his vows towards peace, Kuon has found himself heeding the call of his heart when hearing people's cries for help. Since giving aid to some poor farmer's son who had found himself cornered by some street toughs (three of the five back-alley bravos were not able to eat solid food for a good long while), he has earned the silent attention of the Blackcloaks. Making his rounds within the Jeralta city limits, he has felt like he was being watched from afar at certain occasions.
  • Hunted Man (1): Kuon is unaware of his hunters' identities as the Order of the Cleansing Tempest. He only knows that he has to try to keep a low profile and to watch his surroundings. Though this might be difficult, given that there are few monks like him on Savras and he often goes out of his way to try and be helpful.

• Equipment: He carries a gourd usually full of spring water, a walking staff when travelling and a sling pouch containing the following items:

  • Carvers' kit
  • Bandages and assorted herbs and powders of medicinal value
  • 1 spare change of clothing
  • Fibers. Sandals don't repair themselves, you know.

• Place of Residence: Formerly, the Temple of Raging Earth, an hour's ride away from Yiunt. Now he serves as a humble attendant in one of the many poor houses in Jeralta's Sanctum District.

• History: Once a wild orphan running amok in Yiunt's poor quarters, Kuon was taken in by kind but boisterous brothers of the secluded Temple of Raging Earth. For fourteen years, he had found happiness and achievement, learning the arts of elemental unity at their feet and on the field, in defense of the common man. He loved the monks for teaching him many things; his letters, a working knowledge of the healing arts and, of course, how to channel the might of the element of earth through his limbs. Then came one terrible night that saw the destruction of his Temple and the deaths of his brethren. With the tears burning in his eyes, he fled to the docks of vibrant and irrevocably corrupt Yiunt, where he found a boat bound for distant Savras. Upon this strange new land, he hopes to start anew, like an acorn becoming an oak... And maybe to find out what caused the ruination visited upon the Raging Earth.

• Miscellaneous: "Mauer", meaning "wall", is a surname he had taken for himself on what he believed was his 16th nameday. Kuon also keeps a journal containing whatever knowledge he can remember of his School. This is held by the kindly old abbot in charge of the Fellows' Rest, the shelter he works in. Interestingly, he also cannot hold a note to save his life.

• Hook: Kuon is a the last student of the Raging Earth. As such, he is a black mark in the record books of the leaders of the Order of the Cleansing Tempest, who have sworn to avenge their loss of face at the hands of the Raging Earth. Ostensibly a school of martial arts developed to protect and uphold the balance of nature, the disproportionate retribution wrought upon Kuon's school speaks of a much darker purpose.

• Tale: A week or so ago, one of the Raging Earth's senior brethren had been challenged to a fight by two members of the Order of the Cleansing Tempest. A school noted for the its supreme mastery of a paired fighting style and craft and usage of exotic weaponry, the resultant duel was a daunting challenge for the brother. But in the end, the Raging Earth school proved mightier than the twin furies of the Cleansing Tempest.

This would not stand with the masters of the defeated martial artists. As they limped off, they swore that the Raging Earth would end their days in fire. The victorious brother laughed. As he went his merry way, he merely called out that as long as there was earth beneath their feet, the Raging Earth would last forever.

Then came that terrible night of fire and lightning. By dawn, the Temple of the Raging Earth, home to almost two hundred brethren and repository of the secret knowledge of elemental mastery, was no more. The ruin was so complete, you could not put two stones together. The Order of the Cleansing Tempest were as good as their word.

But there was a tiny spot on their pristine operation; one Kuon Mauer, who had borne witness to the destruction from the entrance to his home and had started to run hell for leather for the sanctuary of the childhood home he had left behind, then to the seas beyond. The twin masters of the Cleansing Tempest knew their work was not finished and bid their students to cast as wide a net as possible, to scour Kwalrah and even distant Savras. Their goal; to find the last adept and scatter the legacy of the Raging Earth like the dust of its former temple once and for all.

EDIT: 09/16/12

edited 23rd Sep '12 7:57:19 PM by mantlemask

The hits keep rollin'!

The only question I can think of at the moment is what channeling Earth into his limbs and elemental transformation means. Is it metaphorical talk about energy, or something like telekinesis-ish dirt powers?

Oh, and Jiunt is Yiunt, right? Also, tiny geography fun fact that doesn't really change anything: Yiunt is still part of Savras, or at least technically it is. It's just... really far from the main region.

edited 10th Sep '12 2:26:54 PM by nman

Anyway, edited the entry. If it takes a year or so to get from one side to another, I factored that in through his age.

And it's more of the energy thing. I didn't want to make a bender. Also, like how they say that wizards take their will and force reality to bend, Kuon turns his limbs into stone. But just his limbs. He hasn't mastered full elemental just yet.

edited 10th Sep '12 4:46:30 PM by mantlemask

The hits keep rollin'!

As long as we limit the Earth Elemental powers to partial transformation of limbs to stone (for now, anyway), I think it's reasonably balanced. No major objections on my part.

edited 11th Sep '12 4:20:03 AM by Pyrite

Not a substitute for a formal medical consultation.

Thanks, Pyrite. And yeah, I'm fine with the limit.

The hits keep rollin'!

This looks like it could be really fun, and a great opportunity to remake an older character of mine. Two questions though...

1: Our characters don't need to be completely serious do they? I assume not from Karl's being accepted, but I figured I might as well check since the guy I'm thinking of remaking is not serious at all.

2: Any rules on secondary characters/NPCs? The guy I'm thinking of remaking is supposed to live with his sister.

edited 11th Sep '12 5:06:00 PM by FirockFinion

You are reading this.

1. We're a serious setting, but you can have fun.*

It's boring if everyone makes totally straight-faced no-nonsense characters. Just don't do something childish and make a gladiator named Farticus with lots of restroom humor and you'll probably be fine.

2. Depends. Pyrite and I will have to figure out a quick rule of thumb for that, so it might take a day or two to come up with a concrete answer. But what do you plan on making her do? That'll help us figure it out. If you just want them to be someone who goes off and lives their own life and shows up every now and then, it'll be different than if the sister is following him around, carrying a battleaxe and smashing skulls. She'd probably be treated the same as a pet in the game system if that were the case.

edited 11th Sep '12 5:44:53 PM by nman

Hmmm... It's hard for me to be an unbiased judge on whether or not this character would count as "childish". I'll try to summarize a bit: There's two main jokes about the guy, one that he's obscenely rich but chooses to live like a bum mooching off his sister; and two that he previously changed his name to "Admiral Loser". (There were reasons for this. Stupid reasons, but reasons.) Personality wise he's extremely laid back and friendly.

As for the sister, she would probably fall in the camp of doing her own thing elsewhere and only occasionally showing up. (In fact I've already got a plan for what she would be doing in the meantime.) She is supposed to be a really good fighter though.

You are reading this.