Verissa looked up from the outrider that lay before her, his torso burned black. There wasn't much she could do for him except help him pass into the world beyond with as little pain as possible. The glowing purple shield she'd conjured over his mouth and nose slowly blocked more and more air, putting him into a delirium before the breaths stopped coming. Her attention was drawn to the crystalline spire that had grown out of the rolling, grassy plains of the Kerawac like a spear thrown by the gods. It had been three years since the archfiends came through their portal and built that city, that fortress, right in the middle of her world. Three years since the abyssal world and her own merged at random places. Three years since Asher was sucked into one of those portals and locked in that other world with many of their tribe. Her people, the Kvaren, the horse lords of these plains, raiders of settlements, nomads by necessity, named that demonic city Hr'kret, Harbinger of Blood in the Common Tongue. And since that arrival, the many tribes of the Kvaren had attempted time and time again to raid that city, purge their beloved plains of this scourge. And many times they had failed. The Knights of Ebonfort, far to the east, had marched on that city, and were pushed back, devastated. The demons marched on their empire and laid waste to their largest village, Scream Watch, and left nothing but ash. Ebonfort is but a shell of its former self, its army walled up in the capital city of the same name, the remaining villages that had been under their protection left to fend for themselves. The Ebon Knights closed off the world, and her new allies. Pyresia, the tropical city of dwarves and dragons, was flourishing in this chaotic world. They were at war with New Vircastoria, a city that housed a god most foul. And that city was wealthy, and everyone knows how dragons love to add to their horde. And dwarves too. Their war had initially received aid from the powerful orcs of the Chenewan swamps who simply didn't like the puritans of New Vircastoria. But when the archfiends and their many beasts came through, the orcs remembered their old oaths. They had driven the abyssal creatures from this land long before humans even existed, and were preparing to do so again. Verissa was snapped from her gaze by a familiar voice, belonging to the eldest of elders, an Aaenshi by the name of Shenzi. [color=fff200][i][b]"The men are leaving out for another raid tonight. Are your maidens ready in their defense?"[/b][/i][/color] Verissa nodded, [color=bc8dbf][b][b]"We're always ready, you know that. What are you really asking?"[/b][/b][/color] [i][color=fff200][b]"I've seen your tent. When do you leave?" [/b][/color][/i] The elderly fox woman's eyes conveyed genuine concern at the loss of one of her most prized apprentices. Verissa sighed, closing her eyes, her blonde locks swaying in the evening breeze, [i][color=bc8dbf][b]"First light. I make for that mercenary camp. I need to get to that portal. I need to know if he lives. I cannot be free until I do."[/b][/color] [/i] Her hand subconsciously hovered to the stomach that had at one time carried Asher's child, but now only bore a single jagged scar, covered by her furs. [color=fff200][i][b]"You are free Verissa. You are a Kvaren true. You've founded the shield maidens, saved many of our people's lives. What more do you need? If it is death you seek, I can grant it to you in a way much more kind than what those archfiends would give you." [/b][/i][/color] Verissa didn't know how to respond, and simply left the burnt, charred man and her old mentor, tears streaming down her face as she returned to her own tent. Her travel packs were readied, her tent ready to be given to a new owner. Two grey streaks strode silently in behind her and she sat down as her beloved Mountain Ridgebacks, Remus and Remilia, licked at her face. [color=bc8dbf][i][b]"We go out on our own soon loves. We'll find him." [/b][/i][/color] She readied herself for sleep, haunted by his face, as had been the way every night since the sky broke and hell broke through. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gold Ridge started as a mercenary camp in the southern mountains, on the edge of Pyresian land. It gave an excellent view of the vast Kerawac plains and the demonic shard that speared them. It was now a full fledged city that was funded by a single trade. Archfiends. Mercenaries and hunters alike flocked her, then went out on missions to kill fiends, rob the fringes of the city, hunt the abyssal beasts that roamed the plains around it, finding anything and everything from that foreign realm. Anything from them sold for a pretty pence. Traders, craftsmen, collectors from all over the world came to the village to bid on these rare goods. Some even commissioned hunters so as to not have to compete in the highly publicized auctions. Many came to this mountain town, several left it for Hr'kret, some came back. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [h1]The How To[/h1] Create a character, pray they survive this plot, have fun. Even though magic and fantasy beasts and such exists in this RP world, I want to keep a focus of realism. If your character is a novice mage, they can't destroy an entire army. If your character has no Agility skill, they can't do triple back flips into a face stab. Keep it realistic in a semi-unrealistic setting. The point is for our characters to grow, not start off being amazing. I'd greatly appreciate about 3 Paragraphs per post. I don't mind mature themes, simply because the world is real. Bad things happen, good things happen, details happen. That said, no violating of the site's rules. So just for clarity's sake, I'll quote them at the end. Proper grammar and spelling are greatly appreciated. When grammar and spelling are awful it can be terribly distracting for the participating writers. I'm not going to be a stickler for the occasional mistake and such, we are humans after all. I will let you know if your grammar needs to step it up. Respect each other, and if you can't, take your disagreements to PM. It's why it's there. You get one character. If your character wants any sentient NPCs to join them (Spouse, child, slave, whatever) that is fine, however, as GM, I also maintain the ability to use them. I've had problems in the past with people abusing companion NPCs. So please don't. There's no posting order, though I do want at least 1 post from each writer between GM posts, and at least 1 post a week. If you wish to do collabs (great for tons of dialogue) feel free. If you have any lore or background questions, please ask here, simply so that everyone can learn from the answer. [hider=Quoted Rules][quote] Explicit Images, including gifs: no nip-slips, dolphin tits or other permutations of nudity and explicit sex, which includes Japanese anime-style blurred genitalia. (err on the side of caution) Racial/sexual/other epithets: If it's a letter-word, like the n-word, we will ban that. We also have urban dictionary, so we can look up things of this nature. So don't use a derogatory term for another racial group. ex. 'N*gger' 'K*ke' 'Gr**ser.' Advocacy of violence against a gender/sexuality/religion/ethnicity/etc. Smut: This should be obvious, due to problems the Guild has had in the past with Adsense, but this is also a no in the public forums. Griefing: Harassment/Griefing is not allowed, and it's easy to avoid someone if you can't keep your cool with them. Also, if someone tells you to stop PM'ing them, stop immediately. Don't waste our time - Founder's words, but pertinent when if have to keep dealing with an issue over and over again, without any real resolution. This covers any clever ways people might find to disrupt the Guild, particularly as regards to finding ways to get around the above rules. [/quote][/hider] [h1]The Character Sheet [/h1] [hider=Character Sheet Breakdown and explanations] [b]Name:[/b] Pretty straight forward, keep the names realistic and fantasylike. [b]Race:[/b] Any race you want from basically any fantasy setting. I also have a small, unfinished database of races found here. http://ebonfort.wikia.com/wiki/Races [b]Gender:[/b] Depends on the race [b]Age:[/b] Depends on the race [b]Birthplace:[/b] I've purposefully not developed a bunch of locations on this side of the continent of Tessanis, so we can develop them in this RP. If you want your character from a village, fine, name it, brief overview. The starting location will be Gold Ridge. Any of the locations mentioned in the IC post are available for use in histories. If you have questions on the lore, I can answer all of them. [b]Occupation:[/b] Pick something. Shouldn't be terribly difficult. [b]Appearance:[/b] Pictures, written descriptions, however you prefer to show off your character. I'm not particular. [b]Personality:[/b] Self Explanatory. [b]History:[/b] If you need assistance in writing a history, just ask. I personally prefer simpler histories, so they can be elaborated upon IC. [b]Skills:[/b] Various things that your character is strong at. This can be knowledge, combat, crafting, etc. Magic included. [b]Possessions:[/b] Stuff your character has and brings with them. Can also include things like home and pets. Keep it reasonable. No Princesor Barons or other excessively rich people. [/hider] [hider=Template] [code] [b]Name:[/b] [b]Race:[/b] [b]Gender:[/b] [b]Age:[/b] [b]Birthplace:[/b] [b]Occupation:[/b] [b]Appearance:[/b] [b]Personality:[/b] [b]History:[/b] [b]Skills:[/b] [/code][/hider]