Apologies everyone but I've been dealing with some stuff and haven't been able to sit down and think on some updates. I'll get an extra day off because of the 4th so hopefully if I don't get anything done this weekend I can get a midweek update out instead.

Since we've lost a few members at this point I'm also considering getting in touch with some of the people who expressed interest after we'd reached our initial quota. Feel free to show hands if you'd be for or against that or have any other concerns about how the RP's currently going.

Apologies everyone but I've been dealing with some stuff and haven't been able to sit down and think on some updates. I'll get an extra day off because of the 4th so hopefully if I don't get anything done this weekend I can get a midweek update out instead.

Since we've lost a few members at this point I'm also considering getting in touch with some of the people who expressed interest after we'd reached our initial quota. Feel free to show hands if you'd be for or against that or have any other concerns about how the RP's currently going.

Update is up! Hopefully I didn't miss anything this time. Also, I'll try to get around to updating NPC/World tabs and whatnot at some point. @Crusader Lord I think I came up with a workable way to have the Runts sort of move on without Esfir, without straight up rocks-falling anybody or being too egregious with puppeteering.@Unkown58Sorry that I missed your question! Still need info?

@Rune_Alchemist@Timemaster@Kaga Classs@Ashh@Steel Legion
Since we've had a few dropouts, I wanted to drop you folks a notice if you still had interest in joining! Given the pace of things has been fairly manageable (a few blips on my part notwithstanding) I'll lift the original "10 players" restriction for you all so anyone who wants to throw a CS out here, feel free! Also, apologies--I think I missed replying to some of you when you originally posted, I didn't mean to be rude!

Welp, here she be. Instead of questionable science lizard, I instead went with ~religion~ this time.

Hopefully this is acceptable. I left it pretty open ended with the last bit, but I figured it'd make most sense if while she was around with the others she just went off and decided to pray.

Yorokobe, Shounen [+]

Name:
Sarvok
Formerly, Sarena

Current Stats:
Level: 1 | Form: Orc Runt | Tier: 2

Current Skills:

• Ingestion - After consuming a required amount of biomass from a particular Creature, 1 of that Creature's Skills can be copied at its lowest Rank.
• Isekai Skill - Not Yet Chosen
• Empty Skill Slot
• Empty Skill Slot

Equipment and Inventory:

• Swaddling Pelts - Equip, Clothes - Old animal skins used to keep an Orc baby warm as they sleep. Once the Runt is old enough to start hunting, these are usually just enough to cover the parts that need the most covering.
• Wooden Stick - Equip, Weapon/Tool, Material Component - A wooden stick. From a tree. That's...that's all there is to it. Can be thrown.
• Sharp Rock - Equip, Weapon/Tool, Material Component - A rock with a slightly sharp edge. Useful as a primitive knife or chisel. Can be thrown.

True Age:

38 years, six months

Past Life:

Sarena was born and raised in a small, rural town in the midwest of the united states. Her upbringing otherwise is fairly unremarkable. A loving, if somewhat large family with five brothers and sisters with her being the oldest. A stable environment where her father was a pastor and her mother spent time working as an accountant for a large business firm. The only perhaps, huge impact her early life had on her was her heavy involvmenet in religion.

She eagerly and quickly took to religious teachings that her father gave to her, beginning to believe and worship God from a young age. At school, she also took quite well to most academics in her field, particularly math thanks to her mother and as the years of her early life and highschool passed her by, she'd graduate with flying colors and head off to university to study Theology, History, and archaeology.

Yet, even though she had a life many would be envious of, she could not deny it.

Happiness was not something she believed she ever felt. Contentment? Certainly. But there was something...missing. She could laugh at things she found funny, cry at things she thought was sad. Even so though, there was a deep feeling that something was missing. She had spent much of her praying, thinking, contemplating, trying to find an answer for what exactly she felt that was different.

It wasn't until the middle of her freshman year at college did she find the answer where she was attending a class about religion in ancient Egypt. For all her love and belief in religion and the Lord God, she had never felt as though others were genuine in their beliefs. Hypocrites. Self righteous people who merely used religion for personal gains.

And when she realized this, at first she was afraid. Afraid of the sort of things that it made her feel. Want to do. God said to love all, but then why did those that practice it reject such ideals? The bible was sometimes contradictory in its statements but that was only without looking at it through a context of the time it was written and those who wrote it.

After a night of prayer, she found her answer.

She would become a teacher.

She headed back to her home town after switching degrees, where two things would happen. One, she became a teacher at the highschool. Two, her father would be diagnosed with cancer. Such an ugly thing, cancer wasn't it? But it was, if nothing else an opportunity. The church would need a new pastor, and though it would be unconventional for a woman to do it...well, for as much as they talked about religion corruption, bribes, and a little pushing could easily make it happen.

Of course, ultimately the decision by the Pastoral Committee was controversial but it happened regardless and for the next few years she privately tutored students at the church, gaining something of a reputation for being able to take troubled youths and reforming them through education, religious teaching, and ultimately understanding.

Of course, humans could not become righteous and good without hardship and the people in her care would never speak.

It was one of these students that would both be the end of her life.

He was a troubled kid. Parents were well off, but typically were quite neglectful and abusive but heavily religious. Bullied by his peers too.

A few cans of accelerant.

A match.

The church went up in flames.

She didn't make it out of there, but neither did he.

She made sure of that.

Beloved religious figure killed in fiery arson by troubled youth

So the headlines read, at least for a few years...but that wouldn't be something she was privy to.

She found herself waking in a new world. Ugly. Grotesque. Demonic. It absolutely sickened her, but she did what she always did when she didn't know the path to take, or was feeling troubled. She sneaked away from the rest of those that looked like her, found a secluded spot in a forest, and prayed.

New Life:
Day 1 -> Orc Runt

...

*The Divine Spirit is oddly quiet. There is a faraway look in her eyes.*

...We all live our life as we believe in living it. But to sacrifice what you are and to live without belief, that is a fate more terrible than dying.

I hope that your Faith is well placed.

• Summon Contract - Rank I - Create a magical contract with an intelligent being to temporarily borrow its power. At Rank I, only Tier 1 Creatures with fitting intelligence can be contracted. Upon Summoning, they will instantly perform 1 Skill/Attack before the Summon period ends. (For instance, a summoned Slime with no Skills would simply lunge at the opponent as if tackling them, and vanish immediately afterward.)
• Resist Curse - Rank I - Passively increase one's resistance against magical debuffs, Cursed equipment, and negative status effects from Spells or physical attacks.
• Aid - Rank I - Spend MP to heal small wounds and relieve non-threatening ailments.
• Holy Bolt - Rank I - A basic elemental bolt of holy magic. Hurl or shoot a magical projectile roughly 30 feet in a straight line. It travels at roughly the same speed you could physically propel a small rock. If the target is undead, aligned with the Curse element, or a member of a True Demon species, it will take increased damage. This spell cannot harm Holy aligned creatures of a higher level than the caster.

@Zeroth

Welp, here she be. Instead of questionable science lizard, I instead went with ~religion~ this time.

Hopefully this is acceptable. I left it pretty open ended with the last bit, but I figured it'd make most sense if while she was around with the others she just went off and decided to pray.

Yorokobe, Shounen [+]

Name:
Sarvok
Formerly, Sarena

Current Stats:
Level: 1 | Form: Orc Runt | Tier: 2

Current Skills:

• Ingestion - After consuming a required amount of biomass from a particular Creature, 1 of that Creature's Skills can be copied at its lowest Rank.
• Isekai Skill - Not Yet Chosen
• Empty Skill Slot
• Empty Skill Slot

Equipment and Inventory:

• Swaddling Pelts - Equip, Clothes - Old animal skins used to keep an Orc baby warm as they sleep. Once the Runt is old enough to start hunting, these are usually just enough to cover the parts that need the most covering.
• Wooden Stick - Equip, Weapon/Tool, Material Component - A wooden stick. From a tree. That's...that's all there is to it. Can be thrown.
• Sharp Rock - Equip, Weapon/Tool, Material Component - A rock with a slightly sharp edge. Useful as a primitive knife or chisel. Can be thrown.

True Age:

38 years, six months

Past Life:

Sarena was born and raised in a small, rural town in the midwest of the united states. Her upbringing otherwise is fairly unremarkable. A loving, if somewhat large family with five brothers and sisters with her being the oldest. A stable environment where her father was a pastor and her mother spent time working as an accountant for a large business firm. The only perhaps, huge impact her early life had on her was her heavy involvmenet in religion.

She eagerly and quickly took to religious teachings that her father gave to her, beginning to believe and worship God from a young age. At school, she also took quite well to most academics in her field, particularly math thanks to her mother and as the years of her early life and highschool passed her by, she'd graduate with flying colors and head off to university to study Theology, History, and archaeology.

Yet, even though she had a life many would be envious of, she could not deny it.

Happiness was not something she believed she ever felt. Contentment? Certainly. But there was something...missing. She could laugh at things she found funny, cry at things she thought was sad. Even so though, there was a deep feeling that something was missing. She had spent much of her praying, thinking, contemplating, trying to find an answer for what exactly she felt that was different.

It wasn't until the middle of her freshman year at college did she find the answer where she was attending a class about religion in ancient Egypt. For all her love and belief in religion and the Lord God, she had never felt as though others were genuine in their beliefs. Hypocrites. Self righteous people who merely used religion for personal gains.

And when she realized this, at first she was afraid. Afraid of the sort of things that it made her feel. Want to do. God said to love all, but then why did those that practice it reject such ideals? The bible was sometimes contradictory in its statements but that was only without looking at it through a context of the time it was written and those who wrote it.

After a night of prayer, she found her answer.

She would become a teacher.

She headed back to her home town after switching degrees, where two things would happen. One, she became a teacher at the highschool. Two, her father would be diagnosed with cancer. Such an ugly thing, cancer wasn't it? But it was, if nothing else an opportunity. The church would need a new pastor, and though it would be unconventional for a woman to do it...well, for as much as they talked about religion corruption, bribes, and a little pushing could easily make it happen.

Of course, ultimately the decision by the Pastoral Committee was controversial but it happened regardless and for the next few years she privately tutored students at the church, gaining something of a reputation for being able to take troubled youths and reforming them through education, religious teaching, and ultimately understanding.

Of course, humans could not become righteous and good without hardship and the people in her care would never speak.

It was one of these students that would both be the end of her life.

He was a troubled kid. Parents were well off, but typically were quite neglectful and abusive but heavily religious. Bullied by his peers too.

A few cans of accelerant.

A match.

The church went up in flames.

She didn't make it out of there, but neither did he.

She made sure of that.

Beloved religious figure killed in fiery arson by troubled youth

So the headlines read, at least for a few years...but that wouldn't be something she was privy to.

She found herself waking in a new world. Ugly. Grotesque. Demonic. It absolutely sickened her, but she did what she always did when she didn't know the path to take, or was feeling troubled. She sneaked away from the rest of those that looked like her, found a secluded spot in a forest, and prayed.

New Life:
Day 1 -> Orc Runt

@Zeroth

Mhm, all of those are some fun skills. I almost want the spirit ash summons lol.

and while Aid would be nice, what would I do if I couldn't perform pure unadulterated violence against the unbelievers.

I choose holy bolt.