Very well-- Submissions: [hider=Cedar] Name: "Cedar" (is unaware he even has a last name. Dad never said anything.) Species: "Half-Bear". (Result of a sordid liaison between a hermetic proto-druid following the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asceticism]'ascetic'[/url] path to that end (as opposed to formal training), and a she-bear that he fell madly in love with. Best not to inquire.) Age: Turning 9 this year. (Ursine admixture causes rapid maturation, with "necessary" aggressive memory abilities. Physical maturity is NOT mental maturity-- Lack of worldly experience produces PROFOUND social and cultural deficits.) Gender: Male Appearance: Dark brown with light tan grizzling. Favors ursine body-type. Limbs have "Grasping" fore-paws, that are neither truly bear-like, nor fully human-like. Prehensile. Looks like a normal bear unless looked at very closely, due to bushy fur concealing most of the human-like features. Easily mistaken for an ordinary bear. Weight: Approx 500 to 600lbs (more if well fed) Height: Standing upright, 9.5 feet tall. On all-fours, about 4 foot tall to shoulder. Bio: Native of "the Great misty forest" to the north, on the border of Meche and Kindeance. It's a rural backwater / no-man's-land with a small, backwater village nestled up to it. The primary industry of the village of mystville is timber from the misty forest. This locality is a natural wonder, that is naturally abundant in free magical energies. Cedar's dad settled there after a recent catastrophe involving the location, but that is mostly regional lore that is not important to this story. Due to the backwater nature of the village, and its low importance, but potential for becoming occupied by military factions, the residents were quite upset when tipped off to the looming danger the two kingdoms were embroiled in. Last Autumn, Cedar was dispatched (as the "Most available" [or rather, Expendable] 'person' [opinions are... 'mixed']) to attempt to prevent the seemingly "all but certain" war by attempting to prevent the assassination of King Fredericus of Rascade, King of Kindeance. Became embroiled in the mad quest to recover the crown prince of Kindeance from his abductors. He and the others assigned were ultimately successful in this goal, but inadvertently destroyed an entire village in the process. This reality has weighed very heavily on Cedar since. On that mission, Cedar met a young slave girl who was injured/disabled by the party, and has developed a "Healer-Patient" interest in her recovery and social rehabilitation. After emerging from winter hibernation, he elected to go check on her.... --- Passives: Ursine passives/racial abilities. (Superhuman Strength, Superhuman olfaction) Knowledge Domain: Magical forest architecture/ecology Spells: Detect Magic (Immediate) Entangle/Control/Enhance vegetation (Range: Touch) Heal wounds (Range: Touch) Spell-like ability: Can communicate with animals (in a manner of speaking-- Can exchange crude concepts, emotional states, and sensory experiences. The effectiveness/intricacy of the exchanges are limited by the cogitative ability of the animal in question. Some are more capable/intelligent than others.) Requires direct eye-contact. [Restricted power: "Dance of the Earth and Sky" -- A wild-type magic that is NOT controlled by the caster after casting-- It CONTROLS the caster instead. It is of foreign origin, and was learned from an obscure text in the village library. "Crudely speaking", it "Controls the weather." More accurately speaking, the caster "sets" a "Completion condition" for the spell, based on their mental and emotional state at the time the dance is started. This condition is then fixed, and CANNOT be changed. The spell will manipulate/puppeteer the caster, rather than the other way around, in a "Mindless" and "unrelenting" pursuit of that objective. If the objective cannot be satisfied for whatever reason, or it is actively stymied in its attempts, it will continually leech from the caster to alter its methodology until it either succeeds, or this activity consumes the caster's life force, whichever happens first. In terms of its action, it "Grants that desire" inherent in the initial casting in a manner analogous to that of a [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monkey%27s_Paw]Monkey's Paw wish.[/url]. For obvious reasons, Cedar **DOES NOT WANT TO USE THIS POWER EVER.**] Equipment: [From last chapter] Kukri knife Mysterious medallion Knapped stone utility knife "Very large mundane wooden staff" (No magical powers. Essentially just a very large bit of tree limb, sized for his stature.) Weathered looking/tatty coarse fabric robes Enormous leather boots Enormous leather gloves [New this chapter] Enormous Greatbow "Essentially spears with fletchings" for arrows Quiver Other: Relations-- Sisters, Lily and Rose. (4y, from "second litter") Brothers, Oak and Pine. (turning 9, littermate/twin brother-- and 4y, from "Second litter") "Strained" relationship with sisters Lily and Rose; Identical twins, prone to mischief that bully their brother Pine. Cedar mentors Pine, and tries to protect him from Lily and Rose. They consider this to be "A challenge", and make life more difficult than it needs to be. (For both.) "Active animosity" coupled with "Forlorn loss" with littermate Oak-- As children, they were bullied by village children, and suffered emotional scarring that manifested in different ways by each. Oak has developed a "Deeply seated" loathing and contempt for their dad, for "You know what he did, what he KEEPS DOING, and why we are what we are!", while Cedar has a profound love and admiration for their dad, for the universal love he gives. Oak is "Actively Reminded" of their dad by Cedar (who has taken up a similar vocation), and treats Cedar rudely. Cedar misses his brother terribly, loves him intensely, and wishes he would stop being bitter and mean. Oak lives as far away from the forest as he possibly can, inside the village. He is apprenticed to the village blacksmith, and does "Heavy iron work." Cedar is a very gentle creature with a ferocious body, that frightens people instinctually despite his better wishes, and that generally wishes to exist in as benign and benevolent a fashion as possible. He is subject to racist bigotry once people realize "what" he is (and what that implies). Very empathetic to other animals, and considers animal minds "Fully equal" of consideration, respect, and importance to humans and humanoid races, despite the obvious differences, and the "obvious disagreement" humanoid races have over this view. He works with his dad (and younger brother) as de-facto caretakers of the great misty forest, seeing to the maintenance of the magical ecology and integrity of the natural environment there. [/hider] (Lily and Rose are "A dynamic Duo", and thus have 4 spells/Abilities shared between them, as they ALWAYS act as a team, and are inseparable.) [hider=Lily] Name: "Lily" Species: Half-Bear Age: 4 Gender: Female Appearance: Identical twin of Rose. Subtle differences in fur patterning, but VERY hard to tell them apart without a bear's nose to guide you, apart from the differences in their personalities. Light brown, with tawny grizzling. Same "Favors Ursine form" as other siblings. Weight: Approx 400lb Height: Upright, about 7ft tall. 3.5F to shoulder on all-fours Bio: After the "loss" of his son Oak (who disowned him, and ran away from home at 2y age) due to bullying by the village children, One-Eyed-Jack (their dad) elected to keep his second litter of children "at home" until they were "Old enough" to handle the "harsh realities" of how "Cruel people can be." As a consequence, the 3 cubs in this second litter (Lily, Rose, and Pine) have been raised EXCLUSIVELY out in the woods until a much older age, and thus, have significantly LESS socialization, and significantly MORE "Deficits" in terms of "Knowing how to properly behave themselves." Pine is a timid and shy boy, owing to the constant pestering his sisters have subjected him to, who has difficulty getting words out, is unsure of himself, and is in general, a complete wall-flower. In other respects, he is a gentle and kind boy, like his older brother Cedar. Cedar has SIGNIFICANTLY more experience dealing/talking with humans than Pine does-- Pine actively fears human contact. LILY, on the other hand, is a complete firebrand. She is "The instigator", and is completely shameless. She has a pronounced lack of consideration for the consequences of her mischief, but is otherwise VERY clever, and has a knack for understanding the "Hows and Whys" of things. Especially things that have "Hows and Whys" for things SHE WANTS. She is the "Dominant Half" of the 'Terror-Twin-Duo' she comprises, with her twin sister, Rose. Passives: Ursine Passives (Enhanced strength, Superhuman olfaction) Diabolical Cleverness *Brazen Spells: Identify Item/Discern Enchantment (While not guaranteed to *fully* succeed (or reveal FULL functionality of), she knows how to magically delve and probe magical effects or instructions from magically enchanted items, or discern the properties and nature of ambient magical effects.) Manipulate inorganic material (aspects: Earth and Fire) -- Can heat, form, or otherwise twist and shape inorganic materials (dirt, clay, sand, metal, etc) into various shapes. Equipment: Leather tool roll containing various wooden, antler/bone, and stone instruments for carving or shaping objects. Hip pouch (right side) Halter-top Other: While skilled at UNDERSTANDING magic, and grasping magical theory, is not very "Powerful", and thus can do very little more than use her powers to heat, twist, shape, or otherwise crudely manipulate inorganic substances. She relies on her vastly more powerful sister's abilities when they collaborate on "Projects" to help bring her more diabolical ideas into being. [/hider] [hider=Rose] Name: "Rose" Species: Half-Bear Age: 4 Gender: Female Appearance: Identical sister to Lily. Subtle differences in fur coloration. Weight: Approx 400lb Height: Upright, about 7ft tall. 3.5F to shoulder on all-fours Bio: The "Perceptive, and cunning" one. Where Lily is the firebrand, Rose is the unrelenting stream that wears down the mountain. Patient and wily. Perceptive, sneaky, and crafty. The "Wickedly Capable" side of the Terror-Twin duo. Passives: Ursine Passives (Enhanced strength, superhuman olfaction) Aura Perception (always active-- Cannot really determine the proper nature of magical auras, but is permanently "perceptive" of them.) *Sneaky/manipulative Spells/abilities: Channel/direct/manipulate aura (Can project, draw, or bend/shape raw magical auras, but cannot impose complex instructions on them, or use them in complex ways.) Gifted at alchemy: Ingredient identification, quality assessment of ingredients, and inventive utilization of ingredients come naturally. Gifted with, and greatly enjoys making potions and home remedies, as well as cooking. Equipment: Makeshift potion kit (made from discarded glass bottles, bits of discarded metal detritus, leather hose, et al.) Alchemists's Satchel (Left side) "Super secret potions! DONT TOUCH!" Halter top Other: Almost completely oblivious to the complexities of magical theory, but profoundly capable of handling large flows of magic. Likes to "Cause trouble" for her brother Cedar, by "tugging" on the carefully crafted synergistic effects he creates with his botanical plantings, and making them do "Unexpected" and "Confounding" things when he isn't looking. Sometimes works with her sister in this respect, to make "Very specific" and "Not at all desired" things to happen, using inorganic focus objects placed surreptitiously into the mix, to better provide specific control over the redirected/repurposed auras his work creates. [/hider] [hider="Terror Twins, together"] Motive: The two decide that they need to "Tag along" to see what their older brother is "Up to!" once they catch wind that he is going to "Visit a girl!!" [Restricted Power: SHARED-- Requires both!] TERROR TWINS Dual-concentration, collaboration ability-- Rose draws and/or supplies raw power-- Lily gives it form and purpose. Causes Mana-drain damage on Rose (who has her power leeched off), and Mana-Burn damage on Lily (who cannot actually handle that kind of force). This is a wild magic, that is very "Strong" in its aura presence, but is not the most sophisticated, and is done more in the line of DnD Sorcerer magic (not a proper spell, and not performed by properly skilled practitioners. It is VERY IMPORTANT to understand that while each is a prodigy in their own way, they ARE IN NO WAY EXPERIENCED USERS, and lack a robust education!!). A sufficiently strong "Dispel Magic" or "Anti-Magic" would completely disperse it. [/hider]