Department ofHome Affairs, in collaboration with the Adventurer's Association, would like to remind you that while the Law had granted you a permit to enter The Land of Twilight, it is still ill-advised to do so without utmost urgency. The rescue might not be available for all kinds of predicaments, and even if they do, the Department is entitled to charge the survivor up to Three hundred Gold Coins to cover the cost. Keep yourself and your friends well, there is no fortune more important than your life.
PS: For more information about paying quests and other interests, please see Kathryn in the Association's Hall.
You finished reading the letter with a slight disdain and threw it away-- letting it be a warning for someone else. You might not call yourself The One living in a thrill of danger, but at this point, you already know your game and all warning feels more like a bothersome buzz in your ears. Whatever your reasons are, you need this job. Besides, it pays more than the fines those Fools may impose.
You are confident with your skills and experience. You assure yourself; so what if this is the Land of Twilight? The story about its dangers sounded like everyday tales about any place you can point on a map. Nothing like a seasoned adventurer that you couldn't handle.
As you walk confidently toward the rendezvous point, you notice there are a bunch of local guards there, looking at you as they leave. Is that pity or curiousness you see in their eyes? You are unsure, but you could guess they know what journey is ahead of you. Likely because they just argued with your employer. But it is fine, it seems things have been sorted out nicely in the end, all the papers are there.
You throw your gears in and climb up, and moments later that wagon has started to move, bound to the east. Alkautsar with its elven hospitality had treated you well, but you are not here to sightsee.
Foreword
Welcome to my latest RP yet!
You play as the daring adventurers taking a job to guard an enigmatic archeologist Dr Vesemir Barandir and his companions to the most dangerous territory in the world. While the description was more like mercenary work than anything, you are free to have your character have a different set of goals and motivations, as long as they align with their patron's. After all, The Land of Twilight is like the fantasy version of Chornobyl, so your character ought to have a strong reason to be there.
This one will be a reboot of one of my old RP that has been abandoned for a while now, and for the sake of formality and tradition, this new OOC was made. It will have slightly different plotlines, but the overall theme and directions will remain the same. The most obvious difference will be in the first chapter, in which rather than having the characters have the usual "calm" pre-mission interlude, this RP will throw you straight into the action.
Setting
The Land of Twilight is located east of the capital city of Alkautsar. It is a heavily forested region that is part of and entirely under Varenheim's jurisdiction. The elves now called the region Rhovan ar-lúrëa, which metaphorically means the woodland that is under perpetual overcast.
1700 years ago, the region was the epicenter of the elves' civilization with the shining city of Núria as its capital, but the calamitous war to end Queen Serensiel's tyrannical rule has left the land tainted and scarred. Following the aftermath of the war, what was once the radiant cities and gleaming spires had turned into ruins, abandoned, and eventually reclaimed by nature for over a millennia.
There wasn't much attempt to explore the land even after a thousand years. The enigmatic elves openly abhor the idea of settling inside the region, which is understandable considering how many foolhardy adventurers ended up joining those who died a long time ago or were rescued insane (If they are lucky). These days, they formally ban any entry into the region, unless specifically permitted. Still, they are not giving up any guarantee of rescue should the worst come to worst.
But behind the perils and horrors, it was rumored that the catastrophically ruined region was full of powerful artifacts and bountiful treasures waiting to be unearthed. As well as immense knowledge and history for those who are brave enough to discover all its secrets.
Character creation
The CS format, As usual, feel free to add some flavors to your character sheet. Just remember the essentials:
Name:
Species: (What is your character’s race)
Age:
Gender:
Appearance: (What do they look like, and what do they wear)
Reason to Join: (What brings them here)
Passives: (What kind of passive talents and traits do they have)
Spells: (What kind of spells do they know, your characters start with 3 usable spells that can be upgraded later on, or they can learn a new spell instead)
Mundane Skills: (mundane and maybe trivial things that they can do)
Equipment: (What kind of tools and weapons do they have on them)
Other: (What other things should we know about your character)
This RP has some canonical races that exist in the world. You may pick one for your convenience.
1. Humans Easiest to play and is versatile. Most human nations in the Continent are currently maintaining diplomatic cordiality with Varenheim, so you will not be getting a cold stare from the guards unless you are a wanted criminal. Varenheim is very strict with its laws and very competent at enforcing them. Please keep that in mind.
2. Elves. Native to Varenheim. It is widely known that the elves were angels once, descended to the mortal realm for reasons they never disclose. Playing with an elven character means the player has to be interested in the story and the lore, because... well, this RP takes place in their homeland.
3. Djinn/Youkai/Humanoid Demons/Mystical creature Medium difficulty. Dagorlad is the land from which most demons hail. Their appearance is rather similar to Sarkaz from Arknights. The catch with using any of these mystical creatures for your character is usually related to the fact that Dagorlad and Varenheim are not on the friendliest terms diplomatically.
Skills and spells (UPDATED) Ideally, a character starts with 3 skills/spells and 2 passives at maximum. The passive effect can be a negative or a positive, depending on your liking. Active skills may have cooldowns, generally the more powerful, the longer its cooldown and will use more mana. The character's skills can be upgraded or a new slot can be added upon reaching a certain campaign progression.
A character may also have mundane skills to define who they are. For example, an adventurer who can cook, a mercenary who knows the right medical procedure, a hunter who can track animals and people, to name a few.
Keep in mind that your character skills and their upgrades will have to be evaluated in a case-by-case manner by the GM before they can be officially accepted.
The rules and expectations
Yes, wouldn't be fun without some~
The pacing of this RP is moderate. Please keep it at least 1 post per week. The GM may process the turn in the next 24 hours. Also, I aim for completion, so if you can't commit, this may not be the RP for you.
Actions have consequences. And I intend to adhere to this rationality. Treat the world like a living, breathing thing, not just an environment for stat checks
Keep it Roleplayer Guild friendly. Any content that is not allowed to be posted on the forum should not be in this roleplay.
No godmodding/power-playing/auto-hitting/controlling other players' characters and stuff like that.
Kindly do not gamejack the campaign. While we do encourage unique backgrounds and motivations, trying to steer the game direction toward the plot or outcomes you personally want is unacceptable and may disrupt the other players' enjoyment.
Be friendly, tolerant, and tolerable. Respect everyone and don’t be afraid to communicate with them or the GM. If you have any problems or concerns about unfair rulings, please immediately reach out to the GMs.
If there is a dispute, the GM has the final say on that matter.
Name: Akari Species: Human Age: 20 Gender: Female Appearance: Black haired and brown eyed asian young woman. The primary color theme of her Kunoichi attire is Dark Blue.
(Ignore the big bow tie and huge white ribbon behind her)
Reason to Join: She joined for the reason most Adventurers do. Money and Experience.
Passives:
-Ninjutsu: Foreign and unconventional ninja magic. Can't be physically silenced to disrupt a ninjutsu. She is a professional in using the ninjato, throwing kunai, shuriken and other ninja throwable weapons.
-Ninja Spirit: Follows the rules of shinobi(ninja). She can blend into the background easily, reducing enemy awareness of her, and her agility makes her harder to hit. She’s light footed and knows parkour, able to more easily maneuver around obstacle and reducing fall damage
Active Skills:
-Shadow Clone: Akari perform hand sign and summon one or two duplicates of herself. Her mana pool is divided evenly between the clones and herself. Clones can attack and use Ninjutsu the same as the real Akari, but one decent hit will pop them.
-Kawarimi: Instantly swawp places with any object from her surroundings or one of her Shadow clones. Can be used as a reaction and has a cool down of one turn.
-Ninjutsu:Dragon’s Wrath: Akari performs hand signs and releases a Fireball in the form of a Dragon's Head before launching it. It explodes with the first obstacle it touches, and covers the area in flames. The ninjutsu consumes 10% of her total mana.
Mundane Skills: She’s a great cleaner, knows tailoring and can cook
Equipment: Ninjato, Kunoichi Uniform, adventurer bag (L), 10 shurikens and 11 kunais in her holster. 1 giant shuriken on her back.
Other: A mysterious young kunoichi from a far away Northeast island country. Is a Clean Freak
Name: Akari Species: Human Age: 20 Gender: Female Appearance: Base from the face claim picture above but black haired and brown eyes and her primary color theme of Kunoichi attire is Dark Blue. Reason to Join: As what Adventurers' want. Money but also experience.
Passives: Ninjutsu: Foreign and unconventional ninja magic. Can't be silenced when using a ninjutsu. Professional using ninjato and throwing kunai, shuriken and other ninja throwable weapons. Ninja Spirit: Learns the rules of shinobi (ninja). Slightly boost Dodge and reduces Aggro a little. Light footed as fast and less on fall damage as she can do parkours.
Active Skills: Shadow Clone: Akari perform handsign and summon two duplication of herself. Divided with her mana pool but clones attack 100% damage and even use ninjutsu but receiving 200% damage. Last standing Akari will be always the real one. Kawarimi is disabled if she have remaining clones. Kawarimi: Instantly replace herself with any object from surrounding. Has cool down of one phase turn and disabled when Shadow Clones are active. The skill is can be toggle on and off. Ninjutsu: Fireball: Akari do hand signs and release a fire ball. Deals explosion damage and burning damage overtime. The ninjutsu consume 10% mana cost.
Mundane Skills: Clean Freak as what she does on dojo. Tailoring and can cook for her master so on for her current party.
Equipment: Ninjato, Kunoichi Uniform, adventurer bag (L), 10 shurikens and 11 kunais on her holster. 1 giant shuriken from her back.
Other: A mysterious young kunoichi from far away Northeast island country.
Approved once the sheet has been modified in compliance with the GM's evaluation.
Why don't just make her hair blonde rather than using a mismatching faceclaim?
Appearance: The Skull™ is never far. Prefers comfy clothes with many many many pockets. Even better if it's predominantly green.
Reason to Join: Mischief and whimsy
Passives:
Innate Toxicity: Innately already a venomous creature and resistant to similar substances, Verdant also gains resistance to various poison and venom (natural or otherwise) that struck her. Or she intentionally sampled. And she had sampled a whole lot over the years. Allegedly it's a nice spice, according to the snek herself. As a side effect, she can eat damn near anything without any (lasting) side effect.
Serpentine Physique: Even in a decidedly non-serpentine form, Verdant's physique retain various traits of her snek origin... and somehow also traits from different snek species. Dont ask her why or how, she has no idea. Examples include contortionism, protective scales at certain places, envenomed fangs, massive appetite, powerful musculature, and the likes.
Spells:
Shapeshifting: An ancient snek that had attained spirituality and eventually sentience, Verdant quite rapidly learned to shift her essence and change her form. She can shift into other snek indefinitely, as well as - for some reason - humanoid creatures. Others, the further away from snek the more taxing it becomes to maintain. Partial shifting is possible, though maintaining the frankenstein-esque form was also rather tiring.
Alchemize: Ever since the little snek transcended into some sort of snek demon, she gained an instinctual ability to alchemize toxic substances. Well, calling it alchemize will probably send proper alchemists into an academic rage, but regardless - Verdant was capable of changing one substances into another. Anything works as the source, though her own bodily fluid reacts the best, and the final result is limited to either her own natural venom or whatever other toxin that she had came into contact with.
Verdant and Viridian: A sibling, a rival, and an eternal companion. Hatching from the same clutch of eggs, only two of the batch managed to survive long enough to attain spirituality over the centuries. The final pair eventually fought in a bid to devour the other's essence, the final victor gaining awareness after the feast. The loser, however, didn't disappear - having instead fusing into one, yet remaining somewhat a separate entity. Viridian's spiritual form now coils around Verdant, the conjoined sister forever stuck in a state between beast and man. Yet even as a beast she's still a force to be reckoned with, spectral form capable of materializing to interact with the world, and even temporarily splitting away by possessing her old skull should it ever be necessary.
Mundane Skills: (mundane and maybe trivial things that they can do) Wilderness survival, hunting, fighting, drinking (yes really), physical exercise, power naps, sneaking, and chiseling stones into sharp objects.
Equipment: Bag of Many Things containing Very Important Supplies (actually just spare clothes and food and first aid), various knives, a little bit of coins, and The Skull™.
Other: Easily sidetracked and doesnt usually commit to anything for long, thus isn't really well-known. Goes wherever her feet takes her. Despite her age, is likely seen as a bit childish. By mankind standard she's too straightforward and occasionally spitefully vindictive, but that's the byproduct of having plainly different morality. She's learning to blend in... slowly. She'll get there. Eventually.
Appearance: Rezello stands at a height of 6’6”, or roughly 198 cm.
Reason to Join: For the past decade, Rezello has been on a quest to discover the cause of the disappearance of the population of Scheel, the city of his birth. As it was built near the southern border of the Land of Twilight, Rezello believes there may be a connection between the event and the forest’s cursed nature.
Passives
Steelblood: The men and women of the Fulsteel lineage inherited the tall stature and robust physique of their progenitor, warrior-adventurer Redmond Ashton, granting them enhanced strength and endurance.
Heavy Weapons Specialist: Though trained in all manner of weapons as part of the path to knighthood, Rezello is especially adept with larger two-handed weapons such as polearms and greatswords that fully utilize his strength.
Spells
Armory: Rezello can access a small pocket dimension in which he can store a multitude of weapons and a suit of armor. Mundane equipment stored in the armory can be summoned and dismissed freely, but that which has been enchanted, made from magic materials, divinely forged, or otherwise enhanced beyond purely physical means consumes magic energy to do so.
Lightning Shell: Rezello emits a surge of electric energy conducted by the metal in his armor and weapons, delivering a surge of lightning to enemies that strike him or are struck by him in melee combat. Consumes a small amount of magic energy while active and a larger amount while inflicting damage. Ineffective on foes that do not conduct electricity.
Due to the magic-conductive nature of the alloy used to forge his spadone, Rezello can concentrate the electricity into the sword’s blade and release it as a ranged attack. For example, swinging the blade unleashes a short-range wave of lightning, while a thrusting strike would launch an arc of lightning in the direction of the thrust.
Conjure Sparks: Rezello can produce small flames roughly equivalent to that of a lit torch, the properties of which he determines- whether or not it will ignite objects it touches and how readily it spreads, whether it produces warmth and how hot it burns, and whether it emits light and how bright or dim the light is. The color of the flame changes depending on these properties; ignition colors it red, heat blue, and light green. These flames can be created and moved freely anywhere within a small area around Rezello, as long as he can see the point of origin, and multiple flames can be merged together.
Mundane Skills
Survivalism: Basic survival skills were a bare minimum expected of all members of Scheel’s Sten Corps, as defending the city often required them to track beasts and other monstrosities through the untamed forests that lie beyond its borders.
Equipment Maintenance: Though the Sten Corps styled itself as a proper order of knights and held the prestige of one within Scheel, in truth they were little more than well-equipped and trained guardsmen. Without elements such as the page and the squire to perform tasks like maintaining equipment, it fell upon the knights to do so, either by hiring capable servants or learning to do such tasks themselves. Rezello chose the latter.
Equipment
Fulsteel Spadone: A two-handed sword with a blade thinner than a typical greatsword. Intended as a token of his knighthood, it was forged from a dense, magic-conductive alloy heavier than the steel normally used in swordsmithing.
Weapons of the Armory: Rezello’s Armory spell currently contains a messer longsword, a pair of long daggers, a pollaxe, a bec de corbin, and a morningstar.
Sten Corps Armor: Blackened steel armor, consisting of a mix of plate and mail; pauldrons, gauntlets, half-plate rerebraces and greaves protect Rezello’s limbs, while his torso is covered by a gambeson, hauberk, and green-clothed brigandine. A helmet would also normally be worn, but the one he used to wear does not fit over his mask.
Mask of the Tower: A broken and seemingly cursed mask of unusual design, resembling both an elven face and a skull. Rigid, but with a leathery texture, it fused to Rezello’s face when he put it on; the lower jaw is articulated and can move with the motions of Rezello’s mouth, and as such he can eat, drink, and speak normally. A spirit trapped within claims to be familiar with the Ashton bloodline and grants Rezello his magic abilities.
Miscellaneous Tools/Adventuring Gear: Rope, equipment maintenance tools, digging and climbing implements, a waterskin, currency, and other such items that an experienced adventurer would bring with them, stored within a pack that he can carry on his back while traveling and quickly drop so as not to encumber himself upon entering combat.
Appearance: A proud standing and otherwise voluptuous woman. She stands at 5’10”, and weighs 120 lb. She has fair skin, and dark brown hair. Her hair is wavy and reaches her mid back in length. She keeps her hair out of her face with a hair clip, but otherwise lets it flow freely behind her. Her eyes are also a dark deep red in color with a black circle around her pupils. She doesn’t have any tattoos. She has several scars across her arms, and some along her back by her clothing makes them impossible to see. When exposed, they are noticeable, but have long since become as smooth as the rest of her skin.
She wears a low cut dress that drapes down mid calf. The sleeves of the dress cover her shoulders and end at her wrists. She has black gloves, leather boots with a heel, leggings, corset, and a hair clip made out of an exotic looking flower. The dress is crimson red in color and made of a silky material with some velvet. Her boots, leggings, gloves, corset, and hair clip are black. The flower of the hair clip starts dark blue in the center, gradients into red, and then into white at the tips of the sharp and wavy looking petals. She has a pearl necklace, gold choker, a gold ring and a sapphire ring on either hand.
Reason to Join: Seizing the opportunity to discover and harness any mysterious powers from the entities that might be lurking in a land that has long been hidden away for centuries.
Passives: Constitution of the Forsaken Divine — Fia is resistant to magic and magical abilities of both harmful and beneficial nature. She takes less magical damage, but also receives less magical healing or enhancements.
Extraordinary Specialist — Through constant study and experimentation with djinn and other otherworldly beings, Fia has grown a sixth sense when it comes to discovery, tracking and implementation of their body and abilities. She can craft various potions using the components acquired from otherworldly beings.
Spells: Witch Crafted Thread Armor — Fia can cover her person in weightless, mostly transparent, purple tinged aura that acts like armor. The aura protects Fia from all physical attacks and some offensive magical abilities. Unfortunately, due to her own magical resistance, the armor is unable to completely block incoming damage. The armor lasts only ten minutes at a time.
Yokai Semblance of Transformation — Fia is able to transform herself into the shape of any animal not much larger than herself. While transformed, she will inherent any special properties those animals have such as speed, senses, dexterity, strength, and locomotion. She can also communicate with other animals in the chosen form if applicable. Because of her resistance to magic, she cannot maintain these forms for long, being forced to revert in about 10 minutes.
Chromatic Elementa of the Djinn — Fia is able to conjure and manipulate elemental energies and control their form. Her range of elemental energies range from organic to aberrant. Examples include fire, water, light, dark, and force. Her strength and ease of control over the element is enhanced when in the presence of it. The forms she can mold elements is varied from density to precision to cover different ranges and areas.
Mundane Skills: Fencing adept — Fia is capable of using a rapier in combat. Survivalist — Fia knows how to handle surviving in the wilderness. Seamstress — She can sew Cook — She can cook
Equipment: Chromatic Heart — A transparent glass sphere that is large enough to fit comfortably in the palm of the hand. Inside the sphere is inlaid a starburst that slowly swirls and shifts around many different colors. The sphere is practically indestructible. It works like a catalyst, easing the mana requirement to casting spells. It can also amplify raw elemental magic by acting as source of any given element at will.
Arianacus — Silvered blade rapier. The hand and bucket guard is made of many loops that circle around the base of the blade. The handle is red in color, while everything else is silver. As a silvered blade, it is capable of interacting with most incorporeal entities.
Shoulder Canvas bag — contains survival tools, first aid, grooming kit, and alchemy tools.
Large Hunting knife
Other: She has deep admiration for most thing especially extraordinary.
Reason to Join: he feels like The Land of Twilight tugs at him, as if there’s something there for him.
Passives:
-Primordial Knight: Degel has a primal connection with the energy of life itself. This connection shows itself in his body. He stands at twice an average human’s height, along with an enhanced constitution. Furthermore he has a small but constant regenerative effect, not so strong to be useful in battle, but he is able to recover from most everything if he’s given long enough time and sustenance.
Forged in the Crucible: As a reaction, Degel can instinctively tap on his inherent life essence and instantly manifest a primordial aspect he knows,utilizing it at half effectiveness(E.g tail to trip his opponent or parry a blow, wings to cover himself from a volley of arrows or catch a projectile aiming at his allies.).
Spells:
-Primordial Aspect: Wyrmtail Manifest a long and muscular tail from his lower back, tapering off into a vicious point, able to trip,smash or impale opponents. Can be cast fast enough to be weaved into attack patterns.
-Primordial Aspect: Winged Aegis Manifest a reddish pair of massive feathered wings from his upper back, Which Degel is able to individually control. They can catch most projectiles except the most penetrative or forceful ones, and soften impacts and blows. The wings also slows Degel down considerably, and make him susceptible to flanking attacks. Cost 5% of his total mana pool to cast.
-Primordial Aspect:Devourer’s Maw Degel rears back as a colossal Jaw Manifest from his head, frothing with golden-orange life essence, before unnaturally lunging forwards for a powerful bite in a cone in front of him that deals massive Physical/Radiant damage. Then it reels back,bringing anyone caught closer to Degel. Has a cooldown of 3 turns and cost 10% of his total mana pool to cast.
Mundane Skills:] Decent fighter,great grappler, has a small and slightly innate understanding of biology and anatomy along with the curiosity to learn more.
Equipment:
-Primordial Armaments:A Full set of Heavy armor, along with a longsword and horned shield he had since he first awoke. Degel doesn’t know where they came from,but they served him well until now
Other: When he’s concentrated or winded, small gust of reddish vapour emanate from his helmet
Each manifestation is preceded by a golden-orange sigil in the place where it will manifest.
Name: Veronica Blackwater Species: Human Vampire Lord Age: 45 (appears 18) Gender: Female Height: 5'8" Appearance: Veronica appears as a pale young woman, not to a porcelain degree, but more like she could use a bit more sun. Her long black hair falls in mostly straight waves down to her mid-back. Her irises are a bloody crimson hue, with her pupils narrowed to reptilian slits. Her frame rides a balance between curvaceous and athletic, lined beneath supple skin with wiry, compact muscles that tend not to be apparent without a physical inspection. Though she often wears a smile, it is rarely an open-mouthed one, largely to avoid broadcasting her fanged incisors. She tends to smell mostly scentless, as the combination of scentless soaps and an undead body that doesn't decompose leaves her presence mostly muted to mundane means. Her garb is fairly eccentric, all blacks and velvety sanguine reds with a subtle butterfly motif. Actual metal armor is applied sparingly and primarily to her joints, almost as an afterthought, to the point of giving the false impression it's only for decoration. By the metrics of society, her garb is rather immodest, the design and accents often drawing the eye to exposed skin or tight enough to be somehow more provocative than outright absence. When she needs to be more subtle (and as a common measure of sunlight protection), she wears a fairly innocuous, brown traveler's cloak.
Born far from the Capital in a place within Kindeance that could best be described as "that idyllic village with some farmer", Veronica was an average human daughter to a peasant hunter... aside from a slight hiccup. Born under a good omen, she was blessed with an innate magical gift for "reading fate", a Seer who might one day have been found and trained to be the mystical advisor of this or that hero, guiding them on the path to a glorious destiny. However, as fate would have it, a True Vampire, one Lord Blackwater, who had long-since set down roots after hailing from a land outside Kindeance, unfortunately heard tell of her and sought to turn her as a subordinate to use her gift for himself. The girl, otherwise defenseless aside from her capacity to see her near future, was captured and a year thereafter turned into a similar creature of darkness, lesser and mystically bound by her hated "master's" bond as her Sire.
Over the two years since her abduction, she was trained in the arts of ninjutsu and magic. she had no choice but to be honed into a weapon and tool for her "master", made an unwilling killer and her magic refined further for the sake of making her a more useful tool for foreseeing misfortune and spying upon the Vampire Lord's enemies... when she wasn't used to murder them outright. Unfortunately for him, training her resulted in the resentful little vampire awakening a second aspect of her gift, one that allowed her to avoid the destiny that she could prior only despair at. Through this, she was able to slip the master bond of her Sire and catch him unawares. Caught off guard, the Vampire Lord was torn limb from limb, and in drinking his blood, Veronica fully became a Vampire Lord like her Sire and shattered whatever might have remained of their bond.
Come the morning, her tormenter's remains were reduced to ashes by the sun, and Veronica once more breathed the sweet air of freedom... Though it was tainted by the bitterness of her new "condition" as a Vampire Lord -if a young one, and she was unsure what to do with herself. Despite bloodied hands and a darkened spirit, she hadn't been under her Sire's yoke long enough to taint her morality irrevocably. She was still herself, and she had no intention of being the monster the next hero would slay.
With that determination made, for the safety of innocent lives, she reluctantly made a home in her Sire's former lair and left primarily only to get sustenance, once more taking up a hunter job of her human family in order to have an at least legitimate supply of blood to drink. In such a way, delivering "pre-drained" cadavers to local butchers of nearby towns and villages, she made a simple living on simple coin... along with whatever her Sire's coffers contained. Her "condition" was one she mostly tried to conceal, but in the end, the King had his ways. Long story short, a year after regaining her freedom, at age 20, she was found out, but the fact that she had stayed a "productive member of society" and wasn't going around murdering people unprovoked and generally being a megalomaniac stayed the hands of potential hunting parties. The fact that it was eventually discovered that she had slain the Vampire Lord before her added another element of potential trustworthiness to her, and so, she was approached as a potential agent of the King to be given a chance to truly prove her loyalty and good will to the kingdom.
As such, for the next half decade, Veronica would find herself occasionally acting on behalf of "favors" from the Crown, working as an espionage agent, Seer, and sometimes soldier and scout for the Guard. Collaborations with Matilda, the Head of the Guard, weren't common, but they weren't uncommon either. Over the course of 5 years, the two developed a basic working relationship. They may not necessarily trust each other, but they don't specifically mistrust each-other either. And Veronica would be inclined to trust her back to the orc warrior.
Over the years, Veronica came to be less resentful of her "condition", and with the tentative faith afforded to her by the kingdom, she has come to redevelop a sense of confidence and acceptance. Nowadays, her "condition" is just another part of life... one she expects will be very long, so she has chosen not to wallow in self-pity and depression. Her once concealing garb has been exchanged for borderline proud eccentricity. While she does not explicitly advertise her "condition", she is no longer shamed by or afraid of it. She is a Vampire in the King's Court, who has earned her place through good will, and she'll not let any tell her otherwise.
Four months ago, due to the seriousness of the kingdom's crisis and the desperation involved, Veronica would find herself requisitioned as an investigator, using her divinations to aid in tracking the Prince's kidnappers with the Guard while the main black ops team was off performing their own tasks. It is because her typical place of residence is a quite a fair distance from the Capitol that she was unable to be reached in time to join up with the main team initially. Regardless, she would eventually conclude her own investigation and move to join the primary team, going on to help locate the Prince's likely locations with her scrying magic.
In the aftermath of a successful retrieval mission and the averting of a national crisis, Veronica used the generous reward given to her by the King (along with a supplement of some of the riches left in her former Master's coffers) to officially purchase the castle and land she had been technically squatting on all that time, only not challenged on it presumably out of good will or concerns about angering the presently friendly vampire. Now that her Sire's former domain was hers in truth, with her i's dotted and t's finally crossed legally and socially, Veronica set about taking steps to making her new lands hospitable, making plans for a vineyard and wine enterprise. Contracting Cedar, the druidic bear of her past team, she was able to have her business functional inside weeks, rather than the months it could have taken, and made overtures to Jazdia Crystalspark about selling her new wares at the elf's restaurant, the Angel's Share.
Four months later, however, she was hearing tell of misfortune that had suddenly befallen Jazdia's business, something that her profit margins from that direction had already warned of. She hadn't wanted to believe it, but the numbers didn't lie. And until the most recent summons from the Crown, she had largely remained in her new lands, doing her best to stabilize and prepare her new holdings, as word of political tensions and cries for war drifted in from Rascade. As soon as she could arrange for her absence to be done without, Veronica departed for the Capital, determined to do her part to once more hopefully maintain peace in Kindeance.
Talants: Ninjutsu: She has been harshly trained in this collection of fundamental survivalist and espionage techniques, among which are: methods of gathering information and techniques of non-detection, avoidance and misdirection, along with disguise, escape and concealment. She's no stranger to picking locks or disabling traps either. This is the root of her shinobi teachings, one in which she has attained mastery status or near enough to it. Heavy focus. While medicine and archery are also parts of these techniques, she favors them lesser. Medicine: Her capacity for medical techniques tends towards "field surgery" and making sure injuries aren't immediately lethal. Setting bones. Popping dislocated joints back in. Applying splints, stitches, bandages and salves. She knows where to stab to kill fastest, so she has a pretty good idea how to be more careful when treating certain afflictions. She's not a biology guru or proper doctor; that's for certain. She's just got a good head for improvisation. Archery: She's a decent shot, but she prefers unaware or otherwise stationary targets. She compensates with her magic to predict her targets' movements for more difficult shots. Taijutsu: For those times she is trapped in prolonged CQC, she's adequate in the art of unarmed -or lightly armed- combat. Unarmed combat isn't her favorite, but she's not going to get steamrolled. Prefers to disengage and arm herself. Shurikenjutsu: She is excellent in the art of handling small, bladed weapons, both in CQC and as throwing weapons. This is her preferred fighting style. Fighting fair is for chumps. Sojutsu/Bojutsu: The art of wielding polearms. Particularly, Veronica favors the spear and scythe. Novice but unconventional. Her most inexperienced but also intuitive martial art and her "passion project". Technically, she's got the basics down pat, but her focus was never open combat under her Sire. That is something she became more familiar with working with the Royal Guard. In other words, she's mostly self-taught, so she tends to fight unconventionally in this art. Lip Reading: In the course of spying and assassination, she has developed the capacity to roughly read speech from afar. Parkour: Her vampiric strength makes her an able and acrobatic navigator of unconventional terrain, very useful for infiltration. Hunter: Her family trade, she is a respectable hand at tracking, trapping and skinning prey, along with camping in the wilds. Peasant Roots: Knowledgeable in the basics of various "womanly" tasks like cleaning, cooking and sewing. Rulership: While she had some basic experience in matters of leading under her Sire's tutelage prior, it's only after officially acquiring legal land and hiring people to tend to it that she's put her theoretical knowledge into practice, giving her a greater air of confidence and command when needs must. Once living long in the shadows, she can now project proper authority and charisma.
True Vampire/Vampire Lord: Darkvision: Even in pitch black, she can perceive the world in shades of grey. Though even this eyesight cuts off into murk past a certain point. Her long-range vision is otherwise very keen under proper lighting. Inhuman Physicality: Undeath has removed the normal limits on human musculature, giving her the capacity for peak human levels of physical feats. However, her muscles will still tear from exerting themselves to their fullest capacity, requiring she only do so in bursts and wait a brief while for them to heal. As long as she doesn't push too hard, she can still operate at normal human levels during the wait. While her body isn't exactly any more durable than a human's, she doesn't feel pain as more than an irritant, and most wounds are not lethal, only disabling. Healing Factor: Her wounds regenerate quickly. Not enough to be all that useful in battle, but outside battle, an hour's rest will mend most wounds, and a night's rest can restore her body entirely, even the loss of her head. Due to the constant nature of the regeneration, she is unable to reattach fully severed body parts. Her regeneration either starts with her mostly intact head or her body if the former is unavailable. Large-scale regeneration rapidly accelerates her bloodthirst's progression. Undeath: She is unaffected by poison, disease, exhaustion or age. Thirst: She doesn't need to eat, sleep or breathe, though she still requires some blood to sate her thirst. While as an undead, she technically doesn't need sustenance, much of her vampiric strengths will become less prominent with prolonged abstinence. In addition, much as any hungry creature, she is prone to increasingly large spurts of irritation and bloodlust until sated. She can subsist off animal blood, but sentient blood is far more fulfilling. She can also consume mundane foods, but they give her no nutrition. Predator: Her presence is generally disliked by creatures without sentience, wildlife naturally perceiving her as a predator, so she is generally unable to handle mundane animals (especially of the "prey" variety) without them going into fight of flight mode, regardless of her intent. They will tolerate her presence enough that she could ride in a cart pulled by horses, but riding horseback would take a beast with nerves of steel, like a veteran warhorse. Unreflected: She has no reflection, whether it be a mirror, body of water or any other surface. Sunlight Vulnerability: Though more resistant than a lesser vampire, sunlight is still her bane, burning badly but not lethally unless she remains in prolonged contact. Chop her to pieces and leave her exposed to daylight, and the sun will do the rest in about an hour. Holy Vulnerability: Certain "holy" or otherwise "sanctified" magics have the capacity to be a special bother to her as an undead. Averted Weaknesses: As a Vampire Lord, she no longer suffers from some of the weaknesses a typical lesser vampire exhibits. Running water no longer hinders her, and she doesn't need to be invited to cross a threshold of a residence. Wooden stakes are as any other weapon, even if getting stabbed in the heart would still be pretty annoying, for the splinters if nothing else. Siring: Vampire "reproduction" is fairly simple. While their undead bodies preclude them from being fertile, they can convert other living beings to more of their kind with a transfusion of their blood to a creature that has been drained dry of their own. The recipient will rise a day later as a lesser vampire fledgling, mystically subordinate to their Sire and unable to disobey direct commands. A fledgling that is granted the opportunity to consume a notable quantity of their Sire's blood again will be freed of the bond and become a True Vampire, otherwise known as a Vampire Lord, but only if their Sire was a Vampire Lord themselves. Lesser Vampires cannot create fledglings; such is the privilege only of a full Lord.
Born a Seer when she was human, Veronica's magic revolves around divination, the capacity to view the past, present and future in order to gather information.
Sight of the Fated: Pending replacement and rename. Precognition spell being exchanged for some kind of reflex/agility/speed spell. Less convolution, more practicality and reliability.
Avert the Destined: Allows her to slip out of "phase" with the interference of the natural course of "destiny". When she enters this state, she becomes imperceptible and intangible to forces of direct mystical origin, shedding any hostile afflictions that currently linger upon her, like curses or bindings. A magical explosion and its immediate integral collateral (shockwave, small debris and such) would wash over her harmlessly, but a thrown steel beam would still ruin her day if not dodged. Divination can't see or target her. She treats magical shields and wards like they don't exist, and the barriers won't even register the intrusion. On the inverse, this separation with the mystical means she cannot affect the world with her other magic in turn until she reverts this state. This spell covers more obscure mystical phenomenon, including the "purifying" effect of the sun's rays on vampires, allowing her to be a "daywalker". (eg. this is what slipped her from her Sire's leash)
The Gift Known as the Present: Allows her to scry distant places and events that are occurring immediately in the now. The further she wants to reach and the more senses she wants to use at the targeted location at once, the more intensive the effort required, so she usually only uses sight and sound. Can be used either for short range strategic glimpses in combat, or ritualistically for spying on distant events. She can target specific individuals, but only if she knows what they look like or otherwise has some manner of catalyst related to them. She can scry any location she has seen personally, as visualization is important to the spell. Though, notably, she can expand the number of "starting points" available to her by panning her vision around a targeted location, her scrying gaze sufficient for the purposes of "marking" new places and people as "seen".
What Has Come Before: Through focused, meditative delving, allows her to wind back the clock of her vision and perceive past events that occurred in a radius of roughly 30 feet from her position. She can wind the clock forward as well, accelerating the "replay" to skip less interesting/relevant material. She can maintain this spell on the move and track events of the past up to the present as fast as she can manage to physically keep up with them. That said, she can only peer back as far as three days, so haste in reaching the "scene of the crime" is still a priority to ensure trails do not go cold.
General: Medium-Sized Brown Backpack: Compact and simple to don and doff. Change of clothes: Includes favored garb, a brown cloak, and practical full-body coverage wear for sun protection/stealth. Mundane Rations: Dry foods like jerky, dried fruit and nuts. (Sometimes used to help conceal her "condition".) Blood Rations: Several thick waterskins with blood of varying types in them (usually animal). A sip every meal period is typically enough to keep her topped off at peak performance. Scentless Soap: A standard cleanliness measure ground into her to aid non-detection. Applied whenever bathing. Coin Pouch: A padded, sectioned pouch, made to silence the jingle of coin.
Armament: Light Armor: Primarily leather over vitals, but some metal on forearms, elbows, knees, lower shins, upper sternum & shoulders. Sharpened Sai Daggers: Typically a defensive weapon, when weaponized, they make an excellent tool for liberating a victim of their eye sockets' contents, along with scrambling the brain behind them. Veronica uses them like deadly nails, punching precise holes in her foes' vitals. Throwing Knives: Not particularly deadly unless aimed well, they still make decent distractions if aimed for the face or neck. Passable for melee combat in a pinch. Far more threatening if coated with poison. Seijaku/Silence - Composite Recurve Shortbow: A bow type useful for firing while mobile. (stored in a leather waterproof case) Quiver: 30 arrow capacity. (30/30) Strapped to small of her back. Barbed & non-barbed arrows. Chigetsu/Blood Moon - War Scythe: Bathed in the blood of many lives over the decades, a strange, crimson polearm once belonging to her Sire. One end is mounted with a spearhead and the other with a scythe-head that is bladed on both edges, oriented oddly like a farming tool, rather than a typical war scythe. Normally, this weapon would be rather impractical, but it comes into its own wielded by a vampire's physicality. The scythe has the magical property to shrink down to the size of a sickle for discreet transport or return to normal (takes 5 seconds in either direction). The enchanted weapon's longevity is the result of the property of blood absorption, slowly but surely repairing itself with any sanguine essence that lingers upon its surface.
Miscellaneous/Tools: Tinderbox: Contains flint, fire steel, and dry cloth soaked in oil. Infiltration Kit: Includes a small file, lock picks, a small mirror mounted on a metal handle, a set of narrow-bladed scissors and pliers. Kaginawa/Grappling Hook & Rope: A sturdy, steel hook and a compact bundle of thin but very sturdy and long rope. Weapon Maintenance Kit: Includes a whetstone, rags, specialized oils, and spare bowstrings. Medic Kit: Contains bandages, gauze pads, splints, basic salves, alcohol, needles, thread, syrettes, scalpels, whiskey & biting stick. Pocket Watch: A well-maintained silver-cased device that once belonged to her Sire, it has been quite useful for tracking the sun. Compass: In good condition. Points north. Leatherbound Logbook: A coded log of information gathered during investigations. Pencils included. Maps: A small, leather-bound book. The contents are of a variety of maps of the kingdoms, particularly Kindeance. Also a variety of far more quality, larger maps kept rolled up separately. All maps are kept within a rubber-lined, waterproof case, for preservation.
Blackwater Castle: Located near the mountain range to the west of the eastern pass leading to Tretagor, this large, imposing mansion is made of an outward layer of stone and carries a serious gothic aesthetic, as one might perhaps expect to be culturally appropriate to a place once -and now currently- owned by a Vampire Lord. The surrounding lands are presently inhabited by a smattering of peasants and enterprising individuals, who have either been hired or given leave to settle on the land. Ownership of these lands provide her, amongst other things: her Sire's coffers and mysterious vaults that she hasn't dug through much, basic manpower and a boost to her reputation and social/legal standing.
Ruby Dreams: A business Veronica has recently started up, built around the vineyards she has had grown on her land. The produce of the orchards (primarily grapes) is used for both regular fruit products and wine making. The business's first market contact was the Angel's Share; though, they have slowly spread their wares into the immediate surrounding lands, partially out of necessity, due to the recent spate of poor business the Angel's Share has received. Provides a (currently small) steady source of income, as they are turning a profit.
Other: Blackwater is not her birth name. As a peasant, she had no family name. Rather, Blackwater is a "title" bestowed upon her by her vampiric Sire, a demonstration that she was to be molded like clay into his tool and "family". With his demise and her recent purchase, she now remains the sole inheritor of Blackwater's assets and has taken up the name in truth.
