[OOC] The Hourglass Order

[Wolfieh]

I'm interested in applying, but it's pretty late where I am, so I'll be back in the morning to slap a character into this post!

[Force and Fury]

@Wolfieh Sounds good. Looks like you've scooped up the final spot.

[Pirouette]

Ysilla Al-Nader

Ysilla Al-Nader

16 | Female | Virangish | Merchant | 7.62

P E R S O N A L I T Y

❖ [ Proud ]
❖ [ Inconsiderate ]
❖ [ Adventurous ]
❖ [ Hedonistic ]
❖ [ Cunning ]

If you were expecting Ysilla to be like her sister, the similarities stop shortly after the pride and ambition that has become a trademark of any Al-Nader woman anymore. Where her sister will wear her emotion like a sleeve, Ysilla will disguise most emotion believing any display betrays your intent. It is better for them to keep guessing, after all, and you will rarely see a display outside of an amused smile.

In truth, Ysilla harbors little patience for others if they do offer something for her to engage with. Those that are joyous, childlike, or maybe just brimming with energy are welcomed with amusement and pandering. Unfortunately for those of you that are serious, sarcastic, or just negative all the time, she will have little more than slighted words at your expense. Despite making her emotion a secret, she is ironically not one to hide what she thinks of a person.

C H A R A C T E R A P P E A R A N C E

Despite being twins with her sister, people can be quick to notice the difference between them. Ysilla maintains an almost porcelain complexion, her beauty mark located inferior from her lips and on her left cheek, brown hair that almost passes for black trailing down to her midriff but almost always kept up in a bun and unnatural red pupils. Being an Al-Nader, beauty is matched with height. Ysilla is 185cm tall with a very lithe figure, matching her sister.

Ysilla prefers the comfort of fine silks that will show off her natural form but often drap herself in an overcoat, again most likely silk, to hide some of her features. She’ll wear jewelry, of course, with dangling ruby earrings, gem set brooches, rings, bangles, and bracelets depending on her preference for the day. Her most trademark piece of attire, however, is her large witches hat, keeping her face shaded at almost all times.

L A N G U A G E S

Languages have been a bit more than a hobby to Ysilla. She can comfortably speak her native and regional tongues but started to learn a few distant languages for her own fun. She tries to mimic the accent of those that she speaks with.

❖ Avincian - Perfectly Fluent, with scarce usage of Virangish expressions or any obvious accent.
❖ Virangish - Native language.
❖ Torragonese - Second native tongue.
❖ Inipori - Semi-Fluent
❖ Yasoi: Intermediate
❖ Rettanese - Intermediate
❖ Belzaggic - Basic conversational.
❖ Perrench - Basic conversational.

T H E G I F T

The Gift in Ysilla has been quite strong matching that of her sisters. Although she, too, did not receive the ‘Devourer’ in her mother. When given the choice of expression, she chose her own path in studies in an attempt to create her own life set away from the family for now.

Magnetic: Was the very start of Ysilla’s discovery on how to make her vessels move on their own. By delicately shifting the polarity of their segmented joints, her figurines could move a string free movement. The other facets of this study have been of little interest but will still learn them to master this school.

Binding: The Al-Nader line has a historical preference here and Ysilla practices Binding for a reason. While Ysilla detests the volatile bloodmagic which her ancestors practiced, she nevertheless, is tempted to experiment with the idea to bring life into her creations one day.

Chemical: A recent fascination that has been showing promise for potential solutions to the problems she is facing in her craft. Emotion can be influenced by chemicals, after all, and the hope is that by tampering with this school she could make her creations feel more alive. Further study in this field is required.

B A C K G R O U N D

_{References: The Blasphemous First and the Graceless Al-Nader found in Zarina Al-Nader’s profile}

Ysilla Al-Nader is how you should properly address me.

I was the second of three to come from my mother, Saoussen. The gift of life, especially to come in a set of three, was a miraculous feat looking back. Three lives created in an instant upon conception and to all be gifted with a magical line. I still believe it did not matter that we were not as potent as mother because she spread that prowess among all three of her children. Although I would probably lose that argument with my sister.

Speaking of, my sister Zarina, fell in line from the beginning with what the family wanted. I saw the family thrust her into the traditions and I knew I wanted to be my own person, to form my own identity. Thus I had often set off on my own as a child in the streets, begging my mother to give me an allowance. I don’t remember how it caught my attention but a man had built a small stage in one of the markets. In his performance he never made an appearance but hid behind the curtain and put on play with string and paper puppets. I could not remember his name but I remember seeing how alive he made his creations move. The bird had such thin strings that you couldn’t see them as she mimicked flight. The human character had a shifting face, expressing as the man projected his voice. I gave him my whole allowance and came back to watch the performance again the next day.

Puppetry, I decided, was the artform that actually was the action of giving life into one’s work. Others could only mimic what I saw. I started making my own paper figures, bought my own puppets to play with. Few in my family could understand since what I wanted was not something such as dancing or singing but I believed it was the same, if not more than just art.

As beautiful as it was that my sisters and I came into this world, fate was conspiring to destroy that beauty. Sabbah’s health was fading and not one person could come up with the same explanation as to why. My older sister, in her daft impatience, wanted to throw life away in a hasty conjuring of old magic that she knew little of. I did not have a better solution to save her, knowing not medicine or healing magic to cure my sister. However, I did know how to preserve her memory.

While the family spent time and money on trying to preserve her life, I spent time preserving her memory. I carved a life sized puppet of her, spending time to get every detail right in my sister’s likeness. When I wasn’t working on that, I practiced how she would talk and act, dedicating myself to her image. I couldn’t sing like her but maybe in time I could. Sabbah would pass away, just like I thought she would. I unveiled my puppet of my sister soon after but none tolerated my act.

It wasn’t good enough.

I knew from then I had to learn how to actually recreate life. It would not do to simply just put on an act of life but it had to actually be a life. Magic had never really been a passion of mine until then. I was going to Ersand’Enise and I would walk the path few dared tread. The beauty of life would be mine to bestow and then everyone, including my narrow minded sister, would understand.

M O T I V A T I O N

❖ Master her craft to be able to create indistinguishable golems from actual life.
❖ Explore and learn from distant lands and cultures to know just what others are like and what they enjoy.
❖ Enjoy the journey she is on.
❖ Make her sister open to enjoying life rather than wasting it.
❖ Restlessly pursues her magnum opus of creation.

I N V E N T O R Y

❖ Hoopoe - The Wooden Flight: Ysilla’s first perfect vessel. Her process to settle giving a creation life is lengthy, requiring her many iterations of the form she has in mind before settling on one. Hoopoe is formed of wood in the shape of a corvidae bird, no more than 20 centimeters tall. It might be painted black, purple, or sometimes white depending on what mood Ysilla takes at the time. It simulates flight and caws like any other bird.

❖ Khamsei - The Porcelain Laugh: The second perfected vessel. Khamsei is a 35 centimeter tall porcelain doll with segmented joints. It is typically clothed in a costume resembling a jester’s outfit, hand-sewn by Ysilla in color pairs that range from black and gold, white and red, blue and yellow being the most typical of pairings. There is no face and instead, a carefully crafted mask is attached simulating a face. Khamsei is known to laugh.

❖ Quite a bit of jewelry, perfumes and fine clothing.

❖ Her hat and cloak

S T R E N G T H S & S K I L L S

❖ Artistic: Ysilla has dedicated herself to the crafting of lifelike puppets, promoting skills like woodcarving, painting, and sculpting.

❖ Acting: A lifelike puppet can only be as real as the actions it performs. Ysilla has spent considerable time learning how to act and perform with a puppet at her fingertips. She claims she can play any part.

❖ Brilliant: Her mind is capable of working fast. She has always been a quick study and quick to understand concepts.

W E A K N E S S E S & F L A W S

❖ Socially Inept: She spends a bit too much time with her craft and puppets and not enough with people. While she knows how to put on an act, she really doesn’t understand people and even social cues.

❖ Suspicious: Being a social pariah, she can’t help but listen in to the whispers behind her back. Are they talking about her?
.

M I S C E L L A N E O U S

[Force and Fury]

@Pirouette Awesome work. Feel free to put her into the character tab. Welcome aboard. I can't wait to see your first post!

[Wolfieh]

Kyro Kainan

Kyro Kainan

You cannot control what you do not know.

16 | Male | Perrench | Noble | 7.37

P E R S O N A L I T Y

❖ [ Calm ]
❖ [ Confident ]
❖ [ Curious ]
❖ [ Dedicated ]
❖ [ Distant ]

Kyro’s life has been marked by his tutelage. He is calm by necessity, having spent most of his youth practicing the ability to suppress his emotions, and he works very hard not to let them bubble up too much unless he’s completely alone. As such, he can often seem uninvested or uncaring. He feels his confidence in his own abilities is essential to his training and tackles everything with the belief that he is fully capable—but this can come across as cocky when he’s too vocal about it.

His curiosity and his dedication go hand-in-hand. Kyro’s interest in gaining knowledge has driven him to many of his studies, and is the primary factor in his studies of Binding Magic, as he looks to hone his natural aptitudes. This curiosity can be concerning, however, when it drives him to study skills that others would avoid.

When it comes to social interaction, though, Kyro is at somewhat of a loss. He’s spent most of his time away from public life, only interacting with his tutors and his parents. While he understands the general expectations of his manners as a Marquis’s son, he lacks any nuance in social interaction; combined with his typical lack of emotional behavior, he comes off as distant, anti-social, and even snobbish to some.

C H A R A C T E R A P P E A R A N C E

Kyro’s appearance is, in many ways, misleading about his nature. He is a Bloodchild, but the mana type has been passed two generations from its origin; as a result, the only overt physical features that might distinguish it are his eyes, which hold an unusual red. His skin, though somewhat pale, is not light enough to be considered “albino”, and his hair is a standard dark brown that falls messily around his ears and eyes.

His features are not as strong as his Marquis father’s but are still enough to suggest his noble heritage. His cheekbones are the strongest, set high and pronounced. His nose and jaw are softer, and his chin is more round than square. His expression is often schooled into something neutral and can seem harsh in particular circumstances.

Kyro tends towards fine clothes, often in red tones that draw attention to his eyes and dark colors to balance them out. He likes long coats and knee-high boots of leathers and furs. He likes jewelry but prefers to wear plain metal pieces, usually of gold.

L A N G U A G E S

Kyro speaks Perrench as his native tongue but shows a similar affinity for Kerreman. As a noble, he speaks Avincian fluently and is decent at Eskandish, which he picked up as an interest due to its relation to Kerreman. He knows enough to get around in Revidian as well, though he’s better at writing and reading it than he is at speaking it.

T H E G I F T

Kainan’s first stirrings of The Gift began with an aptitude for drawing—from material sources, as is the way of Binding Magic. At a young age, his control was lacking and often dangerous, necessitating interventions on his behalf. He’s a blackblood, and though it can be guessed at, it’s never been confirmed: Kyro is a Bloodchild, the secondary mana type passed along from his maternal grandmother, who was revived at birth by her mother’s midwife.

His life as a noble afforded Kyro with a selection of tutors to tame his natural abilities, and growing up one was never too far away. They worked through hours-long lessons nearly every day, trying to train him to draw from energies, but his skill at drawing from energies has never been as strong as his ability to draw from materials. Understanding that the options present were to limit his capabilities and use of The Gift or mold him into an individual worthy of learning Binding Magic, his tutors, with the approval of his family, selected the latter.

As such, much of Kyro’s tutelage has centered on building control in his drawing, with casting nearly being secondary, and never in practice used on living subjects. He’s also been taught and tested to develop the moral fortitude required, with heavy teachings on human anatomy and the applications of healing. He’s always been carefully watched, and often kept distant from all but his tutors.

Kyro, however, remembers his aptitudes—and the fostering of his intellect has made him a dedicated student, with a strong belief that you cannot tame something without first understanding its wild nature. Though his moral fortitude prevents him from any desire to test these abilities on living creatures, he’s determined to understand the nature of Blood Magic as an extension of Binding Magic. He’s not a fool, though, and knows the moral and legal boundary he treads; he’s kept this realm of study to himself, allowing his tutors to believe they know the extent of it by seeking their approval on some of the fairly tame, theoretical studies that can be found on books.

With strengths in drawing control and theoretical knowledge but a lack of experience in casting, Kyro’s primary specialization is in Binding Magic—however, he’s pursuing his interest in Blood Magic as a self-directed… extra-curricular activity.

B A C K G R O U N D

Kyro believes he hails from the nobility of Perrence, the only child of the influential Marquis Arvid Kainan and his wife, Katia Kainan.

In truth, he was born the son of two artisans in Kerremand, a tapestry weaver and a dye-maker. His Gift went unnoticed for, perhaps, the first few months after it manifested—his draw was not particularly powerful, being a toddler, and so it was only small things he pulled from; bottle lids or small portions of ingredients and threads going missing, believed to be misplaced. The first time he pulled from a human, he left a small, scrape-like abrasion on his mother’s elbow, not enough for them to yet suspect his talents.

These incidents grew, though, in both size and frequency. His parents were unsure of exactly what was happening, not fully understanding the draw of the Binding and Blood Magics, but didn’t seek out assistance because they feared any manner of retribution or suspicion.

A year and a half after his Gift first became noticeable, Kyro’s drawing became too dangerous. While playing with his father, in a fit of youthful joy, he destroyed part of his father’s wrist. While the amount would have been painful but fairly inconsequential elsewhere, he damaged the valuable artery. It was only through the quick intervention of his mother, minorly skilled in Kinetic Magic, that his father survived, though it would take much longer for him to fully recover from the ordeal.

Realizing that her family would be endangered if her child stayed, Kyro’s mother sought a solution. Her contacts connected her with a noble family close to the Kainans, who arranged a meeting between them. The Kainan’s own young son had passed only days before, and they were in the process of privately mourning the loss before any public announcement. Grief-stricken, Arvid and Katia agreed to take in the child who bore resemblance enough to their son and raise him as Kyro Kainan, giving his birth family the peace and safety they needed and offering him the training only nobility could afford. His birth family claimed the boy was taken in the same animal attack that nearly killed his father.

Kyro doesn’t know of his origins, having been too young to form lasting memories. He’s grown up believing he is the biological son of the Kainans, and very few know any differently. They truly do treat him like their son, though their relationship is somewhat impacted by the need, over his years of training, to keep him physically distant from others. He dreams, sometimes, of hazy memories of his biological parents, but doesn’t understand these dreams or see them as anything more than the product of a sleeping mind.

M O T I V A T I O N

Kyro, above all else, seeks knowledge and skill. His heavy training throughout childhood ingrained a desire to understand and develop his abilities to their full potential, perhaps a step further than his tutors intended. He seeks to do good, though less than he seeks to do no harm, but in many ways sees it as a tool to develop his Gift.

He’s excited to be out from under his tutors for the first time in his memory, with an opportunity to practice much of the knowledge he only has in theory. He also hopes to find more space and information to support his study of Blood Magic, without the concern of his watchful tutors always hovering.

Yet, he worries that all his pursuits will be meaningless. With so much focus on drawing magic and so little on the effective casting of it, Kyro fears that he’ll never develop the capabilities to truly use it, instead being damned to only ever knowing his Gift through theoretical knowledge.

I N V E N T O R Y

❖ Books
Many of these books focus on magic, primarily Binding; some may include theory on Blood Magic, if he’s been able to find such books. There are a few books on plant life, particularly those native to Revidia. There are also several books written in Revidian that are below his age level, which he’s using to continue learning the language.

❖ Cloak
A thick, black fur cloak with soft, red-dyed leather and gold fastenings. While perhaps not frequently necessary in this climate, it’s an item from his home that helps him feel more confident and collected as he journeys, for the first time, from Perrence.

❖ Jewelry
He has several rings he alternates, all of which are made of gold and lack any gemstones. Two have small designs etched into the metal, one of flowers and vines, and the other similar to a braided rope design. He has two more plain rings. He also has a plain gold necklace made with a herringbone chain pattern, that gives it the appearance of a single piece of gold unless examined more closely.

❖ Notebooks
A set of five leather-bound notebooks with ornamental, gold-inlaid designs on the front. They contain notes on his studies, written in a combination of Perrench and Kerreman and often in shorthand. None of these contain overt references to Blood Magic; any information or notes he takes on this include copious amounts of shorthand and abbreviation, and are only denoted as a cohesive subject by the label “EX”.

❖ Sketchbook & Charcoal
A leather-bound, smooth-covered book with sturdy, blank pages inside. The front third of the book is already filled; the sketches primarily consist of plant life, both ordinary and anatomy sketches, but also include human anatomy sketches and the occasional landscape.

❖ Wand
A hand-crafted cherrywood stick with a black leather grip, used as Kyro’s focus for casting. The leather is worn in.

S T R E N G T H S & S K I L L S

❖ Control
Kyro’s crowning achievement in his study of The Gift is in his control of it—particularly over his ability to draw. But he also possesses strong mental and emotional control, cultivated by his tutors. He can never want to hurt someone because he risks making the desire a reality. He has to maintain a hold on his emotions because he may be dangerous if he loses focus.

❖ Manipulation
Kyro has learned how to predict what his tutors want to hear, and how to feed them just enough information for them to believe they know the full picture. He doesn’t seek to manipulate others into giving him items and money, but rather into giving him trust; he views it as the only way for him to continue his personal studies uninterrupted, by preventing those watching him from suspecting he’s pursuing other interests.

❖ Memory
While not eidetic, Kyro’s memory is strong, particularly relating to things he sees or reads. It helps most often with his studies, but he can remember far more, and the applications are wide-ranging.

❖ Plant Identification
His preferred subject for sketching, Kyro has gotten quite familiar with plant life, and his memory certainly helps him remember key identifiers. However, he also occasionally practices his material drawing skills on plant life, trying to learn how this particular aspect of Blood Magic can be both precise and devastating. He likes to understand the plants he might be destroying, as a sign of respect for their use as a learning device.

❖ Sketching
To further his emotional control, Kyro sought a hobby to help him re-center and settled on sketching. He’s been fine-tuning the skill over years and prefers to sketch plant life outdoors, taking the peace of the location as yet another source of control.

W E A K N E S S E S & F L A W S

❖ Casting
Kyro lacks skills in casting because so much of his training was based on controlling his drawing. He’s never practiced his skills on a living person, either, and lacks experience in that area.

❖ Confidence
While it often helps him stay calm, Kyro’s confidence enables him to put himself in risky situations. His own belief in his skills and his moral fortitude lead to a feeling of invincibility and his expectation that he can’t be a perpetrator or victim of terrible accidents, and that his interests are not immoral. Given his practice in Blood Magic, his lack of caution has the potential to lead to horrifying results.

❖ Curiosity
His curiosity can lead to choices many would consider dangerous. When Kyro wants an answer, he will seek it out—heedless of how others may think of his actions. He won’t stoop to injuring others or their belongings, but holds a belief that actions can only hurt them mentally or emotionally if they know about it. As such, he may take things a step too far in seeking answers, particularly from those he feels may be lying to him.

❖ Energy-based Drawing
Kyro has always struggled with drawing from energy sources, as is considered typical for most schools of magic. He’s capable of it, but is often less precise and slower in doing so, compared to his skills in drawing from material sources.

❖ Solitary Nature
Kyro’s personality is often enough to keep him isolated from others, but he’s not the kind to seek out connections. While he’s willing to allow others to trust him, and values the faith others may put in him, but does not allow himself to exercise the same trust. He keeps many things to himself, and won’t seek out support or assistance unless even he cannot deny he’s in far over his head—and by the time he understands that, he may be too deep in.

M I S C E L L A N E O U S

Color is #D71415

[Force and Fury]

@Wolfieh Alright, so there are some things that I like here and some things that I'm less sure about. Refer to our discussion on discord or DM me for any specifics.

[Wolfieh]

Revised as per the notes!

Edit: minor change, altered the color a bit to avoid confusion with existing character colors

Kaspar Elstrøm von Wentoft

Kaspar Elstrøm von Wentoft

You cannot control what you do not know.

16 | Male | Helbahnese | Noble | 7.37

P E R S O N A L I T Y

❖ [ Calm ]
❖ [ Confident ]
❖ [ Curious ]
❖ [ Dedicated ]
❖ [ Distant ]

Kaspar’s life has been marked by his tutelage. He is calm by necessity, having spent most of his youth practicing the ability to suppress his emotions, and he works very hard not to let them bubble up too much unless he’s completely alone. As such, he can often seem uninvested or uncaring. He feels his confidence in his own abilities is essential to his training and tackles everything with the belief that he is fully capable—but this can come across as cocky when he’s too vocal about it.

His curiosity and his dedication go hand-in-hand. Kaspar’s interest in gaining knowledge has driven him to many of his studies, and is the primary factor in his studies of Binding Magic, as he looks to hone his natural aptitudes. This curiosity can be concerning, however, when it drives him to study skills that others would avoid.

When it comes to social interaction, though, Kaspar is at somewhat of a loss. He’s spent much of his time away from public life, only interacting with his tutors and his adoptive parents. While he understands the general expectations of his manners as a Marquis’s son, he lacks any nuance in social interaction; combined with his typical lack of emotional behavior, he comes off as distant, anti-social, and even snobbish to some.

C H A R A C T E R A P P E A R A N C E

Kaspar’s appearance is, in many ways, misleading about his nature. He is a Bloodchild, but the mana type has been passed two generations from its origin; as a result, the only overt physical features that might distinguish it are his eyes, which hold an unusual red. His skin, though somewhat pale, is not light enough to be considered “albino”, and his hair is a standard dark brown that falls messily around his ears and eyes.

His features are not as strong as his Marquis father’s but are still enough to suggest his supposed noble heritage, despite his more common origin. His cheekbones are the strongest, set high and pronounced. His nose and jaw are softer, and his chin is more round than square. His expression is often schooled into something neutral and can seem harsh in particular circumstances. His height is relatively average, around 5’8” or 172 cm, with the likelihood of growing another inch or two, and his build is lean but not particularly well-muscled.

Kaspar tends towards fine clothes, often in red tones that draw attention to his eyes and dark colors to balance them out. He likes long coats and knee-high boots of leathers and furs. He likes jewelry but prefers to wear plain metal pieces, usually of gold.

L A N G U A G E S

Kaspar speaks Kerreman as his native tongue, but picked up Eskandish quickly enough to speak fluently. As a noble, he speaks Avincian semi-fluently and is decent at Perrench. He’s more recently begun learning Revidian and knows enough to scrape by, but is better at writing and reading than he is at speaking.

T H E G I F T

Kaspar’s first stirrings of The Gift began with an aptitude for drawing—from material sources, as is the way of Binding Magic. When it first developed, his control was lacking and often dangerous, necessitating interventions on his behalf. He’s a blackblood, and though it can be guessed at, it’s never been confirmed: Kaspar is a Bloodchild, the secondary mana type passed along from his maternal grandmother, who was revived at birth by her mother’s midwife.

His life as a noble afforded Kaspar with a selection of tutors to tame his natural abilities, and growing up one was never too far away. They worked through hours-long lessons nearly every day, trying to train him to draw from energies, but his skill there has never been as strong as his ability to draw from materials. Understanding that the options present were to limit his capabilities and use of The Gift or mold him into an individual worthy of learning Binding Magic, his tutors, with the approval of his family, selected the latter.

As such, much of Kaspar’s tutelage has centered on building precise control in his drawing. Casting fell secondary, and though he was taught low-level skills, his aptitude is not as natural. He’s also been taught and tested to develop the moral fortitude required, with heavy teachings on human anatomy and the applications of healing. He’s always been carefully watched, and often kept distant from all but his tutors.

Kaspar, however, remembers his aptitudes—and the fostering of his intellect has made him a dedicated student, with a strong belief that you cannot tame something without first understanding its wild nature. Though his moral fortitude prevents him from any desire to test these abilities on living creatures, he’s determined to understand the nature of Blood Magic as an extension of Binding Magic. He’s not a fool, though, and knows the moral and legal boundary he treads; he’s kept this realm of study to himself, allowing his tutors to believe they know the extent of it by seeking their approval on some of the fairly tame, theoretical studies that can be found on books.

With strengths in drawing control and theoretical knowledge but a lack of skill in casting, Kaspar’s primary specialization is in Binding Magic, and he’s chosen Chemical Magic as his necessary secondary specialization due to its accessibility—however, he’s pursuing his interest in Blood Magic as a self-directed… extra-curricular activity.

B A C K G R O U N D

Kaspar Elstrøm von Wentoft was born the only child of Helbahnese Marquis Arvid Elstrøm von Wentoft and his wife, Katka. Almost from birth, his constitution was weak and he was frequently victim to illness. He was not much of a public figure, often too sick to leave the confines of his family estate.

At age eight, Kaspar Elstrøm von Wentoft died.

Very few people know this truth, and are sworn never to speak it: The Elstrøms and their privileged staff, a noblewoman close to Katka, and two artisans from Kerremand.

Alaric Weber of Kerremand was born in the same year as the sickly Helbahnese noble, to his own father Ehren and his mother Lark, a tapestry weaver and a dye-maker. He, like his mother, had The Gift, and the makings for a heritage Lark would not speak of.

His Gift went unnoticed for, perhaps, the first few months after it manifested—his draw was not particularly powerful, being only a boy of eight, and so it was only small things he pulled from; bottle lids or small portions of ingredients and threads going missing, believed to be misplaced. The first time he pulled from a human, he left a small, scrape-like abrasion on his mother’s elbow, not enough for them to yet suspect his talents.

These incidents grew, though, in both size and frequency. His mother was the first to recognize the link between these occurrences, his red eyes, and her own childhood; fearing suspicion and punishment, she refused to explain these connections or seek help.

Seven months after it manifested, Alaric’s drawing became too dangerous. While playing with his father, in a fit of youthful joy, he destroyed part of Ehren’s wrist. While the amount would have been painful but fairly inconsequential elsewhere, he damaged the valuable artery. It was only through the quick intervention of his mother, minorly skilled in Kinetic Magic, that his father survived, though it would take much longer for any of them to fully recover from the ordeal.

Frightened by him and realizing that her family would be endangered if her child stayed, Alaric’s mother sought a solution. Her connections linked her with a noblewoman familiar with Katka Elstrøm von Wentoft, who arranged a meeting between the two mothers after seeing Alaric. It had been mere days since Kaspar’s death, and no public announcement had been made while the family grieved privately. Bereft, Katka and Arvid agreed to take in Alaric, who bore strong resemblance to their late son, and raise him as Kaspar Elstrøm von Wentoft. Alaric Weber, to the knowledge of the rest of the world, was taken in the animal attack that nearly killed his father.

Little changed about Kaspar Elstrøm von Wentoft; he remained an infrequent public figure to the lower classes of Helbahn. Over the years, whispers came from the few nobles who saw him that the boy seemed to grow stronger in constitution, though his once-brown eyes had taken an unsettling crimson tint. There were those who theorized he had died, or come near enough, and been saved by Binding Magic that left its permanent mark on him.

No one suspected he was simply not the same boy.

Kaspar’s memories of his birth family are faint—he was forbidden to speak of them after he was taken in, for the safety of the secret that could not be revealed. His childhood became distant, and his life overcome with lessons; those that would prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again, and those that would shape him into a proper noble. The Elstrøms treated him like their trueborn son, sometimes as though they themselves had forgotten, but his Gift necessitated a more physically distant relationship.

He wonders, sometimes, if his childhood was real—if there was ever a boy named Alaric, or if he’d simply imagined it as a youthful fantasy. He threw himself willingly enough into his studies, trying to wipe the questions and memories from his mind, and can let himself believe he’s always been Kaspar Elstrøm von Wentoft, so long as he doesn’t think too much on it. While his birth parents’ abandonment stings, he’s grateful to be so welcomed among his noble family and enjoys the comfort their wealth provides him with.

Yet he sometimes still dreams of Ehren and Lark Weber, always accompanied by blood.

M O T I V A T I O N

Kaspar, above all else, seeks knowledge and skill. His heavy training throughout childhood ingrained a desire to understand and develop his abilities to their full potential, perhaps a step further than his tutors intended. He seeks to do good, though less than he seeks to do no harm, but in many ways sees it as a tool to develop his Gift.

He’s excited to be out from under his tutors for the first time since he was eight, with an opportunity to practice much of the knowledge he only has in theory. He also hopes to find more space and information to support his study of Blood Magic, without the concern of his watchdogs always hovering.

Yet, he worries that all his pursuits will be meaningless. With so much focus on drawing magic and little skill in casting it, Kaspar fears that he’ll never develop the capabilities to truly use it, instead being damned to only ever knowing his Gift through theoretical knowledge.

I N V E N T O R Y

❖ [ Books ]
Many of these books focus on magic, primarily Binding; some may include theory on Blood Magic, if he’s been able to find such books. There are a few selections on plant life, particularly those native to Revidia and Perrence. There are also several novels written in Revidian that are below his age level, which he’s using to continue learning the language.

❖ [ Cloak ]
A thick, black fur cloak with soft, red-dyed leather and gold fastenings. While perhaps not frequently necessary this far north, it’s an item from his home that helps him feel more confident and collected as he leaves the Elstrøm Estate for the first time since he arrived there.

❖ [ Jewelry ]
He has several rings he alternates, all of which are made of gold and lack any gemstones. Two have small designs etched into the metal, one of flowers and vines, and the other similar to a braided rope design. He has two more plain rings. He also has a plain gold necklace made with a herringbone chain pattern, that gives it the appearance of a single piece of gold unless examined more closely.

❖ [ Notebooks ]
A set of five leather-bound notebooks with ornamental, gold-inlaid designs on the front. They contain notes on his studies, written in a combination of Eskandish and Kerreman and often in shorthand. None of these contain overt references to Blood Magic; any information or notes he takes on this include copious amounts of shorthand and abbreviation, and are only denoted as a cohesive subject by the consistent label “EX”.

❖ [ Sketchbook & Charcoal ]
A leather-bound, smooth-covered book with sturdy, blank pages inside. The front third of the book is already filled; the sketches primarily consist of plant life, both ordinary and anatomy sketches, but also include human anatomy sketches and the occasional landscape.

❖ [ Wand ]
A hand-crafted cherrywood stick with a black leather grip, used as Kaspar’s focus for casting. The leather is worn in.

S T R E N G T H S & S K I L L S

❖ [ Control ]
Kaspar’s crowning achievement in his study of The Gift is in his control of it—particularly over his ability to draw. But he also possesses strong mental and emotional control, cultivated by his tutors’ copious lessons. He can never want to hurt someone because he risks making that desire a reality. He has to maintain a hold on his emotions because he may be dangerous if he loses focus.

❖ [ Manipulation ]
Kaspar has learned how to predict what his tutors want to hear, and how to feed them just enough information for them to believe they know the full picture. He doesn’t seek to manipulate others into giving him items and money, but rather into giving him trust; he views it as the only way for him to continue his personal studies uninterrupted, by preventing those watching him from suspecting he’s pursuing other interests.

❖ [ Memory ]
While not eidetic, Kaspar’s memory is strong, particularly relating to things he sees or reads. It helps most often with his studies, but he can remember far more, and the applications are wide-ranging.

❖ [ Plant Identification ]
His preferred subject for sketching, Kaspar has gotten quite familiar with plant life, and his memory certainly helps him remember key identifiers. However, he also occasionally practices his material drawing skills on plant life, trying to learn how this particular aspect of Blood Magic can be both precise and devastating. He likes to understand the plants he might be destroying, as a sign of respect for their use as a learning device.

❖ [ Sketching ]
To further his emotional control, Kaspar sought a hobby to help him re-center and settled on sketching. He’s been fine-tuning the skill over years and prefers to sketch plant life outdoors, taking the peace of the location as yet another source of control.

W E A K N E S S E S & F L A W S

❖ [ Casting ]
Kaspar lacks skill in casting. He’s capable and not a danger to himself or others when doing so, but hasn’t developed the same knowledge or precision that he exercises in other areas. With his tutelage focusing heavily on fine-tuning his drawing to prevent dangerous accidents and no natural aptitude for expelling that mana, casting remains one of his weakest aspects of using The Gift.

❖ [ Confidence ]
While it often helps him stay calm, Kaspar’s confidence enables him to put himself in risky situations. His own belief in his skills and his moral fortitude lead to a feeling of invincibility and his expectation that he can’t be a perpetrator or victim of terrible accidents like that of his youth, and that his interests are not immoral. Given his practice in Blood Magic, his lack of caution has the potential to lead to horrifying results.

❖ [ Curiosity ]
His curiosity can lead to choices many would consider dangerous. When Kaspar wants an answer, he will seek it out—heedless of how others may think of his actions. He won’t stoop to injuring others or their belongings, but holds a belief that actions can only hurt them mentally or emotionally if they know about it. As such, he may take things a step too far in seeking answers, particularly from those he feels may be lying to him.

❖ [ Energy-based Drawing ]
Kaspar has always struggled with drawing from energy sources, as is considered typical for most schools of magic. He’s capable of it, but is often less precise and slower in doing so, compared to his skills in drawing from material sources.

❖ [ Solitary Nature ]
Kaspar’s personality is often enough to keep him isolated from others, but he’s not the kind to seek out connections. While he’s willing to allow others to trust him, and values the faith others may put in him, he does not allow himself to exercise the same trust. He keeps many things to himself, and won’t seek out support or assistance unless even he cannot deny he’s in far over his head—and by the time he understands that, he may be too deep in.

M I S C E L L A N E O U S

❖ Color is #B8041A
❖ Alt+0248 for "ø", if anyone wants it

[Force and Fury]

World Expansion

Alright so, given the popularity of this game and its associated world and lore, I'll be opening up a second game during the summer (yay, teacher life!) set in an earlier time and different place. Below are a few potential options and we'll choose one. Feel free to chime in with any feedback, questions, or interest! Let me know which you'd be most interested in. On that note, I intend to open an interest check for the one chosen before the weekend.

1) Regium Anguis (Royal Snake): set during the height of the Avincian Empire, this RPG follows the political intrigue and growing conspiracy to assassinate an emperor who some feel is decadent and corrupt and others feel is strong and stabilizing. Yes, this means magical gladiators, barbarians, and centurions.

2) 秘密戦争 *Himitsu Sensō* (The Hidden War): set during the collapse of the Danegashima Shogunate, this RP follows the various warring clans and hidden agents of the Retanese twin emperors as they attempt to establish control over late medieval Kanjiki. Yup, we have magical ninjas, geishas, and samurai.

3) City of Stone: set in the fertile Miharapori Delta during the agricultural revolution, this RP follows a small band of hunter-gatherers as they encounter civilization and the establishment of the very first kingdom, formal discovery of the seven magics, and enshrining of the earliest pantheon of gods. Yes, this means magical cavemen, but think of it more as Mesopotamia/Babylon.

4) 百王之战 *Bǎi wáng zhī zhàn* (War of the Hundred Kings): set in Dark Ages Re Tan following the collapse of the Sui Dynasty, players would either lead or be part of one of the dozens of factions and sub factions vying to establish the great nation's next dynasty or at least prevent it from splintering. Yes, this means magical shaolin monks.

5) Oriflamme: set in Dark Ages Perrence, Eskandish raiders pillage up and down coasts, rivers, and trade routes, extracting tribute from petty nobles and threatening the capital. The young king Arcel has decided to establish the Knights of the Red Table to counter their threat. Players would take on the roles of knights and mages in this quest. Yes, there be dragons.

6) By Reed and Wind: set during the expansion of the Palaparese peoples into the islands of the Solemni Ocean, this RPG follows the harrowing ordeal of one clan as they set off on their trimarans and catamarans to find a new home safe from the dangers of volcanoes, typhoons, great sea beasts, and internal sabotage. Yes, this means magical Maori warriors.

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Feel free to take this survey: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfJ1…

[Force and Fury]

Just a quick update on the above vote: thanks to player and general forum input, the winning spinoff idea was Oriflamme. the interest check will be going up sometime later tonight or tomorrow. Vive la Perrence!

[Pirouette]

Woah. Collab.

So I was going to consider waiting until I got home to write this on discord but I have a moment now and I want to get it off my chest.

I am considering dropping out of this RP. There are a few reasons. I just have like no connection with my character. I’m just not able to find a fun way to write as Ysilla. I would be fine to keep trying, however…

I am missing a lot by not being able to be on discord. I didn’t even know there was a collab going for the Desert crew and there are only so many ways I can write “Ysilla sat in silence listening to everyone” before it gets boring.

I have full intentions to at least see the end of the Desert mission but if I can’t find any muse then I’ll work a way to write Ysilla out.

Definitely a “it’s not you, it’s me” thing.

[Ti]

Woah. Collab.

@Pirouette

Ended up being one of those very impromptu things which expanded and went out of control wildly within the moment. It started on myself asking if anyone wanted to do a late night collab (my post), then the plan was to do a little bit of something for breakfast (2nd post). I know it doesn't help with me being excited about this being my first RP and eager to write.

I know you are not active on the Discord, but there is a plan the next arc which you might have found more appealing. It was to break things into smaller groups, and many ways, a lot more manageable for others like yourself who don't have as much opportunity to write (compared to myself), also more opportunity for slice of life stuff and character development. It might work for you a lot better for you OOC-wise.
I know there are character issues, but if you are still interested in the setting, you could possibly swap to a new student who you have a better feel for.

[Force and Fury]

@Pirouette So, I won't lie: I noticed that you've been struggling a bit with finding your muse and I'd wondered if this was coming. I wonder if it's a case of not just jumping in with both feet. I feel like we're often so afraid of "getting it wrong" with our characters that we don't just write from the heart, we don't just have those characters seize the day in whatever fashion they might do it.

I'd encourage you to think back to when you were making Ysilla. What was it that drew you to her? What moment did you have where you were like, "Ooooh! that'd be cool / fun", what made you make her the character that she is? I feel like Ysilla has come off as quiet not so much because she's actually quiet as because she just hasn't been as involved.

As far as this collab went, that was kind of on us as a group, actually. It came together very suddenly and haphazardly, but we should've pinged you. You'd have gotten it at some point, even if late. That's our - and essentially my bad as GM. I just think I might've made a subconscious assumption that Ysilla would... be quiet or that you wouldn't be able to write for the collab on short notice. I can't speak to others' thought processes, but it shouldn't have happened like that: just passing you by like a train in the night.

I want to help you find your character's identity, plotline, and place in this story, but I need your help to do it. What's something fun, quirky, daring, dumb, or at least different that she'd do? The others have run up against a brick wall. Maybe her puppets can spy somehow? A bird is pretty innocuous. Maybe she can learn something from the way that the older Tethered essentially use the Gift to make puppets of their own bodies. I really liked the concept of Ysilla and her binary with Zarina, but yeah. She hasn't been what I think she could be or has the potential to be. I wanna see her personality in action. Just because she's not as in your face as her sister doesn't mean she can't be impactful and dynamic!

Let her have fun! Let her mess up. Let her make a friend or an enemy. Zarina just fell flat on her face. What does that do for Ysilla? Maybe the sisters should have some interaction during the search for the aberration: possibly a collab. For my part, I'm going to be better with pinging you about anything noteworthy that happens on discord related to your character and possible things you could become involved in. I had kind of just been assuming that @YummyYummy was always doing it, though I hadn't asked and it's not really his job, haha. I used to only have discord on my laptop as well for the sake of work-life balance and not becoming a phone zombie. I can appreciate that and I wanna try to make this RPG work for you. For your part, I'd exhort you to ask questions, look for leads, and drop me or the others messages both on here and on discord when you're online. Be active in seeking opportunities for Ysilla and they will be there. I'll make sure of it.

And hey, if it doesn't work out and we can't turn this around, then at least we gave it our honest best effort and that's all I ever ask. No hard feelings. At least you didn't ghost.

[Pirouette]

@Ti

The collab happening and everyone having fun with it isn’t a big deal. Like if you right in the middle of another one and having fun then yes, continue!

The reason I bring it up is that it may have helped me find some fun angle with Ysilla.

It is hedging my bet, too. If Oriflamme is having similar situations happen. I at least have more going on with Camille that is fun for me so that feeling of missing out isn’t really there. So instead of splitting my attention between the both if I’m missing out, then I would at least keep pursuing the character I can have fun with on my own.

Hopefully that makes sense.

[Pirouette]

@Force and Fury

That is kind of you.

Long story short, Ysilla as an idea was born hastily and not entirely by my own ideas. I’m a planner type who wants to have a strong foundation to build off of. Yums can attest to this but if I’m into a character, I can really stretch out the hows, whys, and what ifs for a chara.

But I can’t even think of what Ysilla wants to make as her next puppet, a central part of the character and that should be fun, what material, form she chooses playing a literary role. I have fun when there is complexity and causation. Because that leads to satisfying pay off or connections.

[Force and Fury]

@Pirouette Sounds like we need a character resue brainstorm session. Let's build off of the foundation that you have and reimagine her! If you're down for a character brainstorm session tomorrow, I am SO down.

[Pirouette]

@Force and Fury

Yes. We can try.

[Force and Fury]

@Pirouette Tell me when we're good to go tomorrow. I'll make a thread for it. Already got some ideas brewing!

[Pirouette]

@Force and Fury

Morning, maybe. I’ll be on discord tonight I think.

Morning = 12 hours from now. Tonight = ~2 hours from now.

[Force and Fury]

@Pirouette I can do two hours! Cya then!

[Animus]

Woah. Collab.

So I was going to consider waiting until I got home to write this on discord but I have a moment now and I want to get it off my chest.

I am considering dropping out of this RP. There are a few reasons. I just have like no connection with my character. I’m just not able to find a fun way to write as Ysilla. I would be fine to keep trying, however…

I am missing a lot by not being able to be on discord. I didn’t even know there was a collab going for the Desert crew and there are only so many ways I can write “Ysilla sat in silence listening to everyone” before it gets boring.

I have full intentions to at least see the end of the Desert mission but if I can’t find any muse then I’ll work a way to write Ysilla out.

Definitely a “it’s not you, it’s me” thing.

@Pirouette

At times, I'm really active on discord and it's a fun experience. However, there are also times were IRL stuff keeps me busy and I'm too tired to try to go through the backlog (which can be hundreds of messages) to understand what people have talked about that might be related to the RP, since there's a lot of random banter as well.

I've also found it hard at times to write Carmillia. She's supposed to calculative, smart and in control and I can honestly say it hasn't really been going that smoothly for that concept due to interactions with others. There's a disconnect between her design and the actual execution to her in the roleplay.

So, I feel you. I really do, lol.

As for me, I'm still here because of various reasons.

#1: I often post late in the cycle so Carmillia is often left with a similar scenario to “Ysilla sat in silence listening to everyone.” The responsibility of acknowledging other posts and trying mesh them together also falls on the person posting late/last in the cycle. I was originally frustrated by this but decided to look at it from another angle and see it as a challenge. This made it a lot more enjoyable for me.

#2: Acknowledging the FOMO. No one wants to miss out. In fact, a lot of us would rather not be involved at all as opposed to taking part but feeling like we're not getting the whole experience. I decided to stop worrying about what banter others are making or cool lore/idea generations that happen when I'm not around and instead focus on what I was actually experiencing when I was involved. And I realized I liked what I took part it.

#3: FnF. Anyone who's been on this site long enough, especially those from before guildfall, know that it's a huge pain in the fucking ass to find a roleplay that continues. FnF has shown he's pretty damned dedicated to ensuring it continues as well as constantly building on the lore. He pushes for posts and helps make it easier when things slow down. Even after the bulk of our original starting cast dropped, he kept it going. For me, it's nice to know that the time I'm investing into my posts and character won't just turn to dust because others flake since I know this RP will continue onwards. It's been five months and THO is still going strong and the payoff from the investment is definitely a nice feeling.

I hope you don't give up!