Dark Jack

The Prophecy

Well, chances are that I'on won't actually have to fight even if he joins the scene. Presuming that you haven't been keeping up with IC events lately, Blue (full name/title Blue Tool, unique secret special forces agent assigned directly to the Blue Duke's service) fought Ixion and Morgan in an alley because she mistook Ixion for someone else, and during this fight she both unleashed magic that created an extremely bright lightsource and, upon cancelling that spell, switched to a much less visible version of this that focused all the light into what was essentially a powerful laser, which would unleash a significant amount of magical energy. Since then Blue was killed by the Fixer (the person she mistook Ixion for, the right hand servant of the Grand Master) and though Ixion and Morgan nearly got in a fight with him, too, they decided against it due to Ixion realizing he was a fellow servant of the Grand Master and both of them realizing that the Fixer is quite simply far beyond what even the two of them could handle together. So now the situation is already kind of resolving itself, and its natural point of progressing onto a different matter is relatively near.

The Prophecy

Posted twice for some unfathomable reason... Oh joy.

The Prophecy

All right then, if that's decided then I suppose it would be about time for a CS. I am privately still trying to work out some kind of justification as to just why consuming another being's heart would increase one's magical powers, though... It makes sense with Harvesters (...my increasing awareness of my own past ignorance is starting to bother me. There is really no way for me to justify writing that with capital H, is there? I'll probably have to change that, too) because they are fundamentally different from mortals and don't have souls as mortals do. The heart is the seat of the Seeds only, which is a part of the soul separate from its magical energy... I'll have to think of something there.
And it was decided that they would not have afterlives? Because of their believing that they won't have them or because they are somehow fundamentally incapable of having them? It's an interesting thought, though... a dead mortal soul that isn't processed into an afterlife would normally manifest as a ghost or specter, or even a true undead, but for them to simply disperse upon death? Highly unusual. It also occurs to me that if this was really the case then the del-korm would leave an impression upon the ambient nature where they die that would be many times stronger than any other mortal. Assuming that there are forests in their homeland, considering their short life expectancy, this would probably mean that nearly every forest in their homeland are Living Woods, which would continue to be strongly influenced by every del-korm to die in them. Nature where they lived would be utterly saturated with the energy, memories and personalities of the dead. It'd be a right mess! Sounds like fun.
Eating a heart could indeed be considered acceptable by some cultures, but unfortunately this is not the case in Rodoria... or most of civilized Reniam, for that matter. And since the growth of one's Seeds of Good and Evil is affected by others' perception of what you have done the act would have a very strong evil tint to it there, and even in lands where it was considered non-evil it would still cause some growth simply due to the general ethical tendency of the Plane as a whole. That said, having your heart eaten by a harvester would not eliminate your soul per se; as I said the heart only contains a part of the soul, which is separate from the one formed of magical energy. Harvesters only eat the Seeds, which does prevent the Wanderer from recognizing their deaths and sending them on to an afterlife... but it doesn't destroy them. They keep existing, no longer having the ability to perceive good or evil (just like the harvester itself) and incapable of passing on.

Ah, and how would you like to have I'on involved, yoshua? I was halfway hoping that the two new characters would appear IC so that a group could start to assemble (they will be in Zerul City, if I recall correctly) that will eventually meet and merge with Aemoten's group... once they actually bloody get there. Maybe I'on would have noticed the fight between Blue and Ixion and Morgan? She did use some pretty flashy magic, after all, in the middle of the city.

The Prophecy

"Great!" Fixer chirped delightedly, lowering his book a bit at the same time as he straightened into an even more open stance than he had been in since the two others had noticed him. His eyes smiled at them through his mask, happy but not relieved; he had been scolded by the Grand Master and had needed to kill potential future challengers before, and it would not exactly have bothered him to have killed these two either. He was glad that he did not have to, but his lack of relief only confirmed how unafraid he had been of the prospect of fighting them. Still without taking his left hand out of his pocket he adjusted his grip on the Necrology, maneuvering it in his right hand so that the open pages faced into his palm and wrist, held there by his pinky and ring finger. With the freed up middle-finger, pointer and thumb he nonchalantly snatched his war pick that Ixion had thrown to him out of the air and, in one continuous fluent motion, hooked the weapon in the empty loop in his belt. "Now we can all be pals!"
Truth be told his words had had an even stronger impact on the assassin than he had expected them to have, particularly, it seemed, the use of Ixion's name. At first Fixer thought it was weird that the other would be more shocked that he knew his name than that he had signed a contract with the Grand Master and knew what the contract entailed, but it did not take long for him to realize that it was just too improbable that Ixion would react like that just because of his first name being known. No, perhaps it was more specifically because of the way he had said it? He had no idea that 'Ixie' had been a pet name he had had before, let alone that it was one that would have a significant impact on Ixion to hear; he had simply called him by the pet name that would be the most obvious to derive from 'Ixion', which to him was 'Ixie'. Lucky. Hopefully Ixion would have had the sense not to engage in a fight with the nefarious Fixer even without it, but every little bit of emotional manipulation helped.
It was mildly surprising that Ixion had heard of the Fixer, too, let alone the fact that he could deduce that he was the holder of that title; it was usually a well-kept secret among the lawgivers of the land that there was an agent of a demon lord wandering the lands who was harassing them every now and then whenever they bothered the Crimson Dawn too much, and even within the Crimson Dawn people were usually hesitant to speak of him if they had heard of him due to the fact that he was also the one who disposed of them if they became a liability to the Lord. That a man independent from either of these - one who had made a deal with the Grand Master without being a member of the Crimson Dawn, like the Fixer himself - could recognize him was rather impressive. It certainly did Blue more credit to be wounded by a man with that kind of deductive skills than one failing to make obvious conclusions as he had before.
"I don't real need'a do anythin' to get the sword," he admitted merrily as he calmly walked between the two who had just seconds ago been fiercely determined to brutally murder him, heading to the edge of the roof that overlooked the alley in which Blue still lay. His unusually roomy pant-legs swished lightly with each stride, flowing around his legs like sails. "The ones tha' made the sword di'n't real protect the sword itself; the protected bit is the scabbard. It'd destroy the sword if it's still in it when it's wielder dies or it's stolen. I ha' the sword 'ready; this is for Blue."

He did not even slow his stride when he reached the end of the roof but just stepped indifferently into the thin air, letting himself fall the thirty or so feet to the ground, rolling forward as he landed to better absorb the impact, all without changing what his hands were doing. Once he was down there he stood, then stopped moving as he faced the bloodied corpse of a woman he had once known as an ally. He paused then for a moment, just taking in the sight of her... smiling behind his mask. Finally she had reached the stage all of them should logically be in with what had happened to them; finally she could start to discover the truth and escape the shackles that bound her very mind and soul, enslaved her will and killed her emotions. She was not like him; none of them were like Fixer. He was broken... they had to break, too.
"Once upon a time, thirty-two years ago," he began reading aloud from his book, dropping the fake Kirkinian accent in a show of respect of what he was doing, "a woman named Rebecca in Nemhim City had a daughter. Rebecca was lowborn and had no last name, and conceived this daughter working as a prostitute. There were a number of potential men who could have sired her, but considering the time and appearance of the girl the one most likely to be her father was a goldsmith named Wendell, who was never even told that he had a daughter in the first place. The closest thing to a name Rebecca gave the baby was 'shitstain', although Rebecca's sister, Reilly, frequented the labels 'precious' and 'honey'. Rebecca did not want a baby, however, and so she went out in secret one cold springtime night and abandoned her daughter in a secluded alley of the city.
Here little shitstain should have died, victim to the cold chill air, lack of nourishment and the vermin of dark places, but fate would have it that she was found by one of the resurrectionists. He stole the infant from the embrace of death in that alley and brought it to Corpse Forge, where shitstain was now called 'twenty-seven'. Corpse Forge did to twenty-seven what it did to all the children that were brought to it; subjected her to monstrous things and made her commit equally inhuman acts, brainwashing her until they had erased all of her humanity. Dead now in spirit, twenty-seven was no longer a person; she became a tool, forged to perfection, and as she was discovered to have an affinity for both magic and combat she was first named a candidate for and later chosen as the Blue Tool.
Sent away from Corpse Forge now that she was a finished tool, Blue was sent to Zerul, as many holders of that name had before her, and came to serve Duke Marcus Zerul. Marcus was a kind master, however, one who was never willing to view Blue as the tool she was and insisted to treat her as a precious subordinate, something Blue could not even appreciate due to her being dead inside. The other nobles were not as merciful as the duke, however... she was used by them in many ways, to kill and spy and give them pleasure. One of these nobles, Count Aldor Weiss, sired Blue with a son, who was never given a name by either of his parents, but who is now 'fourteen' with Corpse Forge. Blue wept for the first and last time since taking that name when fourteen was taken from her by a resurrectionist; she proved that she was not a perfect tool after all."
The Fixer lowered the book and looked at Blue directly. "I can respect that. So now, mother of fourteen, Blue Tool, twenty-seven, treasure, precious and shitstain, remember who you were, and know who you are. You have your freedom at last. You are a tool no more; rejoice, for now though your body is dead, your spirit can live. You are the first tool in two hundred years to become a person again."

Closing the book and putting it back in the pocket of his coat, the Fixer went to her and started unbuckling her belt to free the scabbard of her Dirge. "But you will not be the last."

The Prophecy

Sniffers can sense other properties about a soul than its strength, yes... eh, so beyond being able to sense the Fixer's state of mind (which he has been doing until now as well) he'd also be able to sense that he is not a necromancer, and that his natural elemental affinity is with air. And the fact that Immanuel was not a Sniffer was part of why Gerald was so surprised when he could not sense him, indeed, although there is more to it than that; while even necromancers aren't able to get any kind of accurate readings on Sniffers - as in, they are unable to tell just about anything at all about a Sniffer just by sensing them, not even where they are - they are just barely able to pick up the presence of Sniffers... that is, they are able to tell that a Sniffer is nearby, but nothing beyond that.

And ASTA's post... technically I didn't miss it, but I did delay reading it because I didn't have time when I saw it, and then forgot all about it. Heh. This is becoming a bad habit... I have to stop getting distracted so easily.
Anyway, I'd everything sounds pretty acceptable thus far; the way the Echoers' powers work and affect them sounds a lot like the relationship between first-generation demonspawn and their powers in that using their abilities grows their power, but also activates their demonic blood and corrupts them. If your explanation ended up being something along the lines of Claw's power somehow causing a degeneration of his Seeds of Good and Evil (which would coincidentally prevent him from entering the common afterlives of The Prophecy, since the growth of the Seeds are what determines the afterlife earned), then eating the hearts of other creatures the same as Harvesters do would potentially counteract such damage... though chances are that if Claw really has the ability to absorb others' Seeds, he would also inherit at least some of the growth of that heart; in other words if he devoured the heart of an extremely good or evil being, the balance between his own Seeds might tip one way or the other, affecting his own afterlife (though I imagine that even if he absorbed a well-grown Seed of Good, the very act of doing so would probably be considered sufficiently evil to counterbalance it).
His power itself should probably still come from his magical energy, though, even if its use affects his Seeds somehow. I also think that the damage to his Seeds should be explained as a result of him using magic at all rather than using this particular kind of magic... as a kind of, I don't know, spiritual disease or racial deficiency. How does that sound?

The Prophecy

The Fixer isn't a necromancer or has any real practice in hiding the strength of his soul, so he generally doesn't even try... and even if he had tried, a Sniffer would be able to sense it anyways. Their magical sensory powers are unrivalled, after all. That being said, the Fixer will give off an aura that Morgan will probably recognize as being very powerful, but not monstrously so in the sense that it is still within the range one could expect from a mortal, rather than being on immortal-level. He's certainly stronger than even most experienced mages, but not altogether fearsomely so.
How far can a Sniffer's abilities go... eh, see, the thing is that being a Sniffer means to have taken one's control over one's own soul away, removing all conscious and instinctive influence on the flow of one's energy and instead enforcing the rule of the Sniffer tattoos. They can't actually control their abilities (which is why Sniffers get bombarded with readings on everyone around them constantly) or expand beyond what they were initially. They do possess a certain degree of passive absorption of ambient energy similar to liches due to their natural flow being turned inwards, and since energy can't actually leave their souls again their souls grow in strength the longer they remain Sniffers, but they can't actually use that energy for anything. The passive energy absorption is also so slow that its effect on spells cast near it would be quite neglectible, and unless someone was intentionally pouring raw, unmanifested magical energy into the Sniffer they wouldn't be able to harness more than a very small amount of it. Sorry, but Sniffers don't work that way; their abilities are almost exclusively sensory.

The Prophecy

Oooo, so scary! the murderer thought to himself, smiling amusedly behind his even wider-smiling mask. This Ixion was a lot more talkative than he had expected him to be, though; as far as he knew the fellow had hurt his throat or something, so it hurt him to speak. Should he be flattered, then, that this usually taciturn assassin - or, apparently, 'sword-for-hire' as he had just reclassified himself - pushed through and said as much as he did now? Although... he had said quite a bit to Blue, too, and her performance had been somewhat underwhelming. Like, really? Come on. It was just two-on-one; even if one could teleport effortlessly and the other possessed superhuman speed and strength, and even if Blue was one of the less combat-oriented tools, the fact that she let herself get wounded and driven to the point of desperation was disgraceful.
And then the oblivious bastard went on to hint at something bad that would have happened if he had been the one to kill Blue... Hey now, I don't appreciate you making Blue look even worse by saying stupid things like that. That one annoyed him a little; obviously his own statement about it being better that he killed her than Ixion should have revealed that he already knew what would happen if in that event. He knew all about Ixion Echtalion, from his beheaded fisherman of a father to the dirty little deal he had made with the Ancient One. Not only was he making Blue look bad by seeming too dull to catch such a clear confession, it also completely ruined the awe it was supposed to have inspired. He loved seeing people's reactions when he did things like that; that moment when they finally came to realize that there was more to him than met the eye, that he had been studying them from the shadows, that they stood before an opponent more terrifying than they had ever faced before. It was a rare pleasure, too, considering how infrequently he actually met other people face to face... and even when he did, they almost never survived long enough for him to have any fun with it.
Because that was where the good Ixion was mistaken: he did not leave witnesses... normally, that was. Some people he let go, which was how word of him had started circulating among those invested in that kind of business. Only people meeting one of two certain criteria were allowed to survive laying eyes on him, though: either they seemed like they could be fun given time, or the boss said to let them live.

And then the other one spoke... yes, the other one. Said some nonsense about him being wrong and that he was going to kill him, and leaped across the alley and initiated an attack aimed at him. The violet-eyed man did not react outwardly to this at all beyond his eyes betraying a certain degree of annoyance and impatience; his left hand remained in his pocket and his right held his book calmly in front of him. He did not even change his stance in the slightest; he just stood there in what one might interpret as incredulous awe, but was really just a result of indifference. Who was this other one, though? He had not made a bargain with the Ancient One, that much was clear... yet he exhibited superhuman speed and strength. A Warden, perhaps? No... ah-ha, now he saw why Blue had had so much trouble with that one; focusing his magical senses, which were admittedly nowhere as sharply honed as Blue's, he realized that this man did not give off an aura at all. How come? A Warden would be unable to conceal its own soul like that. Speed, strength and no aura... a Harvester? Now that was a prospect that would have gotten him excited, had it actually been likely and not immediately dismissible as it was; the man had showed plenty of emotion, after all, and had neglected to massacre Ixion, which was not what a Harvester would have done. What then, what then... curious how he had covered himself up so completely. Would hide... tattoos. Sniffers did not give off auras, but they did not possess the other powers this one had demonstrated either. Hmm... upon thinking back, he had moved a lot differently when he had attacked Blue than he did now, despite apparently being angrier now. He had been faster then, and more direct, telegraphing his attack clearly in advance and not employing any of those flamboyant acrobatics he was displaying now. Almost as though he had been enraged, somehow... or frenzied. Ixion had wounded Blue immediately before all of this, he recalled; could this other one be a vampire? Clothes that blotted out sunlight, speed and strength, frenzies upon seeing blood; seemed likely. Ha. A Sniffer vampire... that was a new one. Really reaffirmed his decision not to kill him before he could react to Blue dying.
He had still not moved beyond his eyes unconcernedly following the Sniffer's movements, and the other had not yet reached him. Even people who he deemed worthy of fighting rarely came to realize why he had achieved the position he had, why the boss valued him so, and the most important reason that he was one of the most dangerous single men in Reniam; he was a man of many strengths, but none could really rival the sheer scope of the processing power of his mind. Nothing was faster than his thoughts. No one could outsmart him. And in the end, no one could really entertain him beyond the satisfaction of killing them.

Just when he was about to actually consider doing something to avoid having his legs broken by the Sniffer's staff Ixion interfered, though, casting a spell that he was not familiar with, but which he could deduce from the incantation was probably an illusion spell of sorts, in this case targeted - surprisingly - at the Sniffer. And then they... well, what do you know? They were actually fighting over who had the right to kill Blue, and apparently also who was entitled to kill him, although the latter question was so ludicrous that he could not help but chuckle to himself. As if they were so certain that they were superior to him that they were convinced that they did not need each other as allies in fighting him, but could take him on individually. Ha! They would barely even make for a distraction even if they both fought him at the same time. Ixion was on the boss' no touchie-list, though, and the Sniffer... although he was painfully inept now, his instincts told him that he could have the potential to one day make an interesting opponent. He was too weak now, though... no fun at all. The Sniffer would die without even making him use both hands.
Despite how close both of those who had declared themselves his enemies were to him, the man's stance remained relaxed, his left hand still in its pocket while he turned his attention to the book in his right, using his thumb to open it and turn the pages. It was a thin book, containing less than thirty pages, and the lettering in it was rather large; he had written every word in it himself. There also was an inscription on the spine of the book, difficult to see though it was on the black background since it was the same dark-red color as his clothes. It was written in the Human Cipher, but in Kirkinian rather than Rodorian; not a significant complication to someone trying to decipher what was written, since those languages were considered mutually intelligible, but it would probably be enough for someone not to immediately realize the meaning of a word just from glancing at it. The word on the spine, though spelled a bit differently in Kirkinian, read "Necrology".

"Look," he said, turning pages in the book as he spoke. His impatience showed in his voice, as did his disinterest in their quarreling. "So'y I went 'n' ruin'd yer fight wi'h Blue 'n' stuff, but can't we just, y'know, not fight? The boss-man'll be right mad wi'h me if I went 'n' kill'd one of his 'investments in continuous profits', Ixie, 'n' I real don't wanna kill whoever yer mate is while he's still this weak. What'd'ya say, eh? We just walk our separate ways, eh? No one gets hurt, eh?"
How annoying. He could have let them kill Blue - in fact the boss would probably have preferred if Ixion killed her, considering the circumstances - but he did not personally want Blue to lose her soul to Ixion's bargain like that, and he wanted to make sure that she died while her Dirge was drawn. If the Dirge had been sheathed when she died it would have self-destructed, and he wanted it. If it had not been for how obsessively reluctant the tools were to draw their Dirges, he would have killed Blue days ago; she had gotten way too annoying with those wards she had been setting up all over the place. Was getting in the way of business in Zerul City, which was unforgivable. He was a lax man in most regards, but he could not allow someone to become a nuisance... even if that person was a tool.
If the Grand Master gave an order, he had to obey; those were the terms of his contract. He felt no compulsion to do so, and the boss allowed him a lot of freedom on accord of him being the boss' right hand and strongest servant, but he was determined to keep his end of the bargain. It mostly involved killing people anyways, which was fun, so it was a win-win situation.
And the Grand Master of Evil did so cherish having his own private broken tool... his very own Fixer.

The Prophecy

Well the way I read Merc's post Ixion cast the spell before Morgan landed his blow, so I thought it might have altered the initial attack itself from what it originally was... But if Morgan will really just follow through with the attack, I'll want to post first and describe the actual result of the attack.

And yeah, Shien, that's basically what I meant. And thank you. Also, I didn't even realize that the surgery would be tomorrow until I read you wishing good luck; naturally my thoughts will be with you as well, Nessa.

The Prophecy

With magic in my worlds I usually start out with a foundation built on scientific principles, sometimes mixed with psychological phenomena that can easily seem supernatural, and then expand from there until it becomes a new kind of science altogether - which is what magic basically is in The Prophecy; a self-invented science - with laws and principles of its own, some derived from how we know the world in our time of advanced technology and knowledge and some derived from the faulty perception of the world that beings from medieval times might have had, or at least have in the Planes. Shien might have mentioned this, but one of the Laws of Magic in this universe - the sixth of them and coincidentially my favorite and most correct one among them - is "change never exceeds what you know". Magic in this universe is based on science, but exists as an extension of the will and mind of the creature who uses it. Thus even though the ability to "disrupt molecular structure" with sound makes a certain amount of sense from our point of view, it's not possible to do with magic in this world because the beings therein have no knowledge of molecular science, or even the existence of molecules. At the current level magic only really materializes its effects on macro-level, and the effects produced will adhere to the mistaken expectations its user has to these.
That being said, using this Echoer-ability you describe does sound like it would work relatively well explained as a type of sound-element magic, although I sincerely doubt that using it would allow "acoustic levitation" or "ultrasonic impact techniques". It would be a matter of forcing magical energy of the wielder's soul to manifest through sheer force of will, making it manifest as one desires... but I already wrote about that in the Compendium Shien showed you. Control of sound could still be rather useful for a lot of purposes, I'd say, despite the awareness of the nature of soundwaves not being understood in Reniam and thus cannot be perfectly reproduced through magic... all the easily detectable properties of sound are known, after all, and those alone should go a long way.
As to the manner in which Claw should "consume the voices" of others, I've been giving that some thought... Draining energy from the environment is probably less applicable in this case, since while this does occur constantly with the entities Shien mentioned, the process is still very slow; in fact a regular mortal would be able to channel as much magical energy from the Spirit Realm in one average night's sleep as a plant would be able to draw from Reniam over two weeks (liches do it somewhat faster than plants, but only if they can continuously relocate to areas with untapped ambient energy; if they stay in the same place they will actually be slower than plants due to having to wait for their surroundings to become resaturated with energy before they can draw from them again). The ability to drain souls is feasible (not very effective if the "defeated foe" is dead, and quite morally questionable if it's alive), particularly if compared to the Xuhrl-njok's ability (which both increases their power and extends their life when they do so), although it doesn't seem entirely fitting in regards to how it's supposed to function in the original concept, with experienced and wise beings possessing more power to consume than beasts as a matter of course (Prophecy wyverns don't roar, by the way; they screech and wail). I started thinking about designing the ability to work by drawing power from others' Seeds of Good and Evil, similar to how Harvesters do (though that would be a seriously grim comparison to be able to make), but even this doesn't guarantee that things would work the same. But as Shien said it's possible.

And you're right, of course, Shien... the titles are mainly for the players to have a way to get a quick idea of what kind of character it is, and is only secondarily for IC, and even then they are not guaranteed to be used there at all. Aemoten's title as "the Immortal Warrior" is one that is rather unlikely to be known IC, I'll admit, but seemed appropriate for players to quick-reference.
The world... while not officially expanded just yet, as more and more things were added to the south and west in particular (starting when I added the Xuhrl-njok, actually) I started privately filling in the blanks, designing geography and assigning general cultural trends to various areas of the land. It's not as finished as the relevant areas of Kirirak and most of the western nations don't even have names, but all-in-all I've probably mentally expanded the world to some five times the size of the original map. And I think I've ended up deciding on Reniam being a planet after all.

I would post in the IC, but it seems I'll have to wait and see how Morgan reacts to Ixion's spell there, first. And waiting for Ashgan in Jillian's scene...

Oh, and I was just notified that the university I applied to nearly a year ago has accepted the application; I'll be returning to my studies in September.

The Prophecy

It's always nice to hear someone mention their awareness of the importance of character development and growth; I know many, possibly even most, players know this, but seeing it confirmed just warms my heart (reread that and thought it might come off as sarcastic, so I better point out that I am sincere). I realize that the post wasn't directed at me, per se, but nevertheless I feel the need to assure you that thus far there hasn't been any reason that your character or the species it represents would be lore-breaking (which is my main concern with new things added to the universe; it's a huge pain having to make sure things don't contradict each other, both for me and for you as you have to deal with me maneuvering your peoples around and trying to find the particular little place they would fit in the best), and that for all intents and purposes, as far as I know by now (leaving room for the improbable), your Claw should be welcome to explore the Planes with the rest.

And yeah, most beings have weaknesses... in fact I'd go as far as to say that they all have them. Dragons, as you used as an example, are indeed no exception, which is one of the reasons they have been successfully hunted to near-extinction in The Prophecy. Some weaknesses may be hard to find or entirely unexploitable due to the circumstances, but even the immortals and deities of this universe have them. So... yeah. I agree.

(That little character you have there in your signature... some of the shorter animation-loops are almost hypnotizing. Before I knew it I'd been staring dazedly at it for several minutes. Interesting...)