EnterTheHero

Starless

@Transience Indeed we are! Post is up, by the by.

Starless

T A K E U P Y O U R T H R O N E

Erebus stood, stunned, twitching slightly, as he took in his surroundings. A village. He was... in front of a village. Maybe. He wasn't entirely sure, to be honest. One moment, he'd been wandering the now-starless plains of the after life, and the next... light. Lightning. A storm clashing about him, even in that dead realm, and then... he was here. Dramatically.

Then again, this could still be the land of the dead- some sort of illusion, perhaps, afforded by death's embrace. He raised a hand to the level of his eyes, turning it, scrutinizing it. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, feeling his draconic blood surge in response, the storms burning in his blood. He felt... alive. So therefore... yes, he was. He was alive again. Somehow. The thought distressed him for some reason. The boundary of death was supposed to be absolute- even a mighty dragon such as he could not cross back of his own volition. So... who sent him back, or called him? And why?

Such thoughts would have to wait for now, however. An older man was emerging from the village, heading a group of excited, somewhat scared or nervous villagers. The man walked with confidence up to him, and the village bowed before him, calling him "liege." In spite of himself, Erebus chuckled. That old lark again? People truly would give respect to anything, given something powerful enough. Even a beast. He then frowned, both at the man's words of chaos, but mostly at something he'd noted before the man bowed.

"Your eyes, sir," said Erebus, his voice surprisingly smooth and calm for someone of his reputation.

"My liege?"

"Your eyes. Meet them to mine." The man kneeling before him looked confused for a moment, before following the instructions of his king. The elder's eyes were a startling blue- almost luminescent. Erebus raised an eyebrow, before casting a gaze across the congregated villagers. Over half of them shared the same eyes. Some also possessed of deep black hair, usually coinciding with the strangely-colored eyes. Understanding came upon Erebus gradually.

"Who are you, elder? And where am I?"

The elder nodded, a proud smile stretching across his face as he prepared what was likely a speech he'd given before under different circumstances. "I am Ronan, my liege, one of the elders of Thorn, the village in which you now stand. We are the descendants of the Uncrowned, watching and waiting for the day of his- er, your return, my liege. And now... here you are. Yes."

Descendants? In spite of his troubling return to life, Erebus sighed in relief. So Sythan failed after all. My blood continues. That is... good news. Erebus smiled, and nodded.

"Clearly there is much that I have missed. But first things first." He looked down at his naked form, feeling somewhat awkward, given the adulation he was being treated with. He looked back up, and continued. "I shall require clothes. Food and drink, as well. And then, Ronan, you and I shall sit, and talk, and you will tell me of my absence, and how things have changed during such."

Starless

Erebus post is incoming.

Starless

Hi, the name is Dawnscroll and I was wondering if it wasn't too late to join. I can see you guys already have a tight knit group and a story well underway... but just from reading your stuff, I'd regret it if I didn't at least toss my hat into the ring. Is there anything I could do/write that might be a vote in favor for squeaking in at the last second?

@Dawnscroll

VoiD and I just joined in the last couple of days. You'd have to wait for the GM to get back to know for sure, but I don't see any reason why you couldn't join. We haven't gotten all that far, anyway, I don't think.

Starless

@EnterTheHero

The more the merrier - we'll destroy everything.

@Corvidae

Hey, as long as "everything" includes The Starless, that means we win, right?

Starless

<Snipped quote by rivaan>

They'll be spoken of only in hushed, frightened whispers, I'm sure, hahaaaa.

Plus, Crow is eternally down for blowing stuff up.

@Corvidae

You know what this party needs? Lightning. All of it. All of lightning.

Starless

Because I love to procrastinate, I made this instead of writing my first IC post.

Banners are a thing we're doing, right?

@Corvidae

I don't see why not. Looks good~

Starless

First Erebus post is up.

Starless

T H E C R O W N L E S S S H A L L A G A I N B E K I N G

Far to the northwest of the country of Altus, at the very edge of the known world, there lies a great mountain range known as the Dragon's Spine. It has been named such for as long as any can remember, since the elder days of antiquity. The mountains consistently crackle with storms and lightnings, smitten by the capricious will of nature. No one dares venture too high, or worse, too deep into the caves that run beneath the mountains, where the sparks of light and lightning are at their fiercest.

What few people understand, and even fewer truly know, is the truth of why these mountains are named such. In fact, many have questioned why the peaks are named for a dragon, rather than for the storms that strike them. But the truth is that, while the mountains have always been there, the storms have not. In the grand history of Altus, they are a relatively new addition- only five thousand winters or so.

For the Dragon's Spine, unbeknownst to most, is the last resting place of Erebus Thane, the Uncrowned King.

It was here, in a city beneath the earth, that the Dragon-Blooded made his final stand, against a fearsome foe who had slain many of his descendants. It was here, in his outrage, that Erebus commanded the thunders, and collapsed his foe's dead city upon their heads, leaving the great Spine as the only monument to his triumph, as well as his demise. It was here that his rage has touched the earth forevermore, as a reminder of the wrath of he who owned the earth without claiming it.

A fitting tombstone for the Uncrowned King of all the world...



Some miles southeast of the Spine lay the village of Thorn, a hardy community, used to the storms that frequently blew down from the Dragon's Spine. It was relatively peaceful in the village that day, a fitting calm before the storm that was to follow. It started simply- a whisper more of wind than was considered usual. And then that whisper started to grow. From whisper to sigh, to breath, to gust then gale, until the wind screamed across the village. The skies blackened with storm clouds, and thunder began to rumble in the skies. The storm came suddenly- too suddenly, according to the village's memory. Something was different. Not precisely wrong- they were used to stronger storms. Simply different.

Unbeknownst to them, in the caves beneath the Spine, in the Necropolis that Erebus had buried, the sparks of electricity had grown fiercer than they had ever been, lightning dancing between the stones of the earth, gathering at a single point in the center of what had been the city square.

The very place the Dragon-Blooded had breathed his last. And over the roar of lightning beneath the earth was another sound- the sound of a great beast, growling, snarling.

Waking.

If the storm had failed to garner the proper attention from the village folk, what followed certainly would not. Without warning, a blinding shaft of lightning erupted from one of the tallest peaks on the Dragon's Spine- a blue-white bar of light, more than a jagged bolt, piercing the skies like the spear of an angry god. And over the howling wind and the rumbling thunders, rose a sound that seemed to dwarf them all.

A roar, both human, and inhuman, both man and beast. The roar of the dragon as he returned from death into his domain once again.

The people of Thorn gaped at the bar of lightning until it faded, and with it, the storm, vanishing just as suddenly as it came upon them. There was silence for many heartbeats, before the village people turned to one another...

...and grinned. They then proceeded onward, busying themselves, preparing. For the village must be in proper order to receive their King...

Starless

Here's my CS. Sorry if I went a little overboard with the mythology.

@VoiD

...You're kidding, right? We have the greatest sage who ever lived, the very definition of "Immovable Object," a wind-controlling lesbian pirate, a prophet, a barbarian king that makes most Vikings feel inadequate, a shape-shifter, a fiery fox-girl, the founder of civilization, a deathless vampire, the champion of Nature itself, and my character turns into a dragon and vomits lightning. Lightning.

And you think YOU went overboard? Oh, honey. We all did that. All of us. These are the greatest heroes in all of recorded history. If anything, I think you might have low-balled it.

I think you're gonna fit in just fine here, compadre. Glad to have you with us~