Gisk

Swords of a Master

Not accepted. Lots of problems.

Didn't I already tell you you couldn't do that sword? I guess I was a little vague. No, you can't do that sword.

And let me deconstruct the armor too: Skystone being soft, armor made from it would collapse upon itself too easily. A good hammer blow and you're done.
Plus, the bulk of the armor you're describing would severely limit your movements, even if it was light as a feather. There's a reason why armor in real life is relatively thin. Because otherwise it would get in the way of joints, or else the joints would have to be unarmored and they'd become the weak points.

How is she Danlith, exactly? Only by blood, I take it, because a Danlith would never prostitute herself. That doesn't preclude her form having Danlith blood, though, so long as her mother was also only related genetically. Also, no pure white hair. I said they have lighter hair, like light browns and blonds.
EDIT: Actually, you just gave me an idea and added to the history and mythos of the world. During the Tharan Conquest, those problematic Danlith who didn't die in battle were enslaved as temple prostitutes. Slavery has since been outlawed by the Empire, but there's still a culture of Danlith blooded prostitutes, who now actually outnumber the free Danlith priestesses.

Are you seriously going to tell me that she killed all of the rich people in Orunmilla? You don't think anyone would ever realize that the same prostitute everyone who died had slept with was the one killing them? And where exactly did she learn the skills to take on trained guards that must be employed in these wealthy homes? Or to fight and escape soldiers who came calling? I really hate the "super skilled, often sought after" assassin, because it really doesn't make sense, for more reasons than I've listed.

Much of this character is problematic. I really just don't buy that she goes from prostitute to super-badass-knight-sword-for-hire. Especially without any sort of training.

Further Editing: I'll tell you what, though. You could cut the character's history a bit short, have her be a Danlith prostitute who steals(not murders, I maintain that that would get her caught and executed way too fast) from her richer clientele. Perhaps, though, now she travels with Gabriel, who's teaching her the old Danlith ways. This way, you lose the parts of the character that I object to, but still manage to have the prostitute-to-warrior story that you wanted. What say you?

Swords of a Master

Name: Gabriel Drapsmannen
Age: 30
Appearance:
Country of Origin: Danlith, born on the run.
Backstory: Born to a Danlith priestess on the run, her father was an Osmad who caught her mothers eye one day, but she never knew him. Her mother taught her all of Danlith philosophy, and the skills she'd need to protect it. Gabriel traveled with her mother, and a few other priestess of her order, for most of her life. But they haven't been bolstering their numbers as of late, and every encounter with an opposing worldview had a chance to turn violent. And every violent altercation weakened them, and dwindled their number.
While there are other Danlith in the world, Gabriel is the only one left of the group she once traveled with. In recent years, she's realized that she can't survive alone, however strong she is, she can't survive alone. Now she's looking for companions once again.

Swords of a Master

So hold on, is there no OOC forum on the site yet?

And who's still interested?

Swords of a Master

Well, weight doesn't affect the speed of a falling object, but it does affect the amount of force it would fall with. The lowered force would mean the air resistance would have a greater effect, therefore indirectly lowering the speed you'd fall with.

Plus, I don't think that proposed weapon could be made with the technology level of this world. It would take some incredibly precise machinery.

Also, all that skystone would be rather expensive. Not a problem, as long as you have a reason why your character can spend that much money on weapons.

Swords of a Master

I forgot to mention that skystone is soft like lead or gold. Useless as a weapon.
it's also prohibitively expensive.

Swords of a Master

Excellent. I'd love to see some characters. In the mean time, I'm finishing up the prologue.

Swords of a Master

Character sheets must include, but are not limited to:

Name:
Age:
Appearance(not picky about how you do this, image or description or whatever(if you can find a third option, I'll fucking applaud you) but if you do use an image, I may nitpick about it. You are forwarned)
Country of origin:
Background.

Doesn't have to be terribly long, but it does need to be readable, and convey a sense of the character. If they have a sword, please mention which.

Swords of a Master

The prologue, I hope, is showing you how the two most complicated swords work. Seer and Witchblade. IF you have any questions, feel free to ask. In fact, here is a convo between me and Imp from the thread on the temp site. It might clear up any questions before you have them.

[hider=Spoiler]

Imp said 1. What is the relationship between Seer and causality? The post above seems a bit... confused about it. Now, I understood that the act of telling the traitor about his vision of victory caused the future to change, and thus that the swords do not take into account the changes that viewing the future can bring upon it. Yllicus did not see himself telling the traitor of the foreseen victory, and thus couldn't prepare for the double-cross. Going from here, let's say later, on the journey home, Yllicus sees in the future-sword that the ship will encounter a powerful storm, and uses that knowledge to change course and avoid said storm. Based on what we know already, this would work, because when it saw that the ship would be beset by the storm, the sword did not take into account the fact that Yllicus was watching, and that he had the power to change this outcome.

But, something bugged me about what he did when the ambush happened. He looked into the past, and somehow then he saw the double-cross, as well as the identity of the traitor and the traitor's motive... I just don't really get it. How does the Past sword work? Can it only see trains of causality that affect the wielder in a major way (basically, it saw who the traitor was because the treachery threatened Yllicus' life)? Even so, how could it possibly see the traitor's motive? The train of events went as such: A. Yllicus used the future sword to see his own victory --> B. Yllicus told his men that they would be victorious --> C. One of the men was a traitor, and used the gifted foreknowledge to warn the Dan Hurmding --> D. The battalion was ambushed

So, looking back, Yllicus knew of A., B., and D. from his own experience, only lacking the knowledge of what happened between B. and D. Using the sword, he was able to ascertain knowledge of C., and worked from there. However, the traitor's motive is in an entirely different train of causality, looking like this: Q. Some event caused the traitor to change his loyalty --> B. The traitor heard of the foreseen victory --> C. The traitor warned the Dan Hurmding --> D. The battalion was ambushed. So, B., C. and D. in these trains overlap, but Q. is entirely different, separate from everything else that happened.

The end question is this: how far back is the sword able to see? In this case, it jumped into a different perspective (different from Yllicus), the traitor's, and saw into the traitor's personal history far enough to ascertain the motive for the treachery. Could it go back farther, and show why the traitor was loyal to the empire in the first place? Could it tell Yllicus what the traitor had for breakfast the day he turned turncoat? Or, now that he has been attacked by the Witch, could it not look into her past and see how she got the sword, because that event lead circuitously to the ambush? Does the sword only show the wielder what he/she needs to see at that moment? If the latter, how is the importance of any single event decided? By the Gods? Is everything fated to happen, including the visions seen by wielders of the Seer? Is there truly no free will in this universe? As you can see, it has opened a bit of a philosophical can of worms for me...

Yours truly said 1: Both sword require great focus to use, and even using the future sword, one could easily miss something important(as Yllicus did). When he was looking into the past, he was specifically searching for what caused the ambush. I guess I wasn't clear enough, by the by, but the traitor is someone under the Witchblade's spell. That's what I meant by he saw "why" that person betrayed him. They didn't have a choice, and Yllicus saw him reporting to his mistress, the same woman that Yllicus sees moments before defeat.

1B: It doesn't give personal perspective, it views in third person limited(to use a literary term). I believe I gave adequate explanation of how Yllicus divined motive. As for how far back it goes: I intended for it to be difficult the further back you tried to look, but I never really thought of a number, and any I gave would be arbitrary. So, since I'm looking for an arbitrary number: The wielder can never see any further back in time than the moment of their own birth. They also, I should note, can only see things that happen relatively nearby where they are presently standing. Relatively, being, let's say, ten miles? Again, arbitrary numbers, but I suppose a limit should be put on it. And it requires more concentration the further in space and time they might try to look. He was able to divine the betrayal because it all happened between where the ship was anchored, and a small ways beyond the site of the ambush, and all within a few days.

The gods live in time, just as men do. They actually cannot see the future. Seer shows possible futures. What it shows is basically the course that events are taking. Any action taken by the wielder after seeing a prophecy can change it. And the more people the wielder tells, the more opportunity there is to alter the foretold future. So no, there is no predestination. In this world, one does have free will.

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Swords of a Master

The Witchblade's magic interfered with his very thoughts. Every action he thought to make was instantaneously checked against the Witch's orders. Yllicus paced the room, frantic now. Every possible plan was disallowed by the Witch's cunning words. She had thought of everything... Or had she?
He still had Seer. Not only had she allowed him to keep it, but she had given no orders regarding it whatsoever. It wasn't possible that she didn't know about it. Her spy had told her everything. Could it be a lapse in her judgment? Or perhaps she didn't care for it. Maybe she saw its weaknesses more clearly than he had.
How could he use this to his advantage? No matter what Seer let him see, his actions were limited by the curse.
He took the sword from its scabbard, and gazed into the future. At the current course, he saw his own success in the task that the Witch had given him. He could tell no one, to weaken the prophecy. He needed to change events, something needed to happen or all was lost. But the only avenue that was free, was his use of Seer.

Or, the thought struck him, his disuse of Seer. He looked into the blade yet again, closer this time. Very close indeed. He saw Mountaintaker soaring through the air. The airshipmen were hard at work, concentrating on their own tasks. But outside, a smaller ship flew. He saw it, and he watched a possibility unfold. It wasn't much of an option, but it was a change to the game.

Yllicus did three things, then. He sheathed Seer. Walked out onto the deck. And then dropped the sword off the edge.

Kung Fu Space Opera?

I guess you wouldn't be limited to that, but I made a point for them to be stronger than most in this world. What other thing did you have in mind?