Haydrian Cindel

Dawn of a New Age - The Return of Magic v3

@Haydrian Cindel, Also, the motel owner is a woman.

@Letter Bee

fixed it

Veda: The World We Once Knew...

@Hawthorne @stone @LukasVolkov @silvermist1116 @Fallenreaper @Jarl Coolgruuf here's the OOC

Steampunk, Eldritch, and Middle Fantasy Homebrew

@Jarl Coolgruuf@Fallenreaper@silvermist1116@LukasVolkov@stone@Hawthorne Alright guys, I've got the OOC up, you can go read my post there, decide if your still in and create a character sheet! It's called, Veda: The World We Once Knew... Ill mention yall over there as well, just to cover all my bases.

Dawn of a New Age - The Return of Magic v3

@Stitches Haydrian would definetly still be at the gas station if Abigail showed up. Lemme know if you want to have them interact. btw he's wearing a purple hoodie with a new York school logo on it, and jeans. The sedan he's driving is red with black tinted windows.

Dawn of a New Age - The Return of Magic v3

Haydrian looked out the window of his rented Sedan. Wow. This was some ugly countryside. Well in his opinion anyway. Farmland had just never done it for him, and it was all he’d seen since they hit Illinois. He sighed. This trip had better be worth it. If these people were just wasting his time… It didn’t bear thinking about. He was honestly surprised he’d actually been able to locate this Brightwell place at all; it wasn’t on any maps he’d been able to find. He’d finally located it thanks to an old Native American friend of his. Apparently, it was quite famous for it’s Burial Grounds. Haydrian grinned from within the depths of his shadowy hood. He’d have to give them a visit.

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After his group entered town Haydrian decided to find a gas station before looking in earnest for these people he was supposed to meet. He had to say it wasn’t very professional of them to demand he go to this backwater town and not give him a specific building to meet at. Then again considering the difficulty he’d had finding the town; it was entirely possible that adding the hunt for a random building to the list would have made the task impossible. But he doubted it. This small town barely had enough buildings in it to keep it from blowing off the face of the earth. After all it had already blown off the face of the maps. Speaking of maps, Haydrian thought to himself, after we fuel up, I think I’ll go see if the cashier has one of this town. Just in case.

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Haydrian couldn’t believe it. They’d had a map. He’d had to pay with cash (which in this day and age really said something about a place), but they had in fact had a map. He leaned against his Sedan, still parked in the gas station, and opened up the map. He let his eyes just drift across it a few times, soaking in just how small this place really was. Then in the corner of his mind, something like an itch started up. He was actually genuinely irritated by this. An itch in his brain? GREAT. The itch strangely began working its way from the back of his skull… through the middle of his brain? That’s the only way he could think to describe what was happening anyway. The itch continued its journey until it reached the back of his eye socket, at which point something truly disturbing happened.

Haydrian felt something that honestly felt like his eyes were being moved for him. One moment he was staring blankly at the map, and the next his eyes were dragged to stare intently at on area on the map. Creeped out, but not one to freak out, Haydrian inspected the area on the map, noticing that as long as he didn’t look away, the itch had disappeared, though if he did, it came back and his eyes were dragged right back. Was this magic? Haydrian contemplated. The neighborhood was nondescript, and a small motel was labeled. In fact, the motel. Yeah, that felt right for sure. This must be how his intended companions planned to lead him to the meeting place. Not bad he had to say, though he still would have put it in the note. Ah well, time to get a move on. He stood up straight and stretched his long arms, cracking his back as he did so. He looked over his shoulder with a careless air and spoke to his companions in the Sedan.
“Alright I think I’ve found it. Have Dennis go first and check it out please.”

There was some grunting from within the Sedan, Haydrian imagined they were struggling to use smartphones again. He cursed. He really needed to figure out how to increase their dexterity.

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Dennis



Cold hands. Cold skin. So cold. Dennis felt the urge to shiver. He always felt the urge to shiver, but his body no longer seemed capable of shivering. It made him want to cry, and even though he’d seen others like him cry he hadn’t been able to do it himself. He heard it made everything more bearable. He whished he could cry. And not being able to cry made him wish he could die. The dark nature of the thought made him want to shiver, starting the cycle again. He began cursing under his breath, tapping his cold dead thumb on the steering wheel of the Sedan he was in. He’d never let anyone else know he was dis-satisfied of course. Being an Un-living was a great blessing and honor. He’d asked for it after all, before he knew how… unnatural it would feel. He was terrified of Haydrian finding out he was displeased with the gift. Maybe Haydrian was supposed to be a good man, but Dennis had never been in his inner circle and unlike the seemingly brainwashed puppets, he had suspicions about the man.

Just then his phone rang, and Dennis nearly jumped out of his skin. He was to tense; this stress was going to kill... Right. Already technically dead. he felt the thought like a sledgehammer to his already raw nerves. He did his best to stop thinking about it, and began gritting his teeth. He picked up his phone, trying to keep his voice calm.

“Hello?”

“Dennis,” A raspy voice said over the phone, “Haydrian found the place, he wants you to go in his stead at first, confirm these people aren’t dangerous.”

Dennis nodded, logical and very characteristic of Haydrian. Plus, it made sense to send Dennis, his corpse body was the most believably living of the bunch that had come with Haydrian. “Alright, where is it?” He almost left it at that but then he asked, "Wait am I supposed to impersonate Haydrian to these people? When am I to contact you next? I know what to watch for, Haydrian made his worries concerning these people clear, but at what point to I disengage if they turn out to be crackpots?" Dennis' voice was rising in pitch and intensity. He realized the thumb that had been tapping the wheel was now faster and faster, his grip so tight the rubber on the wheel had begun to rip. He panicked, he'd lost his cool they were going to get suspicious!

"Geez calm down Dennis, I'm sorry alright?" The raspy voice said apologetically, "I forgot to ask the boss, you don't gotta rip into me like that."

Dennis breathed a sigh of relief. Right. Why wouldn't they think he was upset about being given such a vague mission?

Dennis cleared his throat, "Right, sorry didn't mean to rip into you like that..." He paused, what should he say now? "Ah, It's just, you know, I get a bit hot blooded and.."

"Chill man, I'll go ask, you really gotta work on that temper. Ever think of going to thereapy for it before?"

Dennis chuckled. A corpse going to therapy for anger management issues. There had to be irony in that somewhere.

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Dennis stepped out of the Sedan. Wow. Shoddy place. He looked around for a bit. No tall building nearby, and not too many vehicles yet. There was an old junker car that had pulled up just a moment ago, and Dennis couldn’t believe it hadn’t just fallen apart the moment it stopped. A tall man in a trench coat had stepped out. Dennis wasn’t sure why, but he thought he recognized him. Maybe he’d seen him on the news?

Dennis took a stroll around the Motel. There were only two real entrances to the place. The front and back door. It looked safe enough, though he got the strangest feeling. Every time he looked away from the place it was almost as if… as if the building tried to disappear. Dennis was no spook but one time he thought it actually did, at least when he looked back, he thought for a moment that he couldn’t see it. Either way he got the definite feeling the place was out of business. Not that it mattered, condemned buildings were common meeting grounds. Still the disappearing act bugged him. Maybe it had to do with all of this magic stuff. Dennis shook his head and walked back to the front door. Time to make an entrance.

Dennis quietly opened the front door of the Garfield Motel. An elderly woman looked at him, confused. Dennis waved and just acted like he was supposed to be here. He held up the note that had been sent to Haydrian for the old man to see. The woman squinted suspiciously and then shrugged, pointing towards a door before settling back into her newspaper. Dennis nodded a thanks, and walked to the door.

Opening it he found three individuals. One was a blonde youthful looking man, who seemed like he’d be more at home in Neverland. There was the familiar looking man from earlier as well. He looked a bit wrinkled, as if he’d slept in his clothes for the past few days. Then there was the girl. She very simply scared Dennis. She had a head of short reddish-brown hair, and brown eyes deep and dark enough to drown in. Dennis suddenly had an image in his mind of her attempting to drown a devil in a pond so she could keep his pitchfork. He knew someone with an agenda when he saw them, and this lady was dangerous. She looked as though she’d just finished yelling at the young blonde man when Dennis stepped in. Dennis locked eyes with the young man.

“Gavin’s your name?” Dennis said in a cheery voice, “So you sent the message? Well I’m glad to finally meet you. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I should come, your message sounded a bit… well crazy.” Dennis stepped around and in front of the woman, ignoring her generally. He reached out a hand to shake Gavin’s. He continued, “Not to be rude, but who exactly are you and why did you ask me to come here?”

The rumpled man spoke up. Dennis looked over his shoulder and cocked an eyebrow at him. "Well yes he knows me, he sent me this note after all." Dennis turned back to Gavin and cocked his head, "From the way these two are acting I get the feeling they may be in the same boat as me. So it's really just you? I mean, your not acting as part of a group, or on orders or something?"

Dawn of a New Age - The Return of Magic v3

Listen to youtube.com/watch?v=DgW5FaffB58&t=1636s for ambiance.

Haydrian paused to look up from his work, “Illinois?”, he squinted at the woman that had just walked into the embalmment room. Her name was Madeline, and Haydrian had known her for a few years now. He liked Madeline; he could rely on her. Her current condition tended to make some of his friends a bit squeamish, but Haydrian didn’t mind to much. Madeline was one of Haydrians close friends, and she had been terminally ill with cancer not to long ago. Haydrian had offered her a choice. She could die, or he was willing to give her a new body. Madeline didn’t have much faith in an afterlife, so she jumped at the chance to live on in a new body, even if it was a corpse. So Haydrian had transferred her spirit into the body she currently inhabited, a short Chinese woman who was missing an ear, and who’s head had clearly been sewn back on. Haydrian grimaced whenever he noticed that part, it was such shoddy work. He’d have to reprimand whoever had embalmed this particular corpse. And he needed to remember to redo it later, the head kept coming loose.

Madeline nodded very slowly. She'd had to grow accustomed to this due to the shoddy stitching.

“That’s right man, the message says Brightwell, Illinois.” She said, “Said to come if you’d seen flapping angels’ wings in a dream or somethin like that.” She laughed coarsely, “I almost wrote back for you, was gonna tell em exactly what you said you told them winged ladies, that you didn’t want nothin to do with that saving the world crap or destroying it.”

Haydrian didn’t answer for a moment but began to pace up and down the length of the operating table he had been using. Was it possible? Could others have received the same dream, or at least something similar? Madeline had recounted the memorized version of the letter just a moment ago, and it made no mention of a dark angel like the one that had been in his dream. There were a few other things that bothered him as well. He hadn’t been told anything about the world needing saved in his dream, thought the wings were certainly present. He supposed that the invitation to choose the path of 'good' could have symbolized the choice to save the world, but still. And then he wasn’t sure he liked how much this person seemed to know about him. He wasn't fond of stalkers, and people that knew about his dreams, found his home address, and wrote him without any prior introduction tended to give Haydrian a distinctly stalkerish feel.
He paused. Wait. No. This wasn't all that bad. In fact, this could be perfect.

Haydrian chuckled to himself, excited at the prospects he'd just realized. “Well I’m glad you didn’t Madeline, this sounds like a wonderful opportunity.” He smiled deeply and turned to look at Mad’s again. If these people had also had dreams like his, then they were likely magicians as well. Haydrian had yet to meet another mage, though he had begun to hear about them on the news. He could likely learn a good deal from these people, and there was a high probability that they could be useful to him in... other ways. Besides, if there was actually something to this whole “save the world” bit, then Haydrian had no intention of withholding his aid. Haydrian may have had a slightly different out look on moral compasses than most people, but even to him world ending powers could generally be described as 'evil'. He stifled a laugh. The world was full of such humor. If he helped save the world he'd likely be thought of as a hero, or 'the good guy'. The same people who would be inclined to praise him would likely curse him in years to come. What irony.

Madeline looked confused, “But Haydrian, I thought you wasn’t interested? I mean they sound like a bunch of crazies!”

Haydrian shrugged, “Strictly speaking, no I’m not interested. At least not in fulfilling any personal destiny these people seem to be talking about, nor do I believe that they are likely to be anything more than a few delusional saps.”

“Well then why.”

Haydrian cut her off, “It’s like I keep telling you Mad’s, different motivations don’t always mean different goals.” He bent back to his work, “If there’s an actual threat to this world then I’m more than happy to put a stop to it. I may not be doing it to fulfill destiny, or to be benevolent, but I’d still be getting the job done wouldn’t I? At that point what do my personal motivations matter if working with these people will accomplish the same goal? Besides better to be safe than sorry I always say.”

Haydrian waited for Madeline’s response patiently. She’d never been to quick, but Haydrian swore she was slower since becoming Un-Living. Not that he minded, Mad’s was a good soul and he had plenty of patience for good souls.

She finally responded just as Haydrian finished re-attaching the foot he’d been sewing to the it’s leg. “So, you mean it’s not gonna be a waste of your time to go help these people? Cuz I know how busy you are.” Haydrian could hear the emotional pain twisting her voice now, “Haydrian I’d kill anyone who got between you and your work.”

Haydrian paused. He thought he could hear tear drops splat on the floor. Fancy that, corpses could cry. Sweet, sweet Mad’s, she worried about his work more than he did sometimes.

“No Mad’s,” He said, looking up at her kindly, “It won’t be a waste of my time, in fact I think this could be a very beneficial trip.” He hunched back over his work, not bothering to hide his smile. “Right then, get the cars ready, and round up a few of people. We’re going on a road trip.”

Veda: The World We Once Knew...

This roleplay is a mix between casual and advanced. There's plenty of lore and information to create super in depth characters and stories if your into that, but if not that's chill. This particular storyline will be following a group of humans from random walks of life within Veda. They start their day just like they would any other, never suspecting that by the end they'd be in unique positions to watch/alter the fate of their world. For any newcomers this is roleplay a mashup of fantasy, Eldritch horror, steampunk, and political intrigue. There are sentient monsters who's strength is matched only by their horrific cruelty. Titanic protectors of humanity whose powers may know no bounds, but find themselves trapped within their God's laws. And of course good old humanity, whose technology once far outpaced our own, but today utilize steampunk technology due to a Armegedon level that reduced humanities numbers to mere hundreds, and completely reset their technological level. Veda is a world of magic, terror, adventure, heroes, traitors, and in need of adventurers.

Intro

Veda is an alternate reality earth, where we humans were Not the first ones to show up to the party. The geography is similar, but the history is radically different. First came these powerful beings called Elder Things. Elder Things can be anything from a giant intelligent spider, to a human with fish scales. Whatever they look like, they are all very powerful and usually dangerous.

They wield a nameless power akin to magic, with which they have performed terrifying acts of power that have altered whole continents’. They had developed their culture and way of living for centuries before man ever came to Veda. They warred with each other, becoming very reclusive for the most part, hiding in the most remote parts of the wilderness, though a handful built grand cities. They never cared much for science, though some did dabble in alchemy, enchantment, and thaumaturgy.

The God of Veda created six Elders before anything of the others, these Elders were his representatives on Veda and he gave them very specific tasks. One of these tasks was to prepare for the creation of humankind, and when the time came to protect them to some extent. The day finally came and the God created humanity.

Humans were born into a savage land without any magic of their own and no real way to protect themselves. The Six saw to it that they survived long enough to get by on their own, and then they stepped back to watch what happened. Humans quickly changed the established order of things. In their normal fashion, they created colonies, grouped together, and began to tame the land, destroying the forests and various wild habitats that the Elders preferred for their places of residence.

Humanity progressed, quickly this time. Technology came naturally to them, and they had no problem inventing complex machinery. Within a few short centuries they had progressed so rapidly that we were as technologically advanced as humans on earth are today, and then we advanced beyond that. Why did humans strive to progress so quickly? Necessity.

The threat of extinction has always been very real for Veda humans, due to the envious and hateful Elders. Peace was a rare thing in Veda before the Humans arrived, and after they did, there was no cooling the ancient boiling blood of the Elders. War became regular, the Elders strove to enslave the Humans, while the Humans constantly played on the political tension between all the Elders to take some of the pressure off of themselves while they tried to advance far enough to compete.

These wars and political games though very real, were never to big of a threat to either side, after the humans figured out how to play on the Elder's pride, neither side willing to invoke the wrath of The Six by over stepping their boundaries. Then something world changing happened.

A member of the legendary Six Elders, named Prometheus, fulfilled his final mission on Veda. He gave his power to one human who he deemed worthy of it. Prometheus has touted as the very strongest of all Elders, surpassing all with his spell weaving and shear brute strength. All of this was gifted to this one human, along with two other things. The first was the task to protect humanity in Prometheus’ stead, as he would die shortly after giving away his power. Second this man was given the power and responsibility to give something called Talents to humanity.

Talents are the closest humans have ever come to being able to wield magic like the Elders. This was the final straw for many Elders. With Prometheus out of the way, and with humans now obtaining magic, they declared all out war on humanity. A period of time known as the Elder Wars followed, ending in the near extinction of mankind. They were only saved by a treaty created by the human carrying the Prometheus Talent, and a man known only as the Mirror King.

They convinced the Elders to leave what was left of humanity alone if human promised to remain within the walls of a city they would build. Elders agreed. Humans built the proposed city, eventually leaving it due to disease, and building another that would come to be known as either “The Kings City” or simply “The City”. The carrier of the Prometheus Talent disappeared eventually, having had no children to pass his Talent on to. The Mirror King however never aged and was elected to be their literal king. He has been ruling for a hundred years now, a hundred years after the Elder Wars ended. This is where our story begins.

Timeline

All Records preceding this time have been lost or destroyed.
1803 - Prometheus
1823-1824 - Elder War
1838-1344 - Kings Arrival
1838 - Mirror King's Reign Begins
1843 - Ban on Talents
1844 - City Plan Revealed (Construction Begins)
1845-1912 - Construction of the King's City
1847 - 1st Stage of City Finished
1857 - 1st Rebellion and Exile
1858 - 2nd Stage of City Finished
1865 - Black Market Problems Begin
1875 - 3rd Stage of City Finished
1890 - 4th Stage of City Finished (Largest thus far)
1892 - 2nd Rebellion and Exile
1900 - 5th Stage of City Finished
1907 - King Begins Plans for 100 Year Celebration in 1925
1912 - 6th Stage of City Begun
1920 - Groups Sent to Explore
1922 - Current Day

Current Day

I know this is a Skyrim map, and honestly it doesn't represent the actual city perfectly but it'll work for now. The City was created in a circle, and they've expanded five times, moving the walls farther out each time. It's divided by those rings of development, and then those rings are cut like a pie sectioning each ring into eight districts. They are numbered 1 to 8, followed by which ring their from. They are numbered from the top one on the right, all the way around to the top one on the left.

The world is at a general state of peace. It has been nearly a hundred years since the Elder wars, a long series of battles between humans and Elders over whether or not Humans would remain free, or become enslaved to the Elders, caused by humans obtaining Elder like abilities known as Talents. The Humans were on the brink of losing when a man calling himself The Mirror King appeared as their savior. He performed miracles that Humankind had not seen performed by anyone besides elders and high ranking S class talents. They immediately accepted him as one of their leaders. Thanks to the treaty created by the Prometheus Cion and the Mirror King, Humans would survive, but they were to remain enclosed within the walls of one city located on the American continent. This city would be allowed to grow of course, based upon population, but no one was to leave it. The briefly powerful humans meekly bowed their heads to this generous offer. The Mirror King helped them build their city and created a system of government and laws. The City expanded over the years and now encompasses nearly a quarter of the area we think of as the U.S. The Mirror King is still alive, he claims to be immortal, but is rarely seen. He remains within his gargantuan palace at the center of the city. He is only seen when performing miracles to reaffirm his divine calling. However as you might imagine there are those that are… skeptical to say the least, of him and his leadership. Many of the laws are controversial as well, a situation which is not helped by the social structure currently present. As an example Talents have been outlawed, the Mirror King claiming that possessing one is like a plague, it eventually drives the possessor mad.

Socio-Political

The unwashed masses, which is most people, are at the bottom of the food chain. These are commonly referred to as dusters, street rucks, and rags by the aristocracy. However the idea that is being pushed upon the majority of people is that everyone is being treated more or less the same. The government wants everyone thinking that everyone is equal. Everyone works, everyone has hard times, and everyone is thankful they are still alive. Sadly a lot of people still buy that, but there is an increasing number of people however, that are growing in suspicion. So while some live in a sense of safety, others are strong critics of the government and some are full on rebels planning to supplant the government. There is still a crime underground, and of course beggars and the like, but they have to be sneaky. The Mirror King doesn’t enjoy people dirtying up his city.

The high class of the society is government officials. The government is responsible for everything.
You might wonder if that's it, if the only humans that exist in Veda are within the City walls… well the answer is no. But here is something else about Veda. We won't just tell you everything about the world. Somethings you will need to look for on your own by asking around in game, others can only be found by listening in at rumor boards we have set up, and some you will need to ask experienced players or game managers directly. This is one of those things. Want more info on humans outside of the City? Shoot us an email.
Same with Elders, the in’s and out’s of their society are to be found within the dusty volumes of old texts. To get your hands on them you can go to the nearest library, or hang around the rumor boards. There are a few documents that are readily available to any player as they are considered the common knowledge of today.

Talents

This section is informational only, characters you create are to be Normal humans, without Talents. You can use Talented(enchanted) items but that's it. It's necessary for the plot of this particular roleplay.

Talents are the only form of Magic that Humans have access to other than enchanted items, which are known as Talent items. Prometheus gave the first Talent to humans and assigned that human to spread Talents to other humans. The ability to give Talents has been lost, but the ability to possess a Talent still manifests itself randomly among humans, and is often (but not always) passed down through blood. Sometimes the child of a Talent will inherit their parent’s Talent, but not always, and it’s completely random. Though there are inherited Talents that can be traced back to a human who was given a Talent by the Prometheus Cion.
Understanding Talents
Talents are slightly different from normal magic. One does not simply say
a few funny words, wave hands in a certain way, draw ruins, or think very hard of what they want to happen. Talents are more like another limb, or in some cases a 6th sense. They are unique to each person, and are simply something they can each do, if they learn/are taught how. People are also born with them, though they may not discover them until later in life. They also operate by very specific and measurable rules and parameters. The first parameter is called Energy. Energy is basically a persons Aura, and in this case only Talents can use it. The more Energy someone has, the power they have to fuel their Talent. Second, Talents are at least partly bound by science and logic. In other words the way they interact with the world has to be logically explainable. If a Talent can produce fire, then it’s because that Talent’s energy is causing molecules to move fast enough to catch fire. Please include a semi detailed explanation for how your ideal Talent does what it does. More on the rules below.
Also, Talents are raked according to their over all power. The ranking system used for talents is a classic one that you may have seen before, going from strongest to weakest it is as follows. S, A, B, C, D, E, F.
Talent rank is based off of 5 things. 1. Energy Level. 2. Focus Required. 3. Range. 4. Effect. and 5. Skill.

1. Energy Level. This energy level does not grow or shrink very much, it stays about the same for a person's entire life. This is what a Talent is fueled by. Talented generally have more energy than non-talented people, though just because someone is an A class, that does not mean they have half a metric butt ton of energy. Remember, several other things factor into this. Energy is important, but what good is it if the only thing the Talent can do is create light? Even if they can produce extremely bright light it's still a very limited ability.

2. Focus. How much concentration does the ability take? Can the owner juggle and do it at the same time, is it a passive and always active, must the owner be in a highly meditative state to use it?
Maybe it depends on what they are doing trying to do with their talent. Maybe sometimes it is super easy, and sometimes not. It is worth mentioning here that Talents Can have multiple abilities. For instance they can be super strong, and be able to fly. (btw more versatile abilities are stronger. super strength is very specific and sounds appealing, but being able to alter the molecular density/mass of an object and therefore performing what seem to be great feets of strength has many more uses.)
3. Range. This one is fun. Why? Because for it to be effective you must use your imagination. The questions in the form give some basic prompts, such as can you cast it as far as you can see, but what if you don't need to see what you are aiming at? Here are two examples. Gallet is a talent who can form shadow animals. His energy literally takes the form of tangible creatures, his range is very small, he can only create them 2 feet in front of him. That said, it doesn’t matter all that much because he can pre program them with a mission as he creates them . So he can create a tiger and tell it to go hunt him some food. Now the tiger 2 feet in front of him can leave his sight and go hunt completely anatomically. Once formed the beasts are not connected to Gallet at all, aside from their programming. of course this means he must have detailed programming. So he can just form animals and wait for them to come back to him. Low range? Or long range? technically long range. Cinder is another example of creative range. She can only cast her ability as far as she can see. However she does not need to see her target with her eyes. She is able to locate people thru their emotions which she can sense. So someone behind a brick wall is anything but safe from her, because distance wise he is in range and she can sense him instead of seeing him.
4. Effect. The skies basically the limit. You'll see people who bend and use lighting like it's a piece of fabric, pyromancers who can track enemies using heat signatures, people who can force objects to simply stop existing and a lot more.
5. Skill. How good is the Talent at using their ability? Of the 5 factors this one is one of the few that will actually change. As they get better at using it, the more they will be able to do with it. For instance the Talent Cinder can aim her ability using her other ability to sense emotions. But just because she can do that does not mean she knows that yet.

Do's and Don'ts
Donts
1:no resurrection. The energy type usage in this world does not allow for things like re-creating or catching a soul, it just can’t happen. However animating a corpse the same way you would a puppet or such a thing is allowed. It must however comply with the standard explanation for how Talents here work.
2: Talents may not be overly powerful. There are no perfect Talents in this world, no one just automatically has the upper hand. Even if someone has a ridiculous Talent there will either be a good reason for it (aka it aids over all plot line, they were able to tell a very good background story earning them that power if they asked for it etc, all determined by the game managers.) or they will have severe handicaps. That does not mean people cannot become more powerful if they try, but the main point of it is to avoid people trying to just bludgeon everyone with brute force and encourage them to develop finesse. We hope this will provide for a more entertaining game and story over all.

Do’s
1: There isn’t much to say here really, everything else is free game. If you can imagine it and can describe in a logical way how your powers work, then by all means go ahead.

Character Creation

Players will create denizens of the city. Character may not be talents, and they may not be high ranking government officials. They can be police man, or low ranking officials though. Otherwise you can be pretty much anything. There are criminal organizations, stores and shops, inns, rebellion's, take your pick. Don't worry to much about staying within the cannon of those organizations for now, after you submit your character sheet we will message you with any tweaks that need to be made. As far as storyline you need to know goes, there isn't really much. Most of it will remain secret for plot purposes. Decide your role in the city, your first post will be about you going about your normal day, and after charcters are accepted we'll let you know more.

Example

Haydrian Cindel

Age: 34

Appearance:
6'3", thin, shoulder length dark hair. Always in dark clothing. Green eyes, hollow cheeks.

Items: Talent dagger (when activated it's tip leaves a trail of energy that reflects light), notebook, flint and steel, whetstone, retractable spy glass (attached to his shoulder, when he pulls at the string that runs down his right arm it extends putting a spy glass in front of his eye.), crossbow, spring loaded knife thrower, throwing knives, short sword, steam gun (this gun is mostly used for torture, though it can be deadly. It produces a stream of steam so hot it produces third degree burns on contact.) coin purse, keyring.

Residence: Has no official residence, constantly on the move, though he has hideouts in ever city district, except the center ring.

Occupation: Assassin and Commando

Bio: (this ones a bit short, but it's just an example) Haydrian's past is largly shrouded in mystery, even to him. The earliest memories he has are of scavenging for food in City streets. He grew up never knowing parents, and found himself in gang's before he knew what hit him. One day they were pulling a job, robbing a local store owner. The store owner was killed brutally, and without cause. Haydrian was shocked. He left the gang he was with and began investigating. He discovered the gang he was in was actually a puppet organization working for the government. Haydrian made it his personal vendetta to tear the government down brick by brick. He's still at it today, and he's a force to be reckoned with.

Character Traits (at least six):
Vengeful
Short Temper
Analytical
Patient
Insightful
Trustworthy

Skills: (8 max for now)
Strategic Genius
Stealth
Dagger Combat
Sword Combat
Interrogation

Veda: The World We Once Knew...

If you have any questions feel free to let me know via @ mentioning, or pm.

Steampunk, Eldritch, and Middle Fantasy Homebrew

@Fallenreaper Will do, should be tomorrow or Saturday.

Dawn of a New Age - The Return of Magic v3

Haydrian Cindel

Name: Haydrian Cindel

Age: 32

Physical Description: Tall and skinny, sandy blonde hair, pale skin, dark blue eyes. 6'7", 200 lbs.

Important items: Smartphone, Desktop computer, P90, and embalming kit.

Short Bio: Haydrian has had a long-time fascination with death and politics. Not exactly the sort of thing you'd expect a fourteen-year-old boy to spend their time thinking about, but what can you do, at least that’s what his parents use to say. His parents worried about his strange fascination with death and nurtured his interest in politics. They taught Haydrian their personal beliefs about the state of the government, attempting to feed his hunger for political knowledge. They assumed they were helping mold his opinions to match their own, but Haydrian had no intention of following their political agendas. Yes, he listened to what they had to say with rapt attention, but only so that he could dissect the meanings behind their words. He thought it important to understand people and what they believed in. After all, how would he ever be able to unite a world he didn’t understand?

Despite his unique interests, Haydrian was never an outcast. You would never have called him popular per se, but he was never without his “Patchwork Posy”, as he referred to them. This was and is a group of close friends that Haydrian accumulated/accumulates wherever he might be. In high school its ranks held the popular and the sideliners, and today is no different. He chose to make friends from every walk of life available to him and growing up in New York city gave him plenty of walks to access. He was considered a very influential power in his school, though no one can point to any specific thing that he had a part in making happen.

Once out of high school Haydrian did the exact opposite of what was expected of him. He became an Assistant at a local Morgue. His parents were devastated. What had become of his bright future as a leader of nations? Everyone not within his inner circle was confused, but if those closest to him were asked their opinion on his choice in career they would often shrug and say, “Haydrian does what he does, and I’ve got no reason to worry about it.”. The truth was they knew something others didn’t. They understood how Haydrians mind worked, and more importantly they knew his plans.
Haydrian had no intention of being in the spotlight any time soon, as far as he was concerned, he wasn’t yet ready to step into politics. With so many things yet to learn about people, what better place to meet them and come to understand their inner workings than a Morgue? Here he saw people at their most vulnerable and learned to comfort and console the un-consolable, whoever they might be. He became known for his silver tongue by his co- workers, all of whom had a healthy respect and fear of the boy become man. Respect because he was genuinely good at what he did, and fear because of his nightly habits. They wouldn’t go so far as to call him a Necrophiliac, after all he had never done anything explicitly wrong with a corpse. He talked to them mostly, shake their hands and pretend like he was getting to know them. Worse than this though were the long hours he would spend simply staring at the bodies. It unnerved anyone who watched.

Haydrian worked his way up the ladder at the Morgue for a few years, eventually ceasing all interaction with the living customers, preferring instead to spend his time with the corpses. Few of his co-workers questioned him, leaving him to do the work that none of them particularly cared for anyway. His confidants still seamed unshaken by Haydrian’s strange tendencies, still shrugging off questions asked by others.

Everyone was so preoccupied with his more eccentric behavior that they missed the more important and elaborate things going on behind the scenes. It hadn’t taken long for Haydrians circle of influence to grow to envelope people in positions of power. It was at about that point that Haydrian stopped seeing living customers. He began establishing himself in both the legitimate business world, and the black market. He never did anything to shady, but he wasn’t above illegal activity if it furthered his goals.

And so his life progressed for some time, uneventful to those not in the know, and never a dull moment for those on the inside. Those close confidants honestly didn’t think that anything could make their lives more exciting or meaningful. Until Haydrian came to them and told them about a dream he had had.

He told them he’d just finished a meeting with one of their contacts down at the docks and had resumed stitching up the corpse he was working on. It had been a long night, and so wasn’t surprised when he started seeing things. He said it started with the lights, they began to flicker unpredictably. Then they went out altogether. He was so tired he didn’t even stop his work but continued sewing.

It was then that he saw the glow. It was a reflection in the metal table he worked on, showing a blue glow of light from behind him. Haydrian turned. He told them he would never forget what he saw. Scattered around the room, floating and drifting aimlessly were what appeared to be glowing blue people. Ghosts, he’d thought, they’re real. It was then that he fainted from exhaustion.

In his sleep he continued to see things. Two winged women appeared before him in the middle of a vast dark hall, the light emanating from them the only illumination to be seen. The walls and floors were black and glistened like obsidian. One woman glowed white, and the other glowed with an eerie blackness that defied logic. In sync the both stretched out one hand and said, “Choose.”. Three fire appeared around the two, circling them slowly. One was kindled by the bones and flesh of the living, another by the material of this world, and the last by the winds of change. Haydrian couldn’t describe what they looked like; he only knew what they stood for.

The women began to fade, the fires leaving them and circling Haydrian instead, uttering one last phrase, “Choose your path.”. It was in that moment that Haydrian knew what they meant. They represented good, and evil and they wanted him to decide which of them he would follow. That made things simple. He smiled and said, “Neither.” And reached out and grabbed all three flames. It was then that he woke up, unsure if what had happened was a dream of not. He reached up to pull himself off of the ground, brushing against the corpse he had been working on as he did so. He felt something akin to the sparking sensation of static electricity as their skin met. As Haydrian reached his feet he brushed off his clothing and then saw something out of the corner of his eye. Movement.

His friends laughed; certain this story was only meant as a joke to scare them. But Haydrian wasn’t smiling. He stepped to side and everyone stopped laughing. In walked the body of a man, a smiling happy looking man. With his chest half sewn closed and his stomach partly hanging out. Everyone sat down and looked at Haydrian expectantly.

Skills/Flaws:
Charisma: Haydrian is practiced in the art of human manipulation.

Embalming: Haydrian is an expert in all embalmment techniques and can stitch up bodies that most would expect to be closed casket funerals.

Tunnel Vision: Haydrian has a hard time focusing on anything not pertaining to his life long goals, and he often misses important details that his close confidants have to take care of for him.

Un-Afraid: Haydrian doesn’t always know when to cash in his chips, or when he has overstepped his boundaries.

Spell List

Raise the Dead: Haydrian can raise/summon small to large numbers of corpses, expending appropriate amounts of energy to do so.

Sculpt: An artist in many ways Haydrian has taken to using his Change magic to mold various materials into whatever form he desires.

Animate: Using his change and world magic Haydrian can cause inanimate things to move fluidly and abbey his orders.

Grasp the Stars: Using world magic Haydrian can distort and affect gravitational fields.

The Dead Still Live: Haydrian can see and interact with spirits of those that have passed away, and using world magic give them the limited ability to interact with the world around them, essentially creating poltergeists.

Body Snatch: Haydrian can force a living soul and a dead soul to swap places. If the dead soul was a free floating soul at the time the spell is cast, the living soul still takes its place.