King Cosmos

Why Were We Reincarnated as Orcs?!

Wanna squad up?

@ERode

I think Old Lady Soviet is the coolest character in this RP so far, so yeah I'd be up for that. Let's pair the oldest and the youngest reincarnators together.

Why Were We Reincarnated as Orcs?!

If anyone wants to stumble across my idiot as she flails around a clearing by herself, I'd welcome the company.

Why Were We Reincarnated as Orcs?!

Akeno

She had died younger than she would have liked.

A lot of people probably thought the same, or would have if they could, but she felt that dying in a pool of her own blood at age eighteen in particular was something she was allowed to feel regretful of. Akeno didn’t question the truth of her own death, it wasn’t hard to believe when she could still vividly remember what it had felt like as the knife entered her body, recall the panicked look on her killers face before he fled, the sensation of warm blood spreading across her stomach and side as she found herself laying on her back and not remembering how she got there.

No, that wasn’t something she could just dream up.

All because she had the bad luck to find herself in that situation and the bad judgement to let it end the way it had. It was easy to feel bitter about that, easy to wallow and give in to either anger or misery; easy, but not helpful. If she’d ended up in heaven or hell she could indulge in those feelings for as long as she liked, for all of eternity even, but she wasn’t so lucky as to end up in either of those places; like it or not she’d been given a second chance at life, of a sort. Not the second chance she would have asked for, nor the one she wanted, but she’d been given something that she needed to keep working at if she didn’t want to end up dead again.

Akeno hadn’t considered herself a religious person in life, she still didn’t consider herself one now even though she’d literally met what might have been a divine being, but if an afterlife did exist she wouldn’t ever have guessed it would involve being reborn as an orc into a fantasy world where magic and elves and winged goddesses existed. Reincarnation had been one of the options, she supposed, but not like this. You weren’t supposed to remember who you were in the versions of reincarnation people spoke of in religious texts; you weren’t supposed to wake up in the body of a child, a toddler, with knowledge of two lives lived, one much shorter than the other, rushing into your head all at once. Or was she an orc child suddenly remembering a life she had never lived? Was she Akeno in the body of an orc, or was she an orc who remembered the life of Akeno? Was there a difference? Technically speaking her name wasn’t even Akeno anymore. She had been given a new name to go with this new body, something harsh and ugly sounding, but now that she remembered who she was there was no reason to keep answering to it. Her name was Akeno Kudo, or just Akeno now she supposed; she had no family here.

Philosophical and theological questions aside for now, Akeno had work ahead of her. It seemed that today was the day she was going to become an adult in the eyes of the… tribe? Clan? It was the day all of the children were to prove themselves ready to leave the nest and become a proper member of whatever this group was called. That, or die trying. It was a very Spartan method of child rearing that she was suddenly being thrust into, though even with death being a real possibility this whole quest thingvwas still relatively low down on her list of concerns right now.

As some of the other runts rushed back to get their belongings and others rushed out towards the woods to complete the task they were given, Akeno lingered at the edge of the brood pit long enough for the rush to die down before walking out of camp and towards the woods as well. But rather than rush deep into the brush looking for animals or things to forage, she circled around the camp and entered the woods from a different point and began searching until she found a small clearing that was far away enough not to be visible from the camp but hopefully close enough that nothing dangerous lurked nearby.

Ever since she had come into awareness of herself in this world, something had been bothering her about her new body; something off. It would have been weird trying to figure this out in the camp with all those orcs around her, but in the assumed privacy of this clearing she could finally check. With a final glance around to confirm she was alone, Akeno held her arms out in front of her, stretching her fingertips as far forward as they would go, then raised her arms up above her head and did the same, arching her back and stretching her entire body out. Leaning forward, she tried to touch her toes without bending her knees and found she was able to do so, but not without feeling an uncomfortable burning sensation in her waist and lower back. Standing back up, Akeno held one arm out in front of her again and wrapped the fingers of her opposite hand around her forearm, then moved them up to her bicep and curled her arm to flex it. Letting out a sigh, Akeno let both arms to her side.

This body was weak.

There was muscle definition, that just seemed to come naturally to orcs she guessed, but it wasn’t much and definitely a far cry from the level of fitness she had in her previous life. She had been lean then, tall with long limbs and built for speed rather than power, but now she was basically scrawny; her arms and legs were thin, she lacked the flexibility she had developed over years and probably her sense of balance too, and she didn’t need to look down to see that her stomach was smooth and slightly protruding. It was like all of the effort and training she had put in other the last seven years of her life had been reset, like she was back in the body of a child. No, it wasn’t such like that, she was in the body of a child; an orc child, but still just a child.

At least her eyes seemed to be good; she wouldn’t know for sure until she got into a fight but she could see clearly and her visual acuity was probably about the same as before. Her body could be trained, given enough time, but if she had poor eyesight in this new life she wasn’t sure what she would have done; odds were low that there was anything like an optometrist around here. But her reach… if she compared herself to the other orcs in the brood pit then she was tall, she thought, but compared to everything else she was small.

The only thing she still had from her old life was her memories; her experiences and her training. But whether or not she could even use them with a body like this she wasn’t sure. And that was the real reason she wanted to come out here. Akeno took a deep breath, held it for a second and let it out in a long slow exhale, then took a starting stance.

She started with a basic kata, one of the entry-level ones, the Taikyoku Jodan; it was basically just a high block followed by a punch, repeated multiple times in multiple directions. Akeno had no problems performing it from memory, but her movements left something to be desired; her arm was a little slow to reach above her head for the block and her punches lacked snap. Repeating it while putting more effort into the motions helped a little, but it still didn’t feel natural. Frustrated, she moved on to a different kata, a more complicated one; Gekisai Dai Ichi. Again, her recitation of the movements was fine, but the movements themselves… everything felt sluggish, it felt like a struggle to get her body to cooperate and the end result was inadequate. It was like she was a beginner again, back to the clumsy child that was first learning karate and was unable to keep up with the rest of the class; the child that wanted to give up, before it began to make sense to her. Only now it was worse, because she knew what it was like to be able to do this and do it well.

If she was like this then she wasn’t sure how she was going to be able to fight, let alone hunt something. Not that she wanted to kill something anyway, but still.

There was still the skill she was given, the one she had picked because she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to do karate at all without it, but she didn’t know how to activate it. Did she have to call it out like some kind of special attack, or was it something that only worked in a fight? The description of it said it needed to be activated. Lacking a better idea, Akeno fell into a starting stance again and tried to visualise an opponent in front of her, someone she had fought against in the last tournament she entered before her death. Taking another deep breath, she exhale and began the same kata again, this time with an opponent in front of her.

This time it was there.

Her body felt light. Her body felt strong. Her body moved in the way that she wanted it to, in synch with her mind in a way it hadn’t been before. Her arms snapped into the block position, her fists snapped against the air, she didn’t have to readjust her balance every time she raised a leg for a kick. It was karate, just the way it had felt before.

And then it ended.

Akeno breathed in, suddenly short of breath and let her body relax. She could still do it, albeit in short bursts and through the use of a skill, but even in this body she could still do it. It seemed to take a lot out of her, but the description said it just needed to be activated at Rank 1; so did that mean if she levelled this skill up, it could be active all the time? That wouldn’t be a substitute for getting stronger, putting some muscle on this small frame, but it was something to consider.

If she was going to fight, if Akeno was going to avoid dying a second time, she would need to both strengthen this body and also regain her karate.

But before either of those, she was going to need to find something to eat.

Why Were We Reincarnated as Orcs?!

Akeno the Orc

Future appearance

Name: Akeno

Current Stats:
Level: 4 | Form: Orc Runt | Tier: 2

Current Skills:

• Ingestion - After consuming a required amount of biomass from a particular Creature, 1 of that Creature's Skills can be copied at its lowest Rank.
• Martial Arts (Goju-ryu) - Rank I - Increase physical power and close combat accuracy when there is no weapon equipped. Individual Styles may have secondary effects that imitate, alter, or tie into other skills. At Rank I, this Skill must be actively triggered, and consumes extra stamina when active.
  • Goju-ryu, the Hard-Soft Method: Secondary effect produces an additional medium boost to counter attacks after receiving a blow with the traditional blocks and adds a small defensive boost following the block.
• [Fire Bolt] - Rank I - A basic elemental bolt of fire magic. Hurl or shoot a magical projectile roughly 30 feet in a straight line. It travels at roughly the same speed you could physically propel a small rock. Upon striking a target, the flames spread over it in a small explosion; highly flammable targets may spread the flame for up to 10 seconds.
• Empty Skill Slot

Equipment and Inventory:

• Swaddling Pelts - Equip, Clothes - Old animal skins used to keep an Orc baby warm as they sleep. Once the Runt is old enough to start hunting, these are usually just enough to cover the parts that need the most covering.
• Wooden Stick - Equip, Weapon/Tool, Material Component - A wooden stick. From a tree. That's...that's all there is to it. Can be thrown.
• Sharp Rock - Equip, Weapon/Tool, Material Component - A rock with a slightly sharp edge. Useful as a primitive knife or chisel. Can be thrown.
• Bowhorn Deer Vest - Equip, Armor - A simple leather vest, but Bowhorn hide is tougher than that of a normal deer. It is somewhat resistant to physical damage, though less so against Slashing blades. Light Defense Boost!
• Red Cream Mushroom – Consumable – A white stalked, bulbous red mushroom with little green, almost gel like pustules on top of it. Edible. If the head is cut the ooze inside can be used to keep wounds from getting infected and reduce inflammation. One ingredient of a Healing Salve.

True Age: 18

Past Life:
Born and raised in Miami, Florida, Akeno is the daughter of Japanese immigrants, her parent’s second child and the first one born on American soil. When moving to America for her father’s work, her parents wanted to bring as much of their culture with them as possible, both being fairly traditional and old fashioned in terms of their beliefs and values. As such, Akeno grew up very much immersed in and aware of Japanese culture despite never visiting the country herself; she learned to speak English and Japanese alongside each other, ate Japanese food, and learned Japanese history. Furthermore, her parents still follow a number of Shinto traditions, though they have had to let several traditions slip away due to the fact that following them is harder in America than back in Japan; Akeno does not consider herself to be religious, mostly because Shinto isn’t a ‘religion’ in that sense, but still follows some of the Shinto traditions alongside her family.

Growing up, Akeno was close to her older brother at first, until their differing relationships with their parents drove a divide between them. Being the oldest and also being the only boy, her brother was seen as the golden child in their eyes, especially her mother; Akeno was constantly compared to him, always unfavourably, always getting in trouble for things they both did. If she failed to do something, she was told to be more like her brother, who never failed. If she succeeded, then she was just meeting the expectations her sibling had set, which was not worthy of praise. As she grew older she would try to fight back against these double standards, to little success, but it was seeing how her brother failed to do the same, never standing up for her or supporting her, that finally soured their relationship.

Even after this, Akeno still tried to appease her parents; to be seen to be as good as her brother in their eyes, if only to spite them and prove that she could. Academically Akeno was an average to above average student, always managing to pass her classes even if she didn’t excel at anything in particular. When her parents, particularly her mother, pressured her to try and do better, Akeno worked herself as hard as she could in order to push her grades higher. Through this effort, and many late nights of studying, she was able achieve straight A’s. However, even this wasn’t enough to please her parents who instead simply changed to criticising her studying habits and late nights instead, leaving Akeno despondent. By the time Akeno was finishing elementary school and starting middle school she was burned out from trying to maintain an impossible standard and had given up trying to please her parents academically or trying to compete with a brother who she had long since stopped looking up to.

In her final year of elementary school her parents tried to push her towards taking up an extracurricular activity. Her brother, of course, was already taking part in one by being on his school’s soccer team and this was another push to be more like him; her parents likely wanted her to take up a sport of some kind as well, or at least join a club that would look good on applications. She had no interest in this and wanted to just tell them no, but parents were insistent and Akeno decided to choose something that they would never approve of in an attempt to get them to drop the issue. She knew that her mother hated the idea of her brother doing anything dangerous, vetoing any sport with contact rules and even initially feeling uneasy with him playing a sport with as much risk of injury as soccer; as such when it was her turn to pick Akeno said she wanted to do a martial art of some kind thinking that the same would apply to her. Initially things went as expected with her parents telling her to pick something else, even making suggestions, but Akeno was adamant in the hopes they would give up. But to her surprise her father ended up changing his mind and agreeing to her taking up a martial art, with her mother reluctantly agreeing to it as well with the caveat that she wouldn’t actually be fighting anyone.

Because of this Akeno found herself enrolled at a Gōjū-ryū karate dojo to learn the sport variant of the martial art. She had only been half serious when suggesting it, but Akeno was forced to take the lessons seriously; otherwise she would have to admit to her parents that she didn’t actually want to learn karate in the first place, which would be a humiliating thing to admit after putting her foot down on the matter. She threw herself into her lessons at the dojo with vigour, if not quite enthusiasm, and initially struggled due to her level of fitness and being unable to follow the lessons properly. She wanted to quit, but was already committed, and at some point things just began to click; the lessons became easier to understand and when she hit puberty and had a growth spurt, shooting up in height, things became even easier. Despite her insincere reasons for starting, Akeno quickly grew to enjoy karate after that.

A year later Akeno expressed a desire to enter tournaments; sport karate, point-based with light contact and padding. Her parents were initially against it as it specifically went against her mother’s caveat of her not fighting anyone, but her father was quick to change his mind when she set out of convince him and she assured him it was safe. A few years after that, around when she entered high school, she decided wanted to take the next step and start learning the traditional version of karate instead of the sport variant and also to begin competing in full contact tournaments. She knew that this time it would be a lot harder to convince her parents to let her do this however and she spent most of her summer holiday after graduating middle school working up the courage to ask for permission, expecting to be completely forbidden from even trying full-contact karate and willing to fight her case in response. What followed was the longest and loudest fight she had ever had in her life, as she and her mother argued back and forth with no end in sight, neither one of them willing to budge on the matter. Once again, her father choosing to side with her was the deciding factor saying that he would support her desire to take part in full-contact tournaments so long as she was sure it was what she wanted. At her next lesson her father made the necessary arrangements for her to transfer to the traditional karate classes; she has since managed to obtain her black belt at the beginning of her final year of high school and regularly entered both sports and full contact tournaments.

At the time of her death, Akeno was rapidly approaching graduation and had already applied to and had been accepted to the university of her choice; she was entirely sure what it is she wanted to do with her life and had been planning to study English literature in the meantime. It ended up being a moot issue however when she was cornered by a mugger on her way home from school one day. She didn’t try to fight back, her experience with fighting was good enough she knew not to try anything against the knife he was holding, and was prepared to just hand over her wallet and phone and get it over with; it probably would have worked and she would have made it home safe, had someone not stumbled across them and shouted out, startling the mugger into lashing out and stabbing her somewhere vital.

Maybe she should have fought back anyway.

New Life:
Day 0, Orc Runt > Awakening

Why Were We Reincarnated as Orcs?!

Also, curse you for exploiting my passion for Karate! Pick your ONE and go already!

@Zeroth

Seemed only appropriate, considering you helped me write this character a few years ago. You only have yourself to blame.

Also, how does the martial arts skill work? I'm assuming that she still remembers how to fight and doesn't need a skill to to able to use karate, so is it like a temporary buff she can gain while meeting the conditions (no weapon equipped). Like an RPG character using a stance?

Why Were We Reincarnated as Orcs?!

Lots of muscle-headed fighters here. I guess "Orc" just makes people want to make melee builds.

Anyway, here's my contribution. I tried to abridge the backstory as much as possible but it's still too long; at least I spared you all the 10 page original.

Akeno the Orc

Future appearance

Name: Akeno

Current Stats:
Level: 1 | Form: Orc Runt | Tier: 2

Current Skills:

• Ingestion - After consuming a required amount of biomass from a particular Creature, 1 of that Creature's Skills can be copied at its lowest Rank.
• Isekai Skill - Not Yet Chosen
• Empty Skill Slot
• Empty Skill Slot

Equipment and Inventory:

• Swaddling Pelts - Equip, Clothes - Old animal skins used to keep an Orc baby warm as they sleep. Once the Runt is old enough to start hunting, these are usually just enough to cover the parts that need the most covering.
• Wooden Stick - Equip, Weapon/Tool, Material Component - A wooden stick. From a tree. That's...that's all there is to it. Can be thrown.
• Sharp Rock - Equip, Weapon/Tool, Material Component - A rock with a slightly sharp edge. Useful as a primitive knife or chisel. Can be thrown.

True Age: 18

Past Life:
Born and raised in Miami, Florida, Akeno is the daughter of Japanese immigrants, her parent’s second child and the first one born on American soil. When moving to America for her father’s work, her parents wanted to bring as much of their culture with them as possible, both being fairly traditional and old fashioned in terms of their beliefs and values. As such, Akeno grew up very much immersed in and aware of Japanese culture despite never visiting the country herself; she learned to speak English and Japanese alongside each other, ate Japanese food, and learned Japanese history. Furthermore, her parents still follow a number of Shinto traditions, though they have had to let several traditions slip away due to the fact that following them is harder in America than back in Japan; Akeno does not consider herself to be religious, mostly because Shinto isn’t a ‘religion’ in that sense, but still follows some of the Shinto traditions alongside her family.

Growing up, Akeno was close to her older brother at first, until their differing relationships with their parents drove a divide between them. Being the oldest and also being the only boy, her brother was seen as the golden child in their eyes, especially her mother; Akeno was constantly compared to him, always unfavourably, always getting in trouble for things they both did. If she failed to do something, she was told to be more like her brother, who never failed. If she succeeded, then she was just meeting the expectations her sibling had set, which was not worthy of praise. As she grew older she would try to fight back against these double standards, to little success, but it was seeing how her brother failed to do the same, never standing up for her or supporting her, that finally soured their relationship.

Even after this, Akeno still tried to appease her parents; to be seen to be as good as her brother in their eyes, if only to spite them and prove that she could. Academically Akeno was an average to above average student, always managing to pass her classes even if she didn’t excel at anything in particular. When her parents, particularly her mother, pressured her to try and do better, Akeno worked herself as hard as she could in order to push her grades higher. Through this effort, and many late nights of studying, she was able achieve straight A’s. However, even this wasn’t enough to please her parents who instead simply changed to criticising her studying habits and late nights instead, leaving Akeno despondent. By the time Akeno was finishing elementary school and starting middle school she was burned out from trying to maintain an impossible standard and had given up trying to please her parents academically or trying to compete with a brother who she had long since stopped looking up to.

In her final year of elementary school her parents tried to push her towards taking up an extracurricular activity. Her brother, of course, was already taking part in one by being on his school’s soccer team and this was another push to be more like him; her parents likely wanted her to take up a sport of some kind as well, or at least join a club that would look good on applications. She had no interest in this and wanted to just tell them no, but parents were insistent and Akeno decided to choose something that they would never approve of in an attempt to get them to drop the issue. She knew that her mother hated the idea of her brother doing anything dangerous, vetoing any sport with contact rules and even initially feeling uneasy with him playing a sport with as much risk of injury as soccer; as such when it was her turn to pick Akeno said she wanted to do a martial art of some kind thinking that the same would apply to her. Initially things went as expected with her parents telling her to pick something else, even making suggestions, but Akeno was adamant in the hopes they would give up. But to her surprise her father ended up changing his mind and agreeing to her taking up a martial art, with her mother reluctantly agreeing to it as well with the caveat that she wouldn’t actually be fighting anyone.

Because of this Akeno found herself enrolled at a Gōjū-ryū karate dojo to learn the sport variant of the martial art. She had only been half serious when suggesting it, but Akeno was forced to take the lessons seriously; otherwise she would have to admit to her parents that she didn’t actually want to learn karate in the first place, which would be a humiliating thing to admit after putting her foot down on the matter. She threw herself into her lessons at the dojo with vigour, if not quite enthusiasm, and initially struggled due to her level of fitness and being unable to follow the lessons properly. She wanted to quit, but was already committed, and at some point things just began to click; the lessons became easier to understand and when she hit puberty and had a growth spurt, shooting up in height, things became even easier. Despite her insincere reasons for starting, Akeno quickly grew to enjoy karate after that.

A year later Akeno expressed a desire to enter tournaments; sport karate, point-based with light contact and padding. Her parents were initially against it as it specifically went against her mother’s caveat of her not fighting anyone, but her father was quick to change his mind when she set out of convince him and she assured him it was safe. A few years after that, around when she entered high school, she decided wanted to take the next step and start learning the traditional version of karate instead of the sport variant and also to begin competing in full contact tournaments. She knew that this time it would be a lot harder to convince her parents to let her do this however and she spent most of her summer holiday after graduating middle school working up the courage to ask for permission, expecting to be completely forbidden from even trying full-contact karate and willing to fight her case in response. What followed was the longest and loudest fight she had ever had in her life, as she and her mother argued back and forth with no end in sight, neither one of them willing to budge on the matter. Once again, her father choosing to side with her was the deciding factor saying that he would support her desire to take part in full-contact tournaments so long as she was sure it was what she wanted. At her next lesson her father made the necessary arrangements for her to transfer to the traditional karate classes; she has since managed to obtain her black belt at the beginning of her final year of high school and regularly entered both sports and full contact tournaments.

At the time of her death, Akeno was rapidly approaching graduation and had already applied to and had been accepted to the university of her choice; she was entirely sure what it is she wanted to do with her life and had been planning to study English literature in the meantime. It ended up being a moot issue however when she was cornered by a mugger on her way home from school one day. She didn’t try to fight back, her experience with fighting was good enough she knew not to try anything against the knife he was holding, and was prepared to just hand over her wallet and phone and get it over with; it probably would have worked and she would have made it home safe, had someone not stumbled across them and shouted out, startling the mugger into lashing out and stabbing her somewhere vital.

Maybe she should have fought back anyway.

New Life:
Day 0, Orc Runt > Awakening

RATTLECHOMP

It seemed that she was the first to arrive, other than the apothecary themselves. The platform was deserted aside from the two of them and Sasha didn’t know enough about the Darklight station to know if that was usual or not. She didn’t think it was, somehow, but what did she know?

Her footsteps echoed lightly in the expanse as she approached the old woman, trying to give off the impression that she was more confident than she felt; the image was ruined somewhat, but the slight flinch she made with every step. She wasn’t used to her movements making so much noise and it bothered her, to disturb the peace of this place.

The old woman, Yiya, addressed her when she was close enough that it was obvious why she was here. Sasha listened along, glancing at the terrarium when it was brought up, then staring at it as she realised what it was; a huge mechanical thing with legs that carried a small microcosm of nature within its glass body. The hunter had never seen anything like it. The girl was startled out of her reverie when Yiya asked her to sit with them and wait, and tell them her story.

Sasha didn’t sit. She shuffled her feet instead, adjusting the straps of her bags on her shoulders and looked down at the ground in between them. “I’m Sasha. I… I’m here to help with…” The machine? Like Yiya said? No, she had no idea what to do with something like that. “I saw the notice. You need… an escort? I’m here for that. I’m good at finding my way.”

She lapsed into silence then, her introduction made. Soon enough a feeling of awkwardness crept in, like she should keep talking, or do something to break the silence. Or at least not just keep standing there. Making her decision, Sasha lifted the bag from her shoulder, long and narrow, and laid it on the floor next to the blanket; her father’s rifle, tucked away in a carrying bag so she wouldn’t get in trouble for wearing it on her shoulder through the city. Her father’s other gun was tucked away inside her thick jacket and she had a knife sheathed at her belt; the things she usually took with her into the woods, the latter being more for cutting stems and making notches in wood as anything else. The rest of her belongings were in a second bag, an ordinary backpack, that she placed next to the rifle; some extra clothing and some provisions, since the notice had said this journey would take four days. Now divested of her burdens, Sasha sat at the very edge of the blanket facing the old apothecary; she felt just as awkward as before, but at least now she had followed Yiya’s request.

“Um… are there going to be others? The notice… didn’t…” It didn’t say anything about how many were required, where they were going or even provide any information on how to contact the poster for the job other than to show up at the time and place specified. It was only now that Sasha was beginning to realise just how weird that was. What if too many people showed up? What if too few showed up, or no one at all? Would Yiya be sitting here, waiting for an escort that wouldn’t arrive? Would she still make the journey by herself if she was?

Sasha abandoned her question and was quiet after that.

@Mokley

Why Were We Reincarnated as Orcs!?

Sup

RATTLECHOMP

The forest was a dangerous place for anyone to be wandering alone, let alone a tiny slip of a girl like her, but for some reason Sasha was always comfortable there.

Though not common there were wolves and bears to worry about and even the prey animals like deer or elk could be a threat if they decided to fight instead of run. Not to mention to risk of getting lost and turned around, wandering for hours or days and never finding your way back. Or the risk of injuring yourself, far from home and with no one for miles around to hear you call for help; something as simple as stepping in a rabbit’s warren and twisting your ankle could be fatal, given enough time. Yet she could tread through it without fear; with respect, with caution, but not with fear.

It was a place she knew and that included knowing about its dangers, but the knowing made it familiar rather than scary.

But she wouldn’t be able to keep doing it forever. She couldn’t keep coming out here, with her father’s rifle and her father’s gun, to pick at berry bushes and gather up mushrooms like she was now. It wouldn’t be enough for much longer. It wasn’t even enough now, truth be told. She needed to find something else to live by.

The snap of a branch had her shooting to her feet, already taking a step backwards to run as her eyes scanned the trees. Between the boughs of a young pine, Sasha saw the antlers of a deer, a buck, and followed them down to its head and its eyes. They stared back at her, dark and intense. It was large, a full grown male, large enough that it would give enough venison to feed her and her mother for weeks; or feed them for a week and fill their pockets if they chose to sell some of it instead. Moving slowly, she raised her hand and wedged her thumb under the leather strap of the rifle hanging at her shoulder and carefully raised it up. Sasha pulled the rifle into her hands, one under the barrel and another at the butt. Her fingers found the trigger as she pulled the stock against her shoulder.

She waited.

She waited.

She waited.

The deer ran.

She waited.

She let out a breath, long and slow, and lowered the rifle.

What good was a hunter that wouldn’t even kill?

Sasha could track animals and find them within the forests better than almost any of the other hunters, because her father had been better than any other hunter and he had taught her well. But, it was always an unsure thing whether or not she could find work. Everyone had a family to feed, a livelihood to preserve; most people would not want to split their hauls with her unless it was absolutely necessary and most of the time they could find game without her help. It was only the newer hunters that worked with her frequently; the rest only called her when they were having trouble or when they wanted to find something in particular.

Something like a buck. Hunters always liked finding a buck. The antlers could sell for a lot; either as a trophy or, as some people thought, as medicine. They were valuable. Sasha pulled out a little notebook and a pencil from inside her jacket and made some quick notes; size, location, features. If she came here again, if someone asked her to come here again she should be able to track it down. It was worth telling people about, just in case.

Maybe someone would be feeling generous.

Grabbing her basket of foraged fruit and mushrooms Sasha turned away and began to make her way back home. On the way she started thinking about other things she could do. Nothing that involved people too heavily, which ruled out most things, but maybe she could learn to make stuff; like a seamstress, or a carpenter. There was also the noticeboard, which was full of jobs, most of which were dangerous and most of which were asking people with experience; the kind of experience she didn’t have. That was always going to be a problem until she took a job though.

There was that one she’d seen. One that didn’t pay much, or anything at all really, but which would at least give her experience. Something to do with an apothecary?

It was experience, that was about as much as she could say in its favour, but if she did it then she could at least say she’d done a job before when they asked her what experience she had.

Maybe she’d do it.

Arcane Dreams! (Now Open!)

Isabella Nunes

Isabella Nunes

Age: 21

Appearance: Isabella is a little above average height for a woman her age, at 5’ 8”, with a build that is noticeably muscular and athletic, particularly around the arms and shoulders. Her skin is a light brown, tanned, with reddish brown hair, not vibrant enough to be called auburn, and her eyes are a dark brown that is almost black. Calloused hands show the signs of her work ethic and she has a scar on the knuckles of her right hand from one of the times she pushed herself too hard.

She could be described as having harsh features, but a lot of that just comes from her expression; even so, she has an angular face, with a sharp pointed chin, cheekbones that are just about visible and a thin nose.

When it comes to clothing Isabella tends to keep things simple, while also prioritising clothing that is durable or multi-purpose; a leather jacket that looks well worn, with scratches around the elbows and the hem, a pair of jeans that are faded and torn, but weren’t when she bought them, various pieces of clothing that show signs of repair. She had never been in a position in her life where she could afford many luxuries, so any clothing she buys needs to have a reason to be in her wardrobe and tough enough that she doesn’t often need to worry about replacing things that break or get worn down.

In her sorcerer form, Isabella looks much the same. Her clothing changes to be heavier and darker, with a black leather jacket that has a collar made of coarse brown fur, black jeans made of thick and durable denim and a pair of heavy black boots; different from her normal clothing but not much different from what she would choose to wear herself. The biggest differences are in her eyes, now dark throughout with pitch black sclera, and her finger nails which are also completely black.

Pronouns: She/Her

Personality:
- Self-sufficient: Isabella has always had to take care of herself, as no one else was dependable enough to rely on. It has meant that she had to mature faster than those around her, leaving her out of sync with her peers. If something needs to be done, she will always try to do it herself first and asking for help is anathema to her.
- Hardworking: Growing up she developed the mentality that it she didn’t do things for herself then they wouldn’t get done. Isabella is someone who is always willing to put the effort in when it is needed; a job left unfinished or a job done poorly will just create problems further down the road.
- Driven: Isabella is not content with her current situation and is looking for a way out. There are better things ahead, but they will not come to her unless she puts in the effort to reach them. She will keep moving forward.
- Serious: She doesn’t have time for fun or relaxation when there are things to be done.
- Mistrustful; People have let her down in the past, people who should have been there for her. Isabella does not count on other people to help her, nor does she expect them to come through for her in her time of need. She is alone.

Aspirations, Goals, ideals, or Ambitions: Prior to becoming a sorcerer, Isabella’s ambition was just to… succeed. To finish college with a good degree, to get a job with decent pay, most likely as a physical trainer or maybe a physical therapist, to not have to constantly count pennies or worry about how to cover next month’s bills. To reach a place of stability, if had to sum it up.

Since she made the contract though, and found out about spirits and sorcerers and the veil and all of that stuff? Nothings really changed. Things have become more complicated, she had more responsibilities to think off, but she also has more opportunities at the same time. The world has gotten larger, scarier, but… nothings really changed.

A place of stability. That’s still the goal.

History:

A short novel

Isabella’s parents were young when her mother become pregnant; it had been unplanned and neither of them felt like they were ready for the responsibility at the time, her mother was nineteen and her father twenty, but they also didn’t see any alternative once they were in that situation. Both came from religious families, they were both raised with certain beliefs that made the idea of not having the baby unpalatable and they both feared how their families would react even if it was an option. As such, Isabella was born and Carlos and Maria Nunes became parents.

At the time Carlos had just started working at a mechanic’s shop owned by a friend of his father’s, while Maria had yet to find work after dropping out of high school in her last year, meaning that the couple did not have much of an income between them. Nonetheless, though they hadn’t been planning on it, the two of them moved in together following the birth of their daughter and moved in a small apartment that they could barely afford; this decision was also made partly due to the expectations of their families, even though such a living arrangement was difficult for them financially. Isabella’s mother began to look for work only a few months after she was born in order to bring more money into the household, leaving her in the care of either her parents while she did so.

Money was always a concern for their family. Both of Isabella’s parents were working long hours just to keep their heads above water in a situation that neither of them were prepared for. As such, her parents relied heavily on the support offered by Isabella’s grandparents; specifically those on her mother’s side, as Maria’s parents lived closer to them and both were retired, meaning they were more available than Carlos’s. As such, as a child Isabella was raised more by her maternal grandparents than she was her mother and father. This support, while at times necessary, was also something of a double-edged sword, as it provided the young and somewhat unwilling parents to avoid having to learn how to raise a child and push the responsibility onto others.

If they sometimes handed Isabella off to her grandparents for longer than was necessary, or when they could have taken care of their daughter themselves, it was intentional.

Her mother’s parents were strict people; hard people set in their ways and though they were happy to help the young couple at first, what was being asked of them now was beyond just helping. They were disappointed in their daughter for having a child so young and then being unable to care for her, they were also disappointed in her for dropping out of high school in the first place; while they were not so heartless as to completely neglect Isabella they did not do the things that they saw as a parents responsibility in the hopes that either of her parents would step up. As they did not, this meant that Isabella was slow to develop in certain areas, but not in others; for example she learned to walk and talk just fine, but struggled when it came to reading because her parents were never around to read to her and her grandparents wouldn’t do it in their stead.

This left Isabella at a disadvantage when it came to her education, not just because she was behind by the time she started school, but because there was nobody at home who could or would help her with homework or school projects. She underperformed compared to her peers in class and would often fail to hand in homework or hand in incomplete work, which led to her often getting in trouble. When she tried to explain to her teachers that she didn’t understand the homework, she was told to ask her parents, when she tried to ask her parents she was told to ask her grandparents and when she tried to ask her grandparents she was told to ask her teachers or her parents.

It wasn’t until two years into school that Isabella met a teacher who was willing to give her the extra attention and tutoring that she needed to catch-up with her peers, someone who was willing to ask why she was underperforming instead of just punishing her for it. They quickly found out about her home situation and the lack of support she was receiving; her parents were called into the school, only for them to send Isabella’s grandparents in their stead, who then proceeded to push the responsibility back onto the teachers in a circular conversation that led nowhere. It was not until the end of that school year that her teacher was finally able to get a hold of her parents and explain the situation to them that her parents finally stopped burying their head in the sand.

However, even now that they were the parents of a six year old child, Isabella’s parents were not much better prepared than they had been when she was born. They were present and they were trying, but they were still overworked and Isabella still found herself without the support she needed; it was just that now, instead of the indifference of her grandparents she was met with the unavailability and inability of her parents. She had expected them to help with her homework, or to read her stories, or to come to school events; sometimes they did, but more often than not they couldn’t. It came as a disappointment, even at that age she knew to be disappointed, but if there was any silver lining to her situation it was the fact that had taught her how to figure stuff out for herself. She now had a teacher who was understanding and willing to offer extra help and Isabella had learned when to ask and when to figure stuff out herself, rather than to wait for help that wasn’t coming.

A few years later, when Isabella was nine or ten, things changed again. The owner of the mechanic’s shop her father worked at had decided to retire and he was going to hand the business over to Carlos. It meant he was going to be even busier from then on, work even harder, but it also meant he would bring more money home with him; this in turn meant that Maria didn’t need to work as often and could afford to take fewer shifts, leaving her more time with Isabella. But while the presence and attention of a parental figure was appreciated, Isabella had by this point long figured out that it was often easier or just better to be self-sufficient in whatever areas she could manage; making herself breakfast or lunch, getting herself ready for school and dealing with school work were all things she could and would do herself. Even when her mother or father offered to help or tried to play a bigger role in her life, she would often reject them; not harshly, but just saying she had things handled.

In the years since, Isabella has only learned to become more and more independent; if she can do something herself, she will, and if she can’t she will figure out the best person to ask and then learn how to do it herself next time. Her teenaged years were defined by her attempts to be fiercely self-reliant, even when it wasn’t practical; studying by herself, learning how to do her own chores, even getting a part-time job as soon as she was able to so that she could begin saving up money just in case. A year after entering high-school she began taking lessons at a boxing gym, which she begrudgingly let her parents pay for after some arguing, so she could even defend herself if need be.

The result was that she developed into a very capable person at a young age; smart, hard-working, driven. However it also meant that she was harder, as a person, than someone as young as her should be. In some ways Isabella had made her life more difficult than it needed to be, by placing a lot of responsibility on her own shoulders and eschewing help were it was available; in doing so she also consciously created rift between herself and her parents, who found themselves at a loss of how to interact with their daughter who was actively trying to avoid needing them.

After graduating high school, Isabella moved out of her parent’s place as soon as she could; moved to a whole new city. Her hard work had earned her a scholarship; nowhere fancy, just some college in a place called Millburn City, but that was good enough. The money she had saved up over the last few years was spent setting herself up in a tiny apartment long enough for her to find more part time work, and the money she earned from that was enough to keep the roof over her head and food in the fridge while she attended lectures and worked towards a degree.

Living in a tiny apartment, earning a wage that barely covered the bills while she worked to keep her head above water long enough to maybe swim to shore one day? Young and out of her depth and less prepared for her situation than she thought she was? Isabella’s situation wasn’t too different from the one her parents had found themselves in.

And she would hate the comparison.

Contract(s): Standard

Contract Interaction:

Read the fine print

There was a weight pressing down on her. A crushing, smothering weight that kept her from sitting up and which made it hard to breathe. It was uncomfortable, but strangely enough it wasn’t an unfamiliar sensation; Isabella knew was it was like to feel under pressure, even if this was a little more literal.

Oh, but what if there was a way to free yourself of the burden?

There was. It was college; it was a degree and the job that would come with it. Money, stability, self-reliance.

But those things are sooooo far away. And there’s no guarantee you’ll ever achieve them.

She would. She was capable of it.

All by yourself?

She’d always been by herself. It had never stopped her before.

Just because you’re moving forward doesn’t mean you’re going anywhere, you know?

…

Power. That’s what you need. Those with power can get money. Power brings with it stability. Power gives you self-reliance. Do you want power?

Yeah, of course. Who doesn’t.

That’s all I needed to hear.

Level: 1

Key: A cross pendant necklace. Isabella isn’t religious, but it was a gift from her grandmother on her father’s side that she always wears.

Mana Colour: Purple.

Artifact points: 2

• Weapon (1 point) – A pair of brass knuckles.
• Talisman (1 point) – A little silver cube, attached to a charm bracelet. Notable only for the fact that it is the only charm Isabella has.

Artifacts: Isabella’s weapon looks relatively mundane; just a regular set of brass knuckles, albeit one made of dull black metal. They are imbued with a piece of a Nightmares power; the dread weight that sits atop your chest and makes it hard to move, that locks you in place and keeps you in a state of paralysis even after you wake.

Every time Isabella hits an opponent with the brass knuckles, they will feel a slight weight settle on their shoulders. Barely noticeable at first, but with each hit it will increase until every step feels heavy and plodding and their movements become sluggish. The feeling with fade after about a minute, but the timer will be reset whenever Isabella lands the next hit.

Her talisman is also fairly ordinary looking; a little silver cube with black lines drawn diagonally on each face, one running from the top-left corner to the bottom-right and two short lines on either side of it. It is attached to a charm bracelet she wears on her left wrist and is the only charm on said bracelet.

The talisman has the same power at her weapon, but much stronger and shorter lived. When activated it places a huge sense of weight atop the target; not enough to harm them, but usually enough to pin them in place or even drive them to the ground. The effect only lasts a few seconds at most before ending.

Familiar: Isabella’s familiar with a Nightmare. Not a creature responsible for bad dreams, as the name suggests, nor a manifestation of a bad dream; Nightmares are creatures that feed off of the dreams of humans, by sitting atop their chest as they sleep and draining them. Such creatures are responsible for the phenomena of sleep paralysis and though they usually cannot be seen their presence can be felt as a crushing, suffocating weight that holds you in place.

Nightmare’s vary in their appearance, but the one Isabella contracted with takes the form of a rat; a particularly ugly, mangy looking rat. Isabella tries to avoid dealing with it as much as possible.