Lucius Cypher

Keratia: Story of the Surf, Tales of the Deep

Your men quietly nodded their heads and went about following your orders. Oliver and Kulee went off together to make a more through search of the area while Tayang had his men return their plunder to the ship Nyx opted to stay with you, taking her dagger out just in case there was any trouble as the two of you entered the chapel.

Sure enough the place was desecrated. In your head you could imagine how this temple would've looked normally; a few roars of pews with an altar at the front where a priest would give his sermons. There was a large pool of water behind him, and two doors that likely lead to offices in the back. But now the pews had been pushed up against the walls or destroyed, and what remained of the clergy here were splattered about the room and walls as if a mad artist had decided to redecorate the interior of the chapel with their remains. Blooded bodied parts of both bone and flesh were shaped into strange twisted effigies, with arms artificially lengthen with thighs and the remaining legs from the knee down bound together at the ankles and wrapped around the bloodied and dismembered waists of the remains. These literally twisted looking arms were then forced to stretch upwards, almost making a circle, and inside that circle were the severed heads of the bodies. However you would easily notice two things with these severed heads, the first one was that they had their eyes torn out and they have been scalped, exposing their brains. And nailed to their brains were presumably the victim's eyes as well a mysterious additional amount, perhaps out of some strange literal interpretation of Kos' blessing.

As for the victim, the elven girl was the only one who didn't seem to have suffered the same mutilated fate as the others. However her beaten and bloated body laid strewn upon the altar, her eyes open yet frozen in horror. She was alive but not responsive. As you came closer, you would see something that Nyx did not, due to the relative darkness of the room. A message written in blood, now drying, on the wall over the pool of water, which was not yet tainted.

She wholly devoted herself to God. She prayed for the sake of people and for the happiness of the WORLD
But if GOD existed, how could this be
Here in this outlying church
This sacred place where she aids the weak and preaches the WORD of God
One would not expect
The smell of blood, alcohol and dirt
The stink of MAN
And now
The girl is filled with the stench of their DESIRE
The girl's FAITH flows out with the fluids polluting her body

Your men were quietly looking around for anything worth taking. Having checked the back rooms, Tayang reports that they are surprisingly untouched. While it definitely looks like there was a struggle, whoever was here didn't seem to ransack these rooms and there weren't any other survivors back there. One was an office, had a desk that was knocked to the side which was likely used to barricade the door, as well as a lot of books of various lore and information. Could be useful for trade or just light reading. Some letters, some journals, and a small locked box. From the sounds inside of it, it was likely a box containing the temple's offerings. The other room seemed to be a supply room, which the rest of your men were looking through. Nyx stayed in the office and was paging through the Books for anything important.

The Apotheosis Arcanaeum

@EurmalEye

A shame, but understandable. I wish you the best.

The Apotheosis Arcanaeum

The way I'd see it, it'll be more likely that he'd made less of a letter of recommendation and more of a general report about Sika village, and perhaps specifying Sika herself in said report. More so considering that he did go to her village for the purpose of studying her culture and learning more about her people as oppose to scouting out for potential students, which is something that IC the college actually isn't allowed to do anymore.

Generally speaking, people of the college giving others letters of recommendation before they even arrive to the college isn't a good idea for the simple fact that nothing guarantees the letter's safety. For example, when Sika was robbed, the thieve's would definitely tried to sell off the letter of recommendation as soon as they can. People making forgeries of recommendation letters, especially from college officials, is something the college itself would want to crack down on. Identify theft is very much a thing in this verse even with people who can read minds, for reasons which would also be explained IC. Perhaps not as much as say, investigating rogue mages who are practicing necromancy without licensing, but it's still important enough that they keep abreast of the issue. To that end granting someone a letter with official signatures and stamps to someone who isn't guarantee to be able to safeguard it is something the college would try not to do.

And yes, while there are exceptions, these usually only happen in equally exceptional circumstances, like if Melecus was dying and had no way to otherwise vouch for Sika, what with being dead and away from the college or any other mages who could recover his body. Not to mention an recommendation letter from a college member itself is often more scrutinized than one that comes from an outside source, such as a martial master or some such. As mentioned, the college does it's best to not be influenced by outside politics, both it's administration and it's regular members. That being said it also regulates itself as best as it can via these self-restraining codes of conduct precisely so other nations and people can trust the college to not use their considerable influence in both clout and magic to try and force their own goals to fruition, as the college wants to be a place of learning and research not a base of operation for an NGO superpower. If Melecus had some agenda to say, introduce more kobolds to the college simply because of his preference for them over other races, that would raise quite a huge issue because that shows favoritism, more so as he decided to grant this letter without anyone else's oversight.

Long story short, a letter of recommendation from someone who is actually from the college carries far more weight than one that comes from a reputable but unaffiliated organization, for example a different mage guild. For someone of the college to give one to Sika would have to imply either great carelessness on their part, or absolute certainty in the exceptional ability and even some level of personal responsibility for entrusting them with such an important letter. But, so long as you understand those implications, do what thou wilt, @EliteCommander.

The Apotheosis Arcanaeum

If you'd like. I'm doubtful that Melecus would write a letter of recommendation for Sika before Sika's journey to the college, but I can definitely see him writing one after she had arrived or just verbally vouching for her. Usually people write letters so they can contact the college hopeful and inform them of their acceptance/denial, kinda like a modern-day college. Thus those who just waltz up to the gates of the academy and claim that they're worthy of education without any proof or documentation are usually just denied at best, or put through convoluted tests that threatens their lives at worse. Mind you the latter isn't a popular method, but since you're familiar with the roots of this RP, I'm sure you know who the college turns to when they need to send some strapping youths on a quest to prove themselves. Hint: it's the daemon.

The Apotheosis Arcanaeum

@Thinslayer. Conceptually not bad, though if possible could you perhaps detail Caeda’s specific accolades in the recommendation letter? Specific battles or enemies she’s defeated, or perhaps tales of her skills as a mason or bushcraft. If her education in masonry is a formal one another recommendation letter from a stone cutting guild could also help, shows that she is more than merely another orcish Warrior. Add those extra bits of info so I can look it over again and it should be good to go.

Keratia: Story of the Surf, Tales of the Deep

Considering that due to the weird shape of the world most of the land masses surround a single ocean, there’s really only two seas and then the vast ocean between everything. Though the waters near land masses are definitely a different feel than the waters near the center ost part of the ocean, so those are usually referred to as seas. But those are more political boundaries than true geographical seas.

The Apotheosis Arcanaeum

@EurmalEye

While not bad, I should explain that magic is not an easy skill to learn, and it's certainly not something that one could pick up especially for young children. Though I wanted to explain it IC, here is how magic works: Even the most basic spell saps away at your stamina, even if you fail to cast it. And unlike normal physical actions where trying to do things beyond your limits will have your body react in such a way that basically says "Don't do this you're going to hurt yourself", magic doesn't have that same limiter. The damage the body takes for casting spells to the point they're physically injuries is called "Blood Sickness", mainly because over use of one's magic actually drains the blood from your body, commonly resulting in very desiccated corpses.

For Gulzbak to have tried to light a match via magic at such a young age wouldn't just leave him with disappointment, but sever and often lethal blood lost for children. It's one of the primary reasons why there isn't any child mages; they don't survive the small mistakes that happen when casting spells. Adult bodies might not be able to handle it any better, but their chances of surviving is generally better. It's also why I made it a point to mention when races reach their physical maturity as it does play a very important role for when someone would be suitable to start trying to learn magic.

Additionally for Alaphaine to try and cast multiple spells and having no supplies to replenish himself would also result in his quick death, more so since he was already in dire straights before that.

Magic in this RP is something that really relies on the caster being physically capable. The usual image of a squishy wizard who is magically mighty but physically frail just isn't viable, as magic relies entirely on your physical health and fortitude in order to utilize, rather than anything mental like willpower or intelligence. It's also why nearly anyone who knows magic learns it via academies and colleges; there's no real safe way to train even if you have family who are somewhat capable of magic. Again, IC I would introduce a crash course of the difficulties of magic and how one goes about to actually being able to prepare themselves to casting spells, even ones as simple as lighting a match or moving some dirt.

The Apotheosis Arcanaeum

That’s acceptable. Keep in mind that a hobgoblin isn’t quite as agile as a regular goblin, but otherwise benefits from being larger physically.

The Apotheosis Arcanaeum

@Bliss Audacious Damn shame, but I wish you the best.

@Thinslayer Open spot if you're interested.

@EliteCommander Not a bad CS. Sika's gotta lot more work ahead of her though to prove her worth to the Arcanaeum, but she's shown that she's got the grit to see it through. Accepted.

The Apotheosis Arcanaeum

@Bliss Audacious Thanks. It’s not your fault, I was just careless and forgot to double check my work. As I said, it’s what happens when you decide to keep writing well past your bedtime to meet some time crunch you make up for yourself.