Lugubrious

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

Agh, this could not have gotten started at a worse time for me. I'll try and get something up.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

I don't mind Jaune. He was worse early on but now I think he's a good character. He's a deconstruction of the Butt Monkey archetype put into a setting where he really doesn't want to be one. He's also completely pivotal to Pyrrha's character. If not for him, Pyrrha would have just remained on her pedestal and seemed, to everyone else, to be a personality-devoid top fighter. It's because of his interaction with Pyrrha, and making her seem more approachable by being a Butt Monkey that is somehow interacting with the star pupil, that Pyrrha is able to make friends at all.

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

The word can be pronounced either 'slau' or 'sluff', which both have definitions that fit very well with Slough's character. I've been pronouncing it 'slow' in my head, and I really need to fix that.

On that note, here's an update to Slough's sheet. Made some expansions on description and domain.

Rottenbone Slough

Name: Slough

Alias: Rottenbone, Deepwood Ghoul, Ragged Deer, Atrophy, Woodland Hollow, Deer God

Gender: Definitively female. Were it not for her unique and regrettable state for existence, she would be able to successfully reproduce with male deer.

Domain (Portfolio): Life (Wilderness)

Domain (Portfolio) Description: A truly great power resides within the body of this beastly god. Though the vast and nebulous realms of intellect, magic, order, chaos, good, and evil command their own dimensions of influence, nothing is more fundamental to the universe than life itself. If not for living things, after all, the cruelest of devils could only play with pebbles, the most abstract of intellect would have no host, and the miracle of magic would never grace a single, wondering eye.

In terms of magnitude, it is impressive even among the strongest of gods, but lies for the most part unused inside her frame, eating away at her from the inside out. The incredible life-force dormant within Slough leaks out in the form of the rot dripping from her body; from pools of it new creatures can emerge and new plants can grow. Soil infused with this rot becomes fertile, creating entire ecosystems over time without the slightest bit of cognition on Slough’s part. The mere contact of this rot with living things is in itself a game of chance, slave to no pattern or cause: its latent life energy might regenerate a creature's wounds, or like a cancer race through its body and create any number of mutations.

In addition, Slough holds a connection to nature itself. If fleeing, Slough can disappear and reappear wherever its power has touched, and if there’s nowhere to flee its power will create a protective ‘womb’ around her to keep her safe. Like nature itself, Slough is highly impressionable. Other divine beings can, if the situation allows, imprint power onto her or attempt to alter her own nature with their powers. Therefore, like life itself, Slough can continuously evolve.

Lastly, the power within Slough has one other outlet. It draws souls, regardless of location or age, into it, replenishes them, and leaks them back out into new living forms via Slough’s secretions. In effect, this is a form of reincarnation. Souls transmuted through Slough into new bodies retain no memory from their previous life, but gain instead a sort of scrambled soul signature that makes their manipulation by outside sources more difficult.

Alignment: Neutral Good

Personality: Slough is, as one might expect, little more than a beast. She seeks food to keep herself alive, and has no discernable ambitions beyond that. If she is even aware of her own godhood, it is only the crudest sort of understanding. Flighty and easily startled, she tends to flee at the first sign of trouble, and is comfortable only when surrounded by a tranquil nature—at least, as comfortable as one cursed with eternal suffering can be. Reflecting the wildness of nature, she is extremely difficult to control or even approach, but with a lot of time and patience a wise individual knowledgeable in the ways of animals and healing can gain Slough’s trust.

Appearance: Unlike most gods, Slough maintains a single form, which is in itself a curse far greater than her wiser fellows may ever bear. She is an exceptionally large deer, whose stringy fur is easily mistaken for moss, and who despite being female bears magnificent antlers. To say that she is emaciated is a vast understatement; most of the flesh in her torso, including all of her organs, is gone, leaving only hunks of rotting flesh and tufts of fur around her spine. Her face, too, is nothing but a skull, with eyes covered by strips of tender bark like bandages. Slough’s body is constantly rotting, exuding a foul-smelling black pus that oozes from her body. Simply living is a ghastly pain for her.

Musical Theme: Take Flight

Description: Despite possessing one of the greatest powers in the known universe, Slough desires nothing more than to live comfortably and at peace in the world. Creating new life even without meaning to, Slough is an extremely valuable resource for other gods wanting to make new creations for fast-track those already in the works, but her nature prevents this resource from being accessible. After all, if empowered by another god, Slough can make life for them easily. Nevertheless, Slough is not capable of development on her own, and will depend entirely on the actions of gods, heroes, and mortals –whether indifferent, harmful, malicious, corruptive, transformative, healing, relieving, intellectual, or blessing- to shape its existence.

It is not difficult to imagine the role of Slough among mortals. She is a fleeting myth, sighted once in a blue moon by the intrepid or the lost, but almost certainly renowned by any people with the slightest bit of fascination for and appreciation of the world they live in and their place in its natural order. The rather tribal idea of Slough as a living symbol for the living world, a sort of 'nature spirit', could no doubt inspire the average mind. The half-dead Woodland Hollow, though rarely an object of worship, could nevertheless amass a certain reverence, and to the most spiritually attuned, perhaps even serve as a primitive kind of guide.

Concealment Level: 1
Detection Level: 1

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

@Kho

The Shadow of Revelations, the Transcendent Mother, the Scribe of Souls, the Overly Long CS!

"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents" - H.P. Lovecraft

“No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.” ― Aristotle



Name:
Vulamera
(Pronounce the "Vula" and "mera" almost like separate words, or a compound word. "Vula, mera"/"Vula-mera". If it rhymes, you're saying it right)

Alias:
Transcendent Mother
The Scribe of Souls
Shadow of Revelation

Gender:
Vulamera will be the first to comment on the uselessness of gender among gods- which are beings of pure energy by definition, and thus have no separate and defined male/female/other reproductive organs for which gender can be based on. Despite this, she tends towards femininity when she chooses to appear, as the male form seems too... confrontational, physical, war-built. It just doesn't suit her purposes.

Domain (Portfolio):
Mind (Intelligence/Perception)

Mind (Intelligence/Perception) Description:

How does one explain a mind? Explain the complexity of living thought? It is perhaps the most orderly and the most savagely chaotic system in existence. It is mankind's knowledge, it is animal's instinct; it is a God's wisdom, it is a mortal's foolishness; it is passionate emotion, it is cold logic. That's the thing about minds: potential is unbound. They are the ultimate organic information-processors. Nothing found in nature can contain, solve, or act on mass amounts of foreign information faster than the brain. The only true limit is the evolution of their wielders.

Claiming this power as her own, Vulamera transcends to a level beyond mundane comprehension. If gods are to humans what humans are to animals, than she is such to the other gods... at least in terms of sheer intellect. In the physical or spiritual realms, the Transcendent Mother falls far from dominate, preferring instead to submissively guide those stronger than herself onto the correct path, should they will her advice. If not, she will retreat to her private plane of reality, where she can coldly watch their inevitable, foolish downfall.

---

Speaking of intelligence, it gets along famously with her domain. You see, just as her marvelous mind allows Vulamera to absorb mountains of data, her intelligence and perception links this data together, making her the only lifeform capable of truly comprehending this universe. She can make a few observations here, take a few notes there, and ingeniously correlate all together into an advanced, accurate theory. Most of the time, that is: she does not claim omniscience, as a less humble one might in her position, but she will certainly accuse those who dare challenge her assertions as sorely mistaken.

Her journey into knowledge is far from complete, however. Even from the moment she was born into this world, Vulamera could feel something else lingering just outside her mental understanding. Some unheard of, undiscovered, ground-breaking truth that constantly alludes her, teases her, taunts her. It feels like she is standing outside a locked door, with the key dangling from a string just outside her reach: try as she might, she cannot unlock this door. It may be a single unifying equation to explain the entirety of reality, or one holy theory that puts to rest all uncertainties as to the nature of this world. No matter what this find is, she always seems to be one step away from discovering it, but never any closer.


Alignment:

She holds herself to Lawful Neutral not because of any childishly preconceived notion of morality or order, but simply because this is the "alignment" least likely to damage the universe, or shift it away from it's current state. Vulamera desires this world to remain in its present form so that she may study and learn from it. If chaos rules, all the world will be in such constant change as to make pointless the study of any element except chaos- as it would set itself up to be life's only constant.

On the other hand, Vulamera would argue that 3x3 alignment "systems" are far too vague to really capture the essence of ethics and morality. Given proper motivation, she will likely devise a more complex system of measuring general behavior, which she will teach to the other Divines. Whether they want to hear it or not is of no consequence - education holds dominance over desire.

Personality:
The Scholar. The Web-Weaver. The Scribe. The Cold and the Calculating. The Sage. The Counselor. The Thinker. These words are Vulamera's essence: the hold her together.

She is cold and collected, normally unbiased by her personal feelings but known for fits of rage when confronted with the uncaring nature of other Gods. She sees those divinites like children who play with their toys only to toss them away when they grow bored, build their sandcastles only to have them crumbled by greater forces. Afterall, what do any of the Gods truly know of the universe? All, including Vulamera, were cast into this world without so much as a single explanation, beyond the cryptic words of fate or the unanswered stare of Amul'Sharar. Do her siblings not care? Do they think that, because they are Gods, the inexplicable nature of their predicament does not matter? The fools! They know nothing of the world beyond this universe, nothing, and yet they would rather sit and play with civilizations or petty power struggles than attempt to find out why and how they exist! They cannot simply exist because they are gods, to think such is a logical fallacy.

Any who will aid her on a mission of understanding has her utmost respect as an equal- even the mortal child races, who some are idiotically prone to underestimating. However, those who seek simply to upset the balance of this world with no care for consequences, the Vestecs and Zephyrions of the universe, are forever beneath her. She does not even hate them: they are not worth despising. They do not deserve even malice.

---

Vulamera would have you believe that she is a curious scientist, a researcher of the universe who desires only peace in which she may study alone. And while this projected image of herself has- as do all her words- a modicum of truth in it, reality is always more complicated. In fact, everything about Vulamera is complicated: there is nothing simple with her, she operates like a computer.

What the Transcendent Mother will never admit is that she's slowly losing her mentality to an obsession reaching far beyond scientific curiosity. From the moment she came into this world, when all was empty and not even darkness had been made, she was filled with a desire for knowledge that is as deep as it insatiable. She doesn't just desire to gain information, she needs to. She needs to because she can't shake the idea that an infinitely important discovery- one that could perhaps tell her the answers to all the many questions this universe poses- lies just outside her field of vision, taunting her like a toy held from of an infant's reach. Gradually, the idea of reaching this unknown discovery that may not even exist is consuming her. Vulamera has always been an introvert, but with every passing second she dwells on this goal she is becoming more internal and emotional, practically autistic, in her reasoning.
And it's slowly driving her to insanity.

Appearance:

Vulamera is thought, and thought has no shape.

In the Void before time, when the Gods were first birthed into existence by Fate and Amul'Sharar, Vulamera was no more than a formless mass of consciousness. She had no tangible shape, no image: if another God had looked in her direction, they would have seen nothing in her place. Perhaps their divinity would have led them to realize the presence of their sister goddess, but they could not have pinned down a view of her. She was composed entirely of pure mental energy.

That is the Shadow of Revelations most natural body, if one can bring themselves to label it a "body" at all. Most often Vulamera remains within her true embodiment, living completely outside this psychical plane and becoming real only on a mental level. Practically, this means that arriving in her truest form does no damage to anything except the malleable minds of humans and the like. On the other hand, while any deity could drive a mortal mind to insanity, her arrival is so mentally powerful as to utterly destroy the minds... their brains simply cease to function all together.

Of course, like all respectable deities, she will inevitably decide several favored forms for herself, but this will have to be explored in time.

Musical Theme:
It's simple and cliche, but I couldn't think of any song that "felt" more like my Vulamera than this one: Green City - Lonely

Description:

The Sanctum:

Vulamera is the aloof scholar. She gazes disdainfully about her at the other Gods or their churlish creations, and feels as though she's the single bastion of civilization in a growling, snarling, spitting pack of savages. She needs an escape. A silent place of the mind, where only the very wise or the very strange may gain the Transcendent Mother's permission to enter.

Therefore, she will create a private plane of reality titled The Sanctum of Memories. The Sanctum will be buried away in a "space-time fold". This oasis is untouched by the ravages of time, invincible to destruction from the harsh exterior world, and a home to Vulamera's closest followers.

Levitating within her plane are orbs of sea-foam green or sapphire, each one molded from a semi-solid, fleshy material reminiscent of skin or fat. These orbs vary widely in size, but the unifying factor is that they are always perfectly and flawlessly spherical. Most repulsive, however, are the string of gooey flesh connecting each orb to many others, above or below or beside them. Taking a first glance at Vulamera's realm, one could say it looks like a massive, infinitely complex spider's web.

Of course, as with all things the Transcendent Mother crafts, these strange machinations serve a clear purpose: the Web functions like a brain. The orbs receive and decipher information, while the strings of flesh carry precious data between them. Thus, Vulamera can store almost infinite memories within the Sanctum's Web. And she does so: because of the Web's unique ability to carry thoughts, Vulamera stores all of her knowledge within them. Everything she has learned, every idea she's had, every observation she's made... it all goes into the Sanctum for eternal remembrance. In a way, this Web contains all the kind of a Goddess.

But that's not the end of it. While the largest flesh-orbs may have the privilege of hosting Vulamera's thoughts, their smaller cousins take in mortal memories. With every mortal that dies, one of many spirits created by Vulamera will come to steal the last dying spark from his mind, collecting all his memories and bringing them to the Sanctum for research and records. Such is why Vulamera is named the "Scribe of Souls", because while she does not truly take their spirits (she does not meddle in what is clearly the domain of others), their cataloged thoughts and memories will forever be studied in her realm.

((Naturally, I won't be starting the RP with any of this, but all of it will be added as the RP progresses))

Vulamera's interactions with mortals:

It is a rare thing for Gods to allow their followers a guaranteed, constant way of summoning them. Divines are not pets, to come at the beck-and-call of childish mortals. Nonetheless, Vulamera may teach the inner-ring of her inner-ring of followers a sacred ritual that, if they are worthy, may call her attention. If they're judged to be worth the effort, she might even appear for them.

In these uncommon interactions with mortals, Vulamera's very presence casts an aura of genius, carrying with it revelations and sudden waves of brilliance to those who come to bask in it. A doctor attempting to treat an insurmountable illness may suddenly realize the cure, as if it had always been right in front of them. A philosopher may be granted a small speck of the Goddess's own wisdom, to aid them in their undying pursuit of life's many unanswered questions.

This is the true appeal of worshiping the Transcendent Mother. While other Gods shower their followers in material excess or empty power, Vulamera grants the ultimate need: understanding.

Concealment Level:
1
Detection Level:
1

(Any feedback from anyone is appreciated)

@Hael

Heck of a description. I would have to say, however, that Slough is probably the most definitive out of many exceptions to your character's perception of godhood. Slough is one-hundred-percent a physical being, and were she not half-decomposed, she would be definitively female enough to successfully reproduce with male deer.

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

Watching RWBY is the worst thing that ever happened to me, seriously, fuck Miles Luna.

@Nevix

Here's a comment I made on another thread, where some analysis was taking place, if you'd like to read:

Spoilers for RWBY

Although, I did predict correctly that we'd see Taiyang in episode 12, but I thought it would be in a Big Heroes moment and not post-action. The distinction between Winter Maiden power and Silver-Eye Warrior is bugging me.

Even after the kiss between Jaune and Pyrrha, I wasn't daring to think that Pyrrha would be sacrificing herself. Even in the fight she was doing well, giving me hope that she wouldn't by dying, but ultimately my hopes were dashed. Pyrrha's death strikes me a lot harder than Penny's did. The entire situation with Jaune is terribly sad, but I'm glad to see he hasn't shut down like Yang has. Did anyone else get a Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince vibe? Terrible tragedy has fallen upon the school; the headmaster is out of the picture (though possibly not dead? No confirmation, and Salem did appear to be talking to him in the end) and the heroes have left to try and solve things on their own. Of course, by heroes I'm referring to Ruby, jaune, Ren, and Nora, who've lost so much. This finale did leave a lot of loose ends -I personally would have liked to see even a short clip of Mercury, Neo, Emerald, Ironwood, and possibly other students- but overall I'd say it was good--if 'good' is taken into account alongside 'hurts a lot'.

Qrow's semblance is interesting because of its retroactive implications. How many crows have we seen throughout the series? Is Raven's semblance similar, given the potential though rare status of semblances as hereditary? Naturally, I'm wondering what Salem's connection is to Ozpin and Pyrrha. I'm not one for denial, but I would like to see Pyrrha again, not necessarily alive, but in an impactful role on the plot regardless, somewhat like Dumbledore in Deathly Hallows.

RWBY - Only the "Finest"

I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't that.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Well, I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this.

Spoilers

Although, I did predict correctly that we'd see Taiyang in episode 12, but I thought it would be in a Big Heroes moment and not post-action. The distinction between Winter Maiden power and Silver-Eye Warrior is bugging me.

Even after the kiss between Jaune and Pyrrha, I wasn't daring to think that Pyrrha would be sacrificing herself. Even in the fight she was doing well, giving me hope that she wouldn't by dying, but ultimately my hopes were dashed. Pyrrha's death strikes me a lot harder than Penny's did. The entire situation with Jaune is terribly sad, but I'm glad to see he hasn't shut down like Yang has. Did anyone else get a Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince vibe? Terrible tragedy has fallen upon the school; the headmaster is out of the picture (though possibly not dead? No confirmation, and Salem did appear to be talking to him in the end) and the heroes have left to try and solve things on their own. Of course, by heroes I'm referring to Ruby, jaune, Ren, and Nora, who've lost so much. This finale did leave a lot of loose ends -I personally would have liked to see even a short clip of Mercury, Neo, Emerald, Ironwood, and possibly other students- but overall I'd say it was good--if 'good' is taken into account alongside 'hurts a lot'.

Qrow's semblance is interesting because of its retroactive implications. How many crows have we seen throughout the series? Is Raven's semblance similar, given the potential though rare status of semblances as hereditary? Naturally, I'm wondering what Salem's connection is to Ozpin and Pyrrha. I'm not one for denial, but I would like to see Pyrrha again, not necessarily alive, but in an impactful role on the plot regardless, somewhat like Dumbledore in Deathly Hallows.

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

<Snipped quote by Double Capybara>

ANIME GIRLS?

JVAN CAN DO ANIME GIRLS

100% TRUE ANIME GIRL

CAN I HELP

@Antarctic Termite

The Horde of Evil - Tresspassing through treacherous tribes' territory! (RP closed)

So, I posted in the IC.

Who would like to volunteer their character to be host to Mar? He won't take control of them, just make a home out of them for a time, and possibly more than once.

Can be with char consent, or without their consent. The latter requires them to have a wound, maybe the former as well.

Personally, I want to see if @Lugubrious's character, Clotho, would be interested in it.

@Kangutso

Sure go for it.

In Hunting Beasts and Monsters

With every step in the direction of the ravine, which by now had developed a synonymy with dread and peril in Highball’s mind, the throbbing uneasiness lodged in the back of her mind festered. Her chipper pace devolved into a slow and deliberate stride, and her hazel eyes pored over every little obstacle in her path as if even the puniest of pebbles might hide the nastiest of teeth and claws. If not for this constant and heart-pounding vigilance, she might have otherwise grown bored on the hour-long trek through dreary waste and moonlit scrubland. More than anything, the sounds plagued her. She found herself trusting less and less in the ability of her eyes when she failed to spot even a single trace of any of the hypothetical creatures who cast skitters and scratches out from beneath the wiry brush. As such, she quickly noticed the railroad ties when they appeared before her. Not pre-industrial. That’s good. Though whether or not anything works is an entirely different matter. Their condition did not fill her with hope, though the very idea seemed foreign in such a world as this.

In time, the land changed dramatically. Paraanon Ravine proved to be a gargantuan cleft in the earth, with one of the corners at the end of the crude rode leading steeply down into the depths. Very little gratification came to Highball, however; from within the mist she knew beyond the shadow of a doubt there lurched some unseen horror, tailing her from behind. Moving slowly, Highball turned, switching her weapon from cane form to rake form. If she could take on anything, she felt, it would be the owner of a single set of footsteps, and light ones at that. Like a spreading fan, the tines pivoted into position, their deadly points ready for whatever might come.

From the fog stumbled a tortured soul. Gruesomely blind, he attempted to approach Highball, his arms held out like feelers to brush across her skin. Though not quite terrified anymore now that she could see the mystery presence, Highball nevertheless deemed the beggar a threat, despite –or perhaps because of- his pleadings for help. The desperate did desperate things. Flipping her rake up, she pushed out gently but firmly with the harmless butt of the weapon, repelling his advance.

At that moment, the hairs on the back of Highball’s neck stood on end. Her breath caught in her throat. Without forewarning, something new had appeared—she could feel it. Like a predator mere inches away from its unsuspecting prey, it bored into the back of the woman’s head with a presence far larger and direr than the beggar’s. Suddenly panicked, Highball span on her heels and swung her rake with all the frantic power she could muster at whatever abomination lurked behind her, imagined or no.