Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Janius might have held a more humorous tone if it weren't for the subject. He answered Julan's concerns directly. "Because, son, I would still need to lie to them about what I am. As for being the danger of the town, being attacked is not as big a concern as either of you having your friends being scared out of their holdings."

Unfortunately for Janius and Kaleeth, Rhazii crossed his arms and took his brother's side. "I still don't understand. I got to meet my grandparents. Father told me that he caught up with them after being away from them for many years."

"It is not the same situation, Rhazii," Janius turned his head and picked up his tone. "Your father grew up with a different family that had different customs. My parents are not his. That is all that we shall speak of it for now. No more." He had not lost his patience yet, but his sharpness was indicating its limits.

Rhazii breathed in to protest, but closed his mouth and sighed instead.

About a minute later, the tension was still in the air, but Janius had found something to talk about. He gestured to the houses on either side of the street. They were all rather large and spaced out compared to the housing in other areas of the city. There were even nice gardens maintained. "This was the neighbourhood I grew up in," he said with more calm than before. "I had friends on this side of the street, and we all had something of a rivalry with the children on the other side of the street. Tricks were played, some humorous and some rather cruel. That one over there is the house I grew up in." Janius pointed to a house that had no less than three stories. It was primarily made from wood with a stone foundation and ground floor and a relatively smooth mortar finish. It was even larger than most of the houses in the Silent City.

---

With the end of the bout, Fendros stepped back and held the blade of his sword in his shield hand. He looked over Lorag with a knowing frown and sympathetic eyes.

Fendros decided to be forward. They all knew what the issue was, so he didn't even point it out. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

He didn't even mind that Ahnasha was listening. She knew what was going on as well as he did.

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

<Snipped quote by WrongEndoftheRainbow>

The ones that are literally fueled by alcohol?

@Rtron

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

You can technically combust ethanol. Shhh.

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

<Snipped quote by Muttonhawk>

All of those things would actually work quite well! Except maybe ectothermy. That's a metabolic can of worms we probably shouldn't open.

The first thing I thought of would just be really warm, humid breath, but it's possible that their metabolism slows waaaaaaaay down during deep sleep and they lose a lot of heat then. Would make it hard to wake up, though, and their tolerance range would have to be really broad. They might also have some kind of tracheoles hidden in the chinks in their shells and connected to their lungs, allowing them to vent hot air through the rest of their body.

Or, y'know, they just operate at a really high normal body temperature relative to mammals.

Or they sometimes just belch fire when no-one's looking.

Hard to tell.

@Antarctic Termite

Well, I had kept the specifics of hain biology purposely fuzzy so I wouldn't have to get into this kind of stuff, but it makes me feel better that there isn't a glaringly obvious impossibility written right into their description.

I'll keep whatever is declared first in canon as canon. However, the simpler stuff is preferred. Some kind of panting thing is probably easiest. The tracheoles are a neat idea, but that sounds like insect stuff and it would make it much easier to die from choking on their own blood should one of them be ruptured. I'd prefer the heat to be transferred around via mostly just blood and plain breath.

<Snipped quote by Malchivo>

All good! Would be interesting to see what Thacel thinks as he finds out about that legacy, though.

@Antarctic Termite

Sneaky disclosure; Thacel's birth is getting based on some meta as hell shit.

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

I know very little about thermodynamics in practice, but would it make sense for hain to have capillaries in the outer layers of their exoskeleton to help cool off? It would mean they would bleed a lot more if you cracked their shells, but it wasn't as if that didn't hurt anyway.

Or, perhaps panting like dogs, would that help?

Cold-blooded?

Bah, I'm clutching at straws. I shouldn't have said anything.

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

<Urtgasm>

@Antarctic Termite

Welp, I've just figured out what Caress' art is going to be. Knitting fuckoff-huge teacosies.

_{I hope no one tries to work out the thermal clusterfuck that are ceramic hain exoskeletons. I don't think it's as easily hand-waved.}

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

The post being written regarding Mal's new demigod of war is currently running under the assumption that Kyre is dead or dying. The exact nature of his death will probably not be awfully relevant to us unless Toun and/or Ilunabar are informed of it.

So, I'm cool, but I won't speak for others. If Capy or Mal want to know, hit 'em up.

In other news, I spent the last few hours smashing out the rest of the follow-up Conata post, mostly while exhausted. This means that there is a lot of editing and proof-reading in my future. I leave a lot of trash in my writing when I'm tired.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Janius was forthcoming at first as they strolled down the street from the keep. "Well, son, you might have noticed this in other cities, but places like the Empire and the Dominion tend to be so big that people don't really help each other in the same way that we do back home. That can mean that some people, either because they get addicted to substances or just because they do not have enough gold, get desperate. They might threaten or beat people for coin. It's worse in some places than others. There are some placed in Bravil that are much worse."

They took another few steps in silence.

"And your mother and father?" Rhazii asked.

Janius looked ahead. "I'm afraid that we should probably not visit them." He did not want to lie. "They think I am dead. I have not seen them since before both of you were born."

---

Fendros' initial reaction to Lorag's flurry of swings was a methodical control of the situation. At least, his defence was as methodical as he could make it. His stance switched a few times as he took two careful paces back in an effort to deflect away Lorag's brute force. Aging or not, he was still deadly.

Unfortunately for Lorag, such a long combination of strikes still held the patterns of his style, and Fendros had fought many savage and relentless foes before. He counter attacked with his sword held against his left shoulder, arm across his body. A swing coming diagonally down towards Fendros' left shoulder prompted him to duck and parry Lorag's sword with the edge of his shield such that it was guided over his head. Meanwhile, Fendros' sword travelled from his shoulder, over the rim of his shield, and towards Lorag's neck. Fendros was careful enough to stop before he made contact, in spite of the dull edge of the practice sword. But he didn't know if Lorag would let his mistake mean the end of the bout.

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

Damn it, Termite, why do you have to keep posting in that echoing near-empty test forum? I can't view the front page of the guild anymore without rolling a one-in-six chance of seeing a Divinus character mentioned out of context in a witty thread title!

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Of course. I should get changed as well." Janius looked down at his own armour and stood up with Kaleeth.

A short time later, Janius stood in the courtyard dressed similarly to Kaleeth, but with a leather jerkin, green tunic, and his axe still looped on his belt. He smiled up at Kaj-Julan and Rhazii, both to greet them, and with amusement that Rhazii's imposing height for his age would attract almost as much attention as their expensive armours would have.

"Hello again, boys," Janius said with a nod.

"Hello uncle," Rhazii answered with a smile. His upbringing was around an eclectic population, but his accent was decidedly Cyrodilic.

Janius put his hands together and let them swing down either side of his body. "Well, the nearest spots to the palace are the more noble residences," he said to Kaleeth. "I thought to take us around there, have a walk, point things out, and then..." Janius put his hands on his hips and turned his head to the gate. "If there is enough daylight, we could have a walk around on the other side of the canal. That's where...well, the rest of the town is, really."

Rhazii angled his head curiously. "Why can't we walk around there without daylight?"

"It's a rough city," Janius answered immediately. "It's not exactly deadly for the likes of us, but...I would rather not make our visit here difficult." He turned his head to Julan and Rhazii in particular, pointing to them. "We don't want you two transforming within the walls."

The expression on Rhazii's face dropped to a disappointed frown and he huffed, looking down. "Okay, fine," he said with some annoyance.

Fendros could tell by how the sword blows felt on his hand that he did not strike successfully. He brought his sword around to try and cut at Lorag's unshielded elbow, but had to instead move his shield to check the swing coming in at his side. His movement was overcompensated, deflecting the blow after a longer instant than he had anticipated, but he only mildly processed Lorag's slowness before trying to capitalise on his defence. Now that Lorag's sword was against his shield and his hands in a good position to try the move, Fendros brought the knuckles of his sword hand up against the inside of his shield with the sword point turned to Lorag and tried to thrust around his shield with his sword displaced. It was hard to pinpoint where a gap was in Lorag's armour, but Fendros tried to aim for a spot under the shoulder or between the front and back of his cuirass.