Sloth

After the Spring: A Game of Thrones Roleplay [AU]

I have ideas for: House Manderly, House Stark, and House Mallister. Help me decide.

@Inkarnate

I can finally utilize House Umber if there's a couple other houses in the North, so.

THE CLIQUE IN THE NORTH!

<Animorphs>

Erie Pennsylvania? This RP is a two hour drive from my house!

<Animorphs> (High-Casual)

@Avanhelsing Fair warning, I have heard with someone with tentative interest in the Big Guy, but that does not mean the role is definitely off-limits, or that some characters cannot share certain traits. Glad to see the enthusiasm!

@DeadbeatWalking

Who is this mysterious person of whom you speak?

Saisei: The Crimson Dawn

Where da Jonin @

Sloth's Sporadic Sheet Storage System

Written up for an old Dragon-Blooded Exalted campaign. Decided it might be a good idea to transfer all my off-site stuff here for the sake of convenience or something. Might muster up the inspiration to rewrite his backstory and all that since obviously a lot of it wasn't written down. Who knows.

Name: V'neef Johari
Gender: Male
Homeland: The Blessed Isle (The Imperial City)
Exaltation: Terrestrial
- Aspect: Wood
Age: 28-29
- Date of Birth: Woodday, The 19th of Resplendent Wood, Realm Year 739
- Age of Exaltation: 10
Concept: Sybarite

Bonus Points/Spent: 0/24

Essence: 2
- Personal: 14
- Peripheral: 31

Willpower: 6

Virtues:
- Compassion: 2
- Conviction: 3
- Temperance: 3
- Valor: 2
- Flaw: Temperance

Attributes:
Physical
- Strength: 2
- Dexterity: 3
- Stamina: 2
Social
- Charisma: 3
- Manipulation: 3
- Appearance: 5
Mental
- Perception: 3
- Intelligence: 4
- Wits: 3

Abilities:
Air
- Linguistics: 4
- Lore: 2
- Occult: 0
- Stealth: 0
- Thrown: 0
Water
- Bureaucracy: 3
- Investigation: 2
- Larceny: 0
- Martial Arts: 5
Earth
- Awareness: 1
- Craft: 0
- Integrity: 1
- Resistance: 2
- War: 1
Wood
- Archery: 2
- Medicine: 2
- Performance: 5
- Ride: 2
- Survival: 1
Fire
- Athletics: 5
- Dodge: 3
- Melee: 2
- Presence: 2
- Socialize: 5

Specialties:

Charms:
Essence Triumphant (Second Performance Excellency)
Essence Overwhelming (First Socialize Excellency)
Talented Improvisation
Sweeten-The-Tap Method
Dance of Flashing Swords
Death Between Heartbeats
False-Shell Emollient Attack

Artifacts:
The Unsurpassed Sanxian - 2
This sanxian is made of polished kauri wood and strung with silver and gold and was given to Johari as a birthday present by his grandmother. The snakeskin covering its sound-box came from a serpent god. The soul of an old master performer is bound into the strings, which never break or need tuning, and aids performances. When attuned for three motes, playing this sanxian adds two successes to Performance rolls. These add to whatever bonus an Exalted player can add through Charms.

The Prickly Twigs - 2
A matched pair of Green Jade short Daiklaves forged by House V'neef's only master smith at his forge in the eponymous capital city of Chanos Prefecture.

The Vine's Embrace - 2
Green Jade Lamellar Armor, Windrunner, Tuchara, Arjuf Dominion

Silver Brush - 1
The mahogany handles of these writing brushes conceal a thin core of Orichalcum, but most people see its silver bristles immediately. The silver resists wear but is soft and delicate enough for masterwork calligraphy. When a person commits a single mote to the artifact, the brush produces its own ink of any quantity, consistency and color. A godsend for artists, bureaucrats, and poets everywhere.

Two Hearthstone Amulets - 1 each
Commonplace pieces of jewelry to dynastic Dragon Bloods, Johari possesses a pair of hearthstone amulets. The first, a birthday present from his grandmother on the anniversary of his exaltation, takes the shape of an Elemental Dragon's (presumably of the wood element) head bearing Johari's Stone of Healing in its jaws, a rather anticlimactic visage to those ignorant to the stone's nature. The second, acquired during his graduation from the Spiral Academy, is a much less elaborate (though still beautiful) ball of Green Jade with epithets written in the language of the Old Realm encompassing the outer rim of the amulet away from the Gemstone of Deep Drink placed in the artifact's socket.

Winterbreath Jar - 1
A winterbreath jar is a small urn or jug, finely crafted and inlaid with blue jade. Its enchantment of elemental air keeps its contents at whatever temperature is needed by its user, well, as long as that temperature isn't higher than 45 degrees. Inside, perishables remain fresh and sparkling wine nicely chilled. Winterbreath jars rarely hold more than two bottles of wine or a small watermelon. They require no commitment. Certainly a convenient thing to have when you're on assignment in the scalding heat of Creation's southern deserts.

Hearthstones:
Gemstone of Deep Drink - 2
This sharp-edged chunk of purple stone grants its bearer the ability to drink as many and as much intoxicants as she likes without incurring any penalty. The stone protects a character from all the affects of alcohol and more exotic drugs and renders her immune to all natural ingested poisons. Other than their taste, everything from alcohol to the juice of the deadliest poisonous berries becomes as harmless as pure water.

Stone of Healing - 1
This hearthstone is a healthy earth-brown, mottled with spots of green. It is round in shape and could have come from the bottom of any common stream bed, were the colors not so vibrant. The stone enhances the medical talents and knowledge of any character who bears it, making an unskilled character into a skilled surgeon and a gifted physician into a brilliant healer. A character bearing this stone has three dice added to all Medicine rolls made by her player.

Backgrounds:
Breeding - 5
Though an unspoken truth of House V'neef, seeing as V'neef herself was conceived as an experiment in blood purity by the Empress and married off to the purest member of House Cynis, it surprises no one that her children have the blessing of breeding and purity of aspect that surpasses almost every other dynast in the Realm.

Family - 3
Johari retains a luxury few other dynasts possess: A close personal relationship with effectively every one of his siblings, nieces and nephews, and a first name basis with most of his adopted kinsmen. Though apart by thousands of miles, Johari still maintains monthly contact with his family, and writes to his mother nearly once a week.

Resources - 3
Due to the expected length of his stay in the South, Johari's mother has provided him with an amble amount of resources to ensure his stay in any of the South's cities are comfortable until he feels he might need a steady stream of income from the Blessed Isle in case he establishes a more permanent residence in Gem to discover and rectify whatever the disturbance in his family's shipments is being caused by.

Artifact - 3
- Short Daiklaves (2)
- Jade Lamellar Armor (2)
- Silver Brush (1)
- Hearthstone Amulet (1)

Artifact - 2
- The Unsurpassed Sanxian (2)
- Hearthstone Amulet (1)
- Winterbreath Jar (1)

Connections - 2
As expected due to his family's abundance of satrapies in the South and nigh monopoly on the trade of firedust as it pertains to the Scarlet Empire, Johari has a number of contacts in most of the metropoli of the South, such as Chiaroscuro, The Lap, An-Teng, and particularly Gem.

Manse - 2
Gemstone of Deep Drink (2)
Stone of Healing (1)

Face - 1
Though it is highly unlikely that anyone outside of the Blessed Isle would recognize him for his martial skills, Johari is a student of one of the three legendary founders of the Even Blade style of martial arts, Azure Crane, and almost all martial artists in Creation know of his master's reputation, and sometimes seek to challenge Johari because of it.

Merits and Flaws:
Legendary Breeding (3 Point Merit/One Cool Thing)
Prerequisites: Breeding 5
Unheard of in the First Age and extremely rare in the modern era, the blood of the Dragons runs so purely
through your character’s veins that even other Dragon-Blooded are impressed… and occasionally frightened. The character effectively has Breeding 6, which confers the following benefits:
• +6 motes to Personal Essence
• +11 motes to Peripheral Essence
• Reduce the cost of activating the character’s anima banner by three
• Add three to the roll to determine whether the character’s children Exalt
• Add a one-die bonus on all social rolls against other Dragon-Blooded and against mortals taught to respect and fear the Dragon-Blooded.

In addition to these benefits, the character suffers one drawback: It is so patently obvious that she is a Dragon-Blood that the difficulty of any attempts to pass as a mortal increases by two.

City Folk - 2 Point Flaw
The Imperial City, Nexus, Thorns. The great metropoli of the Second Age. Whether raised in the hallowed halls of the Imperial Palace or the back alley squalor of the Nighthammer district, you are accustomed to the ways and wherefores of city life. This makes you particularly apt at dealing with people while inundated with this environment. When in any settlement with a population of over 5,000, you are at + 2 die to all social interactions due to your comfort in the surroundings.

However, this comfort comes at a price. Outside of the city walls and in more rural villages, your character is out of her element. Rural peoples tend to see her as soft, and will tend to be suspicious around her. Your character is at - 2 dice when dealing with any social situation outside of her comfort zone. Additionally, your character is used to the convenience of city life, and is thus at - 1 die to all Survival and Resistance rolls while in the wilds.

Curiosity - 2 Point Flaw
You have an unnatural curiosity , and find mysteries irresistible. You must make a Conviction roll to break off from pursuing your curiosity, even if it might over ride your common sense.

Nobility - 2 Point Flaw
You were born to a Noble family, and your breeding shows. And it rubs a lot of folks the wrong way. You are not only well known in certain circles, you aren’t well liked in them either. Take a +2 difficulty in Social situations with the low born.

Languages:
- High Realm (Native)
- Old Realm
- Low Realm
- Flametongue
- Riverspeak

House V'neef Family Tree

V'neef, Founder and Head of House, born Realm Year 707

Cynis (name), House 'Patriarch'

V'neef Misaki, born Realm Year 729
- Her eldest, V'neef Aliset, born Realm Year 745
- Two sons, born in Realm Year 750 and 755 respectively
- V'neef Seris, second daughter, born in Realm Year 767

V'neef Narumi & Shiori, twins, Born Realm Year 734

V'neef Johari, Born Realm Year 739

V'neef Suki, Born Realm Year 744

V'neef Yumi, Born Realm Year 749

V'neef Kiyoshi, Born Realm Year 759

Images and stuff

Potential Sister #1
Potential Sister #2
God why does V'neef have so many kids?
They all have Green Hair too...
Surely one of them likes flowers....
You'd think at some point Johari would've gotten a little brother out of the deal...

Setting Resources and the like

(Note to self: Make a separate post somewhere for this kind of stuff)
How the Calendar of Creation works

Blessed Isle Map (With Regions)

Map of The South of Creation (Areas of Political Influence)

Days of the week in Exalted:
- Sunday, Moonday, Marsday, Mercuryday, Jupiterday, Venusday, Saturnday (First Age/Sidereals/Yu-Shan maybe?)
- Sunday, Moonday, Fireday, Waterday, Woodday, Airday, Earthday (Second Age?)

Stuff not in use but I wrote up anyway

Familiar - 3

Name: Arum
Creature: Simhata
Attributes
Physical
- Strength: 7
- Dexterity: 3
- Stamina: 6
Mental
- Perception: 2
- Intelligence: 2
- Wits: 3

Abilities
- Athletics: 3
- Awareness: 3
- Dodge: 3
- Integrity: 3
- Investigation: 2
- Martial Arts: 3
- Presence: 3
- Resistance: 4
- Stealth: 1
- Survival: 2

Attacks
Bite
- Speed: 4
- Accuracy: 6
- Damage: 8L
- Rate: 1
Claw
- Speed: 5
- Accuracy: 6
- Damage: 10L
- Rate: 2

Dodge and Soak: 3/2L/5B

Willpower: 5

Sloth's Sporadic Sheet Storage System

Roleplay: Children of the Greatfather (RIP, we hardly knew ye.)

The Realm of Steindahl will remain forever unfinished

---

Like the rest of the Masters, the history of the Stein begins at the origin of the world, when the Greatfather and the first of the Born roamed prehistoric Magnar. Much like his father, Steinar, eldest of the brothers, left his home after Nystra's disappearance. Rather than search the world for his mother, Steinar chose to hunt down those he thought had stolen her: the Trolls. During his battles against the Trolls, Steinar is said to have crafted a suit of armor and a massive warhammer within the heart of Magnar's central mountain.

After years of nearly unending combat throughout Magnar, Steinar was called home by the Greatfather, and was mortified to see that his beloved siblings had fallen to infighting and corruption. As he was not there to protect or guide his brothers as he should've been, when it came time for the brothers to be banished to the far reaches of Magnar, Steinar all but exiled himself to the northern wastes, the native territory of Magnar's Trolls. If he could not protect his family from themselves, he would ensure they would never fall to the children of Shebalog.

Unlike his brothers, Steinar was never wed, as he was consumed by his quest to safeguard Magnar from the northern Trolls. As the second generation of the Born spread across the Realms, three of Steinar's nephews and two of his nieces, one for each his brothers, would seek him out at his northern fortress. Weary of their cousins' infighting, the five sought to become Steinar's children. Touched by their dedication and loyalty, Steinar would fill a drinking horn with his own blood and have them drink from it, and thus these five would become the first of the Stein.

Steinar's war against the Trolls would continue for the rest of his life, shaping the landscape and traditions of the Realm he was given providence over. Eventually, he fought his way to the peak of the Troll King's mountain and slew him in personal combat. He had taken many wounds however, and Steinar breathed his last and fell from the colossal mountain fortress. The shockwave when he hit ground was felt throughout all of Magnar, and the mountains that sprang from the impact now serve as Magnar's natural border with the land of Trolls.

Ever since, the Realm was known as Steindahl, and the mountain renamed Steinar's Peak.

There is only one known instance of a Stein Master waging war against his fellow Born, approppriately enough, at the tail end of the Age of Strife. Under the pretense of unifying the Bornic Realms as his forbear would have, Agnar Stein all but left his Realm's mountain forts for the Trolls, bringing the full strength of Steindahl to bear against the chaos in the South. Due to their cousins' weakened states and their own superior equipment, the Stein advanced very swiftly. It was only when one Isvald Lastrund called for a feast on neutral ground that Agnar ceased his campaign, believing that the other Masters were going to bend the knee. Instead, Agnar was outraged at the proposal of a rotating Mastery of Magnar. He would not leave the feasting hall alive, and the Stein, despite being the eldest of the Born, found themselves last in the line of Magnar's Mastery.

Following Agnar's execution and Isvald's coronation as Master of Magnar, Stein history becomes rather one note. While their cousins reaped the benefits of peace in the South, The Stein returned to their home, carving forts out of the sides of mountains and raising villages in the valleys, all in a never ending effort to tame the land and eradicate the sons of Shebalog. Because of this eternal campaign and their endless supply of stone and metal, the Stein mastered the art of construction and blacksmithing. It was not until the Thalasan Invasion that Magnar would know better weapons or fortifications than those in Steindahl.

<sub>• Heimgard, like most of the Realm's major settlements, is situated at the source of one of the Northern rivers, theirs being the Gnifri, east of Steinar's Peak. While it has its origins as one of the many Stein fortresses built to defend Magnar from Trolls in ancient history, Heimgard now serves as Steindahl's capital and one of its two primary trading ports. The Old Fort makes up roughly twenty percent of the city's landscape and acts as the quarters for Steindahl's ruling family and visiting nobles.

• Steinar's hatred of Trolls has seeped into the very identity of his descendants. Within Steindahl there exists a class of slaves known as the Dolbri, or "Troll Bloods" that are said to originate from the icy plains north of Magnar. They are considered to be unworthy of all save the most unsavory tasks in the Realm, and serve at the behest of their Bornic overlords. To call someone a "Troll Lover" is a grave insult.

• Because of Steinar's adoption of many of his wayward nieces and nephews, Steindahl has a diverse population of various Bornic ethnic groups, making Steindahl at once an isolated Realm removed from the majority of Magnar's internal problems and a melting pot of various traditions. In short, any peaceful Born are welcome within Steindahl and may find a home amongst its people. Crime against a citizen, however, is severely punished.

• Accordingly, if a Stein noble is childless, it is not uncommon for one to adopt an heir via Blood Oath. If this ritual is completed, the participants are considered parent and child as far as anyone in Steindahl is concerned, and receive all the expectations therein. Adopted children are considered just as legitimate as biological children in terms of Stein law and general attitude.

• Only Steinar's armor remains in his Realm's possession, as their ancestral hammer was stolen by a descendant of Shebalog many centuries ago. While this adds fuel to the fires of hatred the Stein feel for Shebalog's children, it has also turned the warhammer into a symbol and signature weapon of the region, with many Stein smiths aspiring to craft a hammer to rival Steinar's own.</sub>

---

Born at the onset of one of the harshest winters in Magnar's history, Halvar Stein has personally seen the effects of starvation and desolation on his Realm's populace, and for the first time in many centuries, the Stein have begun raiding their Bornic neighbors.

This is Andar. He's Halvar's uncle. He is weary of his nephew's abandonment of Steindahl's tradition of non-aggression against their fellow Born, but with winter hitting the Stein in full force, he sees no way to dissuade his Master. Until that call to cross the Sturmsee where Halvar's obviously gunna go for it and everything's gonna be awesome.

Saisei: The Crimson Dawn

Uchiha Tensai

Shinobi Academy, Konohagakure -- Present Day, Morning

_{It's a collaboration, innit}

All things considered, the 'stay in your seat and hope nobody notices you' strategy had worked remarkably well for Tensai. That was, until Kegawa arrived on the scene and Momomaru had initiated a full scale assault on his face before he'd even had time to react. His assailant moved with lightning speed and surprising momentum, as the minuscule missile had almost barreled Tensai over and onto the ground. It was all Tensai could do to shield his face with his hands, though this proved to be less than successful.

"I surrender! Please, no more!"

Given his predicament, Tensai hadn't noticed the sound of approaching footsteps until they were practically on top of him, and by the time he turned his body to face the mysterious newcomer, he found his personal space once again violated when he was all but tackled by his other best friend and actually thrown to the ground. So much for that plan.

"Ow! I think you're breaking some of my bones, man."

"I mean, you totally deserve it. It's been ages, and that's all you've gotta say?"

Shunpei's was a sound for sore ears. It felt like years since the last time he spoke to either of them, and it brought a smile to his face to be with them again.

"Hmph. Just so you know, I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed. And hurt. And betrayed!" Shunpei added an exaggerated sniffle to his performance, and Tensai could've swore he could hear tears welling up in his friend's eyes. "I think I'm gonna cry."

However, it didn't take long for Kegawa to reinsert herself into the conversation with an energy that had become all too familiar.

"Shun-tan!"

"Hiya Kecchan!" Shunpei called back. "You want in on this too, right? It's not a dog pile without you, and besides, Tensai here hasn't experienced your righteous furry, erm, fury yet."

Kegawa laughed out loud, Shunpei's pun laden sense of humor was something that entertained them both, though Tensai was too busy trying to maneuver out of his friend's grasp to acknowledge the brilliance of the joke.

"Don't mind if I do."

With another body now on top of him and with a canine companion still nipping at his face, it was all Tensai could do give a (only slightly) exaggerated grunt of pain. He didn't know how long it took before the trio's laughter started to die down, but the silence that ensued was a quaint one, and Tensai had to recompose himself when Shunpei finally spoke out.

"So... Where've you been? What'cha been up to?"

There was a momentary pause before his next statement.

"And do you want us to get off? It's getting kinda hard to breathe..."

The latter half of Shunpei's sentence barely registered to Tensai's ears. Where was he? How does one answer such a question when they barely knew the answer? Thankfully, the other two members of his childhood trio took the liberty of standing up. He followed suit after taking a moment or so to gather his thoughts. If there were any two people he could talk to about his ordeal, Shunpei and Kegawa were certainly them. They'd been his two closest friends for as long as he could remember, siblings he'd never had as far as he was concerned. His grandmother'd probably scorn him, but he needed someone to talk to. So, clan secrecy be damned.

"I've-"

“Tensai, how does it feel to be handed everything when you failed on Ha no Kyofu bridge? How you’ve become absolutely worthless to the entire village, but you continue to be seen as this gift to the leaf?”

Tensai hadn't even gotten more than a word out of his mouth before he was not so kindly interrupted by the absolute last person he wanted to deal with. Fukushu. The Namikaze girl had been a thorn in his side he'd taken great care to ignore for the past couple years. Something she was making impossible. Did she know? Of course she knew. Fukushu knew everything. But how? Nobody was supposed to know what happened. For lack of a better term, Tensai was shocked into silence by the revelation.

He didn't know how long he stood there lost in his own thoughts. When he returned to his senses, he turned his head towards where he assumed his purple haired tormentor stood and responded to her in a harsher tone than most would've expected from him.

"Leave me alone."

Children of the Greatfather

@ONL The gemstones, not the Trolls.

Though, taxing the Trolls into submission is a hilarious image.

Children of the Greatfather

Clearly ya boy Brynjar was the one who crafted Steinar's epic armor and warhammer back in the day. The Stein just don't want to admit it!

May help with my silly "Steindahl's wealth comes from them finding a heck of a lot of gemstones in their mountains after the Age of Strife/Thalasan Invasion" idea. Who needs shiny stones when there are Trolls afoot? Send them down to Havingardr. What do you mean we're not allowed to beat the Trolls up anymore?!

On that note: I apologize for my relative silence and lack of work on Steindahl this past week or so. Life's been a bit hectic, but I may be able to finish up the northernmost Realm when I end up having nothing to do in a hotel this weekend. We'll see.

Saisei: The Crimson Dawn

Ded I already told you on DIscord what was up smh.