The Nexerus

Iron Rain (Open)

I saw Fusan as Japan (obviously) and Novgorod as Russia (obviously), so I figured the eastern continent would be a sort of Eurasia, and decided to plop Scandinavia in the north-west of it.

Iron Rain (Open)

yeah, there are some big ass countries in this rp.

@Monkeypants

Big countries but with big populations, too. So little living space. If your citizens can't have one house for each season, your country's too densely populated.

Swords & Septims: Adventures in Tamriel (The Elder Scrolls)

What is your favorite Elder Scrolls game?
I've only played Skyrim. I have a habit of becoming very immersed in the lore behind universes like Nirn, but not necessarily actually playing all of the games through which they're seen. I might pick up one of the older games some day.

What is your favorite Elder Scrolls race?
The Argonians have the longest history and Dunmer the most developed, but I'd have to say the Altmer, for their magical aptitude and quasi-ancestor worship. The collective arrogance is entertaining, too.

What is your favorite Elder Scrolls character or NPC from the games?
M'aiq the Liar. It's fun to intentionally break the third wall sometimes.

Who is your daddy, and what does he do?
We're a family of farmers that moved to the city and became tradesmen.

And last but not least, what is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
Vanilla.

Swords & Septims: Adventures in Tamriel (The Elder Scrolls)

I can already see Elayne and Merci being the Dynamic Duo of the group. It'll be a fun challenge for the both of you, @Evestra and @The Nexerus, to emphasize the differences between your characters.

@Hank

Mhmm. It looks like Merci's instruction was more practical and disjointed, and Elayne's more classical and focused. Perhaps that will extend to their personalities in a way as well.

Kingdoms of Crypso

Looks good. I will add a geography section, and in greater detail, tomorrow. Also a bit more elaboration on history, though it'll be frustrating to have to rewrite what I lost.

Swords & Septims: Adventures in Tamriel (The Elder Scrolls)

@Evestra Well, I suppose there isn't any reason there couldn't have been two female Breton mages on that fateful day in Cheydinhal.

Elayne Ashing

Name: Elayne Ashing.

Age: 25.

Gender: Female.

Race: Breton.

Appearance: Elayne's appearance is one typical of a young woman from the green and pleasant lands of Glenumbra. She has long, light brown hair that is kept in a pony-tail when she's travelling or exploring, but is allowed to flow freely when she finds herself in a comfortable settlement. Elayne's emerald green eyes can often be found to be scanning her surroundings, both for potential dangers and items of either magical interest or material worth, an example of her perceptive and astute nature. Elayne is fair-skinned, but not quite pale, and her features are soft and her build light; all three are consequences of her Breton heritage, as are her slightly pointed ears and high cheekbones. Elayne is not especially vain, but nonetheless takes some effort into making herself presentable, perhaps even attractive depending on one's tastes. This is more so to present an air of professionalism and confidence than to woo her contemporaries, however. Elayne bares no scars or other disfigurements, but she does have a tattoo—the Ehlnofex word 'Var'—written in the Aldmeri script on the inside of her left forearm.

Personality: Clever, self-confident and cautiously optimistic of those around her. She finds the faults in herself and others more easily than the blessings, but views these faults constructively, either as obstacles to be become or the raw material from which something positive can later be crafted. Elayne's intellect is considerable, and not accidental. She is an intimately curious person, eager to learn all that she can learn and uncover all that there is to be uncovered. The possibility in adventuring of solving historical mysteries and uncovering the accomplishments of ancient civilizations appeals to her more than the gold does. The loot, to her, is seen as the means to unlock even greater discoveries in the future, rather than the actual end goal of adventuring. That is not to say that she will neglect in taking the fair share of said loot owed to her, of course.

Somewhere in the lighter half of the moral shades of grey, Elayne is a fundamentally good person, but is not averse to making sacrifices for an ultimate greater good. She has a peculiarly strongly detest for theft and banditry, however, having had one too many headaches in her past life with her family caravan to have any patience for the double-think professed by criminals of that stripe. Neither entirely selfless nor entirely selfish, Elayne is content with her fair share of the pie, but is distasteful, and fairly so, of being denied what is rightfully hers. She will neither cheat nor be cheated, and steal nor be stolen from. Neither will she abide observing others being stolen from or cheated, less out of moral obligation and more so as a consequence of her personal vendetta against ne'er-do-wells.

History: Born to a merchant family in Camlorn, in the south-west of High Rock, Elayne grew up in the middle-class of Breton society, having neither squalor nor splendour. The life of her family—including her mother Senna, father Uthard, Roland, her elder brother by several years, and Jakben, her twin brother—was ever-so-slightly less quaint than most of their contemporaries'. The nature of the family business meant that the Ashings travelled often, all together as a family, Uthard not being comfortable with the prospect of being away from his kin on business for such long stretches of time. This meant that Elayne had already seen most of High Rock, from Daggerfall to Farrun, before she reached adolescence. This state of constant exploration and discovery in her early years might have been what sparked Elayne's innate curiosity and wandering spirit, leading her on the road to a life wrought with adventure. It was what happened slightly later, though, when she had reached her adolescence, that tuned her moral compass.

Over the course of Elayne's childhood, the Ashing Caravan Company became more and more successful. Uthard proved himself a man of spectacular business acumen, and by the time his son Roland was joining his father in the family trade, the Ashings could count themselves as wealthy as many of High Rock's lesser nobility. This wealth naturally attracted attention. The positive kind, like prospective business partners, but also the negative kind: namely kidnappers. On the family's return to Camlorn one day, when Elayne was fifteen, the company's caravan was struck by a group of bandits. Prideful Uthard refused to give up the gold that his family was returning home with, and he and and Roland, along with their hired protection of two Redguard mercenaries, decided to fight. They were greatly outnumbered, however, by no less than a dozen of the cut-throats. The company had slain four of the attackers, with only one of their mercenaries fallen, but when Uthard turned to make sure none of the bandits had gotten to his wife Senna or his two young children, the remainder of the group had made off with a wounded Roland. Uthard pursued the fleeing highwaymen, but was wounded himself, his leg cut deeply by a sword. He survived, and would luckily be able to walk again, but for him it was all in vain: the bandits had made off with his son. To his surprise, a few days after the family had returned home, they received an anonymous letter, a ransom note, demanding an exuberant sum in exchange for Roland's life. Uthard, fully prepared to pay as much it took for his first born son, attended the meeting as directed by the note, and with the demanded sum. He was cheated, however. At the venue, a cave far outside of the city, a still-limping Uthard arrived with a bag of gold, expecting to leave with his son and put the whole horrible affair behind him. He would indeed leave, his life spared by the bandits, but not with his son. Roland had already died before the ransom note had been written, and the bandits had only Roland's body to offer in exchange for the gold—which they of course took in full regardless, leaving the wounded father in the cave alone to grieve his son.

Her older brother Roland's death had a profound effect on Elayne's family, and in turn on herself. Uthard now relegated his still successful merchant enterprise to underlings, becoming too depressed to travel and rarely leaving his home in Camlorn. Elayne and her twin brother Jakben took over Roland's old job, when the time came, assisting Uthard in managing the enterprise. The twins had a natural talent for the way of the merchant, but this did not interest or impress their father. In the years following Roland's death, nothing did, and Uthard was so crushed by his failure to defend his family that only a year into Elayne's joining the Ashing Caravan, he committed suicide. This represented the end of Elayne's involvement in the family business; Jakben took over the Ashing Caravan Company, and Elayne determined to leave High Rock altogether, to forge a new life for herself and leave the trauma behind. Living the life of a wanderer for a few short months, she eventually decided to follow in her mother's footsteps, rather than her fallen father's, and so set off for Winterhold.

Elayne's mother, Senna, had been an alumni of the College of Winterhold before meeting Uthard, and had taught her daughter some of the basics of magic in their travelling days. When Elayne arrived at the bridge to the College, on the day before her seventeenth birthday, she had neither staff nor robe and knew only the basic sort of spells needed to be given admission. She would go on to spend four years within the College, gaining proficiency in the Restoration and Alteration schools, supplemented with some forays into the school of Destruction, for self-defence; Elayne favours frost spells, taking after her mother.

It was shortly after her 21st birthday that Elayne chose to end her involvement with the College of Winterhold. The arrival of an unsavoury character from the Thalmor, as well as the constant feuding between her contemporaries and the growingly chaotic state of Skyrim was enough to convince her to continue her studies on her own. She travelled to Windhelm and disembarked from Skyrim for her home town of Camlorn in High Rock, eager to visit her family after such a prolonged absence. She had kept up with them in letters, but meeting her mother and brother again in person was nonetheless a pleasant experience for the now adult Elayne. The Ashing Caravan Company had taken off even better than Jakben had modestly claimed in his correspondence, and Senna was still doing well, keeping herself busy and staying healthy. It was not without a tinge of regret that Elayne set off again after a few short weeks living in her home town with her family, this time determined to make a name for herself in the magic community in the Imperial Heartland of Cyrodiil.

Upon arrival in the Imperial City, Elayne was thoroughly disappointed. Everything nasty that she'd heard about the Synod and the College of Whispers from her classmates and teachers in Winterhold was true; the College of Whispers was a bunch of necromantic fanatics, and the Synod were just clowns, using magic to entertain the Emperor until he threw coin at their feet. Both hoarded their meagre knowledge jealously, and neither had any significant amount of competent members. Deciding that the best option was to continue practising alone, Elayne purchased a home in the Imperial countryside with coin loaned from Jakben and began her self-education in earnest.

In relatively short order, though, Elayne found herself desiring real-life practice—use of magic against real, living opponents that could actually harm her. There was only so much a woman could learn from firing ice shards at fake dumbies. In search of some real dumbies, the kind that breathed through their filthy mouths, Elayne took up the life of an adventurer. The prospect of honing her magical talents whilst at the same time acquiring riches to support herself independently and knowledge to share with the world was too good of an opportunity to miss, and the Ayelid ruins of Cyrodiil had all that she needed to do this and more. After a few years practice, and more than a few excursions outside Cyrodiil, Elayne ran into a few like-minded adventure types in Cheydinhal. The idea came up of tackling a few adventures together, and Elayne, always eager to test out something new, eagerly obliged.

Skills: Elayne is proficient and possesses formal schooling in both the Restoration and Alteration schools of magic, and has several years experience honing her Destruction talents in the Imperial Province's many Ayelid ruins. She is also a capable merchant, able to barter effectively and sway those of lesser wit to look at things in a way favourable to her. Elayne has no experience and little interest in melee weapons, and is almost completely defenceless without her magic. She is fit in so far as she is agile, but possess little raw strength; she might beat you in a footrace, but certainly not in arm wrestling.

Equipment

-Apprentice Robes, complete with hood, boots and gloves. Robes contain pouches for small potion vials, which she refills between excursions.
-Small leather satchel, for carrying valuables such as gemstones looted from dungeons.
-Large leather book pouch, able to accommodate multiple tomes. Intended for both practical study and recreation.

Birthsign: The Lady.

Miscellaneous: Marne.

Swords & Septims: Adventures in Tamriel (The Elder Scrolls)

@Evestra, I swear to God that we have simultaneously been writing female Breton mages. I was just finishing off the history of mine.

EDIT: Jeez they're even roughly the same age.

Opinions bandwagon

you need to feel the bern

@Azarthes

Never been to Switzerland myself, actually. Did you enjoy it?

Kingdoms of Crypso

I just wrote a geography section and a whole ton of history, but lost all of it because of an errant mouse click. I guess I'll pick up some other time and rewrite the geography section. I'll post a quick breakdown from what I remember I wrote just so you're not delayed with map making.

Three regions: Arrandar in the east of the mainland, Calenaur in the west of the mainland and the three northern islands are a region of their own called Neldeelee. The pointy-looking bay is the dividing line between Arrandar and Calenaur. The southern tip of that bay, along the western border of Arrandar, is also the location of the capital, Taln'e. Aluar is in Arrandar too, along the east coast. Kalina is the largest city in Calenaur and is located about in the centre of the region. The north-western tip of Calenaur, along the coast, holds Nortessa. There are only two settlements of note in Neldeelee and they're both small and both situated on the same island, the smallest one in the centre, called Luin. They're named Luinfor (along the north of the island) and Luinhar, along the south. Arrandar is mostly plains, Calenaur is temperate forests and Neldeelee more boreal type forests.

Kingdoms of Crypso

Tairre'Tal

Tairre'Tal

Government: Constitutional Monarchy. The head of state by right of blood is limited in his or her authority by the Koramallen, a non-partisan unicameral legislature elected to directly by the citizens of the various districts of Tairre'Tal.

Ruler: King Draanuv 'the Shield' Aaytarne, Lord of Sereenost. Draanuv's full royal epithet, "The Shield That Held", is often shortened to simply 'The Shield', and is in reference to Draanuv having survived an infamous assassination attempt by his political opponents in the Koramallen.

Trait: Tactician.

Preferred Location: Grey.

Predominant Race: Taurn'edhel, or High Elves. They're a humanoid species, frailer, less numerous, but more agile, longer-lived and wiser than man. They tend to be built gently, have light features, and are known for their high degree of sophistication in the area of arts and culture. The Taurn'edhel possess an extremely disciplined and regimental culture, but still hold great pride in their democratic institutions and the freedoms they provide. The capital of Tairre'Tal, Taln'e, is the heart and mind of Taurn'edhel society, and the city's crowning feature—the Citadel of Sereenost—is the prime example of the Taurn'edhel style of architecture, emphasising ornateness over stark utility and favouring smooth lines, soft exteriors and pleasant interiors full of natural light and extravagantly decorated. The Taurn'edhel aim to live life not to its fullest, but to its highest and most noble, and even the poor of the race desire above all else to present themselves with dignity and poise.

The largest minority in Tairre'Tal are the Calen'edhel, the Forest Elves. They reside, as their common name infers, in Taiire'Tal's denser woods, living out nomadic existences as hunters. They tend to shy from large towns and cities, those of them who choose to leave the forests settling in small, tight-nit villages at the forest's edge, mostly among their own kind. The Calen'edhel are not represented in the Koramellen, except those rare few who reside in Taln'e or the kingdom's other noteworthy settlements, but do not overly begrudge this as they tend to be apolitical, interested only in being able to continue their traditional lifestyles—a modesty the Taurn'edhel are happy to oblige. The Calen'edhel have darker features than their city-dwelling cousins and are both considerably shorter and considerably less interested in courtly manner. Whereas the Taurn'edhel spend their days designing towering constructs of stone and entertaining themselves with games of the mind, the Calen'edhel are content to live simply, making camps alongside the trees and practising their talent with bow and blade. Another stark difference between the Calen'edhel and Taurn'edhel is their attitude towards sexuality. Whilst the Taurn'edhel are monogamous, taking on only one committed partner (at a time) for their long lives, the Elves of the Wood are quite licentious. Sex between uncommitted partners is common place, even the norm, and relationships between the nomads of the forest are never exclusive. Even sexual taboos such as homosexuality are accepted among the Calen'edhel. This liberal attitude to sexuality wavers among the village-dwelling Calen'edhel, who are more strongly influenced by the Taurn'edhel culturally and tend to mimic them more closely than those Calen'edhel who live in the forests.

History: Taiire'Tal has historically consisted only of Taln'e and its immediate environs. It was the first ruler of the Aaytarne dynasty, Queen Kalina the Great, who gradually extended Taiire'Tal's domain over all of the forests of the Calen'edhel, by way of a combination of military might and fabulous riches, simultaneously coercing and purchasing the loyalty of the Calen'edhel chiefs. Only a single tribe of the Calen'edhel, the Daennir, was made a casualty of this otherwise peaceful conquest. The Chieftain of the Daennir refused to accept Queen Kalina's authority regardless of the might of Talne's armies or the splendour of riches she offered in exchange, and his insistence on independence drew the support of a significant minority of the population of the other tribes, who abandoned their own people to join the Daennir and resist Queen Kalina and Taln'e. The Queen, unsatisfied with being known in future generations for having conquered most, but not all, of the Calen'edhel, marshalled the full strength of her armies and sent them to war against the fiercely independent Daennir. In a long and bloody guerilla war, the Daennir fought bravely, but simply could not match Taiire'Tal's superior strength. In the end, all professed members of Clan Daennir were slain, and all their sympathizers sent back to their own clan's lands to be punished as their chieftain deemed fit. The portion of the forest that the Daennir had called their own was burned and cleared, a final punishment to the dead tribe for their resistance, on its ashes Queen Kalina constructed the city of Kalina, which was seeded with Taurn'edhel settlers and became Taiire'Tal's second largest city before the end of Kalina's reign.

WIP