The Price of Knowledge

In the beginning, there was nothing. Only darkness and emptiness. An eternal night engulfed the Universe, no light pierced its veil. Then came the One, who has many names. He is oft called the Maker, the Creator, the First. Who He is or how He came to be is a mystery, but it is agreed that there came a time when He simply was. And He set about ordering the cosmos, shaping creation, lighting the torch in the dark. But there is balance in the Universe and everything comes at a price. For each life given, another is taken. For something to be created, another must be destroyed. And the Creator knew this and sacrificed himself so that all else could be. From the fire of His soul He created the suns and the stars and the moons. From His flesh, He wrought the worlds that beings inhabit. And with the power of His mind, He made ideas.

The First brought light where there was darkness. Creation where there was nothing. Knowledge where there was ignorance. Order, where there was Chaos. But His toils were long and hard and the sacrifices weakened Him greatly. And He had the wisdom to know that His time was at an end. With the last of His essence, the fire of His soul, the strength of His flesh and the power of His mind He shaped another being. He who was later called the Second, the Wanderer, the Wise. And to this being the Creator spoke:

"I have given you hands to shape, a mind to think and a heart to follow. I have left you an empty place, for you must shape those who inhabit it. My time is at an end, yours is just beginning. I have crafted ideas and through them you will shape beings. Your labours will be long and hard and, like mine, your time will come. When the canvas has been filled, come and fine me beyond the doors of this existence. But be wary! Do not grow greedy and keep that which is not yours. Now go, for much work awaits."

And thus, the Maker left that which He had created behind. And the toils of the Wise began. He took the ideas and bound them to living beings, some of fear and hate, others of love and compassion. And he was generous with these ideas, for he gave them to many different beings. In time, life thrived throughout the Universe and the canvas prepared by the Creator was full. And the Second taught the races many things, of art and music, letters and words, of metal and stone. But in time, he grew weary for knowledge brought power and power did not always find its way into responsible hands.

When his time to depart had come, he grew greedy and did not heed the Creator's warning. He traveled to the place of their last meeting, where the walls of existence could be brought down. And there he created a thing of legend - a library. It would come to be known by mortals as the Library of Knowledge. In it, he stored all which he knew, the smallest details and the greatest secrets of the Universe. And he decreed, let this be life's ultimate temptation, to seek that which is not made for mortal eyes. And let those who are deemed worthy bask in the light of knowing. He made certain that it was well-secured and then left to search for his creator, the First.

What happened to these two beings remains unknown, but the Second remembered the first lesson of the Universe. Everything comes at a price. And that he taught the library as well. And this was the last trick of fate those worthy souls would encounter. Those who entered, could never return. They would have the ability to learn everything, but they were bound as the Library's guardians for eternity. Knowledge demanded sacrifice and ultimate knowledge, in turn, demanded the ultimate sacrifice.

That had all happened a long, long time ago. The Library became a legend, a myth, a folly only the brave or the foolish perused. In time, here and there, one or two people from a world would find their way there. And the cost of that passage became clear to those who would follow. The worlds did not have contact with one another, only with the Library, which was the center of all creation. And yet, rumours of eternal servitude crept in the societies of living beings.

And as with all things, there were those who attempted to bypass that price. Those who would have knowledge and be able to return with it to the lands of mortals. These were most commonly powerful wizards and sorcerers, wise scientists and lucky adventurers. But the Library guarded its secrets well and its guardians perused those who would dare steal. Only a handful managed to live out their lives with that knowledge. And it was a wretched existence, one of constant dread, for the guardians were relentless. Still, there were those who would brave such perils. Desperate fools or peerless heroes, it mattered not. This tale is about one such being.

In a world of sword and magic, in the land of Arlind, the kingdom of mages as the common folk called it. This is where the greatest wizards of this world lived, where they passed on their skills and experience to the new generation. In their walled city of towers and libraries, they dwelt. A place of learning and knowledge, a place of greed and ambition, where fate was tempted every day. Here lived one young mage, an apprentice, who possessed little skill and knowledge. But fire burned in that soul and it would not settle for its lot in life. A long and desperate search yielded an ancient text, written by a long dead master of the art.

Through questionable rituals and forgotten practices, a rift between the worlds was open. Only for the shortest of time, but the apprentice was quick. Upon entering the library, ideas were drawn to the young being like moths to a flame. Powerful and dangerous ideas. Texts, a millennia old were hastily read, and a dusty tome was stolen. When the return to the world of mortals came to pass, the mage had grown in power immensely. Studying the tome of power answered many questions and taught the talentless apprentice secrets most masters could only dream of.

This was how the mage's start shone brightly. But all things came at a price and the Library and its guardians would not soon forget...

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Right, this is an idea I've had in my mind for a long time and I finally found the will to write up a suitable story around it. Of course, the point of this thread is to find a partner to develop the plot with it. There are only two roles that are worthy of a main character in this case - that of the young mage, which I'm offering to my future partner and that of a Guardian, which I plan to take for myself. Firstly though, I'll get this out of the way.

I'm very picky when it comes to whom I write with. There are some things that I won't tolerate:

- Poorly written posts ->I don't have the best of grammar, to be sure, but I expect a reasonable level of literacy. (this is FOG though, so it's not much of a concern)

- Respect the time setting -> This is a personal pet-peeve of mine. Since we're talking about a fantasy-ish world here, keep in the mind the language people will use. Especially the language of the cultural elite which the mages are.

- Poor Character development -> I've bolded this for a reason. This is WHY I RP. Characters are what matter to me, so I expect my partner to feel the same. How the journey affects the hero is what's important, not the journey itself. That means well-developed characters, no one-trick ponies please. None of the "epic hero" stuff as well, you're just a guy/gal who was pretty much a loser and suddenly found a source of power.

- Attention span -> I'm a relaxed, laid-back guy and I don't expect people to post every single day. This means my RP's tend to drag on for an extended period of time. *This* means that if you can't keep yourself interested in, say, more than two or three months, just don't bother with me.

- Sense of humour -> I appreciate a good joke and hope my prospective partner will be mature enough to know when I'm taking the piss.

- Drama -> This doesn't really apply overmuch to a 1-on-1, but I'll throw it in anyway. I totally hate that stuff, keep a level-head, chill, don't get too serious about the whole thing, eh? It's for fun after all,

- Post expectations -> As I said, I don't expect people to post every day, or hell, every week. I don't want others expecting that of me, either. Sometimes I may simply not be in the mood for writing, I may be busy writing up something else, or I may simply have a lot of shit on my RL plate. I'm in no rush, so I hope you aren't, either.

That's about it. I may sound up like some stuck-up bastard, but in truth, I'm a lovable guy who appreciates a good laugh and just wants to be fairly blunt in what he expects of others I live in the GMT +2 time zone, so if you're on the other end of the world, we may have difficulties chatting up. Speaking of which, I prefer fleshing out stuff over MSN or some similar program, instead of drawn-out PM sessions.

Hmmmm, what else? Ah yes, I'm not a fan of the cliche fantasy world stereotype. So I'll mention a few stuff about the setting.

1) Humans only. Male/female doesn't matter, it's down to you. But this is going to be fairly low-fantasy, so no orcs/elves/dwarves/half-breeds or whatever.
2) When I said low-fantasy I lied, view this as dark fantasy. That means, grimmer, more life-like environments, with believable "grey" characters, rather than the clear-cut "good vs evil" scenario.
3) Magic is supposed to be hard and dangerous to practice. I don't know if you want to develop that motif further (for which I have a few ideas), but what I'm saying is - people don't just teleport all over the place. And while mages are not *that* rare, not everyone can shoot fireballs out of their ass.
4) I hate manga/anime and other such, keep that away from this RP. Please.

Ah yes, lastly, I'll also say that when it comes to describing appearance I don't want pictures. Only words, that actually allows me to visualize the character better.

Phew, I'm quite a pretentious bum, eh? If I haven't scared away all interest, do drop a line below, I'm eager to get this show on the road

I can't let this idea bypass me! I'm sorry everyone else, but yeah. I'm living in GMT +1 so that shouldn't be a problem either.
Okay I'll admit it. I'm speechless at the moment. Awesome ideas have a tendency to do that. I'm going to go see if Microsoft have fixed their live download, otherwise I'll just use windows messenger. That is, if you'll have me.
No poorly written post, no drama, sense of humour, attention span and post expections: Check!
Respect the setting: I agree with the pet peeve and I promise to do the best I can to sound aristocratic and elitist.

So yes, I'm in if you want me. Anything more you need to know or so?

Sounds good!

I'll go about making an OOC thread where I'll delve a bit in depth of what the mage-run state is like. In order to get you some info to work with. Will also add in a character sheet, but yeah - feel free to start making character plans.

Er yeah, no promises I'll be done tonight - I may get ninja'ed away by mates quite soon.