Sephiris: The Price of Peace - OOC

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[quote"Kalon Ordona II"]Sephiris: The Price of Peace[/quote]


Silla's planned route so far.



Of course, she doesn't know of that plan yet and the 2 stop-offs in Northern Ardin aren't planned. They will be where the "leaky boat" needs to make a stop I planned for accidental moments I haven't found names on your map for those yet and would appreciate suggestions.

Stion is right. You can do CH's, but not C's or K's or G's or anything that's not on the list. Remember the CH's are like soft 'kh' sounds, almost an H. That's the closest thing these elves get to saying a K-ish sound.

Silvone, yes, I would have to give you initial guidelines on the purpose of the dreams and where Sephiris would be guiding Simion. Other than that, it's up to you how to execute it. Different minds hear Sephiris's call differently. But she only calls those with a mind to listen. Which would be Simion. And possibly Barthon, as well, but he might be a little bit close-minded, so I'm not sure.

Refffy, given the location of "Nanndirrien," you can't really call it that. It's too far away from the Nanndirrien mountains. You'll have to think up another name.

The trip should take at least a week on the water, not counting stops.
Good route!
I imagine people have been sailing that a lot, though, so this would be a new trade route in the form of new people to trade with, as opposed to a new way to get there.

I'll add stuff about money.

Oh, and Silvone, anyone is free to make a nice map if they want. I'm certainly not going to stop you!


Edit:
Oh, suggestions about city names? Alrighty.... how about.......

Alareta for the "nanndirrien" place, and Danathi for the other one.

Also, you may not have "Kaotmet" for "Please." Has a K, and O, and an M in it.
How about... Seledh

Kalon Ordona II wrote:Stion is right. You can do CH's, but not C's or K's or G's or anything that's not on the list. Remember the CH's are like soft 'kh' sounds, almost an H. That's the closest thing these elves get to saying a K-ish sound.

Refffy, given the location of "Nanndirrien," you can't really call it that. It's too far away from the Nanndirrien mountains. You'll have to think up another name.

The trip should take at least a week on the water, not counting stops.
Good route!
I imagine people have been sailing that a lot, though, so this would be a new trade route in the form of new people to trade with, as opposed to a new way to get there.

I'll add stuff about money.

Edit:
Oh, suggestions about city names? Alrighty.... how about.......

Alareta for the "nanndirrien" place, and Danathi for the other one.

Also, you may not have "Kaotmet" for "Please." Has a K, and O, and an M in it.
How about... Seledh

"Seledh" sounds good Will go change it now. I'll also change Nanndirrien to Alareta and Danathi for the latter one.

Glad the route looks good. Its a partly "new" trade route to avoid the bandits and its bringing in ware from distant lands. Most of the route has been established before, but its new to this company and normally doesn't travel as far as Ena, since it would normally stop at Ardin. It should take around a week and a half with stops, since at least two days will be over-night.

Sounds good. Hooray!!
I'll go add those words to the wordlist.

Edit:
I made a couple changes. Would it be okay if you implemented these into your post as well?

Eltheran = Greetings
Ireta = Food
Kaotmet = Please
Herethen = Catch
san = and
Niecu = New
Chenye = Route
Nena = Where
ien = was
Chindeye = Party

Eltheran = Greetings [same, good word]
Ireta = Food [same, good word]
Kaotmet = Please Seledh = Please
Herethen = Catch Herethal = Catch (I changed this because "then" can mean "wood")
san = and [same, already had it]
Niecu = New Níeurin = New (I changed this because there was a C in Niecu)
Chenye = Route Dhanala = Ship Route (I changed this because there is a word "Dhanath" that means Path or Course, and this would be a very similar word to that)
Nena = Where [same, good match for "hána")
ien = was [same, good match for "aer"]
Chindeye = Party for this I put Chindeill = Celebration, and Chindeyë = Celebrate

Stion Gyas wrote:
Silvone, are you wanting for me to post, or are you writing something up for meeting the others?

I was going to post describing meeting the remaining three, Brenard, Cid, and Quentin, and then let you post about how Brenard got to that point if you want. Or, preferably, you can PM me describing where and how you want the group to meet your character, that way I'm not doing anything to him that you wouldn't want to be done.

Kalon -- I will PM you when I'm ready to do the dream thing with Simion. Won't be until I get the whole group together, which may be two or three posts away still. Maybe...

Sounds good.
I'll try to post tomorrow. Reffy's character is going to be at sea, eating up the DAYS, so I have to post some more about my characters to bring them up to speed. Or at least Gado and Áirhath, because they'll be arriving at the same time as Silli (assuming Áirhath's party and Silli join up).

All the Elvish words should now be correct in my posts. Working on next post, which will hopefully go up today. Trying to get some sea travel done

Would still like Sila to bump into Áirhath's party Just need to figure out a way to get it to work. Where exactly are they? Or at least - which Island?

Not until Silli is wandering Eldin.
I haven't posted about Áirhath much yet, so I really don't know how to orchestrate it. I'll have to wing it; that's why I have to post. I just have to post in a few other places first. Obligations, but oh never so marvelous a thing to be obligated to than a role-play.

Silvone Elestahr wrote:I was going to post describing meeting the remaining three, Brenard, Cid, and Quentin, and then let you post about how Brenard got to that point if you want. Or, preferably, you can PM me describing where and how you want the group to meet your character, that way I'm not doing anything to him that you wouldn't want to be done.

I'll just put it here for you:

Brenard would have remained in the Middle District, and is probably inhabiting an inn or a tavern of some sorts. Just finding him with a trencher of food near the fire should be fine, perhaps with a little room around him.

How would he know anyone from the group? Is there any sort of back story to that?

I can handle that just fine, if you don't mind Brenard's knowing somebody who knows somebody.

New Elvish words (hehehe Elvish )

Aeurl = Ship
nna = at
srénn = rest
sseya = fixed

I did use some already from your list. Silli-Sila is currently DAY 4 morning.

[Edit: Sorry if I'm posting too quickly. Wanted to get a little caught up on all that I had missed. Now I'm on DAY 4 I'll slow down a tad.]

I find it hard to make out the cities on the maps. How shall I do that?

You could always copy the image into MS Paint or something and then zoom in.

I'm also working on zoomed-in sections of the maps, as more cities are identified.
I purposefully neglected to label any of the cities, you see. I wanted all of us to have the freedom to make up names and locations.

There are towns, cities, forts, and capitals in Human lands.
Same with Dragons, as well.
As for Elves, they are much more spread out. Elves don't really LIVE in cities. They live on homesteads around the city "centers" which are more like places to gather. Elves walk about a lot. A lot.
Some elves do live in cities, though. Librarian-types or business owners, crafters, that sort of thing. Of course they also do a lot of that stuff at their homes, like Silli's mom who paints.

I imagined the elf culture to be something in between Native America and the Feudal Orient. Which reminds me...
Reffy, you shouldn't focus on city life too much for elves. They're more country folk. I think a good way to imagine their culture is to have it center around walking, a lot, like I mentioned just now.

There probably shouldn't be any more paved or cobbled cities, for example.
Alareta seems unique, so it's fine there. There's probably a lot of sandstone or chalk about the area, and besides there's a LOT of trade going on, so people need streets for carts and things, I imagine.

Anyway, Fluesopp, I hope that answers your question. Please feel free to make up a city or two. It's especially useful for backstory.

I introduced my character by filling out an entire city as backstory for him. Worked out rather well, in my opinion. You can do the same for yours, if you'd like. The world is basically a template, a blank out line that needs to be colored in.

Oh, I thought that the names were the names of the cities listed. And I couldn't connect them...
But that's good.

The names are of mountains and rivers.
For human:
Mts. = Mountains
R. = River

For elvish:
S. = Shana = Mounain
A. = Anara = River

For dragon:
Hi-G. = Hi-Gadan = Mountains
M. = Mirmer = River

---

Reffy, those are cool words, but I don't think we should have a perfect tense in elvish. We can just say "is fixed" or "was fixed" instead of "has been fixed."

Can I use "nna" for "at" instead? And "srénn" for "rest"?
Aeurl and sseya are good as they are, and we already have an "is" and "was."

Edit:
...well, I'll just do that for now. Let me know if you want to change it back.

. : Name : .
Full Name: Aranë
Use Name: Aranë
Other: Aran
Played by: Fluesopp

. : Appearance : .
Height and Build: 5’5’’, very agile
Description: Arane’s hair is dark, almost black, and cut to about 4 inches. It is usually kept loose. His skin is fair, a bit darker than the usual elf which reflects a little less light. His eyes are green, and a bit dimmer than usual. His facial outline is sharp, his jawbones are clearly defined and his eyes are somewhat sunken in. He is very flexible, very agile and very fast, which is a trait of his work.
He got a tattoo on his left shoulder; his guild’s mark, a dagger piercing a bird.
Clothing: He usually wears leather clothing, which includes a pair of brown leather pants with four pockets, a leather jacket with four pouches and leather boots with a hidden pouch for a knife in each boot. He wears a linen shirt dyed black underneath the leather jacket. He does not wear any form of armor, as his work is not based on combat in general.
Weapons: Daggers, throwing knifes, bow and arrows and a short sword.
His daggers are hidden all over his body. He got two in his boots, three on his belt and one in his right sleeve. They vary in size from 4 inches in his boots and sleeve, to the 8 inch daggers around is belt. They are twin edged and have no guard.
The throwing knifes are also hidden; two in his boots, ten in his belt and two in his left sleeve. They are about 4 inches long; the blade itself is 3 inches while the handle is 1 inch. The handle consists only of a ring, which is used to throw it.
His bow is a very short bow. It fastens on his back and is just as large as his back, preventing it from hindering him as he moves around. The string is easy to loose and easy to fasten again, the bow is easily strapped on to his back.
The arrows are also on his back, a bit shorter than the bow and fastened to his back in an easy to reach spot. He wears five arrows at a time, each with an iron head.
The short sword’s sheath is fastened to his right leg, and is about 20 inches long. It twin edged, the guard is just wide enough and can be wielded ‘backwards’ as well as ‘forwards’. It locks in place when placed in the sheath to prevent it from falling out, just as his other weapons.

Other: In his many pouches he carries plenty of stuff useful to his job. Sometimes it can be poison and antidotes, sometimes it can be information and other times it can be other weapons, although most of the times it’s a multitude of powders; poison, paralysis herbs, fire powder or fire restrictive powder.
Impression: Shady, but easy to overlook.

. : Heritage : .
Age: 120
Birthplace: Unknown, but somewhere near Aladári Shana
Family: None. He was raised as an orphan in the guild. If he has a living family, he is unaware of it.
Inheritance: He have learned his trade from the assassin’s guild and have been living with them for as long as he can remember. He never had a ‘father’ person and had to care for himself throughout his childhood.
Other: None

. : Persona : .
Biography: Arane grew up in an orphanage. Why he had been placed there, he still doesn’t know, but he has no memory of his parents at all, indicating they were separated very early. But he never wondered about it. In fact, that might have been why he was picked by the assassins when they came for a new apprentice. A boy who didn’t questioned things was a good candidate for an obedient ‘dog’. The man who came to the orphanage did not as much as speak to Arane during the whole journey. His first week at the guild quarters was a scary experience. Nobody spoke to him, except when they told him what to do. Eat, sleep, go to your room. It was all he was told during the first week, but at the end of the week, he was already accustomed to the daily routines.

Then his training started. He was merely 14 years when he was adopted, and during the first year he learned how to read and write, and other common things. It was a privilege, one he was told not many orphans were given, and he believed it. Also, he found it both interesting and challenging. It occupied his thoughts and kept boredom at bay. For it was pretty boring in the guild. He was not allowed to go outside of the guild property, a large manor built by human carpenters. The wooden house was encircled with a large brick wall, and none of the trees grew nearby.

But unknown to Arane, that was a test. His proper training would only start the day he managed to sneak out unseen. For they had made his stay as boring as possible, and the world outside an adventure just waiting for an orphaned boy to discover it. And after a year, on the day after his 15'th year anniversary, he passed...

The years that followed, he was introduced Alaerra Sethaen, the art of movement. His mentors changed often so that he never had a chance to bond to anyone of them. The most dangerous thing for an assassin to feel is love, or any kind of sympatric emotion. Because of this, he felt alone, and lost. But again, the training and school made him keep going. And because that was all he could do, he trained. Day and night he practiced Alaerra Sethaen, and when he was introduced to the rest of the four arts he only intensified his training; a great part of his teachings was self-control and the control over his own body. He explored his limits, tested them and widened them.

His first real mission came when he was 26 years. It was a simple job; steal a ruby from an elven trader and plant it in the house of a religious zealot. Punishment for a trying to unveil the assassins' guild, which was a well kept secret among only a few selected, and well paying 'customers'. The mission was completed without much fuzz, but to Arane, it was fantastic. He was still a child, but the thought of playing literary 'pranks' on the grownups were just fantastic. However, as his missions increased in size and importance, the child soon was replaced by that of an young adult, and later, an adult; he killed his first victim.

Up to then, his missions had mostly been to steal things, spy, plant false information among others. But suddenly, he felt weak. He had killed, in cold blood, and his remaining childhood had disappeared along with the man who lay on the floor, a dagger lodged in his neck. And still, that childish feeling he got before remained. When he returned, he was a new man (or, elf..)

His childhood had lasted for about 32 years.

But that thought were soon lost, for he was again given missions. Not killing missions at first, but he now carried weapons on every mission. He was not a child anymore, but a grown up adult. His missions were not childish anymore, and missions he would have enjoyed beforehand were now boring tasks which had to be completed. But his vigorous training kept him going and in a few years he were almost on level with the other assassins.

He continued to raise through the ranks of the assassins and by the time he reached 75 years he was among the ten best, assigned to the most paying and dangerously jobs. And still he followed orders like a dog. It might just be his strong sense of duty who helped him. He was considered the most trustworthy of them all, favored among the masters.

Motivation: He does not have motivation. It is his job; it’s all he has ever known. He is obedient to his masters, although he have gained more and moral sense over the years. But he still feels the thrill when he kills. Not the common soldiers and peasants, he doesn’t kill for the purpose of killing, but when he successfully lodges his dagger in his target… That is satisfaction for him. Whether it is his upbringing in the guild that have taught him that or if it’s his own nature he is not sure about but the guild master have told him they only pick those who have an inclination to the art from the start on, something he allegedly had.
Skills and Talents:
- Hanai Sethaen (Stealth body): The art of staying invisible. It is not magic, just the ability to quickly find hiding places, to stay unnoticed in the shadows, to not make sounds when walking. In short, the user moves in such a way it is hard, or impossible, to notice him.
- Irishan Sliath (Mind perception): The art of reading the opponents mind. This is the ability to predict what another person is going to do in the current, or in future situations.
- Irishan Ireta (Mind food..): The art of feeding the opponents mind. This is the ability to act such that the actions of another person will be the one the user intends them to be.
- Alaerra Sethaen (Water body): The art of moving like the water: This is the ability to move as quick and agile as water. The user uses his whole body to evade attacks, like water, or to reach impossible-to-reach places. It’s simply agility on a high level.
In addition to these ‘arts’, he is deadly with almost every weapon; long distance or short distance, or even poison. Fighting is not an art of itself for the assassins, but merely the four arts combined into one to make an idealistic, ultimate fighting form.
Strengths: Arane won’t kill for the fun of it. When he is on a mission he only kills those that is directly in his way, and the target, if that is the mission. He prefers to avoid killing, not because they are innocent but because nothing screams assassin as a dead body or a suspiciously missing guard.
Weaknesses: Arane have never learned to love, or care for another human being. He is strictly obedient to his masters and will follow their orders without question, even they send him on a suicide mission. However, lately he have began to develop some kind of moral senses.
Personality: Mistrustful to others, obedient as a dog, no leader properties, shady, learned.

Great character, and kudos for adding so much to the world! I love all those hidden techniques!

Here's a list of things that need to change to fit in the world.

• My elvish isn't Tolkien's elvish. There are no W's, G's, P's, etc. I have a list of letters to use in the OOC. The way to know you're speaking elvish properly is to always have the lips and jaws parted. Don't even say S's with your teeth. There are no K-like sounds, meaning no C's, K's, KH's, or G's. The closest thing to a C or K is the CH, which is more of an H sound. Change any words that contain non-elvish letters. I can offer suggestions, if you like.
  
• Your character starts training too young. Elves are much, much too fragile to begin combat training at 7 years of age. If a single deep wound can kill a grown elf within minutes, imagine how much more fragile an elf child would be. I would say he shouldn't even be allowed near a weapon until he was at least 20. Elves probably take longer to mature physically. Becoming high rank at 75 is good, though.
  
• For him to have a surname, he would need a specific person to have adopted him. Unless the guild is all one Family.
  
• In the description of the bow, you have "lose" instead of "loose."

And that should do it!
I'd love to hear how you plan for your character--and the guild--to fit into the story. Are they like a sophisticated bandit/mercenary group?

I edited it.

When you speak of the elvish words, it was his name, and not the new word, Hanai? I changed it anyway.
And I doubled all the ages, removed the surname (never thought about that....) and changed lose to loose (It's Word that insisted on the change).

When it comes to how I shall include them, I was thinking of him being sent on a mission to find, and kill one of the high priests. But it might change. Anyway, I doubt I'll have a post ready before tomorrow due to a massive hand in, due tonight...

Kalon Ordona II wrote:
For elvish:
S. = Shana = Mounain
A. = Anara = River

Reffy, those are cool words, but I don't think we should have a perfect tense in elvish. We can just say "is fixed" or "was fixed" instead of "has been fixed."

Can I use "nna" for "at" instead? And "srénn" for "rest"?
Aeurl and sseya are good as they are, and we already have an "is" and "was."

Edit:
...well, I'll just do that for now. Let me know if you want to change it back.

Cool with me. Fixed the perfect tense Also handy to know Shana and Anara. Will help with naming places.

I 'updated' your maps...
http://fluesoppen.com/images/div/TelmarWilbur4.bmp
http://fluesoppen.com/images/div/Telmar.bmp
http://fluesoppen.com/images/div/Telmar2.bmp
They are not completely accurate when it comes to rivers and mountains, but the landmasses are identical.

I know I need to post, but I also need to make some progress in my books. I've been lazy the past couple of days. Just to let you know that I haven't forgotten this world yet; a post is coming.

That's all right, Silvone. We all make such huge posts that it's reasonable not to expect them too often.

Fluesopp, those maps are AWESOME!
Unfortunately, it's not Telmar, so I can't use them.
If you can find a program that does the mountains and rivers properly, THEN you'll be my bestest friend. ^_^

Also, with the elvish, no: it wasn't just his name.
Just go through all the elvish words and make sure they comply with the allowed letters.
Unless you'd like me to offer suggestions; then I'll go ahead and find them for ya.

As for assassinating a human high priest. I can think of no reason why they would want to do so.
If you'd like some help coming up with a way to integrate them, I can be of assistance.
If you'd rather think up something on your own, I'd encourage you to read everything so you know what you're doing. (only reason I mentioned that is I don't know how much you've read already)

Remember Sakira's Treaty.
Keep in mind elven reclusiveness.
Keep in mind the elven superiority complex.
Establish clear motives.

I'd encourage you to flesh out exactly what the guild is, how it formed, and why it exists.
You've come up with something that has a lot of potential. Find an awesome purpose for it and you'll have something really great.

OK got through all the OOC. WOW I'll read the IC posts and come up with a character soonish.

Actually, the rivers are correct, it's your rivers that are wrong (Like two rivers out of one lake, and rivers splitting up in two)

Anyway, it was just something I was experimenting with. Just different ways of making maps. I'll try to do a photoshop generated one next. Perhaps that one will be better? I don't know.

edit: Oh yeah.. Character..
I thought up a new intro, one where he comes along with the other elves through Sephalia and Sakira-thani, acting undercover to find out what the mercenaries couldn't discover. Hired by the white council as a second protection. He knows about the mercenaries, but they doesn't know about him.

The guild is just a guild with assassins, which take advantage of the elven reclusiveness. It offers its services to the highest bidder, and does so without ever revealing its presence, or the affiliation with the contractor. Most of the time, it's rich merchants who pay to get rid off a certain competitor, or to get their hands on a trade secret. Other times it is political motivated murders, or spying on others (including other countries) It is just trying to survive.
I might flesh it out more as the RP progress, but the main thing is that it is mostly unheard off. It's like the Dark Brotherhood in Oblivion, only not so.. dark...

And the elven words, which were you talking about? I can't find them... Most of the words I use are taken from the dictionary at the first page... (Unless it's pliath.. Changed that to sliath.)

I'm halfway (or more) through my post, but I'm out of time. I will finish it and post it up after work.

No worries, Silvone.

@ Fluesopp: I figured there might be discrepancies with the rivers. Buuuut oh well. I do keep forgetting that rivers JOIN, not SPLIT.
I'd love to see photoshopped maps, if it's no trouble. ^_^

I'm at work right now, so I'll look over the elvish when I get home.

Edit:
I looks like you did take care of the elvish.
Except the "silath" is "sliath." I don't know if that was on purpose, but you mentioned it was "silath," so I thought I should let you know, in case it's a typo.

I like your idea of shadowing my Ssandári mercenaries, and that it's being paid for by the White Council! xD
Adds a whole level to it, which is awesome.

Hey, would your character eventually reveal himself? If he didn't, he'd eventually be found out by the time we reach Sephiris, wherever she is. It's going to be very interesting to see how the character progresses!

I just realized, Kalon, that I might have made a bit of an error in my whole design for Mandor's search (though if you minded you would have specified, I'm sure). I imagined from the prologue piece that everyone who wanted to participate would be at the branding. I didn't realize that it would have only been priests and nobility. I don't know if that messes up your plans or not, as word could easily spread from Mandor to Sephalia and soon everyone would know.

I do have plans that would quickly end the search for a lot of people, as well as quiet the spread of the word of her return, which I can put into play if you would like. If not, I think it would be rather interesting to see how Sephalia would react to word-of-mouth from Mandor.

I'm still reading the IC, but I just have to compliment all the writing thus far. Absolutely fantastic! I'm challenged and excited to finish reading so I can come up with a character of my own and get involved.

Just WOW.