Sephiris: The Price of Peace - OOC

Sorry Stion Gyas. I know you are waiting on my post with Brenard. I wanted to make another post right after the last one...but I'm really angry right now and can't quite concentrate. And I have homework. Yay. I'll get it up as soon as possible.

That's fine. I've my own homework, as well. Probably just going to let it drop, let it eat one of my homework pass-thingies, and learn not to procrastinate.

Oh...how I miss those homework passes...

Funny thing, too. College Precalculus teacher drops our two lowest quiz scores, our two lowest homework scores, and our lowest exam score.

Yes, I'm taking it at the college.

Yes, she is a college professor.

Yes, I did my homework.

Working on a post...but I had a question. Is there a pre-determined number of moons for this world? I was describing the backdrop of the sky and the light of the moon and I thought...hey, it would be neat if there were two moons!

I just wanted permission from the boss before I post it. I may write it for now, and maybe post it, but I can edit it later if you don't like the idea. It is only a single sentence. I just thought it would add a bit to the story.


Edit: O.k. Stion. I've made it up to where you can respond. We need to figure out where to go from here. I've already told you my ideas: traveling until they come under attack. Perhaps we can even lead the group up through the Blue Mountains until they encounter your other, dragon, character (which you may have already had in mind). We should probably communicate through PM's or IM if you want. Sorry for taking so long to get this far. I'm just trying to take Kalon's "write like its a novel" rule seriously

That's fine, I just now noticed you'd actually put up a post. I'll start writing a response, and if you want to talk to me outside of FOG all that information is in my profile, just let me know it's you. ;o

EDIT: I'm sure Brenard could extract a favor from one of his contacts, Silvone. That is, if you haven't already found a way to gather food and mounts for the whole party.

Everyone but the priest likely already has mounts, as they all came from outside of the city. I'm not sure about Brenard, that is up to you. So the priest would need a mount. And they would need some food for the journey, as they probably aren't planning on going from town to town except when necessary. So food is definitely a must.

Right, I can get a mount for the priest as well as enough food to last each of them about a week or two. Nothing much beyond that.

. : Name : .
Full Name: Caravan Captain Katerina Forbes
Use Name: Kate, Captain Forbes, Captain, Mad Kate (behind her back)
Other: none
Played by: Digital Muse

. : Appearance : .
Height and Build: 5 feet 11 inches, rangy with the light musculature of a natural horseman
Description: Katerina Forbes is slightly taller than most human women at 5’ 11”. Her skin is deeply tanned from a lifetime spent outdoors traveling the length and breadth of Telmar. Her honey brown eyes betray the beginnings of lines at the corners from laughter. Katerina’s face is heart-shaped is graced with a slightly dimpled chin and high cheekbones. When she smiles, deep dimples appear in her cheeks. Crowning her head is a wealth of dark brown waves and light curls that she generally keeps tucked behind her ears. Her body is slender and lightly muscled, showing the easy, graceful posture of a natural horseman. Her brows are lightly arched and one can make out a slender white scar marring the perfection of the right one.
Clothing: Katerina’s clothing is as unconventional as she is. Because she spends days in the saddle, she has dispensed with the normal skirts most women wear for leather pants and riding boots. Tucked into her pants, Katerina wears a vivid red linen shirt with flamboyantly puffed sleeves. She wears an equally flamboyant silk and tapestry vest held closed with a gold and black silk sash that hides a serviceable leather belt with a frog that holds her saber, several knives and tabs to hold a bullwhip and two sets of bolos. On her head, she favors a flat-brimmed black wool hat resplendent with colorful plumage.
Weapons: Saber, whip, bolos, long knife, eating knife
Other: She cuts quite a figure on her high-stepping sorrel gelding. She always has several leather pouches at her waist, along with a small icon bag with a small figurine of the goddess hung about her neck inside her shirt.
Impression: Katerina is not only a shrewd trader and business woman, but knows that her traveling caravan is in itself a show to many of the tiny communities dotted all over the countryside. She brings news, wondrous goods, and luxury items. She is the consummate businesswoman under the show, though. She laughs loudly, tells great tales and brings news. She drinks, but never to excess, buys drinks, again, never to excess and her word is always her bond. She works hard, plays hard and is very much the Captain of her caravan.

. : Heritage : .
Age: 49
Birthplace: Sephalia, in a caravan camp along the merchant trail beside the River Sharanon
Family: Katerina’s family is large, loud and fun-loving. Her parents live still, their own merchant caravan follows the Southern trade route along the River Running as the climate is more temperate and the way is easier for them. Her eldest brother Darien remained with them as the Captain of that caravan. Her older sister Mariah married a silversmith in Candlewood at the base of the Smoke Mountains and was an invaluable resource of incredibly intricate silver jewelry favored by Humans and Elves alike. Her next oldest sister, Devonia, also travelled in their parents’ caravan, with her husband, Bartholomew who was a skilled leather worker; an irreplaceable skill in a large trade caravan. His skilled hands had woven Katerina’s bolos and bullwhips. Covering land and sea in the family continued with her youngest brother Marcus, who, with his eldest brother, owned several ships that Marcus plied trade in the ports of the known lands to gather trade goods from Dragons, Elves and Humans which his family then transported via long caravans over the mountains to major inland trade centers.
Inheritance: Katerina has been taught the art of the deal. Driving bargains, making friends and contacts, and networking are her family’s stock in trade. She can value most things on her own, if it’s unusual, she almost always knows someone who knows someone who knows what the item’s worth. She reads and writes and knows how to keep meticulous records for her trade business. Due to her extensive travel, she speaks both the Elf and Dragon languages (though the Dragon’s language is difficult to master, she gets by). She knows the different routes criss crossing the land intimately. It can often mean life and death to know where to find water, shelter, mountain passes and what areas to avoid or bring on extra hands to protect against bandits. Or at least, the greatest profit.
Other: none

. : Persona : .
Biography: Katerina is the middle daughter in a large trading family. Her family have headed and Captained huge caravans for generations. They knew of or opened up almost every trade route across all the lands of Telmar. They are gypsies, horse-breeders, tinkerers, and traders. Like her brothers and sisters, Katerina learned to ride a horse almost before she could walk. They have no home town. They rarely stayed anywhere more than a week at a time. They are self-taught, but often had access to the finest scholars in all the lands who travelled with the caravans from time to time for protection. Bartering passage for lessons was a common practice. They traded equally with all the races and have formed strong bonds of friendship in Elven and Dragon lands as much as in the Human lands. As such, all of Katerina’s family can speak the different languages fluently. Katerina was perhaps more independent that the rest of her family, and now has a caravan of her own taking the main trade routes that may take 2 years for a full circuit. Each brother and sister has contributed to the family wealth; taking on other routes, becoming a ship’s Captain, marrying into a smith’s family or even becoming a healer. The family and the caravan is everything in their lives. In truth, they are one and the same. Workers usually stay on and become invested partners, husbands and wives. Katerina has been indoctrinated fully into that but has definitely put her own stamp on the job. She is flamboyant, laughing, hard driving, ferociously protective, cautious, risk-taking (when profit is in the offing) and shrewd. She has had a varied, eventful, unusual upbringing and as a result her outlook is more open than most people’s.
Motivation: Katerina is motivated by adventure and profit. Every day along a route brings opportunities to meet new people, hear news and make a deal. She truly enjoys what she does, loves the people, loves the responsibility, but has always been slightly jealous of those women who have homes and husbands and families. She is heavily influenced by money, but won’t take unnecessary risks with the lives of her people. Her own life, perhaps; but never those she’s sworn to care for. That risk-taking is why many call her Mad-Kate. She is always on the lookout for new blood lines of horses to breed to her own stable of mares and she has an unerring eye for horse-flesh. She wants to make a mark upon the world and open new lands the way her Grandparents did before her. But over and above that, or rather underlying all the brash bravado, she wants to make a difference somehow
Skills and Talents: Katerina speaks both Elf and Dragon. She has no magic, nor does she want any. She’s skilled at combat from horseback, group tactics (defense only). Appraisal, buying and selling, networking, gambling, garnering and working contacts, brokering contracts, passing messages. Katerina’s also learned some small sleight of hand tricks to entertain children and occasionally palm items. But, she’s not skilled enough to make a living at it. She has been privately schooled by traveling scholar and Priest or Priestesses that pass along the routes along with her parents’ caravans. She reads, writes, keeps books and has an understanding of, weather patterns, astronomy and geography.
Strengths: Katerina is not entirely good or bad. Like most people, she has a moral code which is unique to her. Her family and her caravan are to be protected at all costs. Their welfare and happiness mean everything to her. She never cheats her customers; it’s bad for business, after all. But, she does drive a very hard bargain and she gets her full money’s worth. Every penny. She is likable, talkative, diplomatic and has a remarkable memory for faces and names. She has no prejudices against any of the races. Everyone’s money is good in her eyes. She is a good manager of people, resources and terrain.
Weaknesses: Katerina doesn’t have a great deal of respect for authority figures whose only right to their position are deep pockets or family connections. She’d rather follow a self-made man; if she followed at all. She is a control freak. She needs to be in control and doesn’t take orders very well. She believes deeply in the goddess, but she is ashamed of what she calls her little ‘superstition’. So she hides her belief behind a laughing face. She also lies. Not outright, but she has been known to withhold details or allow someone to assume things that aren’t true.
Personality: Katerina is dedicated to her craft, takes care of her people like a mother. She has a flamboyant streak and loves to be the center of attention. She knows her job and she knows it very, very well. She enjoys telling stories, buying drinks and getting rich. Katerina is an incomparable guide on the trail and many seek to join her caravan for the security they company provides while travelling. She revels in a good fight, but always hedges her bets.

O: We have two merchant children now! She's officially cool.

@Stion: *bows Thank you!

I CAN'T WAIT TO READ EVERYTHING!!!

Sorry, that's me finally coming back from the horrible-land-of-the-lost, in which I have suffered terribly without internet for the past three days and two nights. Oh, it was AWFUL! And lonely! BUT we finally got our internet back, so now I'M back, and I'm SOOOOO glad to BE back!

I will go at once and read everything!!

---

Silvone, I'm not sure about the two moons yet. It should be fine, I think. I'll ponder it for a bit. ^^

Also, in Mandor everyone WAS there at the branding. Different places are handling the Sephiris thing differently.

Elvenlands are united by the White Council, so Eldin, Ardin and Daelin are all together investigating matters to find out just what's going on.

In Karadan, EVERYONE is searching.
In Sakira-thani, only Grendilkren, S'harahe and the others (and probably a few more known only by Grendilkren) know more what's going on and are searching for whatever the new power is.

In Mandor whoever wants to take part in the search was at the branding, just like you imagined. There are people who search who were not at the branding, but whoever WAS branded has a big bonus in prestige. They'll probably be considered the only ones worthy of finding Zephiris. (Remember they're looking for Zephiris, their idea of the goddess creator, not Sephiris the real "archangel" type being who oversees the area of Telmar.)
It's in Sephalia that the priests are being cautious and only revealing bits to the royalty and nobility first, before trusting the public with the knowledge.

Edit:
I'm assuming the second moon is slightly smaller and is a bit further away, occupying a second orbit. That should be quite interesting. I wonder what such a second moon's effect would be on things like tides.
Also, I never said there was only one moon, and I love it when people improvise, so...

Yes, we'll definitely keep it!

Kalon Ordona II wrote:

Yes, we'll definitely keep it!

Awesome! And I think we should incorporate the possibility of Sephalia's general public finding out about the search from Mandorian's before Sephalia's royalty and church are ready to disclose the information. Would make for some interesting politics, at the least!

Yes, I had a vague notion of something like that from the start.
It's inevitable, since word would eventually spread.

Edit, much later:
I was going to post tonight and EVERYTHING.
I just... ended up... kinda surfing the FOG.
I'll try again tomorrow, and this time I'll prioritize properly.

Silvone Elestahr wrote:Awesome! And I think we should incorporate the possibility of Sephalia's general public finding out about the search from Mandorian's before Sephalia's royalty and church are ready to disclose the information. Would make for some interesting politics, at the least!

Perfect. That'll help bring my character into the fold of searchers much more easily too. If a travelling caravan doesn't hear about it damned near first...who else would? *chuckles

Silvone, sorry about the wait. I'm hitting some mental blocks at the moment, but I have half of the post about done. I'll likely be able to have the post tomorrow.

Man, I know we've got something great here because I'm afraid to post. Whenever I'm afraid to work on something, it always turns out to be a masterpiece. It happens to me in art and writing and just everything. I feel like we've created a monster out of this RP, and it's not even through the first page yet!
It just gets deeper and deeper as we go. Which is what I wanted. But expectations have a way of being surpassed when they actually come about. And... and... I'm just so glad that such a really great group of people is coming together to build the story. This, to me, is role-playing at it's finest.

---

Okay, now I'm going to stop procrastinating and start posting.

Edit:
Digital_Muse, would you like Áirhath and the Ssandári to meet up with Katerina's caravan in northeastern Sephalia?

Kalon Ordona II wrote:Man, I know we've got something great here because I'm afraid to post. Whenever I'm afraid to work on something, it always turns out to be a masterpiece. It happens to me in art and writing and just everything. I feel like we've created a monster out of this RP, and it's not even through the first page yet!
It just gets deeper and deeper as we go. Which is what I wanted. But expectations have a way of being surpassed when they actually come about. And... and... I'm just so glad that such a really great group of people is coming together to build the story. This, to me, is role-playing at it's finest.

---

Okay, now I'm going to stop procrastinating and start posting.

Gods no kidding. I'm a fairly confident writer and I'm a wee bit over-awed by how great this is so far. But I have thing worked out in my head at least on a first post or two.

Kalon Ordona II wrote:Digital_Muse, would you like Áirhath and the Ssandári to meet up with Katerina's caravan in northeastern Sephalia?

That would be fantastic, yes. It will also give me a direction for her route which will make my life a little easier. Thank you.

Cool. I was thinking DAY 5 is a good place to start. That's a day after the Mandor branding, so word might not have spread quite yet, but it would probably be soon, at least for merchants.

Áirhath and his mercenaries will have recently crossed the border into Sephalia, so I'll wait until your first post to arrange a situation for the characters to meet.

Awesome posts, Kalon and Digital Muse! I can't wait to read yours, Stion Now we can really get things moving.

*contented sigh* I love your style, Digidal_Muse.
(...*discontented sigh* your username defies my nicknaming prowess, Dii. Digi. Dita. Online_Ponder. DaMuse.)

Could you maybe put a location thingy on your post?
I assume it's somewhere in northeastern Sephalia, morning of DAY 5.
It won't work for Áirhath to meet up with her, however, if she's planning to cross into elvenlands. He just came from there.

I have an idea.
How about she's just recently come from elvenlands, the long way, and she's planning to cycle a bit into Sephalia and take a route into Sakira-thani and thence back to Eldin. That would fit Áirhath's route, and she might want to recruit him and his company as escorts.

This could work in marvelously with my... PLAAAAN.
Shadowy monsters are going to start appearing; that's why Katerina's caravan will need extra protection.
That's the meaning behind the chapter title "Shadows from Light."
They're going to start appearing during the evening of DAY 6.
(Only I know why. xD Everyone else will learn the reason when we find Sephiris.)

Kalon Ordona II wrote:*contented sigh* I love your style, Digidal_Muse.
(...*discontented sigh* your username defies my nicknaming prowess, Dii. Digi. Dita. Online_Ponder. DaMuse.)

How about just Muse? lols

Kalon Ordona II wrote:Could you maybe put a location thingy on your post?
I assume it's somewhere in northeastern Sephalia, morning of DAY 5.
It won't work for Áirhath to meet up with her, however, if she's planning to cross into elvenlands. He just came from there.

I have an idea.
How about she's just recently come from elvenlands, the long way, and she's planning to cycle a bit into Sephalia and take a route into Sakira-thani and thence back to Eldin. That would fit Áirhath's route, and she might want to recruit him and his company as escorts.

This could work in marvelously with my... PLAAAAN.

Oops. I forgot. But yes, I can sure edit and add that little bit.

Kalon Ordona II wrote:Shadowy monsters are going to start appearing; that's why Katerina's caravan will need extra protection.
That's the meaning behind the chapter title "Shadows from Light."
They're going to start appearing during the evening of DAY 6.
(Only I know why. xD Everyone else will learn the reason when we find Sephiris.)

Whee....just in time to get some butt-kicking, scared out of her wits in. Lovely.

**Edit: Alright I added a location and a planned route for you Kalon. And more infor about a dream for Katerina would be great too. Thanks.

Hey Kalon, could you PM me about what should be in the dream? Depending on the content of Stion's next post, the next time I post should have at least Simion sleeping, which means he should be getting the dream.

Ok, I'll PM each of you some dreamstuff. ^_^
As for the shadow monsters, you are completely free to make them however you want. They can be big, small, totally black, black with fleshy bits and/or clothes, whatever. There'll be different kinds.
Just remember: not until evening of DAY 6.

Kalon Ordona II wrote:Ok, I'll PM each of you some dreamstuff. ^_^
As for the shadow monsters, you are completely free to make them however you want. They can be big, small, totally black, black with fleshy bits and/or clothes, whatever. There'll be different kinds.
Just remember: not until evening of DAY 6.

It seems that Brenard, Barthon, and Simion have plenty of action in their future, then. :F

*Goes to PM Silvone.*

Alright, I'll start posting the days at the end of the location title so that I can keep track. If I recall correctly, we are in the early morning of day 5 (branding was on day 4), so we have approximately two days of traveling before we encounter them.

I had an idea...yeah I know. It surprised me too.

I don't know the first thing about it...but I wondered if an IRC channel for this RP might be set up to discuss things real time? Just an idea I'm tossing out there.

I could probably handle that if everyone reaches a consensus... but we can just use the FOG one until it becomes too crowded and create a temporary place if need be.

That would make the most sense, but I get a bit lost in the unrelated conversations that occassionally crop up. It's not anyone's fault, just me being unable to multi-task.

Otherwise, my IM's are on my profile, anyone can contact me on AIM or MSN at will too.

No need. If you have the time go to the Chat Room and type /join #sephchat. That will take you to the RP's own private chat room.