Sephiris: The Price of Peace - OOC

Okay, here is my character profile for the page boy, Simion. I know its short...but he is, after all, only 10 years old at the moment...



. : Name : .
Full Name: Simion Altus
Use Name: Simion
Other: “boy” or “page boy”
Played by: Silvone Elestahr

. : Appearance : .
Height and Build: 5’1”, skinny and lanky.
Description: Simion Altus is a tall, skinny boy with tousled sand-colored hair and dark brown eyes. His round face seems made to smile, though the boy rarely does. His eyes are wide and searching, always examining everything around him. At his young age, Simion does not have any prominent markings or scars, and won’t be branded until he is knighted.
Clothing: Simion wears simple brown trousers and a brown shirt, the same clothes that all pages wear in the barracks of the Order of Gedrich. He sometimes wears a round leather cap, though he hates to wear it. It is reserved for occasions where his superiors won’t tolerate his naturally messy hair. Attached to a leather belt are several leather pouches for money and items of interest to be found while traveling.
Weapons: Simion has not reached the age where he can be formally trained in the use of weapons, though Barthon has not neglected to get Simion familiar with their feel and use. Simion does carry a simple dagger on him whenever travelling with Barthon. Though he is not allowed to carry the dagger in the barracks, Barthon encourages it whenever they are out on a mission. Simion has used the dagger to kill and skin small game, but has never actually used it on another man with the intention to kill.
Other:
Impression: Simion is a quiet boy who doesn’t usually speak unless spoken to. Most see him as weak and small, though Barthon usually treats him as though he were several years older. This causes Simion to easily rise to anger when taunted.

. : Heritage : .
Age: 10
Birthplace: Simion Altus was born in the town of Caluk, several miles north and slightly east of Aramis, on the south east side of the Blue Mountains, west of the Manora River.
Family: Simion’s parents were wealthy land owners in Caluk. Forced to sell large portions of their property to keep up with rising debt, Sim Altus, Simion’s father, took Simion to the Order of Gedrich barracks in Aramis and offered the rest of their land in payment for training Simion to be a knight. Sim and Ari opened up an inn on the lands that are now owned by the Order of Gedrich, and the revenue continues to pay for Simion’s tutelage, as well as living expenses for his parents.
Inheritance: Simion will inherit none of the land that his family had owned for generations because of the debt his parents owed. They sold the land to the Order of Gedrich to pay for Simion’s tutelage and to ensure that Simion had a better future. Sim did give Simion a family heirloom, a silver ring bearing the letter “S.” The ring had been passed down for several generations, and though it was worth more in sentimental value than its weight in silver, Simion treasures it greatly. He always wears the ring on his right index finger.
Other: Simion has a younger sister, Lana, born after he began his tutelage. He has only seen her three times, once every year during his time as a page.

. : Persona : .
Biography: Simion was born in Caluk to a family of seemingly wealthy land owners. At the age of seven, however, his family was selling off their land because of debt. They sold a majority of their land to the Order of Gedrich in exchange for training Simion to become a knight. Later that same year, Simion found out that his mother had given birth to a baby girl. Simion began to feel conflicted, feeling like he should be at home to help his family, but knowing that he couldn’t leave his duty here at the Order. This caused Simion to act rashly for the first two years, responding to taunts and criticism with rebellious rage. During the third year, Simion began to calm down, and Barthon placed more and more trust in him. Simion has accepted his place in the Order, and knows that the only way he can help his family is by succeeding in becoming a knight in the Order of Gedrich.
Motivation: Simion is motivated by the fact that his parents sold everything they had left to get him into the Order of Gedrich. He will succeed to make his parents proud, and so that he can in turn take care of his sister. He is also motivated by the confidence Barthon seems to have in home, though most people treat him as though he is weak and stupid.
Skills and Talents: Simion has been training for the past three years as a page in the Order of Gedrich, though that training has mostly been in the form of following orders and listening to his superiors, as well as learning the scriptures. Barthon has also taught him a little in the arts of combat. Where Simion’s true talents lay are in his mind. His intelligence is far superior to that of most his age when he actually puts his mind to something. He excels at people-watching and guessing what someone will do before they actually do it.
Strengths: Simion’s strength lays in his intelligence and his heart. He is willing to do whatever necessary to become a knight to relieve the burden his parents carry for selling their land. He also wants to be able to take care of his sister once he is a knight, so that his parents can finally live in relative ease.
Weaknesses: Because of his past and his families status, as well as his own size, Simion is easily angered when taunted. He has already been in several fights, most of them with bullies several years older than himself.
Personality: Simion usually remains quiet. The only person he speaks openly to is Barthon, who is training him. Simion does have a strong sense of right and wrong, and he strives to hold up to Barthon’s values and conviction to duty. If Barthon expects Simion to complete a task, Simion would never willingly let him down by failing.

OMG. I have missed so much. Still here and still interested. Dad visit keeps pulling me away from writing and I haven't had much use of my own computer since he's been using it. So sorry guys

I will be desperately trying to get some thing up today.

Okay...I've got too many good ideas for my next post (or few) and not enough time to write them. I have to write, or at least start, a paper I've been putting off since the end of the first school quarter, last year. If I don't get it in before school starts this year, which is September 14, I believe, then I have to take the class over again. Talk about procrastination, huh? Anyway, it should be worth the wait. I hope.

I admit that I'm having trouble creating a character for this. No matter how "original" a character I make, I can't seem to make one that strikes me as being particularly original. Furthermore, after noting that your writing style, Kalon, is quite possibly the most impressive I've seen in a long time, I feel the need to put forth the greatest effort possible to not make a Mary Sue character or something to that effect.

So, I'm going to throw a character idea at you and see if you, or anyone else, can help me fit him into the world. His physical description may strike you as being Mary Sue in nature, but quite frankly, it's the only enviable aspect of his character.

Basic Overview:

• Human
  
• 19 years of age.
  
• Fair-skinned and boyishly good looking.
  
• Of royal or noble blood.
  
• Arrogant, self-serving and tactless.
  
• Proficient with nothing save the use of his good looks and "charming" personality to get what he wants. He can't wield a sword. He can't throw a dagger. He can't even play an instrument. By all accounts, he is 99.9% worthless.
  
• On the other hand, he's fluent in all three of the world's languages and has phenomenal control of his voice, casting him as an adept mage.
  
• The problem? Aside from the flirtatious women who graciously accept his generosity at pubs and diners, there isn't a person in the world who would be willing to serve as his partner. As such, achieving 'resonance' is pretty well out of the question.
  
• The one thing he is particularly good at, aside from using his voice and his good looks as a social advantage, is running, jumping, etc. This is, perhaps, the result of multiple instances of running through dark alleys for the sake of preserving his life while being chased from a local tavern by an angry patron whose girlfriend was lured away from him.
  
• His situation? Perhaps "defamed", removed from a position of nobility by either the fall of his entire family or simply his own repeated offenses, causing him to be either exiled or simply ostracized from his family and/or community.
  
• My intent? He starts out worthless, just having been cast into the wild world that is. Naturally, he's quite traumatized when he realizes that he no longer has the financial or political backing of nobility. Of course, being subjected to this harsh world, he arms himself.
  
• Weapon of choice? Bow and arrow. Proficiency? None. Of course, he would slowly develop his ability to fire the weapon over time, and his natural fleet-footedness would be a great asset in doing so.

So yeah, this is my idea for a first character. I'll probably make a second who is basically the complete opposite of this guy; planning on a lance-wielding knight for that one, but we'll see how it pans out if/after this first concept is nailed down. Let me know what you think, and perhaps where he might fit into your quite amazing world.

Ehh... so the first week at university left me wanting to only read a good book when I got home (After course work). So I did. I'll be catching up and developing a post.

Okay, everyone, I'm back! I still can't post today, because I have to work in... *checks* a half hour, but I can at least do something in the OOC.

Okay, so! *reads*

Weiss wrote:your writing style, Kalon, is quite possibly the most impressive I've seen in a long time

I'm all speechless and inspired now.

As for the marvelous world, it's still work in progress. It's awesome firstly because of Zephiris' foundation. I just came along and built a city on the rock, so to speak. And then we need you guys to move into the city and give it a soul. xD

That looks like a cool character, Weiss. It will be very interesting to find a mage partner for the guy. Probably far down the line when his character matures. Maybe he'll fall in love with a girl from a remote village who sings with birds. ^_^ No really, that'd be great. However it turns out, I can see a lot of opportunity for complex situations and feelings from that character as he grows and struggles.

In addition to us all coming up with our own unique characters, there is a lot of opportunity to come up with characters related to the ones other players have created. I think Silvone, for example, is planning to make an elf who is part of the Ssandári mercenary group. I don't know how many characters each of you is comfortable playing, so don't feel like you have to play a whole bunch, but conversely don't feel limited in how many characters--or even NPC's--you want to make and control.

Also, this is a change of subject, but I should probably start labeling the cities we come up with. I've already started, but I should finish and update as we go along. So I'll try to do that as soon as possible, in addition to posting.

Silvone, that character profile is plenty long enough, certainly no need to apologize. I don't think I need to suggest any fixes; all of it fits. I'll put it up in the list as soon as I get home from work.
I'm liking Simion already! xD And I'll add Caluk to the city labels on the zoomed-in sections of the map I'm working on.

Edit:
Sorry I left you out, there, Reffy! Thanks for letting us know how it's going. I'm looking forward to seeing your character in action!

I like your post, Silvone! I love all these new NPC's that are showing up! xD Already we have the makings of a mini-villain in Lord Duiran.

Just a reminder to anyone wanting to play dragons: There are three high-ranking dragons going along with S'harahe. It might be fun to have another player in that party. Also, those are just from Sakira-thani. There haven't been any dragons yet from Karadan. And there are more remote places in dragons lands to come from. Even other places in Sakria-thani, which is quite a large land. (Not really pushing for more dragon players--just reminding everyone of the availability.)

Alrighty, time to post! ^_^ *goes*

Edit:
*still in the middle of posting*
Oh no! I've been bad! Silvone, I must kick myself for missing this before, but blue isn't in the human range for eye color.

Human Characteristics wrote:Humans are tall and athletic. Males average 6'1" in height, while females average 5'8". Hair color ranges from blonde, to red, to black. Human hair turns gray and then white with age. Eye color ranges from amber, to brown, to black. Due to Telmar's temperate climate, humans have lighter skin. A normal human lifespan is 150 years.

Elf Characteristics wrote:Elves are lithe and graceful. Elf feet are different from human feet: the heel is smaller and the ball is bigger; in effect, elves walk on their toes all the time. Their footwear is designed without heels ((imagine something like a modern human walking around wearing bicycle pedals)). Elf males average 5'6" in height, while females average 5'4". Hair color is usually various shades of brown, ranging from light tan to reddish-brown or all the way to near-black. About one out of five elves has silver or white hair. Elf hair darkens with age. Eye color ranges from blue, to green, to gray. Elves have pointed ears, which can be different sizes but are always larger than human ears. Elves are fair-skinned. A normal elf lifespan is 300 years.

Dragon Characteristics wrote:Dragons are muscular and, if unencumbered, are capable of sustained flight. Dragons have two sets of vocal cords, one higher and one lower; the difficult ability to utter the same tone with both voices is the key to dragon magic. Male dragons average 7'2" in height, while females average 7'1". Dragons have no hair, but horns; horn color is made up of rings of white and black, and it is possible to have horns of a single color. Eye color ranges from yellow, to pale green, to sky blue, to white. Dragons, like humans and elves, are mammals and have no scales; their skin color ranges from light to dark tan. A normal dragon lifespan is 200 years.

So Barthon has an elf color and Simion has a dragon color.

What do you think? Would it be easier to change the profile or change the characteristics? I'm not sure if you've actually mentioned eye color much in your posts, and I hate to make a big thing out of it when I should have noticed right away.

I did a quick search, and it looks like you didn't mention eye color anywhere except in your last post, where actually Ten Eych with the blue tattoos on his face that match his [blue] eye color. So that should be easier to fix.

I guess I could switch humans' brown for elves' blue, if we really want blue eyes for humans. But then you'd have to change Jasper's eyes so they're not brown. The idea is to have each race keep a unique range of eye colors.

Edit:
Alriiiight, FINALLY done with that post.
Man, I have a lot of new elf words!! Whoo-hoo!

No, I will go through and fix it in my character's descriptions and character sheets.

Edit: I changed all of the eye color references I can think of. I'm too lazy to got back and read the whole thing at the moment, so I will do it some time in the future to make sure I got them all.

The ones I know of:
Barthon's character sheet - blue to bright amber
Simion's character sheet - blue to brown
Ten Eych's reference - blue to "dark"

Alrighty, cool. Thanks, and sorry again that I missed it in the first place.
I'll go make the little modifications to the character lists.

Edit:
Done.

Does it matter how many side characters I have following my main character(s)? I am introducing 5 new characters, but I don't know if I should keep them (I have plans for killing a few of them off). Let me know what you think, Kalon.

Totally fine. Encouraged, in fact. This allows for lots of interaction.
Profile-less side-characters and NPC's are make for more options and deeper story.
Thanks for asking!

I may make profiles for them for myself, but just so I can keep track of their histories and personalities. There will be no need to post them up though.

Sounds good.

And my second character:

Spoiler:

Well-made character. Good changes.
I've added Dragon words inspired by what you have there.
Where are you planning to start him out in your first post?

A pass in the Blue Mountains, playing a typical Knight Errant. I dunno how he'll get dragged into the adventure, but I'm pretty flexible.

Up in Mandor? Hm... He can't really fly with that armor and sword, so he would have needed a ship.
I guess it's not unheard of for dragons to be in human lands. Plus Z'ang is an exception--traveling a lot, trying to be knight-ish, even joining the church of Zephiris--so yeah, sounds fine.

Well, Z'ang is 98, so he has had time for travel. I placed a Dragon's coming of age around 30 - 35. *Shrug* Tell me if you'd like for it to change, still plenty of time to edit.

Nah, sounds good to me.

Alright, thanks. Halfway through my post now.

I'll put Z'ang up in the character list while I anxiously wait to read it. ^_^

Well, you have your chance now. First IC post in a week.

OMG. Gonna cry ... spent a good 30mins writing my intro. I tried to post it and the website had logged me out My intro lost

Oh man...that really sucks. But don't give up! One thing I learned from that experience is that, as long as you have the patience, it always comes out better the second time.

ugh, yeah. Losing it is horrible and depressing, but Silvone is right.
I ALWAYS copy my posts before I push any buttons, because you never ever ever ever know.

Cool post, Stion! Looks like anyone looking for Zephiris up in the Blue Mountains is going to have an interesting surprise waiting for them. Although, if Z'ang has been guarding that pass for some time, people might know about him after all. Should be very fun.

Ok. Think it is done. If I made any mistakes please let me know Fairly simple start. Nothing shocking. True to the wandering spirit. I didn't want to take it into the next day - mostly because I'm not sure if we have yet

It's good, but it might be a little unrealistic. Traveling roughly 300 miles in 16-18 hours is definitely a stretch. Good job on the elvish; I'll add the words for 'walk' and 'no.' Except 'hyerna' is a verb, but maybe it can be a noun when used like that. Silli is kind-of illiterate, too, right? So that makes even more sense.

Maybe instead of going all the way to the Nanndirrien mountains, she can just cross the water to that tiny dot on the coast of Ardin, near the mouth of the Thildari river. You can make up the name of the town--it doesn't necessarily have to mean anything, it just has to be made from the right letters.

From her home to that point would be... about a hundred and twenty miles, but that still seems a little far for walking and taking a boat--even if it's a fast-ish boat. It's seriously like at least 50 miles between Ena and Ardin. It could take a day or several days to sail that distance, depending on how awesome elven sailboats are. One could probably sail the English channel in four hours if they were lucky with the wind and skilled with the boat, so that multiplies to at least 15-20 hours from Ena to Ardin--in the best of times, and assuming elves are awesome boat-makers and sailors.

You should probably edit to have her on the coast of Ena before she realizes she has to go back and apologize. Maybe in your next post she can have another, more pressing dream the next night, pulling her away from her home.


One thing you're fine on, though, is that elves can walk a long time. Days on end without really getting tired. Remember that in elven culture everything is spread out. "Cities" aren't what we think of as cities. They're more like gathering centers, and even those are spread out. Elves walk around a lot. They love it. ^_^ Silli would just walk really, really far for no real reason, is all.

========
Hope that helps.
I have to go to work now, so I'm sorry Stion that I didn't get around to putting your character up in the list. I'll try to do it when I get back later tonight.

Great concept on your character so far, Reffy!

Your right. Looking at the map again it does seem a little unrealistic. I was trying to make the travel reasonable but I'm not very good with distances. I'll edit it. Maybe even add a little interesting tale on the boat itself.

Thank you for the extra information on traveling with Elves. It will help a lot

Have we made it to the next day yet? I don't want to over-step anything. If we have then I can add in the next day and a little excitement

Yes, feel free to go to the next day. You might have gotten the dreams before Gado did, on DAY 1. Right now all my posts are in DAY 2.
The branding in Mandor was DAY 4, I think, so Silvone's last post was either that evening or at a later day. So actually you and I, at least, have a few days to catch up, which will work out splendidly, I'm sure.

I think maybe the first time Silli has an dream that she clearly remembers about Sephiris, that should be the night of DAY 1 (or early morning of DAY 2) for her. It could be later, but probably not earlier.

Kalon Ordona II wrote: . . . I have to go to work now, so I'm sorry Stion that I didn't get around to putting your character up in the list . . . (Ordona_II 3).

No problem, mate. As long as you don't take too long to do it. O: