Sephiris: The Price of Peace - OOC

Sorry for holding things up. A post is being worked on for Katerina followed by one for Tuuli. I promise.

I'm well into a post, but it's been going slowly because of Fogathon. No worries, I hope. xD

I've not heard from Stion... I think I will message him and remind him that he is up in our arc.

No rush. I'm still behind.

I should have posted this a week or three ago.

I'm a bit busy at the moment, with my senior year ending I'm doing a lot of things at the school, and spending almost all of my free time with friends.

I haven't forgotten that it's my turn to post, Silvone, nor have I forgotten that I need to add to the gathering between Blackrock, Digi and I. In another week or two, things will have calmed down enough for me to really knuckle down and get to writing.

Sorry for the late notice.

Thanks for letting us know!

Yeah, I knew that you were busy which was why I waited so long. I just wanted to make sure. Thanks for letting us know though! I really don't mean to rush you... I know how much I slowed down when school things got in the way. Take your time and post when you can

Alright everyone, I graduated, and after today's party, I'll have too much free time again! I'm going to start writing Monday.

When did the forum change?

Congratulations! And the Forum just changed 2 days ago, so don't feel bad. lols

We look forward to your post.

Stion Gyas wrote:Alright everyone, I graduated, and after today's party, I'll have too much free time again! I'm going to start writing Monday.

Congratulations, Stion! Don't you just feel successful! And I am glad to hear that you have free time again

Awesome, Stion!
The forum just changed a couple days ago. Isn't it just the epicest?? xD

It's very nice, I just have to get used to the way it looks again. I tend to look at the pretty stuff instead of posts.

Just wanted to let you all know, Progress Is Being Made.
I've had some time to think, finally, and I have a clear vision for what to post about. Expect a few time-skips for my parties, as well as a bunch of new info and tie-ins, leading up to the finale for Chapter 1 coming up in the next couple posts or so.

Posted!

In anticipation as we draw near the end of Chapter 1, I'm doing some more updates of locations and things. Turns out I mixed up Fenwater and Brookstone, for a start, so that's fixed.

While I work on my next post over the coming few days here, I thought I'd give you all the opportunity to supply some unfilled short blurbs for the locations each of you has filled in. You can see the relevent entries have in Human Locations. I'll probably update some of them myself, but these are the ones you've come up with--the ones currently lacking the short descriptions:

CITIES:
Elister

TOWNS:
Brookstone
Candlewood
Fenwater

Brookstone and Fenwater are Blackrock's, and I think Digi came up with Elister and Candlewood. I'd also like to create entries for the six towns that make up Pon and Telm. I guess I could combine both groups of three into one each, so it's easier. *shrug* Whatever you'd prefer, Digi.

Do any of you know if we've named the--what's the term--inlet? bay? opposite of a peninsula that cuts into Sephalia? Digi might have, with Pon and Telm, but I don't remember. I'll make a search if it's not on the top of our heads.

Alright, that's all for now.

Stion is absent again, so I think I will be moving on with Barthon and Simion. I am tempted to simply leave all of the side-characters behind at this point, and some of them may or may not catch up with them at Caluk or Iyel-Del. Stion can have his characters catch up there should he return again. I am just tired of this arc being at a stand-still, and I would really like to finish what I had planned before the conclusion of Chapter 1.

However, I did send Stion a PM, and I am posting here, so if he gets in touch with me before I post this then I will certainly reconsider.

@Kalon: Is there a possibility of border skirmishes between Sephalians and the dragons? I mean before the current storyline? I was thinking about the backstory to one of the Lord Knights, and that was a question I had. Nothing largescale obviously, but enough to give a reason for all of the forts around.

Not before the current storyline, no.

After the Sixteen Years' War, there was a complete ceasefire and clear delineation of territory. Merchants were the first people who dared even cross the borders, and only after a good stretch of time had passed.

Hang on, lemme go review what was said about Sakira's Treaty.

Telmar has thus far accomplished four hundred years without war. Each land has its own struggles, but there has never been an interracial conflict since Sakira's Treaty, the agreement accepted by all three races at the end of the Sixteen Years' War.

Sakira's Treaty ended the fighting by defining boundaries which the races, already separated in war, would agree never to cross in force of arms. For the last four hundred years, this treaty has held, and a semblance of overall harmony has at last been reached.

That pretty much disallows skirmishes at any point between the Sixteen Years' War and the beginning of our storyline.

Let's just say, though...
Well, let's not.

There are three possible reasons for the forts. I'll leave it up to the role-players to pick or combine, on a case-by-case basis.
1. They are rebuilt ruins from before the lands of Túlaman were divided.
2. They were built and manned during the Sixteen Years' War or other previous conflicts.
3. They were built after the Sixteen Years' War in order to guard the border.

The human fort of Anatar's Pass is an example of #3.
Probably all the forts near the borders are going to be manned/garrisoned, no matter what the reason that they were built. Other forts might not be manned seriously but perhaps ceremonially. Some might be abandoned.

I will say that all five forts on the southern Dragon islands are all manned.


If you're thinking of a backstory and want to give the character some fort-related combat history, there could always be domestic conflicts--little outbreaks or skirmishes in his own country. Or it could be a remote fort that watches over the wilderness, where wild creatures we haven't filled in yet can have been a problem. Like gryphons or different kinds of drakes, or who knows what. Feel free to make up stuff.

If you do really really want dragons, though, I suppose it's possible that some dragons might cross the border in peace, like Z'ang, and then turn hostile-ish. It can't have sparked into anything major, though, or there would have been repercussions that would have been mentioned in the history. So, no border skirmishes, but maybe some immigrant/merchant trouble. Maybe a wealthy person could afford dragon bodyguards or something. Or maybe outcast dragon girl + struggling brothel = exotic business deal. Or, I dunno, maybe a dragon might wander in to see the sights. Humans, on the whole, tend to be the tolerant ones in this world--they care more about money than race. xD

You'd have to keep in mind, though: dragons have magic. Dragons crossing any borders would be more serious than any other race crossing borders, because they're potentially a force of arms unto themselves. So there'd be an inverse relationship between the skill class of a dragon and how many dragons of that type might currently be in other lands. And you'd probably cut any given figure by 60% for elven lands.
Like in Z'ang's case, we can think of foreign lands as lands of alternate opportunity. Since, after all, the more magically skilled a dragon is, the more they'd want to stay in their own society.
So more often than not any dragon who would even consider going into other lands would be the less fortunate or physically but not magically skilled.


Also, we haven't been doing this much so far, but I originally wanted to have ruins everywhere, from long forgotten times (read: before the lands were divided). So feel free to stumble upon well known ruins, probably nothing too large, along any travels.


And, since we're here, I'll just share some loose plans as this chapter heads toward a close.
I'm hoping to get us down to two main groups, by the end of Chapter 1.
Group 1 would comprise Gado's party, S'harahe's party, Barin's party, and Prince Ezekial's party (I've finished a part on him already, just finishing up a few more things before I post it.)
For Group 2, I'm hoping Barthon's group will make it to Sephalia and meet up with characters there. So it would be Barthon's party, Áirhath's party, and Katerina's party.

My next post, or the one immediately following, should have a lot more information on Telmural, so that by the time your group arrives, Silvone, if it does arrive that soon, you'll have something to work with.
If it doesn't go with your plans to have them in Sephalia by DAY 30, that's totally fine. There's plenty of in-RP time for them to meet up. Or we could even go in a different direction with it.

More antagonists are coming for Chapter 2, in addition to Ragner and the shadows.

Edit:
Actually, it'll be my next next post, the one I'll post after this one, which will have the exposition of Telmural. Since I finished the bit I was struggling on, I figured I'd just post what I have now, first.
This will also give Digi more time if she wants to make a post about the caravan in transit before we get to Telmural. Though she could always do it in retrospect, of course, if she wants.

I just came across something, while finishing a post for Rurik, which I don't think I've encountered before. Reckoning of time. Very sorry if I've missed this somewhere, but how are the hours in the day measured? Is it based on a scientific or more religious principle?

Any ideas here?

I never really thought about it.
I just went by time of day from the perspective of the sun.
It's possible that there might be a time system, but it would probably still be one of those primitive ones like sundials or striped candles.

I guess I'll leave it open.
Whoever wants to brainstorm, I'm open to a time system.
It might not be needed, though. I always thought punctuality never really became much of a virtue on Earth until machinery started appearing, anyway--trains, specifically.
When it takes you days to get somewhere, you tend to think in terms of days, not hours. So you'd say something like, "If you don't meet me there within ten days, I'll be forced to go on without you." Or, "Come to my castle at midday tomorrow."

If there is a time system, one that works reliably, I'd say you'd probably only find it in the two human capitals.
I won't make that the final word, though. If anyone has a cool idea, do hit us with it.

Edit:
One interesting thing. Since we have two moons, people might have caught on to the idea of time-keeping in a different way.

Well it was really quite a small matter, which brought me to this line of thought. I just wanted to provide a small example of Rurik's character, in a sort of off-handed conversation between him and a servant. It went something like this, the servant would say

"I will wake m'lord at 10 am in the morning" or some such. That was how it sounded in my mind; of course - I couldn't just have him saying "10 am" because that's a system we've developed much later. Up until now, in this RP project and others, I really haven't had a need for preciseness when it comes to the hours. And as such, the simple "sunrise", "noon", "midnight" and such have worked well.

However, another part of me reasons differently. Between sunrise and noon - let's roughly say 6 am and 12 pm respectively - you've got 6 hours. That's 1/4th of the day right there. It seems like a long time to just go without anything. The "natural" things I can think of are early morning and late morning (middle/mid-morning doesn't sound right to me)...but I don't know, they don't quite stick.

I was thinking maybe a moon-based, religious calendar, but I quite honestly don't know where to start on that one. It could be cool, but it will require some research. Instead, I'm going to propose something cheaper and much simpler. If they use candle clocks and we assume that one candle burns in about an hour - wouldn't they just say "this happened after the third candle" or "he came after the seventh candle." That provides a rough system of measuring the hours and it could be used in the courts of nobles and the like, so it would be easier to arrange meetings and other such.

Just a thought.

Wake me no later than the first candle after sunrise!

Actually you gave me another idea.
I've mentioned natural energies a couple times in the RP. What if there was some metal that reacted to some sort of natural rhythm or cycle? Think lodestone/quartz.

You could either just have the stone, and it could grow bright or dim or something, or you could have some sort of device built around it. Or maybe different places use different apparatus or none at all, depending on, I guess whether they're in a large city that tends to think about things like apparatus. ^^

So you could say...

"Wake me at ten o' the stone," or something. ^_^

The moons probably have some effect on the energies, similar to tides. You might be right though that involving the moons would require too much research.

I know where your signature's from, by the way! I watched the whole season 1 in a row!

I think the stones, while a good idea, are a bit too much for a normal person to take in. It could just be and my more "natural" approach to things, but I find it hard to believe that peasants who can't read their own names will feel fine with this glowing, "magical" stone in their home. Of course, you could argue that peasants wouldn't even have time-measuring devices in the first place....Just the same though, I believe that servants in the keeps of the high lords wouldn't be too comfortable around them either.

The candles though, I think they are more fitting. Plus they can have a religious significance - something like "lighting the first candle" seems important I'll leave this part open though, instead I'll focus on the technical details a bit more. Do you think that they would light a candle in regards to the sun or the moons? Say at sunrise/sunset or when the moons rise and set in the sky?

The way I see it, you could say that the candles could symbolise the new beginning each day. When the sun sets, the oldest member of the household will light a black candle. This is a grim time, the sun sinks in the west and light vanishes from the world - a time of mourning, a time to remember those who were before. When the sun rises in the morning again, the youngest child lights a new candle (not black) - a joyous time, when people celebrate life.

Of course, for practical purposes this won't be an everyday occurrence - maybe once a month or so, for festivities and the like (determined by the calendar). In the temples, which can afford the luxury, the candles can burn around the clock (around the candle? ). The same will be true for estates where nobles lives and time is a treasured commodity, maybe not during the entire night - unless it's somewhere important, but during the day/morning when the majority of the tasks will be carried out.

I think I got a bit carried away here, I don't know if this seems fitting. Will just drop it here and see what you'll think.


Edit: Oh yeah, as for the signature - I really like the quote. It was one thing the TV series introduced that I adored. However, if you enjoyed Game of Thrones, then I definitely recommend reading the books themselves. The series is called A Song of Ice and Fire and it should be a real treat for any fan of fantasy.

Oh I've known about the books, that's why I was excited to hear about the show. I just never got around to reading more than the prologue of the first book.


The only problem I have with candle clocks is when the candles themselves are striped. Always seemed silly to me. If there was some other way, where it would be cool...
Hmm...

I know!
What if the candle was in a fixture, like a wall mount with a candle holder, and the face of it had lines etched into it, kinda like a ruler. You would look at the candle and see what line it comes to, instead of how many stripes it has left.

I could totally see something like that hung in places like we'd hang clocks today. You could make them of varnished wood or metal, and there could be different designs and stuff.

...I can't be the only one who's thought of this, can I? I can't believe I didn't think of it before now.
Hang on, let's do an image search for some inspiration.

*clicky typey clicky*

candles with stripes on them.... bleh
candles with ruled lines on them... better, meh...
come on, it must exist....
found one! woot!

only one, out of all Google.
but here it is! Turns out it was on Wikipedia all along.

Something like this, then?

Aye, aye. Actually, that's one of the first images I saw (what can I say - I'm lazy and consult Wikipedia first) and when I did, the first thought that sprang to my mind was - "That is it!".

I'm glad we sorted this out, maybe now - after that small brainstorm - I can finish that one, tiny sentence it all started out with

In the mean time, if Silvone, Digi or Stion (when he's around) want to give us some input on this, I'd be more than happy to hear someone else's point of view.

I agree that it is a great idea It will certainly make certain aspects of writing much easier, and I am glad that you did not decide to just avoid that aspect altogether (like I did...).

My own opinion, though, is that this should not quite be universal. I think each race should have its own way of telling time (maybe the glowing stones could be an option for the dragons; keep in mind that if something as odd as that has been around forever, it is no longer odd but commonplace), and perhaps different areas within each have slight variations. I just think it would add a bit more depth to the world, despite making it more work for us.

I agree, I agree.
The candle clocks seem perfect for most human towns. Cities might either have something a little more advanced--like awesome sundials xD--or just have fancier candle clocks.

If dragons do have those stones, though, remember that humans like trade, especially with the wealthy dragons. Humans make the stuff, dragons have the gold, major win-win. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see those glow-stones showing up everywhere in merchant caravans, noble houses especially near the border, and the upper class in cities.

Elves would be the type to go with astronomy. In fact, it says in the Prologue of the RP that "elven astronomers had long predicted a significant event, and the time was drawing near." In the OOC guidelines it says to play Elven culture as something between Native America and the Feudal Orient. I'm thinking Maya/China astronomy/astrology going on. So elves wouldn't bother with clocks; they'd use the position of the sun during the day and the position of the stars at night--and there'd be terms for the position of the stars at different times, something like nighttime equivalents of morning, midday and evening, but there'd be more of them, maybe even 12 for the day and 12 for the night.

Now Dragons, keep in mind, are physically affected by the day/night cycle. I've taken to calling it Slumber instead of Sleep. As soon as the sun goes down, it's very hard to stay awake. As soon as the sun comes up, it's next to impossible to sleep.
As a side note, I just realized, this means that before Sakira's Treaty it was common knowledge that going to war with dragons in summertime was suicide. ('cause the days are longer) And vice versa, of course, during winter. I'm betting part of the reason the Sixteen Years' War took so long was because there was this large-scale fluctuating tide-shift in the dragons' strength year by year. During summer they'd be at a huge advantage, so during winter everyone else would try to gain as much ground as possible against them, all the while not daring to themselves too thin, because if they did, come summer they'd be toast. xD

Anyway, back to the day-cycle and dragon time-keeping... They might see time as Hours of Daylight Left. "Okay, the sun's up; we're up; now we only have 12 hours before sunset and slumber." Actually, if anything, it might be the Dragons that would come up with candle clocks. Sort-of like time ticking away.

Maybe whatever time-keeping device the dragons have is what inspired human candle clocks in the first place! I like that. Let's go in that direction.
So, any ideas on what that could be? Dragons tend to think on a grand scale, but a huge candle would just be silly. What sort of thing could be awesome-ish and yet be something that can inspire a candle clock? Hourglass... meh... maybe, but then humans would just have hourglasses instead of candle clocks.

An enormous flame that ebbs to predetermined points each day? That sounds similar enough to be copied easily, and yet...dragon-ey. Eh?

I'm new here; nice to meet you all. Mind if I take a seat and maybe fill out one o' dem bio things? Seems as if Chapter One is coming to a close, so I suppose I'll hop into Chapter Two...or something like that. 'Twould be nice indeed to be part of Chapter One, though, if that would be allowed ^_^

Excuse my ramblings,

Count.

Well hello, Count! Nice to see that you're interested!
By all means, do fill out a profile.

I've set up this role-play so that it's easy for players to jump in. One feature to help with this is the timestamps. This role-play is quite ambitious, and the land area is rather large, with a lot of travel, so we say what day we're on as well as the time of day--morning, midday, afternoon, or if it's just sort-of in the middle of the day we don't need to add any daylight qualifier. If you browse the RP a bit, you'll get the idea.

You CAN start in during Chapter One by retroactively posting about previous days, but you might have to read a lot of the RP to know what's going on, and it's quite a lengthy read (though, I'm told, quite an enjoyable one. ^_^).

I can give you a document that has them all in chronological order, if you like. I tried it in Google Docs, but it's too long. Just let me know and I can email it to you. That goes for anyone, too, by the way. I keep it updated. Just remember, the RP as a whole is copyright to all of us (and FOG), AND each individual post is copyright the author, AND the characters belong to the author, AND most of the setting is me, but it's jointly with the people in it because they're making stuff up in it too--it's how I've had it set up. ^_^ Basically, it's confidential and between us, and if we ever publish it I'll have to contact each of you individually. xD So no sharing outside of those who are involved, unless you refer them to the site, with its protected license and date signatures and all that. ^_^

Sorry, that went on way longer than I planned to.

Anyway, what I was going to say is that I'm fine with your entering the RP after your character(s) is approved, but I'm going to be adding to the Synopsis after Chapter One ends, so that could save you the effort of reading a bunch or all of the RP before you start.

It's up to you. We can always give you the OOC spiel of the plot so far, as well.
Any questions, I'm here.

Welcome, Count!

Hey, Kalon, could you send that doc to me? I might actually catch up if I print it out and read it. I should probably wait for the end of Chapter 1, but I don't mind getting it now.

Edit: @ Blackrock: how is your post coming along? No rush, really, I'm just curious.

@ Anyone who cares: I am leaving Stion's characters behind in Aram. I don't know if he is coming back or not, but I am kind of tired of waiting on him. He came back and made one post, and then left again... There will always be the opportunity for him to join me along the way in the future, if he chooses to. And I believe I will leave Ten Eych and Inen behind with them. They don't really fit in the coming plot line very much. Quentin will come along though. Sorry for that ramble. The first part is the only part that really matters

Naturally.

...

clicky typey clicky typey typey

And 'tis done!

. : Name : .
Full Name: Zephyr Raine
Use Name: Zeph is most common.
Other: Mage of Storms, though this is an uncommonly used title.
Played by: The Count

. : Appearance : .
Height and Build: Zephyr is a dragon, a tad on the small side. I haven't been able to find the characteristics of each species, so I'll say human-size, barely, with enormous wings. Zeph lacks physical strength and power, due to his intense studying on his storm magic, but he is lean and fit from his various adventures.
Description: Zephyr is a blue dragon, a handsome sapphire, with gray tattoos all over the otherwise monochrome hide. They are for the most part symmetrical, but for a cyclone tattoo on his forehead.
Clothing: Zephyr is not strong, as mentioned, and leans toward light chain mail underneath an unassuming gray cloak with blue designs on it, the exact opposite of his skin. The cloak is voluminous to cover him entirely, and is enchanted with simple defense magicks. However, it does have the rather unusual talent of offense; swirling it at a target generates a small cyclone! This is a way to attack even when Zephyr's magical energy is completely depleted.

Around his neck hangs a simple sapphire and silver pendant in the shape of a seven-pointed star. This is the symbol of the Order of Storms, the order of monks to which Zephyr belongs. It is unenchanted.
Weapons: Zephyr's main weapon is his mind, though he is skilled with the quarterstave as well, and carries around a sturdy traveling staff of elm. It, too, is unenchanted, save for the magic that cut it straight and polished it to prevent scratching and breakage. It is quite a work of art, and Zephyr has carried it for many years.
Other: Zephyr conceals many small wands in his sleeves, adhered through magic. They all are of equal power and can summon all of the same spells.
Impression: Diminutive, calm, impassive, disconcerting.

. : Heritage : .
Age: Life span is enormous when you're a dragon. I'd say about one hundred and four, simply because he's such a high-ranking monk with a lot of magical experience.
Birthplace: Derp. Somewhere. Probably at sea, but it's really an unknown.
Family: Unknown; he was delivered to the monastery an orphan.
Inheritance: Only experience and the staff and cloak, as a parting gift. He also received the Head Monk's blessing after leaving home.
Other: He's a monk. What else is he going to have?

. : Persona : .
Biography: Zephyr was delivered to the Monastery of Storms as a baby orphaned dragon, complete with cyclone tattoos and all that. Thus, they aren't really tattoos, they're birthmarks. The monastery was more than willing to take him in, being a kind Order who knew that the dragon, should he prove willing and able to learn their magic, would be a powerful dragon-mage someday.

Zeph proved more than willing and more than able, showing an aptitude for wind and water magic not normally shown among his kind, who for the most part devoted themselves to wind and fire instead. His affinity for these elements piqued the interest of the good monks, who promptly escalated his training. Faster, faster he learned; he was learning spells that only high-ranking magi used at a very early age! Well, comparatively. They'd gone to the next High Monk at about that time, so the change in leadership was mostly to blame. He was about fifty to fifty-five at that time.

Well, a monastery is all very well and good, but being holed up in a small villagey place is no way to raise a dragon, and the next High Monk began to send him out on various errands. These errands eventually escalated into journeys of many weeks at a time, which was more than enough to sate Zephyr's adolescent cravings for rambling quests and mass destruction.

His last adventure, which started just a month after his one hundredth birthday, saw the newest High Monk (he'd seen four or five of them by then) granting him the gifts mentioned above. That High Monk showed an exceptional love of magic, and was able to enchant all of Zeph's things with their respective spells. He then turned the dragon out into the world, proclaiming that if this wasn't done soon, the monastery would be out of food and space for the growing dragon. Thus, Zephyr began his wandering career, living quite nicely off the land for four years in a little hut he constructed with his own two hands. (Note: The wands were fashioned at this point in Zephyr's life, not as a gift from the High Monk. Everything else was granted to him by that particular figure of authority).

...

That's it. No traumatic events, just a nice and explanatory life story.
Motivation: Zephyr, due to his small size and unusual choice of elemental magic, is rather humble and deferential, but he can get rather motivated about something he cares about. Er. Like, say, breathing. Or sleeping. If he needs something, he'll get quite motivated about it, I think.
Skills and Talents: Zephyr Raine is a Storm-Mage-Monk (Storm-Mage or Storm-Monk, for short), meaning he has command of Wind and Water magicks. He's a rather advanced caster, and has even made up his own spells as he sat in his hut or fished for his supper. Psht. As if he ever needed to fish, when he is a sea dragon. Swimming and catching food > waiting for it to bite a silly worm. So, as he swam and caught for his supper.
Strengths: Zephyr is rational and logical, but he is also caring and gentle, the symbolic strengths of his Order. He's a bit fiery-tempered, but don't tell him that or he'll freak out.
Weaknesses: Eurgh, fire. Zephyr...doesn't like fire. He can handle lightning, the dark, the day, the creepies, the etc.'s, but he can't handle the wildfires - or some showoffey dragons.
Personality: Zephyr, being a monk, is fanatically disciplined, and can maintain calm even in the midst of a hurricane, excepting, of course, that there is no major fire about.

EDIT: Rereading your welcome speech has allowed me to find the detail about "jumping in". I'll get working on that tomorrow morning, mmkay? I'm dead-beet tired right now because it's almost eleven.

...in the day, that is. Naturally, I must stay awake at night and sleep during the day...to conserve...image...yawn...zzzzzzz

(nobody tell Count it's nighttime, okay?)