New Isra
Committed
Roleplay posts: 71
Biography: This account represents the NPCs and locations associated with New Isra!
Allegiances: Isra
Registered: Mar 16, 2021 22:30:20 GMT -5
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Post by New Isra on May 24, 2021 13:05:49 GMT -5
This little cottage, built far from the city center, way out in the woods, is the embodiment of simple living. It is large enough for one person to have one guest over for dinner. It features a sturdy front door, a table built into one of the walls, a place for a cot, some cupboards, and a small stove appropriate for making stews or roasting meat. The roof is done in thatch, with grass growing over the top for insulation. There are piles of firewood stacked outside, for feeding the stove in the winter. Out back, there are tanning racks, and barrels of tannin. This cottage, assembled to nonstandard specifications by the Builder's Guild, is home to Katiana Graves . |
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Lady Naoki
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 345 
Appearance: Naoki is a curvaceous woman of average height, indeterminate age, and catlike features. Her hair is a dark auburn, often pulled back into a long braid. Her ears are both soft and fluffy, and her tail is never less than perfectly groomed.
Allegiances: New Isra
Place of Residence: Port Argentium
Registered: Mar 16, 2021 22:31:18 GMT -5
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Post by Lady Naoki on May 24, 2021 13:43:44 GMT -5
Looking at the completed project, Naoki hems and haws just a bit, but then nods. This looks good. It’s not what she designed for herself, but it seems fitting and appropriate for the sort of individuals that would find it fitting and appropriate for them. Gesturing to the builders, she signals for them to pack up their tools. She asked a pageboy to bring Katiana Graves out this way right about now, on the bet that it would be finished by then. It is, thankfully, but where is she? |
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Katiana Graves
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 109
Appearance: When you want to hide a tree, you hide it in a forest. Similarly, if you wanted to hide Katiana, you would put her in a crowd of humans. Brown hair, brown eyes, thin features, and an unremarkable height may not set her apart, but the way she manipulates her expressions and gallivants around certainly do. Those who know her are familiar with a particularly mischievous left-sided smirk, above which forms a dimple. Those who have yet to meet her will immediately know her for the way she bounces from one place to the next, holding her skirts in her hands.
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Equipment: A recurve bow made of elm, a small wood-cutting ax, and a skinning knife complete Katiana's non-exhaustive equipment. Being an adventurer who often loses herself in the wilderness, she also favors flint and tinder, rope, medicines, a waterskin, sewing supplies, and food rations.
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Skills and Abilities: Though not particularly concerned in the art of warfare, Katiana has been a hunter for as long as she could hold a bow, and over the years, she became proficient with it. One could assume that if she needed to point her arrow at a charging warrior rather than a boar, she would have the same chances of hitting it. Years of adventuring have also taught her skills in survival.
Though she has no skills in magic, nothing is stopping her from learning. Katiana's family has a history of mages, though none have been particularly gifted.
Registered: Mar 17, 2021 16:34:46 GMT -5
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Post by Katiana Graves on May 25, 2021 1:44:56 GMT -5
The "shanty girl" was bringing in a sack over her shoulder filled to the brim with all sorts of sea creatures that she had found alongside Coatl at the tide pools. Katiana snubbed the majority of the creepy-crawlies that he suggested and instead picked out anything that actually looked edible. She had just dropped it off with the cooks- one of which was new, she noted: a pale woman with horns- when a pageboy asked for her to follow him. Curiously, she did so, wondering what in the world it could be for. Perhaps it was about the feast? Oh, but that was over and done with! So what else could it be?
A hunch developed somewhere in the back of her head when she was brought to a house with Lady Naoki standing in front of it. She gave her a hasty, awkward curtsy once she realized exactly who it was and croaked out a greeting.
"Good morn, my lady! What, er, brings you here? Brings me here to you." She closed her eyes, planted a palm to her forehead, and sighed. "You called for me, my lady?"
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Alden
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 266 
Age: 53(?)
Appearance: The reference image is a commissioned piece and is accurate.
Alden is 6 even, with shoulder-length messy black hair, and several days worth of beard stubble. He is handsome, with a powerful jaw, mid-set cheekbones, and a perpetual grin that makes him seem younger than he really is. His bright green eyes, constantly sparkle with barely contained mirth. He has the lithe well-muscled body of a swordsman, and he moves with considerable grace and dexterity.
If one were to do a more thorough examination of Alden's eyes they may notice a further detail. Around the outside edge of his iris, there's an intricate series of minuscule grey runes.
Underneath his shirt, Alden's skin is a mass of scar tissue. Starting from just below his neckline, there is very little space that does not sport some relic of a past injury. A particularly observant person may also note that among these scars, some are a bright scarlet. These scarlet scars form an intricate series of runes hiding amidst the rest of the scars.
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Equipment: Alden's general loadout when he goes fighting consists of the following:
A twin set of enchanted shortswords. The simple straight blades are unnatural dark, absorbing rather than reflecting light. Giving the enchanted steel an appearance closer to cold iron. The guard has the Isran sun emblem emblazoned in a medallion shape just above the guard, which is wrapped in simple leather. The enchantments increase their sharpness and durability, as well as being able to ignite the blood of anything that he has pierced with either blade.
Numerous braces and hidden throwing knives all over his body. At one point, these were also enchanted but when the calamity struck he didn't have time to grab his original set. So these are all well-made but ultimately mundane weapons. Still, with his strength and skill, they can be quite deadly.
Unfortunately, at present, he is also missing his armour. His preferred armour is leather dyed in mottled black and greys, with strike plates sewn between layers for added protection. His old set was also enchanted for increased protection from physical and magical attacks.
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Skills and Abilities: Alden is, for lack of a better term, a weapon master. He has been trained to use almost any weapon you can think to name. Relentless daily training with each, with extraordinarily demanding expectations on performance and harsh incentives for failure giving a level of skill with most of them that make him formidable.
However, his preferred style involves twin short swords. While he is skilled with all of his weapons thanks to training, he discovered a natural talent with the blade. His level of skill when wielding his short swords is on another level entirely, nearly transcendent in his skill.
On top of that, he is a living magical enchantment. Carved into his body are a variety of runes that grant him numerous innate abilities. He is inhumanly strong, around three to four times stronger than a man in a similar state of physical fitness would be. This also applies to his endurance, speed, reflexes, and other physical traits. He also has regenerative abilities exceeding human normal, able to heal from even broken bones in a matter of days rather than weeks.
In addition, he is immune to most poisons and resistant to the rest. The runes etched into his eyes ensure he can see the same no matter the level of light and reveal magical auras to him. Runes along his back make him impossible to scry on directly and provide him a measure of resistance to magical attack. This, combined with training, also makes him immune to magical mental influence. Finally, runes on his feet dampen any sound he might make taking his already considerable stealth abilities to another level entirely.
Speaking of his training also included all of the skills one would think an Assassin should have. He knows how to mix poisons, move without being seen or making noise, scale walls, lie or disguise himself, pick locks, pick pockets, just for starters. He is also quite skilled at clerical work and he has some diplomacy ability after thirty years leading the Sun Marshals.
Beyond all of this, Alden also possesses an incredible amount of willpower. If Alden decides that he will do something, there is very little that can stop him from doing it. In fact, at present, the only thing that could deter him from a course of action is Captain Naoki. The former Empress is the only person he has any loyalty to and he often values her judgement on matters above his own.
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Biography: Alden was born to a small farming family in an out-of-the-way village. His parents named him Toan and until he was five his destiny was most likely to live and die on the same farm he was born. However, that all changed when Pride arrived.
The leader of a criminal group known as The Set, Pride offered his parents a sum of money that would make any poor farmer's heart stop. Enough money to change their lives forever and all he wanted was Alden, one of nearly a dozen children. A child that wasn't even old enough to help with chores around the farm yet. And the man as so nice, he wanted a ward that he could train to be a retainer how bad of a life could that be?
The answer to that question was basically Hell. Pride was a potent alchemist, enchanter, and scholar and he had but one goal in mind. To create a superior warrior. Alden was subjected to hellish daily training along with six other children. Forced to learn to fight with every weapon, against any foe, in any condition. His limbs were broken deliberately and he was forced to continue to fight and train in constant agony. And this was among the mildest of the ways he was trained.
The culmination of the training came when he was twelve. When he and the six other children were locked in a room and told that the only one who got to leave... was the only one to survive. Of course, surviving was hardly a reward.
Once Pride had only the strongest of the children left he proceeded to the next step of his plan. Alden's memories and identity were seared away as Pride carved runes into his flesh and his very soul. Transforming the young man into a living magical artifact and keeping him on a drug that suppressed all of his emotions.
From there Alden became the new Wrath of the set, a weapon meant only to slay those he was told to. That may have been all he would be but Pride made a miscalculation, Alden's runes helped him to build an immunity to the dosage meant to keep his emotions in check, a weakness made worse by Pride having let him keep his anger thinking it would make him a better weapon. Eventually, events conspired and Alden snapped when the only member of The Set to be kind to him, Sloth, was killed for threatening to expose Pride.
Alden, driven into a deeper rage than ever before killed Envy, Lust, Gluttony, and even disembowelled Pride. Greed manage to escape and Alden slaughtered everything in his path trying to catch the man. Eventually succeeding in his goal. Bereft of a target for his rage and the chase having left him in the middle of nowhere Alden finally collapsed the trauma and coming off of the dosage causing him to bury most of his memories.
He wound up in Isra where his talents and skill soon earned him the eye of the then, criminal Madam Naoki. She recruited him as one of her enforcers a role he continued as her power expanded and grew until she finally became Empress. His reward for his loyalty? Appointment to the head of The Sun Marshals her special police force, effectively making him her right-hand man.
During this time he also uncovered his own past and learned that Pride had survived, the man had made preparations for such an eventuality and his death only saw his soul moving to a phylactery as he became a lich.
Pride created a new Set, this time making each member just as he made Alden. Eventually, this culminated in Pride attacking Isra and his eventual, final defeat.
Decades have passed since that time and Alden, whose power kept him at his prime for years continued to serve Isra until the new calamity took him to The Island of Mists, his empress reduced to a captain and he now serving as her first mate.
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Allegiances: Naoki and Port Argentum
Place of Residence: Port Argentum
Registered: Mar 21, 2021 13:21:25 GMT -5
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Post by Alden on May 25, 2021 17:22:52 GMT -5
Alden was shirtless again. Much to Naoki's delight, the man spent quite a lot of time without a shirt. This was largely due to the fact that his body ran unnaturally warm compared to a normal person which, when combined with the hot humid climate of their new home, meant it was more comfortable to go without. Admittedly, this did mean that the tortured expanse of scars that was every inch of skin below his neck was on full display but the man had never been known to be self-conscious. To be fair, he was hardly alone in this as most of the labourers eventually stripped off their shirts during the course of the day.
Of course, the other reason was that Naoki had said she rather enjoyed the sight and Alden was nothing if not eager to please.
So it was that Katiana's second sight of "The man made of wax" was him striding over proving that her assessment of him, depending on how she felt about scars, had been rather on point. The man's gaze flicking to Katiana first since she'd just spoke, then to Naoki, and then to his friend. Since the feast he'd been stuck in a state of ennui, Naoki had barely seen hide nor hair of him as the man was impossible to find if he didn't want to be. Which he did not, he mostly wanted to be left alone at present. However, he'd spent far too long as a sort of spymaster to not know how to pick up information even when he wasn't directly in the loop.
This is why he appeared for this. It was, after all, a fairly important moment for the camp. One of the first houses finished and it was about to be rewarded. So he'd found it in himself to be present for whatever it was Naoki had planned.
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Lady Naoki
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 345
Appearance: Naoki is a curvaceous woman of average height, indeterminate age, and catlike features. Her hair is a dark auburn, often pulled back into a long braid. Her ears are both soft and fluffy, and her tail is never less than perfectly groomed.
Allegiances: New Isra
Place of Residence: Port Argentium
Registered: Mar 16, 2021 22:31:18 GMT -5
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Post by Lady Naoki on May 25, 2021 21:36:06 GMT -5
“Ah, Katiana. I did! I wanted to show you: your house is done.” Gesturing grandly with her clipboard, Naoki indicates the house. “It’s mostly finished, and the lads are just cleaning up their tools.”
“We’re trying something different with the roof,” Naoki continues, gesturing for Katiana to follow her over to it. “It looks a bit funny now, but grass will grow in the thatch there, and keep the place cool when — Alden!” Naoki, who had been focused, is immediately distracted by Alden’s appearance. That incident at the feast bothered him, but he hasn’t been around for her to talk to him about it.
“I’ve been worrying about you, where have you been?” Striding over to him, Naoki pokes Alden once in the chest and pouts at him aggressively to articulate her botherment. “We’ll talk later, I was showing Katiana Graves here her new house.” The stress on the name is accompanied by a significant look.
She turns back to Katiana. “Anyway, yes, the house is done. It’s not big, but it should have enough room for your gear and such. Let’s go in, have a look-see.”
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Katiana Graves
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 109
Appearance: When you want to hide a tree, you hide it in a forest. Similarly, if you wanted to hide Katiana, you would put her in a crowd of humans. Brown hair, brown eyes, thin features, and an unremarkable height may not set her apart, but the way she manipulates her expressions and gallivants around certainly do. Those who know her are familiar with a particularly mischievous left-sided smirk, above which forms a dimple. Those who have yet to meet her will immediately know her for the way she bounces from one place to the next, holding her skirts in her hands.
____________________________________________________
Equipment: A recurve bow made of elm, a small wood-cutting ax, and a skinning knife complete Katiana's non-exhaustive equipment. Being an adventurer who often loses herself in the wilderness, she also favors flint and tinder, rope, medicines, a waterskin, sewing supplies, and food rations.
____________________________________________________
Skills and Abilities: Though not particularly concerned in the art of warfare, Katiana has been a hunter for as long as she could hold a bow, and over the years, she became proficient with it. One could assume that if she needed to point her arrow at a charging warrior rather than a boar, she would have the same chances of hitting it. Years of adventuring have also taught her skills in survival.
Though she has no skills in magic, nothing is stopping her from learning. Katiana's family has a history of mages, though none have been particularly gifted.
Registered: Mar 17, 2021 16:34:46 GMT -5
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Post by Katiana Graves on May 25, 2021 23:58:40 GMT -5
"My house?" squeaked Katiana, raising her brows into her forehead. She planted a finger firmly into the middle of her chest, mouth slightly agape. She looked between Lady Naoki and the house two, three, four times before it began to sink into her head what she meant using those words. Then, to make matters more shocking, that marble-sculpted figure of a man sidled up, all without his shirt and glowing in the sun with all that nonsense. Katiana's cheeks flushed as she searched for words, lips parting and closing over and over again. She stopped when Naoki strained her surname, however, brows suddenly quirking in suspicion instead of confusion.
"Now, wait a minute-" she began, only to be swept away with the cat-eared woman about the house. In an attempt to distract herself from the situation, she walked around the house, eyes wide as saucers. It was finely crafted and just big enough for one and company. Just how she loved it. She opened a door, poked her head in, and took perused it briefly before walking right out, arms wide to sweep the woman in a hug.
"Thank you, she gasped, and though she wasn't smiling it was only because she was swept up in emotion. "I've been shown kindness many times, but no one has ever had a house built for me. Not in my life!"
Over Naoki's shoulder, she spotted the Marshal again, then gave him an awkward smile. "We've never had a proper introduction, have we?"
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Alden
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 266
Age: 53(?)
Appearance: The reference image is a commissioned piece and is accurate.
Alden is 6 even, with shoulder-length messy black hair, and several days worth of beard stubble. He is handsome, with a powerful jaw, mid-set cheekbones, and a perpetual grin that makes him seem younger than he really is. His bright green eyes, constantly sparkle with barely contained mirth. He has the lithe well-muscled body of a swordsman, and he moves with considerable grace and dexterity.
If one were to do a more thorough examination of Alden's eyes they may notice a further detail. Around the outside edge of his iris, there's an intricate series of minuscule grey runes.
Underneath his shirt, Alden's skin is a mass of scar tissue. Starting from just below his neckline, there is very little space that does not sport some relic of a past injury. A particularly observant person may also note that among these scars, some are a bright scarlet. These scarlet scars form an intricate series of runes hiding amidst the rest of the scars.
-------------------------------------------
Equipment: Alden's general loadout when he goes fighting consists of the following:
A twin set of enchanted shortswords. The simple straight blades are unnatural dark, absorbing rather than reflecting light. Giving the enchanted steel an appearance closer to cold iron. The guard has the Isran sun emblem emblazoned in a medallion shape just above the guard, which is wrapped in simple leather. The enchantments increase their sharpness and durability, as well as being able to ignite the blood of anything that he has pierced with either blade.
Numerous braces and hidden throwing knives all over his body. At one point, these were also enchanted but when the calamity struck he didn't have time to grab his original set. So these are all well-made but ultimately mundane weapons. Still, with his strength and skill, they can be quite deadly.
Unfortunately, at present, he is also missing his armour. His preferred armour is leather dyed in mottled black and greys, with strike plates sewn between layers for added protection. His old set was also enchanted for increased protection from physical and magical attacks.
-------------------------------------------
Skills and Abilities: Alden is, for lack of a better term, a weapon master. He has been trained to use almost any weapon you can think to name. Relentless daily training with each, with extraordinarily demanding expectations on performance and harsh incentives for failure giving a level of skill with most of them that make him formidable.
However, his preferred style involves twin short swords. While he is skilled with all of his weapons thanks to training, he discovered a natural talent with the blade. His level of skill when wielding his short swords is on another level entirely, nearly transcendent in his skill.
On top of that, he is a living magical enchantment. Carved into his body are a variety of runes that grant him numerous innate abilities. He is inhumanly strong, around three to four times stronger than a man in a similar state of physical fitness would be. This also applies to his endurance, speed, reflexes, and other physical traits. He also has regenerative abilities exceeding human normal, able to heal from even broken bones in a matter of days rather than weeks.
In addition, he is immune to most poisons and resistant to the rest. The runes etched into his eyes ensure he can see the same no matter the level of light and reveal magical auras to him. Runes along his back make him impossible to scry on directly and provide him a measure of resistance to magical attack. This, combined with training, also makes him immune to magical mental influence. Finally, runes on his feet dampen any sound he might make taking his already considerable stealth abilities to another level entirely.
Speaking of his training also included all of the skills one would think an Assassin should have. He knows how to mix poisons, move without being seen or making noise, scale walls, lie or disguise himself, pick locks, pick pockets, just for starters. He is also quite skilled at clerical work and he has some diplomacy ability after thirty years leading the Sun Marshals.
Beyond all of this, Alden also possesses an incredible amount of willpower. If Alden decides that he will do something, there is very little that can stop him from doing it. In fact, at present, the only thing that could deter him from a course of action is Captain Naoki. The former Empress is the only person he has any loyalty to and he often values her judgement on matters above his own.
-------------------------------------------
Biography: Alden was born to a small farming family in an out-of-the-way village. His parents named him Toan and until he was five his destiny was most likely to live and die on the same farm he was born. However, that all changed when Pride arrived.
The leader of a criminal group known as The Set, Pride offered his parents a sum of money that would make any poor farmer's heart stop. Enough money to change their lives forever and all he wanted was Alden, one of nearly a dozen children. A child that wasn't even old enough to help with chores around the farm yet. And the man as so nice, he wanted a ward that he could train to be a retainer how bad of a life could that be?
The answer to that question was basically Hell. Pride was a potent alchemist, enchanter, and scholar and he had but one goal in mind. To create a superior warrior. Alden was subjected to hellish daily training along with six other children. Forced to learn to fight with every weapon, against any foe, in any condition. His limbs were broken deliberately and he was forced to continue to fight and train in constant agony. And this was among the mildest of the ways he was trained.
The culmination of the training came when he was twelve. When he and the six other children were locked in a room and told that the only one who got to leave... was the only one to survive. Of course, surviving was hardly a reward.
Once Pride had only the strongest of the children left he proceeded to the next step of his plan. Alden's memories and identity were seared away as Pride carved runes into his flesh and his very soul. Transforming the young man into a living magical artifact and keeping him on a drug that suppressed all of his emotions.
From there Alden became the new Wrath of the set, a weapon meant only to slay those he was told to. That may have been all he would be but Pride made a miscalculation, Alden's runes helped him to build an immunity to the dosage meant to keep his emotions in check, a weakness made worse by Pride having let him keep his anger thinking it would make him a better weapon. Eventually, events conspired and Alden snapped when the only member of The Set to be kind to him, Sloth, was killed for threatening to expose Pride.
Alden, driven into a deeper rage than ever before killed Envy, Lust, Gluttony, and even disembowelled Pride. Greed manage to escape and Alden slaughtered everything in his path trying to catch the man. Eventually succeeding in his goal. Bereft of a target for his rage and the chase having left him in the middle of nowhere Alden finally collapsed the trauma and coming off of the dosage causing him to bury most of his memories.
He wound up in Isra where his talents and skill soon earned him the eye of the then, criminal Madam Naoki. She recruited him as one of her enforcers a role he continued as her power expanded and grew until she finally became Empress. His reward for his loyalty? Appointment to the head of The Sun Marshals her special police force, effectively making him her right-hand man.
During this time he also uncovered his own past and learned that Pride had survived, the man had made preparations for such an eventuality and his death only saw his soul moving to a phylactery as he became a lich.
Pride created a new Set, this time making each member just as he made Alden. Eventually, this culminated in Pride attacking Isra and his eventual, final defeat.
Decades have passed since that time and Alden, whose power kept him at his prime for years continued to serve Isra until the new calamity took him to The Island of Mists, his empress reduced to a captain and he now serving as her first mate.
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Allegiances: Naoki and Port Argentum
Place of Residence: Port Argentum
Registered: Mar 21, 2021 13:21:25 GMT -5
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Post by Alden on May 26, 2021 7:44:42 GMT -5
When Naoki stopped what she was doing to address him he offered her a smile. The clear concern in her features is enough to help lift some of the weariness from his bones. Still, she knew him well and Naoki would have no issue seeing that whatever had gripped and lead to him leaving the feast still hung around him like a storm cloud, casting a shadow over an otherwise warm and sincere grin of appreciation for her concern.
"Sorry for worrying you my lady."
Alden offers his apology attempting to inject some levity he doesn't feel into his voice. Normally that wasn't a problem, he was quite good at faking emotions thanks to training from his early life, but he was so tired that it leaked in despite his best effort.
"I've been… around. I could not give you a specific location of where. I've merely moving about the camp keeping an eye on things."
The man thinks of saying more but Naoki informs him they will speak later and he nods his understanding. Now was not the time for this conversation and he walks back to Katiana as he woman is introduced. The emphasis on the last name is not missed and he nods in recognition of it. Waiting for Naoki to explain what was happening and for Katiana to address him before he offers her his hand.
"I do not believe so. I am Alden, I did know some people by your last name in Isra though. Kauri and Arianne Graves, they were dear friends of mine are you perhaps a relation?"
This is what Alden suspects as he was unaware of his other self's past relationship with Kauri Graves, birth name Katiana Graves. Much of what happened on Paradise Island in his world mirrored what had happened to the other Alden. Kauri had come to Isra seeking aid, he had assisted her, returned to the island slew some of the monstrous inhabitants and then evacuated the village. The one thing that had changed was when Kauri came to Isra it had been with her sister. Arianne Graves had not died at sea, the adventurous spirit of Katiana Graves had not been subdued by her loss and when Alden had met Kauri she had been married to another resident of the island. He had still trained her, befriended her and her family, and known her quite well. But they had not been a couple.
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Lady Naoki
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 345
Appearance: Naoki is a curvaceous woman of average height, indeterminate age, and catlike features. Her hair is a dark auburn, often pulled back into a long braid. Her ears are both soft and fluffy, and her tail is never less than perfectly groomed.
Allegiances: New Isra
Place of Residence: Port Argentium
Registered: Mar 16, 2021 22:31:18 GMT -5
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Post by Lady Naoki on May 26, 2021 21:46:36 GMT -5
“Your house,” Naoki confirms, looking on as Katiana inspects the house. “I’m doing my part just like you’re doing yours. You’ve been putting food on tables since you landed here, and now you have a table of your own, and some chairs, and a bed, and a roof, and… And what you see is pretty much what you get,” she supposes. “If it’s not to your —”
The hug, Naoki sees it coming, but her ears still shoot up in surprise, and she’s stiff for a moment before relaxing. “You’re... quite welcome,” she says, patting Katitna on the back with her clipboard.
When Katiana spots Alden, Naoki can tell, and smirks. “He’s quite something, isn’t he,” she whispers, well aware of how well he can hear. “In Old Isra, Alden was responsible for dangerous, clandestine sorts of things. He’s saved a great many lives in service to The Empire, including, come to think of it, that of Kauri Graves, which was the other thing I was going to ask about.”
“Although I was going to phrase it with a bit more tact,” she says, shooting Alden a look. “But the short of it is such that I also knew Kauri Graves (again, back in Old Isra) and the two of you, you curtsy to me in the same way.” Naoki mimics the movement with her free hand. “I was going to ask after your lot in life, your family, and see if there’s some relation.”
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Katiana Graves
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 109
Appearance: When you want to hide a tree, you hide it in a forest. Similarly, if you wanted to hide Katiana, you would put her in a crowd of humans. Brown hair, brown eyes, thin features, and an unremarkable height may not set her apart, but the way she manipulates her expressions and gallivants around certainly do. Those who know her are familiar with a particularly mischievous left-sided smirk, above which forms a dimple. Those who have yet to meet her will immediately know her for the way she bounces from one place to the next, holding her skirts in her hands.
____________________________________________________
Equipment: A recurve bow made of elm, a small wood-cutting ax, and a skinning knife complete Katiana's non-exhaustive equipment. Being an adventurer who often loses herself in the wilderness, she also favors flint and tinder, rope, medicines, a waterskin, sewing supplies, and food rations.
____________________________________________________
Skills and Abilities: Though not particularly concerned in the art of warfare, Katiana has been a hunter for as long as she could hold a bow, and over the years, she became proficient with it. One could assume that if she needed to point her arrow at a charging warrior rather than a boar, she would have the same chances of hitting it. Years of adventuring have also taught her skills in survival.
Though she has no skills in magic, nothing is stopping her from learning. Katiana's family has a history of mages, though none have been particularly gifted.
Registered: Mar 17, 2021 16:34:46 GMT -5
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Post by Katiana Graves on May 26, 2021 23:01:54 GMT -5
Naoki's little comment was overlooked in Katiana's confusion. From the moment names were mentioned, the huntress' eyes grew wide and her lips gently parted in shock. The expression was similar to the one she had for the house, yet more choked. It was as though Alden had shoved a knife through her chest.
"I do not know of a Kauri Graves," she began, forcing her way through a croak in her voice, "But I know one Arianne Graves and she is my sister."
A soft wind carried Katiana's hair into her face just as her shoulders heaved up around her ears. She dipped her gaze to the ground and wiped her cheeks with her sleeves, stifling sobs. As she heaved a breath, all the whispers on the ship about the memories of faces they didn't know, of unexplained emotions tugging them left and right, of the walking dead who should have been long gone, telling them of a time that had never been, weighed down on her like a crashing wave. She felt her knees wobble.
"She was lost to the mist days before you sailed by in The Depravity. I cannot say that she is lost for good, but why hope, you know?"
Another breath, and this time she held it until the sobs ebbed away.
"I apologize. I wasn't expecting to hear her name again. I haven't... I haven't spoken about her at all. How did you know her?" Katiana gazed at Naoki, furrowing her brow. "My family? The Graves. We lived in a place that hated magic, but they made spellbooks and sold them quietly. My father was a leatherworker, my mother a binder. They had two daughters and a son; my sister was the boldest person I ever knew and my brother was a drunk."
And then she looked to Alden.
"What did you know of her?"
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Alden
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 266
Age: 53(?)
Appearance: The reference image is a commissioned piece and is accurate.
Alden is 6 even, with shoulder-length messy black hair, and several days worth of beard stubble. He is handsome, with a powerful jaw, mid-set cheekbones, and a perpetual grin that makes him seem younger than he really is. His bright green eyes, constantly sparkle with barely contained mirth. He has the lithe well-muscled body of a swordsman, and he moves with considerable grace and dexterity.
If one were to do a more thorough examination of Alden's eyes they may notice a further detail. Around the outside edge of his iris, there's an intricate series of minuscule grey runes.
Underneath his shirt, Alden's skin is a mass of scar tissue. Starting from just below his neckline, there is very little space that does not sport some relic of a past injury. A particularly observant person may also note that among these scars, some are a bright scarlet. These scarlet scars form an intricate series of runes hiding amidst the rest of the scars.
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Equipment: Alden's general loadout when he goes fighting consists of the following:
A twin set of enchanted shortswords. The simple straight blades are unnatural dark, absorbing rather than reflecting light. Giving the enchanted steel an appearance closer to cold iron. The guard has the Isran sun emblem emblazoned in a medallion shape just above the guard, which is wrapped in simple leather. The enchantments increase their sharpness and durability, as well as being able to ignite the blood of anything that he has pierced with either blade.
Numerous braces and hidden throwing knives all over his body. At one point, these were also enchanted but when the calamity struck he didn't have time to grab his original set. So these are all well-made but ultimately mundane weapons. Still, with his strength and skill, they can be quite deadly.
Unfortunately, at present, he is also missing his armour. His preferred armour is leather dyed in mottled black and greys, with strike plates sewn between layers for added protection. His old set was also enchanted for increased protection from physical and magical attacks.
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Skills and Abilities: Alden is, for lack of a better term, a weapon master. He has been trained to use almost any weapon you can think to name. Relentless daily training with each, with extraordinarily demanding expectations on performance and harsh incentives for failure giving a level of skill with most of them that make him formidable.
However, his preferred style involves twin short swords. While he is skilled with all of his weapons thanks to training, he discovered a natural talent with the blade. His level of skill when wielding his short swords is on another level entirely, nearly transcendent in his skill.
On top of that, he is a living magical enchantment. Carved into his body are a variety of runes that grant him numerous innate abilities. He is inhumanly strong, around three to four times stronger than a man in a similar state of physical fitness would be. This also applies to his endurance, speed, reflexes, and other physical traits. He also has regenerative abilities exceeding human normal, able to heal from even broken bones in a matter of days rather than weeks.
In addition, he is immune to most poisons and resistant to the rest. The runes etched into his eyes ensure he can see the same no matter the level of light and reveal magical auras to him. Runes along his back make him impossible to scry on directly and provide him a measure of resistance to magical attack. This, combined with training, also makes him immune to magical mental influence. Finally, runes on his feet dampen any sound he might make taking his already considerable stealth abilities to another level entirely.
Speaking of his training also included all of the skills one would think an Assassin should have. He knows how to mix poisons, move without being seen or making noise, scale walls, lie or disguise himself, pick locks, pick pockets, just for starters. He is also quite skilled at clerical work and he has some diplomacy ability after thirty years leading the Sun Marshals.
Beyond all of this, Alden also possesses an incredible amount of willpower. If Alden decides that he will do something, there is very little that can stop him from doing it. In fact, at present, the only thing that could deter him from a course of action is Captain Naoki. The former Empress is the only person he has any loyalty to and he often values her judgement on matters above his own.
-------------------------------------------
Biography: Alden was born to a small farming family in an out-of-the-way village. His parents named him Toan and until he was five his destiny was most likely to live and die on the same farm he was born. However, that all changed when Pride arrived.
The leader of a criminal group known as The Set, Pride offered his parents a sum of money that would make any poor farmer's heart stop. Enough money to change their lives forever and all he wanted was Alden, one of nearly a dozen children. A child that wasn't even old enough to help with chores around the farm yet. And the man as so nice, he wanted a ward that he could train to be a retainer how bad of a life could that be?
The answer to that question was basically Hell. Pride was a potent alchemist, enchanter, and scholar and he had but one goal in mind. To create a superior warrior. Alden was subjected to hellish daily training along with six other children. Forced to learn to fight with every weapon, against any foe, in any condition. His limbs were broken deliberately and he was forced to continue to fight and train in constant agony. And this was among the mildest of the ways he was trained.
The culmination of the training came when he was twelve. When he and the six other children were locked in a room and told that the only one who got to leave... was the only one to survive. Of course, surviving was hardly a reward.
Once Pride had only the strongest of the children left he proceeded to the next step of his plan. Alden's memories and identity were seared away as Pride carved runes into his flesh and his very soul. Transforming the young man into a living magical artifact and keeping him on a drug that suppressed all of his emotions.
From there Alden became the new Wrath of the set, a weapon meant only to slay those he was told to. That may have been all he would be but Pride made a miscalculation, Alden's runes helped him to build an immunity to the dosage meant to keep his emotions in check, a weakness made worse by Pride having let him keep his anger thinking it would make him a better weapon. Eventually, events conspired and Alden snapped when the only member of The Set to be kind to him, Sloth, was killed for threatening to expose Pride.
Alden, driven into a deeper rage than ever before killed Envy, Lust, Gluttony, and even disembowelled Pride. Greed manage to escape and Alden slaughtered everything in his path trying to catch the man. Eventually succeeding in his goal. Bereft of a target for his rage and the chase having left him in the middle of nowhere Alden finally collapsed the trauma and coming off of the dosage causing him to bury most of his memories.
He wound up in Isra where his talents and skill soon earned him the eye of the then, criminal Madam Naoki. She recruited him as one of her enforcers a role he continued as her power expanded and grew until she finally became Empress. His reward for his loyalty? Appointment to the head of The Sun Marshals her special police force, effectively making him her right-hand man.
During this time he also uncovered his own past and learned that Pride had survived, the man had made preparations for such an eventuality and his death only saw his soul moving to a phylactery as he became a lich.
Pride created a new Set, this time making each member just as he made Alden. Eventually, this culminated in Pride attacking Isra and his eventual, final defeat.
Decades have passed since that time and Alden, whose power kept him at his prime for years continued to serve Isra until the new calamity took him to The Island of Mists, his empress reduced to a captain and he now serving as her first mate.
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Allegiances: Naoki and Port Argentum
Place of Residence: Port Argentum
Registered: Mar 21, 2021 13:21:25 GMT -5
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Post by Alden on May 27, 2021 6:40:34 GMT -5
The mention of a lack of tact get a slightly surprised look from Alden. The man's gaze flicking to Naoki in surprise, if he wasn't supposed to bring up the Graves family he knew why had she brought them up? Of course, when Katiana started to cry it became very, very apparent that Naoki's chastisement had been more than fair. Evidently, he had managed to upset the young woman though just how he had managed it he had no idea. Still, noticing that she seemed unsteady on her feet, he hopes he isn't out of line when he reaches out and places a gentle hand on her shoulder to help her hold steady until she is recovered enough to stand straight once again.
"Of Arianna Graves? Or Kauri Graves."
Alden inquires dropping his hand and deciding it didn't matter overly much.
"Well, after what you told me I think you will draw the same conclusion I just did if I give you a brief summary of their story. As I came to understand it, Kauri and Arianne were on a voyage when their ship was caught in a storm. They wound up stranded on Paradise Island where they met the other inhabitants. The island was magical in nature and it turned all long-term inhabitants, including the sisters, into chimeric hybrids. Many members of the village would take on new names for their new forms, usually when they decided they would never escape the island. As I understand it Kauri fell in love with her husband and changed her name shortly after they were wed but Arianne never lost hope of returning home."
Alden pauses for a moment to give Katiana a chance to ingest the first part of the story.
"However, the entities, or entity, that controlled Paradise decided to expunge the human population for reasons I never learned. Escaping the island was difficult but Arianne volunteered to try and Kauri went with her. The two returned to Isra and, by sheer luck, arrived at The Sun Marshal Head Quarters just as I was leaving the building after being told it was the best place to ask for help in, extraordinary matters. They requested my help in saving their village which I agreed to, eventually this ended with the entire population of the village needing to be evacuated to Isra."
Another pause as Alden left a big chunk of detail out of the rescue, it was mostly superfluous to the story even if it was exciting. Or at least, he'd been told it was. To him it had all just been work.
"On returning to Isra I got to know the sisters better. They decided that they would both like to learn to fight and were comfortable enough with me at that point to ask. We grew closer and I met their parents. They lived on a pleasant forested estate just outside of Isra, their father was a leatherworker and their mother a binder. I never met him but I was told there was also a brother who was a bit of a drunk. The Arianne I knew was adventurous, brave, and refused to give up. She was a hard worker, always pushing herself to be better but she was also kind. She wanted to be better so she could help more people and was never afraid to lend a hand to those in need."
There were slightly too many matching details between the women he'd known and Katiana's own family. The conclusion seemed rather natural and obvious to him. He'd never learned what Kauri's original name was, she'd fully embraced her new one even after returning to Isra, but he had a suspicion that it had likely been... Katiana.
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Lady Naoki
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 345
Appearance: Naoki is a curvaceous woman of average height, indeterminate age, and catlike features. Her hair is a dark auburn, often pulled back into a long braid. Her ears are both soft and fluffy, and her tail is never less than perfectly groomed.
Allegiances: New Isra
Place of Residence: Port Argentium
Registered: Mar 16, 2021 22:31:18 GMT -5
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Post by Lady Naoki on May 27, 2021 21:22:18 GMT -5
As Katiana sobs, Naoki shoots Alden the same look again, but more. It’s likely that anyone who wasn’t on The Depravity is dead, even if they weren't before. Bringing up anyone’s past is going to be touchy, and Kauri’s past wasn't comfortable even before anything else happened.
When Alden speaks, Naoki quirks an eyebrow. That’s not quite how she remembers it. Another difference between her Isra and Alden’s. But she’s not about to overload poor Katiana by immediately presenting another alternate reality when it’s clear she’s having a bit of trouble as it is.
“It was different for me,” Naoki adds, gently. “I’ll tell you if you’d like. But the general explanation, from what I’ve gathered talking to people, is that The Mists jumbled up people from different, similar, worlds. It sounds like you’ve not been to Paradise Island.”
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Katiana Graves
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 109
Appearance: When you want to hide a tree, you hide it in a forest. Similarly, if you wanted to hide Katiana, you would put her in a crowd of humans. Brown hair, brown eyes, thin features, and an unremarkable height may not set her apart, but the way she manipulates her expressions and gallivants around certainly do. Those who know her are familiar with a particularly mischievous left-sided smirk, above which forms a dimple. Those who have yet to meet her will immediately know her for the way she bounces from one place to the next, holding her skirts in her hands.
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Equipment: A recurve bow made of elm, a small wood-cutting ax, and a skinning knife complete Katiana's non-exhaustive equipment. Being an adventurer who often loses herself in the wilderness, she also favors flint and tinder, rope, medicines, a waterskin, sewing supplies, and food rations.
____________________________________________________
Skills and Abilities: Though not particularly concerned in the art of warfare, Katiana has been a hunter for as long as she could hold a bow, and over the years, she became proficient with it. One could assume that if she needed to point her arrow at a charging warrior rather than a boar, she would have the same chances of hitting it. Years of adventuring have also taught her skills in survival.
Though she has no skills in magic, nothing is stopping her from learning. Katiana's family has a history of mages, though none have been particularly gifted.
Registered: Mar 17, 2021 16:34:46 GMT -5
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Post by Katiana Graves on May 28, 2021 23:56:41 GMT -5
Katiana listened intently to Alden, her tears halting for the time being. He spoke of Paradise, of traveling there with Arianne, of facing great odds and escaping long enough to find help. Apparently, this man, the Marshal, was that help. Later in the story, things were more familiar, more along what she knew of her own family. Especially Arianne. There was one thing that surprised her the most, however. She frowned.
"A husband?" she asked curiously. At first, she seemed upset but after a brief moment, she began to laugh. She laughed until her cheeks became red, until she put her hands on her knees, and until she inhaled a bit of spit and began to cough. Funnily enough, it was what she needed to calm down, to face her swirling and confusing emotions with a little more dignity and thought.
"I -ahem- so sorry, I just-" Another breath, another sigh. Her smile faded, eyes distant. "This is a lot. A husband, a mysterious island... and you both? I don't have a memory of any of it. But-" She paused, looking from Alden to Naoki.
"Please, tell me. Maybe you have the answers I need."
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Alden
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 266
Age: 53(?)
Appearance: The reference image is a commissioned piece and is accurate.
Alden is 6 even, with shoulder-length messy black hair, and several days worth of beard stubble. He is handsome, with a powerful jaw, mid-set cheekbones, and a perpetual grin that makes him seem younger than he really is. His bright green eyes, constantly sparkle with barely contained mirth. He has the lithe well-muscled body of a swordsman, and he moves with considerable grace and dexterity.
If one were to do a more thorough examination of Alden's eyes they may notice a further detail. Around the outside edge of his iris, there's an intricate series of minuscule grey runes.
Underneath his shirt, Alden's skin is a mass of scar tissue. Starting from just below his neckline, there is very little space that does not sport some relic of a past injury. A particularly observant person may also note that among these scars, some are a bright scarlet. These scarlet scars form an intricate series of runes hiding amidst the rest of the scars.
-------------------------------------------
Equipment: Alden's general loadout when he goes fighting consists of the following:
A twin set of enchanted shortswords. The simple straight blades are unnatural dark, absorbing rather than reflecting light. Giving the enchanted steel an appearance closer to cold iron. The guard has the Isran sun emblem emblazoned in a medallion shape just above the guard, which is wrapped in simple leather. The enchantments increase their sharpness and durability, as well as being able to ignite the blood of anything that he has pierced with either blade.
Numerous braces and hidden throwing knives all over his body. At one point, these were also enchanted but when the calamity struck he didn't have time to grab his original set. So these are all well-made but ultimately mundane weapons. Still, with his strength and skill, they can be quite deadly.
Unfortunately, at present, he is also missing his armour. His preferred armour is leather dyed in mottled black and greys, with strike plates sewn between layers for added protection. His old set was also enchanted for increased protection from physical and magical attacks.
-------------------------------------------
Skills and Abilities: Alden is, for lack of a better term, a weapon master. He has been trained to use almost any weapon you can think to name. Relentless daily training with each, with extraordinarily demanding expectations on performance and harsh incentives for failure giving a level of skill with most of them that make him formidable.
However, his preferred style involves twin short swords. While he is skilled with all of his weapons thanks to training, he discovered a natural talent with the blade. His level of skill when wielding his short swords is on another level entirely, nearly transcendent in his skill.
On top of that, he is a living magical enchantment. Carved into his body are a variety of runes that grant him numerous innate abilities. He is inhumanly strong, around three to four times stronger than a man in a similar state of physical fitness would be. This also applies to his endurance, speed, reflexes, and other physical traits. He also has regenerative abilities exceeding human normal, able to heal from even broken bones in a matter of days rather than weeks.
In addition, he is immune to most poisons and resistant to the rest. The runes etched into his eyes ensure he can see the same no matter the level of light and reveal magical auras to him. Runes along his back make him impossible to scry on directly and provide him a measure of resistance to magical attack. This, combined with training, also makes him immune to magical mental influence. Finally, runes on his feet dampen any sound he might make taking his already considerable stealth abilities to another level entirely.
Speaking of his training also included all of the skills one would think an Assassin should have. He knows how to mix poisons, move without being seen or making noise, scale walls, lie or disguise himself, pick locks, pick pockets, just for starters. He is also quite skilled at clerical work and he has some diplomacy ability after thirty years leading the Sun Marshals.
Beyond all of this, Alden also possesses an incredible amount of willpower. If Alden decides that he will do something, there is very little that can stop him from doing it. In fact, at present, the only thing that could deter him from a course of action is Captain Naoki. The former Empress is the only person he has any loyalty to and he often values her judgement on matters above his own.
-------------------------------------------
Biography: Alden was born to a small farming family in an out-of-the-way village. His parents named him Toan and until he was five his destiny was most likely to live and die on the same farm he was born. However, that all changed when Pride arrived.
The leader of a criminal group known as The Set, Pride offered his parents a sum of money that would make any poor farmer's heart stop. Enough money to change their lives forever and all he wanted was Alden, one of nearly a dozen children. A child that wasn't even old enough to help with chores around the farm yet. And the man as so nice, he wanted a ward that he could train to be a retainer how bad of a life could that be?
The answer to that question was basically Hell. Pride was a potent alchemist, enchanter, and scholar and he had but one goal in mind. To create a superior warrior. Alden was subjected to hellish daily training along with six other children. Forced to learn to fight with every weapon, against any foe, in any condition. His limbs were broken deliberately and he was forced to continue to fight and train in constant agony. And this was among the mildest of the ways he was trained.
The culmination of the training came when he was twelve. When he and the six other children were locked in a room and told that the only one who got to leave... was the only one to survive. Of course, surviving was hardly a reward.
Once Pride had only the strongest of the children left he proceeded to the next step of his plan. Alden's memories and identity were seared away as Pride carved runes into his flesh and his very soul. Transforming the young man into a living magical artifact and keeping him on a drug that suppressed all of his emotions.
From there Alden became the new Wrath of the set, a weapon meant only to slay those he was told to. That may have been all he would be but Pride made a miscalculation, Alden's runes helped him to build an immunity to the dosage meant to keep his emotions in check, a weakness made worse by Pride having let him keep his anger thinking it would make him a better weapon. Eventually, events conspired and Alden snapped when the only member of The Set to be kind to him, Sloth, was killed for threatening to expose Pride.
Alden, driven into a deeper rage than ever before killed Envy, Lust, Gluttony, and even disembowelled Pride. Greed manage to escape and Alden slaughtered everything in his path trying to catch the man. Eventually succeeding in his goal. Bereft of a target for his rage and the chase having left him in the middle of nowhere Alden finally collapsed the trauma and coming off of the dosage causing him to bury most of his memories.
He wound up in Isra where his talents and skill soon earned him the eye of the then, criminal Madam Naoki. She recruited him as one of her enforcers a role he continued as her power expanded and grew until she finally became Empress. His reward for his loyalty? Appointment to the head of The Sun Marshals her special police force, effectively making him her right-hand man.
During this time he also uncovered his own past and learned that Pride had survived, the man had made preparations for such an eventuality and his death only saw his soul moving to a phylactery as he became a lich.
Pride created a new Set, this time making each member just as he made Alden. Eventually, this culminated in Pride attacking Isra and his eventual, final defeat.
Decades have passed since that time and Alden, whose power kept him at his prime for years continued to serve Isra until the new calamity took him to The Island of Mists, his empress reduced to a captain and he now serving as her first mate.
-------------------------------------------
Allegiances: Naoki and Port Argentum
Place of Residence: Port Argentum
Registered: Mar 21, 2021 13:21:25 GMT -5
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Post by Alden on May 29, 2021 8:48:23 GMT -5
"I wouldn't expect you to."
Alden says when the girl seems a bit overwhelmed. Not that he could blame her for that, he'd had a not entirely dissimilar reaction when Naoki told him that he'd had kids. The notion had seemed utterly absurd at the time. When would he have had time for kids? There was always something for him to be doing, how could he have found the time? It had taken a few months aboard the ship for him to realize that he'd always had something to do because he'd not wanted to be alone with his thoughts. The forced introspection on The Depravity, where the duties were comparatively limited to helping run an empire, was what made him realize he hadn't been happy in his old life.
Oh, he'd not been depressed but he hadn't been happy. Mostly he'd just existed and the only times that stood out to him were those times he spent with his friends. Those times, training with Kauri and Arianne, going on adventures with Jun, and leisurely chats and days with Naok, that was what had mattered to him. It bothered him that looking back at it now they made up such a relatively small part of his life.
"It's as Naoki said Katiana. The events I recall did not happen to you. They happened to a woman very much like you from another place and another time. Just, try to think of it that way. You are not my friend Kauri." That hurt to say because the woman he'd known he may never see again. And unlike with Naoki, there was no shared history between himself and Katiana. Enough overlap that they could easily fall back into a new version of an old friendship. "You are Katiana Graves, you remain yourself." He hoped that his words were comforting, that was what he was going for. To make it clear that she did not have to try to be a person she was not, that she did not have to remember a life she didn't live.
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Lady Naoki
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 345
Appearance: Naoki is a curvaceous woman of average height, indeterminate age, and catlike features. Her hair is a dark auburn, often pulled back into a long braid. Her ears are both soft and fluffy, and her tail is never less than perfectly groomed.
Allegiances: New Isra
Place of Residence: Port Argentium
Registered: Mar 16, 2021 22:31:18 GMT -5
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Post by Lady Naoki on May 29, 2021 23:03:52 GMT -5
“Alright, but not out here. There’s no sense standing around out here when you’ve got such a nice, brand new house, hm?”
Leading the way, Naoki pushes open the door to Katiana’s cabin. Seating herself in one of the two chairs, Naoki settles in and leans forward, in a prime storytelling position.
“There’s much to tell...” she begins, adopting a faraway look in her eyes and gesturing broadly as recalls the tale.
Over the course of the next short while, Naoki explains what all she knew of Kauri, starting with Alden’s request to borrow her ship. She goes on, spending some amount of time retelling the meeting she had with Kauri in The Courtyard almost verbatim, pausing to provide context as appropriate. She tells how she was led to understand Kauri’s sister’s name was Colette, and how the only Arianne she knew was Queen of Gauldin. She tells of how much time Alden spent at The Graves Estate, and the changes in his demeanor she noticed in him around that time. She mentions having heard of Paola, Kauri's niece and ward, from Alden’s children, and how they got along well, but apologizes for not knowing more about her.
And then, having not alluded to it at all up until that point, Naoki gets around to telling how Alden eventually came around to ‘courting’ Kauri (and how that was his choice of word.) She rattles off a few of the destinations she knows the two of them visited together, along with some of her guesses about what they were doing there. She mentions how Kauri was Alden’s date for the Summit, describes how the two of them were dressed, how they danced together, and what she saw in their eyes when they did.
“The two of them were good for each other, I think,” Naoki eventually comes around to saying. “He helped her heal, and she helped him feel. They lasted a little longer than some of Alden’s other romances, and my read was that they were quite healthy for each other. ... I was happy for them.”
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Katiana Graves
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 109
Appearance: When you want to hide a tree, you hide it in a forest. Similarly, if you wanted to hide Katiana, you would put her in a crowd of humans. Brown hair, brown eyes, thin features, and an unremarkable height may not set her apart, but the way she manipulates her expressions and gallivants around certainly do. Those who know her are familiar with a particularly mischievous left-sided smirk, above which forms a dimple. Those who have yet to meet her will immediately know her for the way she bounces from one place to the next, holding her skirts in her hands.
____________________________________________________
Equipment: A recurve bow made of elm, a small wood-cutting ax, and a skinning knife complete Katiana's non-exhaustive equipment. Being an adventurer who often loses herself in the wilderness, she also favors flint and tinder, rope, medicines, a waterskin, sewing supplies, and food rations.
____________________________________________________
Skills and Abilities: Though not particularly concerned in the art of warfare, Katiana has been a hunter for as long as she could hold a bow, and over the years, she became proficient with it. One could assume that if she needed to point her arrow at a charging warrior rather than a boar, she would have the same chances of hitting it. Years of adventuring have also taught her skills in survival.
Though she has no skills in magic, nothing is stopping her from learning. Katiana's family has a history of mages, though none have been particularly gifted.
Registered: Mar 17, 2021 16:34:46 GMT -5
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Post by Katiana Graves on Jun 1, 2021 19:30:18 GMT -5
"You are not my friend, Kauri."
Katiana wasn't sure why, but she felt a sudden sting in her chest when Alden said that. She didn't have any reason to feel so sour and miserable about it, she knew. After all, the huntress only had a fondness for his appearance; never once had she been given the chance to even say hello to the man before this. She wasn't the jealous or vindictive sort, especially when it came to men, so why? Why did it hurt so?
In some ways, the marshal's next words did help, but the emotions became so twisted around she couldn't yet untangle them. She gave him a flat, unsure smile, as though trying to reassure him that it helped.
Next, she listened to what Naoki had to say, and as the former Empress spoke, Katiana's eyes widened. A niece? A sister of a different name? And courting with Alden? The woman's cheeks burned red, then drained of color. One of her hands flew up to her heart, grasping the skin softly. Her lips drew tight over her teeth in a grimace. Briefly, she had to look away, onto the floor of her new home, and when she had the courage again, she looked up to face them.
"I hope this is not taken wrongly," she began, "But I do believe that this Kauri you knew, some parts of her have perhaps... found their way to me." Her hands grabbed at the sides of her chair, knuckles white. Looking directly at Naoki, the huntress continued, "Every time I look at you, I feel a sense of familiarity and fondness seeping in, but this incarnation of me- or so I believe it is- has not spent time with you. Not well enough to feel so comfortable. And you-" Katiana then gestured to Alden. "I feel a very strong sense of, ah, um-"
Once again, her cheeks reddened.
"A stronger sense of endearment than is deserved, considering this is the first time we've officially met." She said it a little fast, a little clumsily, and folded her arms and looked away as soon as it was out of her mouth. "Now and again, I get flickers of... something. Memories? But they're not mine. Isra was a rumored whisper in my village, but I never knew a Naoki. I never knew an Alden. I just knew of a Sozo, my country, and a Tiraneth, my home."
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