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 Jan 29, 2022 21:02:45 GMT -5
On the first floor, just off the dining room, a room has been set aside for the preparation of food. The central feature is the large cookfire, set into one of the walls. Around that, there are counters, racks, shelves, all filled with relevant elements of cookware. Constructed to Laute’s specifications, it contains not necessarily everything one would want to find in a kitchen, but certainly, all they have. |
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Laute, the Gourmet Glutton
Established
First Child of Gula, Devourer of Studiose
Roleplay posts: 27
Appearance: Inhumanly pallid and freckled in onyx, Laute is an odd figure at first sight. When one adds the curved horns, the bovine ears, and demonic writing across her skin, you get something decidedly hellish. Her eyes are yellow with a rectangular pupil, just like a goat's, and she sports a pair of powerful hooves in place of feet. Her hair is incredibly thick and appears to absorb the light around it, leaving it devoid of texture to the eye. A long, tufted tail lashes from her lower back.
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Skills and Abilities: Laute's purpose is to overindulge in fine things, thus having a heightened sense of smell and taste. She can detect a variety of poisons, provided she's run into them before. Limited control over fire, frost, and smoke are all within her domain. Should her master (currently Naoki) wish it, she can change forms into anything typically affiliated with glutton, all of which include but are not limited to piglike, oxlike, and snakelike shapes.
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 13:18:24 GMT -5
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Post by Laute, the Gourmet Glutton on Feb 8, 2022 20:42:15 GMT -5
“Blast and thunderation! I shall wrangle thee from this wretched state and let you know your true place in this world!”
Laute was cursing up a storm in the kitchen. Though she was as she usually was, wearing black breeches and a red jerkin with an apron stretched over it all, she was sprouting two more arms than usual. These extra arms stretching from her back were unusually long and bent at odd angles, but were perfect for reaching spices and bottles on the top shelves around her. One such bottle was being shaken in front of her as she gave it rather evil eyes, which were as red and angry as vinegar wine. The bottle was filled with a bushel of purple leaves. However, it wasn’t lavender, as it seemed, and it smelled of cilantro and tasted of something utterly sour that made the woman’s lips pucker, but not in the way citron did! “Wherefore do you mock me, little leaf!?”
The bottle was slammed back onto the shelf, replaced with a little case of some powdered substance. Roxanne had found this one, thinking the chocolate pepper was some sweet and juicy fruit, only to come crying about her guts burning from the inside out! What a fun little trip to Marks that was. Laute could not remember the last time she laughed so hard!
A dash of it went into the pan, which roasted over the central fire. Her hourglass pupils shone in the light, reflecting something feral and obsessive deep within.
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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 Feb 9, 2022 17:14:48 GMT -5
Alden had not actually met Naoki's new chef and had only seen Luate from a distance. He did not remember her having four arms when he had, though as he watched the show she was putting on he saw how useful they could be. He wondered how Naoki had found herself yet another demonic chef, though this new one seemed more suited to the kitchen than Maelik had been. While the Lord of Wrath had made some delicious food and used his powers in inventive ways to enable that, he'd also been a gigantic armored dragonlike creature. So, in short, he'd looked a bit out of place in a human-sized kitchen.
"Naoki told me to ask you to start a meal for herself and her newly found son. But it appears you are already working on one?"
He'd entered around the time she'd demanded to know why the leaf was mocking her. From there he'd watched her work in silence since her concentration had seemed to be focused on her task. It wasn't until she'd added the dash of liquid and then stopped working to watch it simmer intently that he'd decided to speak up.
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Laute, the Gourmet Glutton
Established
First Child of Gula, Devourer of Studiose
Roleplay posts: 27
Appearance: Inhumanly pallid and freckled in onyx, Laute is an odd figure at first sight. When one adds the curved horns, the bovine ears, and demonic writing across her skin, you get something decidedly hellish. Her eyes are yellow with a rectangular pupil, just like a goat's, and she sports a pair of powerful hooves in place of feet. Her hair is incredibly thick and appears to absorb the light around it, leaving it devoid of texture to the eye. A long, tufted tail lashes from her lower back.
____________________________________________________
Skills and Abilities: Laute's purpose is to overindulge in fine things, thus having a heightened sense of smell and taste. She can detect a variety of poisons, provided she's run into them before. Limited control over fire, frost, and smoke are all within her domain. Should her master (currently Naoki) wish it, she can change forms into anything typically affiliated with glutton, all of which include but are not limited to piglike, oxlike, and snakelike shapes.
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 13:18:24 GMT -5
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Post by Laute, the Gourmet Glutton on Feb 10, 2022 19:52:40 GMT -5
So enamored in her work was Laute that she did not perceive Alden's presence until he spoke. Her ears perked upward as she gazed in the man's direction, the fire taking a moment to die down in her eyes. With a flutter of her lids, she smiled, opening her arms wide. "Ah! Alden, was it? Wonderful to make your acquaintance at last. It was long due," she said, placing down the bottle in her hand. "I am always making a meal. The seconds grow long and laborious if I am to dally." She tapped her lips, giving his statement some thought. "Does Naoki's kind not give live birth? I thought that was how beings like you were created. Curious."
A cover was put over the pan, where it was left to simmer. Laute gave Alden her full attention. "I expect that you already know my name. Did you need the other titles as well? There are quite a few to choose from! Or perhaps you'd like a taste from the pan? These are some of the few mushrooms we could find that had no particularly exciting properties aside from taste. Unfortunately for many of the villagers, they are similar to one that will cause a few to walk among the spirits in the next world. Fascinating substances, really."
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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 Feb 11, 2022 9:58:27 GMT -5
"Yes, I am Alden."
The man responded to her first question with an incline of his head to the demoness.
"And I would imagine Naoki did give live birth when Ito was born. But that never happened in our Naoki's time. He is another refugee from the mists and they seem to act as a bridge between many possible worlds."
The smells from the pan were muted as she covered it but the scent had been pleasing. The question of what else he would like surprised him. Mostly because he'd been planning to simply leave. But he was actually tempted by the offer of a taste.
"If there is a title you would like to be known by besides Laute, then I am happy to call you that. As for the offer of a taste, I would not mind one. It smells quite good."
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Laute, the Gourmet Glutton
Established
First Child of Gula, Devourer of Studiose
Roleplay posts: 27
Appearance: Inhumanly pallid and freckled in onyx, Laute is an odd figure at first sight. When one adds the curved horns, the bovine ears, and demonic writing across her skin, you get something decidedly hellish. Her eyes are yellow with a rectangular pupil, just like a goat's, and she sports a pair of powerful hooves in place of feet. Her hair is incredibly thick and appears to absorb the light around it, leaving it devoid of texture to the eye. A long, tufted tail lashes from her lower back.
____________________________________________________
Skills and Abilities: Laute's purpose is to overindulge in fine things, thus having a heightened sense of smell and taste. She can detect a variety of poisons, provided she's run into them before. Limited control over fire, frost, and smoke are all within her domain. Should her master (currently Naoki) wish it, she can change forms into anything typically affiliated with glutton, all of which include but are not limited to piglike, oxlike, and snakelike shapes.
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 13:18:24 GMT -5
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Post by Laute, the Gourmet Glutton on Feb 19, 2022 3:48:18 GMT -5
“Ah, yes! This business with time not acting in a line as it does for you all. How disorienting that must be! I do remember the first time I was summoned into the material realm. Learning time was a miserable experience, but it became easier to ignore the more I was summoned. I do believe the same goes for being a child in this world.”
Circling back to the pan, Laute reached for the lid, then opened it up. A hearty aroma filled the room for the second time. A wicked smile crept across her face.
“Six split breasts of the local fowl in the woods covered in sea salt, fried with oils extracted from the fat. We do not have milk, so I used the cream from crushed nuts that we have yet to name, instead. Now that I’ve tossed in a few spices and herbs, it will simmer with the flavor with the mushrooms. Here-!” She scooped up a spoonful of the substance, careful to move around the fowl but to grab a hefty amount of mushroom. She held it up to his mouth expectantly.
Should he take it, Alden would find himself bombarded with a world of creamy, sweet, tangy flavors with the flame of spice in the aftertaste. Each herb, powder, and liquid could be identified separately and the same all at once, and blended with an experience that would leave one’s cheeks reddened.
“What do you think?
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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 Feb 19, 2022 9:05:26 GMT -5
"I do not remember my childhood very well so I can't comment upon it."
Honestly, he wasn't really sure what else to so say to the demon's views on time. Which made him curious.
"How do you view time if not in a linear fashion?"
That had been the gist of what she suggested. That she'd had to adjust to what Alden, assumed, to be the normal mortal view of time. Of course, it could vary for other people he'd not really asked them how they perceived it until this moment.
When she offered up the mouthful he leaned in and sampled it. It was an explosion of heat and flavour, far richer and more interesting than what he'd been eating lately. Which was why he suspected Naoki had summoned the demoness up. Day after day of salted fish and hardtack was not something she'd been a fan of on the ship.
"It's good. I believe the phrase is complex, multiple flavours but you chose them well and the dish is cohesive. No one part overwhelms each settles on the tongue, the intensity amplified by the spice."
While his cheeks had reddened from the heat he showed no other signs of distress. He wasn't immune to the effects of spice but he was very good at controlling his reactions.
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Laute, the Gourmet Glutton
Established
First Child of Gula, Devourer of Studiose
Roleplay posts: 27
Appearance: Inhumanly pallid and freckled in onyx, Laute is an odd figure at first sight. When one adds the curved horns, the bovine ears, and demonic writing across her skin, you get something decidedly hellish. Her eyes are yellow with a rectangular pupil, just like a goat's, and she sports a pair of powerful hooves in place of feet. Her hair is incredibly thick and appears to absorb the light around it, leaving it devoid of texture to the eye. A long, tufted tail lashes from her lower back.
____________________________________________________
Skills and Abilities: Laute's purpose is to overindulge in fine things, thus having a heightened sense of smell and taste. She can detect a variety of poisons, provided she's run into them before. Limited control over fire, frost, and smoke are all within her domain. Should her master (currently Naoki) wish it, she can change forms into anything typically affiliated with glutton, all of which include but are not limited to piglike, oxlike, and snakelike shapes.
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 13:18:24 GMT -5
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Post by Laute, the Gourmet Glutton on Feb 20, 2022 3:49:12 GMT -5
"Here, in the material realm, I experience it as you would. In the Formless Realm... all at once." She thought of a way to try and explain it further. "We also do not have bodies in my realm. There are no things. Here, there is space. There is time. There are tables and food and people. We do not have those things, but there is a form of consciousness and being. We just experience it all at the same... moment? Oh, how hard it is to explain with language! I do wish I could show you, but the experience might very well kill you, as you were born a material thing."
After he tasted the sauced mushrooms, Laute's obsessive expression latched onto him with a hunger surpassing that of the most starved citizen of Argentium. His comments and fanciful words describing her cooking fed her in a way no simple meal could. She grinned and every tooth showed.
"Brilliant. It appears curries can be made even without the milk of beasts... but soon, soon, I'm sure we will find such creatures here. I would lament evermore if that were the case!"
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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 Feb 20, 2022 9:54:49 GMT -5
"That does sound peculiar," Alden said with a nod of his head. The logistics of it were enough to raise several questions in his mind. But he'd spoken with beings outside the scope of reality before. He knew the answer he'd get to his questions would do him little good. An ant could not wrap its head around what it meant to be human, it could only understand the smallest part of it and that was immense beyond its reckoning.
"Well, I was happy to sample the food," Alden said at her clear excitement. "I suppose if there is nothing else I'll take my leave." While he did not find Laute's company objectionable he figured she had work to return to. While he... He supposed he'd simply head back out to the outskirts of town and staying out of people's way. It was all he really had to do at present.
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Laute, the Gourmet Glutton
Established
First Child of Gula, Devourer of Studiose
Roleplay posts: 27
Appearance: Inhumanly pallid and freckled in onyx, Laute is an odd figure at first sight. When one adds the curved horns, the bovine ears, and demonic writing across her skin, you get something decidedly hellish. Her eyes are yellow with a rectangular pupil, just like a goat's, and she sports a pair of powerful hooves in place of feet. Her hair is incredibly thick and appears to absorb the light around it, leaving it devoid of texture to the eye. A long, tufted tail lashes from her lower back.
____________________________________________________
Skills and Abilities: Laute's purpose is to overindulge in fine things, thus having a heightened sense of smell and taste. She can detect a variety of poisons, provided she's run into them before. Limited control over fire, frost, and smoke are all within her domain. Should her master (currently Naoki) wish it, she can change forms into anything typically affiliated with glutton, all of which include but are not limited to piglike, oxlike, and snakelike shapes.
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 13:18:24 GMT -5
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Post by Laute, the Gourmet Glutton on Jul 22, 2022 21:42:19 GMT -5
“You leave so soon. Were you not staying for dinner?” asked Laute, poking at him curiously. “It would be a waste. There is more than enough food, after all, and I’ve just about finished in here. All I have to do is plate everything. Would you like to help?”
Though she was a demon of glutton and had little interest in learning things outside of that spectrum, leeching from Naoki’s energy did give her a fondness for the man that was objectionable, but impossible to ignore. “I would like to know more about the man behind the muscle, especially when he compliments my food.”
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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 Jul 23, 2022 9:24:40 GMT -5
"I was not asked to."
Alden responded to the first question with a shrug of his shoulders as he looks at the digit she'd poked into his chest. While he knew that he'd likely be welcome to stay, there was a difference between being allowed and being invited.
"But if you require assistance I am happy to help."
This, at least, would give him something useful to do which was better than brooding in the woods. He moved at her direction helping her to get the table set for the meal and the food on to dishes as she made her desire to know more of him known.
"I am not sure what more you'd wish to know, my life story is not a happy one and when it comes to me as a person the only thing of note is an aptitude for violence."
This was the only skill of his that anyone seemed to have any use for. Then again, it was really the only skill he had polished to any degree so it made a level of sense.
"I do not think my complimenting of your food is noteworthy though, I imagine any who tastes it would do so."
The man added since he wasn't sure why that would inspire her to want to know more.
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Laute, the Gourmet Glutton
Established
First Child of Gula, Devourer of Studiose
Roleplay posts: 27
Appearance: Inhumanly pallid and freckled in onyx, Laute is an odd figure at first sight. When one adds the curved horns, the bovine ears, and demonic writing across her skin, you get something decidedly hellish. Her eyes are yellow with a rectangular pupil, just like a goat's, and she sports a pair of powerful hooves in place of feet. Her hair is incredibly thick and appears to absorb the light around it, leaving it devoid of texture to the eye. A long, tufted tail lashes from her lower back.
____________________________________________________
Skills and Abilities: Laute's purpose is to overindulge in fine things, thus having a heightened sense of smell and taste. She can detect a variety of poisons, provided she's run into them before. Limited control over fire, frost, and smoke are all within her domain. Should her master (currently Naoki) wish it, she can change forms into anything typically affiliated with glutton, all of which include but are not limited to piglike, oxlike, and snakelike shapes.
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 13:18:24 GMT -5
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Post by Laute, the Gourmet Glutton on Aug 1, 2022 16:52:09 GMT -5
“Do you only do what you are asked?” replied Laute. “I did not know humans were bound by the same rules as magical servants. Even so, I am free to do a few things I desire.”
She did not mention her obsession with being able to make all things into gourmet meals, up to and including the people of Port Argentium, as no one would truly understand why. The creatures of the material realm followed different rules, ones that were imposed onto her only when she had a ruler to keep her to them. Still, she did have many other things she could cook and discover, and that kept her sated.
As they gathered the plates and garnished the food, which prompted Laute to teach Alden the importance of presentation and finesse, she interjected with a rather blunt opinion on his behalf.
“As I’ve said, Alden Marshal: I am a demon. Not only that, but a creature from a very different place from the world you are used to. Sadness and happiness, violence and peace — they are in many ways the same for me, and equally as fascinating. So long as I can cook and consume, I do not experience, ah, negative feelings. Only obsession.” She spread all four of her arms in a shrug. “In the best way to describe it. Speak away, Alden. You are the beloved of the one I am tethered to, so you are of great importance to me as well.” She smirked, then laughed. “It is an odd feeling.”
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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 Aug 2, 2022 15:15:28 GMT -5
"I do not. But there is a difference between being welcome and being wanted."
Ultimately, just being allowed to stay wasn't enough to make him feel comfortable. Honestly, it was why he felt so out of place in the port. His presence felt more like it was being tolerated by most people than anything else. Requests for his presence were rare he did reach out on his own from time to time, searching for something to occupy his time. But this often left him feeling as though he was being indulged. Even in Naoki's home, he felt as though most just saw him as Naoki's pet brute. Something to be thrown the occasional scrap to be placated while everyone gave him a wide berth to be safe.
"And I think beloved might be an exaggeration. I am..."
He paused, he'd been trying to fathom the extent of her feelings and his best guess was...
"A favoured friend."
Beloved suggested that there was a level of romance, of intimacy, that he'd never felt from Naoki. Even when they'd given in to base desires there was a part of her that always seemed removed. A wall between the two of them where she kept her secrets, he'd seen cracks in it a few times, rare moments of vulnerability but rare was the operative term. It was the part of her that was and would always be, The Empress.
"But if you wish for me to speak... I don't know what to speak of honestly."
He accepted her correction on the place settings without complaint, adjusting to try and emulate what she was trying to teach to the best of his abilities. He was a quick study, not surprising considering his past.
"Most days I feel like I am nothing more than a sword gathering dust in a corner. I was made to do violence and despite my best efforts, it seems violence will always be the thing people seek me out for when they decided I am wanted."
Nobody was particularly thrilled by his basket-weaving that was certain.
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Laute, the Gourmet Glutton
Established
First Child of Gula, Devourer of Studiose
Roleplay posts: 27
Appearance: Inhumanly pallid and freckled in onyx, Laute is an odd figure at first sight. When one adds the curved horns, the bovine ears, and demonic writing across her skin, you get something decidedly hellish. Her eyes are yellow with a rectangular pupil, just like a goat's, and she sports a pair of powerful hooves in place of feet. Her hair is incredibly thick and appears to absorb the light around it, leaving it devoid of texture to the eye. A long, tufted tail lashes from her lower back.
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Skills and Abilities: Laute's purpose is to overindulge in fine things, thus having a heightened sense of smell and taste. She can detect a variety of poisons, provided she's run into them before. Limited control over fire, frost, and smoke are all within her domain. Should her master (currently Naoki) wish it, she can change forms into anything typically affiliated with glutton, all of which include but are not limited to piglike, oxlike, and snakelike shapes.
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 13:18:24 GMT -5
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Post by Laute, the Gourmet Glutton on Oct 14, 2022 23:58:54 GMT -5
"That's only because that's all people think a sword is good for. Including the sword, it seems."
Laute weaved a garnish of vines around each bowl with a grin. "A sword can slice meat or bread. It can be used to groom one's hair. It can be used to crush herbs. Anyone who only sees a sword as a weapon only sees what they want. Even if it is clumsy at first, a blade can be used for just about anything. It just needs to find its corner on the spread, so to speak."
The demon hefted each tray, filled with bowls and plates, on her numerous hands, ready to bring them out. Each was beautifully decorated, ready to be served.
"So let us show them what the sword has done today, mm?"
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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.
-------------------------------------------
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 Oct 16, 2022 12:49:11 GMT -5
Alden let her speak as he continued to do his best to help. The pep-talk reminded him of another kitchen and another demon who had helped him back when he'd first arrived in Isra. He'd been younger then and had known less about the person he was and the world as a whole.
"You aren't wrong but a sword is ill-suited to most of those tasks and even if you use a sword as a bread knife, people will still see a sword."
A tool could be used for things beyond its intended purpose but at the end of the day, it was still made for a specific task and would always be best suited to what it was made for. A sword would never be as easy to use on a loaf of bread as a knife, as good at cutting hair as scissors, at chopping wood as an axe. A sword would always be best at being, and people would always see it as, a weapon.
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