Arianne Graves
Established
Roleplay posts: 22
Age: 26
Appearance: Arianne's bright smiles framed by two dimples are hardly the most memorable of her traits, though they're the first things to be noticed. Her heart-shaped face would be the next, framed by a head of intensely curly cinnamon hair. Her skin is dark and her eyes a deep purple, a rare trait in the Graves family that shows up every few generations.
She's rather tall at nearly six feet, sporting the athletic frame of someone who travels often by the way of the sword.
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Equipment: A buckler, longsword, and various adventurer's tools complete Arianne's main repertoire. For hunting, she carries a short bow, a skinning knife, and a grappling hook.
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Skills and Abilities: Arianne is an excellent swordswoman, but more because of her resourcefulness rather than professional skill.
Registered: Feb 11, 2022 16:20:38 GMT -5
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Post by Arianne Graves on Mar 6, 2024 20:30:02 GMT -5
Arianne had to laugh. "My parents praised the gods when they found out I hadn't even the slightest bit of mana, nor the ability to channel it. When my family was accused of witchcraft shortly before Katiana was born, I was the first on the Scale, which was used to weigh mana against blessed stones. Not only did the stone have more mana, but it was heavier than me by a pound!" She threw her head back to laugh. "There were other tests, where a priest tried to channel magic through me with a dowsing rod. Not a drop came out. Thank the Gods all thought of us being a magical family was dispelled before Katiana was born, though; the fairies in the woods were taken to her the moment she came into the world."
Even if Katiana never believed it, the younger sister was abuzz with magic. A gift from a distant great-grandmother or somesuch, when a Whittle was introduced into the family. "But I wouldn't mind learning how to fight things that big! The worst in our world were dusty, dried-up liches and hordes of orcs." Even then, those things weren't a present danger in their everyday lives.
Arianne watched Jun spar with wide eyes. Though she had no doubt she could hold her own in non-magical sparring, the introduction of electricity to her attacks was daunting.
And... exciting.
"Who's Blackbean?"
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Jun of the Celadine
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 305 
Age: 33
Appearance: Jun stands at about 5’ 4”, with a willowy, slightly rectangular build. Her tawny olive skin has lost its flush from constantly wearing cloth armor, and she is dotted with small scars, including wrinkled patches of old burns on her left arm. She has deep brown, slightly hooded eyes and not quite straight dark auburn hair. Her face is still youthful and strong, though her gaze suggests she’s seen way too much for her age.
Equipment: An emerald, muddy long coat-style gambeson. A chrome blue longsword with a rusty hilt. Rusted shackles on her wrists ending in broken chains, giving a false impression that she had been a prisoner; the bracelets are easily removed.
Skills and Abilities: What remains of Jun’s power is a mix of animal friendship and elemental control. She can communicate with and control weaker animals, like insects, and request the help of larger, sentient animals (though they are not compelled to obey her). She can perform subtle manipulations of fire, water, earth, wind, and other “elements” like light and shadow. Her most unique ability is to imbue elemental magic into other life forms and channel her spells through them.
She is a decent cook and survivalist and has a solid academic understanding of agriculture and ecology. She is also a decent sword and hand-to-hand fighter.
Biography: Jun of the Celadine was a stereotypical hero of legend. She was one of Isra's mightiest spellcasters, had gone on dozens of adventures, possessed several powerful artifacts, and helped bring peace to the world on many occasions.
A notorious overachiever and workaholic, Jun had driven herself to near madness pursuing powerful magic. In standard fashion, it was the power of friendship that kept her sane.
Now Jun must cope with the fact that much of the world she helped protect has been lost, and that most of the magic power she had accrued over the years has stopped working.
Her family (whose whereabouts are unknown) was a clan of farmers and gardeners. Her tribe lived in peace and harmony in a mostly forested region. Every two hundred years or so, their people produced a powerful mage and master of all elements. Jun was not this chosen one, but rather her grandmother was. Still, Jun's (somewhat unhealthy) obsession with keeping up with her ancestor made her a pretty close second.
Jun has no regrets about her journey, though she sometimes wishes she had spent more learning other skills, like cooking and dancing. She also feels she made a poor lover, though it's likely her old partners passed away in the floodwaters anyways...
Registered: May 25, 2021 13:33:31 GMT -5
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Post by Jun of the Celadine on Mar 7, 2024 2:20:00 GMT -5
Well, there was no sense in lamenting lost power, again. That world was gone. This world was fresh and still needed protectors.
Arianne Graves, without realizing it, had introduced Jun to a rather foreign concept: hatred of magic. Though, after learning about the potential consequences of magical overuse from Avalux, such a philosophy suddenly made a lot more sense. Then again, it could also have been some sort of jealousy.
"I see. I'm sorry your people felt that way about magic." She said softly, still processing what she had heard. "Y-y-you know, having a body that actively resists magic is a quality unto itself. I remember even in my world a lot of research went into ways of countering magic. There was even a sort of magical martial art that focused entirely on interrupting spells. In this world where we can't raze forests and stuff anymore, a body that resists magic could actually be quite useful."
Her gaze turned to the setting sun as she started to get lost in her own imagination, again. In this world anomalies which ate magic existed, usually in the form of dangerous mists. Instead of just being hazards, could they actually be useful? Could traps be set? Earlier Jun had joked that she had already been thinking about ways of defeating herself and how to counter them. What if she did have to fight an evil version of herself someday?
Oh yah, Blackbean. I'd always wanted to give him some kind of anti-magic enchantment but I'd never quite figured out how to make it work-
Blackbean.
Blackbean!
Jun leaped up so hard she almost fell into the fire.
"He's alive!? He's here?!" Jun looked at Alden with what almost looked like panic, like a mother whose child was distressed. There were tears in her eyes.
"He's a demon crow." She answered Arianne. "He's one of my best friends. He's also the only demon familiar who stayed loyal to me after Lum'Valia taught me holy magic." She turned back to Alden. "Is he ok? Is he lonely? Does he have any ticks you can't get rid of? Has he been eating people's sheep? I mean he knows not to but I used to give him mutton and..."
(Jun forgot to tell Arianne that said crow was larger than most horses.)
There was so much to do. There was more work with Avalux and the Usqueans, a dozen projects she wanted to work on, helping Tana with the baby, finding more ways of preserving funny plums... but suddenly getting to Port Argentium shot way up on the list of priorities.
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Alden
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 280 
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 Mar 10, 2024 15:59:43 GMT -5
There wasn't much that Alden had to comment about as Arianne explained her people's views on magic. It wasn't the first society he'd heard of to hold such views, there were always those who held a grudge against the different simply for being so. He brought up Black Bean after that which prompted a near instant and tearful reaction from Jun, which shouldn't have brought a smile to Alden's lips but he couldn't help it.
"No ticks, he hasn't been eating people's sheep that I am aware of, he is fine, and I don't think he can get lonely. But, I don't know, I don't speak crow but I visited him from time to time to make sure he was doing well. Last I saw, right before I left Argentium he was hale and heart as ever."
He reassured his friend as he pushed to his feet and stretched.
"I think it's time for something to eat. I'll go see what I can scrounge up if you want to start training your newest pupil."
He nodded to the two and then stepped away, as wonderful as it was to catch up they would have the rest of the night to do so. To swap stories, share dinner, and laugh before Jun had to return wherever she'd come from. He'd go with her to learn it's location fully, though he wouldn't be joining her on her return to Argentium he had a ways further to go before he was ready for that.
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Jun of the Celadine
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 305
Age: 33
Appearance: Jun stands at about 5’ 4”, with a willowy, slightly rectangular build. Her tawny olive skin has lost its flush from constantly wearing cloth armor, and she is dotted with small scars, including wrinkled patches of old burns on her left arm. She has deep brown, slightly hooded eyes and not quite straight dark auburn hair. Her face is still youthful and strong, though her gaze suggests she’s seen way too much for her age.
Equipment: An emerald, muddy long coat-style gambeson. A chrome blue longsword with a rusty hilt. Rusted shackles on her wrists ending in broken chains, giving a false impression that she had been a prisoner; the bracelets are easily removed.
Skills and Abilities: What remains of Jun’s power is a mix of animal friendship and elemental control. She can communicate with and control weaker animals, like insects, and request the help of larger, sentient animals (though they are not compelled to obey her). She can perform subtle manipulations of fire, water, earth, wind, and other “elements” like light and shadow. Her most unique ability is to imbue elemental magic into other life forms and channel her spells through them.
She is a decent cook and survivalist and has a solid academic understanding of agriculture and ecology. She is also a decent sword and hand-to-hand fighter.
Biography: Jun of the Celadine was a stereotypical hero of legend. She was one of Isra's mightiest spellcasters, had gone on dozens of adventures, possessed several powerful artifacts, and helped bring peace to the world on many occasions.
A notorious overachiever and workaholic, Jun had driven herself to near madness pursuing powerful magic. In standard fashion, it was the power of friendship that kept her sane.
Now Jun must cope with the fact that much of the world she helped protect has been lost, and that most of the magic power she had accrued over the years has stopped working.
Her family (whose whereabouts are unknown) was a clan of farmers and gardeners. Her tribe lived in peace and harmony in a mostly forested region. Every two hundred years or so, their people produced a powerful mage and master of all elements. Jun was not this chosen one, but rather her grandmother was. Still, Jun's (somewhat unhealthy) obsession with keeping up with her ancestor made her a pretty close second.
Jun has no regrets about her journey, though she sometimes wishes she had spent more learning other skills, like cooking and dancing. She also feels she made a poor lover, though it's likely her old partners passed away in the floodwaters anyways...
Registered: May 25, 2021 13:33:31 GMT -5
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Post by Jun of the Celadine on Mar 16, 2024 17:09:44 GMT -5
Jun's panic turned into a smile. The relief was immeasurable.
The world suddenly felt a lot more hopeful. Somehow it had become smaller, and yet, bigger, at the same time. This horrible land might have even more pockets of hope out there. That not only made Jun feel relieved, it made her excited.
"Alright then." She turned to Arianne. "It's been a while since I've gotten beaten up by a beautiful woman. This'll be fun."
It wasn't the first time she'd sparred with a physically superior foe. Asadrack was much bigger than her and had experience spear fighting. And this girl was tough. Jun was starting to develop a perverse fascination with being overpowered. It was a whole new dimension to overcoming challenges. Jun had tried in the past to create spells which could take down gods and elder dragons. Her physical abilities obviously meant little in apocalyptic situations like that. However, here where one's physical abilities were much more important, this felt like a more unique and intimate challenge.
(She wondered if with some practice even Avalux could put her in an arm bar successfully.)
If Jun and Arianne sparred without magic, chances are Arianne would win 7 times out of 10. However, Jun was still no slouch and was stronger than she looked. She was also quite fast and knew how to leverage the power of her longsword. Jun knew little of martial arts though and could easily be overpowered while on the ground... for now. Some of those 7 losses would still be pretty close.
With magic of course Jun was practically unstoppable. But with every victory she'd immediately teach Arianne how to counter this spell, and this one, and that one, and this one, and that one too...
She was certain Arianne could handle an evil mage one day. That made her excited. She was sick of trying to be invincible. It was better if people could stand up to bullies. And there were plenty of those in the mists already. But as she had said earlier, there was scarcely anyone as determined as herself. Figuring out the weaknesses of her own spells would also serve to make her even stronger. Hopefully there were people out there who could stay one step ahead of people of her strength. That thought not only comforted her, but motivated her to try to get two steps ahead, maybe three.
Ugh, seriously, why am I like this?
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