The Black Jewels (Sign-Up / OOC)

[Daemon*Sadi]

Ok everyone, I've tried this a couple of times before, and I'm trying it again because I think it is an amazing story. Now, I have a lot of information to cover, but it will be worth it, so please bear with the long post.

We'll start with the easy stuff.

The world this story is set in is ruled by a race of people known as the Blood. What separates the Blood from people from our world is that they wear special Jewels that give them special powers.

The Blood society has people broken down into separate castes, groupings which signify their place in society. These groupings are broken down between Males and Females.

Males

landen: non-Blood of any race.
Blood Male: a general term for all males of the Blood; also refers to any Blood male who does not wear Jewels.
Warlord: a Jeweled male equal in status to a witch.
Prince: a Jeweled male equal in status to a Priestess or a Healer.
Warlord Prince: a dangerous, extremely aggressive Jeweled male; in status, slightly lower than a Queen.

Females

landen: non-Blood of any race.
Blood Female: a general term for all females of the Blood; usually refers to any Blood female who does not wear Jewels.
witch: a Blood female who wears Jewels but isn't part of any other hierarchical levels; also refers to any Jeweled female.
Healer: a witch who heals physical wounds and illnesses; equal in status to a Priestess and a Prince.
Priestess: a witch who cares for altars, Sanctuaries, and Dark Altars; witnesses handfasts and marriages; performs Offerings; equal in status to a Healer or a Prince.
Black Widow: a witch who heals the mind; weaves the tangled webs of dreams and visions; is trained in poisons and illusions; must only defer to Warlord Princes and Queens.
Queen: a witch who rules the Blood; is considered to be the land's heart and the Blood's moral centre; as such, she is the focal point of their society.

Alright, now that we know the castes, we'll move on to the other division of the society, which are the Jewels. There are 13 different Jewels of darkening color from White to Black. They are:

White
Yellow
Tiger Eye
Rose
Summer-sky
Purple Dusk
Opal*
Green
Sapphire
Red
Gray
Ebon-gray
Black

*Opal is the dividing line between the lighter and darker Jewels because it can be either. A Fire Opal is light, and a Blood Opal is dark.

A person gets new Jewels at two times in their lives. At age 5 they make their Birthright ceremony and get their Birthright Jewels. These can be no darker than Red.

At age 18 (or whenever a person comes of age), they make the Offering to the Darkness and receive their second set of Jewels. These can be up to and including three ranks below their Birthright Jewel. For example, Birthright White could descend as far as Rose, but it could also become Yellow or Tiger Eye.

There is one more way to divide the Jewels, and that is darkness among the specific Jewel ranks. They are:

Very Light
Light
Medium
Dark
Very Dark

Therefore, while two people may wear the same colored Jewel, one might still be stronger than the other.

There are two ways to receive a Jewel at the Birthright or Offering ceremonies: Preset or Uncut. A Preset Jewel has already been worn by a member of the Blood who had died and faded into the Darkness, and it is already set in either a ring or a necklace. An Uncut Jewel can be cut and set into one ring and one pendant with some tiny Jewel chips leftover which can be used for a multitude of things.

Ok, onto some more complex stuff.

Communicating

Besides just speaking, a member of the Blood can use a form of telepathy to communicate with others. They do this using threads of communication that can be focused or unfocused in various ways. They can send out a general thread in a vicinity and anyone will hear it, kind of like shouting in a crowd. They can narrow it down so that only members of a certain gender can hear it. They can narrow it down to a specific Jewel rank. They can even narrow it down to a specific mind.

Traveling

Besides walking places and riding in coaches, the Blood can travel using the Winds. There are 13 different Winds, one for each Jewel rank. There are radial lines and tether lines, which make them look like spider's webs. The darker the Wind, the more radial and tether lines there are, and the faster the Winds move. A person can ride Winds equal to their Jewel rank or lighter unless they are shielded by someone who can ride a darker Wind or are in a shielded coach driven by someone who can ride a darker Wind.

The Realms

There are 3 Realms in the world of the Blood. They are Terreille, the Light Realm; Kaeleer, the Shadow Realm; and Hell, the Dark Realm. They are all identical in physical makeup, and some places have the same names, like Dhemlan, which is in both the Realms of Terreille and Kaeleer.

There are several other things which exist in all the Realms, like Ebon Askavi, the Black Mountain; the 13 Dark Altars, which allow travel between the Realms; the Blood Runs where the Winds meet and create a dangerous obstacle course that Eyriens use for training.

The Races

There are many small races, so I won't go into them all. What I will go into are the three long-lived races.

Hayllians: Hayllians have dark skin, black hair, and gold eyes. They live for about 5000 years normally. They usually live in Hayll, but are known to be the most expansive of all races.

Dhemlans: Dhemlans have lighter skin that both Hayllians or Eyriens, but they have the same black hair and gold eyes. They also live for about 5000 years. They usually like to keep to themselves, but some are known to travel quite frequently.

Eyriens: Eyriens have the same dark skin as Hayllians and the same hair and eyes of the other two long lived races. They also live about 5000 years. They have large, bat-like wings. They make excellent warriors and are usually very strong. Because of this, the tendency for dark Jewels is less than that of Hayllian or Dhemlan races.

Powers

The Blood Jewels give their wearers the power of the Craft. This allows them to do thousands of things, so I won't go into too much depth.

Basic Craft allows people to do simple everyday things like levitating things and manipulating small objects.

Hearth Craft is used for things you might associate with a kitchen, like cooking, or cleaning, or smoothing wrinkles in clothing.

Healing Craft is used by Healers and is pretty self-explanatory.

A Black Widows Craft centres around creating the tangled webs of dreams and visions which allows them to see into the future, or interpret current events in ways no one else ever could. It also allows them to create illusions and manipulate people's minds. It is very complex and very dangerous.

Craft can also be used to make custom spells, this will be done at the character's discretion, but I reserve the right to veto anything that gets out of hand.

Craft can be used to create four different kinds of shields. Craft Shields, Psychic Shields, Sight Shields, and Auditory Shields. Craft Shields protect against physical attacks, but someone wearing a darker Jewel could break it. A Psychic Shield protects your mind from being attacked, though someone with a darker Jewel could break it. A Sight Shield makes you invisible, but someone with a darker Jewel would be able to see you. An Auditory Shield blocks all sound, but someone with a darker Jewel could still hear everything.

Craft can be used to attack as well. It can be released in short bursts of energy that damage a person physically. It can be used to attack a person's mind and shatter their inner web and Jewels.

Death

There are several different classifications of death among the Blood. There's the body's death, which happens when the person is killed, but their minds are still strong, in which case they become a demon and they live in Hell. They cannot go out in sunlight or they die, and they must consume blood in order to survive. Basically, they are kinda like vampires.

There are also Guardians, who are kind of dead, they need to consume blood occasionally, but they can still go out in the sun. A Guardian will live forever unless he chooses to allow himself to die.

Then there is the Final Death. This happens when a person's mind finally gives up its last ounce of strength and fades into the Darkness. This can also be forced by someone who wears a darker Jewel than you.

Alright, that should do it. Now for some ground rules.

1. No one can use a birthright Jewel darker than Red.
2. No one can have a Jewel darker than Gray at any time. (This is because there are only a few people who wear Jewels darker than that and they are all very famous in the Realms).
3. No one can play a Warlord Prince or a Queen unless they get permission from me. These castes are rules unto themselves, and are not to be taken lightly.
4. I would prefer if no one was a Black Widow without first showing me that they understand how their magic system works.
5. Post a character in the format I use.

Now for my character:

Name: Daemon Sadi
Age: 1700
Race: Half-Dhemlan Half-Hayllian
Other Names: Bastard, The Sadist, Hayll's Whore
Birthright Jewel: Red
Jewel Rank: Black
Caste: Warlord Prince (also one of the only 2 male Black Widows, though no one knows he is)

Appearance: Daemon cannot simply be called handsome, because he is so much more, he is beautiful. But it is a cold, chiseled beauty that is beyond the attractiveness that any man deserves. His face is perfectly shaped and his features perfectly chiseled. His build is slightly muscular, and toned enough to please, but not bulky. He wears a perfectly tailored black suit with a white shirt that slashes open in a V from neck to just above his waist, exposing his chest. His hair is long and thick, and a shiny black. He keeps his nails long, sharp, tinted black, and always perfectly buffed. He only wears his Jewels on very rare occasions, but both his Black ring and pendant are in very simple silver settings, as are his Red ring and pendant.

History: Daemon has been the prisoner and slave of Dorothea SaDiablo for as long as he can remember. She took him and put a ring of obedience on him and raised him as a pleasure slave in the Hayllian courts. Daemon remember nothing from before then except for a deep, sensuous voice that whispers words of honor and morality, a code of ethics, of protocol, the ways of the Blood. For a long time, Dorothea kept Daemon leashed to Hayll so that he could never get more than his Red Jewel. When he was 1000 years old, Daemon broke free, and ran wild for nearly a hundred years. In that time he made his Offering to the Darkness and came away wearing Black Jewels. More than 2000 pursuing Warlords died trying to bring him in, but in the end all it took was them threatening to kill his brother, Lucivar, and he turned himself in. After he came back wearing the Black, Dorothea began renting his services as a pleasure slave to any who wanted them, just to keep him as far away from her as possible. The Queens that rented his services were always smart enough to keep him and Lucivar apart, but sometimes they forgot, which is where the story begins.

Any questions?

[Daemon*Sadi]

Ok, here's another main character's bio, this one will be played by Harthar.

Name: Lucivar Yaslana
Age: 1700
Race: Half-Dhemlan Half-Eyrien
Other Names: Prick, Yasi
Birthright Jewel: Red
Jewel Rank: Ebon-gray
Caste: Warlord Prince

Appearance: Lucivar is extremely muscular, and unlike most Eyrien males, wears his hair long and thick. He usually wears soft, loose pants and no shirt, as his wings make it very hard for him to wear a shirt.

History: Around the same time that Daemon was taken by Dorothea, Lucivar was taken by one of Dorothea's puppets, Prythian, the High Priestess of Askavi. Lucivar was then sent to Pruul, where he has spent most of his life in service to Zuultah, Pruul's Queen. Zuultah, like the Queen's who rent Daemon from Dorothea, is usually careful about keeping the two apart, but sometimes she forgets how dangerous they are together...

[Ashwyn]

I agree with you that the story was amazing. My question is, what time period are you setting it in, and are you going to use any kind of system?

[Daemon*Sadi]

Ah, a very good question. We're playing in the same time-frame as the beginning of the first book, but we are creating our own storyline. Everything is the same, characters, places, and anything that happened before the beginning of the first book. Everything after that is our own creation.

It's great to find someone who's read them. Did you want to join?

[Hatred]

I really dont mean to disrupt this but I must say that your character description was quite lovely. Makes a girl want to rent out a sex slave ;>

I would like to join in with your RP but I fear I'm quite lacking in knowledge of the kind of characters you are using.

[Daemon*Sadi]

Black Jewels Character Listing

That is a complete listing of all characters of any importance in the books. The website also has some other good info, as well as some humor from the books, but doesn't really have anything more than I've already broken down.

I would also be willing to help out anyone who does not really know what they're doing, my MSN is poisoned_dragon@hotmail.com in case anyone wants to discuss any of this.[/url]

[Daemon*Sadi]

Another Black Jewels Site

This one has lots of info on the characters and place involved in the books, its set up strangely, but is extremely informative.

[ElathanM]

I'd be very interested in joining, I've read the series a couple times, and if your the person I think you are we've even talked about the books aswell. Please get me on icq:156797984 if you have it or on aim: Yaslana SaDaiblo

[Mykayla]

ACK! Not fair! I'm upset with all of you...even if I don't know who you are! Why did you have to start this when I already have too many rp committments?? *giggles*

I just want to say that under normal circumstances I'd join this thread in a heart beat (I'm madly in love with this series, and I'm selfish and stuck up enough that I'd want to play a major character from at least one of the books *winks*). However I can't. I'm struggling to keep up with what I already have on my plate. *pouts* It's just not fair.

[Daemon*Sadi]

Mykayla- Well, I don't foresee this actually starting for a couple days now, so if you find an opening in your schedule before then, you're more than welcome. If not, you could always come in late.

[dustdevil]

I'd love to roleplay in this world - Mykayla got me hooked on the series. However, I would question the fact that you want to use two of the most powerful characters in the series as your characters, and then limit people to what they use. Or perhaps you'll let me run around with Saetan SaDiablo?

Seriously though, I think there's a lot of potential for a Black Jewels RP.... just keep the playing field a little bit level and I'd feel more comfortable joining in.

[Daemon*Sadi]

Actually, since you've read the series, I would let you play as Saetan, if you want. And you'll realize that both Daemon and Lucivar start out enslaved, and neither are really the types to be inclined to unleash their strength unless provoked, so the playing field is a lot more level than it may seem.

This RP will still go on, I'm just waiting for people to join, and for Harthar's schedule to become a little more available.

[EDIT]Oh, and the reason I'm limiting people as to what they can use is not to keep people from being too powerful, I am simply keeping with the history described in the series. In the series it specifically says that Daemon and Saetan are the only males ever to wear the Black. It also says that Lucivar and Andulvar are the only ones who currently wear Ebon-Gray. That is why I limited people to Gray or lighter, not because I wanna go on some power trip.[/EDIT]

[dustdevil]

Heh - I was being sarcastic. The series is so well written I'd be hard-pressed to write Saetan to the level that Bishop does. Heck, as it is I figure you are brave to take on Daemon.... that man's complex!

I'll see what my schedule is like when you folks decide to start, and let you know if I have the time. I haven't written in a month now - something I'd love to change...but life's been pretty busy.

Anyways, thanks for the reply.

[Ashwyn]

I'm still interested, I've just been waiting for it to start.
And I agree with dustdevil. You are far braver than I for playing Lucivar, let alone the Sadist!

[Hatred]

I'm almost through the first book and OMG it is simply wonderful! As I've been reading I've been trying to visualize who I could recreate through this RP and I find, so far, I'm lacking a character. I wouldn't dare touch Janelle(sp?) since I haven't finished readin the series. ;/

[dustdevil]

I'd be much more enthusiastic if we all made characters -from scratch- and just played something out. Perhaps play in one of the lesser territories that Dorothea is trying to subvert, or something like that. In a court setting like that there would be lots of room for all sorts of characters to co-exist - none of which have preset expectations from the book. If major players were needed (Saetan, Daemon, Heketah, etc), then someone could write their parts as necessary. Just my two cents on the matter.

[Ashwyn]

Once again I agree with dustdevil. Starting new characters with the major characters from the books as NPCs sounds better. I love the bookss (have read each at least 4 times now), and changing the course of events doesn't appeal.

[Harthar]

I have a few weeks that I am able to post in, but the I will be on my holidays for 2 months so I prolly won't be able to post during that and if I am able to then it won't be frequently.