The Crystal of Creation (OOC sign-up, info, etc)

[Seska Dragonslayer]

Story of Gaia - and its peril!

The gods.....

It always starts here, in every creation story. The gods - the mighty pantheon that gives life and reason, meaning, breath, art, and civilization to those places that have them not. And so it was with Gaia - but that was a long time ago. The Crystal was forged by those very gods - many of them having since passed on to new worlds, leaving their workings behind them. Every part of every city ever created was, at some point, grand and beautiful - but eventually, even the best become slums.

Welcome to Gaia.

Long ago, humans managed to become the dominant species of Gaia. Elves, dwarves....what we in the 'real world' call myths - still exist, but are fewer, scarcer. And ever since the begining of the 3rd age of Gaia, things have gotten worse.

Its started with the discovery of the Crystal. The Crystal of Life. The Crystal of Creation - a gem, left by the gods - that makes everything live, that gives life, and makes the circle of life from world to beings to world and back again continue ever onwards.

With its discovery, came the thirst for power. Powerful men - the Church, mostly - attempted to take and hold this relic of the gods. With it in their hands, they grew fat and wealthy, and ruled thel ives of others. No one dared move against the Church of Neimos, not even the lesser churchs - for they had the power. Not only creation itself in their hands - but the power to trurn creation to destruction, life to death. The dark force of black magic resided wholey in the Crystal, and those who kept it had the most powerful of this elusive art in their fat, wealthy hands. But that all changed three years ago.

Three very long years for Gaia, a world where magic and technology are so close that one rarely works without the other. BNut even with the power of magic and technology - humans tend to be very greedy, and they sought more. They skimmed through the dark places of the mind, and verily, the dark places beyond this plane of existence. Thats when it all went wrong.

No one knows what it was. A sorceror, working under the license of the church, called forth some unimaginable force. Aptly, it was named Seth, after the demonic god of the Egyptians on this world and a similiar civilization on Gaia. None have seen Seth since his summoning, bnuit then, how culd we? Seth is a god.

And when he came, he took the Crystal with him, and retreated to some horrible realm upon our own world. Since tis dissapearance, Gaia has begun to sicken, its peoples rife with war and disease, its people dwindling slowly as the circle of life that science reveres so is broken down one day at a time.

But the story gets no better from there. With it being stolen, a group of 'heros' attempted to follow the creature of darkness back to its lair. One could but wish that they had never been heard from again, but this is just not the case - Seth turned them into his own creations, stealing their free will, at least those who chose not to join his cause - and empowering them for the task they had been given.

Seth does not care for life. He wishes it destroyed, and with his new army of darkness, and finally with heads to lead them into the world - his reign of terror began in truth.

Sixteen years have passed since the war started. Holed up in the Nameless Peaks - a formidable range of mountains - he has sent his armies into every direction, every province. After sixteen years of fighting, we but barely hold back the terrible influence he brings at the borders of the Calm lands some hundered miles away from those dreaded spires of rock.

We cannot hold out forever. Without the Crystal, we dwindle every year. Without its power we are defensless against his might. And so the tale begins - because where the last group of saviors had failed, a new group must arise. We must work together, and destroy this evil - before it destroys us!

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Basic rundown, shortlike version of the story. An ancient, evil god has come and taken something precious from all of mankind and the kindered races. We want it back.

To do so, we must win our way to the Nameless mountains, and the lair of the dreaded Seth - and while many may try, it ios certain many will fall along the way.

If you wish to participate in this thread, be warned that any who choose to not keep up with posting will be written out after three or four dayso f inactivity, or two days if they hold up the thread.

Technology was mentioned above. There are no cars, but there are guns - simple guns, not XVCD 1500 MEGABLASTERS or anything....

Things like 30'6, Colts, etc. Some of them -may- be modified to fire magic laced rounds, but if you have a gun that does that, you will need me to OK it first. On the whole, while most people can have standard guns, everyone carries bladed weapons as well. Ammunition for projectile weapons is hard to come by, as so much of it was and is still being used in the war, and the gross portion of the materials needed to make the rounds was mined from the dread mountains and from other places now under Seths direct control. Excersize restraint with ranged weapons. Bows, Swords, Crossbows, Flails, Maces, Warhammers, Pikes, Spears, Guns, Magi-Guns are ok, though Magic guns need be passed by me. Rounds for ranged weapons are limited to no more than 150.

Also, be advised that there is a system in place here. The thread is free-form in manner of roleplay, but there will be numbers attached to character stats for the simple use of comparison and to keep godmoding down.

The system is simple.

You have 37 points to spread between all of these attributes. 5 is average for any character, - higher or lower is above or below average.

Keep in mind there is no such thing as levels or level gaining - everything is static and will remain fixed throughout the thread.

Charisma
Strength
Intelligence
Vitality
Speed
Knowledge
Endurance

That said, I will try to explain how this above system works. There is no such thing as numbers or damage or the like. This is free form RP - its up to you what happens to characters. However - if I see that your character with a score of 2 for strength is repeatedly fending off the attacks for something that has a strength score of, say, 7 - *buzz* wrong answer. Should that happen, I will ask you over PM or ICQ to edit your post. If you repeat the offense again, I will ask that the offending post be deleted, and if you fail to edit your posts so that you stop godmoding, then i will ask that posts be deleted. Don't get me wrong - justr becausey ou can't fend off the attack does not mean you get killed by it - use your imagination when doing this. No auto hitting, and no auto-dodging. Just use some common sense, keep in mind that everyone is on a level enough playing field here, remember that no character is perfect, and everything will go smoothly.

For both an example and to put my first character up, I will set Seska up below. The following format is rough at best, but for the sake of convinience, keep to it ;p

Name: Seska Kardis
Age: 17
Race: Half-Elven
Alignment: Good
Weight: 98 lbs
Height: 4' 3"
Eyes: Violet
Hair: Silver, worn to the waist.
Build: Light, young.
Occupation: Sorceress/Gunslinger
Other Important Stuffage: Blind at birth - uses senses and magic to see. Also afflicted with a cystic fibrosis-like genetic disease since birth...

Charisma - 6
Strength - 3
Intelligence - 8
Vitality - 4
Speed - 6
Knowledge - 7
Endurance - 3

Equiptment:

Equivilent Colt .45 w/ magic shell modification - 6 rounds in gun, extra 35 on person

30'6 w/ sniper scope, 5 rounds in clip, extra 50 on person

Short sword of tempered steel

Mage robes

Mage Staff (unique)

History:

This is a primary character. I will give details as to past history as it becomes necessary ;p

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Post away, those interested! By the by, I need one more evil sunuvabitch to play here, too!

[Auron Versai]

Name: Auron Versai
Age: ???
Race: Human
Alignment: Evil
Weight: 197 lbs
Height: 6' 1"
Eyes: Steel blue
Hair: dark brown, worn to shoulder blades
Build: Heavy and muscular
Occupation: Minion of Seth

Charisma - 4
Strength - 8
Intelligence - 6
Vitality - 7
Speed - 7
Knowledge - 6
Endurance - 6

Equiptment:

Unknown

History:

One of the five heroes to make an attempt at saving the Crystal, and failed.

[Avanth Lomician]

Name: Avanth
Age: ???
Race: Elven?
Alignment: Evil
Weight: 183 LBS
Height: 6' 5"
Eyes: Grey
Hair: White as snow, worn to waist
Build: Heavy and muscular
Occupation: Minion of Seth

Charisma - 1
Strength - 7
Intelligence - 9
Vitality - 5
Speed - 7
Knowledge - 9
Endurance - 4

Equiptment:

Unknown

History:

One of the five heroes to make an attempt at saving the Crystal, and failed.

[Aeyliea]

Name: Aeyliea
Age: ???
Race: Half-Dragon
Alignment: Evil
Weight: 143 lbs
Height: 5' 4"
Eyes: Crimson
Hair: Crimson, length to knees
Build: Light and agile
Occupation: Minion of Seth

Charisma - 1
Strength - 6
Intelligence - 7
Vitality - 5
Speed - 9
Knowledge - 7
Endurance - 7

Equiptment:

Unknown

History:

One of the five heroes to make an attempt at saving the Crystal, and failed.

[GabrielThief]

Name: Gabriel Knight
Age: 21
Race: Human
Alignment: Neutral
Weight: 165 lbs
Height: 5'10"
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black, a little past the shoulder, worn in tight ponytail
Build: Lithe, but muscular
Occupation: Thief/Assassin

Charisma - 7
Strength - 4
Intelligence - 6
Vitality - 3
Speed - 8
Knowledge - 6
Endurance - 3

Equipment:

Long, thick bladed dagger, for slashing and full frontal attacks, worn at waist.

2 Medium length, thin bladed daggers, for a variety of purposes, one in each boot.

Half a Dozen Short throwing daggers, hidden on his person.

Unnumbered Spikes, extremely sharp, for throwing, hidden on his person.

History:

Gabriel was abandoned at birth, and raised by a groups of thieves and assassins who operated out of his home town. They raised him and trained him in their art, teaching him to hide, sneak, steal, and kill with the best of them. Gabriel travels around, never staying in one place too long, finding the rich and powerful in a place and transferring ownership of their valuables to himself. When that doesn't work he sells his skills as an assassin to anyone who will pay his price.

[Seska Dragonslayer]

Char is approved.

[Ravan_Kiir]

Name - Ravan Kiir
Age - 17
Race - Elven
Alignment - Good
Weight - 113 lbs
Height - 5'3
Eyes - Brown
Hair - Brown, worn shoulder length
Build - Defined but small
Occupation - Martial Artist (Trained Since Birth)

Charisma - 5
Strength -5
Intelligence -5
Vitality -5
Speed -6
Knowledge -5
Endurance -6

Equipment - Quarterstaff, 10 throwing knives, Kama(X2) , Katana.
Quarterstaff is usually carried, throwing knives are worn around belt, Katana in Sheath around back.

The weapons are made from weapon smith masters, and are very hard to break.

[Seska Dragonslayer]

Character approved ;p

[Dengar]

Name: Dengar Arcus
Age: 18
Race: Human
Alignment: Neutral
Weight: 152 lbs
Height: 5' 9"
Eyes: Deep Blue
Hair: Black, short
Build: Average, agile
Occupation: Psychic Fighter

Charisma - 3
Strength - 5
Intelligence - 7
Vitality - 5
Speed - 7
Knowledge - 6
Endurance - 4

Equiptment:

A katana, strapped around his back. Made of a tough alloy which is difficult to break.

History:

Cast out by his family after finding out about his ability to read minds. While out on the road, he met someone similar to him, who taught him how to control his powers. He learned to sense presences and predict the direct future. This makes him an excellent combatant with quick reflexes. He's after the crystal for its power, for he believes that it would be the only way to have the people acknowledge him as one of their own.

[Seska Dragonslayer]

I believe in order to be able to -truely- use that skill, of psychic prowess, one would need at LEAST a 5, if not a 6 in knowledge.

I suppose I should break this down a little better. Here are what each trait roughly means:

Strength: Your physical strength - capability to lift objects, fight, carry - anything physically realted. Higher means yoru stronger - someone with, say, a 9 could lift boulders type strength while someone with a 1 can barely pick up ten pounds of weight....

Charisma: How you look, how appealing you are to other people....a little harder to describe. Someone with a high Charisma stat, such as 8 or 9, would find it very easy to convince people to do what they say. They also tend to be physically more attractive with higher scores, though having a low score does not make one ugly. SOmeone with say, a score of one is repulsive. Charisma can be affected by looks, by presence or auras, etc...

Intelligence: How intelligent your character is. It greatly affects magic wielder - the higher the score, the more powerful their magic. Intelligence does not, however, mean that a character knows a lot of things - it merely means they have the capability to think, and think fast or slow. Mages have above average intelligence, the best having as high as 9. People of low intelligence, such as 1, find it hard enough to complete a sentance without help.

Vitality: Your characters' ability to withstand hurt, and withstand injuries. A person with high vitality could take hits that would kill lesser beings - it does not make anyone immune, but people with high vitality can just take a hellacious punishment before succumbing to their hurts, while people with lower scores are easily disabled.

Speed: How fast your character is, how nimble, fleet of foot, how well they can dodge - those sort of things. A high score - thieves like that. Hard to hit and very fast. Low scores are typically people who are lazy, or who have not bothered defining speed.

Knowledge: What your character knows. Again, mages tend to have a slightly higher score here, but any expert has a high score as well. Knowledge depicts an understanding of some skill, some function....anything. Mythology, science, magic, combat - all require knowledge. Someone with a high score excells in their profession, while people with low scores always have to ask, or, if they have a low enough score, cannot preform any function at all.

Endurance: Your ability to endure hardship, stress, exaustion. Characters with a high score here can weather out that which would overwhelm their lesser counterparts, while people with low endurance are easily winded, easily overpowered....etc...

[Dengar]

Alright then, i thought only intelligence would matter to that. Anyways, I reduced my other stats to up my knowledge.

[Ralymnus Drell]

Name: Ralymnus Drell - "Ral"
Age: 19
Race: Half-Elven
Alignment: Good
Weight: 137 lbs
Height: 5' 9"
Eyes: Viridian
Hair: white, worn to mid-back
Build: Light, young.
Occupation: Wanderer
Other:

Charisma - 3
Strength - 6
Intelligence - 5
Vitality - 4
Speed - 9
Knowledge - 5
Endurance - 5

Equiptment:

2 long knives

Leather breeches

Leather Shirt

Elven Cloak- blend in with surroundings in forest

Brown leather boots



History: Ral was orphaned as a child and, since he has been able, has lived on his own amidst the forest. He avoids settlements on most occasions, though his curiosity will sometimes lead him there. With the emergence of Seth. Ral has decided that not even his forest home is safe and something must be done...he just didn't what.

[Seska Dragonslayer]

Character approved

[Harthar]

Name: Avanthar Dra`Aran (Shadow Demon) *Self proclaimed name, doesn't know his original one.
Age: 96
Race: Elven (Drow to be precise)
Alignment: Neutral
Weight: 104 lbs
Height: 5'7"
Eyes: Purple (in daylight) Red (when using infravision)
Hair: White, tied back in a pony tail with black leather cords.
Build: Lithe, tonned and of average strength
Occupation: Stopping evil doers (hehe)
Other:

Charisma - 1 (he is drow, everyone hates him, doesn't mean isn't a good looking drow.)
Strength - 4
Intelligence - 5
Vitality - 4
Speed - 10
Knowledge - 6
Endurance - 7

Equiptment:
All black cloths, all of elven make; trousers, tunic, breeches, knee high mocassons, belt, long cloak, gloves and bracers. Molded and hardened, black leather chest armour, made for maximum movement. Leather gloves and bracers, both of which are silenced so they will not creak when least expected.

Two blackened shortswords, with runes at both hilts. The runes are just those of his house.

One blackened Dirk and Long Knife.

Five throwing daggers, blackened, all about his body.

History: Born above ground by two renegade Drow, he was raised running away from the other races. Learning to be quick and also to know the weaknesses of certain enemies that he has encountered. Over the years he has developed his sword fighting skills and when his parents were killed, he took up his father's shortswords and began a long journey to help fight evil, but also to survive. He has done bad things in his life, but he has also done good things. No one really knows what his intensions are until he has completed what he wanted to do. When he turned fifty he had a run in with two barbarians and in one of their death troes, he was hit in the head by one of their clubs, not hard enough to kill him, but enough to releave him of his memery of who he was and just about everything else about himself. Since then he has relearnt the use of his shortswords, and renamed himself after one of his confrontations with more Barbarians, one of them shouting out that he was a devil. He made the rest of the name up. He remembers much about the weaknesses of many of his enemies, because fighting stuck foremost in his mind and so he was able to retain those memeries. When the war started, he has been a shadow in the back grounds, attacking small parties of scouts or other creatures of the enemy, not really taking a big part in the war.

[Seska Dragonslayer]

Char approved

Oh, and sorry for being so slow with actually posting of recent - been very buys ;p

[Dengar]

Uhm, was mine approved now? Or just the other person's?

[Seska Dragonslayer]

Yes, Dengar, yours is approved ;p

[Seska Dragonslayer]

Please - everyone go ahead and start posting....I need some material to respond to...

[Harthar]

I'll post when I see a good opportunity to jump in.