Epic Tales of Clashing Empires - Sign Ups, Chapter 1

[Jonas]

hmm, this seems interesting and I'd like to make a character. Ideally it would be a mage that leans towards illusion but I'm not sure how that fits in under your magic categories.

[William Swiftfoot]

There is alot of Wiggleroom Jonas, and being that what is described is mostly the "how" and not the what, I could see Illusions being cast using any of the 4 magics, although the result being different(ie, Psiconic Illusions being like a Desert Mirage)

[Jenia]

What Kenku said, Jonas.  These sources of magics are designed to be very "open ended". By moving from category to category, illusion wise, you merely move from "mirage" to "optical illusion" to "hallucination" to even "magical 3D animation". Interpretation really is up to the player beyond what I already wrote down.

By the way, you are all approved so far.

[Stormkit]

Right, I actually have the time to go into the individual characters.

Name: Altais Tyl
Gender: Male
Race: 'Uplifted' Blendscale (I don't know what to call it... blendscale/djuni looking thing?)
Specializations: Chaos magic, Physical Enhancement, imitation, and psycology.

What the hell that means: Al is an innate mage of the element chaos. This does not mean he casts chaos type spells, but rather that his spells are related to chaos. Basically the details of his magic differ from day to day. One day he might operate by influencing chance and fate around him to get what he wants, and interesting/unlikely events are more likely to occur (aka, improbability drive mode).

Another option is direct application of chaos, causing ordered things to lose order, but ignoring things which are already chaotic. This means a cauldron lid would not help you at all, but a shield with suit of armor would help protect you quite a bit though you'd end up with severely warped equipment afterwards. Metal rusts and wood starts to grow once more, while humans might suddenly suffer stroke, break a bone, or suddenly develop straight teeth. The longer you are effected, the longer something permanent and/or bad is likely to happen to you. This is what I refer to as raw chaos mode.

On the other side of the coin, 'refined' chaos mode is where he wields chaos more like a scalpel than a sledgehammer. It's not quite so powerful, but he can control where it goes, causing a wooden door to warp out of the way rather than abruptly put out branches and root itself into the ground.

Next, random mode, is when he literally has no control over his spells. For those of you familiar with TotQ, think Wildcard. Once the spell starts, he knows what it does, the limits, and can control it, but before that he has little to no input. The limit of what he can do is determine the purpose of his spell, such as attack, heal, summon, etc.

There may be other variations, but in the interest of not going on forever, I'll move on to Physical Enhancements. In some ironic and confusing twist of nature, Al actually has pretty good control over his magic when it's applied to himself or people he knows well (pretty much just his brother really). This may seem like he himself is ordered and causes chaos around him, but that is actually very wrong. He is not the eye of the storm, but rather the storm is most intense around him. Al is a master of riding out chaotic situations and acts best when there are a lot of random factors and events flying around. This plus a sort of 'familiar grounds' phenomenon causes him to have very good control of magic applied to himself. Like a really good surfer, it's easier to surf properly on a big wave than on still water. Also like such a surfer, screwups are rare, but rather spectacular.

The last thing mentioned was imitation/psychology, which means that he knows how to get into someone's head and mimick them and their spells for a short amount of time. I'm not sure if this counts as a specialization, but it's a nifty skill I thought worth mentioning. There may be other specializations that I didn't think to list here... if so I'll edit this later.

The rest of the points such as appearance, history, etc I already explained and is the same for both twins. Due to Al's control over himself, appearance is not actually set, but you can go off what I said earlier for their 'natural' forms. Generally due to prejudices against 'freaks', the twins find it easier to pretend to be blendscales for the most part, hiding all signs to the contrary by various means when traveling in populated areas.

Age: 20
Weapon of choice: Martial arts. Due to the chaotic nature of his magic, Al quickly realized is wasn't wise to rely too heavily on it in case things went wrong, so developed something that didn't have to be carried around and was very versatile. This plus his enhancement magic makes him a formidable foe, especially against multiple enemies and in chaotic situations where he is right at home in his element.

He will also occasionally fight with an actual weapon just for kicks or because the situation calls for it, but doesn't carry them around so has to summon a new one every he needs it. This sometimes leads to awkward situations where he's facing a knight in armor with dinner cutlery. He can use his personally applied magic to give himself temporary proficiency with what he's stuck with.

Interesting facts: I'm taking a quantum angle on chaos, meaning when you look at him casting a spell, it will look different every time you look. In generally, his magic will get the job done, it just does so in rather questionable paths.

I'll get to Eltanin (El) on another day when I've time... :/

[EmperorDJ]

Heres mine! Feel free to change if need!

Name:  Joshua Dalca

Gender:  Male

Race: Djuni

Specialization(s):Pistols, Fire Arms, Short Swords, Long Swords, Shields,
Medium Armor

Age: 19.

Occupation:  Freelance

Weapon(s):  2 Double Barreled Flintlock pistols. Standard Falchion.

Alliance:  Simon Renault

Description:  Like all the Djuni, he has shoulder length Scarlet Hair and Piercing Golden eyes. He is 6 feet and 3 inches tall.

Bio:  He used to live in a Djuni Village in south-east Wyvernon called Yuean. The Village itself encourages trade with the outside word and has adopted the use of guns. He never really liked the place. Incidentally, he never actually learned how to control the small percent of dragon blood that pumps in his veins. However he did learn how to use Firearms.  So the second he fully learned how to survive on his own, he left the village with the two pistols his father gave him. All he ever wanted to do was travel and see the entire world with his own eyes. What better way to do that then by walking. Ok. He hates that part too. So he works as a free lancer. Doing anything to get money so he can survive and travel.   Recently, He has met with a Lisk who said he was going to the Capital. Joshua has never been to the Capital. Opportunity! He now travels with his new friend Simon Renault.  

[Jenia]

Altais has been approved.
Joshua is approved.
Note my character has been edited into bottom of first post.

We're starting now, folks.
We're making this happen!

[Jonas]

Name: Sennel Wright
Gender: Male
Race: Lupe (wolf-anthro)
Specialization(s): Illusions and Spellweaving
Age: Mid thirties, though he behaviour might make you think otherwise...
Occupation: Scholar/Researcher
Weapon(s): Has a book he likes looking through, but no significant weaponry to speak of. Has a pocket knife though.
Alliance: Whoever he likes, finds interesting, or looks nice                      
Description: Well muscled and standing at almost two metres tall, Sennel can be a bit imposing to those new to him. His appearance is somewhat contradicted by a genteel demeanour and friendly (sometimes overly so) personality. His interest in fairies leads him to collect trinkets and ornaments decorated in their style, which only leads to the confusion.
Bio: Sennel loves fairies. He’s fascinated by them. Only met one once but it was a life-changing experience. Though far from a renowned expert, his years of study has left him with a fair knowledge of their kind, though he spends a bit too much time reading old stories and alleged accounts rather than definitive works. A result of his study is moderate skill with illusion and spellweaving (direct interaction with magic, usually involves screwing with already-cast spells). The nature of his specialization requires Sennel to temporarily distance himself from reality when he casts, causing his personality to change for a short time after every spell. Indicators include short attention span, blank look when he’s actually paying attention, occasional spouting of non-sequiters, and a tendency to hug anything nearby.

Like most Lupes, he hails from the eastern forests of Sicklen, where the species is most concentrated. Though they live in close-knit packs much like the Lisk, the Lupe social structure is an intricate web of alliances and grudges that would not look out of place in a royal court. Sennel left the forests out of curiosity of what lies beyond, and a brief encounter with a fairy sent him straight to the closest Farman city to find someone who would teach him more about the creatures. Ten years later, Sennel finds himself with a recently dead master (the guy was old!) and the job of travelling to inform his relatives and deliver a few personal belongings.

[Stormkit]

Wait... Altais approved... but not Eltanin? Awww... shoot. Forgot to set up my second twin >.< I mean I know Jenia already pretty much approved him, but I should probably post him here anyway.

Name: Eltanin
Gender: Male
Race: 'Uplifted' Blendscale
Specializations: Picking up new skills, order magic, Analyzation, and pattern recognition

What the hell that means: Like his brother, El is innate blood. Unlike his brother, El is very much Order oriented. His magic works best when there's an order to it, though the order is really only important to the person casting it. For smaller magics, he can improvise easily with stuff like quickly scrawling runes that represent in his mind what he wants to happen. Boosts can be made with objects relevant to the spell, like a rock to focus an earth spell.

Whereas his brother controls the effect, but not so much how the spell works, El has complete control over how the spell works, but doesn't have much say on the end result. This may sound odd, but what it means is if Al tries to set something on fire, it may spontaneously combust, or get hit with lightning, or maybe it'll generate a fireball with appropriate side effects. When EL tries to start a fire, he chooses one of the above (let's say spontaneous combustion) and tries to make it happen. Depending on how well a job he did and unaccounted for variables (like wet wood, no nearby oxygen, etc) it may or may not actually catch on fire.

This means that El also has spells which work best on himself and those he's very familiar with like his brother as he already knows all the variables and which way to turn them to get the desired result. The more ordered something is, the easier it is for El to work with (aka, less likely something will go wrong). This means good defense against him is unpredictability. Also like his brother, things around him will frequently begin to show signs of order in odd ways. This is a result of the brothers not having full control of their magic just yet, and while the cause may differ, it's often difficult to tell which one of them is responsible for the spilled sugar to look uncannily like the Mona Lisa or local authority or something.

On large scales, Al's magic works by alligning all of the variables just right so every domino falls right into place whereas El's works more like computer programs. When done properly, the effects can be devastating, but it's a lot like a computer program: garbage in, garbage out. In fact, El's magic for big or repeated things work a lot like a computer program. If he sets up a template for a spell he can pull in up later without having to set it up again. Also it's a useful way for him to keep track of really big spells that he's working on as they appear to him (and anyone else with mage sight) as glowing lines and figures rotating around in a 3-D diagram that he uses as an 'interface' to set up his spells in various ways.

Because El has to deal with figuring out these situations frequently, he quickly developed the skill of recognizing and accounting for ways things can go wrong. This is by the way, the analyzation and pattern recognition thing. As for picking up skills quickly, that's pretty much the label on the tin can. We're talking basic level stuff, possibly a little advanced. Nothing as crazy as learning advanced ninjitsu by watching a ninja attack.

Age: 20
Weapon of Choice: While El is quite fond of martial arts, especially using tai chi/juditsu to use an opponent's moves against them, he tends to mostly work with direct magic.

Group dynamic notes: Al is sort of impulsive and will act on the moment while El thinks long term and is more thinky about stuff. Yes this is sort of cliche'd, but it works.

[Jenia]

To keep this official: Sennel is approved.
Stormkit, I know you told ME their appearance, but it won't be fair unless listed here  Others need to know, as well!

[Stormkit]

What? But... I totally mentioned appearance! They look like more anthrosized versions of blendscales! It's not that hard :/

They have wings, and their digits be pointy, and also draconic snouts, but since that's all sorts of awkward in public they disguise themselves as regular blendscales disguising themselves as greenscales. With magic!

[Jenia]

What? But... I totally mentioned appearance! They look like more anthrosized versions of blendscales! It's not that hard :/

They have wings, and their digits be pointy, and also draconic snouts, but since that's all sorts of awkward in public they disguise themselves as regular blendscales disguising themselves as greenscales. With magic!

And most of that isn't listed  And it should be, for our future illusion-piercing friends, if any.

[Dragyn]

Bah.  I want in on this, but I'm so very very busy with the schoolwork.

Maybe I'll find time later today.

[Stormkit]

Umm... they aren't using illusions. It's physical transformation magic. I mentioned Al's good at physical enhancements right? It's not much harder for El. All they're doing is 'tucking in' their wings, claws, and snout. The color changing thing is a natural blendscale ability. If they were to be say... a lisk, then it would be harder to do that physically and they may have to resort to illusions. Natural form to blendscale's kinda easy though. You might see remnant traces of magic dusted on their hands and feet, face and back, but you wouldn't 'see through' the illusion.

[Jenia]

Umm... they aren't using illusions. It's physical transformation magic. I mentioned Al's good at physical enhancements right? It's not much harder for El. All they're doing is 'tucking in' their wings, claws, and snout. The color changing thing is a natural blendscale ability. If they were to be say... a lisk, then it would be harder to do that physically and they may have to resort to illusions. Natural form to blendscale's kinda easy though. You might see remnant traces of magic dusted on their hands and feet, face and back, but you wouldn't 'see through' the illusion.

Sorry, sorry. Either way, the classic "real form sight" (or "True Seeing" if you do DnD a lot) is not illegal, so either way, you have to give fellow players the option of piercing your disguise. Magically. Sorry for the confusion - hope this is clearer.

[Stormkit]

Ah, well if they used soul sight, or true form seeing or something they'd manage. But just illusion piercing would get nothing, and mage sight would only tip you off that there's an alteration spell from the glitter dust residue stuff. So long as people are reasonable about it...