A Dragon's Bane [OOC]

[Falciferum]

“Are you folks ready for an gran' old Foxclov arena battle? It be the final round o' the tournament and have we got a show for you! It be the great ol' Aglæca himself, arena combatant extraordinaire Versus Garrand Lopus o' Glantop. Let's be hopin' you aristocrats din't put your bets down on ol' Lopus. Ahahha! Let's get this brawl on!”

Iron noise exploded from the gong on the far left side of the arena, this was the signal for the final round of the tournament to begin. Aglæca Unsheathed his spear and sprung up over the lowering iron gates in front of him. The arena he fought in today was small, only large enough to house twenty or so combatants, but this made no difference to him, his opponent would die all the same.

As his feet kicked up dirt and he gained speed he noticed something strange at the other end of the arena; instead of one combatant there were three. What a scandalous act by the opposing forces. It is true he had won the previous matches in little more than a minute, but that was no excuse for sending a trio of opponents for him to fight. It mattered naught however, they would all die.

He met the slow approaching foes three fourths of the way across the arena where he slid to a halt. The three through their blades at him and he moved to the right with adequate enough speed to dodge the incoming weapons. As the first sword hit the ground at his side he swung his spear from the ground up, slicing the man in front of him in two as though he were made of twigs. The others had seen this act, lifted their blades quickly up off the dirt and held their shield at the ready in front of their faces.

Blood dripped off the tip of his readied spear as he awaited one of the men's advance. This spear was specially designed just for him, the blade spanned half the overall length, which made it a considerable lot heavier than an average spear. Aglæca could handle this extra weight without enduring any slowdown whatsoever.

One of his enemies came at him, charging like a Wyvern would, arms outstretched hoping to distract him from the real target of his attacks, the head. Whoosh. With one fell swoop of his pole the man's head was sliced clean off. Sounds of a falling body and head were heard to his side as he advanced on the combatant in front of him.

This man's eyes were filled with terror, he did not want to be here. No doubt he was the spawn of some rich nobleman's greed. He had not bet on Aglæca and was loosing money because of it, a fool for gambling anyway. Upon further inspection of the face of this enemy Aglæca realized it was not a full grown man but a boy. A boy! How dare they insult him by bringing out some child not but 18 to fight him.

“What sort of ripe bastards are ye sendin' a boy to fight a man's battle? I ought to be up there loppin' thy heads off not this wee youngin's. Plum ripe bastards ye are, plum ripe bastards the lot o' ya.” With this Aglæca walked out of the stone-walled arena, out the rusted iron spikes that had slid into the floor and in the wooden door he had walked out just a few minutes before.

After a moment of walking Aglæca was back outside, this time out of the arena. Midday sun shone down on his sun-darkened skin and right in his eyes causing him to shield them with his arm for a time. When he he had adjusted to the sudden light he removed his arm from his eyes and saw a person in a black cloak standing in front of him.

“Not very bright in the arena when the sun is in the middle of the sky eh? Or is it that ye adjust to the darkness quickly?” The robed person was a woman, though he could only tell because of the voice. It was soft yet held an underlying harshness, with a piercing tone that put Aglæca on the defensive.

“Who art thou?”

“Surely that is no way to greet a friend Aglæca. I bring good, or bad I suppose, news for you. My master would like to see you at his mansion. Everything you need to know is here on this card.” She placed a card in his hand, a beautiful card it was. Black as the night with bright gold embroidery that shone in the high sunlight. He looked up to inquire about something more but when he gazed ahead the girl was gone.

He now had a card in his hand and with it came a mission. A mission to fell dragons.

A Dragon's Bane

First off I would like to say thank you to all who have read over the introduction. This will be the first RP I have started myself and I hope it will be successful, but that will rely on you, the RPers. I'll start off with some information on the creatures and world this RP is set in.

Dragon Species

Blackened Dragon:

A dragon whose heart, mind and body has been turned to complete evil by an unknown force.

Spoiler:

These dragons came into existence around 500 years ago and have ravaged villages and empires throughout that time. Their scales are painted pure black by the corruption and sin wrought upon them by the unknown. Presumably, they were once mighty gold dragons but as time went on they became less and less like them and eventually changed entirely. They Attack anything and everything they see, living only to kill and to thrive on the flesh of their victims. Originally weak, these beasts have become the most powerful of the dragons, only fools would dare venture after them.

Valor Dragon:

A dragon whose red scales and fiery heart allow it to breath fire and withstand amazing heats.

Spoiler:

Valor, or Red Dragons are incredibly territorial and will attack on sight if anything steps onto their claimed land. They have existed for as long as Brandan has been inhabited by humans, likely longer. Most live in hot, inhabitable environments in caves or active volcanoes. Their scales allow them to resist temperatures that would kill humans on contact. Scavengers by nature, Valor Dragons will only go after food if it is already dead; however, at times it can be difficult to scavenge because of the extreme conditions they live in and they will go after food in times of need.

Shining Drake:

A dragon whose sheer size strikes terror into even the mightiest of warriors.

Spoiler:

Shinning Drakes, or Gold Dragons as they are often referred to are the least common species of dragon in Brandan. At one time it is said that these beasts were the most populous of the dragon species but in recent years their numbers have waned. It is difficult to get an accurate population number due to their strange migratory patterns and so there is no definite amount. They are renowned for their rarity and many people worship them like gods. Like most other dragons they will attack anything they see as food on sight.

Frigid Drake:

A dragon who lives in the coldest climates on the face of the planet.

Spoiler:

Frigid Drakes, White Dragons or Silver Dragons have an incredible resistance to cold. They are unaffected by temperatures down to -50 degrees Fahrenheit. This allows them to live in places that nothing else on the planet could ever dream of even traveling to. Being reserved from the world allows for next to no human contact, which causes them to have a difficult time interacting with people. Their only means of gathering food is scavenging, this is often the only time they leave their cave homes. It is possible for a frigid drake to breath ice, the temperature in the area needs to be very cold or else they will only blow cold air. They are the most timid of the dragons and usually run and hide when confronted with people or large animals.

Wyvern:

These species of dragons have only two legs and rely on their winged arms for flight.

Spoiler:

Wyverns are the smallest of the dragons and have few exceptional abilities. Their arms are much stronger than a dragon's wings which allows them to fly for a longer amount of time than any other dragon. This extra flight time is amplified by their smaller mass. Most of the time Wyverns will live in a nest they prepare out of felled trees and plucked bushes but it is not uncommon to see them in caves or roaming the lands for a new home.

Mythical Dragons:

Some dragons have never been seen by human eyes. Only legends exist of these frightening beasts.

Hokaru: Said to live near the sea, this dragon is said to be thousands of feet long and exceedingly slender for its length. It could encompass whole fleets of ships and drag them to the deep in one swift movement.

Konyoshi: This bird-like dragon is said to live under the ocean, only surfacing to strike down passing ships. It is also said to have power over the seas and can cause storms at any time it so pleases. It is about the size of a Wyvern, lacking feet but making up for it with its massive wing span, which stretches out twice as long as a Shinning Drake's

Nimia: Hundreds of legends have depicted this creature in one way or another and over the years the legends have been compiled and named the Nimia. This dragon is said to have anywhere between two and eight heads, each with its own personality and mind. Some tales describe each head to have one distinct color, which represent the other species of dragon. Other legends tell of a Blackened Dragon who had become malformed at birth and was born with two heads.

The World: Brandan

Brandan has four main continents. Each has about the same land mass, but completely different climates and geographies. The continent this RP is set on is Canicus. Canicus is divided into four main regions based primarily on climate. The continent as a whole is about the size of North America but is shaped like more of an oval. The four distinct regions are divided like so:

Paytah: The hot, fiery region of Cancius. Paythah has numerous active volcanoes, all of which are connected by underground lines that hold lava. These lines act as a safety feature for the volcanoes. Without it they could erupt all at once or none of them could erupt for hundreds of years, but with the tunnel system they erupt, for the most part, one at a time. This keeps the climate hot and the volcanoes all active, and also prevents explosive eruptions, making it so that the volcanoes only ooze fiery lava. There are patches of land that hold no lava or volcanoes and a few volcanoes that have become dormant because they weren't connected to the tunnel system, and these areas are the only places where human life can exist.

Paytah takes up the North-Eastern quarter of the continent. Both Hollis and Pyry encroach on its territory around the edges slightly but do not take away much of the area.

Pyry: The snow-covered, ice-cold region of Canicus. Numerous, tall mountain peaks take up the majority of Canicus's area. Most of the time it is cloudy and snowing but for some months in summer the clouds wane and sun pokes it head through, to the snowy landscapes. It is not uncommon for people to live here, but they are usually hardened from birth to live with the frigid temperatures. Only a few species of animals live in this snowy region of Canicus: goats, certain canines and other, often small, creatures.

Pyry is set on the North-Western edge of Canicus, there is one large gulf that takes some of the land away from the region on the west edge.

Hollis: This region is filled with rainforest and swamps. Many species of plant and animal life thrive here, which often makes it easy for humans to do the same. Rainforests compose most of the land while a few swamps dot the landscape sporadically. The swamps hold many mysteries that humans have yet to uncover, and most seek to keep it like that. The are some things in the swamps that people shouldn't want unleashed on the world.

Hollis takes hold of the South-Eastern part of Canicus. Though it is smaller than the other regions it makes up for it with sheer size of animal and plant populations.

Rithika: The largest of the four regions of Canicus, Rithika has a high concentration of lakes, rivers and streams. The majority of the population inhabits this region and most all of the major kingdoms rule from here as well. Soil is fertile and water is plentiful, coming down from Pyry during the summer months and keeping the lakes full and rivers flowing throughout the winter season. Cities take up most of the landscape here and many of the native animals have been pushed out by humans but it continues to prosper, getting food from other regions, specifically Hollis.

Rithika is set up on the South-Western part of Canicus. It takes up the most area out of the regions and has the most ports for exporting and importing making it the trade center of the continent.

Islands and Smaller Regions: There are many islands off the coast of Canicus. Each has their own environment separate from the mainland's. They also have their own specific geographies and vegetation. The small regions in between each of the larger ones have the most unique climates, often mixing two other region's climates into their own.

Characters

Mages and Magic:

Magic is the study of runes and the application on them in a speedy fashion. One studies their whole life to be able to use spells (runes) to their fullest potential. Most of these people are called "sages" and used by one empire to do anything a normal human cannot. They have power over the elements for the most part, though they can also use telekinesis and hear people's thoughts. There are many different forms of magic and I will let you decide on what powers you aquatint with your character but know that even after a life time, sages are still incapable of using all runes effectively and can only use a few within the blink of an eye.

But if they have to draw runes how can they perform magic in the blink of an eye? You might ask. Well it's quite simple really. After practicing a rune for years and years, memorizing it completely and using it hundreds and hundreds of times the rune "imprints" itself on the user. It doesn't leave any mark on the sage physically but it does leave a mark mentally. Runes that have been imprinted on a user will never leave their mind and their rune does not need to be drawn. However, there is only so much space for imprinting on one's mind. Think of it like tattooing, once something is tattooed on it won't come off and it takes up space on the body. This space cannot be used again by another tattoo or it will obscure the image. Once all of the space on the body is taken up by tattoos it will be unable to handle any more, the same is true for the human brain. The more complicated the rune the more space it will take up, like a larger tattoo. It is still possible to perform any spell after having your brain fully imprinted you need only to draw the rune.

Runes:

Runes are learned from spell tomes, books that depict the proper way to draw a rune. Most tomes are incredibly rare only being obtained by rich and powerful kingdoms. For this reason many average people living in the country or the city cannot obtain them. Though the tomes do sometimes slip into the public hand or are passed down from generations of a family and this gives opportunities to the common folk to learn magic.

Battle Mages:

These powerful individuals have obtained a tome in some way or another and have learned the ability to use runes. They usually focus primarily on combat while relying on their magic for support but some have come to know many spells and use them with their battles.

If a battle mage imprints a rune to their mind they will never be able to become as skilled with any weapon as another who has never imprinted. This is due to the fact that imprinting takes up space on the mind, space that would normally be used to improve combat skills. One who imprints can still be a master with a blade imprinting just means that they will never live up tho their full potential.

Using magic in battle is usually frowned upon by the public and often times battle mages have to hide their abilities while in the open. It is considered a sagely act to practice magic and many citizens of the world believe sages are the only ones who should be allowed to practice this art. Hiding their magic isn't hard for most since they often have little knowledge of the runes but some cannot operate in conflicts without them. For these reasons battle mages do not come into large towns or compete in tournaments often. They generally live secluded lives by themselves away from towns and other people.

Warriors:

The warrior is the standard for fighting in the world of Brandan. Typically hulking men who can perform any job assigned to them by any number of people. They are the guards to palaces, the mercenaries for hire, the royal knights on horseback and hold plenty of other jobs. There are far too many jobs involving warriors that there really is no normal occupation for a warrior.

~~~~~~

Alrighty, now that that's through I can move on to talking about the RP part of the RP.

Your Role: You are a fighter of dragons. It may not be that way at first but it will come to be, whether you reject it at first or accept it willing you will become a dragon hunter. All of the RPers will get a message sent by a mysterious person (not necessarily the one in the intro) and will have to decide to join the fight or accept the call. The one summoning you will stop at nothing to get you to join his dragon-fighting army and will eventually force you to come.

You don't have to be any of the characters I listed up there, they are just what should be the norm for the RP. You could be a street rat, a common thief, a bard, or any other character you can think up that would fit into the world.

With that said, here is the character sheet.

Spoiler:

Please post here first and then PM me your character sheet. I will then accept it or tell you what to work on, I don't plan to exclude anyone from the RP.

I probably missed something or restated one thing or another so if you have any questions please feel free to post here and I'll answer as soon as I can. And once again, thank you for reading, and hopefully signing up for, A Dragon's Bane!

[Guest]

Name: Mistress Danija Bosh'laron of Rithika
Age: 37
Gender: Female
Appearance: Statuesque and graceful, Danija has long, flowing, reddish-brown hair, dark brown eyes, pale white skin, and ruby red lips.

Personality: Calm and peaceful on the surface, she has a fire brewing within her that is just waiting to be unleashed.
Magic: Danija has focused her training on the element of fire.
Weapons: She has two curved blades that she keeps tucked away inside of her heavy robes, only turning to them when her magic fails her, which isn't very often.
Biography: I will update this section as the story unfolds...

[Falciferum]

Name: Eileifr Papillion

Age: 37

Gender: Male

Appearance: Eileifr stands tall at 6' 4”, and weighs 240, purely muscular, pounds. His arms bulge with hulking muscle from all his days of training with his scythe. It's what he considered training at least, farming was his job and reaping and mowing with the scythe was what he loved to do. His entire body was chiseled thanks to the job, though his arms were what reaped most of the rewards.

His face is adorned with a large, full, brown beard that falls off his chin and reaches down to the bottom of his chest, and a mustache which is just as full and drops down to his chin. It is hard to tell the difference between the two, they are like one. Brown hair, the same as his beard and mustache, tops his head, woolly and grand. It falls down just past his ears on the sides and a slight bit past that in the back. His bangs are shorter than the rest, stopping before his eyebrows so as to stay out of his eyes in combat. Brown eyes poke out from the massive amount of hair on his face, along with his nose, the only parts of his face that have no traces of hair on them.

Clothing is not something Eileifr holds too highly. He wears common clothing that one could find anywhere. A pale green shirt with short sleeves tops his torso, while pants of the same plain color cover his legs fully. Both the pants and the shirt have hints of brown, pale as the green, running through them. On the shirt it comes in on the shoulders and collar as well as the bottom, where it meets the pants. And on the legs it is only noticeable on the very bottom, above his shoes. His shoes match the rest of his attire, looking plain and average, they are a shade of green similar, though slightly different, to the clothing above them.

Personality: Eileifr is a humble man and his personality shows just that. He does not believe he is better than anyone else, nor does he feel that his fighting skills outmatch any others. This humble nature is not always a virtue, however.

Weapons: Eileifr owns only one weapon, the only one he needs, his scythe, Parvana. Special made specifically for him, Parvana is made out of pure steel, from snaith upwards. This makes it more difficult to wield, but for Eileifr it is still as simple to handle as a traditional wooden scythe. It is colored green, snaith to toe, except for the ring which is a dulled golden color. It is said an enchantment was placed on Parvana to make it colored like this but even Eileifr does not know this for certain.

Biography: Eileifr grew up on a farm with his family: Mother, Father and one Sister. He would do any jobs they needed of him from the time he could walk, this hardened his body and humbled his heart. His parents instilled in him proper values and shaped him into a fine young man. When he was 20 he left his home in search of adventure, which he would surely find.

In little more than five years he found his first family that he would stay with. He had traveled from his home in northern Rithika to Pyry and lived with a family in the freezing cold mountains for three years. While there he learned how to gather food in the frigid mountains and even how to survive if he were to be stranded in the snow for weeks. Though this life was good it had to end, and this end was brought by a dragon.

While out gathering food for his new family a Frigid Drake had paid his home a visit. As he returned he saw only a destroyed shack in the snow. No human to speak of, only the ruined foundation of his home. There was nothing he could do for his house, or new family now, so he decided to head out in search of another family to stay with or an adventure to be had.

Four years past and Eileifr had done little more than travel aimlessly across the continent. Until he was confronted with a challenge that most would never even dream to face. A Blackened Dragon.

He had been wandering in Hollis, traveling in and out of the swamps, and seeing whatever there was to see. But his wandering was stopped one day by the Drake. A monstrous beast, and even though it was the smallest of the four legged dragons it still stood twice as tall as he. At this time he had not had Parvana forged, all he had to fend off the beast was a scythe he had kept with him since his days farming with his family.

Eileifr stood in a swamp, his feet covered in mud and murky waters. He could do nothing but face his attacker. The Dragon lunged forward with lightening speeds and all Eileifr could do was hold his scythe out in front of him and hope that the beast would strike it first. With eyes fastened shut, he stood, but after a moment he realized nothing had happened and looked ahead. The beast was stopped.

Eileifr could do nothing but look around, there was no one in sight, though it was difficult to see very far through the thick covering of foliage.

“Go young warrior. It is the only option” A voice came from everywhere, and yet nowhere at the same time. He was still dumbstruck though, and could not bring himself to move. “I will tell you once more warrior. Go. I cannot hold this beast forever, nor can I defeat it.”

“Why are you--”

“No questions foolish boy. Leave!” The voice screamed. This final shriek brought Eileifr's feet into action and he ran, ran as far away as he could, and in a few minutes he heard a cry. It was the same voice from before. Pain shot through it. What had happened?

That event haunted him there fourth, he would never forget the day, or the scream. After that day Eileifr moved only in Rithika. Visions of that dragon haunted his every thought and he could not bear to bring himself into more danger.

He began to compete in tournaments held by towns and empires, and won most. Money to feed himself was all he desired from this and he would ignore the fame brought on by his subsequent victories. One thing that was worth far more than food to him did come out of these tournaments, however. His scythe, his most valuable possession.

Delbirge: site of the Porlux Tournament. This is where Eileifr would obtain his most prized possession, Panvana. The Porlux tournament was the most challenging tournament in all of the continent of Canicus, bringing in fighters from every region. Held only once every three years, this was the most important part of many competitor's lives.

This was not the case for Eileifr, all he wanted was the prize money. It had been months since he had came across a tournament and his food supplies were running low, so he decided to partake in the prestigious tournament. He came out on top, and he earned his prize money, as well as an unexpected reward. A weapon was to be commissioned by a master blacksmith, blessed by a holy priestess, and given to him as a prize. Of course he would have them create a scythe.

A week went by, and finally Eileifr was given his scythe. It was unlike anything he had ever seen, surely the only scythe that had been made for fighting rather than reaping crops. Needless to say, Eileifr was incredibly pleased with his new weapon. He has used the scythe ever since, in every tournament he has competed in since, and will continue to use it until the day he dies .

[Falciferum]

Is there anyone else particularly interested in this?

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