Enkerzed
Dusty Wanderer
DRAGOON
~~~
It's another dawn here in the Monastery. I can already hear the apprentices training outside on the mountain tops, practicing with sword and spear as they leap from the highest peaks. Judging from the laughter though, I suspect they're playing at games rather than focusing on techniques, but I suppose that's to be expected. They're all young yet and boundlessly energetic. Ah, to be young again.
The air of course is as cool and clean as ever, and the winds continue to blow strong. Cuts like a knife really in this drafty old place, but all grumbling aside, there is very little to actually complain about and less of anything noteworthy to report. There have not been any serious dragon attacks throughout the entire year and most of our disciples have been resting on their haunches here more often than not.
The kingdom on the other hand is once again at war, as you might have already heard. You would think that all those esteemed and illustrious nobles will eventually tire of it, but apparently not it seems. I'm glad to have left that life far behind. Though I must confess, every time something like this happens I worry that we may get dragged into it somehow.
Perhaps it is merely my pessimistic nature. After all, I never expected to live a life free from servitude to this lord and that lord, much less experience it. Maybe I still think it's all too good to be true. Or maybe I just wanted more to write than 'all is quiet at home'. In any case, I hope this letter finds you in good health. All in all, I just want you to know that the old Monastery is still standing.
May Gaia bless your travels and ensure your safe return.
~~~
Main rp
Discord
~~~
It's another dawn here in the Monastery. I can already hear the apprentices training outside on the mountain tops, practicing with sword and spear as they leap from the highest peaks. Judging from the laughter though, I suspect they're playing at games rather than focusing on techniques, but I suppose that's to be expected. They're all young yet and boundlessly energetic. Ah, to be young again.
The air of course is as cool and clean as ever, and the winds continue to blow strong. Cuts like a knife really in this drafty old place, but all grumbling aside, there is very little to actually complain about and less of anything noteworthy to report. There have not been any serious dragon attacks throughout the entire year and most of our disciples have been resting on their haunches here more often than not.
The kingdom on the other hand is once again at war, as you might have already heard. You would think that all those esteemed and illustrious nobles will eventually tire of it, but apparently not it seems. I'm glad to have left that life far behind. Though I must confess, every time something like this happens I worry that we may get dragged into it somehow.
Perhaps it is merely my pessimistic nature. After all, I never expected to live a life free from servitude to this lord and that lord, much less experience it. Maybe I still think it's all too good to be true. Or maybe I just wanted more to write than 'all is quiet at home'. In any case, I hope this letter finds you in good health. All in all, I just want you to know that the old Monastery is still standing.
May Gaia bless your travels and ensure your safe return.
~~~
Main rp
Discord
So this roleplay will take place on a land called Tirn in a country known as Nors. The world itself is known as Ith, there are five major races (elf, orc, dwarf, human, feran), four nations ruling over the continent of Tirn, Nors being one of them, they all share a common deity known as Gaia and before I bore you with anymore details about geography and such, a little bit of history behind the Dragoons first. Long ago, all of Tirn lived in fear of the dragons. They were the mightiest of beasts, the undisputed rulers of land and sky, and once their numbers were enough to blot out the sun. No matter whether you were an elf, orc, dwarf, feran or human, all had to live in hiding from the dragons for to do otherwise was nothing short of suicide. Only the mightiest warriors and mages could hope to face them in combat, and even then they were often no match. Dragon hide was resistant to the most powerful magics and no steel could pierce them... that was until the discovery of adamantine.
Discovered by the dwarves in the subterranean depths of the Underdeep, this metal was stronger than anything else in existence. Harder than diamond, as unyielding as bedrock and oppressively heavy, such a thing could only realistically be used for battle in the hands of prana users, or ki as it is known in the east. Those able to harness the power of their souls to transcend their physical limits. The dwarves were naturally the first to put their discovery to use, fashioning spears, swords and arrows to counter the wyrms that had long terrorized their underground settlements, and from there the use of adamantine weapons spread throughout all of Tirn. Eventually an order of warriors from every corner of the land was formed to hunt the dragons and for the first time ever, people could live free from their reign of fire. So the Dragoons came to be and no more did dragons rule over the skies.
Over time, many Dragoon monasteries were raised throughout the land. Some were even established in other faraway lands, but as the number of dragons decreased over the ages, so too did the need for Dragoons. As time progressed, many monasteries grew emptier and emptier until they were abandoned altogether and fell into ruin. They are few in number now, only one still stands in the country of Nors and the dragons are likewise almost all but extinct. For as long as they exist however, there will always be a need for Dragoons and so they continue to hone their skills, plying their trade throughout the land. Sometimes not against dragons, but others that prove to be a threat.
If you want to read the rest later in the lore, you can stop right here.
Otherwise, now for the boring stuff. In the land of Tirn there are four nations, five major races, two forms of magic and a deity known as Gaia. The four nations are as follows: Norsinia in the north (people known as Norsini, mostly humans), Avalan in the west (Avalanian, elves), Yolta in the east (Yoltan, orcs) and Vaim in the south (Vaimese, ferans). The dwarves basically live everywhere beneath Tirn and have their own nations in the subterranean world of the Underdeep, so their territories are generically referred to as the Dwarven Kingdoms.
As for races, well, you know the races. They're all pretty bog standard, give or take a few minor twists. The elves are pretty much orcs who have evolved in close proximity to high concentrations of manacite, which in this world is a bit like living close to radioactive... stuff, but very different (more on that in the lore), and the dwarves are basically like humans but shorter, thicker, heavier (and hairier) and stronger pound for pound. Then there are the ferans, groups of different races that used the power of shapeshifting to take on the forms of animals long ago as a survival tactic when dragons ruled the land. The're basically beast people and have become their own distinct race with very many different variations. Some are more humanoid, some are more animal like, some are bipedal and some quadrupedal, but all have the minds of people. The five races can all interbreed, but some would have more luck with a certain kind than others. Eg, elves will have more chances of producing a child with orcs, humans with dwarves, ferans with everyone though it'd be a bit of a crapshoot.
Before talking about magic, I'll have to start by talking about Gaia. Basically, Gaia is the soul of Ith and the goddess of the world. The earth is her body and all living things are fragments of Gaia that will return to her upon death. As the story commonly goes, she once took on a bodily form (human/elf/orc/depends-on-who-you-ask) to travel around the world after creating it. She used giant staves made from the earth to mark her away and everywhere she set one down, a continent formed around it. When at last she could see one of her staves from any point around the world, she returned to the core of Ith to rest and the staves blossomed with leaves, becoming the Ithwood world trees that tower above all else and sowed life wherever the wind blew their leaves (one stands dead centre in the middle of Tirn).
That's the myth anyway. Though there are many different versions of the story, one thing is for certain. Gaia is real and her realm, known as the Aether, can be accessed by mages, which brings us to the two types of magic: prana and mana. Mana is essentially the energy of the world's soul, of Gaia herself, and the souls of all living things come from it. Usually, people's souls become untethered from Gaia upon birth as they form an identity and make their souls their own. The energy of the individual soul is known as prana and with time and dedicated practice, once can use it to affect their bodies and those of others. Enhanced strength, speed, resilience, healing, full control of one's nerves and cells, etc. Essentially, mastery of prana is the ultimate expression of one's presence in the world. All living beings possess it, but for a rare few there are those who maintain their connection with Gaia upon birth, thus gaining access to the world's energy for as long as that connection exists.
Known as mages, these living conduits to Gaia are said to have twin souls, their own and that of Gaia. The fact of the matter is a little more complicated though. As they are born, their souls fail to become untethered from the world spirit and it's a matter of luck whether this causes them to return to it immediately, resulting in a stillbirth, or whether their soul clings to the body long enough to grant life but maintain a single fine thread to Gaia. For the elves, this is the norm rather than the exception with those born untethered being the rare few, though either way, those born with mana will never be able to use the strength of their own souls, their prana, to transcend their physical limitations no matter how hard they try. What they can do however is access the world spirit through dreams and thereby affect reality, calling upon the power of Gaia herself to summon lightning, wind and rain, cause the earth to crack and shake, direct the flow of rivers and lava, or control heat and cold to make fire from air and ice from water. With time and practice, one can learn to call upon these powers freely, though the mage must be cautious as their soul is forever at risk of returning to Gaia at any moment. The greater the power they wield, the deeper they must delve into the Aether to attain it and the further they delve, the greater the chances of losing themselves forever.
Physically, whenever a mage uses magic, they slip into a trance known as spellcasting, or simply casting, and the more they do it, the more tired they become. Spiritually, this affects their connection to Gaia and there are two negative effects of overusing mana. One is mana deprivation where the connection becomes more and more frayed over time until, without allowing it time to recover, it eventually snaps and the mage permanently loses their connection to Gaia. There are several stages before that point however and numerous warning signs, so this only occurs at the very end of mana deprivation. This can be staved off by consuming special serums made from manacite, essentially raw mana in mineral form, though one should take care not to overdose as manacite is toxic. The second negative effect of using magic too often is spellsleep, a sleep so deep and so long that the mage never wakes up, falling into a coma. This usually occurs when a mage spends too much time in the Aether searching for greater power and after a certain point, they can no longer distinguish dreams from reality. They then fall into a cycle of dreams within dreams and so never return to wakefulness. Only very few have ever actually awoken from spellsleep and usually after many years have passed in real time.
Then there's also enchanting, more details on the nations and races, magic, manacite, beasts, abilities, etc. All of that will be expanded upon later in the lore.
As for races, well, you know the races. They're all pretty bog standard, give or take a few minor twists. The elves are pretty much orcs who have evolved in close proximity to high concentrations of manacite, which in this world is a bit like living close to radioactive... stuff, but very different (more on that in the lore), and the dwarves are basically like humans but shorter, thicker, heavier (and hairier) and stronger pound for pound. Then there are the ferans, groups of different races that used the power of shapeshifting to take on the forms of animals long ago as a survival tactic when dragons ruled the land. The're basically beast people and have become their own distinct race with very many different variations. Some are more humanoid, some are more animal like, some are bipedal and some quadrupedal, but all have the minds of people. The five races can all interbreed, but some would have more luck with a certain kind than others. Eg, elves will have more chances of producing a child with orcs, humans with dwarves, ferans with everyone though it'd be a bit of a crapshoot.
Before talking about magic, I'll have to start by talking about Gaia. Basically, Gaia is the soul of Ith and the goddess of the world. The earth is her body and all living things are fragments of Gaia that will return to her upon death. As the story commonly goes, she once took on a bodily form (human/elf/orc/depends-on-who-you-ask) to travel around the world after creating it. She used giant staves made from the earth to mark her away and everywhere she set one down, a continent formed around it. When at last she could see one of her staves from any point around the world, she returned to the core of Ith to rest and the staves blossomed with leaves, becoming the Ithwood world trees that tower above all else and sowed life wherever the wind blew their leaves (one stands dead centre in the middle of Tirn).
That's the myth anyway. Though there are many different versions of the story, one thing is for certain. Gaia is real and her realm, known as the Aether, can be accessed by mages, which brings us to the two types of magic: prana and mana. Mana is essentially the energy of the world's soul, of Gaia herself, and the souls of all living things come from it. Usually, people's souls become untethered from Gaia upon birth as they form an identity and make their souls their own. The energy of the individual soul is known as prana and with time and dedicated practice, once can use it to affect their bodies and those of others. Enhanced strength, speed, resilience, healing, full control of one's nerves and cells, etc. Essentially, mastery of prana is the ultimate expression of one's presence in the world. All living beings possess it, but for a rare few there are those who maintain their connection with Gaia upon birth, thus gaining access to the world's energy for as long as that connection exists.
Known as mages, these living conduits to Gaia are said to have twin souls, their own and that of Gaia. The fact of the matter is a little more complicated though. As they are born, their souls fail to become untethered from the world spirit and it's a matter of luck whether this causes them to return to it immediately, resulting in a stillbirth, or whether their soul clings to the body long enough to grant life but maintain a single fine thread to Gaia. For the elves, this is the norm rather than the exception with those born untethered being the rare few, though either way, those born with mana will never be able to use the strength of their own souls, their prana, to transcend their physical limitations no matter how hard they try. What they can do however is access the world spirit through dreams and thereby affect reality, calling upon the power of Gaia herself to summon lightning, wind and rain, cause the earth to crack and shake, direct the flow of rivers and lava, or control heat and cold to make fire from air and ice from water. With time and practice, one can learn to call upon these powers freely, though the mage must be cautious as their soul is forever at risk of returning to Gaia at any moment. The greater the power they wield, the deeper they must delve into the Aether to attain it and the further they delve, the greater the chances of losing themselves forever.
Physically, whenever a mage uses magic, they slip into a trance known as spellcasting, or simply casting, and the more they do it, the more tired they become. Spiritually, this affects their connection to Gaia and there are two negative effects of overusing mana. One is mana deprivation where the connection becomes more and more frayed over time until, without allowing it time to recover, it eventually snaps and the mage permanently loses their connection to Gaia. There are several stages before that point however and numerous warning signs, so this only occurs at the very end of mana deprivation. This can be staved off by consuming special serums made from manacite, essentially raw mana in mineral form, though one should take care not to overdose as manacite is toxic. The second negative effect of using magic too often is spellsleep, a sleep so deep and so long that the mage never wakes up, falling into a coma. This usually occurs when a mage spends too much time in the Aether searching for greater power and after a certain point, they can no longer distinguish dreams from reality. They then fall into a cycle of dreams within dreams and so never return to wakefulness. Only very few have ever actually awoken from spellsleep and usually after many years have passed in real time.
Then there's also enchanting, more details on the nations and races, magic, manacite, beasts, abilities, etc. All of that will be expanded upon later in the lore.
If you like what you see, please let me know. If enough people are interested, I'll make the roleplay and if not, well I could always use some of these ideas in future roleplays. Think I'll give it about a week before I decide.
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