Joined: Oct 19, 2015 Posts: 2220 Location: Homestuck rehab center
Identity: Casual Genderf---ery
Preferred Pronoun Set: he/she/whatever
I have ideas for M:EM stories, I swear, they're just... stuck with one another. Anyway, I'll unload here the skeletal ideas for characters/planes/stories that I still have to enrich and polish; comments are welcome for all of them, and each WIP be marked with a number from to 1 to 5 to signal how open they are to external input and collaboration, where 1 is "I already have definite ideas for this" and 5 is "feel free to grab 'em and run, with my best wishes".
Let's start with an atypical specimen of a classic MtG race, people say I'm good with those.
Codename: Sparky (1)
Name: Kewz'rkrthar, mercifully shortened to Kewz (in her native culture the full name is usually used only in official occasions and by very angry parents) Overall appearance: an intense goblin girl (gender not definitive) with a wiry physique. Wears simple, durable and when possible heat-resistant clothing, and carries around a backpack with weird metallic items tied to it or peeking out from it. Distinctive traits -Esthetic: big goggles rimmed with buttons (that activate a multitude of filters and functions), forearms and back of hands covered in twin (magical) tattoos (usually covered with heavy gloves if conspicuous), callous and scarred hands with freakish heat tolerance. -Behavior: high tendency to stare, though she's teaching herself to imitate others; machinery and artifice enthusiast; gesticulates a lot when thinking/speaking while excited or tense; she speaks with simple sentences but broad vocabulary, trying to convey her thoughts in the most efficient way possible. Skills: Innate: her highly analytical mind enjoys problem-solving to the point of craving, but doesn't mesh well with the more vague mechanisms of society. Learned: Mostly scientific. Broad but shallow, with a single exception. She jumps from an interest to the other, devouring books and absorbing knowledge of each until something more interesting comes up. She has notions of chemistry (from when she almost lost a toe to acid), kinetics (from when she was almost crushed from one her own inventions), geology (from when she was almost vaporized by an unexpected lava burst), artifice, mana, medicine (first aid in particular, unsurprisingly)... the list goes on and on, but she always returns to her true love: metal. Metallurgy, engines, heavy machinery, animating, enchanting... she lacks the experience with the more exotic metals of the Multiverse, but her mastery allows her to combine the more traditional materials and techniques or adapt them to unlikely scenarios. Magic: she has rudimentary skills in pyromancy, electromancy, metal animation and metal enchantment. Kewz's tattoos refine and enhance her spellwork in fixed ways, allowing different feats depending on which fingers are extended: -Removal (index+middle): a very focused flame ignites from the point of the two fingers, its size proportional to the channeled mana. Generally used to dig grooves (short flame) or cut like a blowtorch, requires a level of concentration unsuited for combat. -Addition (middle+ring): with a simple touch a surface can stick to basically anything; pulling will easily separate the objects, but the "adhesive magic" is quite resistant against sliding. Prolonged treatment can result in the perfect welding (as far as the materials allow) of two metal objects. -Charge (index+little): the mana spent is turned into a form of energy the touched object can use or store, if any; contact with organic matter result in an electric discharge.
Joined: Oct 19, 2015 Posts: 2220 Location: Homestuck rehab center
Identity: Casual Genderf---ery
Preferred Pronoun Set: he/she/whatever
Amaruo, the shadow prince (3)
Name: Amaruo (Uh-MUHR-wo; from the Ancient Greek for "darken, weaken"; also sounds a bit like amaro, the Italian/Latin for "bitter") Overall appearance: A very thin, distinguished human (not definitive) young man who dresses in warm and luxurious black clothes whenever possible; he accessorize expensively with precious metals and gems that reflect light well. This may vary to conform to the local fashion, but tends to work his tastes into it. Charming and well-mannered as his standard. Distinctive traits -Esthetic: characteristic golden ring worn in his little finger with an obsidian dragon sigil; his shadow always flickers, as if produced by a candle (hard to notice in good lighting). -Behavior: not a fan of compromise and cold, despises laziness, gloating (though he's guilty of that sometimes) and people with unearned status and wealth; likes art, fashion, good craftsmanship and ambition; vengeful, and very protective of the positions and reputations he earns in the planes he likes; tends to categorize people as equals, lessers or betters depending on their intelligence, power, potential and manners; very little concern about the lives of the people he considers disgusting or a threat; eager to perform with his magic when asked. Skills: He's a people person, especially when the people in question are refined enough (which is a polite way of saying he's a consummate liar and a lofty jerk); he's a good showman and learns quickly the etiquette and mannerisms of the circles he frequents. Has picked a few sartorial skills over time. Magic: Considered a prodigy for his shadow magic since young age, his magical skills are in constant exercise and evolution. He can perceive his surroundings through the darkness in badly lit places, cloak himself in shadows to hide his identity or disappear in the night, shape shadows into any conceivable form and give them substance... (night)sky is the limit. He can also stir the darkness within someone's body, giving people the feeling something is taking form somewhere uncomfortable, his signature threat. In his home plane he used to entertain aristocrats with intricate spectacles of light and darkness with the help of a dozen lightglobes or reproducing historic/legendary events through armies of shadows, so he's used to large and complex applications of his power. Amaruo is also able to summon shades and night/darkness-related spirits, which he uses as scouts, spies and bodyguards, but generally refrains from relying on them unless his safety is on the line. Venturing outside his main skillset, he also learned a few spells to clean his clothes and lodgings, along with a rudimentary translating magic which he usually uses in social happenings to avoid being blindsided by people speaking past him or conspiring in obscure languages. Trademark combat spells: Dread of Night, Cast into Darkness, Darkness, Will-o'-the-Wisp, Undercity Shade, Darkling Stalker, Grasp of Darkness, Kiku's Shadow, Gloomlance The Doppelganger Curse His noble family has a tradition of training its children in shadow magic, but nobody in generations took to it like Amaruo did. Envious older relatives sometimes wished him to get eaten by his own shadow under their breath when he outclassed them, but it wasn't until his adolescence that he learned why, when he noticed his shadow flickered even when projected by the steady illumination of lightglobes and asked his parents about it. The blood of his family, which gives authority over shadows and darkness, sometimes marks a child for greatness. These children are blessed with a natural mastery of shadow magic which only grows more powerful with age, but their shadow is said to become sentient over time. The first sign of sentience is moving against the wishes of its owner, first by just flickering then by rejecting but the most powerful of magics from its owner. Then the shadow learns to produce sounds, and the owner starts to hear its voice, offering counsel or endless needling (some accounts differ). Then the shadows learns how to give itself substance and devours its owner, turning into a demon. The whole family then traditionally employs every resource in their grasp to slay that monster. It's unknown whether the shadow progresses with the owner's age or power; many cursed individuals commit suicide or request to be euthanized when they start to hear their shadow or the pressure of the curse begins to weight too much on their mind. However, a legend tells of an ancestor who proved able to overpower her shadow and consuming it herself, transcending humanity without losing herself. It's unclear whether she turned in a demon. After this revelation Amaruo started to have very vivid nightmares about his shadow killing him in his sleep, and his spark ascended during a nervous breakdown induced by insomnia. He later discovered that the strength of the nightmares is proportional to the light around him, and since then sleeps in complete darkness whenever possible; when unfeasible, he tries to at least cover his eyes, the reason why he always carries an eye mask in his travels.
Edit: he got a name!
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Cecil Gershwin Palmer (Welcome to Night Vale) wrote:
Joined: Oct 19, 2015 Posts: 2220 Location: Homestuck rehab center
Identity: Casual Genderf---ery
Preferred Pronoun Set: he/she/whatever
Btw, I suck at giving names to things so if anyone has suggestions they'll be more than welcome
troll mutt (4)
Warning: some pretty heavy stuff in this character's backstory, mainly rape, child abuse and some body horror.
Name: ? Overall appearance: A rather small (for his species, still around 8' when fully erect), hunched and very scarred troll of gender not yet defined: green skin, strongly sloped forehead, small (nocturnal) eyes, flat nose, strong underbite with boar-like tusks, thick neck, a thick dark green mane that starts from the end of the forehead to the middle of the back (like Cudgel Troll, but wider at the back of the head neck) long powerful arms that almost reach to the ground with nast claws, short but robust legs. [TM] adopts unassuming clothing and keeps their voice low. Distinctive traits Esthetic: [TM]'s scars are very uncommon for trollkind, and a good observer might notice slight signs of badly mended fractures, signals of a deficit in [TM] regeneration or a past of terrible wounds. They look like they try to look smaller that they are, with little success. Behavior: very reserved, they tend to both speak and move slowly and meaningfully, always careful not to hurt others; avoids confrontation and people's gaze; has an unstoppable determination to protect the ones they care about with little concern to their own safety, though never at the cost of harming another (breaking things and tying up people is fair game though). Skills: [TM] has received two very different types of combat training, one as lethal and brutal as possible, and another specifically designed not to cause lasting injuries. The former is never used against sentient creatures, and the latter is only used when de-escalation and flight are unfeasible. They are deceptively stealthy, very experienced in mending simple clothing and a decent healer specialized in herbalism. [TM] isn't particularly bright, but they have grown to be a very good judge of character. Background: One of their parents is another troll planeswalker, an unsavory character who improved their own regeneration to the point it counteracts the effects of aging, who had decided to create a clan of troll 'walkers. They worked with a diviner to maximize the chances to have an offspring with the Spark, following the diviner's directions to choose a partner regardless of said partner's willingness. They mostly left the partner to raise [TM] on their own, except when they returned to make sure their offspring followed a strict training regime; it's unknown, but likely, that they repeated this process elsewhere. Once [TM] started to approach adulthood, their abusive parent started to lead them to expeditions where they faced great dangers and systematically suffered grievous wounds; [TM]'s parent wasn't greatly affected by this, supported by their superior regeneration, but [TM] started to gather scars and fractures, much to their parent's disappointment. Eventually, during a particularly brutal adventure, [TM]'s parent deliberately thrown them off a cliff, diving after them immediately after. [TM]'s parent, once healed, was disappointed to see their offspring were just quietly sobbing, their body horribly broken against the rocks, showing no sign of igniting their Spark. The older trolled yelled at them, ordered them to react, and eventually fell silent. Then they explained why they had decided to give birth to [TM], and threatened to crush their skull and burn their remains if they didn't 'walk; [TM] just looked at them imploringly, their windpipe still healing. The older troll then just spat on them and left them for dead, an act of final abandonment which, of course, finally brought their Spark to ignite. They had a time to heal, to make some friends and to learn other, nonlethal skills, but that time eventually ended, and now they wander the Eternities looking for meaning. [still got to have some good idea for their growth]
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Cecil Gershwin Palmer (Welcome to Night Vale) wrote:
Part one: an Alliance is formed Not many dared to clash with the Cabal's forces. Even less lived to tell the tale. Worried by its expansion in both numbers and power, dozens of 'walkers who didn't want to submit to another retreated far from the Cabal's planes, afraid for their life or merely uninterested in meeting others of their kind. Some saw the opportunity to build something that could stand to the Cabal's advance, and arranged a meeting of a dozen interested 'walkers. Thus the Alliance was formed, nothing more than a tentative peace treaty that promised to come together if a member was under external threat. For a time, that worked; the more conservative 'walkers called on the more combat-oriented (some would say bloodthirsty) when a 'walker outside the Alliance crossed their territory and offered a reward for the liberation of their lands, giving the builders relative peace and the fighters the thrill they required. But as more and more 'walkers joined the Alliance and their number started to rival the Cabal's, some argued in favor of open war with the Cabal, internal rivalries formed, and in periods of peace some walkers went looking for fights with other Alliance members. Part two: Guardians gather in secret Melasema, éminence grise in the Alliance, approaches the Storyteller, an idealist peace-maker, about forming a hidden council within the Alliance, a secret society with the aim to keep the peace in the community of planeswalkers. The Storyteller at first objects to the need for secrecy and her loose morality, but the rising conflicts within the Alliance makes them reconsider, hoping to protect mortal life and freedom from a planar war. Melasema exploits their reputation and her rhetoric to recruit more to her cause, forming the Guardians. The newly formed Guardians then support the Storyteller in their proposal of a magically binding Oath, to be taken by everyone willing to be part of the Alliance. Multiple Alliance members disappear during the negotiation, supposedly refusing to have left the Cabal's reach only to be bound to dozens of other 'walkers. A set of laws are drawn, with a system of challenges worked in as lawful resolution of conflict to satisfy the more competitive 'walkers. Since the Storyteller is the lead designer of the enchantment, they reluctantly carve in the Oath a flaw that makes the members of the Guardians immune to its limitations. Meanwhile, the other Guardians work to disrupt unity in the war-mongering faction. Part 3: The Cabal's fall and the Purge The Alliance watches in horror as the Cabal wages war with itself, bringing the end to whole planes. Several Guardians disappear in that period, Melasema included; some suggest they just left the organization when its purpose had run its course, but the Storyteller refuses to talk about it even with their fellow Guardians. The flaw the Storyteller wove in the Oath is making its structure brittle: more and more loopholes are found or created, making old rivalries and contrasts to resurface within the Alliance, and the shadow of the Cabal isn't there to unite the 'walkers anymore. The Alliance quickly turns in a twisted all-out competition with the planes as wager. The Storyteller advocates for a renewal of the Oath, but their pleas for peace fall on deaf ears. The remaining Guardians start to get pessimistic about their chances. The Storyteller, supported by Binorach and Sword-of-the-Zenith, declares a new goal for the Guardians: protect the planes and the mortals, driving away or destroying any other 'walker threatening them. The Guardians who weren't completely sold on the change defect when the demiplane hosting the nexus of the Alliance Oath is kept is destroyed and its defenders killed; few months after, Melasema returns as the Alliance is on the brink of total war. Against the Storyteller's pleas, she orchestrates the beginning of the civil war that would be later known by the surviving Guardians as the Purge. The following decade for the Guardians is a desperate fight to keep the planes safe as the various factions clash. Melasema proves instrumental to prevent casualties, but her reckless and ruthless behavior alienates most of the remaining Guardians; when the Purge ends, less than a dozen Guardians still alive and loyal, The Storyteller's voice is stronger than ever, which convinces them to reveal their latest discovery. Part 4: Seek and destroy The Storyteller has designed a spell that prevents planeswalking. Melasema is ecstatic at the announcement, but most of her excitement turns to annoyance when the Storyteller refuses to divulge any detail about the spell, intending to keep it secret even to the rest of the Guardians; Melasema gains some support from other Guardians by opposing this decision, but the majority are on the Storyteller's side. The spell will be used to corner and neutralize the 'walkers who will prove too dangerous to be reasoned with; said targets will be decided in the assembly of the Guardians. While the Storyteller's decision limits the dangers of the spread knowledge of the plane-locking spell, it means that they have to personally to take part in every initiative to take down targets, draining most of the Storyteller's time. This distracts them from the intricacies of Guardian meetings and Melasema regains traction. With time the Guardians take definite roles: the Watchers will wander the planes looking for hints of planar disasters and destructive 'walkers, trying diplomacy when feasible, the Liberators will work to undermine obstinate walker's influence and eventually either kill them or force them out of the plane, and the Keepers will move in to help the plane in the aftermath, keeping a vigil eye on those planes to alleviate the Watchers' duty and ruling over them within certain guidelines. In this period, the Storyteller takes Jack under their wing and convinces Sword-of-the-Zenith to do the same. Part 5: Schism When Jack is introduced by the Storyteller into the Guardians (a rare, but not unique occasion) as a new Liberator, Melasema senses an opening: if she manages to make him renounce the Storyteller's ideas in front of the others she'll regain a dominant position in the organization. This seems to work at first, but Jack eventually informs Elphimas of their encounters; with the help of Binorach, the Storyteller forges a partition in Jack's mind that allows him to be persuaded by Melasema as long as he's alone with her, and isolate those memories as soon as they part ways so the Storyteller can examine them. So when Melasema makes her move in one of the rare assemblies when the Storyteller is present, asking for Jack's opinion as her main argument against the Storyteller's leadership, Jack recounts the manipulations and promises of power Melasema made to him, making Melasema's initiative backfire spectacularly. After a very tense assembly, Melasema leaves the Guardians and is never seen again; more Guardians disappear in the following year, and it's unclear whether they have followed Melasema or have become her victims. The remaining Guardians change their defensive measures, wary of Melasema's machinations; a few more fall in the following decade, victim of invading 'walkers, but most resist and the increased activity slowly steadies. Part 6: A Moment's Breath The following period is of relative calm; the recruitment is more cautious than ever, as everyone is scared to welcome a vengeful Melasema or one of her pawns back in the ranks, but there's not noteworthy event as the centuries pass. What's about to happen, whatever, will make up for this period of calm. Part Y: Rifts are mended, bonds are severed The Mending shakes the Guardians to their core. Immortality lost and powers diminished, panic cuts through the ranks. Several 'walkers defect to search for eternal life, and the few who remain have to adjust the scale of their efforts. The Storyteller saves Sword-of-the-Zenith's life against her wishes, and she leaves in outrage. The Storyteller, at a loss for Part Z: Betrayal
Melasema, who holds the strings from shadows
"No need to let others know I'm the best. It interferes with winning the next round." ♀ Living shadow? (from Ancient Greek Mela=dark Sema=sign/mark/constellation/omen) Recruitment: Founder; she designed the Guardians as a challenge to defeat planeswalkers' apparent destructive nature, but got bored of it with time. Description: She usually wore the form of a stunning feminine obsidian statue whose features changed according to her vanity (and her target's taste) her pupils glowing with impossible black light, but changed into a large dragon with skin like a starry night sky to fight. Personality: Charming, hedonistic and seemingly shallow, Melasema preferred to leave the spotlight to others. Do not mistake it for humility or altruism: she reveled in manipulating people, watching the results of her efforts from a safe distance where she could imply or deny any involvement as she saw fit. She had no apparent morals, a dangerous trait when paired with her remarkable but restless intelligence. She looked down to people who caused indiscriminate destruction, finding it wasteful and crude, and seemed to care for nothing except for her current goal, not even the trophies she liked to collect. Powers and skills: Unrivaled mastery over shadow magic: she could conjure whole armies of shades or massive shadow-demons, in addition to life-draining tendrils. In combat, she could also attack the mind of her opponents. Beyond her magic, she was a master manipulator. Seat of power: Noxat, a barren demiplane under a constant night sky. Since almost all the matter in that plane was made of physical shadows, she could drastically change its shape on a moment's notice, selecting new features to make it more pleasing for her guests or turning it into a giant death trap.
Storyteller, the Planar architect
"Brokering peace between planeswalkers is rightly believed to be incredibly difficult. Lending a sympathetic ear to a troubled individual is easier." Nonbinary (agender) Vedalken Recruitment: Founder; convinced by Melasema with the promise of keeping peace among planeswalkers, but tried to shift the focus of the Guardians toward mortals over the course of time. Description: A young, slender vedalken with shining blue opals for eyes. Personality: An advocate for the rights of the mortals, the Storyteller was widely considered an idealist. They alternated research with social callings to most members of the Alliance, always trying to find peaceful solutions to the many issues the community had. Power and skills: An accomplished mage and scholar. From the most mastered to the least, the Storyteller was proficient in metamagic, spatial magic, scrying, telepathy and telekinesis. Extensive knowledge of languages, histories and lore from a staggering amount of planes. Seat of Power: Unknown; many believed they had none, and stored their impressive collection of books and items on their person via spatial magic.
Binorach, the Lifeshaper
"Know what you want to be, be what you want to know." Nonbinary (genderfluid) Shapeshifter Recruitment: pre-Purge; selected for their ability to read the minds of mortals via studying their brain, and to change the shape of mortal allies for undercover missions. Trusted the Storyteller's opinion, but preferred to gather data on their own before adding their voice in a discourse. They respected Melasema's skills but not her motives, another reason to get independent data. Description: Binorach maintained that living a shape was the best way to study it; this brought them to change their form with the course of their research, with little regard to their peers who insisted that an venom-oozing half-boar half-phytohydra was not an acceptable shape for a formal meeting. Personality: They live for their research, feeling a deep sense of wonder about life and evolution. They regard diplomacy with suspicion, ignoring arguments that aren't based on hard facts; they also despise people who, in their eyes, cause large and wanton loss of life, though they respect individuals that follow their primal instincts and/or strive for perfection. Faithful to their belief that life must be lived fully, they deliberately mingled with mortals (when they happened to wear suitable shapes) to fall in love with them and thus experience "the emotions that define life". They're more likely to get along with fellow experimentors than with more traditionalist scholars, on the base that past accomplishment can only be the springboard for new discoveries, and focusing too much on the past leads to stagnation. Powers and skills: Binorach was a respected healer, but their main talent was empowering, improving and controlling living matter. They had no proper combat proficiency, and thus relied heavily on the instincts of the creatures they summoned (using the aether-double variant to preserve the original individuals) and buffed unless they had a more experienced tactician on their side. They only entered combat themselves as a last resource. Seat of Power: Binorach didn't like to be confined to a single seat of power more than they liked to be confined to a single shape; they had a space destined to holding casual meetings in any plane over which they had some influence.
Sword-of-the-Zenith, the undefeated
"Everything is a weapon. Thus, your whole being is a weapon. Thus, it's wise to learn how to wield yourself." ♀ Foxfolk Recruitment: pre-Purge; chosen because she realized the necessity of unity and caution against the threat of the Cabal despite her love for battle, and convinced thanks to her trust in the Storyteller's moral compass. Had no moral judgement about Melasema, maybe appreciating her as another kind of perfectionist. Description: Sword-of-the-Zenith (Zenith for short) appears as an athletic but otherwise unassuming foxfolk, with light and loose-fitting clothing. She only used the oldwalker's shapeshifting abilities to increase or decrease her size in combat. Personality: Zenith was a woman of many contradictions. She longed for a worthy opponent and would only accept help in a fight when both outnumbered and in serious danger, but only considered a duel fulfilled when his opponent was slain and followed no code of honor in combat. She discovered a genuine love for teaching as he trained Jack, but when his power started to rival her own had to repress the urge to challenge him into a duel. She believed mortals strictly inferiors to planeswalkers, but recognized and respected the origin of her own skills (see below) and the lives of every 'walker; for those reasons she considered wrong to kill mortals, but then again, she had no qualms of conscience killing her opponents regardless of their mortality. Power and skills: She was being able to learn combat techniques by meditating in a place of battle or training, through which she became an extraordinarily experienced battlemage who tapped every color of mana. From bolstering her body to phasing away from harm to hiding her attacks, from hitting with eye-watering speed to making every scratch lethal - and that's not taking into account ranged combat - she had mastered a titanic arsenal of techniques that allowed her to face any enemy without the need for summons. Finally, her trademark ability was conjuring red crystal weapons made of her own blood, which could change their form (while remaining in the realms of weapons) according to her every whim as long as she touched them. She always thought of artifice as an inferior choice because of how easily magic can destroy and disenchant artifacts, but started to reconsider as Jack found different solutions to the problem. Seat of Power: None. Zenith wandered the planes in search of new skills to learn and more opponents to slay, relying on the Storyteller to reach her when her help was needed. She later spent time training Jack in Uthma.
card
Sword-of-the-Zenith, the Undefeated Planeswalker - Sword-of-the-Zenith As long as you control no other planeswalker or creature, ~ becomes a 5/5 Fox Warrior creature that's still a planeswalker. Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to her. Whenever ~ deals lethal damage to a creature, put a loyalty counter on her and draw a card. Target creature you control gains "Heroic - whenever you cast a spell that target this permanent, draw a card" until your next turn. Target creature you control gains hexproof and indestructible until your next main phase. Split second.
Jack
"I always had a knack for taking things apart. I only broadened to my toolbox to include swords and ballistas." ♂ (race unknown)
Sketches
Recruitment: post-Purge Description: Pre-Mending: A humanoid made of liquid metal. Post-Mending: an individual completely covered by protective garments. He never showed an inch of skin (or fur, feathers, or what have you) to people he didn't trust implicitly, which was a very short list. Personality: Mentored by the Storyteller and Sword-of-the-Zenith since his ascension, Jack was the poster boy of the last phase of the Guardian's existence: a strong sense of justice, a drive for learning and tireless dedication to the cause. Even at the peak of his authority in the Guardians, Jack kept an underdog's mindset (his choice of name was a deliberate contrast with the common use of haughty titles) and a methodical and pragmatic approach to his role as a Liberator. He was very slow to trust, and fiercely protective to the things he cared about. Power and skills: Jack spended most of his time improving his already remarkable mastery over artifice, mechanical design and combat techniques. His only displays or magic are related to summoning, enchanting and activating artifacts, with the physical summoning of the angel Fabria as the only exception. Seat of Power: Uthma, where he only took control of a relatively small portion of the plane, now renamed Iron Plains; that area is a massive complex of automated factories which he strictly controls with the help of Fabria, his spellsquire.
card
Jack, the Warsmith Legendary Planeswalker - Jack Add to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast artifact spells or activate activated abilities of artifacts you control. Deal 3 damage to target attacking or blocking creature. You may activate this ability on any player's turn any time you could cast an instant. Create a token artifact that's a copy of target artifact card in a graveyard with converted mana cost X.
Tulemnak, the Landspeaker
♂ Ouphe Recruitment: Post-Purge Description: A stout, long-maned Ouphe with green glowing eyes and plates made from a wood/rock hybrid melded to his skin; his gestures were slow and measured, his stance straight and unflinching. When he spoke standing on a land he was connected to, the earth rumbled in an echo that could be heard for miles. Personality: Tulemnak was a quiet and solitary individual who enjoyed attuning with the stirring of the earth, the roil of lava and the growth of trees above all else. Connected to the land as no other, he tended to the planes under his aegis like a shepherd with his flock, nursing the sick and wounded back to health and checking them for parasites; he understood not every culture desired his level of communion with nature, and he was mostly known as a strict but fair protector of the wilderness. He didn't like to leave his protected planes, but once in a wounded or dying plane he felt strongly compelled to tend to it; he was slow to anger, but crushed with extreme prejudice malicious trespassers and plane-destroying 'walkers. Power and skills: The depth and number of Tulemnak's mana bonds was unrivaled among the Guardians, and his magic was amplified on the lands which were bound to him; nevertheless, he rarely used such awesome power unless angered. He could merge with the earth to travel great distance in a heartbeat, and could commune with a plane's soul with ease. He wasn't a trained fighter, and the various loyal warriors, rangers and mages he summoned were often more skilled than him in the art of war; when possible he resorted to this allies, granting them a shard of his power via various kinds of auras and protecting them from hostile spells. When furious or afraid for his summons, he animated the surrounding landscape (even in civilized spaces) and fought in person turning into a massive elemental. When mad with rage he'd sometimes turn to massive destructive spells he'd regret later. Seat of Power: Tulemnak didn't have a fixed seat of power, wandering from plane to plane to harmonize and take care of them.
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Cecil Gershwin Palmer (Welcome to Night Vale) wrote:
So, I feel that any opposition to the Cabal would best be aware of one other story since it's almost certainly relevant to the overall narrative. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=17719
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At twilight's end, the shadow's crossed / a new world birthed, the elder lost. Yet on the morn we wake to find / that mem'ry left so far behind. To deafened ears we ask, unseen / "Which is life and which the dream?"
So, I feel that any opposition to the Cabal would best be aware of one other story since it's almost certainly relevant to the overall narrative. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=17719
I gave both Remembrances (the part about the Cabal, at least) and Lucien a re-read before starting the dossier; it would be interesting to see Zhiran interacting with both Darkstar and the Storyteller, but unless an author explicitly proposes me an integration with their oldwalkers (in which case I'd be happy to work them in the storyline) my plan is to have a core history that doesn't actively involve any external characters.
The Alliance is born in the Cabal's shadows and dies as this shadow fades, from people that refuse to submit to the Master but lack the power to directly oppose them individually; in this perspective, the very concept of including a powerhouse like Zhiran would make some worry, as arcane/combat power begets political power in such a chaotic setting. So while there may be an interest in keeping neutral/friendly relationships with him, only idealists like the Storyteller or hopeful war-mongerers would try to add him to the Alliance ranks. Also I don't think Zhiran would have submitted to the Oath, meaning that he'd have to be recruited in the Guardians, which would upset the Darkstar/Storyteller balance. Which is not to say it can't be done, but it would require some re-imagining. Unless he joins after the schism.
Tl;dr: I keep him in mind when I work on this, but I'm not making plans about adding him in the storyline as of now.
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Cecil Gershwin Palmer (Welcome to Night Vale) wrote:
Joined: Oct 19, 2015 Posts: 2220 Location: Homestuck rehab center
Identity: Casual Genderf---ery
Preferred Pronoun Set: he/she/whatever
Moon trickster (4)
Name: Mika (a legit Japanese name, also part of Mikazuki, "crescent moon", with the first part of her surname) Tsukihana (Moonflower) Overall appearance: A lithe moonfolk girl (about 16, probably) with bright eyes and long flowing hair held in a chaotic style similar to the Floodbringers; she wears a too-little light blue kimono with purple and silver details, and goes around bare-footed. She doesn't speak much. Distinctive traits: Despite her flashy appearance, she's hard to notice unless she bumps into you. Regardless of where she is, her skin and kimono always remain spotless, apparently repelling all kinds of dirt and grime. Her childish mannerisms point to a certain degree of immaturity, reinforced by the wrong size of her clothes. Skills and magic: Mika's mundane and magical skills are deeply entwined, and make her an archetypical trickster: -She's always cloaked in a low-power stealth aura, making her harder to notice for most people. She can enhance this aura to make herself almost impossible to spot, or extend it to nearby objects. Note that this magic acts on the mind of the onlooker rather than on light or sounds; sometimes people might hear her giggling or her footsteps, or see her hair trail after her as she turn the corner, especially when she's excited. -She's full of energy and quite deft with her hands; she can wield telekinesis with precision, either to mess with someone's belongings or to enhance her athletic abilities. When she puts her mind to it, she can craft simple but charming decorations; she practices her painting by drawing a different design on her face each day. -She's quite observant, and wields limited mind-reading abilities: she can hear the superficial thoughts of the people around her, and skim through a crowd to find her object of interest, or focus on a creature to understand their immediate intentions. Behavior: Mika has the mind of a curious, mischievous child. She wanders the Eternity to discover interesting things, and maybe cause some trouble along the way. She has some sense of morality, however: she often targets rude or arrogant people for her pranks, and sometimes steals something from good or poor people to return it repaired, improved or straight up gifting them a superior item. Rather than buying food or trinkets, she's more likely to steal them and leave some money in its place, though her sense of worth is heavily conditioned by her interest in the item and how much she likes the seller. She rarely speaks to people (but will gladly interact with playful and/or docile animals), preferring to show small glimpses of her presence to the objects of her interest. If she shows herself without concealment, it's in the hope of being admired or simply gawked at. She's more comfortable around younger children. She clearly embraces the lack of responsibility allowed by planeswalking.
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Cecil Gershwin Palmer (Welcome to Night Vale) wrote:
Joined: Oct 19, 2015 Posts: 2220 Location: Homestuck rehab center
Identity: Casual Genderf---ery
Preferred Pronoun Set: he/she/whatever
Thank you! It was one of the rare, blessed moments when you hear the rhythm in your head and words just snap into place as you're writing; unfortunately, I couldn't make it last for a full verse, and all the attempted additions were awfully clunky. The first part was partly inspired by the awesome quote "Crossroads are the gods’ culling floors, and nothing kills like indecision." (from a Homestuck fanfic)
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Cecil Gershwin Palmer (Welcome to Night Vale) wrote:
Joined: Oct 19, 2015 Posts: 2220 Location: Homestuck rehab center
Identity: Casual Genderf---ery
Preferred Pronoun Set: he/she/whatever
Concept: The Red Hand
The PoV hears about the Red Hand, a monster that hunts and kills in the blackest nights with relentless ferocity. Some say it's just a floating hand made of red light that seeks vengeance, others that the flaming arm is a part of a ravenous beast that tears people limb from limb and gorges on corpses.
By dogged investigation or maybe mere chance, the PoV encounters the creature who originated the tale. Big, reptilian, blood on its fangs, death in its eyes and fire for an arm.
Has Sharaka lost all control and went feral after one too many traumas? Is she hunting down the members of some organization? Is there a longer game afoot?
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Cecil Gershwin Palmer (Welcome to Night Vale) wrote:
Joined: Oct 19, 2015 Posts: 2220 Location: Homestuck rehab center
Identity: Casual Genderf---ery
Preferred Pronoun Set: he/she/whatever
Quote:
The troll flew right through the tavern's closed door and crashed against the opposite wall with a sickening crunch. As the man slid to the ground, a pair of burly minotaurs converged on the viashino that strolled in the tavern as if she owned the place.
"Stand aside, suckers," Sharaka sneered with a caustic smile, barely sparing them a glance. "Unlike our friend's, your spines don't grow back."
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Cecil Gershwin Palmer (Welcome to Night Vale) wrote:
Joined: Oct 19, 2015 Posts: 2220 Location: Homestuck rehab center
Identity: Casual Genderf---ery
Preferred Pronoun Set: he/she/whatever
Another more light-hearted set of rhymes.
Sharaka wrote:
"Oh the humanity"? Baby, I'm vash Think you can step to me? Crazy, you're trash Prod my insanity, idiot, you'll crash Dude or doll matters not, cutie, I'll smash *wink*
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Cecil Gershwin Palmer (Welcome to Night Vale) wrote:
Joined: Oct 19, 2015 Posts: 2220 Location: Homestuck rehab center
Identity: Casual Genderf---ery
Preferred Pronoun Set: he/she/whatever
the bone carver v1 - bone shaman (4)
Name: ??? Appearance: 5'6" athletic woman well in her thirties with tan skin, strong sharp features, monolid black eyes with a piercing stare. Several dozens bone trinkets are braided into her straight coarse hair that reaches her waist. Her self-made, utilitarian clothes are made of animal hides and reinforced with carved bone as needed, though she buys local clothing when she has no suitable clothing at hand and especially when she doesn't plan to remain in that plane long; when circumstances permit it, she goes for dull and/or dark colors. Her speech is dry and assertive, her body language curt and wary. Her rare smiles usually show grim satisfaction for the completion of a difficult hunt, but her default expression is more stoic than dour. Distinctive traits: Most when not all of the items she carries are made from wild animals. She travels the Eternities to refine her skills and discovers new materials and techniques to draw the best out of dead beasts. She ends up adapting her outfit for every plane she travels extensively, believing that learning about and using the local fauna is invaluable for both learning about the plane and to best survive it. She goes by two rules: "to the victor go the spoils" and "take what you need". According to the first, a hunter/predator has the right to their prey and anything of hers once they deliver the killing blow, corpse and soul included. She despises scavengers that steal/mug another's spoils before the hunter has had their pick. Still, she harbors a deep grudge for whomever and whatever kills her designed prey before her. By "take what you need" she means that wastefulness is disgusting, as it meant hoarding what you didn't need, and refraining to satisfy your needs for any reason is at best stupid and at worst hypocritical. As you just read, she considers hypocrisy and sophistication as way worse than stupidity or ignorance. Skills: A decent hide artisan and a lifelong bone carver, her scrimshaw is a thing of beauty. She was taught how to track, hunt, field dress and skin animals at young age, and has picked up those skills again after her ascension; the clothes she makes aren't even half as beautiful as her bone wares, but they are comfortable and durable. She has no formal training in fighting, but her hunting skills and her working knowledge of anatomy make her strikes count. Magic: She has a talent for carving magic into bone, and she's getting some practice in drawing magic out of her wares both bone and hide. In fact, most of her magic relies of having an animal focus, which is one of the reasons why she's usually covered in them. Artifice: She has quite the collection of small artifacts, especially equipments like bone saws and weapons that amplify their efficacy through magic. Necromancy:She can reanimate adequately prepared skeletons to do her bidding, usually binding them as guardians of her shelter. While human bones are the easiest to animate on a pinch and the ideal fodder for some quick-and-dirty weaponization, they're far from her only option - on some faraway plane she has stored for summoning purposes the carved skeletons of a wurm and a full grown dragon, the result of months of uninterrupted labor. She has a necklace where she keeps the fragments of the skeletons she can currently animate or summon. Makes more sense for her to raise freshly killed prey or make some use of their soul, like consuming it to gain awareness of the land or using it as a spectral sentinel? Divination: She is learning how to read the bones beyond the obvious - as in, how the creature under her knife lived and died... which may not a completely mundane skill to begin with. Buffs: Her arsenal of enhancing magic is the one that changes the most between plane to plane, as it's cast from the hide in her clothes which she usually adapts to the planes she's in. [examples coming] There are a few exceptions to that: she almost always keeps a baloth hide belt on herself to cast Giant Growth with, for example. She has a few hideouts thorough the Eternities where she stores the items of clothing she's most satisfied of for when she feels the need of specific preparations. Notes: This character was inspired by a League of Legends story where a ship captain does scrimshaw on the bones of a crewmate as punishment and by tinkering with legendaries dismantling creatures for scraps. Yes, Tikrisi in particular because I love artifacts
This was supposed to be a purely character but the concept of drawing magic out of the bone's "soul" carried me away toward
Will probably post a more mundane and darkly gleeful mono version.
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Cecil Gershwin Palmer (Welcome to Night Vale) wrote:
Joined: Oct 19, 2015 Posts: 2220 Location: Homestuck rehab center
Identity: Casual Genderf---ery
Preferred Pronoun Set: he/she/whatever
The bone carver v2 - bone punk (4)
Name: Lizavne Kostit Appearance: 5'6" wiry young woman with sharp features, long limbs, a wild mohawk and heavy black make-up around her eyes which is actually tattoed. Her pale skin is covered in black tattoos punctuated by bone piercings and scarifications. She wears thick pants made almost exclusively of hasty needlework and sturdy pockets and a thin black top that barely covers her flat chest, and throws on a heavy black leather jacket with dozens of inside pockets when the weather forces her to or she anticipates a fight. She travels with a sling backpack full of black tattoo ink, bone tools and trinkets of debatable value and taste (and legality). She's loud, brash and often grinning maniacally. Background: Born in corrupted Shambhala or a similar urban-punk location, she discovered early a talent for carving magic into flesh and bone. She had some status among the gutter-folk by endowing boons and curses alike via body modifications. Her travels lead her to discover necromantic applications of her talents. Skills: [body modifications, street fighting, street smarts, high pain threshold and dogged determination] Magic: [undead raising/summoning, necrotic spells to bare bones. Engraving of buffs and curses via tattoos, scarification and bone scrimshaw. She used all her engraving techniques on herself, and as such she has a number of perma-buffs and a living grimoire look, in addition to mix-and-match magical bone piercings.] -multiple invasive body mods like grafted vampire fangs to regenerate by drinking live blood? Maybe even additional limbs? But stitching is more of a thing. -cursed via branding by a demon or something to keep with the theme? But she's gladly rip that part of skin out if that sufficed to free herself. Maybe the brand is a powerful buff but with heavy side effects, like cannibalistic urges?
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Cecil Gershwin Palmer (Welcome to Night Vale) wrote:
Joined: Oct 19, 2015 Posts: 2220 Location: Homestuck rehab center
Identity: Casual Genderf---ery
Preferred Pronoun Set: he/she/whatever
Another random set of Sharaka raps (yes, it speeds up on the back end)
Quote:
Call me Vash 'cause I'm Stampeding on you weakling Lone as **** but you still looking like the weak link Can't outsmart an avalanche - before you step to me, think Drop your gaze and listen close: this basilisk does not blink
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Cecil Gershwin Palmer (Welcome to Night Vale) wrote:
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