Odyssey. [recruitment thread]

[xvakarian]

The Odyssey.



this is a story of seven gaians. this thread is to search for the remaining six whose tales i believe are worthy of being woven into lore. this will be my own work, with your gaian personalities infused into this long-winded story of fantasy - all fairies, dungeons, dragons, nymphs alike - and others unfathomable. you will read the chapters as they are written and posted - more importantly, you will be choosing the route you go down each forked path you encounter.

know that once you sign up for this, you pledge an oath. if you are missing, neither participants can move on, nor i. i will be cutting you off from the story and bringing in a reserve if you are absent for a long period of time with no reasonable excuse.

USE THIS FORM AND POST IT IN THIS THREAD TO SIGN-UP.
PLEASE MAKE SURE THERE ARE NO GRAMMATICAL ERRORS AND PLEASE MAKE AN EFFORT TO MAKE IT LOOK NEAT.

[b]gaian username:[/b] (your username on gaia)

[b]fictional name:[/b] (the name your gaian would like to go by)

[b]age:[/b]

[b]race: [/b]

[b]appearance: [/b](a reference picture is fine, but a tektek is preferable, or even a intricately detailed description)

[b]personality:[/b]

[b]backstory:[/b] (please be as detailed as possible. leave no hole unclosed. i expect at least several paragraphs)

[b]extra details:[/b]

[b]why you feel you deserve a place in this tale:[/b]

sign-ups close on january 15. date is subject to change.
sign-ups now close on january 22nd.
We are still recruiting. Four slots remain. The closing date is indefinite until all slots are filled.

USERS PARTICIPATING
o1. H0ll0wM4n
o2. LiliumThyStar
o3. SPI -14
04. JadeToniRitsa
05. Chibs-Panda

CHOSEN USERS
o1. || the blue anon ||
o2. H0ll0wM4n
o3. SPI-14
o4. JadeToniRitsa
o5. Chibs-Panda
o6.
o7.
o8. (reserves)
o9. (reserves)

[H0ll0wM4n]

Gaian username: H0ll0wM4n.
Fictional name: Vuoto.
Age: 27.
Race: Enhanced Human.
Appearance:

Personality: Stoic, and solitary. Constantly monotonous; retains his beliefs above everything else as he always has. Often seeking to find a greater truth in every experience. Trains diligently.

Backstory: Vuoto was born in a small village, to a blacksmiths family. He was born under the sign of the Eagle; and so he was chosen to be the offering of that month. As was custom, a group of white riders came to the village on the fifteenth day of the month and claimed three infant children. These riders were of a secret order, devoted to a seemingly glorious God. They believed that politics and military powers had to be kept in check; and so they trained scouts and spies to infiltrate orders.

All three children were thrown into battle as soon as they could walk. Often against one another. They were never told who their families were or where they came from. Those things were lost to them now, they would say. When they weren't fighting, they were flying. Sprinting across miles of land at full speed; the riders had bullwhips beside them and would make sure if you slowed down you would regret it. They would place obstacles in the field the children had to quickly climb and leap across.

As they completed one set of obstacles, they created a larger set. From small blocks they become great towers of obstacles; then as the years went by they became wooden shafts barely five inches around sticking up from five to thirty feet in the air meant to leap across one at a time. As they grew in years, they grew in prowess. At night before bed, they were all made to study every tome in the great library of the temple. They soon became admirable scholars. Of all these children, Vuoto was the most promising; he dominated in the arena and was far ahead of his peers in all of their free running exercises.

So they singled him out, and told him the secrets of their order. They promoted him to the rank of Eraser, and he became a killing tool in the name of the Order. He was sent across the land on his own, with only his hidden blade and long dagger to assist him. Despite all odds, news spread of the man dressed in white who came to steal the lives of men who wronged the people. So his life went on; killing, training, and remaining loyal to his Order.

Before long he became Master Eraser, and the right hand of the Grand Master. As he continued carrying out his masters will, he came to realize the men he was killing began to change from simply barbarians to men with families. Friends and supporting factions. He began to question them, interrogate them before their deaths. He began to slowly realize each man believed his cause to be just, exactly as he did. He returned to his master demanding answers, and the master was appalled at his behavior.

So Vuoto was condemned. He fled the temple hidden in the mountains, the spears and arrows of his former family spurring his retreat. He took a horse and fled the sanctum, leaving the Order behind and rushing for the nearest town. Since then he has quietly wandered; not attracting any attention to himself. He is a master of climbing and running; he stays to the rooftops of villages, moving swiftly and silently. He seeks the true purpose of humanity, and if not, at least the path that would lead someone stronger there.

When he was twenty and became an Eraser, his master asked him; 'Boy, you have no name. But now we must think of something for you. It is not a hasty decision, my child; a name must reflect its master....Tell me this, you've been studying greatly; how do you determine the value of another man's life?' The young man raised his chin to catch his masters gaze, and responded coolly.

"A man's life is only worth as much as he intends it to be. Should he spend it without honor or duty, then my hand will be the one to end such a waste of life. Should he live with nobility, and valiance, then may he live a long and healthy life. The reasoning is simple enough." The master chuckled low. 'A very sharp tongue on you, boy; but a sharper mind. Hollow as a promise, aren't you? Hollow...I think that's what we will call you. Vuoto. Yes, I like it. Vuoto...come. There is much to be done.'

As the hollow eraser walks through the world he seeks a new purpose, and an even greater truth. What he will find, he cannot say. He only wishes it to be something worth finding.

Extra details: Carries a long silver dagger with an Onyx grip. Hidden underneath his right glove is a silver mechanical gauntlet which extends a twelve-inch silver blade by flexing his wrist, once to extend and again to retract. Excellent reflexes; excellent close combat skills. Moves quickly, excellent level of endurance. Very little social skill.

Why you feel you deserve a place in this tale: Deserve...I can't really say so much deserve as want. The writing community I was a part of has dwindled and I'm finding myself deprived. I'd like to start off fresh writing for gaia and thought this would be an excellent place to start. I can assure you I will contribute as often as necesary and will maintain a healthy and well-constructed set of posts and/or responses. Thank you for taking the time to consider my application, whether you choose it or not.

[Something About Sparrows]

Gian User name: LiliumThyStar

Fictional Name:Lilium

Age: 16

Race: Highland Elf

Appearance:

Personality: Lilium is quiet the party-goer, but very multi-personalitied. It doesn't take much to set her off into a raging fit, yet a long while to calm her back down. She cares much for children and animals, but when it comes to seeing other people being picked on or pushed around, Lilium will go in screaming bloody murder.

Backstory: Raised in a small village in the high mountains, Lilium was brought up in mannerism and kindness towards others. Her mother made and sold jewelry to oncoming travelers, while her father was a clock smith. On her eleventh birthday, he crafted the young girl a pair of clockwork wings, in which she never takes off.

A few days after her fourteenth birthday, a group of raiders swept through the town, killing her father mercilessly, and taking her mother captive. Lilium ran off into the rocky valley with no weapon in hand. Days later, she stumbled upon a tiny hamlet of less than forty, and begged for food. The people of the area were kind enough to give her supplies and rest, but the very next day, she was sent on her way.

Tiny knife in hand and a small bundle of food and blankets at her back, Lilium continued to travel, stopping at every town to sell her work of blending herbal remedies to the sick, only to collect money and be on her way.

Extra Details: Always has a bad habit of randomly giggling. And she'll never tell you why...

Why you feel you deserve a place in this tale: I myself am an interesting person, and often get lost in writing stories. Sometimes I have a bad habit of not paying attention and putting something twice, but it's rare. I've written two books (both fantasy) and let people read them, and have received very good critiques. I'm not on all the time, and with high school starting up again after break, I will be on less often. If the story becomes boring, I will leave without a word. I dislike arguments, also.

[SPI -14]

gaian username: SPI -14

fictional name: Tara Senif

age: 25

race: Human

appearance:

personality: In most circumstances, Tara is either confused or cautious (or paranoid.) This might be mistaken as shyness, but she is actually keeping herself from being caught off-guard. She is more comfortable in cityscapes and tundra, and will often relax a bit in these environments, often smiling and being more comfortable talking to others. Only those who earn her trust will learn any information from her. Strives to overcome challenges, but knows a futile quest when she sees one.

backstory: Not many know of the nation of Alainn, and the few that do know very little. To some, it is but a myth... an advanced civilization, sleeping in the ice, awaiting a day to return. To Tara, however, it's her homeland.

As a young girl, Tara found that there were many ways to succeed in Alainn, but only a career as one of the scouting forces would allow her to see more exotic places, since Alainn's policy of isolation kept regular citizens from leaving. She enrolled in the military of Alainn as soon as she could, and after several years of training, she worked her way into the 13th Legion, Alainn's elite scouting company.

Her first mission was to seek new lands and study them, alone, armed with nothing but her rifle, a knife, her wits, and a kit of Alainn survival gear. but, not long after deployment, Alainn's only ally embarked on a campagin of genocide. Like Alainn, they were highly advanced, far beyond fair conflict with the other lands. Alainn was forced to destroy their ally for the sake of the other lands. This action revealed them to the world, however, and they agreed to wait until the day when others were ready for their nation to appear again.

Tara, like many others from Alainn, was forced into a frozen sleep in her own deployment chamber, far from home. When she awoke, she found herself in a strange land, completely unlike the one she'd been trained for: None of her information was relevant, her maps were all outdated, and, worst of all, she was completely cut off from her country in a world far more dangerous to a lost Alainn soldier than it ever was before.

extra details: Alainn is a military dictatorship. Tara is highly supportive of the current ruler (who is still frozen in ice) and believes his actions to destroy their wayward ally was for the greater good. If anyone insults him or his honor, she will usually respond negatively, usually calling the insulter a wretched barbarian who has no concept of the bigger picture. She will only approach people if she has a gun aimed at them. She has a great awareness of the surrounding area, and is good at detecting sounds and movement. She knows she is a female, and will often take offense at being looked down upon for it. She may also use this as a weapon to lower the guard of foes. Her rifle is an energy-based weapon, which takes either a day to recharge, or repeated cranking of a handle.

why you feel you deserve a place in this tale: "deserve" is a misnomer. My gaian avatar doesn't 'deserve' anything. It's more along the lines of your choice in the long run. Know that I am someone who likes to have a good amount of facts before making a move, and I like to keep things in character if possible. I am completely willing to work with you on this, and, if you would like, I could give you multiple means of contacting me to further the story if I somehow manage to vanish.

[xvakarian]

Great profiles, guys. The date has been pushed back a week to see if there are any more users left wanting to sign up.

[JadeToniRitsa]

gaian username: JadeToniRitsa

fictional name: Named Eliya Adial Auronne. Called Lee.

age: 25

race: Water-element sorceress

appearance:


personality: Overall, Lee is a very calm person who prefers to go with the flow than fight it, agreeable but blunt. She’s one to observe and watch before taking action or even getting others to take action. This part of her personality plus the way she seems to calmly see everything as one big chess game suggests she has a manipulative streak when she feels she is forced to a take counter action. The key feature of her personality though, is how unstable her emotions are, easily switching from angry to happy to sadism under her calm face. No matter what she does though, she does things in order to achieve her own ends, and never has just one reason for her decision.

backstory: Lee, like most sorcerers, was born half human and half creature. In Lee’s case, she was born half human, half water elemental. Who Lee’s parents and who was what remains a mystery; and Lee (with a sort of detachment that has been labeled to be an attribution from her elemental side) never went out of her way to find out. It is also attribute to her water element that her emotions seem so unstable, as well as making her very in tune with bodies of water, flow of groundwater, and the moisture in her surroundings and the atmosphere.

Rather than being actually raised by anyone, Lee physically, mentally, and spiritually matured quickly due to her magical nature. She would follow streams, rivers, creeks, any waterway with a spirit or guardian elemental in it, never really staying in one place for too long. Her traveling gave her an impressive cache of knowledge to draw from, knowledge that spanned from different languages and spoken dialects to writing and reading to herb folklore to the basics of metal-smithing to helping a childbirth or bringing in a harvest. She lived pretty roughly, living off the land with rough clothing that the kinder of people could spare. But things changed.

When she turned 8, Lee had wandered into a watershed community in the middle of a drought. She had happened to hear from one of the river guardians that one of their friends were missing, meaning, a river had that usually met their river domain had dried up and no one had any idea why. So Lee had traveled along the dried up riverbed, to the town, to find that someone had dammed up the river. As a result, the river had became polluted and unusable. There wasn’t really any real thought put in as much as sheer willpower when Lee purified the water and eroded the dam so that the river could flow again, but the results were almost immediate. The thirsty locals explained that their new lord had put up the dam, and the monstrosity of a construction had been impossible for anybody to destroy in the short amount of times before the soldiers came. Not to mention that the river had become polluted from stagnancy. Said soldiers who had witnessed her eroding the stones in the dam as if it were soap couldn’t bring themselves to touch her. The town gave her money and nice clothes, things they had no use for when they were dying from thirst. This was when Lee realized that she could actually sell her services as a water-element sorceress as she traveled.

The town’s library also changed her life. Traditionally, sorcerers, witches, wizards, etc. all have interests, or a topic, that the individual would spent their lifetime researching. For example: some became alchemists in their research of metamorphosis and the philosopher stone (or the “perfect substance”), others concentrated on necromancy, or would even look for the meaning of life and how beings came to exist. That little library that day marked the beginning of Lee’s research of what she coined as “spiritual waterways” (aka. Chakra pathways within the body, but also the flow of power around in the surroundings) and how it connected the physical entity to a spiritual/total-magical entity (ex. Spirits, demons, elementals, angels, ghosts, etc.) or even to the individual’s mental state.

Since then, Lee has gained the title of “Water-witch”, earning good money from predicting weather, providing flood warnings, purifying water, healing, mapping out underwater tides to ship companies and fisherman, sometimes calling rain, locating underground springs and aquifers, and the like. With an actual goal in mind and research to do, Lee saved up and bought small tower, which she layered with spells and power to give the tower features like being bigger on the inside than it seemed, a killer (literally) magical alarm system, that the tower could transport itself from anywhere to where Lee was at that moment, even a single door to a number of rooms.

Presently, for her age, Lee is considered to be a rather accomplished magic-user, if not more than a little strange and one to avoid. She currently keeps company with many different spirits, demons, elementals, daemons, and the kind; seemingly preferring their company to that of most of those in the mundane world. Her tower also seems to possess a number of strange, rare, possibly dangerous creatures she tamed, capture, or even made. There is a spew of rumors about her, but it doesn’t stop people from hiring her, or other magic-users from challenging or investigating her. Whatever the case, Lee continues her research, searching for that one key that she knows will lead to a breakthrough…

extra details: Lee dresses a lot better than she did when she was young (now that she can afford it), but she still only has two vanities. One is jewelry and gems from the sea, it fascinates her. So pearls, coral pieces, and the like usually puts the gift-giver in favor with her. The other vanity is the small wings on her head. It was a magical accident where she accidently changed herself into a bird from a backfired spell she was experimenting with. She managed to turn herself back, but the little wings remained. Lee grew rather attached to them. They are the only indicators of how she really feels; quivering when nervous, flapping when angry, shifting when thoughtful.

why you feel you deserve a place in this tale: No one can really decide what a person “deserves”, but I’ll give it a try. I love writing. That’s pretty much it. Unfortunately, it’s rather hard to find a group these days that can meet my needs (without pissing off my pet peeves) or being too far along for me to feel that I can really join anymore. Because I love writing, it means I’ll be around and I’ll keep at this project. It’s fun to write with others, and I think I’m a fairly easy person to work with (sorry to the people who think otherwise). First time I’ve seen this concept, so I’m excited whether I get chosen or not.

[muleaccount1993]

gaian username: Chibs-Panda

fictional name: Panda

age: 23

race: Dark Elf / Demon

appearance:

*
Expression Sheet :: Sketch
*The dress is just a new started dress. She wears black shorts underneath and the same black gloves as the other outfit. Also she wears the silver elven pendent. When she wears this outfit, she carries the hoodie with the rest of her traveling items and uses it as a blanket. She can't wear the hoodie all the time because it is very warm, and she is temperature sensitive.

personality: Fairly laid-back. Tries not to get overly excited, but very easily pleased by cute/lovely things and kindness. Not very elegant in personality or poise, but very polite. Irritated easily, but she holds it in, though eventually she can't handle it any more. Tends to ignore things that she finds annoying and eventually turns childish and picks at them.

backstory: Though she was a mix in breed (with a dark elf for a mother and demon for a father) she was not born very extraordinary. Both of her parents were often away, so her great grandmother (on her mother's side) took care of her. She didn't have a difficult childhood, though her grandmother was very old and often dozed off, forgetting that she had a child to care for. This made her very independent. She was not named at birth. Because she was frequently dressed in black and white, her great grandmother called her "Little Panda" and the name stuck, though she had no idea what a panda is and still to this day is clueless.

When she was young she didn't care much for other children. She wasn't too different from them and they weren't cruel to her, she just didn't care to interact with them too often. She did, however, like playing hide and seek, since she was the best at it. Patient and quiet, she always was the last to be found.

In her teen years she became a bit more social and even made her way into a group of friends. This group soon emotionally betrayed her and started teasing her about her father and her name. Young and hormonal, she took it all very difficultly but a year later was lucky enough to make a new friend, one who genuinely found her interesting. Her previous group teased that they were lovers, though they had no romantic interest in each other. Being her first male friend it was a good experience for her and soon they found a third, a younger girl who also had a parent different from a dark elf. Soon into their adult hood, her male friend was sent away to support his family elsewhere and being half-human, the other girl died of an illness shortly after. Her last gift to Panda was a fox pup she'd bought off of a traveling elf. Panda named him Sky.

One day, she decided she would travel the world, seeing all of the creatures she could find, maybe even locate one of these pandas she's heard so much about.

extra details: She enjoys puzzles/challenges that engages the mind (like riddles, chess, and word-search puzzles). Her 'abilities' include blending in with shadows and supernatural speed that some could compare to teleportation. Any other ability she may have has not yet been discovered.

Sky is a very energetic fox and often runs ahead of his owner. He's full of spunk and isn't afraid of anything larger than him.

The pancho hoodie she wears was made by her great grandmother.

why you feel you deserve a place in this tale: It sounds like an awesome concept. I'm not sure I'd technically 'deserve' a spot but I'd like to be considered because I'd love to see what can happen with my other self. I can't bring her to life like I'd want to, but it seems that you'd be able to. I'd like to be a part of this project. It sounds like a lot of fun.

[xvakarian]

Timezones. It's likely that the time here, where I live, isn't anywhere near your own - but just so you know, the 22nd is just tomorrow (a couple of hours away from this post). Before actually initiating the launch of this project, I have to make a couple of polls. This will affect the way this project is carried out.


Poll 1: Many, from what I can understand, think that this project involves everyone contributing to the story by writing up their own portions to add to the chapters. Initially, I didn't plan for it to work that way, but if most people were expecting to write as well, then I might as well put this alternative into motion.

The new plan would be like this. I'll assign different 'writing tasks' to each participant. Each one of you then submits a small (or large) paragraph related to the task before a set date. All these entries will then be combined into one chapter, and I'll be filling the gaps in between with my own words. This way, I won't misinterpret your character, and interactivity would be at its maximum, especially when I give someone a task that presents a forked path in the story.

Or, we could just stick to me writing on my own, and only light input is required. I'll ask the thread in general about the direction of the plot - unlike the new plan, this would require unanimity, in which everyone agrees on one decision. Since the new plan provides more opportunities, I personally prefer that over the old plan.

But of course, a majority prevails and I won't protest, I'm genuinely happy either way.

Oh, and this thread will become the OOC (out of character) thread where we will have our discussions and chat freely amongst each other. I approve of the occasional out-of-topic conversations. Get to know each other and have fun, it's the ultimate goal. The post order dice-rolling method will also be done here.


Poll 2: Just a basic question, roughly how many words should each chapter be? This could be dependent on the third poll.


Poll 3: The last poll is on the duration of time between chapter releases. I'm sure everyone is fairly occupied with their lives, so I don't want to push chapter releases to be just a day apart. How long a break should everyone take between chapters? A couple of days? Once a week? Twice a week?

I'll be creating a new thread, where it remains undisturbed by anyone else other than myself to post the chapters to the story. All that are chosen will be notified and redirected.

TL;DR - How long should each chapter be, how long between chapter releases, and do you want to be involved in writing as well? I'll also post a new thread with only the chapters, and this is the OOC thread.

[n3verl4nd]

I LOVE TO WRITE!!! and to some people my Gaia is known as the one who stares into the distance with heartbreak in the rally's, some may even have seen me before but i believe that i could do lots to help with the story and I have lots of experience working and collaborating with other people, please let me join!!!

[muleaccount1993]

To be quite honest I thought I'd be rejected since my character is a bit different than the others.

Poll 1: I like the idea of giving us writing assignments, though maybe just so you can get a feel of how to write the actual chapters yourselves. It sounds like fun to have a place for the assignments to go up and us post, but in the actual chapters it seems like it would be better for you to re-write the parts to better fit your plans for the story. So our parts would be more like guidelines and socialization tools.

Poll 2: I have no clue for this one. I'd like to say they should be however long as you wish for them to be. Maybe around 3-5 pages? But I have no clue.

Poll 3: Once a week or bi-monthly sounds good.

ALSO. Updating my post with an alternative outfit. I don't have a tektek for it since there aren't all the items on the tektek site yet. It can be her only outfit since it seems to fit the other characters' themes a little better.

[xvakarian]

I knew you'd feel that way. But I do want to see how far the boundaries go on this story. Your character will push them. I try to be more open-minded toward accepting profiles, like I've said in your PM. Don't allow the way other characters are set up to influence the way your character presents herself. As much as I want the story and characters to go hand in hand, I don't want people feeling that their characters aren't them.

As you've said, re-writing parts seem a good idea to me, especially when putting together the work of many, so it flows. It already is one issue with characterization, so this will definitely help keep the story intact. We would still need to see if the rest are comfortable with the idea.

EDIT: Of course, a little outfit change is fine. But as I've said before, try not to alter your persona while writing. If you feel that it would be best, then by all means - I ask that you don't stray too far from the profile you've already set, though.

[xvakarian]

kkmooopees2

I LOVE TO WRITE!!! and to some people my Gaia is known as the one who stares into the distance with heartbreak in the rally's, some may even have seen me before but i believe that i could do lots to help with the story and I have lots of experience working and collaborating with other people, please let me join!!!

Please use the form in the first post if you want to sign up. (:

[muleaccount1993]

I can understand that...Sure, I'll just keep the original outfit~

[SPI -14]

Poll 1:I like the new plan, with the assignments, giving a goal of sorts to work towards. However, the differences in writing style might become apparent. it might need a bit of unifying editing in this regard to properly format.

Poll 2: Words... I've been able to churn out a few pages on a thought, or a reaction to an event.

Poll 3: A couple of days might be a bit too much for me, as I am a college student. I enjoy bi-monthly the most.