Welcome to Gaia! ::

The primary setting for the roleplay is the Temple of the Order, located on the western shore of the Isle de Gambino. This post has information on the Temple and the various services it offers, including habitation, meals, therapy... you know, the usual stuff.

HISTORY

The Temple has been rebuilt twice in its short history. Starting out as a dilapidated beach condo, it was converted into a shabby but functional building, which was promptly blown to smithereens by a magical duel. It was rebuilt after some serious(?) fundraising, but this rebuilt Temple was unfortunately razed to the ground during the Second Sentinel War. Since then, it's back and better than ever! Bigger, more stylish and more effective, it's the perfect place to house the many acolytes who call it their home, as well as all the interlopers who come stumbling in.

MAPS

Click the hyperlinks to be taken to floor maps!


GROUND FLOOR

The Main Hall: The main hall is the first thing visitors (and everyone else) sees when they enter the Temple. It's a large, airy room, much unlike its previous dank, dark incarnation, with a speaking area and lectern separated from the main seating area by a large circular pool, designed for merpeople to travel in and out to attend services and mingle. Bathtubs available for transport on request. It opens into the hallways that lead to the rest of the Temple.

The Garden: The garden is used mainly to grow vegetables for the kitchen, but parts of it are also purely for decoration. It's quite large and, unindicated on the ground plan, it actually leads round towards the back of the Temple and merges into a path to the beach. Having a supply of druidic magic at hand, the flowers and vegetables grow rapidly, blooming and ripening all year round.

The Elevator: The elevator is restricted to patients and medical/alchemical staff, as it's intended to ferry personel and beds/casualties up and down. This has turned it into a point of fascination for the younger acolytes, who occassionally hammer on the buttons just to provoke a reaction from the staff.

The Enchanting Center: The Enchanting Center houses the main enchantment room, Adeline's office and, down a set of stairs, the Teleportation Chamber. The main enchantment room contains worktables and the large power crystals that sustain the many, many enchantments without which the Temple would not be able to function. It's also often strewn with mannequins and silk and other overspill from Adeline's office. The Teleportation Chamber is an oddly empty but large room - it's made for a large number of people to be able to appear in it comfortably every morning. It also used to contain the enchanted mirror which provided back-and-forth access to the Mirror World. Its empty frame still hangs ominously on the wall. Adeline hasn't had the heart to remove it.

The Canteen & Banquet Hall: Regular daily meals are taken in the Canteen. More formal occassions and parties take place in the banquet hall, a very large and ornate chamber intended to impress. For parties and balls the tables ar egenerally moved to the side, where they still serve to hold food whilst not getting in the way. There are two kitchens - the canteen kitchen, a small place that serves through a hatch, much like any school canteen, and the larger industrial kitchen intended to churn out mountains of food for large gatherings. The larger kitchen also houses the food stores.

The Library: The library is a vast circular room with towering shelves arranged in spiralling patterns. Nobody is quite sure who the librarian is - the deceased professor used to tend the library, and since his untimely demise the duty has mostly been shared by Lorika, Jessie, Adeline, Thomas... and anyone else who happens to stumble upon a misplaced book. Jessie has ended up the main caretaker due to his night-owl habits, rearranging the books whenever he stops by, but everybody mucks in. There are books on seemingly every topic possible, from magic to fiction to botany to plug assembly. The ceiling is a great glass dome, which shows a beautiful blue sky in the day and a vast starry expanse at night.

The Spellcasting Lecture Rooms: This is where the spellcasting professors instruct their students. The two rooms closest to the main hall are smaller classrooms where the teachers usually confer solely with their students - evening therapy sessions also happen in one of these rooms. The third room is a larger lecture theatre where the instructors take all students and also the public for the topics advertised on the notice board.

Private Practise Rooms: These are aimed at magic students who want to study or practise their magic in a safe environment. The room is heavily fortified with protective enchantments, and also contains miniature power crystals for student use. Other catalysts can be obtained upon request from Cressa's office. Each room also has an "emergency call" button that can signal for help if things get out of control.

The Music Room: It's a music room! A large hall with a myriad of instruments including, for some reason, a full-sized pipe organ. How on earth did they get that in there...?

Communications Room: IT'S THE 21ST CENTURY, BABY! This room is full of computers and routers and microchips and telephones and TECHNOLOGICAL STUFF. We have broadband! And WiFi! It also has an area for videogaming. WHO WANTS TO PLAY JUST DANCE 3??





FIRST FLOOR

TV Area: This is a communal area where everybody can watch TV together. It also functions as a casual seating area and the waiting room for patients to see Dr. Hyaku during the mornings and early afternoon.

Entertainment Room: IT'S FOR ENTERTAINMENT! There's more video games, there's a karaoke bar, there's board games... lots of stuff!

Medical Center: The medical center comprises the main treatment room, Dr. Hyaku's office and bedroom, and cushy private rooms tucked at the back for long-term patients. (The High Priestess wishes they were there when she was injured by the Sentinel!)

Dormitories: The dorms, separated into male and female, are where many of the younger members of the Order sleep, as well as older ones who are simply attached to their surroundings and their friends and don't care too much for a private room. They have lovely balconies and are close to the entertainment rooms... another reason why an acolyte might not want to "graduate" to a single room. For more info on accomodation, scroll down!


SECOND FLOOR

Alchemy Center: This is where all the potions and medicines that sustain the medical center are made. Explosives and poisons and such are also stocked up in case of times of war. There are also "buff" potions, such as potions of shielding, fire-protection and water-breathing. There are also contraceptive potions and medicines available upon request, but be prepared for Thomas to give you a very odd look if you approach him directly to ask for them. Best to go through the med center, if you ask me.

Altar Room & Throne Room Antechamber: These are the areas where the spiritualists mostly go about their days, tucked away from the world, meditating and praying and studying scripture to become closer to the Overseer and work his miracles. Lorika also trains those who are interested in joining the Order here. The actual joining ritual, however, is performed in the throne room. Supplies such as holy oil and blessed water are kept in a store cupboard near the altar.

Throne Room: This is the holiest of holy rooms - the Overseer's inner sanctum. His energy permeates this area and those who haven't experienced the serenity and peace he can provide his followers find it frightening. It's usually empty, even when the Overseer is around, because he likes to mingle with his followers. Lorika is the main person who uses it, and occassionally the other priests.

BASEMENT

The basement is the only part of the Temple that hasn't changed much since its first incarnation - if you look at the way the maps match up/the stairwells are aligned, it even keeps its original place, whereas the rest of the Temple moved back and to the side when it was rebuilt.

It contains the large "Priest" bedrooms reserved mainly for staff and guests, and private single bedrooms for older acolytes. There are also a number of quiet/prayer rooms, originally intended for spiritualist use, but since used for study, meditation or general CHILLAXING in addition to prayer.

There are also three kinds of bathroom - two smaller, sex segregated bathrooms; a larger communal mixed bathroom; and of course the private ensuites in all of the Priest bedrooms. The cells beneath the basement are used to hold the Order's stores of weaponry nowadays, but they can accomodate prisoners too if necessary.

For more information on accomodation, scroll down a little bit!



ACCOMODATION

The Order offers several forms of accomodation. In the basement, there are single rooms (L) and priest bedrooms (R). Single rooms are simple, basic rooms, restricted to older acolytes. They contain a single bed, a small armoire, and usually a desk or a shelf. Priest bedrooms are larger and occupied mainly by staff and the most mature acolytes - they're double bedrooms, and also let out to overnight guests. The contain more furniture, usually a desk, a large armoire, some shelves and extra seating. They also have small ensuite bathrooms.

The dormitories, meanwhile, are two large gender segregated rooms filled with four-poster beds. They have chests of drawers for storage and seating, and many acolytes choose to bring in extra personal storage in the form of under-bed storage drawers. They have balconies and each have a large communal bathroom. Each bed has cream curtains around it for privacy - these curtains are soundproof and sightproof, and dirtproof. Let's call it.. LIFE-PROOF!

Above: The girls' dormitory, balcony corner. All of these are probably not to scale.

SERVICES

Teleportation Service: The teleportation service is mainly enacted through the use of bracelets. Locations can be "encoded" into bracelets through very, very advanced magic developed by the staff. At times tailored to the bracelet, and thus the person they were intended for, Ordonians can be teleported to the teleportation chamber from wherever they happen to be at that time, and then teleported back to a set location at the end of the day (or whenever the return time is set). This allows for easy commute to the island and back, and if one doesn't wish to take part, they can simply take off the bracelet. Jessie is astounded at the reliability of this service, given the fact that Cressa is the one who lends her power to the system. Every new bracelet is created with her energy, directed by Adeline and Thomas in order to program the bracelets.

Therapy and Mental Healing: Lorika runs these sessions nightly. They're for anyone who feels like they need someone to talk to, or for those who have deeper mental and emotional problems they wish to alleviate. Sessions can be either private or group depending on the night, with participants often attending a group session and a private session weekly. Lorika is capable of lifting inner hurt and trauma, but refrains from doing this unless she's sure that her patients have reached a point where they can handle some external help. Healing mental scars with magic, even holy magic, is very dangerous and can have unforseen side effects on the psyche. For more detail, see Lorika's duties, and her Talents in the post above that one.

Medical Care: The medical center is open daily and, like therapy, is open to both Order members and outsiders. Dr. Hyaku holds clinics from roughly 10 in the morning to 2 in the afternoon. The presence of a designated Combat-division healer, Lacine, means neither she nor Lorika have to take casualties from there any longer.

Combat Training: Under Jessie's tutelage, the Order offers training in the martial arts to its members. The combat division meets in the obscenely early morning for drills and athletics, before focusing on combat for the rest of the day. Gloria is his assistant. Several nights a week, sports are also played. For more details, see Jessie's duties.

Magic Instruction: Cressa and Deylin teach magic to all those acolytes willing to learn. For more information on classes and lectures etc. see Cressa's duties.

Spiritualist Training and the Clergy: Lorika trains the spiritualists in holy magic and trains those interested in becoming priests of the Order. Becoming a priest is no small commitment, as it entails a rather gruelling process of spiritual advancement, a prelude to higher administrative powers and strange physical changes, the most noticeable being the bright pink eyes which indicate a true disciple of the Order.

Enchanting and Alchemical work: The Order prides itself upon its enchantments, which do everything from keeping utensils and furniture spick and span to providing beautiful views out indoor windows and ceilings. Adeline is a tailor-elf who works on projects both inside and outside the Order, though outside trade is unusual due to the expensive and time consuming nature of Stayflower enchanted garments. The alchemy division also provides potions for outside sources upon request. All kinds of common healing and antidote potions are available, as well as many usual or expensive potions, all provided for free to Order members. Though you do have to get through Thomas first to access them, if not going through the doctor.

Mealtimes: Breakfast is served in the canteen from 6 - 10 a.m. Lunch is served from 12 - 3 p.m. Dinner is served from 5.30 - 9 p.m.

STAFF LIST

The battle system begins at character creation. You can choose your character's proficiency in the things they're good at. This is called their tier. Characters are not limited to a certain number of skills - if they're good at something that's likely to have a noticeable effect on the roleplaying experience, include it. If it's just a little silly thing you thought up but it defines something about their character, include it anyway! Examples of skills with tiers can be seen throughout my character thread, but the options are limitless.

The tiers of proficiency are, from lowest to highest:

Beginner - Adept - Advanced - Expert - Master

Expert is barred to new characters, but may be used upon special permission. Master is off-limits without incredibly, unusually special permission.

When determining your character's tier(s) think realistically, not egotistically. Yes, everybody would love to be an Expert or a Master, just the same as in real life. But expertise and mastery takes many years or especially great talent or experience to reach. So consider things like: How old is your character? How long have they been practising? Do they have any natural affinities that might help them start off more advanced than usual?

Remember that this isn't a contest, it's an experience. Characters don't have to be powerful to be unique or interesting, and at the end of the day uniqueness is more important!


Skills can be general, or more specific. Combat, Spellcasting and Spiritualism are the general terms for martial arts, magic and the magic of priests. How specific your skills are implies a specialty in a certain area. For example, a character with Spellcasting listed as one of their skills implies a general proficiency in all or at least most areas of magic. Similarly, a Combat skill implies a general proficiency in many areas of combat.

On the other hand, a character who lists Hydromancy as one of their skills has a specific proficiency in the area of water-based magic. They might have little to no ability in any other areas if this is listed alone. However, a character can be specialised in one or two areas whilst still retaining some general knowledge - for example, Gloria the combat assistant has a general, weaker proficiency in Combat, but specialises in Hand-to-Hand and Close-Range Combat, both at Expert.

Your character also has skills at their disposal called Talents. These have a direct influence on the rp experience and are therefore covered in the next part of this post.


This system is intended to be tailored towards your needs and the vision you have for your character. There is very little that is off-limits, but I would like to remind those who choose a skill intended to make your character more persuasive or charming that it is impossible to actually influence the decision of another character if they or their rper do not wish to be influenced. So don't waste a Talent on a persuasive skill and then throw a hissy fit when nobody bends to your character's will. Ticking a box that says your character is unnaturally charming doesn't mean a thing if you aren't capable of following it through and actually writing them persuasively, after all!






You may have noticed that this is called a "Battle System" - and with good reason, too! The rp, having sprung from a war and traveled through two others, has an element of roleplay combat about it. Your skill tiers and your talents will help you when it comes down to a fight. Skills don't HAVE to be combat-oriented, of course. Some examples of passive skills include:



However, the benefit of having at least one combat-orientated skill, besides it being in line with the violent aspects of the storyline, is that you gain the ability to roll during combat. No, not "stop, drop and roll" - though that is basic fire safety, kids, and very useful to know - but dice rolling. If your character only has an assortment of passive skills, they won't be able to defend themselves if attacked or, conversely, attack anyone else. Some examples of battle-oriented skills include:



...Those examples are horrible, but you get the idea. All of these allow you to roll to defend yourself or attack. Your proficiency in the skill you're using to attack or defend, e.g swordfighting or hand-to-hand combat, determines the number of sides your dice gets:




Dice can either cause your roll to fail, succeed, or succeed excellently. An excellent success implies that the skill or attack or defense is more effective than the character intended, putting the opponent at a disadvantage. Each improved dice gives you a higher chance of a great success:



Over time, your character might advance in tier if they improve their skills and take part regularly. It gets harder to advance the higher your tier, JUST LIKE REAL LIFE! DOESN'T IT SUCK

When you make your character, or indeed at any time after you make your character, you're able to assign them Talents. Talents are like special skills unique to your character, and you make them up yourself. They can give your character (small) bonuses to their rolls under certain circumstances, or create a detriment to other character's rolls, or cover a wide-ranging skill not covered in your regular skills (for example, Cressa's Lore Master talent covers her ability with languages, ciphers and obscure knowledge), or anything else you like. They're there to further give your character personality, and for them to be able to use their personal skills to their advantage.





Some general advice on rping combat:

1. Roll and post at the same time. Sometimes in the past people have rolled, looked at the result and then edited their post. Don't do this! Leave your posts open-ended, so that your opponent can react rather than have you determine the result for them. E.g instead of saying "Jessie drew in and sunk his blade deep into Engelbert's stomach," I would say "Jessie drew in, blade poised to sink into Engelbert's stomach." There's a SUGGESTION as to what the character is intending to do, but it's only a suggestion, and what happens next is down to the roll's success and Engelbert. Heh. Engelbert.

2. Keep communication open. If you don't understand something, ask your opponent's rper to clarify. If you'd like to achieve a specific result from the fight, talk to them about your intentions beforehand. All discussion can be done in the discussion thread if not over PM or IM.

3. BE REALISTIC. It's human nature to want to win. But in life, you can't win all the time. Everybody comes a-cropper now and then. This is an experience, not a competition. If your character is on the verge of defeat, accept it graciously. If you're worried about your character dying, sort it out with the other rpers. Also, I do NOT want to see two overpowered characters having a battle of egos rather than skill. You know, you've seen them - each character constantly one-ups the other in the spirit of badlosermanship, creating a battle that drags on and on and on and on as they struggle to "win." If I see even the slightest hint of this brewing I will be very annoyed and step in to put an end to it.

TIME PASSAGE

The mechanics for time passage have changed in this version, to prevent the stagnating we saw in previous versions.

In-rp time will now ADVANCE A DAY for every THREE rl days.

If people are actively posting, the bump won't happen. But if nobody has posted for most of the three days, it'll get bumped.

If time gets bumped and you hadn't completed something you were planning on, simply post a summary of what went on when you next post. If you have a longer scene in mind that didn't get included when it was meant to, you can do something about it, whether it's posting your own thread and linking to it, stating when it was meant to take place; posting it in the discussion thread and saying when it was meant to take place; PMing Lorika to ask her to edit your post(s) in where it/they was/were meant to happen... or anything else you can think of to get your scene included! We're pretty flexible. BENDY o3o

Use of the term ACOLYTE

Originally the Order was a totally religious sect. The use of the term "Acolyte" dates back to this time - when (almost) every member was a devotee of the Overseer. It's still used to refer to every member in general, particularly younger or less higher ranked members. If one isn't a priestess, the high priestess, or an administrator with any other title, one is an acolyte.