Welcome to Gaia! ::

*waves at Zelyhon, creator* biggrin

Hey people! Reserved for posting character when I get around to it... gotta read all the back-ground first... sweatdrop

Unless there are too many people in this rp already?

gonk Lexine is the only female character so far! Poor girl! Maybe I should change her weapon to pepper-spray...

Correction: Lexine is the only -openly- female character so far. Sorry Penden! blaugh

Double Correction: Yeah...I think a gyspy dancer is even more feminine than Lexine. Cookies!

Umm... Hello? *Laughs* Caitee is a dancer with a gypsy troupe... she's pretty open about her femininity! Ilaughs* My copy and past thing won't work, but her bio is up in the recruiting thread...

Name: Raserei Soldner

Age: 27

Hair: Black

Eyes: Dark brown

Height: 7' 4"

Other physical features: Muscular in phisique, Raserei has the powerful frame of a warrior who's been trained from infancy to do nothing but fight. His hair is kept short, but somewhat wild. His skin is well tanned, denoting that he's spent a long time in the sun. He usually has on a thin beard, seeing as how he rarely finds need to shave often.

Wearing: Raserei usually wears a suit of steel armor. This armor is of peculiar style, as it covers his entire body and offers as much protection as Gothic armor, but is highly articulated and allows much more free movement than most plate armors. The armor seems to be totally utilitarian, as there are no designs whatsoever on it. It does gleam in light, however, due to the resin covering it, which keeps it from rusting. Along with this, he wears a black cape with a blood red design in the shape of a cross on it. While not in battle, he keeps the helm under his arm, as it gets hard to breathe in those things.

Carrying: A large, steel battle axe with a haft made from lignumviti, a wood widely known as "Iron wood," and a steel round shield with three long spikes mounted on the rim. The axe is of the style in which one side of the head is the actual broad cutting blade, and the other a sharp armor peircing spike. The shield can be used both as a shield and a weapon, as a skilled warrior can use it to deflect a blow and ram the spikes into an enemy with a single movement.

Demeanor: Raserei is quite friendly and hospitable, once you get to know him. He's known for having a whacked sence of humor. For example, when a guy he knows starts hitting on some girl, he might say "calm down, fire crotch." If you don't know him, he probably won't look at you twice. In battle, he's extremely fierce and indomitable. He's not above kicking, punching or gouging enemies to death. If his helmet did'nt cover his mouth, he'd probably bite people to death too.

History: The Soldner clan is a unique one among those of the Empire, as it is one that totally disdains magic, and is comprised mostly of people that hate magic. As such, they're looked down upon by most magic using clans. However, it's members are physically unmatchable, trained for strength, endurance, fearlessness and ferocity.

The Soldner clan has a history of being a mercenary clan. The Soldnerian mercenary is a peculiar figure. A contract is written up between a contractor and the Soldner clan leader, with a specified time limit. Payment is payed out in full and in advance, at the same time that the contract is written up.

Once this has been done, the subjective mercenary, picked out by the contractor, is given a copy of the contract, and inducted into the service of the contractor. While in the contractor's service, the mercenary must comply to all of the contractor's commands, so long as it does not breach Soldner code.

Once the contract's time limit has expired, down to the minute, the mercenary will effectively abandon his contractor and return to his clan. It does not matter if he is in the middle of a battle or a thousand miles from home; he will still go. There have been reports that a warrior whom was previously slaughtering an opposition dropped what he was doing suddenly, turned, and left.

Soldnerian mercenaries may be somewhat difficult to control in a battle, due to their independant spirits and sense of glory, but this hardly matters. A single Soldnerian warrior is a great asset to any army; when a whole group shows up, those who survive them are convinced that spirits from Hell were sent to drag them screaming to the afterlife!

The Soldner clan has a strange method of identification and distinguishing it's members from the rest of society. They tatoo their members in an excrutiatingly painful and brutal fastion; by running a white hot iron over their skin. This kills the skin (and admittedly some of the muscle underneath and sometimes the initiates themselves, if they don't hold still) and makes it black.

This is done at an age at which the skin will not grow out of the tatoos, usually when they just get through puberty. This is not something that is looked at with dread by the young, however. For them, it's the coming of age, induction into full service of the clan. It's joyous, and the day on which they are "branded" is treated just as if it were a birthday.

Those members who burn the tatoos into the initiates see their work as art, and pride themselves on being able to burn intricate and "beautiful" designs into people. It is particulary difficult to go over someone's eye with the iron without messing up, seeing as how you might accidentally jam the iron right into their eye socket, what with the flinching and the tremors and all.

Enough about the clan, now let's talk about Raserei.

Raserei is one of those people that was born to be a warrior. He, like all Soldnerians, trained from infancy to be a warrior and showed a unique talent in fighting.

He was branded at the age of 14, and, unlike most members that are branded, did'nt scream while the white hot iron was moved ever-so-slowly across his skin. Sure, he flinched a lot, but he did'nt scream. This gave him a reputation for being very tough.

Aside from that, during his mercenarial carrer, he has shown to be extremely dedicated to his profession. His contractors are always pleased with the results. As such, he's become one of the more expensive of Soldnerian mercenaries, the "elite" of the clan. It may cost a pretty penny to contract him for a long length of time, but you can count on him to get the job done... if in a less than subtle manner. He's not a subtle person, to say the least.

Allegiance: Unaffiliated. Until, of course, someone contracts him.

Job within group: Mercenary

Other details: Raserei has several tatoos covering parts of his body. The most visible is the one around and over his right eye.

Woot! Finally got through all that reading to post a character that is hopefully pretty different. I'll post here and on the other thread.

Name: Seren-Xi Liandar
Age: 72
Hair: So grey that it is almost white, pulled up in a complicated braid that wraps around the back of her head.
Eyes: A piercing bluey purple.
Height: medium-short (in Australia we use centimetres, so if I gave you a number it probably wouldn⦡mp;#8364;™t mean anything to you!)
Other physical features: small build. Quite thin, despite her age. Seren still has excellent posture when sitting or standing, and carries herself with grace and dignity in defiance of her years. Although her face is lined, particularly around the eyes, her cheeks have lost none of their fullness. She has a strong chin beneath full lips, a prominent nose (which in our world would be called roman nose). Although Seren would like to pretend that age simply did not apply to her, even she must acknowledge that her face has lost some of its color over the years. Nonetheless, she wears little make-up except a smudge of blush which merely serves to highlight her strong cheek-bones and profile, and a strange line of purple across her eyelids (this kind of eye make-up is not in fashion, and is quite expensive in any case).
Wearing: Over a complicated corset/petticoat arrangement, Seren wears a gown of a deep purple, its full skirt long enough to sweep the floor. The dress is of the costliest fabric, and has a dark-blue sheen to it that shimmers in different lights. The sleeves are full-length, widening outwards from the shoulder. The bodice is adorned with black lace and beading, as well as a large broach of a dark metal surrounding a black stone. When going out she usually wears a voluminous black velvet cloak and matching gloves. She also favours heavy silver jewellery, and wears a number of large rings.
Carrying: a cane made of a dark wood stained until black. It is more of a prop than anything else (when she wants to appear old), she certainly does not rely on it as a walking aid. Also about her person are concealed a number of small vials of poison of varying strengths; some stun, some kill. One of these is hidden in the broach on her bodice; it opens with a hidden catch.

Magic (If applicable): Shadow mage, or shadowmancer. For Seren-Xi, shadow is living, workable material, which can be manipulated. She recognises the natural malleability of shadow-stuff, and is well aware of its versatility. Seren uses shadow to blind and confuse, and can transform it into simple physical objects, such as a cape or a club. However she cannot form complex objects with a number of parts; any type of machinery is beyond her. And defined, precise shapes with straight lines like a spear point or the sharp edge of a dagger are difficult, requiring a large amount of concentration. Therefore, when protection is needed, Seren will generally conjure up shadow creatures; a strong one of which can take any number of hits without effect, and take little effort to control. Seren can conjure and control up to six shadow creatures effectively without compromising her own ability to think and move. These creatures generally take the shape of large dogs, bulls, or lions, with more teeth and horns than one would usually see on those animals, although they are generally ill defined and appear as a mass of black when summoned in numbers. She has also learnt to invest her consciousness in a shadow-construct, and can use a single one of these as her body for short periods, expending much energy and requiring great concentration. However, shadow magic is naturally weaker during the day, when there are less shadows around; Seren cannot create shadows, she merely manipulates existing shadow. Therefore shadow creatures and other objects conjured during the day are weak and insubstantial if they are able to be summoned at all, their corporeality shaky at best; so, while a day-time shadow construct may deflect a few blows, its attacks are unlikely to cause damage and will pass through their opponents. Also, Seren cannot use a construct as an avatar during the day, and is unable to use her blinding and confusion powers to much affect in full sunlight. She is also highly vulnerable to any type of magic involving light.
Active or Passive: Active

Demeanor: A well-hidden viciousness and cruelty which is only apparent to those who know her well. Seren is ruthless in the pursuit of power, but she is careful to conceal her true nature. To an outsider, Seren-Xi appears a stately older woman, trust-worthy and generous but firm. In this guise, she manipulates anyone and everyone who stands in her way, however she is occasionally betrayed by her pride. Her calculating intelligence is undimmed despite her years; she is an excellent twister of words.

History (Yes, this is mandatory. You⦡mp;#8364;™re free to read everyone⦡mp;#8364;™s history. Just remember to limit actions to what your character knows, not what you know): The illegitimate child of a powerful councilman to an un-talented serving girl, Seren-Xi was an unhappy, neglected child. While she lived in her father⦡mp;#8364;™s household, all his love and attention was directed towards his legitimate son, her half-brother, who was showing promise as a mage who could work with animals. Her own obvious talent was ignored. Overcome by a murderous jealousy towards her younger brother, one night young Seren used her blossoming powers of confusion to create a shadow-cloud around his head and promptly walked him off a balcony. Seren⦡mp;#8364;™s ruthlessness also extended to her step-mother, who had never liked her. The feeling was mutual; Seren waited until her father was out of town to torment the grieving woman with voices in the night and, at times, a weak shadow figure which she made appear in the likeness of her dead half-brother. While she was not able to perform these tricks for more than a few minutes at a time, Seren persisted, and, eventually, convinced that the ghost of her son was pursuing her, her step-mother fled the city and her husband. The woman was never heard from again. Seren-Xi now had the complete attention of her grief-stricken father, and, displaying the beginnings of a talent for manipulation that would come to shape her life, she soon convinced him to love her. His love was not returned; indeed, Seren was probably incapable of the emotion, but she basked in the attention of this powerful man. She certainly relished the indulgence that his wealth and her newfound position within the household afforded her.

Seren continued to control her father through her teens, and, through him, learnt a great deal about the politics of the council. Through him, she forged early connections with various council members that would stand her in good stead. After her father died, the young Seren took the reins of his finances, and, with the aid of her now vast wealth, her connections within the council and her obvious magical ability (which she often flaunted by wearing shadow-cloaks to balls), she gained quick entry into the council and sped to power. In her early days of influence, Seren⦡mp;#8364;™s now well-honed manipulative skills served her well. Through her outward demeanour and subtle propaganda, she managed to portray herself as a friend to the people; she attended public ceremonies in the lower city with a grace that recommended her to the people, gave charitable donations to the poor un-talents, and even set up a small hospital of sorts staffed by mages with healing powers (weak powers, but powers nonetheless). To all outward appearances, then, Seren-Xi appeared to be a humanist. Friends and allies, however, knew differently.

Seren had no feeling for anyone other than herself, and her staunchly imperialist outlook was well known within the council. Seren merely knew that popular support was necessary to avoid revolt, and that the support of the masses equalled power within the council. While most council mages made their hatred for the lower city apparent, which stirred up trouble and placed the blame for the emergence of the ⦡mp;#8364;˜Arcane Underground⦡mp;#8364;™ squarely on their shoulders, Seren⦡mp;#8364;™s idea was simply to induce the masses to conspire in their own oppression. This original and peculiar brand of coercion and tyranny-with-a-smile gained Seran much power within the council, a power which she enjoyed until her old age.

Allegiance (AU, council, Unaffiliated): Council, Imperialist.
Job within group (ex: council⦡mp;#8364;™s masses representative, AU⦡mp;#8364;™s recruiter, shopkeeper in lower city, etc): Among those in the inner circle of the council, widely touted as the next Council Leader.
Other details: Is often encountered flanked by a couple of shadow creatures body-guards, vaguely man-shaped. Her shadow-magic works indoors during the day if there are shadows in the room, but not if the room is brightly lit.

Okay, good to go, I hope. xd Also, I'm willing to play Seren as the council leader, but I didn't want to just take such an important job without someone telling me to. I'm quite okay to play her as is. smile

*cackles insanely* evil characters are fun. But Zelyhon *waves feebly hoping to attract attention* still has to approve my character.

And yeah, Caitee, I'll copy and paste your thing for you biggrin

Arrright people. Excluding Truewind, I'm ruling that we have enough people to start. I'll still be accepting applications, so keep bringing in people.

Here's the plan: Assuming it's okay with Penden to start 4 marked RP threads in here, then later today I'll start the Council Chambers, the Upper City, and the Lower city threads. The AU headquarters will be held off until Truewind gets Captain in. I still need someone to volunteer to be the Council's official rep for planning story events. I'd nominate Galaxia since her character is currently the highest ranked in the council, as Heir Apparant to the leadership of the council.