It’s a pretty standard “gun gets bigger it hit harder” sort of deal the exact mechanics barely even matter. Also this is admittedly not all that clear but the jacket and device aren’t linked it’s entirely possible to use the Assault Form of the Device with the standard jacket and vice verse. Basiclly if you must have an then answer yes Assault Form can handle more energy but pays for that by lower efficiency and hence increased time and mana consumption.
All right. Thanks for the clarification.
Quote:
Dude its magic, if the bolts home it screws with them at least a little it’s vague for a reason.
Fine. It is a functional combination of chaff and flares. (Writes it down).
Quote:
I’ve covered this before I never advocated only a single guidance package in fact I said repeatedly I think spells can use many different ones as needed even while looking superficially very similar. Thus the magic missiles can be heat seeking, SA, or command guided as directed but there is no reason to have 10 different versions of them listed when the only thing changed is how they track the target which would only ever matter in a story context and so would be addressed at that time.
True, but only SAH will require this illuminator, and since you were such a big advocate of it, I'm surprised that the supporting magic for this system at least wasn't written out, that's all.
OK, one more question. Say Felix is firing two magic missiles simultaneously (not successively). Can he fire in the Soviet fashion - each with a different guidance system? Or is he limited to setting them both to one setting? (Obviously, the former is harder but works better.)
For the rest, let's see how it pans out.
Quote:
Fine be a nit picky ass but basiclly the extra “thrust” means they’re more nimble and so can track targets better (which they’d have to since the target will have more time to evade) thus resulting in higher hit rates and thus “accuracy”. CEP isn't really applicable to a guided missile meant for air to air combat as it's pretty much "hit or it dosen't count" hence accuracy is IMO a better word IE: how often the spell can be expected to find it's mark and strike the intended target.
Well, if you use proximity fuses, a near miss could suffice. But OK, so it is maneuverability that improves.
Quote:
Dude it’s hyperbole to make it sound powerful I’d never write some guy just standing there and trying to tank it without a good reason. Even so it dose in fact look quite innocuous once it’s actually shot obviously if the guy see him charging it up he's going to know something is up. Also keep in mind that this is "really fast" as compared to most Nanoha beams which still hardly makes it relativistic or anything.
All right. But it would at least be supersonic, right?
I'm a little too tired to start breaking the backlog now, or whatever there is before this post.
So I'll post first, and come back tomorrow for some more.
As I said on the IRC, here's 3 drafts. Still open to suggestions, manhandling, slamming, you know the drill.
COMING SOON: Some background information so some things aren't so confusing OR nearly as h4xx as they sound now. Funny thing that I wrote the text before the Foreword. It should be called the Back-word instead now. But since this is more transcribed in my head, and less documented elsewhere, I felt it was important that I put this down first before I start forgetting things, my next post will tell you why I need to do this.
Ergo, the background is recorded elsewhere other than here, so I can whip it out more easily.
Firstly, we shall have a villain, and then a true neutral dead guy.
Spoiler for “OC Grenade 1/3: Zarakiya Justi, Executioner, Judge and Jury”:
Personal Factfile:
Name: Zarakiya
House: Justi (Justice)
Nickname: Honorary Title “Assoluto Vox” (Absolute Word)
Ethnicity: Aerterno (Eternal)
Age: Unknown
Height: 183cm
Weight: Unknown
Alignment: Righteous Evil
Birthdate: 9th Januarius
Birthplace: Worldship “Principatus Metatron”
Bloodtype: N/A
Eye Color: Zarakiya has a pair of ruby red eyes that seem to burn somewhat
Hair Color: Dark red, he wears it long
Skin Color: Pale beige, but slightly blue-tinged by his aura.
Likes: Unknown. He tends to keep his composure a great deal.
Dislikes: Unknown, for similar reasons.
Magic Based Data:
Military Rank: Class Zero
Magic Rank: 5th Grid (The general equivalent of S+~SS+ rank)
Magic Style: Aerternian, Justi House
Magic Aura: Light blue
Magic Affinity: Command
Magic Specialization: Back Support
Magic Device: None. He does, however, use a magestaff in battle.
General Appearance:
Zarakiya, as a matter of personal preference, wears the colors of his house, and thus is often seen in a black shroud/cloak with golden collars and wrist guards. The emblem of his house is emblazoned on the back of his shroud: A pair of balanced scales and a sigiled flamberge in the centre. He wears a pair of soft gloves, on which is emblazoned a single magic sigil: One of Ancient Belka, and the other of Midchilda. It is not known what these things do.
He wears his hair long, and ties it in a single, long ponytail, although he loses the ponytail and lets his hair fly free in battle. His eyes still retain their old flame, although those who know him say that his eyes have cooled a great deal from before. This lends in some ways to his overall serious outlook.
Personality:
Zarakiya on the outside is quite a serious character, and is an enigmatic figure: he speaks without revealing his emotions and/or facets of his character, and lets very few people get close enough to him to discover any more.
In speech, he speaks with a fair amount of etiquette and formality, whether to friend or foe, although while he exercises much restraint in the form of his speech, the sharp point of his message often goes unblunted. In action, he is decisive and quick on his feet, and is not one to let emotions, among other things get in the way of what he needs to do. He possesses an uncanny form of charisma and leadership, born of a mix of some of his other character traits.
However, he does possess a more genteel and pensive side, which he at times shows, firstly and foremost in the presence of his ship’s Artificial Intelligence, Sarael. He has even taking to giving ‘her’ a pet name: Sara, which apparently has caught on between them.
This side, though is rarely shown, due mostly to his lack of sociability: he prefers to be alone most of the time, and as a matter of fact seems to chafe in the presence of others, notable exceptions being Sara and also Olivier. More accurately, he detests the rigid protocol and formality of the higher-ranked people of his race, although ironically enough it has rubbed off on him enough for him to be rated a “minor prude” by the latter, who also dislikes the Aerternis Consul.
He is also fiercely loyal to his house, any attempt to discredit it, no matter how small or insignificant, can and has a high chance of triggering a negative reaction from him, although not so severe as to considered “anger”.
History:
Zarakiya was born into the noble house of Justi. His leadership qualities were recognized at a very early stage, and at his family’s direction and pre-arrangement, was enrolled into the Scara Academy at an epoch-making age: He became the youngest cadet of the Academy at age 19. It would be here that much of his skills and some parts of his character were to be molded in the many events that he was involved in.
He fell in with a rather rag-tag group of recruits around his own age, who unbeknownst to them all, would eventually each play a large role in the crisis and fallout of the Aerternis, which at that time was not something anyone could have expected.
Together, they accomplished a good many missions while still in training (they called it hands-on training), and also grew close to each other, despite their differences and close-call conflicts in terms of ideals and beliefs. However, these differences were often pushed aside in favor of camaraderie and esprit-de-corps, and not solved. This was of worry to Zarakiya, and would not go unfounded in the future.
They were eventually known as the Seven Lances, because each of them bore a single ceremonial lance of great power, forged by one of their members at the end of their tenure as cadets as a remembrance of their time together.
Spoiler for “Duel of the Century”:
One notable event from his time as a cadet was a duel with another cadet from the Seven Lances, Juste Beremont, which would later come to be hailed as the “Duel of the Century”. It was during this fight that the two were distinguished as among the best war strategists of their generation, and also resulted in his leapfrog from Magic Grid 3 to Magic Grid 5, because of the limits to which the battle pushed both him and his opponent.
Their battle lasted a total of 45 minutes, and eventually ended in Juste’s victory by what he called “a 3mm difference in arm length”. It wasn’t wrong: The last strike both of them dealt was a blade strike, and Juste won only on merit of his longer reach, and a better blade technique, which was a fraction of a second faster.
Juste Beremont would later go on to become known as the Exile Forgemaster, while Zarakiya would be working with him as the capitol, or captain, of the “Arcus Civitas” during the Aerternis Proxy Wars, and the eventual Dimensional War.
Zarakiya hit the first landmark in his life when the ship they were on, the “Arcus Prima”, was shot down by an unknown party, later revealed to be a traitor from the House of
After graduating with honors, he went on, as was his training, to be an ensign, and later a captain of a ship. It was during his tenure as the captain on the ship when the Aertenis Proxy War began, and it is here that his personal history proper ends, like many of the young Scara who participated in the war that spanned entire solar systems, to near-cataclysmic results, and what is left are simply rumors and hearsay.
During the said Wars and the subsequent dimensional Wars, he was the captain of the Arcus Civitas in the legendary 12-ship Caelestrale Armada, an expeditionary force created by the Aerternis to investigate interplanetary conflict between the races given the power of magic by the Aerternis, and also fought in the Aerterno Civil War (also known as the Dimensional Wars because of the scope of the war) following the Armada’s schism due to the implications of the truth that they had brought to light through said investigation.
It was during this time of turmoil and crisis that Zarakiya earned the name of “Absolute Word” or “Assoluto Vox”, which eventually became a word spoken with fear, due to the clinical, organized manner of his leadership and tactical style, which crushed all opposition to his cause. It was even rumored that he was also given this name because even the powers of nature and the stream of time themselves bent their knee to his commanding words.
Little is known of the period from the Dimensional War, to his current re-appearance after, as it would appear, an entire era of cryogenic stasis.
Spoiler for “Spells and Other Related Issues”:
General Fighting and Magic Style:
Zarakiya uses a magestaff in combat. It is not necessary to him for the usage of magic, but it does have some magical power of its own. Needless to say, his style of battle is quite unwieldy, though he would be considerably skilled by human standards. He is, by his own admission, still far from being on the level of a true expert like the Wolkenritter, but his skill is sufficient for his purposes. Thus, he never fights close-in without the aid of boosting/enhancement magic, as any less would be unsafe for him.
However, his body is rather tough, and he can take substantially more damage in battle than an average soldier, and thus his survivability is quite considerable.
In terms of magic power alone, though, he is a very fearsome and flexible foe, and can defend himself aptly at almost any range so long as he still has magic to spare. He normally plays a back supporter to others, though, content to aid others in their operations.
(The lack of sigils is because the Aerternis don’t really use them. Instead, they generate weapons using magic that have “runes” on them detailing the nature and strength of the spell. Those are “replacements” for sigils.)
Spoiler for “Special Personal Abilities:”:
Spoiler for “The Price of Power”:
Veneficus Radix: The Root of Magic
Like some high-ranking Aerternis, he seems to have an unlimited supply of magic, simply because they do not need Linker Cores as accumulators and processes; rather, their bodies have been evolved to accept magic in its rawest form from the source, and thus they seem to have an inexhaustible amount of magic on hand, uninhibited by the varying capacities of the Linker Core. This also means that he is able to draw any form of magic from around him in a certain radius. For Zarakiya, this radius’ limit is 100 metres.
Of course, there are limiting factors to this ability, which are quite costly.
The first is a condition known as “Veneficus Terminus” or the “Magic’s Limit”: This is the amount of magic the body can withstand at any one time before it comes under severe pressure from the magic itself. It must and can never be exceeded by the user of the Veneficus Radix. If it is exceeded, then the user will immediately face rapid degeneration of his or her body, which will result eventually in death if the user does not drop below the limit. Needless to say, in Zarakiya’s case, this ceiling value is very high, and in practical application, he may not be the match of an Ace in the short term (he has a lower output at any given time), but due to the different working style of his magic (he has a higher overall endurance), he is stronger in the long run, as the Aces will run dry of energy much earlier than he will.
The second is an affliction that seems only to affect more powerful Aerternis who use the Radix, and it is called the “Inritus Presencia” or “Void Effect” Once an Aerternis chooses the path of the Radix, they lose their immortality, and as they continue to progress, their bodies will degenerate and eventually be broken down into magical energy themselves.
Not all Aerternis are aware of this, but Zarakiya is aware of this fact, and of the fact that he has not long left, only *snip* years in his own estimation. It is unknown why Zarakiya chose this path, though, knowing that it would kill him.
Sentio Animus: The Soul of the Judge
Another one of Zarakiya’s personal specialties, this ability allows him heightened sensitivity to magical signatures. In specific, this allows him 2 extra abilities: One is to be able to detect a specific people’s magical signatures even down to a D rank level mage over a 1km radius. The 2nd ability is to be able to tell how much magic power there is inside an object. This does allow him to effectively detect anything that is NOT cloaked, and to a more limited degree things that are (depending on the complexity of the cloak and the skill of the person who is casting the cloak) although whether he knows exactly what it is or not varies from object to object.
If all else fails, think Byakyugan with nerfing!
Seposita Monstrum: Distant Portent
This is a blessing, or perhaps a curse of the Justi House: the ability of limited foresight. At the appointed times, the members of House Justi do receive prophecy in dreams from perchance higher powers. These prophecies are quite accurate, although the exact meaning and interpretation of these words of heavy doom and fate may vary. Also, not all details of the event are stated within the prophecy itself, and thus there is often still an opening for fate to be changed.
For Zarakiya, this ability first awakened in cadet training, when he received a dark omen concerning the future of the Aerternis, even though he himself did not understand this ability, and no one was able to interpret this sign.
Spoiler for “Something else…”:
It is said that Zarakiya has not slept since the Dimensional Wars ended, choosing instead to lock himself away in cryogenic stasis for extended periods of time. The reasons for this are unknown, as the man himself has thus far refused any comment concerning this matter. However, it can be suspected that it is related somehow to this ability of his.
Spoiler for “Multi-Purpose Spells”:
Aegeas Loricatus: Armor of the Savior
Brief Into:
This can be regarded as Zarakiya’s “playing house” spell, although more accurately it is a set of related spells that he uses when he knows that he can afford to slack off in battle or that he afford not take his opponent too seriously. These are, however, extremely well-crafted support spells, and should not be underestimated by anyone, even the more powerful mages, as it is cheap on his limit, and very flexible.
Tier: 3 (Complex Multi Facet Spell)
Proficiency: S
Type: Multipurpose Combat
Cast Time: 2.5 seconds for each set of 5 scales (using one hand)
Duration of Effect: Till Destroyed/Dispelled/Called off
Percent of Terminus taken: 10%
Zarakiya summons a single set of 8 sharp grid scales which he can then control. He can summon as many sets as he wants, so long as he does not exceed his limit (this means that he can generate almost 50 of these at any one time without exceeding his limit). Each of these scales are the length of a person’s forearm and the width of an outstretched palm, and they do not destroy themselves on impact. Thus, they can be re-used again and again and again so long as Zarakiya controls them and they are not destroyed (both conditions must be fulfilled for them to be useful, though.)
They have 4 general modes, which are then activated by phrases related to their functions.
The scales selected act as shields for Zarakiya, or anyone else as he so chooses. These shields can be used individually, or be stacked in front of one another/be locked together to form a larger and stronger shield. The latter style can withstand continuous attacks, although it is vulnerable to armor piercing weapons, while the former is better against armor piercing weapons while it tends to be weaker against continuous bombardment.
“Ballista”
Offensive Power: AA+~S+ (when stacked)
Type: Shooting
Activation: “Volley fire.”
Cool-Down: 2 seconds after every volley.
Launches a volley of scales at the enemy, 10 at a time. These scales can be controlled to home in on single or multiple enemies. These scales can also be stacked together so that they become more powerful, as once stacked, the scales will count as a single scale (think a 3 in 1 scale or more kind of thing).
Encases an enemy within a shell of scales that traps them. It serves both as a prison, and as a limiter on their magic abilites, but does not entirely prevent them from using them, which means that a while a weaker enemy is effectively imprisoned inside this cage, more powerful enemy will not be easily kept inside it for long. After all, he does have other binding spells for that purpose.
“Eternal Road”
Power: N/A
Type: Construction/Transport
Activation: “Light the way.”
A rather interesting spell in which Zarakiya uses a certain, larger number of scales to make a means of transport for someone else, such as a boat/plane/surfboard/etc. An exceptionally useful tactical spell that was developed during his time as a cadet in the Scara Academy for his unit’s logistical support needs.
Carnifex Carmen: The Executioner’s Song
Brief Intro:
Another ‘set’ of weaponry, used when Zarakiya is getting around half-way-or-more serious about fighting his opponent, or when the opponent is getting the better of his allies. It requires an incantation to activate, which is:
“Scales of justice, O Divine Arbiter, grant me thy commission, the brand of the executioner: to lay my axe to the root of this mine enemy.”
1 of these 3 spells require him to use his own Axiom (the equivalent of a Linker Core) to temporary raise the upper limit of his Veneficus Terminus in order to use them, which will later have some negative effects on his combat ability.
Tier: 4~5 (Arcane Combat-Oriented Unique Spell List (note the ACOUS pun)
Proficiency: S+
Type: Multipurpose Combat
Cast Time: Variable
Duration of Effect: Created Instances last till destroyed/dispelled/called off
Percent of Terminus taken: Variable
Carnifex Vesica: The Executioner’s Blade
Offensive Power: S+
Type: Weapon Enhancement
Activation: “Exsisto existo , meus mucro (Arise, my sword!)”
Cast Time: 5 seconds for one blade.
Terminus taken: 20% per blade
Zarakiya generates a single sword on his free hand, and one on his staff, which gives him the extra options of a polearm and a blade for use in combat. Useful for extending his reach in combat, as well as for getting an extra strike in here and there during combat, which is useful, as combat initiative is always an important factor in ensuring survivability when one is not a specialized attacker.
Vesica Textus: The Web of Blades
Binding Power: S-
Offensive Power: AAA-
Type: Close-Combat/Bind Hybrid
Activation: “Ego sum nex avatar (I am the Avatar of Death)!”
Cast Time: (Stationary) 6 seconds.
Terminus taken: 20% for one set
Zarakiya locks his opponent down with a set of thirteen blades which cover their vital points, thus preventing them from moving. Failure to keep stationary during this period of time can, and will result in instant death for the enemy.
However, both Zarakiya and his opponent have to be almost completely stationary for a 6 second period of time, and thus this normally happens only when he already has the advantage in the first place. He can hold this complex pattern indefinitely as a method of restraining the opponent as well.
[I]Vesica Tutaminis: The Blade Defense[/B]
Defensive Power: AAA~S+
Offensive Power: AA+~AAA+
Type: AoE/Concentrated Shield
Activation:
Cast Time: 3 seconds, increases with every other shield he casts.
Terminus: 10% per shield
A simple barrier type spell, Zarakiya dumps a large greatsword in front of him or someone/thing else which takes the blow for them. If the weapon remains undestroyed following the course of it blocking the attack, it may also be used as a weapon in combat.
It has two subsidiary spells, one which boosts its attack, the other which boosts its defense by that one rank seen as the upper limit of the spell’s power.
SUBSPELL 1 – Bulwark:
Cast time 2 seconds, raises spell rank by 1 for 30 seconds, increases the strain placed onto the Terminus by 5%
SUBSPELL 2 – Whetstone
Same as Bulwark, save that it raises the attack spell rank instead.
[I]Vesica Silva: The Blade Forest[/B]
Offensive Power: A+ each sword
Type: AoE Blast
Activation: “Rumpus orbis (Shatter the Circle (referring to the world))!”
Cast Time: 6.5 seconds
Terminus taken: 90% + Extra Drain
Gathers thousands upon thousands of energy blades around him, and launches them outward, together with a huge magical shockwave. The swords dissipate 6-7 seconds after being fired, but this is still a very deadly move, as they are shot out at speeds exceeding most other shooting spell speeds.
In this case, he will drain his Axiom’s power by 50% at one shot, thus lowering his combat effectiveness (like speed, strength, and reaction times) by half, and also lowering the upper limit of his Terminus by 50% for an entire day. Also, he will be incapable of using magic for about an hour after using this spell.
This is his deadliest spell, and is called the “Army Slayer” because of its massive killing ability. In fact, some of the massive anti-army, one sided slaughters that occurred during the Proxy Wars were attributed to this skill due to the sheer rapidity of the massacres, which would have been completely impossible to achieve even with another larger force. However, it is more or less a last ditch assault-type spell, given its heavy physical and mental drain, and he has not used this since a certain incident during the Proxy Wars.
Spoiler for “Command Spells”:
The Command spells are a set of ceremonial spells that Zarakiya has, and are unique among most spells in the sense that they contain “Words of Command”, which are arcane words in a tongue older than even that of their race. It is from his mastery of these spells from which he got his name “Assoluto Vox” or the Absolute Word. These are all spells of Tier 4 and above, and he can at his limit, only keep 2 active at any given time. These spells are not really trump cards, but they are very deadly effect-type spells
– Unknown Region of Data –
Spoiler for “Other Ceremonial Spells”:
Secundus Lancea – Anglachel
Tier: 6 (Artifact of the Gods)
Power: E~???
Proficiency: E – Zarakiya cannot use this spell properly.
Type: Ceremonial/Close Combat
Activation: The Command Runes of “Metal”, “Earth”, “Fire” and “Wind”
A lance said to be able to cut through anything. Zarakiya has only once before attempted the use of this spell (albeit out of combat), and the result was that the negative feedback from its power caused almost all the bones in his arms to break. However, even a failed attempt like Zarakiya’s almost destroyed the pocket dimension in which he was training, and thus one can only conclude that it must be a very powerful weapon.
Tertius Lancea – Cronus Flax: Sickle of Cronus
Tier: 6 (Artifact of the Gods)
Power: D~???
Proficiency: E – Zarakiya only knows how to wield it as a weapon.
Type: Ceremonial/Close Combat
Casting Time: Absolutely ZERO
Activation: Unknown, even to Zarakiya?!
The Third Lance. It is not known how Zarakiya possesses more than one of the Seven Lances, and stranger yet that he has no idea how this weapon works.
Spoiler for “OC Grenade 2/3: Juste Beremont, the Exiled Forge”:
Personal Factfile:
Name: Juste
House: Beremont of the True Magic
Other Name: Exile Forgemaster
Ethnicity: Aerterno (Eternal)
Age: Appears to be in his twenties
Height: 175cm
Weight: Unknown
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Birthdate: 8th Aprilus
Birthplace: Worldship “Revenant Wing”
Bloodtype: N/A
Eye Color: His eyes have a silver-grey coloration.
Hair Color: Black, and he wears it relatively short
Skin Color: Biege, untainted by any aura
Likes: Unknown
Dislikes: Unknown
An Interesting Quote: “‘A Lost Logia made by Belkan mages whose names were lost to time’…Ah, the sands of time have indeed sunken around this lil’ book, no?” – chuckles to himself –
Magic Based Data:
Military Rank: No Rank
Magic Rank: 6th Grid (Unknown Rank)
Magic Style: Unknown
Magic Aura: White
Magic Affinity: Forge
Magic Specialization: Front Attacker
Magic Device: Le’carde and Aulin, two spear pylons, and Rhongomiant, a spear that holds both crystals in its cross stabilizer. All of these are fully human-level-sentient devices, and speak with female voices.
General Appearance
Juste wore, on a standard basis, a long white overcoat, with a black tunic, a red cross emblazoned down its side, as well as long blue pants. He did not have his house’s emblem anywhere on his clothing, but he did have it tattooed on his right shoulder. His dress-style at any rate was much less formal than the average Aerternis; as a matter of fact, he was once told by one of his subordinates that he looked like a slacker. In addition, he wore 4 seals on his body, one for each of his cardinal limbs, which limited his power down to 60%, and prevented him from using his devices’ more powerful forms.
Juste was somewhat short for an Aerternis male and had a pair of eyes that seem to stare ahead into space, which is because of one very important thing about him: he was born blind.
Personality:
Like his dress-style suggests, Juste is not a very serious sort of character for the most part, preferring a livelier manner of speech. As such, he tends to be put down a lot by the very formal upper-class of the Aerternis, and this in turn explains his preference for hanging out with people with “less high flown titles and more down-to-earth manners!” This situation persists to the point where he seems to be more comfortable with people of lower societal rank to him than he is with his peers.
He enjoys hearing and telling jokes, and doesn’t mind mildly bawdy conversation, so long as it does not get too profane, and thereby (according to him) too out of hand.
In battle, he tends to be rather brash and hotheaded, sometimes getting into things without fully considering the consequences first, much to the worry of people close to him. However, he is an exceptional genius-level strategist, and more often than not gets himself out of these self-created scrapes, which one of the reasons for his ability to survive despite being tactless at some critical times.
There is another side to his personality though, when up against enemies or people he hates, he can at times show a more acrimonious side. However, this is not a very visible change, he just looks a little angrier, although it seems the anger does not get to his head.
History
Juste was born amid the absorption of his house into House Veruka during the Partisan War between House Beremont and House Veruka. It was one of the bloodiest wars caused by partisan splits within factions/noble houses in the Aerternis, and lasted 4 years. In the end, it was one in which Veruka came out the victor, not entirely by their own might, but by in a large part the betrayal of the Beremont clan by some of its own former allies, who simply switched sides to benefit themselves. Thus, from his childhood, he nursed a deep-seated hatred, not so much towards the victorious house (who actually took him in despite him being one of the enemy; rather, he respected and loved them like his own family), but towards the High Coucil of the Aerternis Magistra, which he felt had done nothing to prevent the partisan infighting and underhanded politicking within its own ranks, which had in no small part caused the fate of his clan. This would later contribute to some of the conflicts he had with others later on in his life.
His situation during his childhood, too, did not really help his assuage his anger against society: he was an outcast even in his childhood, firstly due to his disability – natural physical deformities were like stigma among the Aerternis, and secondly because of his background. However, he was more feared than he was bullied, because although many of his peers were contemptuous of him, they were also afraid of his power and skill. Even as a child, he was considered dangerous, although nothing serious occurred during this period due to the vigilance of the Veruka patriarch, who had expected this to happen, although as he admitted, “his hands were tied”.
There were, though, bright sparks in his life: One was his love of knowledge, to the point of obsession. At age 13, he had already mastered the magic of his house, and had gone on to study other things. He had a secret mastery of forbidden magic as well, committed to memory from the libraries of the Aerternis Worldships. In the study of this he had two accomplices – Atrum, the daughter of the Veruka clan head, his only childhood friend and confidante, and Zarakiya, a scion of the esteemed Justi family.
In many ways, these two friendships helped him to “see” many things that he was unable to see before, and cooled his angry soul to the point where he was finally able to make his peace with the society around, or at least, sign a truce for a while. No doubt it was also the disappearance of these two shining lights in his life of blind shadow during their time in the Academy that pushed him to develop such that he could do the same. This resulted in his uncanny ability to sense magic and magic signatures to the point of near-omniscience: He spent 2 years grilling himself into the expertise of this art, perfecting and refining it to the highest possible level that he could achieve during that time.
Spoiler for “Divergent Paths”:
They were later to take 3 divergent paths that took their roots from the magic that they learned together: Zarakiya would walk the path of Command Magic, Atrum would walk down the path of Tome Magic, while Juste would opt for the path of Rune Forge Magic, mixing the magic of his house (Forge) with the knowledge that was taboo (Rune).
In the end, he was a latecomer to the Academy, no doubt due to opposition from some quarters in the Council. However, this was eventually overruled as an irrelevant issue, and he joined at the age of 21, which was still considered “young” for a Scara. This was one of the most grueling experiences of his life, as he had to deal with the unabated societal stigma against him, as well the animosity towards his house, which he often received from both his trainers and his fellow cadets alike.
It was during this period of time when he joined up with a small ragtag circle of friends, lead ironically enough by the much more highly esteemed Zarakiya, who called themselves the Seven Lances, after the fact that each of them bore a polearm as their weapon: Zarakiya a magestaff-blade, Juste a cross spear, Atrum a partisan, and the other four a moon blade, an eviscerator (called so because it was good as a disemboweling weapon), a spiked pilum and a sarissa (a really, really, long and flexible version of a spear, with a much longer tip). They were not only comrades-in-arms, but they also developed very close bonds in the time that they were together.
Like many of the Seven Lances, the turning point of his career, and one of many in his life, was the campaign on Seretoia, where a rebel House made its stand against the 3 ships of the Arcus Armada: The Granterre-class “Arcus Ostrum”, “Arcus Prima” and the “Arcus Ostia”. In the hell that was the first orbital battle, the “Ostia” was hit and crippled by a magical cannon battery on the surface, which also killed much of its key crew.
However, the armada’s troops made it onto the ground successfully due to a brilliant tactical maneuver by Zarakiya on board the “Prima”, and also Juste and Atrum’s first live-combat partnership on the “Ostia” in conjunction with Zarakiya’s stratagem: Atrum single-handedly defended the crippled ship from further attack, while Juste repaired, calibrated, and fired its main weapon at the deadly magical cannon using his Forge Magic, crippling the enemy’s orbital defense.
Once on the ground, they fought bloody battles for every inch of land with the enemy, who had all the advantages possible, those of terrain, manpower and fighting strength. They were eventually relieved by another fleet, but not before almost half of their fighting force was destroyed.
Following the campaign, he became, along with Zarakiya and Atrum, members of the Seven Lances, a new unit comprising of the newly made heroes of the Seretoia campaign. During this period of time in that independent unit, he distinguished himself greatly in the eyes of his peers and elders alike, and although he did not earn a title during this period of time like most of the other Lances, he didn’t exactly care very much, as was his style.
In the Lances, he was the secondary tactician after Zarakiya, and became an elite front attacker in his very successful on-field partnership with Atrum, which was said to be nigh invincible due to their very compatible combat styles: As a matter of fact, it was said at times that the Seven Lances could do with just three: Zarakiya as the head, and the two of them as the hands. Juste’s reply to that was curt and rather cold, characteristic of someone who had come to detest discord and disunity among allies: “Yes, but we’re still missing the legs, and the body. Without these, our unit cannot function either.”
Later on, at the onset of the Proxy War, he would take on the role of overall head of the Caelestrale Armada, together with Zarakiya, and successfully survived the schism of the Armada in the wake of its discoveries, although…
Spoiler for “Post-Proxy War Life and Exile”:
[SIZE= “7”] –NOT CLEARED FOR VIEWING– [/SIZE]
Spoiler for “Spells and Other Related Issues”:
General Fighting and Magic Style:
Juste was/is a masterful warrior with the spear, to the point of being near invincible. While little detail is provided about his style or the extent of his skill, one event is well known, and undeniable: In an honor challenge, he defeated three giant Aerternis of House Maxim while he was on Seretoia: Ambrose, Clement and Leo. Each of them was a Grid 4 (AAA~S Rank) Aerternis, and skilled with various weaponry but each was defeated easily by him.
As a tactician, though, he fights with his head as much as he does his heart and his hands. Or so it could be assumed.
It can also be derived from the fact that he is blind that he has a great mastery of magic signature detection, to the level of pinpoint accuracy, without which he could easily be defeated.
Devices
Anima Pylon – Le’carde
Le’carde materializes itself as a single crystal spike, normally affixed as the left stabilizer of Rhongomiant. It speaks with a feminine tone of voice, and speaks in a very polite and lady-like fashion, which irks Aulin quite often, as too much formal talk grates against the latter’s nerves. However, the two of them work together
It has three forms: Cross Form, Canticle Form and Caster Form.
Ultima Pylon – Aulin
Aulin materializes itself as a single crystal spike, normally affixed as the right stabilizer of Rhongomiant. It speaks with a slightly brasher, but at the same time more uppity sort of tone, at times even chiding Juste for his lack of composure and as ‘she’ states, intelligence. This puts ‘her’ at odds, if devices could be at odds, with Le’carde, who in turn criticizes ‘her’ for being too full of ‘herself’ sometimes.
Spear of Avalon – Rhongomiant
Juste’s main weapon, Rhongomiant is an ancient spear of great power.
Last edited by XenahortCharybdis; 2008-04-29 at 13:02.
Sorry I had to do this doubleposting, but the forum board insisted that my post was too short.
Spoiler for “OC Grenade 3/3: A. Ricardo Cronqvist, Forgemaster’s Familiar”:
Personal Factfile II
Name: A. Ricardo (He knows no other name)
House: Cronqvist (A mystery to Juste, as this is not an Aerternian House)
Other Name: Exile’s Familiar
Ethnicity: Aerterno (Eternal)
Age: Appears to be in his twenties
Height: 184cm
Weight: Unknown
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Birthdate: Unknown
Birthplace: Unknown
Bloodtype: N/A
Eye Color: Golden, with a cold glint.
Hair Color: Silver, he wears his hair relatively short
Skin Color: Pale beige, almost white, untainted by any aura
Likes: Unknown
Dislikes: Unknown
Magic Based Data:
Military Rank: No Rank
Magic Rank: 5th Grid (S~SS Rank)
Magic Style: An unknown.
Magic Aura: White
Magic Affinity: Blood
Magic Specialization: Winger
Magic Device: Sonia, a rapier, and Maria, a chained coffin. Sonia is his own weapon (albeit modified by Juste), while Maria was 100% made for his use by Juste. Both are fully sentient devices, and again, both are ‘female’ in ‘gender’. It seems as though Juste only knows how to make “female” devices, or perhaps he may have an unhealthy obsession with them.
General Appearance:
Ricardo, or Rick as Juste calls him, follows a similar dress style to his “master”, except he flips everything upside down: He wears a black overcoat, with a white shirt, blue cross, and red pants. Like his master, he cuts a rather slim, slightly effeminate figure.
He and Juste actually look like a pair of polar opposite twins when put next to each other, if not for the fact that Juste is really a lot shorter than him. Like Juste his master, he also sports a quadruplet of arm and leg seals which prevent him from fighting to his maximum ability. It cuts him down to approximately 60% of his normal battle strength, and locks down the use of his devices’ second forms.
Personality:
Rick, as compared to Juste, is slightly more serious in nature, although that is most attributed to the fact that he often needs to take care of him, which he admits can be quite a major headache at times, given Juste’s occasional lack of tact. Over time, for the same reasons, he has developed a more level-headed personality that is less susceptible to being irritated or agitated than the young Beremont’s character.
Mostly, though, he is the less sociable half of the two. While Juste enjoys the company of others, and doesn’t hesitate to speak and at times to shoot his mouth off, Rick holds his reserve better, and sometimes seems unsociable, although this is because he has his hands full being Juste’s conscience, and also because apart from what Juste had a role to play in, Rick actually has very little personality to speak of, and at times he still has some points in him that appear to be almost inhuman in their nature.
History:
Rick doesn’t have a history. More accurately though, it could be said that he does have one, only that he can’t remember any of it, up till the point when Juste revived him from a half-dead state that he was left in for unknown reasons. It was mentioned by the latter that he had been found next to a coffin, which later was the basis for the Device Maria.
It is not known how such a powerful Aerternis as Rick could have been wounded to such an extent, and despite attempts to investigate the details of the reasons behind his current state and to delve into his past, nothing has been turned up at all. However, Rick doesn’t really care about that; his priorities in life are quite clear. They are, in descending order of importance: his master and his objectives, his master’s friends and their objectives, his own life, and then everything else.
From the time Juste saved him, he became his loyal servant. While most people would assume that Rick is his familiar, that’s not entirely true: Rick does not use up any of Juste’s magic, and his life is not tied to that of Juste. However, it is very true that over a period of time with the person he calls his master, he has developed some familiar-like qualities, such as the ability to turn into an animal form, which in his case is a bat, and also a very strong devotion to his master.
Notable things he did was to conduct espionage in his animal form, and also to often be a flanking factor among the units that Juste was in, so much so that he was nicknamed the “Eighth Lance”.
Rick followed Juste everywhere during their time together, during the Proxy War. He has disappeared since, much like his master has. It is possible that their disappearances are linked, and that they are still together, but not much is known about the details of this.
The last planet on which he was sighted was…Midchilda.
Spoiler for “Spells and Other Related Issues”:
General Magic and Fighting Style
Rick’s style mainly revolves around a single tactic: to outrun his opponent, find and opening, and defeat him. Indeed, his speed is extraordinary, as is his physical defense. Although his attack isn’t much, he can often tank down enough hits to get his own vital hit in. He specializes in stealth and close-combat with certain debilitating effects that can contribute greatly to taking the opponent down in a short period of time.
However, it seems as though he has a very severe lack of a true trump card, as he appears to have forgotten some spells along with his memories, even though most of it is still intact. He has the ability to fly.
Devices:
Saber of Wallachia: Sonia
This is Ricardo’s melee weapon, and takes upon the form of a long rapier about three-quarters of his height (somewhat over a meter). It has words engraved near its hilt in a language that only he, and no one else, can understand. Sonia is sentient to the level of a Unison Device, even though ‘she’ resembles an Armed Device more.
Sonia has two forms: Saber Form and Hunter Form.
The Hunter Form is only available when Ricardo removes his self-placed limiting seal on his left arm, and it is Juste’s modification to Ricardo’s original Sonia.
It is a remnant of the interim experimental period between Armed and Unison Devices (it should be noted that Ricardo’s style resembles a more ancient and in some ways, more advanced form of that of Ancient Belka); Sonia merges herself into Ricardo’s arm using the Dominion ability, and turns his arm into a malleable living blade, reinforcing his arm’s endurance greatly in the process. In this form, Ricardo can even tank down any spell with a rank under A-rank with just his hand without suffering any visible damage.
Tome of the Crimson Grave: Renard
This is Ricardo’s ranged magic weapon, and takes the form of a classic-looking coffin, with chains sealing it down. What is scary is not the coffin, but what is contained inside, which upon activation, bursts out of the coffin (and the seals) and destroys them. This contained device is a magical book, the Tome of the Crimson Grave.
As well as being a vessel for Ricardo’s spells, it also possesses great power on its own, and has its own array of spells, which Ricardo cannot seem to use. Juste suggests that a certain degree of incompatibility as the cause, but has never done anything to solve that problem for as yet unknown reasons. He mostly, therefore, uses it as a power/speed multiplier for his spells, as it seems that was what it was made for.
Spoiler for “Special Personal Abilities”:
Kropp av Blod: Body of Blood
His clan-based ability: So long as Rick has at least 35% of his Terminus available for use without hitting 100%, any serious physical wound to his body will simply cause that part of him to meltdown into a huge pool of blood, and then rise again shortly with only minimal damage down. This way, he can reduce even a fatal wound to a long gash. However, this does have a negative effect on him, in the sense that the subsequent reduced injury takes a very long time to heal (almost double the time), and cannot be healed effectively by healing spells: All healing spells drop to about 5% of their normal effectiveness when dealing with such injuries. Another ability included in the Body of Blood is the ability to heal himself using the blood of his enemies. The limitation is that this healing does not work on wounds inflicted and reduced using the first half of this ability, and only has a limited mitigation effect on other kinds of wounds. Also, the amount of blood required for healing is quite a lot, one would have to do a lot of major bloodletting to heal serious wounds.
Thus, this ability does not make him invincible, it simply makes him harder to kill off. Rick normally relies more on speed to keep himself safe, and some powerful spells to make him dangerous.
There is, however, a very inconvenient side effect of this spell: That he cannot retain a very active lifestyle for extended periods of time, due to the fact that being active, whether during the day or the night, wears out his energy. Also, he appears to suffer from a bad case of everlasting insomnia: He cannot sleep normally no matter what he tries (36 sleeping pills and 3 knockout blows later, he was very much unharmed except for a major headache and a somewhat worsened temper). Thus, in order to function properly, he has to from time to time seal himself into a near-death sort of sleep. This near-death sleep involves the use of magic to completely shut down his body, with a timer set to ‘wake’ him up at the point where he is able to function again, which normally takes about half of the time that he was active. For example, if he was awake for about a week, then his sleep will last three days (rounded down). During this point of time, he cannot react to external stimuli in the least, which means he can be killed while still in this state of sleep. Overall, the maximum amount of time he can remain active without needing this form of sleep is about 2 weeks, although he sleeps more regularly than that, so as to prevent the worst case scenario from ever occurring.
Behärska: Dominion
This is an ability which is unique to only Ricardo, or so it would seem. Ricardo has never used this ability, ever, although Juste is aware of this other ability from certain *snip length* events.
Spoiler for “Family Items”:
Ödslig Tom: Desolate Void
Rick’s black jacket was never as innocuous as it looked: it is actually a link to an endless void; the remnants of a major dimensional fallout of unknown origin. This appears to be a special item belonging to him and not so much an ability rather than an artifact. By taking off his jacket and flicking it out at a enemy spell, he can absorb the attack into the void. He can also pull just about anything else he wants into this void, though it is possible to resist its effect by setting up a barrier or a field, or by moving out of its effective range.
Anything within up to 90 metres radius of the void can feel its pull (and outside of it, to a lesser extent), friend and foe, animate and inanimate objects alike. Its minimum radius was 15 metres, which means that Rick himself would feel this force, and would have had to counter it using magic as well. Therefore, it can be both a blessing, and a curse.
Also, Rick cannot use this ability more than once a day, as it seems to weaken him physically and mentally to use this. Maybe he just wasn’t cut out to use it…
Porträtten av Förstöra: Portraits of Ruin
This was a set of 4 canvas oil paintings that Ricardo kept on his self, presumably within his Device, Renard. Although they seem to have no magical power whatsoever, they seem to be of considerable personal significance to Ricardo, even if he cannot remember what it was, as he was often to be found maintaining the paintings as though in a daze.
Spoiler for “Movement and Boost Spells”:
Quick and accurate movement was an essential part of Ricardo’s fighting style, and he exhibited all the signs of having intensive training in the field of speed and maneuverability. Thus, while his movement spells were quite normal and did not differ much from the norm, they were customized to give him an added advantage in his specializations of speed based combat and espionage.
Vissnande Karminröd: Fading Crimson
Movement Enhancement Power: AAA
Proficiency: SS-
Type: Movement Enhance/Close Combat
Activation: “Dash.”
Cast Time: 2 seconds
Duration of Effect: As long as he wants (for short bursts), 6 seconds (continuous acceleration)
Ricardo wraps himself in a blood red aura, which manifests itself as crimson tentacles and a lighter red mist. Using the boost from this aura, he can dash/fly at speeds equal or even slightly better than that of normal movement spells. However, there is another form of this spell that utilizes continuous acceleration rather than short bursts of speed, which is atypical for movement enhancement. He can only hold this continuous wave of speed for about 6 seconds, and this latter form is normally used in an attempt to ward off attack, or escape an attack.
Karminröd Dröm: Crimson Dream
Movement Enhancement Power: None
Offensive Power: AA
Proficiency: S
Type: Movement Enhancement/Encroachment
Activation: “Phantasm Shift.”
Cast Time: 2 seconds
Duration of Effect: Point of Impact
The former ability is an extension of the Fading Crimson. It purges the aura around him in an implosive burst, which greatly increases his speed for a moment, but disorientates him slightly after the use of this Shift. This can produce either of two effects: One is the leaving behind of shifting afterimages, which is the outcome if he opts to leave the purged aura behind, and the second is the flow of the aura into Sonia or Renard, which he can then use to strike his opponent.
The special thing about this attack is that it has an added attribute of debilitating the opponent; a single hit causes a temporary wave of weakness and nausea. However, this aura encroachment technique can be avoided or blocked by the vigilant opponent with a simple magical defense, which will repel the aura.
Slagträ Kalla: Call of the Bat
Transformation Complexity: AAA+
Proficiency: SS
Concealment Power: A
Movement Enhancement: AA+
Type: Transformation/Movement Enhancement
Activation: “Walachia.”
This move is a rather interesting twist on Ricardo’s spell list, and is an espionage-oriented movement spell that uses transformation magic to achieve its ends. On activation, it transmogrifies him into the likeness of a small bat, and gives him the ability to cloak himself whenever he is not moving.
He is still capable of communicating using telepathy in this form, but can also opt to use ultrasound, just like an ordinary bat. Most humorously, it has been noted by Juste and others that when in this form for a while, he develops more “batty” habits, such as a diet of fruits and also the habit of tossing his overcoat a great deal, even in his normal form.
This has mostly been blamed on prolonged espionage sessions in which he is required to stay in this form for long periods of time.
Hus Daeva: The House of Daeva
Boost Power: A
Special Boost: A+
Type: Hybrid Boost
Activation: None
Cast Time: Unknown
This spell is an interesting one, it not only boosts his movement and attack speed, but it also ups his charm and charisma, in the sense that he has the power to attract and sway the emotions of others in a subtle fashion, similar to the effect of pheromones. The physical and offensive boost is quite weak as compared to that of his other spells, but the “Special” boost lies in the PR/IP skill boost that he receives, and this the defining trait of the skill “House of Daeva”. When used by Ricardo, this spell can serve the purpose of letting him get where he wants, and do as he likes.
There are few who can resist this spell, as there are yet fewer who can detect its presence in the first place, and this is usually because they are resistant to advances in that direction in the first place, or because they are oblivious to them. There have been suggestions that Ricardo uses this to “make up for his lack of waking time” by enhancing the effectiveness of his more…intriguing interpersonal interactions. This, however, has always been hotly denied by him (evident from the slightly more harsh tone he uses), although without losing his cool.
This is the second boost spell that Ricardo possesses, and he normally uses this in situations in which stealth is key, rather than strength. The ancient House of Mekhet is known for having given their name to the shadows of the night, and thus this skill does likewise: it allows him to blend into the night, unseen and unheard by all but the keenest ears and eyes. In addition, his already veritable night vision is given a major boost by this spell, to the point where he can tell apart a person in non-active camouflage from his surroundings at a 100 yard distance. However, the weakness of this spell is that it renders him more susceptible to damage than before, and that he is especially weakened against fire-based spells.
This is the most powerful of his boosts. It increases his Berhaska passive skill, boosts his endurance and his speeds to higher levels than any one of his other boosts. The most straightforward of his boost spells, and with the most straightforward cost: He goes outright mad for the whole duration of this boost, and while in this state he fights instinctively and on greatly increased reflexes and speeds, he also loses a lot of his proper coherent thought process, inflicting damage mercilessly on both friend and foe alike.
In short, he fights like a beast rather than a man. Also, his spell list is more limited when Hus Gangrel is in use, as he cannot use more powerful/complex spells like Crimson Dream and Blood Refrain Rondo.
Spoiler for “Defensive Spells”:
In terms of defense, this is not much in keeping with Ricardo’s style of battle: He prefers it fast, furious and clean. However, he finds certain defensive spells to be necessary, and thus does occasionally use them, though mostly in a supporting/field-affecting role.
Natt Uvertyr: Night’s Overture
Defensive Power: S~S+
Proficiency: AAA+
Type: Disruption/Field type Defense
Activation: “Resonate!”
Cast Time: 4 seconds
Duration: As long as he can hold it up
Ricardo uses both his hands to play an illusory melody in the air as though playing a huge pipe organ, and using this melody, generates ripples tinged with a deep red aura over a wide diameter of almost 200 metres, with lesser effects outside of it.
These ripples have a similar effect to that of the Crimson Dream, except that it also entails causing the enemy’s magic power to dissipate/disperse faster, thus weakening most attacks used against him by quite a great deal. Thus, this move is not an attack against the power of the spell, but against the structural integrity of the magic particle construct that makes up the concept of this spell.
Svart Torn: Black Tower
Defensive Power: AAA
Proficiency: S+
Type: Shield type Defense
Activation: “Arise!”
Cast Time: 3 seconds
Duration: Until dispelled/destroyed/Ricardo runs out of energy
Materializes a huge black tower shield in front of himself/someone else. The shield is approximately 3x3 meters in area, and can only block attacks unilaterally, and is also completely stationary unless moved by Ricardo himself. Ergo, it is like a magically controlled piece of physical cover.
The most interesting thing about this defense is that like a real Tower, it has ‘murder holes’: Ricardo can purposely create holes in the Black Tower just so that his allies can shoot through them at his enemies while remaining completely protected. These holes may also be closed where necessary.
Svart Räddningen: Black Aegis
Defensive Power: AAA~S (shield), AA~AA+ (barrier)
Proficiency: S
Regeneration Rate: A+
Type: Sanctuary/Barrier/Shield-type combo Defense
Activation: “Palladium of the heavens, defend us!”
Cast Time: 9 seconds (3 for shield, 3 for barrier, and 3 for healing)
Duration: Till dispelled/destroyed/Ricardo runs out of energy
A combination spell, and a development on the Black Tower. When he uses this spell, Ricardo uses creates a shield in front of himself, or someone else. It literally drops in from the heavens, a shield with the symbol of the Rose Cross on it. The shield generated measures at approximately 4x4 meters, and is capable of blocking attacks in a unilateral direction. Following this, a barrier is then set up around the target, and lastly, an auto-regeneration spell is cast on a single target. All protections apply to whoever is within the sanctuary of the Black Aegis, but healing can only affect one person within it, and this person is pre-selected by Ricardo before or during the use of this spell.
Spoiler for “Offensive Spells”:
These spells are the most important to Ricardo’s fighting style, as it keeps him dangerous to be able to land the vital hit where it counts the most. Therefore, most of his offensive capabilities are more of extensions of his bloodline abilities rather than real spells, as he has found that these decrease the time required to cast spells.
Skugga Dervish: Shadow Dervish
Offensive Power: AA
Proficiency: ????
Type: Trigger-based Counterattack
Activation: N/A
Cast Time: 2.5 seconds
Duration: As long as Renard judges fit/has enough energy
An auto-counter spell, this spell is used by Renard whenever Ricardo is in impending and potentially unavoidable danger. The tome then opens up, and from its pages fires anywhere from 3 - 7 claws of shadow at the enemy, based on how much danger Renard judges him to be in. These claws home in on the enemy for a short distance, although they seek primarily to form a defense/counterattack-based perimeter around Ricardo. These claws can either be destroyed or dispelled, as they are made of magic.
They are retracted once the detected danger is past, and Renard closes up immediately, in order to conserve energy and not upkeep the spell for an unnecessarily long period of time. As of yet, it cannot be certain how proficient Renard is with this spell. This apparently does not use up Ricardo’s magic, but rather Renard’s own reserve, which Ricardo cannot access.
Död Sikta: Dead Sight
Offensive Boost: AA
Proficiency: ???
Type: Trigger-based Boost
Activation: N/A
Cast Time: 4 seconds
Duration: As long as Ricardo is still casting a spell (one spell for one Dead Sight)
An auto-aim spell, this spell is used by Renard whenever Ricardo uses an attack that may be difficult to aim, such as the Blood Refrain RONDO X, or if he is blinded by an enemy, and as such cannot aim an attack properly. Dead Sight, therefore, allows him the ability to “see” even when blinded, and when he is not blinded, he can actually read his opponent’s movements more easily when Dead Sight is used.
This is not so much a spell, but an extension of his ability, Body of Blood. It first requires an initial amount of blood to be drawn from Ricardo’s own body, after which they can either be solidified/liquefied into various equipment and tools for battle. Upon drawing blood from the enemy, Ricardo can then place their blood under his control, and use them similarly, imbuing them with magic as his weapons.
However, these “other” weapons have a limited amount of structural integrity, and break down after a short period of time (in most cases 20 seconds), after which they cannot be used any further. The weapons made from Ricardo’s blood, however, will not disintegrate on their own, but have to be destroyed by use of force.
Blod Avhållasig RONDO X: Blood Refrain RONDO X
Offensive Power: S
Proficiency: S-
Type: Close-Combat Hybrid
Activation: “Have a load of this.”
Cast Time: 7 seconds
Duration: 2 seconds
A 2 second burst of complete hand-to-hand madness, in which Ricardo condenses all the blood he has obtained close to himself, creating more powerful weapons/armor with his magic and their blood. At the same time, he charges his aura up to a point much higher than that of any of his movement spells.
This causes a single insane rush of speed, power and sword dancing as Ricardo hurls himself at the enemy, releasing violent pulses of blood red aura that seem to scramble the enemy’s magic signature, rending low level (B and below) attack/defense spells and most magical projections (such as illusions and afterimages) useless in his wake. This state is like using Hus Gangrel and Fading Crimson together with Blood Refrain, except that he keeps his sanity, and it only works for a limited time, although against most foes, this time is more than enough to pull off a couple of deadly hits in even less than the stipulated time.
However, due to the insane speeds at which he travels in this form, which can hit a maximum of 3-4 times the speed of a normal instant movement spell, this move leaves him almost completely unable to dodge any enemy countermeasure if the enemy puts one up, as it decreases his maneuverability considerably. Also, he will suffer some directional disorientation for a short time, as well as combat damage, which will limit his later combat ability. As such, this attack is mostly for use in single combat as a finisher (think some Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu style finish with that cool, don’t-give-a-shit look.)
Blod Tyrann: Blood Tyrant
Offensive Power: Variable
Proficiency: SSS (it’s almost like his second nature)
Type: Support – Variation Hybrid
Activation: N/A
Cast Time: Variable
Duration: 2 minutes
This is an extension of Ricardo’s “Dominion” ability: He calls up the blood of a legendary/mythical creature and infuses it into himself, thus increasing his combat abilities by a certain specialized margin, depending on what creature’s blood he summons. The cast time also differs from creature to creature. The effect however, is the same: They will merge with his body and form a living weapon within him, like Sonia does.
Spoiler for “Ceremonial Spells”:
These spells are mostly still unknown quantities.
Demonen Slottet: Demon Castle
Tier: Six (Citadel of Hell)
Power: Variable
Proficiency: S+
Type: Field/Wide Area/Summon
Activation: “I am A. Ricardo, the master of Castle Cronqvist.”
Cast Time: 2 hours
Duration:
Ricardo summons a huge castle with a maze of rooms and towers, with him at an unknown location known as the Castle Keep, which is actually a localized dimensional rift which cannot be touched until the castle itself is destroyed. Through this castle, Ricardo has near-infinite access to summons of monsters and creatures which he can summon to either defend or attack. These creatures are split into 5 levels of power. Level 1 summoned beings are so comparatively weak that even the average TSAB mage can take almost a dozen of these before going down (although they make good scouts, and they can be summoned en masse to simply swarm said TSAB mage and thus minimize losses), while the mighty Level 5 beings are more than a match for entire units of mages.
Ricardo can also obtain intelligence from whatever the summoned beings are able to see, which means that they are also like a major extension of his passive sight (active sight means that he is able to things first hand, while passive sight means he knows what’s happening. Much like Naruto’s mass-spam Kage-bunshin no jutsu in some ways)
The limitations of this is that it, like some powerful Aerternis spells, throws open the magic gate(for such another spell, see the Blade Forest, Zarakiya’s AoE attack), and thus drains his Axiom at a much more rapid rate than normal spells, of which the magical strain is regulated by said item. An analogy for the drain method is that in normal spells, the magic that flows through him is regulated, while in this spell, the magic flows as much as needed instead of in a regulated fashion, and thus this is like his major limit break of sorts.
The price of this spell is similar to that of Axiom-draining spells: Firstly, it can only be held up for a limited period of time, which in Ricardo’s case is 2 hours, and following that, his Axiom will be rendered at half its original efficiency. Within that period of time, he can summon as much as he likes, and also, he can invest magical energy into beings that he summons through the Cronqvist family castle, which allows them to continue to exist for a limited time even when the duration of this spell is over. Secondly, while there is no given limit on the number of Level1-3 summons he can bring out, there is a cap on how many level 4 and 5 creatures he can summon. In the case of level 4s, he can only summon nine of them, while for level 5 creatures, he can only summon three. Lastly, he will go into a state of death-like sleep like that of Blood Body’s side effect for 2 days once he is done using this spell (this spell is like draining all of his energy for 4 days, and then forcing him to rest), and this leaves him wide open to attack.
Åttonde Lans: Eight Lance – True Aegis
Tier: Six (Artifact of the Gods)
Power: ???
Proficiency: ???
Type: Immortal Defense
Activation: The Command Runes of “Earth”, “Sky”, “Life” and “Blood”.
Cast Time: 7 seconds
Duration: Till the defended party is safe/till Ricardo (or another chosen user) is dead.
Indeed, the name “Eighth Lance” was not given for nothing, as the member who made the Seven Lances gave one to the Forgemaster’s Familiar as well.
A one-off use spell, the True Aegis is an absolute defense that can be used to defend against any and all attacks on a single person. The protected person cannot be the user of this spell, although the shield can, by extension, also end up protecting the user: for example, if the user stands behind it during massive bombardment, he/she will be protected as well. However, using this spell drains the life of its user; the amount of time lost depending on how powerful the attack is, and how long he/she holds up the spell. The drain off the person’s life force is very, very fast, and can kill even an Aerternis at his/her peak in a short time.
Juste told Ricardo never to use it lest there was really no other option to “protect the things he really wanted to protect”, and it is not known if the latter has ever found it necessary to use it.
Klaga av Oskyldig: Innocent Lament
-STATS UNKNOWN-
This is a sort of music-based spell, like Night’s Overture.
Oändlig Ensamheten: Eternal Solitude
-STATS UNKNOWN-
This is a spell that he uses to seal himself into prolonged periods of magic-induced sleep.
I haven't made plans entirely for what and who this guy will be...so it's in limbo.
--------------------------------
- There are another 3 OCs coming up, but I lost an argument with my longtime girlfriend, a 4GB Thumbdrive, and now she's refusing to let me have my way with our accounts. Hope we patch up, but if it don't work out, I might have to get a new one, preferably a motorbike, because a bike doesn't argue, you don't buy her diamonds, and you don't have to meet her parents. That means I'll lose all my data I invested in her, although luckily my aging nanny, my manuscript book, has yet to die on me yet, so some things are still documented in there. I didn't lose my chapters of text, thankfully. It would have killed me to lose all 14k words of that...
- And I'm reconsidering posting those three, actually.
Last edited by XenahortCharybdis; 2008-04-29 at 13:38.
Location: Formerly Iwakawa base and Chaldea. Now Teyvat, the Astral Express & the Outpost
Age: 44
The following text is a summary and compilation written by an entity who gave himself
the "Archivist" name. Ancient Belka's historical archives being mostly fragments
of the bigger history, it was quite difficult to get the full picture of what was
Ancient Belka Empire, and its greatest accomplisshment.
Spoiler for Belka the planet:
The world of Belka
Belka's original planet was near identical to Earth, orbiting around yellow dwarf
slightly bigger then Earth. It was overflowing with magic, and inhabited by three
sentient species. The first specie, the dragons, were few compared to the two others.
The second specie were long-lived humanoids who towered the third specie and are called
Giants by them, they called themselves Badhra, "Blessed" or "Fortunate" in their own
language, and claimed that their third eye were a mark of this blessing by the gods.
The last race were humans, living in small groups all over the world.
All three races used magic via different methods. The dragons used the very language
sung by the stars when the multiverse was born to interact with their environment.
While it mades them powerful, they were more responsible and wise than the other
magic users. The Badhra used their ease to interact with the outer planes to make
contract with spiritual lords, elemental kings or gods, their art was at their pinnacle
when they created the devaheti, sentient weapons infused with the yaksha, near-divine
spirits, that were living in the plane the Badhra chamans usually visit. This reliance
on their ability to communicate with gods would prove later to be their undoing, as
spirits would claim later what Badhra owed them.
Finally, the first human magic users were the first to use the potential of their
inner magical core, the Linker Core. While their magic were not as pure as the dragons,
it was not as dangerous as the early badhran chamanic magic.
Spoiler for From the founding of Belka to the rise of the Empire:
The origins of Belka - The Exodus and the Founding
At the very beginning, when humankind on Earth saw the rise of Uruk, on a planet far away
from Earth, a war that opposed a kingdom, Drun, and a city-state, Varn, has come to its
end, with the destruction of the city. As for how, why and when this war has started,
history has long forgotten it. The ruler of the kingdom of Drun, Slaugh Feagh, has shown
no mercy, in despite of the brave fight put up by the defenders of the city of Gearth, the
place has been raided and burn to the ground while the king Slaugh Feagh, has made sure
that no one shall survive. But his wish has not come true, indeed, a few hundreds of survivors
made their way out of the city, through hidden tunnels, led by twin brothers, Belkhem and
Benzwig, sons of the cousin of late ruler of the city who gave them the sword Hruntig
as symbol of his people and hope for them.
Belkhem, Benzwig and the Varnir, people of the destroyed city, has started a long exodus
through mountains, forests and deserts, they met and overcame many challenges but never
found a home. Until that day when they met a wandering ermit who claimed to be an oracle.
The ermit told Belkhem and Benzwig that they shall settle in a plain where they would
find a white eagle, a red eagle and black horned snake. The twins would have to choose
one eagle each, and depending on which eagle would devour the snake, the winner will claim
the right to be the sovereign of the land where they shall settle.
A few months passed until they came across a plain where they indeed found the eagles
and the snake. Belkhem chose the white eagle, Benzwig chose the red eagle. After a long
moment, the white eagle caught and devoured the black horned snake. The ruler of the
future has been choosen, Belkhem, with the help of his people, went on digging trenches
that will be the limit of his city. Enraged and jealous, Benzwig tried to hinder his
brother's work with any means. His last act was to leap over one of the trench that
his brohter was just digging. In front of his people, Belkhem beheaded his own brother
while claiming that calamity shall befall on anyone who dared to leap over his walls.
With his people, he continued to build his city then named it Belka after himself,
and served as a strict but just and virtuous first king.
The king spread the rumor that Belka shall be a shelter to the ones who were as equally
persecuted as his people were. Belka soon attracted explorers, refugees, exiles, but
also veterans from defeated armies, deserters, criminals and thieves. The population
has grown and the city has prospered beyond the king's expectations. This prosperity
has sparkled the greed of neighboring tribes, especially an all-female warrior tribe
named the Camenans. It was the first war experienced by the new Belkan people, lasting
for several months and ending with a duel opposing the old and aging king Belkhem
against the camenan queen Lhea. Much to the surprise of the female warriors who
expected an easy victory over an old man, Lhea was soundly defeated by the combined
experience of the King and the power of Hruntig. Lhea then listened to the King's
story and his ambition, moved by his speech and charisma, she and her people joined
the ranks of the Belkan people.
Belka, as a monarchy was born.
From the Kingdom to the Sad Struggle
The first King has died, leaving a lineage of kings and queens who were mostly
benevolent and lived up to the Belkan virtues. The kingdom expanded and has become
a major power in its region while its technological level has progressed enough to
witness the crafting of the first Device prototypes that would equip elite troops or
confirmed soldiers of the proud Belkan Legions. It should be noted that those Devices
did not have the same level as Armed Devices.
But a diplomatic incident at a Badhran court has triggered the wrath of Sivgupta the
Steelclub, a warlord and king of one of the kingdoms of the Badhran Confederation.
Claiming repair for his honor, the warlord gathered his armies and marched toward Belka.
Leaving little time to the Belkan legions to prepare, the Belka has faced an army and
warriors that overwhelmed them. What could they do against the ferocious Araru, neither
truly humans or Badhrans, nor truly demons, clad in tiger-coat and armed with the
terrific Devaheti? How Belkan mages could deal with the summoned Yakshas who assisted
the Sivgupta's soldiers in battle?
Belka has lived an overwhelming defeat and were forced to pay one hundred pound of
gold and two hundred pound of silver if the citizen wanted the Badhran to leave Belka
and not sack it. The reigning King, Frideich, tried to negociate, begging Sivgupta to
be merciful toward his people because the demanded tribute were too much. The warlord
furiously seized Hruntig and uttered "Woe to the conquered!" while smashing the blade
with his steel club. He then chased the king out of the city and sacked Belka.
The First Sack of Belka has brought the end of the Belka kingdom, as founded by Belkhem
The First, about four centuries ago.
The Divided Kingdoms, Sighild the Invincible and the Crowning of the First Kaiser
The Sad Struggle was also known as the Belka Dark Age or the Divided Kingdoms.
Actually, most of the 'kingdoms' were not bigger than an average county. The Sad Struggle
has seen bitter wars and shirt-lived peaces or truces, it was an age where belkan warlords
and sorcerers has power over the life and the death of their subjects.
Oppressed people were desperate and prayed for one man to come to save them, Hruntig,
the broken sword, was never seen again since the Sack of Belka and was assumed to be
forever lost.
In a small kingdom, Shimyr, a dragon maddened by his old age, has demanded one maiden
to be sacrificed to him every spring equinox. This has gone on for decades and has
driven the citizen of the kingdom into a deep-rooted apathy. Ulrik, a swordsmith, has
two children, a teenage daughter named Sighild who would be aged enough to be married,
and a son, Lars who was still a children. Unfortunately, the time has come when every
families in the kingdom has to draw the stone that will decide who would have to
sacrifice their daughter. Much to Ulrik's chagrin, it was his daughter. But Ulrik
refused his daughter to go without a fight. He picked up his family heirloom, a broken
sword, and melted its metal, merged it with another metal whose the name was lost, to
forge a new blade. It was his greatest work and proudly gave it to his daughter,
telling her the ancient tale of a man who killed a dragon with a combination of strenght
and strategy, using the terrain to his advantage.
Sighild's turn has come, the girl has refused the royal guards to drag her to the place
where she was meant to be sacrificed, choosing to walk to the dragon's lair with dignity
and courage. Her sword, concealed under her linen coat, she carefully approached the lair,
studied the terrain and found a small gap in the rocky corridor where she would have the
advantage. She have heard from people that Shimyr was a flyless dragon, moving as fast
as a snake. She became aware that the fact he could not fly would be his demise.
With a fearless voice, she called the dragon to come. She mocked him, taunted him,
upsetting him. She then ran where she intended him to come. In other circumstance, Shimyr
would have seen it coming, but his anger over a frail woman who dared to mock him while
flailing a weak sword have blinded him, and he was now stuck in a small rocky gap with
no way to get out. While he was a dragon, he was not as strong as in his youth and could
not break the rocks with as much ease as before. Sighild dodged Shimyr's jaw attacks and
fiery breath with the ease of a dancer until she saw the weakest spot of Shimyr's cuirass.
She then brandished her sword, Laevatein and struck Shimyr. With a shriek that would have
struck fear within anyone's heart, Shimyr has died and has dropped dead into the ground.
Having heard about the dragons' blood and flesh in her childhood tales, Sighild began
to cut the dragon's corpse. While the wind blew from the neighboring forest, Sighild
bathed in Shimyr's blood, but a small leaf brought by the wind has covered a spot on the
left side of her back. This is when she ate shimyr's heart that she came to know the
heritage left by her ancestors. She came back to her village, with the left eye of Shimyr
in her hands, and rumors, in her small country, has spread about a woman who defeated
a dragon. She then came to her brother Lars, telling him that the time has come for him
to claim Belka.
But he had to visit an oracle to confirm his lineage. Marching with her sister, he
met an oracle who submitted him to a challenge that would confirm his royalty if he
succeded. His efforts were successful and he was recognized as one of the descendants
of the Belkan kings. Sighild and Lars led their army together to fight and unite the
divided kingdoms into one, they marched toward Belka so Lars could claim the throne
that was left empty. After a short battle to claim the throne from the local tyrant,
Lars was crowned as the first Kaiser of Belka. The siblings has then been introduced
to a world of intrigues and conspiracies where courtiers would struggle to gain the
young emperor's favor. One of the courtiers, Varg, wanted Sighild, as a mean to claim
later the throne but also out of obsessive and jealous love for the warrior maiden.
But his efforts to win Sighild's love were fruitless, for she was more than devoted to
her country and her brother. The courtier then secretly went to meet the same oracle
that Lars has met before marching to Belka. Varg flattered, threatened and flattered
the oracle to be revealed a way to kill Sighild, he was successful and he killed the
oracle to be sure that the man shall not reveal anything about him.
When the young Kaiser has finished to united the last kingdoms, he organized a festival
to celebrate the birth of the Belkan Empire. Every noblemen and noble ladies were invited
to a banquet and offered to attend a hunting party. It was during the hunting party
that Sighild has meet her end, shot in the back, the same spot where the leaf has
fallen a long time ago, by the arrow of an assassin hired by Varg. Her death was a great
loss for the Belkan people, and those who has been at the imperial court for long enough,
have heard of Varg's obsessive and jealous love for Sighild. For the young Kaiser, Varg's
guilt was very clear. Because he has not actual clues of Varg's crime, he forced the
courtier into exile, not without taking him Varg's eye and arm. Sighild was buried
with Laevatein, while Varg was driven to the empire's borders. The traitor's purpose
was not done yet, for he has been found by Kandosa, a tyrant of one of the Badhran Kingdoms.
The Belkan-Badhran War and the rise of Belka empire
About one human generation has passed, the Kaiser Lars has married and gotten children.
Meanwhile, a badhran tyrant named Kandosa, armed with a Devaheti axe named Vijigishu
(Ambition in their native language), has usurped the highest position in Badhran's
ladder of power, King of Kings, after having killed the legitimate one and nearly
exterminated the late king's family. However, Kurara, the youngest son having managed to
escape with his personal guard. Kandosa then crowned himself as God-Emperor of the
World.
Kurara has managed to make his way to the young Belkan empire and found shelter in
a small Belkan city named Varnsburg. Because of the history between Belka and his people,
Kurara has a lot of trouble to get accepted by the humans but also to get understood
by them. It did not help that the old Count Johan, governor of Varnsburg, has died of a
long disease and left his hotheaded young daughter, Vita, as ruler of Varnsburg and the
surrounding shire. Months has passed, and Kurara's fears has come true when messengers
came to the young countess to report the arrival of a humongous Badhran army. Vita has
now understood what Kurara has tried to tell her since long months.
Vita has little time to gather her army but has made her decision to meet the Badhran
army where she has the intention to meet them. She requested Kurara to go to meet the
Kaiser and gave him a scroll that will tell the kaiser about the incoming danger.
The "young" Badhran prince and the barely teenage Belkan countess then parted ways to
meet their fates and fill their purposes in history.
After days of march with her army and harassement of the Badhran army through skirmishes,
Vita met the God-Emperor Kandosa where she wanted him to go. The Emperor demanded immediate
submission after having seen the mere six hundred soldiers brought by Vita, as opposed to
his army of ninety thousand soldiers. Vita answered the emperor's offer with a booming
laughter then swung her hammer toward him as a challenge gesture.
The battle has then started and shall be remembered as one of the most famous last stands
in ancient Belka history. The years of the Sad Struggle has strenghtened the Belkan as
a mlitary power, the newer Devices were way better than those in the first Belkan-Badhran
war that has led to the old monarchy's downfall, and were optimized for the human's magical
potential, moreover Vita has used the terrain to her advantage, Kandosa having found himself
unable to surround the small army as he should have done. The battle has lasted for about
seven days and six nights. The demise of Vita and her six hundred has been partially the
doing of a old enemy of the Belkan imperial family, the exiled Varg, now an old man, who
wanted to exact his revenge on the empire. The consequences of the betrayal were the defeat
of Vita's army but Vita has succeded into delaying the invasion of Belka and allowed the
Kaiser to gather just enough strenght for the upcoming battle. The excess of reliance of
Badhrans on Yakshas has proved to be one of the cause of their demise. The Battle of city
of Belka would be not only a turning point of the conflict but also in the history.
Vita's death and her courage against the tyrant has strenghtened the heart and resolution
of the Belka people, and Kandosa's ambition would be nothing compared to it. The fact that
Prince Kurara has sided with the Kaiser and helped him to conquer the lost territories
but also to get into the Badhran kingdoms to bring Kandosa to his knees is not to be
forgotten. The war has come to its end when the yakshas has started to refuse to obey
the chamans, when most of devahetis has gotten out of their wielders' control, and
when the Kaiser has killed the God-Emperor and broken the cursed sentient axe.
For the badhra, their age on this planet has come to its end, and they have learnt a
lesson about dealing with the spirits in a more responsible and respectful way. The
old dragons then offered the badhra people to leave the planet with them. The humans
were then the only masters of this planet, and Belka's advance in term of magic has
helped the empire to come to prominence, as the dominating nation and culture for the two next millenium.
Spoiler for Author's notes:
This is my shot on Belka history, it's by no mean canon. I have decided to write it to see what I can do while using my own cultural references and influences.
Try spotting the parallels with human history and myths.
Ooookay, this is creeping me out. Where the hell is everyone? Not just the OC-thread, the entire Nanoha board seems to have gone into hibernation!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy C
To concentrate their forces like that, they'd have to assume the Wolkies are in Uminari instead of somewhere else on the planet. Why would they assume that? If they had to spread out across even Japan alone, there'd hardly be any more people in Uminari than there were in the anime.
Aside from what the others said, I was talking about 'accidental encounters' like, walking on the street and seeing Shamal going shopping kind of thing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy C
One hitch. How are they going to awaken the Book without feeding it? That's actually why I labelled this plan as most risky. Not that it was awaekend in a populated area.
We already know magic is a comon energy source on Mid. Simply feed it magic from a reactor.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy C
And none of it seemed to have any hope. Everything in A's seemed to give the impression that the Book was not only corrupted, but corrupted in such a way that undoing or avoiding the corruption was impossible. Like someone purposefully designed it in such a way, like a certain anime studio for example...
True, but again: At that time they were pressed for time. And they did gave up a bit too easilly after Reinforce had her say. Again, this is only a theory anyway.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy C
Another mistranslation again? I recall one of Yuuno's briefings from the Library that the Book will consume its host if it isn't fed with magic from other mages. It does consume its host after it awakens, but that's a different event.
Eventually, yes. But it is also said that the more the book is fed, the more the draining from the host is sped up by Yuuno in the same episode.
Quote:
Originally Posted by arkhangelsk
All right. But it would at least be supersonic, right?
"really fast by Nanohaverse standards" means that you don't paste a specific speed behind it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sheba
The following text is a summary and compilation written by an entity who gave himself
the "Archivist" name. Ancient Belka's historical archives being mostly fragments
of the bigger history, it was quite difficult to get the full picture of what was
Ancient Belka Empire, and its greatest accomplisshment.
Spoiler for Belka the planet:
The world of Belka
Belka's original planet was near identical to Earth, orbiting around yellow dwarf
slightly bigger then Earth. It was overflowing with magic, and inhabited by three
sentient species. The first specie, the dragons, were few compared to the two others.
The second specie were long-lived humanoids who towered the third specie and are called
Giants by them, they called themselves Badhra, "Blessed" or "Fortunate" in their own
language, and claimed that their third eye were a mark of this blessing by the gods.
The last race were humans, living in small groups all over the world.
All three races used magic via different methods. The dragons used the very language
sung by the stars when the multiverse was born to interact with their environment.
While it mades them powerful, they were more responsible and wise than the other
magic users. The Badhra used their ease to interact with the outer planes to make
contract with spiritual lords, elemental kings or gods, their art was at their pinnacle
when they created the devaheti, sentient weapons infused with the yaksha, near-divine
spirits, that were living in the plane the Badhra chamans usually visit. This reliance
on their ability to communicate with gods would prove later to be their undoing, as
spirits would claim later what Badhra owed them.
Finally, the first human magic users were the first to use the potential of their
inner magical core, the Linker Core. While their magic were not as pure as the dragons,
it was not as dangerous as the early badhran chamanic magic.
Spoiler for From the founding of Belka to the rise of the Empire:
The origins of Belka - The Exodus and the Founding
At the very beginning, when humankind on Earth saw the rise of Uruk, on a planet far away
from Earth, a war that opposed a kingdom, Drun, and a city-state, Varn, has come to its
end, with the destruction of the city. As for how, why and when this war has started,
history has long forgotten it. The ruler of the kingdom of Drun, Slaugh Feagh, has shown
no mercy, in despite of the brave fight put up by the defenders of the city of Gearth, the
place has been raided and burn to the ground while the king Slaugh Feagh, has made sure
that no one shall survive. But his wish has not come true, indeed, a few hundreds of survivors
made their way out of the city, through hidden tunnels, led by twin brothers, Belkhem and
Benzwig, sons of the cousin of late ruler of the city who gave them the sword Hruntig
as symbol of his people and hope for them.
Belkhem, Benzwig and the Varnir, people of the destroyed city, has started a long exodus
through mountains, forests and deserts, they met and overcame many challenges but never
found a home. Until that day when they met a wandering ermit who claimed to be an oracle.
The ermit told Belkhem and Benzwig that they shall settle in a plain where they would
find a white eagle, a red eagle and black horned snake. The twins would have to choose
one eagle each, and depending on which eagle would devour the snake, the winner will claim
the right to be the sovereign of the land where they shall settle.
A few months passed until they came across a plain where they indeed found the eagles
and the snake. Belkhem chose the white eagle, Benzwig chose the red eagle. After a long
moment, the white eagle caught and devoured the black horned snake. The ruler of the
future has been choosen, Belkhem, with the help of his people, went on digging trenches
that will be the limit of his city. Enraged and jealous, Benzwig tried to hinder his
brother's work with any means. His last act was to leap over one of the trench that
his brohter was just digging. In front of his people, Belkhem beheaded his own brother
while claiming that calamity shall befall on anyone who dared to leap over his walls.
With his people, he continued to build his city then named it Belka after himself,
and served as a strict but just and virtuous first king.
The king spread the rumor that Belka shall be a shelter to the ones who were as equally
persecuted as his people were. Belka soon attracted explorers, refugees, exiles, but
also veterans from defeated armies, deserters, criminals and thieves. The population
has grown and the city has prospered beyond the king's expectations. This prosperity
has sparkled the greed of neighboring tribes, especially an all-female warrior tribe
named the Camenans. It was the first war experienced by the new Belkan people, lasting
for several months and ending with a duel opposing the old and aging king Belkhem
against the camenan queen Lhea. Much to the surprise of the female warriors who
expected an easy victory over an old man, Lhea was soundly defeated by the combined
experience of the King and the power of Hruntig. Lhea then listened to the King's
story and his ambition, moved by his speech and charisma, she and her people joined
the ranks of the Belkan people.
Belka, as a monarchy was born.
From the Kingdom to the Sad Struggle
The first King has died, leaving a lineage of kings and queens who were mostly
benevolent and lived up to the Belkan virtues. The kingdom expanded and has become
a major power in its region while its technological level has progressed enough to
witness the crafting of the first Device prototypes that would equip elite troops or
confirmed soldiers of the proud Belkan Legions. It should be noted that those Devices
did not have the same level as Armed Devices.
But a diplomatic incident at a Badhran court has triggered the wrath of Sivgupta the
Steelclub, a warlord and king of one of the kingdoms of the Badhran Confederation.
Claiming repair for his honor, the warlord gathered his armies and marched toward Belka.
Leaving little time to the Belkan legions to prepare, the Belka has faced an army and
warriors that overwhelmed them. What could they do against the ferocious Araru, neither
truly humans or Badhrans, nor truly demons, clad in tiger-coat and armed with the
terrific Devaheti? How Belkan mages could deal with the summoned Yakshas who assisted
the Sivgupta's soldiers in battle?
Belka has lived an overwhelming defeat and were forced to pay one hundred pound of
gold and two hundred pound of silver if the citizen wanted the Badhran to leave Belka
and not sack it. The reigning King, Frideich, tried to negociate, begging Sivgupta to
be merciful toward his people because the demanded tribute were too much. The warlord
furiously seized Hruntig and uttered "Woe to the conquered!" while smashing the blade
with his steel club. He then chased the king out of the city and sacked Belka.
The First Sack of Belka has brought the end of the Belka kingdom, as founded by Belkhem
The First, about four centuries ago.
The Divided Kingdoms, Sighild the Invincible and the Crowning of the First Kaiser
The Sad Struggle was also known as the Belka Dark Age or the Divided Kingdoms.
Actually, most of the 'kingdoms' were not bigger than an average county. The Sad Struggle
has seen bitter wars and shirt-lived peaces or truces, it was an age where belkan warlords
and sorcerers has power over the life and the death of their subjects.
Oppressed people were desperate and prayed for one man to come to save them, Hruntig,
the broken sword, was never seen again since the Sack of Belka and was assumed to be
forever lost.
In a small kingdom, Shimyr, a dragon maddened by his old age, has demanded one maiden
to be sacrificed to him every spring equinox. This has gone on for decades and has
driven the citizen of the kingdom into a deep-rooted apathy. Ulrik, a swordsmith, has
two children, a teenage daughter named Sighild who would be aged enough to be married,
and a son, Lars who was still a children. Unfortunately, the time has come when every
families in the kingdom has to draw the stone that will decide who would have to
sacrifice their daughter. Much to Ulrik's chagrin, it was his daughter. But Ulrik
refused his daughter to go without a fight. He picked up his family heirloom, a broken
sword, and melted its metal, merged it with another metal whose the name was lost, to
forge a new blade. It was his greatest work and proudly gave it to his daughter,
telling her the ancient tale of a man who killed a dragon with a combination of strenght
and strategy, using the terrain to his advantage.
Sighild's turn has come, the girl has refused the royal guards to drag her to the place
where she was meant to be sacrificed, choosing to walk to the dragon's lair with dignity
and courage. Her sword, concealed under her linen coat, she carefully approached the lair,
studied the terrain and found a small gap in the rocky corridor where she would have the
advantage. She have heard from people that Shimyr was a flyless dragon, moving as fast
as a snake. She became aware that the fact he could not fly would be his demise.
With a fearless voice, she called the dragon to come. She mocked him, taunted him,
upsetting him. She then ran where she intended him to come. In other circumstance, Shimyr
would have seen it coming, but his anger over a frail woman who dared to mock him while
flailing a weak sword have blinded him, and he was now stuck in a small rocky gap with
no way to get out. While he was a dragon, he was not as strong as in his youth and could
not break the rocks with as much ease as before. Sighild dodged Shimyr's jaw attacks and
fiery breath with the ease of a dancer until she saw the weakest spot of Shimyr's cuirass.
She then brandished her sword, Laevatein and struck Shimyr. With a shriek that would have
struck fear within anyone's heart, Shimyr has died and has dropped dead into the ground.
Having heard about the dragons' blood and flesh in her childhood tales, Sighild began
to cut the dragon's corpse. While the wind blew from the neighboring forest, Sighild
bathed in Shimyr's blood, but a small leaf brought by the wind has covered a spot on the
left side of her back. This is when she ate shimyr's heart that she came to know the
heritage left by her ancestors. She came back to her village, with the left eye of Shimyr
in her hands, and rumors, in her small country, has spread about a woman who defeated
a dragon. She then came to her brother Lars, telling him that the time has come for him
to claim Belka.
But he had to visit an oracle to confirm his lineage. Marching with her sister, he
met an oracle who submitted him to a challenge that would confirm his royalty if he
succeded. His efforts were successful and he was recognized as one of the descendants
of the Belkan kings. Sighild and Lars led their army together to fight and unite the
divided kingdoms into one, they marched toward Belka so Lars could claim the throne
that was left empty. After a short battle to claim the throne from the local tyrant,
Lars was crowned as the first Kaiser of Belka. The siblings has then been introduced
to a world of intrigues and conspiracies where courtiers would struggle to gain the
young emperor's favor. One of the courtiers, Varg, wanted Sighild, as a mean to claim
later the throne but also out of obsessive and jealous love for the warrior maiden.
But his efforts to win Sighild's love were fruitless, for she was more than devoted to
her country and her brother. The courtier then secretly went to meet the same oracle
that Lars has met before marching to Belka. Varg flattered, threatened and flattered
the oracle to be revealed a way to kill Sighild, he was successful and he killed the
oracle to be sure that the man shall not reveal anything about him.
When the young Kaiser has finished to united the last kingdoms, he organized a festival
to celebrate the birth of the Belkan Empire. Every noblemen and noble ladies were invited
to a banquet and offered to attend a hunting party. It was during the hunting party
that Sighild has meet her end, shot in the back, the same spot where the leaf has
fallen a long time ago, by the arrow of an assassin hired by Varg. Her death was a great
loss for the Belkan people, and those who has been at the imperial court for long enough,
have heard of Varg's obsessive and jealous love for Sighild. For the young Kaiser, Varg's
guilt was very clear. Because he has not actual clues of Varg's crime, he forced the
courtier into exile, not without taking him Varg's eye and arm. Sighild was buried
with Laevatein, while Varg was driven to the empire's borders. The traitor's purpose
was not done yet, for he has been found by Kandosa, a tyrant of one of the Badhran Kingdoms.
The Belkan-Badhran War and the rise of Belka empire
About one human generation has passed, the Kaiser Lars has married and gotten children.
Meanwhile, a badhran tyrant named Kandosa, armed with a Devaheti axe named Vijigishu
(Ambition in their native language), has usurped the highest position in Badhran's
ladder of power, King of Kings, after having killed the legitimate one and nearly
exterminated the late king's family. However, Kurara, the youngest son having managed to
escape with his personal guard. Kandosa then crowned himself as God-Emperor of the
World.
Kurara has managed to make his way to the young Belkan empire and found shelter in
a small Belkan city named Varnsburg. Because of the history between Belka and his people,
Kurara has a lot of trouble to get accepted by the humans but also to get understood
by them. It did not help that the old Count Johan, governor of Varnsburg, has died of a
long disease and left his hotheaded young daughter, Vita, as ruler of Varnsburg and the
surrounding shire. Months has passed, and Kurara's fears has come true when messengers
came to the young countess to report the arrival of a humongous Badhran army. Vita has
now understood what Kurara has tried to tell her since long months.
Vita has little time to gather her army but has made her decision to meet the Badhran
army where she has the intention to meet them. She requested Kurara to go to meet the
Kaiser and gave him a scroll that will tell the kaiser about the incoming danger.
The "young" Badhran prince and the barely teenage Belkan countess then parted ways to
meet their fates and fill their purposes in history.
After days of march with her army and harassement of the Badhran army through skirmishes,
Vita met the God-Emperor Kandosa where she wanted him to go. The Emperor demanded immediate
submission after having seen the mere six hundred soldiers brought by Vita, as opposed to
his army of ninety thousand soldiers. Vita answered the emperor's offer with a booming
laughter then swung her hammer toward him as a challenge gesture.
The battle has then started and shall be remembered as one of the most famous last stands
in ancient Belka history. The years of the Sad Struggle has strenghtened the Belkan as
a mlitary power, the newer Devices were way better than those in the first Belkan-Badhran
war that has led to the old monarchy's downfall, and were optimized for the human's magical
potential, moreover Vita has used the terrain to her advantage, Kandosa having found himself
unable to surround the small army as he should have done. The battle has lasted for about
seven days and six nights. The demise of Vita and her six hundred has been partially the
doing of a old enemy of the Belkan imperial family, the exiled Varg, now an old man, who
wanted to exact his revenge on the empire. The consequences of the betrayal were the defeat
of Vita's army but Vita has succeded into delaying the invasion of Belka and allowed the
Kaiser to gather just enough strenght for the upcoming battle. The excess of reliance of
Badhrans on Yakshas has proved to be one of the cause of their demise. The Battle of city
of Belka would be not only a turning point of the conflict but also in the history.
Vita's death and her courage against the tyrant has strenghtened the heart and resolution
of the Belka people, and Kandosa's ambition would be nothing compared to it. The fact that
Prince Kurara has sided with the Kaiser and helped him to conquer the lost territories
but also to get into the Badhran kingdoms to bring Kandosa to his knees is not to be
forgotten. The war has come to its end when the yakshas has started to refuse to obey
the chamans, when most of devahetis has gotten out of their wielders' control, and
when the Kaiser has killed the God-Emperor and broken the cursed sentient axe.
For the badhra, their age on this planet has come to its end, and they have learnt a
lesson about dealing with the spirits in a more responsible and respectful way. The
old dragons then offered the badhra people to leave the planet with them. The humans
were then the only masters of this planet, and Belka's advance in term of magic has
helped the empire to come to prominence, as the dominating nation and culture for the two next millenium.
Spoiler for Author's notes:
This is my shot on Belka history, it's by no mean canon. I have decided to write it to see what I can do while using my own cultural references and influences.
Try spotting the parallels with human history and myths.
Geh... while nicely written and all, I hope you don't mind if I don't use this. This'll screw up several trancendant lines in Fall of an Empire.
Ooookay, this is creeping me out. Where the hell is everyone? Not just the OC-thread, the entire Nanoha board seems to have gone into hibernation!
Well I know I had finals this week and even after you get home from those you don’t feel like doing much. As I recall a number of others said they had the same on IRC. (I’ve not even really been on that for a few days either.) If things don't pick up more in a week or so then you can start to worry.
Quote:
"really fast by Nanohaverse standards" means that you don't paste a specific speed behind it.
Acutally that's not true it has a speed, namely the speed of plot.
Well I know I had finals this week and even after you get home from those you don’t feel like doing much. As I recall a number of others said they had the same on IRC. (I’ve not even really been on that for a few days either.) If things don't pick up more in a week or so then you can start to worry.
Right, thanks for the heads up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tk3997
Acutally that's not true it has a speed, namely the speed of plot.
Ooookay, this is creeping me out. Where the hell is everyone? Not just the OC-thread, the entire Nanoha board seems to have gone into hibernation!
*calls in a squad of Tesla Troopers to force-fire on the forums*
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tk3997
Well I know I had finals this week and even after you get home from those you don’t feel like doing much. As I recall a number of others said they had the same on IRC. (I’ve not even really been on that for a few days either.) If things don't pick up more in a week or so then you can start to worry.
And I know that at least Lowe is away for a week or so on a trip.
You ever had the urge to write something after just seeing an image? No wait... most of us do. I did so this morning, after seeing this image in the image thread:
Spoiler:
Spoiler for A moment in the mind of Syn:
Math classes are boring. Very boring. On the bright side, having a firm grip on the subject does give me the liberty to my eyes and mind wonder, and enjoy the nice views outside.
Though right now, the best view is to my right.
Sitting next to you and watching you chew on your pen in boredom. A most casual sight if there ever was one, and yet I could hardly wish for a better one.
It’s been almost two years now since Vivio joined with us, and it seems she managed to fit in perfectly. She had a bit of a stumbleblock at the beginning –after all, being the daughter of one of the most famous mages in the TSAB tends to attract a lot of questions- but she dealt with it just fine.
Of course, being that she was new I felt sort of responsible to look out for her. Calling some order to the pushy ones asking questions was easy enough, but you still had to deal with the curiosity.
Then again, this class is very easy going, and easily accepts new or strange things, so I shouldn’t have been worried.
But I always felt a bond between us ever since we first talked. Was it because you never asked questions to my strange appearance? I am quite tall, after all, and the eyepatch often gets questions fired at me.
Or maybe it was because of our similar backgrounds? Both of us have family high up in the Bureau, after all.
Regardless of what it was, I would never want to forsake the friendship you and I forged that day.
When was it then, I wonder, that these feeling of friendship turned into something... more?
Or maybe it was always like this. Maybe it was ever since you walked into this classroom, proudly stating your name and giving everyone that adorable smile of yours.
Yes, that smile.
That smile which I love and cherish, the smile that makes you shine so much.
It really isn’t that hard to see why I have grown to love you.
Because I love you, Vivio.
My precious V.
Note: This is not Alpha canon, this is a more likely case scenario in what could eventually become kerokanon, if there is ever an S4 released. This is based on Vivio growing up far less angsty.
Speaking of Vivio, how strong would Syn and Vivio be at 13 years old at the overall OC-kerokanon level?
I'm kinda planning a middle-school sports drama story, and Vivio would naturally be the peak of the age group.
*goes back to the drawing boards on this... 'sport'*
__________________
Night~and~Gale: ~ The Final Mythology of the Man who Defied Destiny.
The sleeping lion shall awaken beyond the depths of time, crossing ten billion lights, come to Terra.
Don't worry, Keroko, it's normal...busy week it seems, for many.
However, I promise some length for those who return, I'm using my free time to spam length
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wild Goose
Eh, I'm giving OC a break, that's why. Got like 5 things i need to finish writing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Evangelion Xgouki
*calls in a squad of Tesla Troopers to force-fire on the forums*
And I know that at least Lowe is away for a week or so on a trip.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kyral
I don't know about the Nanoha board, but I'm lurking in the OC daily.
Well at the moment I still working on two chapters and one picture.
So everyth-
*get's shot by Tesla Troopers*
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nightengale
Nighty is alive... just hibernating...
3 weeks to freedom...
Ah, so most people have vacation or something like that as well, and are making good use off it. Duly noted.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nightengale
Speaking of Vivio, how strong would Syn and Vivio be at 13 years old at the overall OC-kerokanon level?
I'm kinda planning a middle-school sports drama story, and Vivio would naturally be the peak of the age group.
*goes back to the drawing boards on this... 'sport'*
Ah, you see, I don't know.
That's one of the main problems with kerokanon, it's completely dependant on what canon gives me. That's why I didn't touch Keroko's actions on board the Cradle untill it was over, and why Syn's profile was so bland pre-Alpha.
Syn and Vivio are supposed to be equal in mage rank, and if a possible S4 follows the like mother like daughter routine, then that would place them both in the AAA ranks. I suspect Vivio will use a mixture of Mid and Belkan (albeit with a Belkan circle) and be alot like her mother in terms of 'huge beams of death' (although there is also the chance that she will follow through with what we have seen on the Cradle).
Syn I can already tell you will be a typical Belkan close range specialist, though how much ranged abillities she will posses is subject to revision, as is the apearance of her Barrier Jacket.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kagerou
... Gets out of comfy bed, walks up to Keroko-kun, and whacks him in the back of the head with a Harisen.
Go back to sleep -_-
Goes back to bed, sleeps.
Would love to, but since I have the house to myself this week, that ,eams I need to get up and get bread.
Ah, so most people have vacation or something like that as well, and are making good use off it. Duly noted.
Making good use of time indeed :3 Like me and trying to get the house clean before family arrives in a few days
Quote:
Ah, you see, I don't know.
That's one of the main problems with kerokanon, it's completely dependant on what canon gives me. That's why I didn't touch Keroko's actions on board the Cradle untill it was over, and why Syn's profile was so bland pre-Alpha.
Syn and Vivio are supposed to be equal in mage rank, and if a possible S4 follows the like mother like daughter routine, then that would place them both in the AAA ranks. I suspect Vivio will use a mixture of Mid and Belkan (albeit with a Belkan circle) and be alot like her mother in terms of 'huge beams of death' (although there is also the chance that she will follow through with what we have seen on the Cradle).
Syn I can already tell you will be a typical Belkan close range specialist, though how much ranged abillities she will posses is subject to revision, as is the apearance of her Barrier Jacket.
Hey, that's half the fun in OC. You can let your creativity run wild. And as far as I'm concerned, my RF6 will not conform to S4 when it comes outs. Any subsequent stories I make here will most likely conform to S4.
Quote:
Would love to, but since I have the house to myself this week, that ,eams I need to get up and get bread.
Home alone eh? Have fun, and make sure them burglars don't try to steal anything
Ah, so most people have vacation or something like that as well, and are making good use off it. Duly noted.
Speak for yourself me I’ve been sleeping like 12+ hours a day and accomplishing absolutely nothing with the rest of it well besides writing crack that has nothing to do with my fic (VF >>> Gadgets…) and polishing off a 3,000 word in character essay about Electronic Warfare mages. (Before you ask yes I have no life.)
MC0074, December 15th
Arcea County Sheriff’s Office
Prison Blocks
-----
The grey walls, the grey ceilings, and the slightly darker shade of grey for the cement floor that was chipping away piece by piece with very step. Somehow I felt that had if I paced long enough I’d wear down the floor enough to give me an exit out this place; not that it was actually the reason I was pacing around as of current. It was better than just lying in that admittedly comfy bed counting all the cracks, holes and bumps on the ceiling. Shame the kids need to go through complete system diagnostics right now, now when I really needed someone to talk to. There were the other inmates on the cells besides mine, but unfortunately they’ve proved to be… less than amiable, either due to indifference, disinterest or just plain stupidity. Not that I expected any better…
To tell the truth, it wouldn’t be difficult for me to get out of here, through those flimsy metal bars with its easily-picked automatic lock and through these thick concrete walls. There was no anti-magilink field present, judging from the brightness of the glowing searcher sphere I kept floating in my right hand like a toy. I wouldn’t even need Galatea to break out of here.
But I’m in no hurry to leave. The food was (slightly) better than anything I’ve had in months, and I do get my own clean bed and toilet to use. Would’ve liked a better outside view where I can see the stars at night, but no choice in that matter now don’t we? And whether due to their generosity, or their idiocy – or both – they let me keep Khaydarin; with the fantastic World.net access in here, I can do all my online research from here and not look suspicious doing it.
Don’t know how long they plan on keeping me locked up here, but spending the last week in here wasn’t too bad if I say so myself. Most people think that jail cells are bad… I don’t know about them, but if it wasn’t for the fact that archaeology is a field profession I actually won’t mind staying here. Free tax-payer funded clean food and shelter guaranteed for the duration of my stay... where else can I get that? If only they had room service to go along with it…
I was just about to ponder whether I should look up the Crystallized Energy Ruins on Duraxyll or the slightly more interesting news regarding even more Relic-related attacks when I heard the loud buzzing that told us the security guard-in-charge opening the door to the prison block section, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps coming in. I snuffed the searcher away and checked the time.
12:59 hours.
Right… Enforcer Fate did say they’d send someone at this hour… wait, I’m supposed to be the inmate…
“Good Afternoon Ms. Kaylin Mathis.”
The man in front of me on the other side of the bars was somewhere around 6 feet tall, with spiky flared yet orderly black hair, not too bad looking I must say... unfortunately wearing the standard Bureau Ground Forces Air Corp barrier jacket, which brought down his respectability points several thousand notches by default. He didn’t seem particularly enthusiastic about his current assignment, and his posture was uncannily proper and conservative… which resulted in him looking like a stiff robot.
“You must be the guy Enforcer Fate sent here… you got a name?”
The iron bars separating me from me slid out of the way as I finished, and he slowly moved aside and motioned with his hand for me to move out.
“This way.”
“Uhm… thanks?”
I followed him down the corridor, taking small pleasure in seeing my former inmates look at me with jealousy at the guy-who-must’ve-forgotten-to-introduce-himself continued. I suppose a mere guard leading me out wouldn’t need to…
“Ms. Mathis, having heard the testimonies from our witnesses, it’s been decided that there is sufficient reason to clear you of any involvement with the Arcean Mafia, and along with various mitigating circumstances, the conditions with which the original charges were created have been rendered invalid, thus you’re hereby released from lockup effective immediately.”
“I see.”
There really wasn’t anything new to what he said, having known the details of my case beforehand from hacking through their files. At least it didn’t sound rehearsed despite the attempt at legalese. With nothing of interest, I continued perusing through the newspages displayed on my visor about the compression states of interdimensional energy, which also wasn’t anything interesting…
“… However, under one condition.”
… That however, was new to me.
“While the charges against you in relation to the Arcean Mafia have been dropped, you were still found in possession of and utilizing the offending Jewel Seed, and further investigations have reveal your long history with potentially dangerous incidents regarding numerous other Lost Logia in the past. And as I understand it you still have several in your possession.”
Shi-
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The quick attempt at the obvious lie was the only thing I managed to get out under the circumstances.
“While we have no reason to hold you here, we would still like to ensure that such incidents aren’t repeated in the future. “
And what the hell does that mean?
I think I may have said that out loud…
“It means we’ll be putting you under constant personal surveillance effective until such time that it has been determined that you no longer pose a potential threat...”
Okay…
“...And also all the Lost Logia found in your possession at the time of the incident have been confiscated…”
… I should’ve expected that, though at least there was still-
“… as well as those kept in storage in your subdimensional storage pocket.”
-my subdimensional storage pocket of which only I have access to-
Waitaminute…
What did he just say?!
He did not SAY what I think he did…
No way…
“Did you just say… my storage pocket?”
This is not happening…
“Yes. I personally gained access to the storage pocket in your possession, and all relevant items deemed classified as Lost Logia have been impounded. In total I retrieved 78 out of 80 items, with the exceptions made due to their low perceived threat levels.”
…
All those treasures I’ve collected. All the years of sweat, dealings, double-crossings, haggling, digging, and searching… 78 of the finest and rarest treasures I’ve ever had the pleasure of recovering and restoring to their former glories…
All of my efforts…
GONE
And taken from my private sanctum in subdimensional space, which I thought impossible to access except by me…
The muted joy I would’ve had at being let free from prison was slowly being replaced by this most insidious feeling of nightmarish dread… and an overwhelmingly insatiable urge to strangle this… stiff person right here and snuff the living daylights outta him with his blood and guts and brains spilling out of every goddamn orifice in his body…
Screw it.
“GIVE THEM BACK RIGHT NOW YOU-“
No sooner had those words come out did I find myself pinned to the floor face first planted on cold hard concrete, my hands tied behind my back and a heavy knee pressing hard at my neck, making further resistance impossible. At the corner of my eye the Prison Block security guard by the door shrugged, then went back to reading his paper.
Just me and this stiff guy then huh?
“Ms. Mathis, please behave yourself.”
“Damnit…”
His removed his knee from my neck, and helped me up to my feet, still restraining my arms with only his right hand on my wrists with almost crushing force. Is this guy a monster or something?!
“Violation of private property, harassment, use of excessive force… what can you not do Mr. Stiff?”
He finally removed his iron grip on my wrists, feeling the blood return to my numb hands.
“I’ll do what I need to do Ms. Mathis. And I will bring you down in similar fashion as often as necessary to keep you in line in the foreseeable future, as per my assignment with you.”
Wait-
“What?”
“As I mentioned before, you will be put under constant personal surveillance accompanied by a liaison as specified in your sentence to better observe and if necessary intervene in your actions should they prove to be a potential threat to Bureau interests, and said surveillance will only be lifted should it be determined that your actions and motives no longer constitute a danger to the greater populace."
For the first time in the moments I saw him, I thought I saw him smirk... or was that just my imagination...
"In other words, I’ll be accompanying you from now on, and watching you very closely.”
Just unbelievable. I get out of the confines of a prison… only to be put on a leash, and with this guy as my freaking handler. If this is your idea of a “humane” sentence Enforcer Testarossa Harlaown, please put me back in my jail cell…
“This ain’t happening…”
“Believe it Ms. Mathis.”
At least he didn’t say something in legalese this time.
“By the way, regarding your first question, it’s 2nd Lieutenant Glock Heckler, 79th Army Battalion.”
“Right.”
At this point I don’t care anymore. And no I’m not gonna take that handshake of yours either…
“It’s a pleasure to be working with you Ms. Mathis. It’s nice meeting you.”
Speak for yourself Stiff. I’ll get rid of you someday…
Spoiler for Author's notes:
Yes, I was supposed to be away due to lack of internet access and general business till sunday... but then again, turns out this place wasn't as deprived of internet as I thought... and isolation can do wonders to your writing...
*RUNS*
__________________
Against all the evil that hell can conjure, all wickedness that mankind can produce... We will send unto them, only you.
Hey, that's half the fun in OC. You can let your creativity run wild. And as far as I'm concerned, my RF6 will not conform to S4 when it comes outs. Any subsequent stories I make here will most likely conform to S4.
Oh, I let my creativity run wild, but I enjoy making stories fit into canon. That's where half the fun in character creation lies for me. Making a story and having the fit into the story without taking over the entire story is a challenge, and one I like to take on. It's not jus Nanoha either, there are Keroko's in Shana, Mai Otome, Slayers, Negima, heck even pokemon (dog-type trainer main pokemon are Flareon, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Espeon, Umbreon and Arcanine).
Quote:
Originally Posted by ghazghkull
Home alone eh? Have fun, and make sure them burglars don't try to steal anything
Bah, I live in a village where the worst form of crime as far as I can remember was when someone set fire on a wooden playground house several years ago, and nothing like that has happened since. As long as I take medium precautions (close doors and curtains at night) I should be fine.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tk3997
Speak for yourself me I’ve been sleeping like 12+ hours a day and accomplishing absolutely nothing with the rest of it well besides writing crack that has nothing to do with my fic (VF >>> Gadgets…) and polishing off a 3,000 word in character essay about Electronic Warfare mages. (Before you ask yes I have no life.)
Cool, cool. Now which part of that is 'not making good use of your vacation'?
Quote:
Originally Posted by LoweGear
*sneaks in*
*drops package*
Spoiler for Confinement:
MC0074, December 15th
Arcea County Sheriff’s Office
Prison Blocks
-----
The grey walls, the grey ceilings, and the slightly darker shade of grey for the cement floor that was chipping away piece by piece with very step. Somehow I felt that had if I paced long enough I’d wear down the floor enough to give me an exit out this place; not that it was actually the reason I was pacing around as of current. It was better than just lying in that admittedly comfy bed counting all the cracks, holes and bumps on the ceiling. Shame the kids need to go through complete system diagnostics right now, now when I really needed someone to talk to. There were the other inmates on the cells besides mine, but unfortunately they’ve proved to be… less than amiable, either due to indifference, disinterest or just plain stupidity. Not that I expected any better…
To tell the truth, it wouldn’t be difficult for me to get out of here, through those flimsy metal bars with its easily-picked automatic lock and through these thick concrete walls. There was no anti-magilink field present, judging from the brightness of the glowing searcher sphere I kept floating in my right hand like a toy. I wouldn’t even need Galatea to break out of here.
But I’m in no hurry to leave. The food was (slightly) better than anything I’ve had in months, and I do get my own clean bed and toilet to use. Would’ve liked a better outside view where I can see the stars at night, but no choice in that matter now don’t we? And whether due to their generosity, or their idiocy – or both – they let me keep Khaydarin; with the fantastic World.net access in here, I can do all my online research from here and not look suspicious doing it.
Don’t know how long they plan on keeping me locked up here, but spending the last week in here wasn’t too bad if I say so myself. Most people think that jail cells are bad… I don’t know about them, but if it wasn’t for the fact that archaeology is a field profession I actually won’t mind staying here. Free tax-payer funded clean food and shelter guaranteed for the duration of my stay... where else can I get that? If only they had room service to go along with it…
I was just about to ponder whether I should look up the Crystallized Energy Ruins on Duraxyll or the slightly more interesting news regarding even more Relic-related attacks when I heard the loud buzzing that told us the security guard-in-charge opening the door to the prison block section, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps coming in. I snuffed the searcher away and checked the time.
12:59 hours.
Right… Enforcer Fate did say they’d send someone at this hour… wait, I’m supposed to be the inmate…
“Good Afternoon Ms. Kaylin Mathis.”
The man in front of me on the other side of the bars was somewhere around 6 feet tall, with spiky flared yet orderly black hair, not too bad looking I must say... unfortunately wearing the standard Bureau Ground Forces Air Corp barrier jacket, which brought down his respectability points several thousand notches by default. He didn’t seem particularly enthusiastic about his current assignment, and his posture was uncannily proper and conservative… which resulted in him looking like a stiff robot.
“You must be the guy Enforcer Fate sent here… you got a name?”
The iron bars separating me from me slid out of the way as I finished, and he slowly moved aside and motioned with his hand for me to move out.
“This way.”
“Uhm… thanks?”
I followed him down the corridor, taking small pleasure in seeing my former inmates look at me with jealousy at the guy-who-must’ve-forgotten-to-introduce-himself continued. I suppose a mere guard leading me out wouldn’t need to…
“Ms. Mathis, having heard the testimonies from our witnesses, it’s been decided that there is sufficient reason to clear you of any involvement with the Arcean Mafia, and along with various mitigating circumstances, the conditions with which the original charges were created have been rendered invalid, thus you’re hereby released from lockup effective immediately.”
“I see.”
There really wasn’t anything new to what he said, having known the details of my case beforehand from hacking through their files. At least it didn’t sound rehearsed despite the attempt at legalese. With nothing of interest, I continued perusing through the newspages displayed on my visor about the compression states of interdimensional energy, which also wasn’t anything interesting…
“… However, under one condition.”
… That however, was new to me.
“While the charges against you in relation to the Arcean Mafia have been dropped, you were still found in possession of and utilizing the offending Jewel Seed, and further investigations have reveal your long history with potentially dangerous incidents regarding numerous other Lost Logia in the past. And as I understand it you still have several in your possession.”
Shi-
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The quick attempt at the obvious lie was the only thing I managed to get out under the circumstances.
“While we have no reason to hold you here, we would still like to ensure that such incidents aren’t repeated in the future. “
And what the hell does that mean?
I think I may have said that out loud…
“It means we’ll be putting you under constant personal surveillance effective until such time that it has been determined that you no longer pose a potential threat...”
Okay…
“...And also all the Lost Logia found in your possession at the time of the incident have been confiscated…”
… I should’ve expected that, though at least there was still-
“… as well as those kept in storage in your subdimensional storage pocket.”
-my subdimensional storage pocket of which only I have access to-
Waitaminute…
What did he just say?!
He did not SAY what I think he did…
No way…
“Did you just say… my storage pocket?”
This is not happening…
“Yes. I personally gained access to the storage pocket in your possession, and all relevant items deemed classified as Lost Logia have been impounded. In total I retrieved 78 out of 80 items, with the exceptions made due to their low perceived threat levels.”
…
All those treasures I’ve collected. All the years of sweat, dealings, double-crossings, haggling, digging, and searching… 78 of the finest and rarest treasures I’ve ever had the pleasure of recovering and restoring to their former glories…
All of my efforts…
GONE
And taken from my private sanctum in subdimensional space, which I thought impossible to access except by me…
The muted joy I would’ve had at being let free from prison was slowly being replaced by this most insidious feeling of nightmarish dread… and an overwhelmingly insatiable urge to strangle this… stiff person right here and snuff the living daylights outta him with his blood and guts and brains spilling out of every goddamn orifice in his body…
Screw it.
“GIVE THEM BACK RIGHT NOW YOU-“
No sooner had those words come out did I find myself pinned to the floor face first planted on cold hard concrete, my hands tied behind my back and a heavy knee pressing hard at my neck, making further resistance impossible. At the corner of my eye the Prison Block security guard by the door shrugged, then went back to reading his paper.
Just me and this stiff guy then huh?
“Ms. Mathis, please behave yourself.”
“Damnit…”
His removed his knee from my neck, and helped me up to my feet, still restraining my arms with only his right hand on my wrists with almost crushing force. Is this guy a monster or something?!
“Violation of private property, harassment, use of excessive force… what can you not do Mr. Stiff?”
He finally removed his iron grip on my wrists, feeling the blood return to my numb hands.
“I’ll do what I need to do Ms. Mathis. And I will bring you down in similar fashion as often as necessary to keep you in line in the foreseeable future, as per my assignment with you.”
Wait-
“What?”
“As I mentioned before, you will be put under constant personal surveillance accompanied by a liaison as specified in your sentence to better observe and if necessary intervene in your actions should they prove to be a potential threat to Bureau interests, and said surveillance will only be lifted should it be determined that your actions and motives no longer constitute a danger to the greater populace."
For the first time in the moments I saw him, I thought I saw him smirk... or was that just my imagination...
"In other words, I’ll be accompanying you from now on, and watching you very closely.”
Just unbelievable. I get out of the confines of a prison… only to be put on a leash, and with this guy as my freaking handler. If this is your idea of a “humane” sentence Enforcer Testarossa Harlaown, please put me back in my jail cell…
“This ain’t happening…”
“Believe it Ms. Mathis.”
At least he didn’t say something in legalese this time.
“By the way, regarding your first question, it’s 2nd Lieutenant Glock Heckler, 79th Army Battalion.”
“Right.”
At this point I don’t care anymore. And no I’m not gonna take that handshake of yours either…
“It’s a pleasure to be working with you Ms. Mathis. It’s nice meeting you.”
Speak for yourself Stiff. I’ll get rid of you someday…
Spoiler for Author's notes:
Yes, I was supposed to be away due to lack of internet access and general business till sunday... but then again, turns out this place wasn't as deprived of internet as I thought... and isolation can do wonders to your writing...
*RUNS*
.... Wow, that certainly is an interesting way for them to meet. I had this hunch while reading, something along the lines of 'Oh, you have got to be kidding me' with a grin on my face. When Glock introduced himself, I laughed.
Love at first sight? Me thinks not.
And yes, isolation can do wonders for the imagination.
2008-04-29, 06:57
Author
