so, there's a summit? what's the reason for it?
the continent of arnoria is a fractured place, sporting many sovereign territories, all of which are continuously clambering w one another for the limited resources arnoria has to offer. bc of this, these desperate people can ill afford to launch full-scale wars, and so they have other means to settling disputes, which involve (amongst other things) appointing a high king, who is effectively a mediator, judge, arbitor, and chairman of the board kind of figure (don't worry, i'll talk more abt that role, too).
bc of the international significance of this role throughout arnoria, there must always be a sitting high king and, as a result, while the current high king reigns, his heir must be appointed so that, at such time as the current high king may either expire or be in some way incapacitated, there will be a smooth, and immediate, transition. sort of like how, in the us, when a president is elected, so is a vice president, just in case -- except, unlike that, the high king's heir is a permanent position and ~will become the next high king -- sort of like a monarchy usually does, except the high king's heir is appointed and not necessarily any kind of relation to the high king whatsoever (tho, in this particular case, he was his son, but that was a coincidence more than anything).
so, with all that in mind, emrys aeryn is the current high king. years and years ago, aomon aeryn was appointed to be his heir. now, tho, aomon has been assassinated, and emrys is alarmingly old, necessitating and quick turn around in appointing a new heir, as they can't risk that emrys might perish before such time as they've appointed his heir.
what is the high king/high queen of arnoria?
essentially, the high king of arnoria is a judge or mediator. there's a lot of good information on this, above, so im not gonna repeat that but, rather, build on it. there's a council of arnoria, consisting of all the sovereign rulers of arnoria. to ensure order, particularly when it comes to disputes, a high king (or queen!) is appointed. this person can summon or dissolve councils, call for tourneys, etc. ideally, this person wouldn't be the ruler of any of the realms but, given the system they have for choosing the high king, it almost always is one, and -- as you can probably imagine -- either being the high king or having them in your pocket is highly beneficial to any territory.
what is the tourney of arnoria?
because the wasteland situation is so desperate, a full-scale war isn't much of a possibility in arnoria, so over time they've developed their tourneys, instead. the tourney is effectively the alternative for full-blown warfare used in arnoria, but it ~is still armed conflict. it is also the device that is used for selecting the future high king, w the winner taking the title of heir.
generally, those looking to resolve a dispute in this way go to the freehold. a summit is held there but, if either they're looking to select a future high king or the dispute cannot be settled peacefully, the freehold is converted into a warzone, w each involved party either taking to their themselves, or else appointing someone to do it. there, they conscript any unfortunate locals they can, and enact mini wars, forcing their little armies to fight against each other to see who wins the overall war.
the goals for each day are set by the council and determine who wins each round. ppl genuinely fight and die, but its not as catastrophic as it would be were the full nations to go to war against one another, so they figure this is the best alternative. obv, that's definitely not true, but it could absolutely be worse!
but yeah, its one part the hunger games, one part a taste of armageddon, one part irl melee tournaments, and one part capture the flag except...deadly and most of the ppl involved don't get to choose whether or not they're involved so...yeah
when the tourney rolls around, it's also often used to resolve any questions abt inheritance for individual territories, as well -- and/or sometimes to reinvent who ought to rule, even if the matter was previously considered resolved. so, for example, ur big bro all set up to rule but you want the chance to rule, instead? now's your moment!
TL;DR: arnoria is a continent on the brink, rife w rival ~factions. in order to forestall a full-fledged war from engulfing the entire continent, most pivotal political conflict is kept to the arena and happens roughly once a generation (how long a generation is depends on the condition of the character involved), w each faction’s next leader being decided by the way they perform in the tourney.
what are firewyrms and firedrakes?
soooooo, basically...they are dragons, various different types of fire-breathing dragon hahaha both are native to the desert. they're also biologically programmed to be enemies bc they're rivals for the same food source, both being immense carnivores. both are fairly impervious to fire, their scales having fire-retardent qualities, but their eyes and underbellies are more vulnerable. both consider people tasty morsels, and both tend to cook their meals. a la dune, i see their lifecycles as helping to maintain and, in fact, expand, the desert. neither can be ridden...yet ;D
a firewyrm i envisage as roughly [ this ] meets a sandworm in terms of activities, what w the burrowing and such, but minus ppl having figured out how to ride them wo dying. firewyrms range in size, starting out roughly a foot or two long, and growing their whole life long. w lifespans with no known upwards end, they can become absolutely ginormous. they do not have wings and cannot fly. the large ones feed on firedrakes if they can catch hold of them and ground them long enough to devour. they have eyes, but there's some dispute abt whether they're blind, and just use vibrations in the wind and sand to sense things, or if they can actually see.
a firedrake is -- think ur average wyvern -- smaller than you usually picture dragons, only two legs, wings. they're on the smaller end, a fully grown firedrake ranging in size from about the scale of an elephant to abt twice that size. firedrakes have exceptional eyesight, like an eagle, and their eyes and wings to be vulnerabilities. they tend to feed on small firewyrms if they can snatch them before they can burrow to deeply.
can i change anything abt my pre-made character?
absolutely!! fcs are more 'suggestion' than anything, and even if they have family, or whatever, and you want them to be to be a different race or condition or whatever -- well, adoption def exists! go for broke! chase ur dreams! everything i did is ~entirely intended to be inspiration, go wherever you like w it!!
the only thing i'd maybe hesitate abt is if you wanted to lift a character from one family and plop them into another one. im sure we can make that work, tho, it'll just take a little more contemplation, etc, esp if there's an inheritance plot situation, but im sure we can pull it off! <3
can i create an original character?
absolutely! world is your oyster! only thing to consider is that this is sort of a magical realism/dieselpunk/low magic/low tech kinda world. but even that can be got around a bit, bc of the ancient empire, we'd just have to create reasons tech can't take over to maintain the integrity of the setting/rp <3
what does 'alignment' indicate in the bios?
alignment indicates loyalties on a political level. so, for example, [ LIA PARSYS ] is noted as aligned w akaemis, despite being imperatrix of iliam. this is bc, in terms of her political leanings, she's acting on behalf of akaemis and the needs of the akaemi. now, as i've said before, all of this is purely inspo, so feel free to do ~whatever you like w that or just...ignore it! also, i def wanna point out that things can change, even if you do choose to abide by it -- to quote potc, its guidelines more than rules ;D
what does 'starting' indicate in the bios?
starting just indicates where they are physically when they enter the rp. whether they stay there forever or immediately remove elsewhere is entirely up to player, ofc! but, yeah, for tier 1 they'll all be starting in the freehold, since that's where the summit's taking place, and the summit is intended to be more or less our inciting incident, but yeah feel free to go where you like! [ the world is your oyster! ]
you throw around some weird terms. can you define what those mean in this context?
tribes: mini-civilizations of all sorts, hold outs where large numbers of people have banded together, usually in one place. some are cults of personalities, some are democratic, but all have more or less come together to live in a certain way as a group
clans: small, usually nomadic groups, who survive together. may or may not be blood related
caravan: a group of multiple transports who’re temporarily traveling together
scavengers: outliers who live in the wastes, surviving off what they find. some are essentially highwaymen, preying on those who pass through, others are peaceful and just take what they find, avoiding everyone they can.
road warriors (yeaH i stole this term from mad max): those who have a mode of transportation and move about on their own. usually, road warriors travel alone or in very small groups. can sometimes be hired for protection or transportation
serfs: those who serve the strong just to survive with no care for anything else -- often not by choice
exiles: those cast out of their chosen society (essentially to die), esp cast out of a tribe. this is considered a shameful condition
reavers: bands of people living in the wastes together who prey upon those they see by attacking them and taking whatever they wish
purgists: those who believe in the hivemind godhood of the firewyrms and firedrakes, and that the great cataclysm was a purifying wellspring meant to purge reality of the disease of civilization. considered heretics by the khaldians and vice versa. there are two opposing purgist factions, however: those who believe that humanity must avoid the land and leave it to the sacred creatures, and those who believe humanity must remain in the wastes in order to experience divine retribution and thus cleanse their souls. neither, however, approves of those who live in oases.
ok so there're purgists??? what???
while there are two differings branches of purgism, mostly based in the two state-sponsored purgist countries (tho ofc anyone can believe anything you wish them to!), the commonalities are these:
purgists worship the great god of the desert, which essentially is believed to be a kind of shared, sacred hivemind collectively shared by the firewyrms and firedrakes (if you've read dune, think: shai-hulud, or if you're familiar with star trek, the borg queen and the borg but make it a lil more nebulous w the queen being more a concept of the collective than a physical entity, but also a deity, if you're not familiar w either...birds flocking...they all somehow know how and where to go wo having a leader by some shared instinct even if they've not done it before...that shared, collective concept is god).
they also believe that, at death, a person is stripped down to only the holy life force inside of them, and go to join the hivemind. this isn't really like the traditional concept of heaven, to be clear, you are no longer an individual, no part of your personality or anything remains bc these are the parts of you capable of sin, right? its just like this essence of what made you alive, an essence that is holy...bc of this, humans must live within the parameters set out for them by the great god, bc it would be blasphemous to offend the god by the presence of a tainted essence and, if one is evil enough, they can tarnish and taint this divine essence inside of them...
their second shared belief -- the one for which they're named -- is that the hardships inflicted upon humanity cleanse it. they believe that society is a terrible affliction, that ppl are inherently bad, and they tend to believe that the material is basically evil. think...the cathars (not me pulling a medieval heresy outta the hat). but, most intensely, they despise ~progress. like, society in the sense of ppl coming together to survive and worship the great god of the desert? fine! good, even! esp if they live in a sort of state of self-denial (think, monks who've taken a vow of poverty, or jesus or john the baptist fasting in the desert), tho that's not essential, just holy. but what is intrinsically evil and MUST be stamped out is technology of any kind!!!! (think: butlerian jihad) they believe that it was god who destroyed the ancient empire bc of the sin of tech, basically, sodom-and-gomorrah-style. bc of this, the more advanced the tech, the more sinful. for instance, machines such as cars??? not having it!!!! bad!!!! but not as evil as, say, seph-0-ne!!!! she's literally walking sacrilege in their eyes...
so there're two sects of purgism?
yeppers! while sharing similar ideals, the atlatons and neskans harbor opposing beliefs.
the atlatons believe the great god of the desert wishes to purge the land of all humans, which is why the live almost exclusively on the water. one may set foot on land occasionally, but mostly this must be out of necessity of some kind or else one must be exceedingly holy. for example, most atlatons would be completely at ease with RUNAR SOLBERG living entirely on land, as he is a prophet. however, either necessity or a holy goal is the only other acceptable reason for such a lifestyle. for example, HAKON ESPEN venturing on land with his men to infiltrate the council, in order to proliferate purgist ideals throughout arnoria is a good cause and thus worthy of such things. another reason might be desperation if one is, say, starving and can't catch any fish then hunting something land would be acceptable.
atlatons also believe in feeding firewyrms and firedrakes (another acceptable reason to set foot on land). while they do not believe in killing one, they also believe that if one is found dead, it is a gift to the people who may now ritually cook and consume its flesh communally in order to commune with the great god via holy meal. it is also acceptable to follow a dying one till it gives up the ghost and then feast on it. in either case, when it comes to eating the flesh of the god, a great festival is made of the entire situation, and the entire community may venture on land to partake -- it is considered an invitation by the god.
meanwhile, the neskans believe they ~must remain in the wastes in order to experience divine retribution, and thus cleanse their souls.
Neskans also don’t make sacrifices to the wyrms/drakes, believing that to disturb their course in any way is sinful. If one is hunted by a wyrm one must give a good chase out of respect, and if one escapes, it is considered a sign from the great god that one has yet more to do. Yet if one is cornered in the hunt, one must willingly surrender oneself as that too is the will of the great god, and to do anything to in any way harm the god is the greatest blasphemy.
One who dares such a thing is hunted to the death, to the point of exhaustion then caught, tried for deicide, and then brutally killed (often figuratively killed or brought just to the point of death but yeah) six times, revived each time, to represent the seven incarnations and cleanse a filthy spirit enough to be accepted into the presence of the deity. The seventh time, the heretic is effectively crucified (but think: st. andrew's cross) in the desert, in a spot known to be frequented by wyrms and drakes near the freehold, often consumed in its fires. At a respectful distance watchers, witness this ending but many of them lose their lives as well.
Neskans live underground in burrows bored into the earth by the wyrms. They rely on ground water deep beneath the surface. They’re largely reavers and pop up from their cavernous labyrinths, wherever they choose, it is said — they are rarely seen coming.
As you can imagine, these differences in their beliefs have caused a great deal of friction in the past, and traditionally the two segements are known for their infighting and crusades -- and their reaving), something which has largely kept them from coming together or from becoming a larger collective power in arnoria -- until now. Because, for all their differences, smth has recently brought them together shaking their various neighbors…The rise of the prophet RUNAR SOLBERG was the first step, and LEILA ARION's willingness -- as a former soothsayer taught in such arts -- to treat w HAKON ESPEN was another huge factor, but now whispers of blasphemous common enemies too vile to let live have finally sealed the breach, almost entirely: a young girl is whispered to have invented a device which can command the firedrakes and firewyrms, and now a terrible machine rises in the wastes...
so...there're different countries and there's the whole trouney situation...how is everybody communicating and seeing everything?
Scrying! it's for everyone now...
honestly, this is a bit of a...just pls go w me on this one kinda thing hahaha but effectively im thinking that the wastes produce these magical if you like or else scientifically...reactive (idk science, guys) crystals. before lauren came up w her brilliant idea for miss seph-0-ne, id even been toying w them as soul jars (more in the way i described re the hivemind situation, and shhh might do more w that still, but yeah), but when ~refined (science????? magic?????), one of the properties of these gems is...basically scrying! ok, speaking doylistically, i needed there to be some means of remote communication, and a lot of the other things ive been able to give more watsonian reasons for but this one...idk handwave its here ;DDDD
so yeah, bc this involves multiple countries etc imma say that they ~do have a super advanced form of like…scrying where its basically like standing in the same room w a person tho w/o being able to touch or anything…a sorta astral projection kinda thing almost…
in order to communicate back and forth via them, you gotta both be using a scrying glass at the same time. they have been refined and deposited around in strategic places, so you'll get dozens of them in, say, iliam, but they'll be far and few between in the wastes, that way he can sort of manipulate how easy it is to get ahold of eo for plot purposes, as we like.
i ~am thinking that it's the khaldians who've largely refined them ~for scrying purposes (the augurs, im thinking, ~do refine them, but that has...other purposes ;DDDD #souljar) bc im thinking that, in using them, the crystals ~do collect a certain amount of psychic energy (so ur character will probs have a headache if they have a long conversation, or even a nosebleed if its a really long one -- potentially could pass out or even die if its held on for too long but i think it's really really low levels like...you'd have to stand there and talk for days on end to get there, i think). but yeah, i think it's basically a break glass in case of fire kinda emergency level thing the khaldians have left for themselves. a crystal has enough conversation run through it, it collects enough pyschic energy -- if you're a soothsayer (or augur but they might not be aware of this), you can channel the psychic energy contained within into urself.
additionally, it may enable them to get sort of a look at the psychic makeup of anyone using a crystal for a prolonged period, so refining one for, say, the imperator's own particular use, well, its a service the khaldians are happy to provide... ;D
bc of the tourney and summit situations, there are a ton of them liberally sprinkled around the freehold so ur character can freely talk to anyone anywhere if they're there pr freely, unless the other character isn't near any, themselves...i think there're various ~waystations throughout the wastes so that ppl can comment as they see fit, tho ;D but yeah they're waaaaaay more sporadic which is why LIA PARSYS hasn't heard from ASPASIA PARSYS, for example
note: these scrying crystals are pr huge, so they're v much a stationary thing and not usually smth you can carry around. think: full length mirror size, but -- when not in use -- they look pr much like a concave polished crystal, so they're white and like...usually these crystals are transparent but these ones are slightly more opaque...
sooooo, speaking of the khaldians, you've been throwing terms around abt them, like, what ~do these various titles mean? sybils? acolytes?
acolyte – someone whose just learning their ways in the order etc
soothsayer – a fully fledged member w all the knowledge and (if magic or science or whatever) powers of any fully-fledged member
sybil/nostradamus – every state has its own sybil to whom all the soothsayers in that given state must report etc, this is an official state position in every court and they correspond directly with the pythia. a nostradamus is the same thing as a sybil, except a nostradamus is the male counterpart.
pythia/the great sybil – idk how to tell you this but she’s the pope (esp in the renaissance sense where you got both spiritual and temporal power...) and she is always a woman in this world bc i said so and also bc these guys are not so discreetly inspired by the bene gesserit (tho also the facedancers -- don’t worry abt them, you'll find out soon enough, no doubt #dun3)
ok so while we're on the topic, pls tell me more abt the soothsayer order, in general?
most khaldians are women, but there are men there as well, its all abt the talent and drive etc to do what they do! bc mostly once you go khaldian you don't go back! (even if you want to...)
you ~can have a family/life outside the order, but if you do you have to sort of leave the order (w its permission! runaways are NOT tolerated and get hunted down and punished) as an active participant and basically become like…a sleeper agent. they can call you up at any time bc they basically just…own you for life if they train you. so yeah, you might have to give up ur quiet life asp if they ~do call on you; but also you might be able to live ur whole life in quiet w ur family, etc.
this also is sorta how they legally do marriages that benefit khaldia, but in that case ur like…not even a semi-active operative basically ur v marriage is a job ur doing for them etc. its weird but yeah you can only do this once ur a soothsayer level, acolytes have basically no rights and aren’t allowed out on their own w/o direct supervision of their soothsayer mentor. think: jedi apprentices
you keep talking abt khaldia and soothsayers in the same breath, but one's a territory and the other's an order?
yes! so, think: vatican city, rome. sure, it's its own place and all, but...it's also lowkey catholicism. esp in, like, the renaissance era, the ruler there is the pope. the higher ups are cardinals and abbesses and such...it's like that. the pythia is the ruler. her ppl are almost entirely soothsayers and acolytes. you'll get the occasional political refugee, or a kid born to a soothsayer whose just chillin' there but, lbr, even in that later case, that kid'll def be trained as an acolyte as soon as they're old enough bc they obv have wytch dna so yeah. khaldian and soothsayer ~are ~kind of interchangeable, but they are also lowkey different, at the same time...
soothsayers and augurs? beyond just the powers and locations and beliefs, they're both wytches, so what're some of the differences happening there? what do they think of eo? what abt 'wild wytches?'
neskans have augurs which aren’t really super organized like the khaldians are ++ they def have big religious connotations but, as you'll find in the powers and abilities post, they do boast similar abilities, albeit w different focuses kinda like the bene gesserit vs honored matres (don’t worry abt them) having similar but different stuff etc.
anyway, khaldians sorta view augurs as bastardizations of themselves: a corrupted offshoot that went native (when ur loyalty must ALWAYS be to khaldia!!!!!!!). meanwhile, augurs view khaldians as heretics, basically – ppl w the skills and knowledge to do the right thing who use them instead for evil, so they’re the biggest problem of all, so just!!!!! lotsa fun here obv lakjsflkjsdf everyone’s getting along like a house on fire
wild wytches, by definition, are independent, so there's really no set or cultural feeling they can express towards any other group bc its completely a lone pov every time, but i ~can tell you what most soothsayers and most neskans are sort of taught to think of wild wytches!
the khaldians feel threatened by both the augurs and the 'wild wytches’ and are quick to shout abomination as a result. they're taught to believe that khaldia is, and should be, the arbitor of ~all power, as they're the only lasting bastion of order and civilization. other powers offer it temporarily, such as iliam does now and ilusos did once but, like ilusos, these temporal powers ultimately burn out or fade away. khaldia is the last best chance humanity has, so it ought to be in control and wo rivals. therefore, they seek to eradicate others they do not believe they can control.
augurs see wild wytches v differently, often more as an opportunity. if they've survived wo training, then that is a gift of the great god's. that being said, they ~will approach one sort of like a ticking time bomb just bc...they effectively ~are what w the potential for wild chaos magic destroying everything, so they don't tend to try to train them within their burrows, as they do w runaway acolytes or young wytches. instead, an experienced augur or two will often take them out into the desert, set up a small shelter for habitation, and begin training them there, knowing well disaster could come for them all.
ok, so, you mentioned psychic crystals for scrying and such? can you break that down a little more? what're these crystals? how do they work?
ok, yes! so these crystals are extremely rare, but they can be occasionally found in the wastes. whether they're naturally occurring sci-fi rocks w idk some potent...mineral or psychic or ~whatever quality, or they're magic, or they just ~look like crystals and are, in fact, long-lost tech from the ancient empire...idk! (maybe they're petrified shards of wyrm/drake eggs or teeth! idk...) maybe they're lowkey all the above. but!! they ~are psychically attuned and, basically, they're amplifiers. they can be used either to house a particular capacity, often w the result that even a non-psychic can wield them to use that capacity -- such as the scrying crystals allowing for mass telepathy -- or, they can be used to effectively boost a psychic -- such as when they're used as soul jars to house a particular soul (in which case they're usually being used as effectively a psychic battery or to preserve a particular person's essence [tho not in particularly humane way, i'll get more into that later]) since, as i mentioned, if a wytch pushes themself too far, they can actually harm or even kill themselves in the effort. if they use a charged crystal, instead, it'll sap that first.
while, if a crystal is charged with a particular gift, it can be used by a non-psychic, this is not true if its infused, instead, with raw energy (such as being used for a soul jar). when the energy is raw, it is usable only by a wytch.
there's another factor with the crystal, as well, to consider. this is all super limited bc…magic/tech, and even these psychically attuned crystals are running out. once, they were a plentiful resource in the wastes, but there are fewer and fewer of them, these days, so making more scrying crystals? experimenting with soul jars (i'll get into that more, later)? all of these things have a limited capacity.
furthermore, as previously alluded to, these crystals have smth of a charge, for lack of a better word. basically, characters ~can do all these things, but it is limited to whatever the crystal has been infused with, previously. just like how your phone will only run so long w/o recharging it or whatever…but you’ve lost ur cable so ur tryna conserve the battery as long as possible…sorta thing. many crystals are starting to die away, entirely, becoming simply heaps of useless -- if translucent -- rock. even the life of the battery is dying away, and many will no longer accept a 'full charge' at all, no matter how much energy one tries to add to it.
fortunately, most of the scrying crystals seem set to continue infinitely. perhaps that's bc the scrying crystals are set up to absord pyschic energy -- (its certainly the public reason they were set up that way:) it keeps them perpetually charged. bc of that, they've been perpetually recharging all along, so they aren't showing signs of decay. (shhh this is a handwave since they're key to the mechanics of how we rp ;D)
many others ~weren't treated so well, previously. generally, you have to charge them in order for them to work...hence the practice of stuffing dead, villainous souls inside them: until that soul is utterly ripped apart, that crystal has a charge to strengthen psychics and powers. in many cases, these experiments are a last-ditch effort to bring decaying crystals back to a full charges. in some cases it seems to be working -- in others, not so much.
these crystals range in size from huge sheets like the ones used for scrying glasses (tho its believed there are no more of that size left) to tiny chips. their average power and charge are commensurate with their size, which is why the scrying crystals are so massive so you can communicate w ppl on the other side of the continent, if you have to, etc.
wait, wait, soul jars??? augurs refining crystals for that??
soooo, im thinking this is a secret -- potentially even from the wider augur community, itself, but, as i mentioned in the powers and abilities post, when one combines soothsayer and augur practices, one can come up w some pr wild skillsets. as a result, im thinking this may be smth LEILA ARION -- herself combining these specialties -- may be experimenting with.
now, as things currently stand, this would be seen as a blasphemous practice amongst the purgists, as the soul is meant to be purged of its impure uniquenesses in death and go on to join the great god of the desert in his holy collective, or whatever, so halting a soul in that practice would be looked up as sacrilege. however, sinful souls are already seen as anathema, as they can blacken the purity of the great god in high enough quantities, and thus if a person could be proven to be unworthy, an argument could be made that preventing their soul from joining the collective might actually be a pure act. so im thinking that's the pov we're coming at from here: its actually a punishment. but you'd have to be a pr egregious person, by purgist standards, for the purging of death to still render your soul unworthy, etc. so this would be reserved for ppl who have done smth blasphemous and have NOT undergone the sevenfold death. for example, ARNE AGNAR, would be a pr good candidate for smth like this
now, let's say arne was caught but, instead of being put through the sevenfold death, he were subjected to a soul jar, how would that look? frankly, it'd be pr bleak. since he'd be in an inanimate hunk of rock, it'd basically be a situation where he's imprisoned and completely isolated unless another psychic reached out. he could be siphoned, as psychic energy, which would slowly drain him away, which is considered a particularly horrific fate. so, basically, it'd be more than the residual psychic energy left in the scrying crystals, but less than the SEPH-0-NE situation.
augurs using ~themselves as soul jars? how does that work?
going back to ARNE as an example here. avoiding the above horrors is why arne chose to leave KYORE's soul inside himself until such time as he finished work on SEPH-0-NE rather than refining a crystal and stuffing her soul in there.
now, there're multiple ways to handle carrying around two souls in one body. one would be to try to trap the ~other soul in a little psychic box. this isn't always effective, as any were who's ever inhabited another person can tell you, but you ~can try it. even if you do succeed, a high portion of your psychic energy will go to maintaining that little prison, thus preventing you from doing much else, and the like and, if you do take your concentration off that, there's a high possibility they'll escape and start fighting back, and possibly trap ~you in a little psychic cage, instead. the other way is what arne did, and that's simply to work together, letting each soul keep one hand on the wheel. this means both have free use of the body they both inhabit (which can sometimes make that body more powerful -- able to use both left and right sides of the brain simultaneously for completely opposite tasks, for example -- or equally it can make it more clumsy as, say, both souls try to walk in different directions at the same time -- it requires a great deal of coordination and trust), and that they are both freely intermingling with one another's consciousness, melding in a way. it also means neither can ever be truly alone -- in both the best and worst ways imaginable.
now, part of what is happening here is that a psychic can use their own mental powers to project themselves into another's body. however, a non-psychic has no such capacity, meaning that if a psychic wishes to use themself as a soul jar for a non-psychic, as in the case of arne and kyore, it falls to the psychic to constantly maintain that bond since the other person can't. it also means that, as an augur, he was constantly vulnerable to psychic attack as, if he'd ever put up his psychic shields, he would've severed that connection. this is a psychically exhausting thing to do, and probably not possible to maintain forever without killing the host, as well.
so, returning to our example of arne and kyore, bc he chose to freely share his body with her, she'd continue to be able to function with a body and, even if the only person she could talk to was him (since she, herself, wasn't a wytch and therefore not capable to reaching out to anyone else, herself), at least she wasn't completely isolated. further, since she wasn't in a crystal, it meant that no one (besides arne, who chose not to) could steal her, or siphon off her, or any such thing. she's herself, intact, even if it meant neither of them had any alone time and a lot of his psychic power was in constant use maintaining her soul and he couldn't risk putting a shield up, as it would also cut off ~her psychic energy and thus she'd go...wherever souls go after death, and it risked killing them both if left that way, too long.
I humbly request a lightsaber, a tron-esque light bike and the option to play an android.
so i realize this was mostly a joke, however!! i also realize it wasn't ~entirely one so!! ive been thinking long and hard abt this. i can't really do ~all of this in our setting completely, but i can at least partially do most of it, i think!
so! lightsabers (my beloved <3)! it is after all the elegant weapon for a more civilized age <3333333 soooooo, couldn't ~quite figure this out ~exactly, but i think i've got a fun analogue. ok, so you know those crystals i was making a big deal abt up above? well -- and, yes, this part ~is lowkey inspired by kyber crystals shhhh let's just go w it ;DDDD -- welllllll, i was thinking that, given that you can attune psychically to them etc and make them scrying glasses and what not -- another thing you may be able to do is refine them such that you can basically make a psionic weapon outta them that's basically...a lightsaber but psychic not laser. in this case, id think you could sort of manipulate length so sometimes its a sword, sometimes its a knife. you can put through most things except, im thinking, ~not other charged crystals or beams of psychic energy/psionic blades (once they've decayed enough that may be different) as w a lightsaber, that way you can have not!lightsaber battles ;D also, like w a lightsaber, they're ~color-coded, but there's a wider range bc the color gleams the color of ur character's aura bc that's my idea of a good time <3 bc of the natura of the crystals, tho, they're ~not swiss army knives etc so if ur crystals refined to be a not!lightsaber, that's what it does, kinda like if ur crystal is refined to be a scrying glass, that's what it does, etc. im thinking, tho, the longer it is, the weaker the place. so, like, you could turn it into a full-blown lance if you wanted, but it wouldn't be as powerful/cut through as much as if you had it as a dagger, for example.
now, ngl, i have never seen tron and know nothing abt it outside random trailers i've seen, so idk exactly what ur looking for there alas tbqh, but!! given this is v much a dieselpunk meets wasteland kinda thing, i think it's extremely plausible to say there're motorcycles! probs more fury road style than the flashy lights of tron (again...going on trailers...might have this wrong) but!! yeah!! ur character can def have at least ~that kind of motorcycle?
update! did a lil research on tron bikes and apparently they can kill you and have more of a low-slung position a la the bat bike in the nolanverse so!! 1) could def outfit a bike for that position and, 2) for the deadly ribbon thingy at the back (obv my terminology is a++++ i ~clearly know what im talking abt BAHAHAHA sorry, my loves!), ur character could afix like a bunch of steel rods to the back between which're strung barbed wire to achieve the same result. alternately, they could strap their psionic blade on the back and make it a long weapon. now, it wouldn't have quite the depth so they'd have to be like RIGHT behind you to impale themselves or whatever but...it could happen! anyway, not sure if any of ~that is what you were looking for w the light bike thing? but if so...yay! if not, lmk, i'll have more of a think <3
option to play an android...check! ;D
can you tell us more abt the whole ~council situation?
yes! so, as ive mentioned elsewhere, the council's purpose is basically to help make over-arching rulers for the entire continent to follow. ig like...think asoiaf/got/hotd/akotsk's small council meets like...the united nations hahaha basically the leaders of the great territories get together and decide *cough* bicker *cough* abt the future and how things go. the high king is the arbiter of the council and, effectively, chairman of the board. he isn't their emperor, per se, but he's got at least nominal control of the council itself. one of the big events the council stages on behalf of everyone is the tourney of arnoria, deciding who the high king's heir will be. that's all review. even characters not looking to join the council, themselves, often seek to influence the councillors towards their own ends...sm chaos! what does this look like?
~supposedly, everyone at the summit/council is working together to arrange the tourney, etc, but lbr!! there’re hella shady backdoor deals, betrayals, schemes, maneuvering, and general politicking (etc!) going on behind closed doors. in fact, some leaders want to continue the high king bit (khaldia for example wants that) but others ~dont (atlaton for example -- tho they're being coy bc first they gotta do a lil light infiltration of their enemies) and yet others’re maneuvering to try to ensure the decision is sealed before its even fought (jovis wants to ~be high king -- not that he wants to stop the tourney, just that he wants it to be wink wink nudge nudge everyone on the council will help ensure jovis' peeps come out on top) etc etc so yeah lots going on!!
if ur familiar w the gamemakers in thg, the council will also be acting in that capacity. however, they don't have physical control over the arena in the same way so they can't, like, cause an earthquake or smth, but they ~do set the goals of each ~session. for example, they could say 'whoever takes x hill by sundown wins this round' or whatever. they can also do things like unleash captured wyrms into the freehold or whatever. so, yeah!!
what's going on w some ppl tryna join the council????? is that possible? how does this all work?
it ~is possible and its pr straight forward. if you can get enough council members to vote 'yea' to appointing a new council member at the next council meeting, you can make this happen w the approval of the sitting high king, who has veto power. however, though straightforward, it is anything but simple, bc it means giving up a certain amount of power as, the smaller the pool, the more control each council has in theory, right? BUT, if the new counciller will vote ~w the old one on certain issues they're struggling to get through, for example, well, maybe it becomes worth it! that kind of thing!
all this being said, HAKON ESPEN and LEILA ARION may have better success, potentially, getting on the council than, say, jovis' cronies bc, while it does involve new povs and divisions of power, it ~also means the council will then hold a certain amount of sway in territories where, until now, they've been powerless, whereas mitanis and ilusos, for example, already abide by rulings of the council. that being said tho, there may be those already on the council, such as VASIA ARGYRIS, who may be so utterly against those two having a voice in the council that they may seek to block them from joining.
so yeah! basically, all sorts of reasons, and ~all of them will require copious politicking and, ofc, commenting ;DDDD
ok, so who're the current councillors? who're looking to join, as of the written bios?
emrys aeryn of vatonis (high king)
koskei of syrrar (disputed due to contested nature of who holds the throne of syrrar)
ruler marr of evris (unnamed)
tryphon parsys of akaemis (represented currently by lia parsys; to be represented in future by aspasia parsys)
ruler xirath of dorrain (unnamed)
looking to join (some spoilers for forthcoming characters):
eramis aeryn of vatonis (arguing his father is too busy being high king impartially to represent vatonis)
leila arion of neska (bringing neska into the fold)
ayana asciam of mitanis (claiming to be the true ruler of mitanis)
cassian asciam of mitanis (arguing independent representation of mitanis under the auspices of jovis)
adalet atamon of troha (claiming to be the true ruler of troha)
alym atamon of troha (claiming to be the true ruler of troha)
coryn atamon of troha (arguing independent representation of troha under the auspices of jovis)
erenn azand of troha (claiming to be the true ruler of mitanis)
hakon espen of atlaton (bringing atlaton into the fold)
emyna nikar of khaldia (claiming to be the true ruler of troha)
hanno turinus of iliam (arguing independent representation of ilusos under the auspices of jovis)
there will almost certainly be more as time goes on, but in terms of what ive got planned...this is the full compliment, so far. if you have any questions abt the characters who're not yet announced/currently npcs, lmk! but we're gonna say, for now, that those who're unnannounced -- alym atamon, for example -- have yet to announce their candidacy/arrive at the summit, so yeah
what does the 'unnamed' note mean above?
sadly, only that i have yet to bestow a name upon that character, not anything more interesting than that, im afraid...
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