Post by Lord Harrab on Apr 23, 2015 13:22:55 GMT
It had started, like many new things, with Fear.
Tahltria Vonharath was the Crown Princess of The Elven People, she had spent the first eighteen years of her life in the palace, being groomed for Queen-ship when her Father and Mother abdicated when she came of age. This wasn't unusual, given the long span of an Elf's life and to prevent the Kingdom become too set in its ways, The royal Family used the Birth of a Crown Prince or Princess as a sort of announcement of planned retirement, when she became of age enough to rule, her father and mother would step down and live out the rest of their life in peaceful retirement, with constant advice and suggestions Tahltiria no doubted as she was taught the details of court and politics from the cradle.
the emergence of her magical talent was somewhat of a surprise, Elves are highly in tune with magic, but neither her father or mother were strong in the craft and could offer her no guidance in this new and highly dangerous subject. So she had been sent to the Silverhalls, her Queenly training placed on hold in favor of this new subject that would require all of her focus if she was to emerge as the Queen the Elves deserved.
She had cried, as children do, into her mother's arms when she had heard, it was so far away and in the lands of Humans too, she would have to go on her own with no servants or guards allowed within the walls, and she had nightmares of the terrors magic could cause and her time in the Hall of the aspirants only reinforced her fears, Humans, elves, drenai, all common folk, which she tried not to let color her opinions, lessons and reminders of the power of magic and a rite they had to engrave on to their very soul in case the worse happened and the magic consumed them.
Tahltria Vonharath had hugged her pillow and stared up at the moon through her tiny rooms window at nught, lost and alone in this strange and scary word.
Then she had met The Mother.
It was during the meditation the Master of Novices had taught all the Applicants, where those touched by Magic simply sat and allowed their emotions and thoughts to run freely through their mind, the fires of magic just below the surface, it brought calm and would determine who would be strong enough for the next step.
One night roughly a year after her arrival at the Silver Halls, the Mother had tentatively approached her, soothed her fears and explained that she was a Servant. That was it, The Mother just floated nearby in the young elf's consciousness like a warm cloud untill she fell asleep. When she woke the next mourning, the Mother had gone.
Tahltria has spoken to the Master about it, a kind giant of a Drenai he had been delighted by the news, explained to her what role familiars served and the fact one had sought her out meant she was a true Magi, the meditation she did allowed Servants to judge her and see if they could work together as partners. Reassured that if this Mother could speak to her, it meant no harm, but the Tutor cautioned her to be careful what terms she reached and if she was uncertain, to simply wait for another Servant to contact her.
The next Night The mother was waiting for her and they spoke for the first time, about their history before coming here and the young girl’s fears. When she had heard of familiars she had hoped for some elven heroes to come to her rescue, but now realized the folly of that dream, Familiars didn't see what a Magi wanted, but what they needed, and in turn the student was allowed to see what the Familial needed.
the next night the Mother had offered her service. The next morning, when the princess had walked out into the common area with new found confidence, it was with the Mother at her shoulder, the glowing command seals on the princess' hand causing surprise and envy amongst her peers.
her familiar called herself a Jotan, and despite her slender frame stood nearly eight feet in height, her arms ending in huge clawed hands, with skin, hair and clothes a pale almost ethereal white the Elf had never heard of for any race before in her studies, the only colour on her mortal form was the jet-black horn that protruded from her brow, the collar like neck armour and her eyes, that glowed slightly as if a fire was smouldering behind her pupils
She slept better than she ever had after that, reassured by the shadow by her door.
Soon after that more familiars appeared, and the Aspirant staff were forced to contact the Academy proper, a new class of Magi would be entering and soon.
So now those few had gathered their belongings, and stood nervously before the huge, ornately carved obsidian doors, trying to not look too troublesome to the pair of inquisitors stood on either side of the massive portal.
With a Glance back to see that all the students where present, the Master of novices approached the door then knocked on its surface twice with the head of his staff
Who Comes to the Threshold of Knowledge?
Sudden voice that spoke inside the heads of everyone Gifted caused a few shocked gasps, and it took Tahltria a few seconds to realist it had come from the Door .
"Those Gifted, Those Cursed." The Master replied in a firm tone.
Are Their Minds Ordered? Is Their Will Strong?
"They know the Rite, they Know the Risk."
Then Let Them Come Forth.
With a groan of hinges the two doors swung inward to reveal a rather grand, in a function sort of way, entrance hall, a wide staircase lead up and away from the doorway splitting off below a Mosaic of some mage of the past, and linking the upper floor while the morning sunlight bathed the stonework through the sunlight above their heads in a faint orange glow, and on the floor above a pair of balconies overlooked the hall.
Behind the doors slid closed with a soft thud and Silence reigned over the young magi and their entourage of familiars, The Mother drew Tahltria slightly closer, her eyes on those around them. The golden haired daemon with the wolfish grin tapped her paper fan against the palm of her hand, A Red Robed and armoured warrior lent down so his master could whisper in his ear, the familiar nodded and straightened, beside him a woman in tattered robes stood right behind a red haired student stood with eyes closed and arms folded, apparently quite at ease.
Any attempt to discern more about the other familiars was cut short by an echoing clap that brought all attention back towards the stairs. A woman now stood where the stairs split beneath the mosaic, her dark robes and pale skin at odds with the sunlight and warm stone around her, she flicked away a stand of hair from her face, then glared down at the students and their familiars.
“You now stand in the Oldest and most distinguished Magical academy in the world.” the woman said in a loud and clear voice, “To get here you have already passed the most difficult test, you have survived. So far.”
The woman’s expression cracked into a smirk and she started to descend the stairs towards them, a hand trailing leisurely down the banister was she walked.
“The Test is never ending, Magic will take any chance to break free and destroy you, such is the fate of those who harness the power of Gods, and it is here is where you will learn to craft this harness and bend the world to your will.”
Now on the ground floor facing the students she placed her hands on her hips,
“I am Isabella Montague, Necomancy instructor, and you are the victims of the Arch-mage’s cruel sense of humour. He knows I dislike new students and their nagging but makes me serve as the welcoming committee to secure funding for my research. So if my Welcome isn’t as warm and bubbly as you hoped take it up with him.”
Her hands moved in and complicated pattern and the entrance hall darkened, the instructor still staring down her charges with a face carved from stone, then with a snap of her fingers the braziers on the left side of the stairs and up that side of the branching staircase lit themselves with blue fire.
“Your rooms, such as they are can be found in the east wing along with the Temple and Library. Find your name and get settled, or go in search of someone you teach you, what you do with your time is your business. If you want a tutor to teach you, get on their good side. Also, while you may have familiars and an itch to try out your magical power, don’t think you can just do what you want. Inquisitors patrol the halls and have authority to execute any Magi in breach of the laws of the Empire, and they are trained to kill upstart mages, and even your familiars won’t stop them.”
The other Braziers lit themselves with another snap, red fire this time, "The west wing contains most of the classrooms and tutor offices, if you want to contact a tutor, you best bet is there, the inquisitor barracks is this way." wall torches lit on the lower level, leading towards a door to the crowd of student's right, "Thats out of bound so i felt it best you knew before you tried to force it open."
She snapped her fingers again and the sunlight returned and the braziers went out. “Other than that, your education is on your terms, spend your time how you wish, just don’t try to leave. If you have questions, ask them quickly so we can all get on with our lives.”
GM Notes: the game is a foot, players are now free to do intro posts, explore the academy, find their rooms or a tutor to start their education or ask Isabella questions. Time will only advance when i make a post declaring it to have moved onto the next time slot so don't worry about being left behind, as long as the post is labeled as taken place in that time, it will be counted, but keep your actions feasible.
the time will be either Morning, afternoon, evening or night. the first three last around four hours each, Night ten
Player posts should show their name, location time of day the post takes place and what the character is doing, any status effects or information from myself or Warrender in events will be tagged with the user's involved
example of Player Post heading:
Isabella Montague
Entrance Hall
Morning
Welcoming students
Entrance Hall
Morning
Welcoming students
and if you want your familiar or character to do something in secret, send it via Pm to myself or Warrender.
Questions and so forth to go in the OOC thread please.