Peanut
5:26pm, March 14, 2010
[Edit]
[Delete] | I'll keep this simple for you.
Concerning Priests and Priestesses:
Priests and Priestesses of the two parent-Gods practice chastity and live in their temples. They come and go as they please and need dictates, and all of them have brought a skill to their respective temples - whether it be having a green thumb, or knowing how to sew, or weave, or hunt, or skin and tan hide. Most acolytes of the Temples became so at the onset of adulthood after schooling and a trade has been learned (usually around age 20). The temples also run small orphanages and adoption services, for even in peace there is cruelty and hardship. These children are playable and are encouraged.
Priests of Parshta, once ordained and proved both to the High Priest and the other acolytes, garner the ability to always be "with the light." Should they open their eyes in darkness, they will see. Should they lose their vision, the world will be made out in shapes of light. Should they lose their hearing, they will always know the music of the Father God. They are also gifted with the ability to conjure fire. Individually this gift is paltry - good for starting a campfire, lighting candles, or warming a cup of tea. When united with other acolytes and the High Priest in a little-seen ritual, their gifts unite and they are capable of conjuring giant fire-images, walls of fire, or turning the fire against their foes. Few outside the Temples know of these gifts.
Priestesses of Grimslaine, as with their brothers in faith, are also gifted with a unique ability when they become fully ordained in the ways of the Mother Goddess. Upon becoming a full priestess, they are gifted with the ability to cast shadow. This gift in individuals is paltry, minimal; they can extinguish their candles or chill their water, or wrap small objects in shadow for safekeeping. When united with other acolytes, and the High Priestess, this gift becomes massive and united. Together, the acolytes of the Shadow Lady can cast whole areas in darkness, suck the light out of a space, chill it to the bone, or rumor has it, even render entire cities invisible in a cloak of no-light. Few outside the temple know of these things.
Concerning Guardian Council Members:
Guardians are regular members of society chosen by the people of the city to represent a certain part of that society. Most of them serve by choice and are honored to do so. Not many make a career out of it, though some have chosen to. Members are elected once a year, and the faces of those that serve on the Council often change. This has served to keep the law-making process transparent and enables even the poorest farmer to have a clear voice in the running of the city-state. Most are average folk with average families and average wealth, though of course, there are exceptions to everything.
Concerning the Bright Guard:
Most members of the Bright Guard have been warriors all their lives, or hardened traders, or wildmen from the lands outside the walls. They are all of them exceptionally skilled at martial combat but none of them is superior to the city Champion. Most members have chosen one type of weapon with which they choose to fight and learn to Dance with. Once you are a member of the Bright Guard, you usually are one for life. If you choose to leave the Guard, through a magic provided by the mysterious Healers and aided by the Priests of Parshta, the Guard member's knowledge of the Dance of Light is erased and he is sent out into the world a normal citizen again.
The Dance of Light is a battle form so fluid, so swift, and so stunning that it is said enemies are cut down in tears, crying at the glory of the Father God's great gift to men. Upon becoming members of the Bright Guard, acolytes undergo an intensity of training that normal men could not survive, and that is the gift they are granted alongside the Dance of Light. Nigh-indestructibility. Some claim it is their purity of purpose which toughens them, others the long hours of mock-battle, but the truth of the matter is that Parshta makes them just a little more than mere men; he makes them like the blades they wield: as if made of steel. Hard to hit, and even harder to cut. Few have ever seen a Champion or his Bright Guard face a foe, but few are willing to test the rumors of their strength.
Concerning Healers:
Healers are not nearly as secretive or mysterious as people make them out to be. They are regular people with an affinity for medicine and a little something else - blessed by the parent-Gods with the ability to Heal in a way a normal doctor cannot. This gift comes in many forms but is rarely pronounced, and is specific to healing and healing alone. Healers cannot mold the elements or control the weather, and most of them have chosen a field of medicine to specialize in which allows them to hone their unique gift. The Master Healer has one apprentice, and it is the Master Healer's job to wipe the knowledge of the Dance of Light and the secrets of the Champion's Forge from the minds of those who abdicate their positions within those fields.
A healer's gift manifests itself as a gentle heat, a soft glow, a curling shadow, a gleaming green energy - the forms are as endless as the tastes and smells and colors of the earth. The gift is in-born, but manifests only around puberty. The gift is not passed through seed or blood and those gifted are randomly so. Their power is only usable for the salvation and preservation of the flesh of others. Benevolence, compassion, and tenderness are common traits amongst Healers, despite the rumors of the origins of their powers. They are the most suspected only because they are the most visible; it is hard to do the Gods' work of healing behind closed doors. Generally these energies can heal all wounds, but for the power to be used for a specific task - say to remove a poison, or to cure a disease - a healer must be trained in that specific field of medicine. Her knowledge must match her power, or the power may only mend on a basic level. Healers are not capable of joining powers like the Priests and Priestesses to perform mass healings, for their gifts are too individualized.
Concerning Champion's Forge Apprentices:
There are only FOUR of these positions available. I will accept only FOUR applications for these characters. These apprentices are chosen at age 3 and live and breathe the Champion's Forge. Unless running errands for the Master Forger, these four are rarely outside the Forge, as the learning is long and intensive. Servants of the Forge are more commonly seen and heard from, and it is from these that the Forge Council members are chosen by the people. At age 13, an apprentices chooses a path of mastery: armorsmithing or weaponsmithing. You may choose. For the three apprentices who do not become the next Master Apprentice (and onward to be the Master Forger) at age 23, the option is open to them to go out into the world and make a different path for themselves or to remain on at the forge. Few ever take the first option. Much as with the Guard, it is a life-long dedication - after all, this is Gods' work you're doing!
Grimslaine smiles on her disciples, though it may be hard to see through the darkness. Apprentice forgers give up their lives for the making of a God's tools. Few have children, or wives, or livelihoods of their own. But like all the others blessed by the parent-Gods, they are compensated. Though they learn the art of the smithy, and learn to craft all metals, that is not all they learn. They learn at age 13, when they choose their smithing path, not just how to craft, but how to transform. They hold marginal dominion over elements of the earth - soil, metals, simple plant life. They can coax ore from rock, cause grass to grow, balance the nutrient content in the soil. And when one of them becomes the Master, he learns how to put the power of Gods into metal itself.
For more information, refer to the other board threads.
Paste this into the form.
Character Name:
City-state of Origin:
How you got to Dakkarta (if applicable):
Profession:
Age:
Sex:
Skills:
Talents:
Are you a Healer?:
If you are a Healer, where is your specialization?
Are you a member of the Bright Guard?
If you are a member of the Bright Guard, what age were you chosen and what is your weapon of choice?
Are you a Champion's Forge Apprentice?
If you are a Champion's Forge Apprentice, have you chosen armorsmithing or weaponsmithing?
Are you a Priest of Parshta or a Priestess of Grimslaine?
If you are a Priest or Priestess, when did you join the Temple, and why?
Are you a member of the Guardian Council?
If you are a member of the Guardian Council, how many years have you served, and who do you represent?
History:
Again, copy/paste this form into the field at this link: http://pjj.cc/dakkarta/register/regapp.php
Edited 2:34am, March 15, 2010 by Peanut, author. |
