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[greatbeasts]

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Here, There Be Dragons

New arrivals: The dream you wake from is an unsettling one that feels like a memory. It sits out of place and too far forward in your mind, yet feels as real and clear as any other could be. It's the shadow of a massive creature blocking out the sun, skyline, or similar entity. A roar that shakes you to the core and and a feeling of dread and loss weighing heavy on you. Whatever the feeling or vision that comes across, it brings with it a sense that your world is no more. A voice, reassuring and almost motherly in nature urges you gently to wake from your sleep. Rise from the ashes, little one, The voice calls in a whisper of wind and crackling fire, There is need of you, yet. As the voice fades and the world of the waking returns to you, you are greeted with the sounds of faint bustling and the bounce of wooden wheels on stone or the sight of Upper Nuren's winding streets and open squares. A cloud passes by slowly near one of the stone pathway ledges and the sounds of nearby Touched and Remnants at work or leisure filter through the calm, cool air. Whatever you had previously been wearing or carrying has been replaced. You might now find yourself garbed in a cloth tunic, pants or shorts, robe, dress or skirt, and sandals or boots if you wore clothing. A sash around your shoulders or a belt at your waist contains a small but weighted purse of gold coins, enough to acquire some materials, new clothing or food from the market and craftsmen in the city. Current Scions: Concern over the mild Winter has begun to spread through the city. The chill air should have come with the nearing end of the harvest, and so far the weather remains only pleasantly cool. The air barely passes the gentle cool of Autumn. Nuren's citizens are spreading rumors that mountaintop ice and snow have begun to thaw, causing mudslides in the mountains. The thaw has displaced the Ice and mountain creatures, leaving them irritable and unpredictable. The sailors mention that the Frozen Shore has also begun to melt, and the waters around the Frozen Shore and the mountain areas have grown treacherous and unseasonably cold. Throughout the city, activity springs to more vibrant life, with Scholars of the Cycle of Life and Scholars of Knowledge claiming that Benra has blessed the city again, bringing more Scions to help protect the great city. The rumors put the city's citizens into higher spirits, and music fills the cool air, spreading from Lower Nuren both up and down the mountain.

The Heart of Nuren

After waking, a pull starts from within your chest, growing stronger with each passing moment until it becomes the only focus. It tugs insistently once, then twice. A need to follow the pull curls around and through you, urging you toward a wide and torch lit staircase that leads down into the heart of the mountain. The steps are wide and sturdy, and the further down them you travel, the clearer the call becomes until you can almost hear it. At the bottom of the steps, the large cavern beneath the city is revealed. The floor beneath your feet is warm to the touch, and the magic in the air calms your mind and fills you with a strange sense of safety and peace. No magic or harm can be done within the cavern. The cavern's floor is covered in circles of runes carved into the stone that surround small depressions in varying sizes, from a coffee cup's rim to that of a small circular table. Some of the depressions contain dormant dragon eggs of various colors, shapes and sizes. The runes surrounding them glow faintly with a magical light. Only the Scion who is bonded to the dragon within the egg can pass the runes.

Upper and Lower Nuren

Once you emerge from the cavern, the strange spell that fell over you fades. The bond between you and your egg or hatchling remains but your command of your own decisions and actions return and you are now free to explore, question and move about. The streets of Upper Nuren are sparsely populated with Remnants, Touched and other scions with their eggs or dragons. Questioning any of the citizens leads to a variety of answers. You are a Scion of the Great Beasts. You were brought to the city from the ashes of time and space by the Great Phoenix known as Benra and the Great Serpent known as Mouros. Pressing for more information will reveal that there are five Great Beasts. They are Benra the Phoenix, Chelba the Stone Giant, Renzu the Griffin, Mouros the Serpent, and Lysheu the Chimera. They are said to represent Mortality, Order, Knowledge, Time and Chaos. You are in the great Mountain City known as Nuren, and its people are the last remaining vestige of civilization on this wild and dangerous planet. The Touched and the Remnants share an alliance and work together to keep the city protected and its citizens alive and fed. According to these citizens of Nuren, you are here to help them defend the city, unite the remaining races and restore balance to the elements. Soon after the first Scions awake, the city begins to buzz with the news and gossip that more scions have arrived. The curious and braver citizens make their way to Upper Nuren to get a look, and the rumors spread like wildfire through the city that Benra has come again.

Outer Nuren

Although those rumors make their way to Outer Nuren, the citizens there show far less interest in making the long trek up to Upper Nuren. The unseasonably warm winter has done wonders for the fishing in the bay, and the docks are alive with intrepid fishermen and ship crews interested in making extra gold while the fishing is still good. The taverns fill with activity and the markets are livelier than ever in the hopes of selling more of their wares and merchandise before Winter's chill catches up with the passing seasons.

Evening

When night settles on the city, the taverns, inns and squares fill with curious citizens hoping to meet the new Scions or catch a glimpse of the Scions they have already managed to glimpse a few times before. Food is offered freely, as well as blankets to guard against the cool night air. The night sky fills with beautiful displays of magic from the Fire, Light and Energy Mages, the Osaaru equivalent of fireworks, though far quieter. Several Scholars in bright and colorful robes can be found approaching the new scions and older ones alike, offering to tell them more about the city, Osaaru and the Great Beasts. Mages of similar garb guide scions to the cavern homes, and help where they can in making the scions more comfortable. Small comforts of food, pillows, decorative crafts and other small tokens are offered to visible Scions by the citizens of Nuren in hopes of earning their favor and friendship.

Notes

Please direct Introduction questions to the Plotting Post Q&A As a Reminder: Bahemait is not one of the Great Beasts openly discussed or mentioned by the Citizens of Nuren who believe the Great Dragon is little more than an old legend. We would also like to emphasize that the Spirit energy within every resurrected character is required to use all magic in Osaaru, even that which is brought from their own world. The drain of powerful or excessive use of magic will lead to exhaustion.

Comments

[arkhein]

[She blinks at the bow; she is used to them, but often she is seated on a throne and not a wooden bench when she receives such courtesies. Emily fidgets with a sleeve, only briefly, as she decides what to say next. One arm keeps around her dragon's egg, unmoving.]

If you wish to provide me with security and comfort, you would tell me that my world is not destroyed, and that this is all some farce that someone will be paying for shortly. [Frustration rings in her words, but she cannot bring herself to sound accusatory to someone who is merely offering help.] All of this is unbelievable. Everyone I knew, everyone I loved, gone. How does anyone simply adjust?

[temero]

I would provide you with security over comfort, where I must choose. And... forgive me, my lady Scion, but... but I cannot lie to you. It would be... would be a great sin, tantamount to lying before Mouros himself.

[ She had struck a nerve of some kind; and he, too, had lost a little in composure. He did not sound quite so steady as he had, and when he spread his hands, they were appealing. ]

As to your loss... may I sit beside you, to demonstrate... perhaps, I hope, something which may help to ease your heart? If not now or in this moment, then at least in time?

[arkhein]

[She did not expect him to lie for her sake. The comfort would have been false, and would have missed its mark anyway. Still, to hear the truth uttered once more makes something in the pit of her stomach feel... empty. A hollow ache that she refuses to let transform into sorrow while in the presence of others.

She sets her jaw.]

You may, if you like.

[temero]

[ He used a hand to adjust the hem of his robes, and moved to sit as well; at a respectful distance, the line of his body turned to face her.

He did not look... comfortable. The weariness on his face had become hardness, a resignation, like a man walking himself to a headsman or a torturer. Girding himself, and trying to feel nothing. ]

I have welcomed two dozen others, all like you. Who were once dead, and who hail from dead worlds, with most all they ever knew, or loved, or understood... all gone. There are many more beyond that number who suffered alike unto you.

Suspending disbelief for a moment, and accepting all of those statements as true: do you believe that, being here now, the sun will rise tomorrow and a new day will begin for you?

[arkhein]

[She watches his features harden, his body language betraying some form of discomfort. A resignation that she could recognize all too well. Something about this man reminded her of someone she knew, and through the sting of melancholy, her shoulders relax only slightly.

At the question, she looks at him considering.]

The illusion that I had control over such things shattered for me long ago. The sun will rise again, no matter my actions. Even an empress cannot halt that much.

[temero]

[ His dry lips open as if to reply... and then close again. A blunt-fingered hand lifts, and rubs at his jaw while he exhales a hard breath through his nostrils. It almost sound like the preface of a wry laugh, a cover for a humorless 'hah'. ]

More considered an answer than I expected, my lady Scion. And, I'll grant you... partially true. Not you or I nor any other mortal creature can affect the course of the sun. But.

[ He held up a tanned forefinger, still speaking quietly. ]

You have just experienced an end to tomorrows. All the sunrises of your world are halted, forevermore. And there is no guarantee that this world will not suffer the same misfortune.

All things die, in their time. Men and women and children. Emperors and empresses. Sages and mages and saints. Worlds and gods, too. You asked me 'how does anyone simply adjust'?

You cannot. You cannot simply adjust. You can just... heal over it, like any other wound. Perhaps it will scar you, forever. Perhaps, in time, it will fade so that the memory of the injury is as dim as an old unpleasant dream.

You have been brought here as a miracle and a blessing to a world that is also dying. Not all at once, but in fits and starts. A sickly thing weakened more by every day. Your actions may not save one world: but they might save this world. None can prevent the injury which you have suffered, but you may prevent it for others.

And even should you shun this great calling... you have been given something accorded to few others: the opportunity to live again. Those who loved you would rather you live in hope and light than under the shadowed pall of mourning for their passing. By greeting each dawn as an opportunity to reflect the light of their love for you, you honor them.

[arkhein]

[It isn't a response that she expected, and in some ways it is difficult to hear. In others, it is what she needed to hear, perhaps too blinded by her own loss to think of it in such a way. To derive hope from the ashes of her world, to be motivated by the memory of lost ones.]

You're a well-spoken man, Farron of Tides. I wonder if it's a compliment you hear often.

[The comment is wry, perhaps unexpected. But it's a testament to her understanding of what he says, rather than choosing to ignore them. She shifts in her seat, the bench creaking slightly.]

I wouldn't want to disappoint the people I cared about. One of them in particular would hate it if I spend the rest of my days in mourning.

[A pause drifts between them, and for a moment it looks as if she won't say more. And then:]

And even knowing this, it's difficult to feel as if I didn't completely fail everyone. I was supposed to lead and guide and protect. The fact that I'm the only one who survived makes me feel... undeserving. Guilty.

[temero]

[ Now he really did exhale a laugh, if no more than a short puff of one. In a younger man it might have even sounded a little abashed. Instead, it was just... relieved, and weary. ]

Ahh. I am pleased you find it so, my lady Scion. I confess I have perhaps spoken more today than all the last week combined.

[ His wry smile returned, and as she spoke, he leaned quietly against the back of the bench, considering all she said with gravity and attention which seemed to go briefly inward. ]

I'm not... unfamiliar with survivor's guilt. To this day, it shadows me. If it were a trouble I could yarely defeat, I would tell you the secret of it...

The best I can offer is that failure does not make you unworthy. Mark me, my lady, you were chosen. And I, at least, have faith in you.

[arkhein]

You give your faith in others freely. We've only just met.

[But she's appreciative in her own way, the wry lopsidedness of a smile eking onto her features.]

But I'll remind myself of that faith, whenever I start doubting myself. That, I should thank you for.

And please, my name is Emily. You don't need to call me "lady Scion".

[temero]

You are brought here, a miracle and blessing from the objects of my religion: the Great Beasts. I have served Mouros since I was but a boy, and as a priest, my faith ought to be my strongest virtue.

[ He said it with a gently sardonic lilt, his subtle smile deepening. ]

If I should have faith in anything beyond my hands, it should be you. And if you ever earn or gather doubts, well... you are welcome to visit me at the Temple, that I may dispel them.

[ He made a small motion. ]

Perhaps one day when I'm old and crooked and have only half my sense left, I'll forget the dignities you're owed and only call you 'Emily'. Until that day...

[ He stood, and bowed again to her. ]

My lady Scion.

[arkhein]

[She inclines her head at his bow, an almost automatic movement on her part. Still, there is the slightest quirk of Emily's brow when he straightens, looking him over.]

A priest. [Unsurprising, perhaps something she could have surmised even if he did not say so directly.] And where might I find this Temple, should I ever need to visit? I'm not familiar enough with this city to find it on my own.

[Perhaps she could out of stubbornness alone. But why make it that more difficult?]

[temero]

[ He bowed his head. ]

The temple of Mouros is in Upper Nuren along the square. You'll see it marked by the fountains, and the many depictions of serpents along the facade.

[arkhein]

[She makes an effort to commit that much to memory, then.]

Thank you, and I won't keep you any longer. I'm sure you have other lost scions to attend to.