dragoncalled | Welcome, New Scions.

Entry tags:

!introduction

Welcome, New Scions.

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Tzilan smiled and shook his head at the young dragon's happy cry, which set Ratha's tail to irritably lashing. And the bigger dragon... had to move to accomodate her, awkwardly squawking and sliding his clawed wings along the stone so that Shima could press closer against his Scion than he crouched.

He stared at this predicament like a bewildered doberman, his lean, scaled face all hard lines and baffled tilt.

Tzilan tipped his sharp chin up.

"First there were two scions; then a dozen; and now... many dozen? It is a scaling-up of effort. We were brought here for a purpose, and that purpose will soon be coming to hand. And I... dislike being used, manipulated, or being kept in the dark."

Saralegui grinned up at Ratha's obvious confusion, patting Shima's tail where it hung down over the side of the boulder next to him.

"Whatever we were brought here for doesn't change whether there's one or one hundred of us," He pointed out, dropping his gaze back to the street. "At least this way, we have a greater force to use for whatever that purpose is. It may make things easier as we try to shed light on this situation."

Ratha tucked one wing close and curved around the tight half-circle Shim made, eventually choosing to ignore her in favor of watching the passers-by. It had the eerie, predatory quality of a cat watching fish gliding along in a tank.

"Ah; no. The purpose doesn't change. But with more coming, I presume the date of our intended action draws closer. And... pardon the vehemence of my opinion, but I don't intend to give anyone an ounce of effort on my part without understanding its consequences and implications."

Basically, whatever powers ha brought them cold go fuck themselves.

"It's not as if I'm out to help anyone out of the goodness of my heart," Saralegui said, arching an eyebrow. "But I'm not going to shoot myself in the foot by refusing to do things because they might be what someone else wants. I want to figure all this out. If that happens to align with the goals of these natives or gods or whatever, then so be it."

He paused for a moment, considerate, and idly toyed with the ends of a lock of hair as he went on.

"That said, I had an interesting conversation with a local priest."

Tzilan's fingertips twitched, and he nodded, schooling his expression. He curved a hand, stroking Shima's face slowly to cover his agitation. "I suppose, that's the crux of my sentiment: without knowing all of the implications and effects of working for that force... how will I know if working for them is not actively to my detriment? What if they're the ones who truly destroyed our world? I won't trust any information from them which I can't verify with my own sources... and they're distressingly slow to build."

He watched Saralegui toy with his hair, pale fingers twirling gold locks. But as the other man spoke on, his attention sharpened until there was a strange similarity between he and his dragon:

They both looked hungry.

Nostrils flaring, he swallowed, and leaned forward where he crouched a little, still idly petting at Shima.

"What did you discover?"

Shima trilled softly, aware of a shift in Tzilan's demeanor but unable to make sense of it. The sound made Saralegui lean back again, looking up at the other man with a faint smirk.

"He spoke of instructions left by one of the Great Beasts and lost to the world, something to do with the scions being brought here. And an expedition to find them and bring them back for study."

It said a great deal to him. That the locals, perhaps, didn't necessarily have anything to do with the scions being here or the destruction of their worlds, that they might not even know anything themselves. The priest could have been lying, sure, but Saralegui would rather find these truths of the world and interpret them for himself than refuse involvement entirely because someone involved might have ulterior motives.

After all, using the motives of others to his own advantage had always been one of his strong suits.

"An expedition?"

He inquired with an uptilt in voice and a quirk of a black brow, clearly prying for any more information that Saralegui might give him. And then, inhaling a breath he didn't need, turning to croon a wordless comfort to Shima, stroking along her feathers to reassure her, while beside them Ratha rattled a serpentine hiss and lashed his tail at a Scion walking down the mountain who'd drifted too close.

"I already agreed to help, and he said he'd like to find a handful more scions for the journey. Those, and some extra muscle in the form of mercenaries, perhaps." Saralegui frowned thoughtfully, and abandoned playing with his hair to extend a hand out to Tzilan's great dragon. "Wherever these instructions are, he clearly anticipates a potentially dangerous trip to get them."

Ratha's long face tilted around towards the pale, extended hands, and his black lips curled up from his sharp white teeth in a silent snarl. He inhaled a deep breath just inches from the offered hand, and exhaled it in a hot huff against Saralegui's palm before leaning forward as if to nuzzle against it.

Instead he opened his jaws, the points of his teeth pressing lightly against Sara's wrist, no more than a faint and delicate pressure while he rumbled lowly. Tzilan, unworried, let this strange demonstration of affection continue... leaning forward again, his calm expression fading into a swift scowl.

"Dangerous? And you intend to go...? At the behest of some priest?"

Tzilan seemed poised to insist otherwise.

"You want to know more, but shy away from actually learning anything if it's dangerous?"

He said it lightly, teasingly, but it still had the edge of a challenge to it. Then again, this was coming from the person calmly holding his wrist between a large dragon's teeth and just watching the act with mild curiosity. Maybe he was just abnormally fearless.

"Besides," he added, shrugging with only one shiulder so as to not move the hand Ratha was toying with, "I have ways of protecting myself. I'm not afraid, especially if it might gain me some actual information."

"Only fire and sun and strength greater than most men dream could give real threat to me now; but you're soft flesh and bone and blood, and even the natives don't venture beyond the city walls but for fortune and glory come at high cost. You should not go."

It spilled out of him coldly, in such a rush that he felt... faintly dizzy. Hungry? Possessive? Anxious? Like scenting another vampire on his hunting grounds, that hackles-up and teeth bared mockery of adrenaline. His hands felt uncomfortably warm, and he flexed them, rubbing them along the tops of his thighs just once.

Ratha had withdrawn from Saralegui, turning a great pale eye onto Tzilan as if waiting...

But the vampire only shook his head, looking quickly away and over the cliff, and the city stretched out below, a tense, taut pause.

"Be careful, at least."

Saralegui was struck by the vehemence of it, but he'd never taken well to being told what to do. He straightened and turned to stare Tzilan down, chin lifted and gaze unyielding.

"And there's not a man alive -- or otherwise," he added, shooting Tzilan a pointed look, "--that can harm me if I don't will it. For all else, I'm wise enough to know when to stand behind the people with the swords."

Between them, Shima dropped low against the stone as if visibly wilting in the tense atmosphere. She tucked her head just over the edge, close to Saralegui's shoulder, and his eyes finally softened as he breathed a faint sigh and laid a soothing hand on her neck.

"The concern is sweet," he said after a moment. "But nothing worthwhile comes without risk."

Tzilan held the attention, stubbornly intractable until Shima began to move... and then, with his mouth twisting, made a small wave of one hand. "You do me too much credit, to call it sweet. And, you are not wrong, to say that little comes without risk. Suffice to say... I'm suspicious of the merits of a great deal of risk, by those who so far control all information we have."

You could go yourself, you old snake, if you weren't so miserably attached to living forever.

"I've taken greater risks for less important matters."

Admittedly, he might just be a reckless thrillseeker. But he likes to think that the risks he takes are very calculated.

"For what it's worth," he added eventually, aiming for a lighter tone, "I don't think he was lying. And I'm generally very good at reading people. So relax a little. If I'm wrong about this, it's on my own head."

"And given those around you heart attacks, I'm sure," murmured Tzilan, reaching for stillness and calm, again. He smiled, tilting his head, and stroked along Shima's wing with just his fingertips.

"Would you want help along the way?"

Saralegui answered that quip with just a grin, mostly because it was true. Poor Belias had put up with a lot of shit from him...

"I've no idea if he had people in mind already," he said instead, veering quickly from that train of thought before it could get too depressing. "If help with recruitment becomes needed, though, I'll come find you. And whatever happens, I'll bring you my findings. I owe you that much, at least."

Tzilan paused, his hands curling into fists at his sides again before he loosened them, blindly reaching a hand over his shoulder to find Ratha's thick neck.

"I... cannot go. I cannot."

Grimacing, he bowed his head. "Travel of any kind for me requires... great planning and effort and care. Sunlight will kill me, will burn me to ash and cinder. Fire is little better; and to feed over many nights could drain a small party of men to nothing and still leave me ravening to the point of battle-madness. I would be more burden and liability than asset."

He frowned at Saralegui.

"The only significant help I can give would be given from afar. And not without cost; but it may save you, in a moment of most dire need."

It seemed like a depressing way to live, to Saralegui, holed up here forever out of fear. Tactfully, though, he said nothing about it.

But with that option taken away, he was drawing a blank.

"What did you have in mind, then?" he asked, head tilting curiously.

"Just something worthy of the worst-case scenario," he murmured, and shook his head again. "And to worry about if... if the expedition even moves forward." He was clearly hoping it wouldn't.

Saralegui frowned, displeased with the vagueness and obvious pessimism. He looked away, head held proudly high and expression cool, turning his focus to his dragon instead, smoothing his hands over the feathers along her neck.

"It will, if I have to take over and organize it myself."

Tzilan, seeing that... could only smile, a little ruefully. "A little larger-than-life, aren't you?"

With a relenting air, he folded his legs more properly, sitting on the boulder, and propped his elbows up on his knees, setting his chin onto his hands. "I know you say you trust this priest, but a Scion-started investigation is something I'd feel more comfortable putting my own faith in."

He thought of Ratha, as the beast let his stiff attention melt away, and closed his eyes, arranging himself over the boulder, eyes closed, leeching its warmth. Shook his head a little when the feedback loop of shallow sentiment wanted to establish itself again.

Leaned and offered his hand, clearly meaning to give Saralegui a hand up, as well. "Have all the strong sentiment about leaving that you like; I'll still selfishly hope you don't go. Who else would let me pull them into the sea at midnight?"

"I didn't say I trust him. I said I don't think he's lying about this matter."

It was a significant difference, in his eyes. "Trust" implied a great deal that Saralegui didn't actually feel. But telling the truth in this particular situation was good enough for him. If he understood what a person wanted, then he could rely on the fact that they'd act in a way he can predict.

"And I will be coming back from that expedition, you know." Saralegui gave Tzilan a wey look, but accepted the hand up to climb onto the rock with them. "But in the worst case scenario, I'm sure you'd be able to charm someone into letting you drench them."

"Ah. Forgive me the inference," murmured the vampire, with manners fit for court. He curled his slender fingers 'round Saralegui's hand, helping the other man neatly up with a grip that was as sure as the stone beneath them. And didn't immediately let the point of contact fall away, watching the young king with just the ghost of a smile.

"I'd rather just agree that you will come back, and award you your points for fair turnabout."

Shima had to scamper to the side to give her scion room as he let Tzilan pull him up, and she settled pressed between the vampire and his larger dragon, tail left trailing over a great black claw. She, too, could probably have done with a more rational sense of fear and caution.

"While I'll be happy to prove you wrong..." Saralegui said, easing himself down to sit in the space Shima had cleared for him, "...you could simply look forward to whatever we do manage to bring back. Real answers, possibly, or at least a starting point to further search from."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Welcome, New Scions.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject