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Ours is the thread.
((This was made in a collaboration between the amazing shadowi83 and the overly pulchritudunous Taytayisgr8))
((Special thanks to kamikaze123, Voidhack, podraptor, kerion, scubadivingforfood and thacruelllama for selling out their souls and commiting to a life of endless pain.))
This is an open world Rp.
((You can only be Human.))
((As for who you are, describe appearance and nothing else initially; the rest should be described in your posts))
With a flash of light, the void ceased to exist. It's purity had been destroyed as matter and energy bled into it, at speeds never saw again in the history of Creation. All of the matter went down to form Tior, taking some of the energy with it. The rest of the energy hung in the sky, forming the Sun and the Moon. At first, the energy kept within Tior was violent and untame, preventing Tior from having any solid form. However over time, the energies calmed themselves and Tior had formed into a solid: It took the shape of a sphere, that orbited the Sun, with the Moon orbiting Tior.
The energy of Tior, however, did not allow the planet to form into a perfect sphere. Dotted about the planet were various geographical features, all filled with energy- Specifically, mountains and caves. After a long chain of events, life would grow to be able to feed off and even manipulate this energy. But that was a long way away- Life would not bless Tior for many millenia.
Although life as it is known today did not appear in this period, other things did. The world, to keep itself living grew a sentience of sorts, which happened to be immortal beings with unnatural powers. Gods, beings that existed for the sole purpose of balance. Two beings who would be opposites, opposites so that there would be balance.
It was within the oceans that the first life was born. They were simple beings, consisting of a single cell that drifted through the waves. Life would go through many twists and turns, but every bump simply made it grow stronger. As the vast majority of our story will take place some four billion years later, we shall skip forward three billion years.
In three billion years, life had diversified all over the planet of Tior. It could be split into four kingdoms: Animals, Plants, Fungi, and Minerus. Due to the nature of the atmosphere upon Tior, the fungi often grew to enormous size, along with the plants. Animals were very similar in size to those on Earth. The Minerus, however, are not found upon Earth at all. Minerus are creatures made out of minerals, their bodies formed from stone, the minerals grew within them. Minerus were certain beings who can manipulate the minerals and raw resources of which they were made from.
The three large landmasses of Tior were an interesting lot. Origis was about the size of Europe, and formed into a vast rainforest by the time life had a strong grip around it, with abundent coal pockets being formed. Resources in Origis were generally abundent- And to top it all off, the inland sea inside of Origis was the cradle of all life. Origis lied upon the west of the planet.
In the north of the planet was a massive polar icecap, which united the land further to the East of Origis, known as Digris. The icecap was a frozen wasteland which was largely featureless, and was mostly inhabited by eusocial insects such as ants. However, in the coldest of the regions, strange men of Ice dwelled: They were the first mortal sent beings to roam Tior.
About these "icemen" little is known. Some scholars hold the belief that they were made from a little of the god's essences, allowing them to do wonderous things, things which would seem impossible to us without magic. Most humans, however, are superstisious of these peoples, so tend to shy away from talking about them, much less research them. It is commonly believed, however, that they all dissapeared at once, leaving pristine cities in the skies with them, cities which were made completely of ice, ice compacted to a point that they did not melt. These cities are not ruins, for they have not fallen into disrepair.
The ice caps may of held the first mortal sentience, though in the land of Digris there slumbered something far greater than the icemen; For it was not constrained to one physical form. A consiousness that was the sum of thousands of bodies that all shared the same mind. This hive was known as Andrus.
Andrus was a sentience that was not restrained to one body, as mortals were. Andrus' consiousness dwelled within the very bark of the trees that resided in the many forests of Digris. Andrus' perceptions of the world around him were very limited, only able to sense when a woodpecker was boreing into his flesh or when a fire was devouring him, or atleast part of him.
He thought of the world around him, pondering exactly what the nature of his existance was. With no external stimuli bar his somatic senses, he built up an image of the world through his mind's eye that was vastly different to ours.
He envisioned himself as a perfect sphere, with the occasional object making contact with him being another sphere brushing against him. These spheres may or may not have sense, though he often hoped they did: It consoled him to think that there were other sentiences in the world.
As the forests and jungles of Digris grew larger, Andrus' mind grew with it. Over time he was strong enough to cast his mind into the animals that surrounded him. The first animal he grew to control was a small woodpecker of the Heckle" variety. The Hecklet allowed Andrus, for the first time, to see the world as it truely was.
He writhed as his thousand year old idea of the universe was destroyed in an instant. He was introduced to the concepts of sound and taste and light and scent. He was completely and utterly overwhelmed: So overwhelmed that his entire mind shuddered, causing his body to do the same.
His mind was driven to the edges of insanity, allowing the sheer telekenetic power of his consiousness to manifest itself. The animals of Digris were infected with his madness, forcing them into canibalism and other such horrific acts. Rather soon, the predators had killed themselves through randomly assulting each other, and the herbivores simply went to the shores and drowned themselves.
After the animals had been extinguished, Andrus' madness manifested itself through raw energy- Lightning storms and hurricanes and tsunamis ravaged Digris, all whilst the land was torn apart by his own mind. Not only was water and wind carving canyons, but so too was the mind of Andrus. As Digris was transformed into a barren wasteland, Andrus began to grow weaker. His mind was housed in the trees and plants, and with them removed he no longer had an anchor within the physical world. As more and more trees died, his mind was less and less constrianed: until eventually he existed only in a few select trees. Now his mind was truely free to ravage the land, erroding it completely into a perfectly flat and perfectly dry badland.
Eventually, he had no anchor to the mortal world: All of his trees had been destroyed. Searching desperately for somewhere to exist, he burrowed deep into the Earth and spread himself about. This distribuition allowed men to later harness his power, which had grown over time, in the form of Magic.
Whilst the Ice caps and Digris was turned into a ruin, strange new creatures were walking the Earth. Titans are strange creatures, born mostly during the time of Andrus' death. Their number is few, and each one is rather unique. Their form is shaped by their location, so that they may survive there. Some created in volcanos take a rocky look, whilst those that dwell in the air look not unlike the birds of the sky.
Their magical power is also shaped by their location; Those who live in the depths of the ocean have dominion over water, and their magics relate to the manipulation of water. Titans are not commonly found, by any means, and some more obscure cultures have taken to worshipping them.
Titans have known of the mortals since their emergance, despite them only discovering them recently. This was due to the formation of the titans; they were scattered about the world evenly, if scarcely.
In this time of rapid change, Origis was still standing strong. It's vibrant and varied climates allowed two creatures to raise to sentience- The tribal and savage elves of the jungles, and the cruel and tyranical dwarves of the depths.
The elves often warred amoungst themselves, fracturing themselves into various different tribes. Their warring made it impossible for them to ever expand out of the dense jungles of Origis- Meaning that they often knew the terrain much better than any outside force. The dwarves, however, never had such a problem: They unified themselves and quickly set about expanding out of their mountain caves. The fact that they expanded so quickly meant they had to adapt to new enviroments all the time; though they never adapted too well. The dwarves, despite their massive expansion, only encountered the Elves rather late into their history. The Dwarves first met the Oluca clan.
Communications at first where uneasy. The elves knew the jungle inside out, and would often flee upon the sight of the dwarves, seeing them as devils. Though eventually, the elves confronted the dwarves. The Shaman of the Oluca, known as Tak-Nol, was the first to speak to the dwarves.
"Strange, small kin- What are you doing in our land?" Tak-Nol said, to a stout dwarf who went by the name of Aom. Aom couldn't understand the strange language that the elf spoke in, though he knew what he had to do- Subjegate the wild beast. He quickly lifted his handaxe, which he was using to cut through the thick undergrowth, and swung at the elf.
The elf was taken by surprise by the quick swing- Which cut a gaping hole in his right cheek, leaving him almost unable to open his mouth without extreme difficulty. The blow caused him to stumble onto the ground, allowing Aom to violently smash a stone against his face. Tak-Nol died rather quickly of brain trauma.
Aom went on to tell his brothers to ravage and murder all of the odd, tall creatures. Their flesh was particually appetising, and their blood was sweet. Entire clans were massacered by small groups of dwarves, for their combat ability was beyond any the elves had ever seen. Faced with such a grave threat, the elves were forced to unify together, and rethink their long standing code of honour.
The clans, after much arguing, could not settle their differences, and resulted to more infighting instead of fighting the greater threat of the dwarves. The dwarves conquered many clans, and enslaved a great deal of the elves. One of the dwarves who had enslaved some of the clans and violated a younger elf woman, who managed to escape a month or two after. She hid and lied to disguise the fact that she had been with child. The child was an abomination, twins that became the first humans. The mother raised them as best she could, but they were cursed with a rather large flaw, and a rather large gift. Insanity and thus a connection with Andrus, and thus, magic. When they were but children they killed every last dwarf and elf in the world, and from the bodies, using their magics, made hundreds of people like them, even managing to give them reproductive organs, a consiousness, and a little bit of magical prowess.
The humans did not know of the elves and dwarves that once dwelled in their realm. Their minds were childlike, as their creators were. The nature of man was one of rash violence, which often led to war. Those talented in magic breathed life into inanimate Homunculi, known as "Golems". These Golems built villages and towns for men, but did not fight wars- For stronger wizards could turn them against their masters. Humanity, though wracked with war and anger, flourished.
Humanity's kingdoms rose and fell, shifting like the waves of the sea. At times the land was dominated by one single empire, and at others it was contested by thousands of city-states. Every time an empire unified the lands, it brought with it's rule great prosperity, reaching new highs every time- But, when these empires crashed and burned, they through the land back into darkness. Each time was the same- A brighter light, but a longer dark. It looked, to some, as if this was to be the nature of humanity forever.
However, there was a time of great instability, perhaps the greatest humans had ever faced. It was mostly an anarchic time, and here the gods felt the need to intervene. The illegitamate child of a noble, a noble who lived in the only real kingdom at the time was born with a magical ability, the ability to not animate, but deanimate as well. He could steal the life of golems, and as the child grew older, steal the energy of people as well. He could stop the wind itself and slow time dramatically. As this child grew, he realized this and used his abilities to make an army of shades- golems who channeled dark forces from within themselves, soulless, fearless monstrosities. Shades were the animation of utter lack of animation.
These golems could suck the very life out of the land, and for every life they stole, another of them was born. Using these golems, the god "blessed" child conquered the lands under his name. On great battlefields where many lives were lost, the shades sucked so much life, so much everything out of the land that it was as if time itself grinded to a halt.
The conquerer, whose name was Fitzwiliam, however did do a great deal many things. He built a haven for magic and magical study, the Arcaneum, which is a seat of great power even today. He made the system that puts all mages under the command of those of his bloodline, along with the armies of golems he made and conquered. He lived twice as long as he should have: the ability to deanimate he had gave him the ability to slow time slightly. The knowledge of how to make the shades died with him, however. His kingdom eventually became known as Erimef.
Those of his bloodline held the throne quite easily, and ruled over the lands. However, it was not long before a power-hungry noble with royal blood carved a rebellion against his brothers and fathers. He managed to take control of a good quarter of the golem armies. He didn't manage to "defeat" the other, larger kingdom, but eventually settled on a kingdom of his own after many years of war. His kingdom eventually became known as Lothiriam.
The Aracaneum magi eventually became independent of Erimef and became a force to be reckoned with, but the system Fitzwiliam had created, however weakened, stopped them from attacking either kingdom. On multiple occasions they were "hired out" by the two large kingdoms to destroy small rebellions. Although they owned no land besides various mage shelters spread about the land and the mighty arcaneum, they were a hugely powerful force.
In the Arcaneum, there were a group of mages who decided to study the animation and deanimation of weapons. They learnt a great deal and these mages eventually became a deadly and influential force in the Arcaneum. These mages eventually branched off and faded into the "not so shadows" as a group of the most skilled assassins, who would become a very powerful force. Officially illegal, but too large and dangerous for anyone to hunt down.
These assassins were not the only secrative forces in the world. A religious order, known as the Ibrus, plays a major role in the nature of the world. Their ranks are no longer men, but instead creatures who have forsook their humanity in favour of power. Their forms are that of titans, with impossibly perfect bodies. They were given godly strength and endurance, along with bliding speed. They achieve this blessing through the use of Ivy, a drug extracted from the nectar of a rare wildflower growing from the dead andrus' trees.
Though their bodies are perfect, their minds are far from it. They are addled with insanity, their minds broken and fractured. Due to this side effect, they are a dangerous lot, who often break out into violence with one another. The humans of the land fear the Ibrus, as they would fear an uncontrolable blaze.
An order of warrior-monks, known as the Tiple, also happened to gain possession of a plant which grew from the remains of the original Andrus' trees. This plant's nectar could be refined into two forms. Ivy, as used by the Ibrus, and Ether- As used by the tiple. Ether had rather dangerous- but rather magical, properties. These monks began selling some of it in small quantities to the nobility and the wealthy, but kept most for crusades they always seemed to be in.
For one, when a user takes the nectar, they lose the ability to feel pain. The user becomes considerably stronger, and they become exponentially more powerful magic wise. The user, for a short while, gets a blast of adrenaline, whilst actively taking the nectar.
Over time, the user will crave the sweet ambrosia, and eventually will begin to crave blood, often asking for meat completely raw. The coppery taste of animal blood begins to quench the addiction, but eventually they begin to crave warmed blood- fresh blood. Soon the user will start to drink the blood of their enemies after killing them.
The entire time the user becomes more and more gaunt, but seems to generally have more strength, though that may come with the fact that the user uses nectar more and more. The users teeth, over long periods of time, get progressively sharper and smaller, and their iris progressively milkier, eventually becoming a cloudy white. Users tend to lose their hair rather quickly. Users tend to become wild, animal, paranoid and easily angered.
The raw form of the sap however is rather commonly sold, whether it be to moderation to mages or warriors, for the burst of energy, clarity, and pleasure, as well as sold on the streets, for it is highly addicitve, and relatively easy to get by for what it is. However, it has a great deal of negative effects, differentiating from person to person.
In the same year when the wildflowers growing upon the Andrus trees were discovered, a strange being was found. The creature was found upon it's own, in the depths of a rather large lake. The team of explorers were drinking from the lake, when they noted a distortion in the water; it looked like a terrifyingly large object was moving at speed through the deep waters.
The explorers backed away from the waters, as the cause of the distortion seemed to move closer to the surface. The explorers were awestruck as giant, writhing mass emerged from beneath the surface of the waters. It seemed to glow a blood red colour, which revealed it's massive size; The glow could be seen stretching all the way down to the point where the blackness of the water now obscured it.
From the writhing mass emerged several small tendrils, which appeared to work out as two tendrils to every member of the team. The tendrils were still, bar a slight waving in their motion. The tendrils remained like this for seconds, before bolting towards the explorers at impossible speeds, wrapping around their arms.
The tendrils seemed to fuse to the flesh of the explorers, causing them to scream in pain. This pain was so intense, they began to pass out. It wasn't long before all of them passed out. When they awoke, the tendrils and the mass had gone; though their arms were covered in lacerations and burns. Whilst they were asleep, they all noted that they had the same dream; they were talking to a strange, aquatic humanoid. The explorers had made humanities' first contact with a Titan.
Of the ranks of the titans, all of them were notable in one way or another. However, those that are the most powerful also seem to have a history of interaction with humans; this may be due to chance, or perhaps humans have a positive effect upon titans.
Titans can have a profound effect upon the surrounding world. When sufficently powerful, they can trigger mass exctictions or save societies from starvation. Such is the nature of their influence that often times they can be worshipped as gods, or perhaps seen as greater than gods.
That specific titan was later dubbed "Drayhg". These explorer's became "Titan blessed", they could manipulate water and draw on some unseen massive pool of strength, without using the acedemically recognizable magics. They were a wonder, and quickly became very important.
After humanities' first encounter with Titans, massive winged, fire breathing creatures which fed upon entire villages and entire forests began to appear throughout this world. These creatures, originally called "Drahyg-Sons" soon became known as "Drahghouls" and eventually "Dragons". It was found that the titan-blessed had a special affinity for the murder of these beasts, and soon where set up around the land to slay them.
Of course, this was before the discovery that Dragons were intellegent, and the dragon's discovery that humans are intellegent. This discovery was what brought about the first dragon riders. Titan blessed and wizards who had a mutual, (Or not so mutual, in the case of most wizards) mental connection. The Titan blessed could draw strength from the dragons, and eventually ride them. The dragons would get an insight into the world of men, and be able to use magic- the magics the titan blessed had from the titans.
However, with wizards, this is not the case.
Occasionally, there are rather powerful wizards, wizards who have great control over Andrus' power. Wizards of this strength could "enslave" the dragons, take over their minds, use them as steeds, and through this power, grow more of their power. Of course, the crowns saw the dangers in this, along with the university. The practice was outlawed after a rebel group began to use dragons in their armies, and all the written accounts of how to enslave a dragon they could get their hands on were destroyed. With no enslavement possibilities, Dragons and Men were at peace.
Or so we thought.
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