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[Puffin]

To start, I'm sorry if this is wordy. I really, really tried to shorten it as much as possible, so I hope you won't just get bored and look at some lol cats or something instead. :(
The idea for this was made with Kamau and Bottom Guy's help. :D
I'll post my first post later, it'll be this same topic.

One of the world's most powerful countries, Ghem'fled, seeks to expand its territory abroad in the largely unclaimed world of the new continent simply named 'Eight'. Ghem'fled is one of many countries that relies heavily on technology and while the Eighth Continent had gone on ignored for years, when the discovery of a rare mineral was made by the Republic of Tejet, several nations began trying to get their fill of the land. Ghem'fled itself sent a fleet of four ships, Anse, Beile, Cane, and Dhoul. These ships are all equipped with mages and scientists, to research their findings on the Eighth Continent, soldiers, to protect them from any danger, and a full crew to man each ship. Of course, these aren't the only ships to be found, and they aren't the only people roaming on the continent.


Races:

Humans- Standard, run of the mill humans. They are the majority race in Ghem'fled as well as Tejet.

Werecats- These are the werecats I draw all the time, they don't transform and they only are cat-like in name, not behavior. They are a majority race only in Vernisk.

Elves- These are not your immortal wood fey. They're basically just like humans, but with pointy ears. They consider themselves the original race from which all others stemmed (except demons) and this is generally agreed upon by most others. They are the majority in The United Elven Nation (duh).

Demons- They are a minority in basically every country, they also have several sub races, so, if you have an inhuman character you'd like to use that doesn't really fit any of the other races, you're welcome to just list them off as some vague sub race. Demons are also not inherently evil, although they are often perceived as such. Their origin is different and largely unknown by themselves and other races. They were once considered as monsters by the other races and were even a source of forced labor in Ghem'fled (slavery is no longer allowed). One mark that all the sub races share, is having red, gold or purple eyes that glow in the dark.

Halflings- Of course, nearly every race can certainly procreate with each other. Halflings aren't usually regarded kindly, inherently because defects and abnormalities can often occur (interracial relationships are frowned upon for this reason), they are also usually sterile (yet another reason why they're not liked as their inability to make babies is seen as, well, god's way of saying they shouldn't exist). Dragon are the only race not capable of having children with any of the other races.

Dragons- They are seen as the ancient beings and are extremely powerful. While the other four races' magic abilities can wane, a dragon's will stay the same forever. While not immortal, their life span can reach thousands of years, making them seem so to other races. They have two forms, a humanoid form (the more 'human' looking this form is, the more powerful the dragon's magic is. So, a magically weak dragon may still have horns, scales or other such features in this form) and a draconic form which is the giant, flying lizard we all know. Dragons are the natives of the Eighth Continent, but they are very reclusive and generally try to maintain peace with the other races. They believe they will outlast the other races, and that those races are powerless to do any real harm against them. The rulers of the land don't even see any harm in the other races suddenly vying for their land. They are one of two Draconic Kingdoms, the other being the Seventh Continent far to the North.


Countries:

Ghem'fled- The largest nation of the Third Continent. Formally a monarchy, it became a republic after a bloody revolution over fifty years ago. It now enjoys the spoils of the Engineering Age more than any country. It also has the need of new resources more than any.

Republic of Tejet- Once a prominent country known for its magic, it now struggles to catch up with Ghem'fled's advancements. This Republic unites the three nations of the Second continent. It seeks to expand its land before Ghem'fled in order to reach ahead.

United Elven Nation- A country that has been resting in an unsteady truce with Ghem'fled for nearly a century. They were once compromised of several small kingdoms, but now enjoy unity under the rule of their emperor. Now that the opportunity to conquer more land has arose, their emperor seeks to steal as much of it as they can before Ghem'fled. Some worry this can fuel another war between them.

Vernisk- A small country lying on the border between the Elven Nation and Ghem'fled. Originally, they sought no part of the recent expansion trend, but then the Elven Nation offered them a deal. If their country agreed to help them settle their claim of land, they would give them a colony of up to 1/8th of the total land gained, 1/6th if that land was gained with considerable help from Vernisk. The Elven Nation would supply the ships and all necessary equipment, Vernisk need only to supply the manpower. Why the Elven Nation reached out to Vernisk is undisclosed, though some speculate that they feared they would be no match for Ghem'fled alone.

Arwald- Once, this country was a part of the Draconic Kingdom, but when disputes over a single Dragon ruling all the rest arose, these Dragons split off and founded their own country on the Eighth Continent. While the other races vaguely know of Dragons living on the continent, they have no idea what kind of society they lead or even if they still exist. The Council knows full well of this and simply hopes it will stay like that. Arwald is built into the caverns of the Eighth Continent's mountains. The dragons, when at home in these caverns all hold a humanoid shape (smaller = more room for everyone to move). While some dragons may have their own caves disconnected from the main caverns, all political and public places are connected.


Ships:

Ghem'fled- Anse, Beile, Cane, and Dhoul.

Tejet- Eten and Fant

Elven Nation- Genji, Hito, Irio, and Jaite.

Vernisk- Kejio, Laire, and Minti.


Magic:

While possible, magic is not common. According to local religion and myth, the reason magic is dwindling is a lack of new souls in the world. Every soul of the four races created has an equal, but finite amount of magic. If a person is a prominent mage in one life who used a lot of his magic, then in his next life he will have very little magic. Dragons are not bound by this, they are not reincarnated and each soul does not have an equal amount of magic, although a dragon will never run out.

Elemental- The ability to control the elements. Earth, fire, water, and air.

Healing- The hardest magic to learn, healing magic, can fix wounds. Most healers are incapable of healing a serious wound completely unless they happen to be a powerful dragon or a new soul.

Support- Those specializing in support magic can create invisible shields to keep their enemies out, can lift curses and dispel other magic.

Illusion- This gives the caster the power to create illusions to change their appearance, hide something, change their environment in some way or even conjure apparitions.

The strength of all these types relies on how much magic a user is capable of. How long someone can hold up an illusion or a shield depends on how powerful their magic is, someone who has little magic may not be able to influence the elements much or heal wounds. If any of the races (including dragons) uses too much magic at once, then they will become fatigued and, in extreme cases, may even faint as a consequence.

Camps:

Ghem'fled- Newly landed as of the start of the RP. They are the last expedition to reach the shores of the Eighth Continent.

Tejet- Their camps have been there the longest, they have two. One places near a large pond of fresh water, another near the quarry they have been mining for resources. Workers retire to the pond camp upon night fall, then return to the quarry camp to work. The only people who stay at the quarry camp are guards.

Elven Nation- They landed not long after Tejet, they have one large camp near a river and have been trying to locate the Ghem'fled camp by sending scouts out daily.

Vernisk- They share the Elven Nation's camp. They arrived just before Ghem'fled and do not have as much of a grasp of the land as those from the Elven Nation.

---

Now... I'd like anyone joining to write a short bio. I won't bother you to write history or description, as that's what usually gets people on writing bios. I'll let you reveal those in your actual writing. The bio itself is just for the record as all bios will be posted in the second post to keep track of. Just for a list of ideas, jobs can be researcher, mage, geographer, biologist, soldier, navy personnel, draconic noble... You can come up with your own ideas, but if you're in need of an idea...well, yeah. Abilities can be just about anything. Maybe you're the cook on one of the ships and you can spot any edible thing from a mile away or you can be a mage and your abilities consist of the magic you know or what kind of fighting styles you know. As far as a number of characters... make as many as you can manage. You're allowed to have a mysterious character, just don't go over board with it, having a sword for hire whose name, age, past, and home country are all some deep dark secret of which no one can be certain can be a little cliche without the proper balance. If you do decide to pull off this kind of character, then at least give him a good personality, 'kay?
I will say this, as far as technology goes, they aren't that advanced. They have crude factories and machines by our standards, though they do have airships (not the kind of ships being used for exploration) and guns as well as cannons. Though, these are not very advanced. They are basically like the kind of armaments you'd find in the 1600's.
I think that's about it. If I think of anything else important, I'll add it, but this should be it.

Name:
Age:
Gender:
Race:
Country:
Job:
Abilities:

[Puffin]

Character Biographies

(Puffin)
Name: Roy Elder
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Country: Ghem'fled
Job: Soldier
Abilities: Handy with a rifle, but better with a sword, he's well trained in fencing with a saber.

(Kamau)
Name: Anna Dalkin
Age: 28
Gender: Female
Race: Human
Country: Ghem'fled
Job: Ship Cleric
Abilities: Healing magic; also knowledgable about many homemade remedies

(Stars)
Name: Fabian Nilgiri
Age: 29
Gender: Male
Race: Werecat
Country: Vernisk
Job: Botanist/Biochemist
Abilities: Has built up resistances to many plant-based poisons. Able to determine what properties a plant might have by examining and tasting it. Can craft various potions, pastes, and powders that immitate or enhance magic. Cannot personally use any magic.

[Puffin]

"It would have been faster if they had given us an airship," Roy grumbled. He and the soldier next to him were on watch out duty while the camp was set up. They had reached the Eighth Continent last night and had come ashore this morning. They'd been up for six hours now and the most he's done is stand there and look out over a vacant landscape. The least they could have done was give their crew faster transportation.
"There's no airports in the middle of no where, Roy. Airships woulda been useless."
He scoffed, "Those things used to land where ever, so long as the ground was flat enough, don't need a damned airport." His companion shrugged and let the conversation drop. He couldn't help being the slightest bit bitter, it's not like he actually chose to be here, unlike the many who had signed up for the job or at least had the choice to refuse. He was assigned this job three weeks ago, even patrolling the Elven border would have been preferable to this. This was just one big, rocky landscape devoid of any real civilization.

(that's just to start. I may make some other characters, to represent the other sides and stuff, just to get the ball rolling.)

[Kamau]

Name: Anna Dalkin
Age: 28
Gender: Female
Race: Human
Country: Ghem'fled
Job: Ship Cleric
Abilities: Healing magic; also knowledgable about many homemade remedies

-----

"Just set up the cot over there." Anna pointed in almost a random direction, only half paying attention to where she was directing the men helping her set up the medical tent. She had been running around from the moment the ship had put down anchor - and before that, even, as she had been packing up everything she'd need for a good majority of the day, as most of the items in her cabin could be used if anything went wrong on shore. While her white magic could be used for most of the smaller injuries that were likely to occur on the land expeditions, there was always a chance that someone might fall and break a bone, or worse, and those she couldn't heal instantly.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a few of the soldiers hired to protect the crew from anything the uncharted land of the eighth continent might throw their way. From what she could tell, they looked bored out of their minds. She couldn't help but scowl - even if they were on guard duty, at least they had a reason to stand there doing nothing.

A gruff question brought her attention back to where it was needed. "Miss, where do you want these?"

She couldn't wait until the tent was entirely set up. Perhaps then she'd be able to take a break.

[Puffin]

"Alright, everybody," said Nathaniel West, he was the official leader of their expedition, or at least the fancy name tagged onto it to give them funding. "We'll want to know our surroundings before night falls. Make sure there's no danger lurking nearby and see if there's fresh water nearby." He pointed to a group of scouts, sending them on their way and, just when he thought he was safe, the finger was next pointed Roy. "You, too, go along." Roy sighed.
Nathaniel paused a moment, thinking aloud, "I suppose we should send a healer with them, just in case..." He mumbled before calling out, "Miss Dalkin! Accompany the troops!"

[Kamau]

Anna hardly gave a thought to the orders coming out of Nathaniel's mouth at first, so anxiously she was watching the men put down the last of the items in the tent. With the placement of the last bit of makeshift shelving, she could finally sit down, finally take a rest, and even the thought was making it hard to contain her excitement. "Thank you," she said to the two men as they filed out of the tent. "You should both take a break, you deserve it."

The one pulling up the rear smiled back at her and dipped his head lightly. "Any time, Miss Dalkin. You should get some rest, too."

"I plan to..." Her relieved response dropped off as her name was called as she registered her name being said a second time. She sighed, voice barely masking her irritation as she finished, "...eventually." Retreating into the now-furnished tent, she grabbed a small kit off the table and emerged again, heading to where the exploration group was forming.

[Stars]

((*Finally checks this topic* Sorry for the delay, especially after promising that I'd join when Puffin brought it up over AIM.
I suspected this might be an Arcane RP when you started talking about the Eighth Continent. =p I have a vague character idea that I'll have to work on later tonight; I'm about to leave for work in about 5 minutes. However, Sundays are rarely busy, so I'll probably read through the posts so far and ask questions over AIM at some point while I'm at work.))

[Puffin]

To top things off, Roy, of all people, was appointed group leader. He should have seen it coming, since the other three were just young boys and West apparently didn't think the healer to be suitable for leading an exploration group. He just sighed heavily as the nurse- whatever she did- joined them. "Alright, let's make this quick. The sooner we find fresh water, the better."
"What if we find one of the other camps nearby? Like, too close?" said one of the scouts as they set off. He seemed nervous about that prospect.
"Then we back off quickly and quietly and let West over there handle it," Roy dismissed the idea, finding the chances that another camp was anywhere close to theirs slim.

[Stars]

Name: Fabian Nilgiri
Age: 29
Gender: Male
Race: Werecat
Country: Vernisk
Job: Botanist/Biochemist
Abilities: Has built up resistances to many plant-based poisons. Able to determine what properties a plant might have by examining and tasting it. Can craft various potions, pastes, and powders that immitate or enhance magic. Cannot personally use any magic.

((Haven't decided what to post yet, but there's my profile, at least.))

[Puffin]

Name: Raja Noor
Age: 23
Gender: Female
Race: Werecat
Country: Vernisk
Job: Mage
Abilities: She works specifically with support magic, although she can cast basic elemental magic (sticks mainly with water and fire in that regard).


-Ghem'fled-

They had searched for three hours before they found a spring of fresh water. It wouldn't have taken so long except that they ended up going in circles now and then... Upon finding water, one of the scouts promptly marked the spot down on a map. The scout looked up from the parchment and asked, "Shall we head back now, Elder?"
Roy sat down on a convenient rock, smirking to himself, "In a minute. Let's just enjoy the peace and quiet of being away from West for now."

[Kamau]

"Not that your suggestion isn't tempting, but can't we just head back now instead?" Anna asked with a sigh, massaging the bridge of her nose in a tired fashion as she leaned against a nearby tree. In most cases, she would have loved to have a good excuse to not have to hear Nathaniel's loud voice and obnoxious orders, but frankly...she was tired, and walking in circles for three hours certainly wasn't making her any less so.

[Puffin]

Roy frowned, "Ah, that's right. We have a woman with us," he stood as he continued mocking her, "Alright, gentlemen, let's go so the poor girl can rest her feet in a tidier environment." As he lead them off a couple of the scouts stifled chuckles, but the cartographer merely turned to Anna, mouthing the words, "Ignore him," before they followed after Roy.
They hadn't gotten far before a group of werecats leaped down upon them. The scouts were pushed down to the ground before they could draw their weapons, and by the time Roy had his sword out, two elves had grabbed him by the arms and shoved him to the ground. There were eight werecats and two, if not more, elves.

[Kamau]

Anna scowled at Roy's mocking comment, eyes darkening despite the fact that she didn't outright challenge his words. Taunting or not, they were still moving back towards the camp, and frankly, she really didn't feel like starting an argument while she was so exhausted. As irritating as his comments were, her shouting at him would get neither of them anywhere. The chuckling from the scouts did nothing to decrease her annoyance, but she was momentarily reassured that at least someone else in their little group didn't think she was just being petty.

So caught up in her thoughts, the group of ambushers took her entirely by surprise. Judging from how swiftly the rest of their scouting party was subdued, she had to assume she wasn't the only one who had found the attack unexpected. As she saw the scouts being shoved to the ground and Roy pushed to his knees, Anna took one glance back the way they had come from. The werecats already outnumbered their group, but the elves coming up from behind were enough to eliminate all thoughts of attempting to escape. Though she didn't like the idea, nor of admitting it, they were effectively surrounded.

Slowly, Anna raised her hands in a defensively neutral position, palms turned outward to show that she held no weapon. Being captured certainly didn't appeal to her, but the idea of being thrown to the ground and held there as Roy was for fighting back was even less enticing. Still, even with her silent sign of surrender, one of the elves still came forward and grabbed her arm, twisting it behind her back and effectively locking her in place.

[Puffin]

-EN and Vernisk camp-

"So much for a slim chance..." Roy couldn't help but think. He, Anna, the cartographer and the scouts were all brought to the Elven-Vernisk Camp. They weren't given any explanation as to why they were being taken captive, just tied with their hands bound behind their backs. Two guards stood at the entrance of the tent they seemed to have cleared for their prisoners. Their weapons had, of course, all been taken away, as was Anna's medical kit.
At one point an Elven commander had walked by and spoken to the guards in Elven. None of them knew what it was that he had said, but soon after a couple more guards came in, picking up Roy by the arms and forcing him to come with them. A few hours had passed before he returned, half walking, but half dragged along. His lip was split, his face bruised and bloodied, his eye swollen and ringed black. Once they had walked a mere few feet into the tent, the two guards shoved him forward and down to the ground. They took one of the scouts next, who, after seeing Roy, protested and begged. It didn't help him in anyway and in the end, he was dragged out of the tent.
Roy groaned as he awkwardly lifted himself to his knees "...Fuck..."

[Kamau]

Roy was the first to be dragged from the tent. The orders had come in Elven, so none of their group had known for sure what the elves were coming in for at first, but Anna had a good idea...as did the rest of them, though they had all been too tense to talk about it in more than hushed whispers. The conversation in itself was a bit of a reprieve from the silence they had all adopted since being taken to the elven camp, but it died down after, she assumed, they all grew tired of debating whether Roy would be coming back or not.

Her heart sank as she watched him stumble back into the tent, face. He had come back, which meant the cartographer had won the wager that the men had jokingly put into play if only to get a reprieve from some of the tension...but his face was covered in bruises and blood, which meant, though she took no amusement from it, that she was actually the winner.

She watched mutely as the guards grabbed one of the scouts and escorted him out of the tent, feeling a twinge of sympathy for him as he begged and pleaded with the guards, knowing what he likely had coming. Once they were out of her line of sight, however, her gaze slid back to Roy and she began struggling with her bindings.

She couldn't even loosen them. "Damn these ropes!" she hissed, more to herself than to the others. If only she had her medical kit... The small knife inside wouldn't have been useful in fending off any attacks, but its edge could have handled the ropes around her hands, given enough time. But no, they had taken her kit away, along with everything else.

When it became apparent that her skills were no match for whichever elf had tied her up, she grudgingly stopped and brought her attention around to Roy in full. "What hurts?" she asked quietly, trying to find a way around the question with an obvious answer. "Can you tell if anything's broken?" Just because she couldn't check his wounds herself didn't mean she wasn't going to find out what she could verbally.

[Puffin]

"No, they were going easy on me, believe it or not," Roy said, shaking his head, "They'll probably decide to be less nice in the coming days."
"What do they even want?" one of the scouts asked quietly, "We're supposed to have a truce and it's not like we did anything wrong..."
Roy glanced at the guards then leaned in a little, quietly explaining, "They're looking for our camp." He then looked at the cartographer and mouthed the words, "Map. Where?" The cartographer, though it took him a second to get what Roy was trying to say, pointed to his back pocket.

[Kamau]

Anna's sigh was of quiet relief as Roy shook his head and announced that nothing was broken. Although it didn't help their situation any, it allowed her to ease her worries for a moment...but the frown returned when he mentioned that the elves probably wouldn't be so kind as their time in their camp increased.

The overall volume of their voices dropped in order to discuss what Roy had found out during his...chat with the elves. "Why would they be looking for that?" she couldn't help but ask, her voice hushed to a whisper. As one of the scouts had said, Ghem'fled had a truce of sorts with the other nation, and it wouldn't make sense for the elven nation to be the first to break it.

[Puffin]

Roy shrugged, "Because they're a bunch of elven bastards?" One of the guards turned his head and glared, Roy glared back for a moment before turning back to the rest of the group. "Well, what do you know, they do understand english," he muttered, "But in all seriousness, I don't know. It doesn't make any sense to me, either."
"Did you tell them anything?" the cartographer asked quietly, Roy shook his head.
"Hopefully the kid with them now won't say anything, too," he answered, "Who knows what they'll do once they get the info they need. They could release us or... well, I'm sure you can imagine."

[Stars]

Fabian returned to the camp with his usual burden of bag, bottles, and pouches filled with samples of many different plants and fungi. He had found several rare herbs and even a few plants he had never seen before. He looked forward to testing their properties to make new potions, salves, and - most importantly - teas.

Fabian was considering this last prospect with an eager smile on his face when he saw a squad of soldiers and a pair of elves leading a small group of humans into the camp not far from him. He thought at first that the humans might be guests being escorted in, but that notion was quickly wiped away when he saw that their expressions ranged from nervous to hostile. A moment later, the five humans were led into the prison tent, and Fabian quickly forgot about them.

The few hours were remarkably productive. A few of the new plants Fabian brought back with him proved to be poisonous (and consequently unfit for making tea), but two of them proved to have mild healing qualities (and also tasted quick remarkable when steeped just right). Fabian hadn't taken very large sample of any of these plants, however, so he decided to go back out for larger stocks of those last two.

As he was walking to the edge of the camp, Fabian saw one of the humans from earlier in the day being dragged back to the prison tent, and his curiosity was piqued. He found a guard who looked bored and said, "Pardon me. I was just wondering if you know who those humans are who were brought in this afternoon?"

[Puffin]

"Ghem'fled scouts," the guard answered, "They were found by the pond in the East by the troop we sent out this morning."

(Er, dunno what else to say. you can control this conversation, if you like.)