[OOC]Please forgive my absence, everyone. At least you all have been somewhat busy...

All right, time to unleash my inner Xavier...[/OOC]

Failure. Failure. The mission was completely unsuccessful. Fate herself even showed, yet he was not amazed. He did not even have the need to blink his old, wise eyes. Se froze time in its place, and even spoke to him, and still, he was not fazed. What a strong man. A strong man of will. Dare say a stubborn man. But, he tried to do what was right. For his people. For himself. And Xavier respected this. The populace of Lucia was Xavier's life. His soul. His essence. The thought that he knew they were free, and safe, empowered him. The power he had over them, strengthened him. In fact, he could not tell any more what he desired the most, power, or the joy of freedom. Xavier was confused. Nexhawk was not. This is how the respect was won.

The man simply turned, and walked away. Not very far, mind, just to, Xavier presumed, the royal stables. What was the color? Take a guess? Crimson! Yes, crimson! The stables were much more fine then that, though. The crimson flowers Xavier had seen on his walk to the palace were quite abundant, and were clinging gracefully to the beam that supported the stable. Many strange symbols were engraved on the stable, except they moved. They seemed to all swirl in a clockwise direction, and at the same pace. They glowed with a, wait for it, crimson hue, as if warding off some evil.

The beasts were more beautiful then the stables, however. At first glace, all you saw were impossibly large eggs. The eggs were surprising not crimson, but were a pure white with black spots surrounding it. Then the magic happened. The beasts could hatch at will, and it was extraordinary! The shells would crack fiercely, as if it had a purpose. Crack. Crack. Crack. Strange crimson hues would emit from these crevices, which then would overtake the whole egg. After a few seconds, the lights would subside, and a large, majestic bird would appear in its place, the egg not to be seen. It seemed to be made of pure fire (which was in a visibly recognizable shape of a very large bird). The fire on the bird was ever flowing, and it was so detailed and precise that you could see every single feather. It was a surprise that Nexhawk did not get burned.

Nexhawk spoke of going to the enemy, and asked if Xavier would like to join him.

"Nay, comrade. I can not go to the heart of the beast. It would not be wise with the book," he thumped it twice, "and the very different views of my own."

Nexhawk nodded to him, and appeared to be wanting to make his bird sour.

"Remember, Nexhawk, the carriage cannot be driven if the conductor is dead. Heed this warning, Nexhawk, and may you persuade them to join The Cause."

[OOC]Remember to drop what you think your character alignment would be. So far we have:
Collective (I think): True Neutral

Alixenus: You mentioned something about be Neutral-Good, with a little Lawful mixed in, so I'll put you in the Lawful-Neutral category.

Xavier: He is most likely Chaotic Good.

Is there anyone else I missed? Remember, Character Alignmentsaid your character, not hinder them.

[/OOC]

I would say Thanatos sways between lawful and chaotic good. I guess it depends. Maybe someone can point me in the right direction. I see Thanatos as one who prefers the laws of mortals over the laws of the gods. He sees that there is a difference between what is lawful and what is oppressive. He won't hesitate to break a law (especially an oppressive one)if it is for the greater good. He isn't Superman so he's not afraid to get his hands dirty if need be. This all changes as the character progresses.

[OOC]Please forgive my absence, everyone. At least you all have been somewhat busy...

All right, time to unleash my inner Xavier...[/OOC]

Failure. Failure. The mission was completely unsuccessful. Fate herself even showed, yet he was not amazed. He did not even have the need to blink his old, wise eyes. Se froze time in its place, and even spoke to him, and still, he was not fazed. What a strong man. A strong man of will. Dare say a stubborn man. But, he tried to do what was right. For his people. For himself. And Xavier respected this. The populace of Lucia was Xavier's life. His soul. His essence. The thought that he knew they were free, and safe, empowered him. The power he had over them, strengthened him. In fact, he could not tell any more what he desired the most, power, or the joy of freedom. Xavier was confused. Nexhawk was not. This is how the respect was won.

The man simply turned, and walked away. Not very far, mind, just to, Xavier presumed, the royal stables. What was the color? Take a guess? Crimson! Yes, crimson! The stables were much more fine then that, though. The crimson flowers Xavier had seen on his walk to the palace were quite abundant, and were clinging gracefully to the beam that supported the stable. Many strange symbols were engraved on the stable, except they moved. They seemed to all swirl in a clockwise direction, and at the same pace. They glowed with a, wait for it, crimson hue, as if warding off some evil.

The beasts were more beautiful then the stables, however. At first glace, all you saw were impossibly large eggs. The eggs were surprising not crimson, but were a pure white with black spots surrounding it. Then the magic happened. The beasts could hatch at will, and it was extraordinary! The shells would crack fiercely, as if it had a purpose. Crack. Crack. Crack. Strange crimson hues would emit from these crevices, which then would overtake the whole egg. After a few seconds, the lights would subside, and a large, majestic bird would appear in its place, the egg not to be seen. It seemed to be made of pure fire (which was in a visibly recognizable shape of a very large bird). The fire on the bird was ever flowing, and it was so detailed and precise that you could see every single feather. It was a surprise that Nexhawk did not get burned.

Nexhawk spoke of going to the enemy, and asked if Xavier would like to join him.

"Nay, comrade. I can not go to the heart of the beast. It would not be wise with the book," he thumped it twice, "and the very different views of my own."

Nexhawk nodded to him, and appeared to be wanting to make his bird sour.

"Remember, Nexhawk, the carriage cannot be driven if the conductor is dead. Heed this warning, Nexhawk, and may you persuade them to join The Cause."

[OOC]Remember to drop what you think your character alignment would be. So far we have:
Collective (I think): True Neutral

Alixenus: You mentioned something about be Neutral-Good, with a little Lawful mixed in, so I'll put you in the Lawful-Neutral category.

Xavier: He is most likely Chaotic Good.

Is there anyone else I missed? Remember, Character Alignmentsaid your character, not hinder them.

[/OOC]

//OOC: EDIT: Read again through the description and changed my mind. I believe Nexhawk is close to Neutral Good, but he is extremely concerned about the Ashborn's fate overall, so we'll see where that leads him further. //End of OOC\\

Nexhawk was ready to lift in the air when something hit him. I cannot let go. Not this time, not that the book has been figuratively given into my hands. This is it, the chance to redeem my people! He addressed the Dwarf politely.

"While our intentions might not line up right now, I believe your presence in this capital of Diyad will be most crucial. You must understand Nak'Sora's motives better than anyone else, and hence your words will have the best chance of talking sense into the other leaders. I clearly understand the importance of the book you are holding, and I certainly value your desire to bring it to Spodium."

A new fire sparked in Nexhawk's eyes, a flame of determination. "How about this: for the duration or our journey to Diyad, I will offer my ultimate and utmost protection for you and the Dark Arcanum. Basically, this means that anyone other than you, Xavier, will be able to put his hands on the book solely over my corpse. And trust me when I say," a smirk appeared on his face, "that no demigod on Praecantaria has ever fallen to mortal weapons or something other than pure magic. I do not plan to break this tendency. So, what do you say now?"

OOC: Okay are we seriously forgetting the conversation Thanatos was engaging with Sandromin and Alixenus?

(Ooc) well, I'm bored of Brutus not doing anything, so I'm gonna do a random story in the land go the dead. (Ooc)

//OOC: Well, why then did you jump from the Embershard? I think things are getting interesting on the airship. //End of OOC\\

OOC: //Sorry to interject with the story. I've been following along, but was a few days behind.

I know you all have fairly settled the matter of the Dark Arcanum, but I had a thought that might mesh the disparate stories a little better, without stepping on toes.

I see it as the DA was originally crafted by Fate as a tool for the Deathlord (capital D marking the master from the servants), and as such she imbued part of his soul into the book, along with the stolen soul of the betrayer.

This imbuing of combative souls granted the book exceptional power, and a knowledge of magic far surpassing any normal means, but also engendered an oily film of insanity as both aspects battled for eternity inside the tome.

If you'll pardon the Harry Potter reference, I see the book as a Horcrux of sorts. It functions as a part of the Deathlord's soul, and remains highly potent while disconnected from the source, but exponentially strengthens the Deathlord (AN) if/when he is reunited with the book.

This could play into the suggestions floating in Xavier's head, the book wants to be whole, even at the cost of the bearer's life to get back to the Deathlord.

Intrinsically tied to the fact that the book is a horcrux, as long as the book exists, the Deathlord will find a new host to infect with an aspect of himself, until he slowly rises to prominence again. This would give a purpose to the roving deathlords (lower case d to indicate the slave kings), as they are prowling around looking for their risen master, and performing nefarious feats as well to bide time.


As to meshing the history, the book was created by Fate, stolen by the Five, returned by the betrayer, and bound to the Deathlord. Deathlord fled Precantaeria for the other continent where he eventually died at the hands of the first hero under Freedom. Unfortunately for this hero, he was much like Isildur in his ignorance of the danger a mere "trinket" could pose, so he did not ensure that the book was destroyed. Since the book is part of the Deathlord, it willfully bonded itself to one of the hero's retinue, and became immaterial, hiding in the soul of the poor retainer. The book waited many long years before deciding the danger had passed and elected to re-materialize, crafting the idea that the scribes had "created" the book recently. The book influenced those present to decide that it would be best to spirit the book away, to keep it "safe", when in fact the book was having them move it away from the greatest danger present, the king. Thus it came to be hidden on the logipriest island long ago, and it slumbered while awaiting the rise of the true host, the next great AN.


I am not sure if this conflicts with any of the established lore, this is just what I took from reading the different origins of the book. After all, as was stated before, history is written by the victors, and in this particular instance, the real victor has been the book for an unknown length of time.

As I am not a contributing author to the world, take my suggestions with a ton of salt.



Also, everyone's story here is awesome. I would definitely pay to read your work in hard-back format. //End OOC

OOC: //Sorry to interject with the story. I've been following along, but was a few days behind.

I know you all have fairly settled the matter of the Dark Arcanum, but I had a thought that might mesh the disparate stories a little better, without stepping on toes.

I see it as the DA was originally crafted by Fate as a tool for the Deathlord (capital D marking the master from the servants), and as such she imbued part of his soul into the book, along with the stolen soul of the betrayer.

This imbuing of combative souls granted the book exceptional power, and a knowledge of magic far surpassing any normal means, but also engendered an oily film of insanity as both aspects battled for eternity inside the tome.

If you'll pardon the Harry Potter reference, I see the book as a Horcrux of sorts. It functions as a part of the Deathlord's soul, and remains highly potent while disconnected from the source, but exponentially strengthens the Deathlord (AN) if/when he is reunited with the book.

This could play into the suggestions floating in Xavier's head, the book wants to be whole, even at the cost of the bearer's life to get back to the Deathlord.

Intrinsically tied to the fact that the book is a horcrux, as long as the book exists, the Deathlord will find a new host to infect with an aspect of himself, until he slowly rises to prominence again. This would give a purpose to the roving deathlords (lower case d to indicate the slave kings), as they are prowling around looking for their risen master, and performing nefarious feats as well to bide time.


As to meshing the history, the book was created by Fate, stolen by the Five, returned by the betrayer, and bound to the Deathlord. Deathlord fled Precantaeria for the other continent where he eventually died at the hands of the first hero under Freedom. Unfortunately for this hero, he was much like Isildur in his ignorance of the danger a mere "trinket" could pose, so he did not ensure that the book was destroyed. Since the book is part of the Deathlord, it willfully bonded itself to one of the hero's retinue, and became immaterial, hiding in the soul of the poor retainer. The book waited many long years before deciding the danger had passed and elected to re-materialize, crafting the idea that the scribes had "created" the book recently. The book influenced those present to decide that it would be best to spirit the book away, to keep it "safe", when in fact the book was having them move it away from the greatest danger present, the king. Thus it came to be hidden on the logipriest island long ago, and it slumbered while awaiting the rise of the true host, the next great AN.


I am not sure if this conflicts with any of the established lore, this is just what I took from reading the different origins of the book. After all, as was stated before, history is written by the victors, and in this particular instance, the real victor has been the book for an unknown length of time.

As I am not a contributing author to the world, take my suggestions with a ton of salt. I figured this would blend the two stories, and posit that the book has a malicious will of it's own, when not being directed externally by Fate to be docile. (Reason for fluctuating insanity for Xavier)



Also, everyone's story here is awesome. I would definitely pay to read your work in hard-back format. //End OOC

OOC: //Sorry to interject with the story. I've been following along, but was a few days behind.

I know you all have fairly settled the matter of the Dark Arcanum, but I had a thought that might mesh the disparate stories a little better, without stepping on toes.

I see it as the DA was originally crafted by Fate as a tool for the Deathlord (capital D marking the master from the servants), and as such she imbued part of his soul into the book, along with the stolen soul of the betrayer.

This imbuing of combative souls granted the book exceptional power, and a knowledge of magic far surpassing any normal means, but also engendered an oily film of insanity as both aspects battled for eternity inside the tome.

If you'll pardon the Harry Potter reference, I see the book as a Horcrux of sorts. It functions as a part of the Deathlord's soul, and remains highly potent while disconnected from the source, but exponentially strengthens the Deathlord (AN) if/when he is reunited with the book.

This could play into the suggestions floating in Xavier's head, the book wants to be whole, even at the cost of the bearer's life to get back to the Deathlord.

Intrinsically tied to the fact that the book is a horcrux, as long as the book exists, the Deathlord will find a new host to infect with an aspect of himself, until he slowly rises to prominence again. This would give a purpose to the roving deathlords (lower case d to indicate the slave kings), as they are prowling around looking for their risen master, and performing nefarious feats as well to bide time.


As to meshing the history, the book was created by Fate, stolen by the Five, returned by the betrayer, and bound to the Deathlord. Deathlord fled Precantaeria for the other continent where he eventually died at the hands of the first hero under Freedom. Unfortunately for this hero, he was much like Isildur in his ignorance of the danger a mere "trinket" could pose, so he did not ensure that the book was destroyed. Since the book is part of the Deathlord, it willfully bonded itself to one of the hero's retinue, and became immaterial, hiding in the soul of the poor retainer. The book waited many long years before deciding the danger had passed and elected to re-materialize, crafting the idea that the scribes had "created" the book recently. The book influenced those present to decide that it would be best to spirit the book away, to keep it "safe", when in fact the book was having them move it away from the greatest danger present, the king. Thus it came to be hidden on the logipriest island long ago, and it slumbered while awaiting the rise of the true host, the next great AN.


I am not sure if this conflicts with any of the established lore, this is just what I took from reading the different origins of the book. After all, as was stated before, history is written by the victors, and in this particular instance, the real victor has been the book for an unknown length of time.

As I am not a contributing author to the world, take my suggestions with a ton of salt. I figured this would blend the two stories, and posit that the book has a malicious will of it's own, when not being directed externally by Fate to be docile. (Reason for fluctuating insanity for Xavier)



Also, everyone's story here is awesome. I would definitely pay to read your work in hard-back format. //End OOC

I always did give the impression that the Dark Arcanum (The Book) had a mind of its own, and (was) influencing Xavier's thoughts until it recently took a liking to him.

My back-story on the book is that, yes, it was crafted by Fate, but it originally was destined to be good, and help The Five mold the world into a paradise. They succeeded, but one of the Five became corrupt, greedy, and twisted the book with dark magics. He essentially made the paradise world a living hell, until all the Gods caught wind of the destruction and mayhem he caused. The Gods took to recreating the world in their hands, because they could no longer trust humans. This was, however, not a paradise, for they deemed that the punishment was too great to be put on only The Five. The severely limited the powers of the Five, and banished to specific locations in Dustia. Here is where The Five created societies that revolved around different magics, such as fire or water. To limit their ever growing knowledge, the Gods imposed a mandatory reincarnation period every 150 years, where they were forced to be reincarnated into another human being, but without the knowledge they previously possessed. This forced The Five to write down everything they have learned, so the previous life could have the same powers as they.

The evil member of the Five, the one who corrupted the world, was banished to the farthest and most desolate place in Dustia, where he would remain for all eternity. This man is the AN. The Book was also separated from him, for his powers are worthless without it.

Or so it seems...


And that is my back-story. It probably conflicts with something, I'm sure of it. But, nevertheless, here it is. How do all of you like it?

//OOC: It's quite close to the backstory that I firstly had about the book. Specifically, I said the the Nak'Sora gave the Arcanum to the Firstborn Mir in order to harness their magical potential and give them spells; later, as taint seeped into the book, the Archmage of the Life Wardens became the first Deathlord, gaining knowledge from the corrupted book. He and his people have been banished, but they managed to steal the book first and then leave Praecantaria.

Thanatos, however, was strictly against it; it was understandable, for he introduced the book in the first place. Hence, I had to edit my backstory to account for the changes Sandromin made in order to resolve the argument. //End of OOC\\

//OOC: Not bad, sir... Not bad at all!

No idea about Sandromin and the rest, but I, personally, thoroughly enjoyed this explanation. One little thing, though, was a slight bit unclear to me: by "the king", do you mean Thanatos or someone else?

Also, if you ever wish to join us in writing, I think everyone would be happy about it. //End of OOC\\

Thanatos, however, was strictly against it; it was understandable, for he introduced the book in the first place. Hence, I had to edit my backstory to account for the changes Sandromin made in order to resolve the argument. //End of OOC\\

OOC: @ Sir Thanatos.

I did recall that it stayed in Diyad for some time after the AN was defeated, but I wasn't clear when it migrated to the Logipriest temple. Or am I confusing story elements?

Was the temple collapse and Thanatos' death taking place around the DA on a pedestal, or some other artifact?

@Nexhawk I looked back, and it was indeed on page 10, the book was conjured from a thread. So we could edit to say that the book influenced the scribes to "hide" it in some pocket space, which the King (Lionus, and through him Thanatos) would be able to protect and keep from being abused. The actual reasoning would be to slowly poison the mind of the ruler, as would seem to be the case on page 9, when Thanatos was sounding similar to Xavier. Whether anyone realized that the book had engineered it's own safe-keeping is another question. Perhaps some of the scheming Secret Council knew, and wished for Thanatos to die or go crazy through exposure to the DA.

So basically, the only edit to the long post being that the book did not send itself to the logipriest island, but was slumbering in the pocket dimension represented by the thread.

Does that work?

I would have brought this up in a more timely manner in the 30s, but work is so pesky and refuses to leave me alone.

OOC: So sometime after the book's conception and after the defeat of the first AN, it made it's way to the land of the Mortuums where a long battle would take place between them and one of there brethren. This would be Ignak the AN. He would ultimately defeat the rest and consume their souls. With him left on the vast continent the small colony of Diyad would form into a sizable nation. After receiving the saber from Fate, the 7th king, Lionus III waged war on Ignak and his undead army. After slaying Ignak, Lionus tried to destroy it. This didn't work so he hid it in a secure location outside of the nation's borders, hopefully never to be seen again. Although Diyadian history may tell you that Lionus died decades after, this is not true. Merely weeks after hiding the book, Lionus was approached by Fate who offered him eternal life so that they may be together forever. He rejected her love, not remembering a promise he made as a child. Now we have an angry goddess and a king. She wipes out his family, by stopping their hearts. She punishes Lionus by casting him into the Sea of Souls. The book lay dormant until the third era and the appearance of the amnesia-ridden Thanatos. After the Great Civil War, he becomes king once more. He does however remember the location of the book. After that, if you read back you know about his quest to find the pieces of the cipher, so that people may learn how to counteract it's evil magicks. And as we know, when Thanatos was slain, the book fell near Sandromin, but Xavier picked it up.

The book in nature is desires to become whole, often this would mean finding an AN. Xavier would be right in assuming that the book took a liking into him. In Xavier it sensed power and strength. So yes it's attraction to Xavier is unique. But do not be fooled. It only wishes to become whole.

I introduced Fate mainly to push the plot forward, but also to introduce one key element. Everyone's character is vital in the grand scheme of things. They each possess a trait, be it a goal, ambition, or belief that is so strong that it challenges the gods. This is a very essential tool that I only touched on briefly with my earlier dialogues with Fate. But I'll elaborate on this later.

Edit: If anyone has any input feel free. I'm trying to be more open to suggestions. So I can edit earlier stuff if need be.