Sturm Tyrannis

-Okay, some guidelines I go by.

I.- Don't be a rude asshole. No need for further elaboration, just don't be that guy.

II.- I like to type out reasonable paragraphs for my posts, not so short that they're boring but not so long that they're word salads. I have a college education but I don't feel the need to whip it out like a foot long cock and slap you in the face with it unannounced. That's just rude., even if you're into it.

III.- I play with the safety off when it comes to gaming. My character can die, yours can too. That being said, I am not a dick about it. I talk to you, the player, about what is about to happen. Like in good kink, we talk about boundaries and what is green-light, yellow-light, and red-light. (But what about chartruse light? Then prepare uranus!)

IV.- I kindly ask that you try to be legible and coherent in your postings. I know people have dyslexia or english is not their first language. I understand, I just kindly ask for you to put your best foot forward, thank you muchly.

V.- [SEE CHARACTER LORE SECYION BELOW]

VI.- This character is just that, a character. He is not my persona, he is a character. If you feel like you want to hit on me, I am flattered but I must kindly ask you to stop. Unless I can drive to your house in an hour, take you out for coffee and generally get to know you, I'm not interested. (I live in the great lakes, in the rusting depths of an indiana city. Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here)

VII.- Have fun, and feel free to give me suggestions. I encourage talking about what is happening in the RP. I tend to play more character driven than overall plot, but I am not opposed to overarching plot going on. Having both makes for a much more engaging story.

"There were many small pyramids clustered around the larger pyramids, as well as these there were terraces, numerous rectangular pools glinting in the sunlight, tall obelisk, and other structures. All of these were intricately carved and painted. One building was still under construction. I could see huge beasts that looked like a cross between a Dragon and an elephant, their massive horns and frilled crests connected to heavy harnesses that were dragging massive blocks of stone up large ramps. The din of thousands of these Saurians chipping away at the stones with chisels reached my ears, as well as the rasping of orders of the foremen directing the work." -From the Annuls of Antonio Diego, expedition to the New World 1470

The Saurians. It is what outsiders called them when they first discovered them when expeditions seeking alternative ways to reach Eastern spices and trade ventured westward over the unknown and open oceans. Centuries ago, Nordic sailors had undertaken such a voyage and brought back tales of foreign lands rich with crops and wilderness. They also told of different peoples who inhabited these lands. Some were open to diplomacy and trade, others overwhelmingly hostile. But the Nordic forays into this New World faded into obscurity following their conversion to a new religious order by their rulers. For nearly an age, the stories of a New World were regarded as exaggeration or outright fabrication. Until the sailors of the Olde Worlde found themselves on new shores, staring into the faces of people they had not expected to find.

-Saurian culture is largely based on their Mesoamerican neighbors, though theirs is significantly older and more advanced in certain ways. Their culture had adapted to smithing and mining brought by Nordic peoples long before resuming contact with the Olde Worlde.

-Saurian culture is very much a Caste-based system, with the Priests and Lawmakers at the top, the Warriors next, the Merchants third, and the Laborers the fourth rung. At the bottom, were the Slaves and Criminals

-Saurians are large-statured people, reaching 7'0 feet tall on average. Most of their people are descended from different strains of carnivorous dinosaurs, with some possessing more serpentine aspects. Those are often treated with due reverence as those marked by Feathered Serpent himself.

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--The Saurian people are an older species that is closely related to the Dragonborn. The difference between the two is that the Saurian people's skull and facial features resemble that of carnivorous dinosaurs, instead of dragons. Saurians also are regularly born with tails and do not develop wings. Saurians do not have "hair scales", instead they grow brilliant plumage on their scalps in a wide variety of colors.

-Saurian culture is highly animistic, polytheistic, and ingrained in every aspect of their lives. Jade is a sacred stone, as it is said to have been born where the spirits of their ancestors crossed from our world into the Eternal Green. To wear a string of jade beads is the mark of adulthood, as to be an adult is to carry one's ancestors with you.

-Gold is a metal of great significance, given only to those of the highest caste or those who have distinguished themselves in Saurian society. Warriors who are clad in golden armor are those who have distinguished themselves in battle. They are also some of the fiercest warriors, as to earn gold is to have killed enough of the enemy to have physically bathed in their blood.

-Saurian society is Matrilineal in nature, with a polyamorous culture. The Women will often have at least two husbands, and men of status are known to take concubines openly.

-"I have scoured the coasts of three continents, yet in all my years of roaming I have never fought anything like the cold-blooded men of Tikal. Their main troops, large bipedal man-lizards, are seemingly immune to pain, fighting on long after foes with any sense would have fled. Time and again I have seen them fight to the last, pausing only to tug crossbow bolts from their thick hides. A rifle shot does little to slow these brutes. Even in death, I have seen these creatures attack, in one case a severed head continued snapping at us for three full days, and in another, the jaw once clamped onto flesh, could not again be pried opened, but had to be cutaway from the victim - a process none could survive."
—From the logbook of Vincenzo Corenzo, Mercenary Capitano out of Toledo

-Anal sex is used to establish dominance over slaves and establish who is the dominant partner or partners within intimate societal relationships.

-All male slaves are gelded upon being enslaved in Saurian society. Slaves are denoted by the iron rings pierced through the septum, while Concubines are often noted by pierced nipples.

-Piercings are common jewelry, with certain jewelry reflecting certain statuses in society. Only the Priests and Lawmakers can wear gold piercings, only Warriors can wear jade piercings, and only Slaves wear iron piercings. Piercing the clitoris is seen only by concubines of the Temples, while penile piercings mark male criminals. No child can have a piercing until they have reached the age of reason, as to take the piercing is to know the pain of life and to knowingly choose that pain.

-Despite the slurs of being called "Cold-blooded", Saurians run hot. Their elevated body temperatures are something that non-saurians can often find uncomfortable. It also speaks to the Saurian's innate resistance to fire, able to endure the smoldering hearts of volcanic regions comfortably. Their Bloodguard warriors, when entering the rage state, have their hides begin to smolder as volcanic embers and their eyes and mouths blaze with living fire. It is often a mark of a child being born for the Priests when they begin to belch small tongues of flame during their teething.

-In the Saurian religion, there are Nine Gods that control all things. Akin Apistin, the Lord of Hunger- The mighty Tyrannosaur. Apitsmikitletl, the Lord of Fire and Thunder- A great horned tyrannosaur and twin of Akin Apistin.Yolitika Unktli, Mistress of the Earth and all that grows upon it- A dinosaur with the head of a Triceratops, the Plates of a Stegosaurus, and the armored tail of an Ankylosaurus. Ehekaamilistli, The Lord of the Hunt and Winds- A great Utahraptor with shining plumage the color of clouds. Kochistin Youalyotl, The Mistress of Dreams and Knowledge- A beast described as a Nagasaur, having the form of a cobalt blue Dilophosaurus but with a long whip-like tail and a long neck with a cobra's hood. Tlatilatl, the Lord of the Fresh Waters and Keeper of Laws- A great Spinosaurus whose scales shimmer like malachite. Quetzalcoatl, The Lord of The Dawn and Teacher of Saurian kind- A great feathered Giganotasaurus with a serpentine tail and neck, whose feathers shine in the colors of the rainbow. Okkamalotl, the Trickster and Lord of Wine, Fornication, and Retribution- A great Baryonyx whose scales smell of corn liquor. Omitl Ichteki, The Black God, the bringer of death and keeper of bones- Few depictions exist of this god, but it is always described as a great dragon skeleton whose bones gleam like obsidian and whose wings are knit with jade membranes.

-Grew up as the 7th son of the 2nd Son and 2nd Wife of the Patriarch of the Stormblood Clan, ruler of the lands of the shining city that foreigners would call "El Dorado".

-His father would later become the new patriarch, following an inter-house war between the sons of the Stormblood clan and their rivals in the Bloodfyre clan that left the 1st successor and his sons dead.

-Said Bloodfyre clan was granted peace by the marriage of sons of Stormblood to daughters of Bloodfyre, uniting bloodlines and joining clans

-Sturm was only 8 when he was joined in an arranged marriage to the newborn 4th daughter, the pact sealed in blood on the altar of the holiest temple the two clans shared.

-Sturm and his siblings undertook the rites of adulthood early as a result, cast into the deepest and most feral parts of the ancient valley where their saurian ancestors roared and hunted. There they would live and hunt for the better part of a year.

-During these trials, Sturm quickly took the role of the leader through physical strength, bravery, and keeping the boys alive as a pack. His position became undisputed when he led the boys into killing a pack of vicious Deinonychus through traps, ambush, and Sturm killing the pack leader with a rusty knife and braided rope made from jungle vines.

-Returning home, those that had survived were inducted into the war guilds with Sturm having earned the rank of Blooded (the rank of a seasoned warrior) upon his initiation.

-By the age of 20, Sturm had earned his place as a fighter of no small skill, and a seasoned leader. This was also the age that the sign of Apitsmikitletl, the Lord of Fire and Thunder became manifest in Sturm.

-Sturm, however, was unsure if he wanted to leave his battle brothers and seek initiation in the cloisters of the Thunder-lords. Yet he did not wish to desert his calling and shame his ancestors. An opportunity came, however, when envoys of foreign lords came to the Hall of the Jade Throne.

-Sturm, sensing a chance to both test himself in the strange ways of the outsiders, and to stall his (what he viewed as forced) initiation into the cloisters, declared he would undergo The Long Walk, and go beyond the great sea. His choice was met with much shock, and his Father was worried he'd lose his son to foreign powers. For the Patriarch did not trust these outsiders, seeing schemers and opportunists in their ranks that should have been flayed alive if it were solely up to him. Yet, the Patriarch gave his permission for this request but warned his son to be wary

-For five long years, Sturm was gone. He made his way as a mercenary and learned much of the foreigner's way of warfare. He learned their weapons, their siege engines, learned their language, and their writing. He studied their philosophers, their histories, and their customs. He dressed in their fashions, dined at their tables, and lay with more than a few of their daughters.

-One daughter in particular, a young woman with hair as bright as the sun and eyes of cornflower blue, had grown head-over-heels enamored with him. Thus, she stowed herself away among his caravan, wishing to be his dutiful thrall and worship him with her body. Unfortunately, her father was a noble of considerable standing and had her in an arranged betrothal to an Italian knight. Thus, he declared her kidnapped, and sent her betrothed and his brother, and a host of his best knights to reclaim his daughter. On a field of red poppies and toadstools, the brothers and their knights caught up with Sturm. The resulting battle was pitched, and in the end, the young princess was forced to make a choice. To her betrothed shock, she chose Sturm and chucked a javelin that struck his horse in the leg. It threw the Italian knight and left him with a broken leg. His brother faired no better, left headless in a ditch. Thus, Sturm had made his first real enemy, and at the same time had gained his first real prize.

-Sturm eventually returned home, bringing with him his concubines, his Warband, and the spoils he had gathered in his five years. His return was heralded with much fanfare, and much pride from his father who saw the mighty Warmaster and well-experienced man his son had become. Yet, now duties were to be fulfilled. The rite of the Thunder-lords could not be foresworn, and his arranged wife was now a grown woman.