Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Bloodied Shards IC (CLOSED!)

Ah, magical artifacts. An endless source of temptation, conflict, chaos, and death.

On one world at the birth of its technological evolution, but rich in magical tradition, one particular artifact is spoken of only is whispers, and only by very few people: The Bloodied Vase. According to legend, when filled with blood the Vase grants whoever bled into it absolute control over the planet's environment. Everything from the wind to the sea to the beasts and plants would obey the user's will, and they would be acutely aware of the entire planet.

The thing about it is, it has been shattered for longer than anyone remembers. Even complete, it is obvious that it's actually a collection of electrum-edged clay shards. Each shard grants a particular power, such as commanding plants, causing earth tremors, temperature.... but at the cost of blood. Thankfully, abuse of these shards is mitigated by the fact that control of the power is given to the one whose blood touches the sharp-edged clay.

Another controlling factor that most people who have a piece don't know it. The legend is mostly either forgotten or resigned to ancient fiction, and arts similar to kinstugi are common practise. Almost everyone has a broken bit of pottery that's been passed down and fixed up a few times! Add in the habit artifacts have of changing hands in strange ways, and nobody seems to know where they are.

It turns out, at least some of them are among your characters.

You character is a native to this world, someone a little out of the ordinary most likely, and, unbeknownst to them, an owner of one of the Shards of the Bloodied Vase. This hasn't really been an issue for anyone who's had them for centuries, though.

But that's about to change. A mysterious sorceress from an alien civilization seems to have set her sights on this world, and wants the shards for some unknown reason, and only a warning from her enemies puts your character(s) on guard.

Long story short, you have a relentless huntress on your tail, and need to survive. Be smart, be clever, and whatever you do, don't let her get all the shards.

Let me know if you want to join, and there will be more info at the start of the OOC chat. Feel free to ask questions on either thread.

This RP will be co-GMed by myself and DazzlingDragon.

Speaking of, she will be presenting more of the relevant information while I go get the murder-fox ready.... Oh! and all those transmission projectors!

Actual game is here

Some quick rules:

• We have a limit of three characters per player and two shards per player. Every character MUST be associated with a shard, whether they have one to themselves or they share a shard with another character.
  
• Most kinds of magic is both acceptable and expected. We also take non-humans. The only character stipulation is that the planet's technological capabilities roughly line up with medieval Europe. Although magic might allow for some advances like air travel, long-distance communication, etc. etc. There will be nothing like mundane cars, guns, or cellphones. Victi is the only character who initially has access to modern and post-modern technology. She is an alien, after all.
  
• When I mean most kinds of magic, I mean that magic that can take a character off-planet or to an alternate dimension/plane is off-limits.
  
• To quote Avi, "Don't god-mod; she can do it better."
  
• Another Avi quote: "No lewd."
  
• This is a pretty lit. roleplay. Write in paragraph format and avoid one-liners if you can.
  
• If you go missing, one of us will contact you politely to ask how you're doing, what's going on, and learn whether or not you plan to return. Please tell us if you want to leave or will be absent for an extended period of time. If you plan to be gone for a while, we will roleplay around the character the best we can. If you plan to leave us forever, your characters will "get the hell murdered out of them by Victi. She takes their shard, and moves on." That might sound a little mean, but I have to agree with Avi on that one because I've got a personal vendetta against empty voids where player-characters used to be. They're just painfully awkward to work around.
  
• Speaking of getting the hell murdered, this plot likely will turn violent. Forgetting the fact that the shards run on blood, be prepared for characters to die in particularly gruesome and painful ways.

Shards and their associated powers:

Earth: This dusty yellow shard grants its wielder the power to manipulate the planet's tectonic plates, including breaking them and creating earthquakes.

Air: This light, strangely translucent shard allows you to control the movement of the atmosphere and the air's ambient temperature.

Storm: This dark, brittle shard lets you manipulate the weather, allowing you to summon storms and cast lightning at your foes.

Water: This piece of chalky red clay lets you mess with water. You can call strong currents and control the water's temperature.

Plants: This clay piece is large and sturdy, possibly forming the base of the original artifact. It allows the holder to control the growth of living plant life.

Herbivores: This chipped vase handle helps you call for the help of grazing beasts. Sentient beings can easily resist your command, but most animals will hardly struggle against you.

Carnivores: This jagged crimson shard lets you call upon the aid of flesh-eating beasts. Sentient beings can easily resist your command, but most animals will hardly struggle against you.

Arthropods: This little grey chip lets you control the world's creepy-crawlies including crabs, spiders, and flying insects. Have fun.

Microorganisms: This long, thin piece of black grants the user access to the "invisible world." They can control the growth of bacteria and other single-celled organisms.

The shards' powers are controlled through offerings of blood. The strength of your spell correlates directly with how much you give them. Example: pricking your finger with the earth shard might let you send harmless tremors through the ground...but totally soaking the thing in blood will grant you the power to create an earthquake to level cities.

After "feeding" your shard, you have about a minute to give it something to do. The effect ends either after that minute or after you complete your spell.

The nine shards and their associated characters are listed below. If it says [OPEN] under the "character" section, that means exactly what it says and you are more than welcome to claim that spot.

Shard Power / Character / Player / Status

Earth / Neo / Dantefrancis / Alive

Air / Drake / DazzlingDragon / Just fine

Storm / Jules / SeaWarriorRachel / Peachy

Water / Liliath / Cookiesareyummie / Lost

Plants / Lisa and Raven / DazzlingDragon / Living

Herbivores / OPEN /... /...

Carnivores / Adriannu / Katia / OK

Arthropods /OPEN / ... / ...

Microorganisms / Alastor / Frostyrmm / Doin' good

One other key point to add is that Victi is a playful huntress. She won't show up invisible and silent in the night and cut your head off, because that would be boring, and she does have a slightly bizarre sense of morality, honour, sadism, and pride. She's also saving her strength for some reason, so will probably avoid overkill in direct confrontation. Deadly prankster and fierce huntress yes, brutal assassin or battlefield devastator no.

Unless you do something really stupid that doesn't also impress her.

I'm down and I'd like to use lil Jules for storm if that's cool if not Jules now

I'm okay with it. ^v^ Once Dazz pops back, I'll make sure she puts you in.

Welcome to insanity, Rachel!

My favourite place to be

WOO!

I'm tentatively interested, and I left a bunch of questions in the looking for rp topic. For now could I place a hold on the carnivore shard?

Yes!

To answer your versatility question on the carnivore one specifically, they'd be willing to leave you alone or help lead you out of their territory or alert you to other intruders to their territory (etc.) for minimal blood, a good sized gash will have them hunt for you, guide you to specific locations, or help guard your camp (etc.). You douse the shard, and you are the pack, their will is as you command, to great precision and only refusing to kill their packmates or kill themselves.

Ok I saw your answers and I like them. Two final questions however.

1. Could I make a child character with the carnovoire shard.

2. How fresh does the blood have to be? Like could my character keep a few vials of her blood on hand for a rainy day fund if you will?

Right! forgot to answer the age-range thing!

Actually, Victi's.... boyfriend, lover, other half, whatever, is pretty strict about her not harming children (he tries to keep her in the okay zone), so that a) helps mitigate the death issue, and b) will frustrate her in amusing ways since you will have a shard's power to play with.

As for the blood, fresher is better, because dead blood doesn't carry your essence or aura very well. It does carry your DNA and you-ness, though, so the metaphysical link is valid, if weakened. Lesser results, but nice for not needing to injure yourself all the time. Part of the whole thing is the cost vs benefit of using the shards, so I encourage cleverness in getting around it! ^v^

So basically, "yes" and "yes"! ^v^

Ok on the freshness thing, I have another question, can the lesser effect be mitigated or even erased if she used more blood. Like let's say as an example that she needed a teaspoon of fresh blood to get them to hunt for her. Could she get the same effectiveness if she used a teaspoon and a half of dead blood?

Also frustrating Victi to no ends sounds like a lot of fun.

Sorry for all the questions, I just like knowing how things work.

It's about how much you coat it. If you can soak it completely, you'll get something around the mid-range with older blood. Dumping it in a vat of blood is no more effective than a bowl of blood, but coating more of it is always better.

I want to see Victi try arguing with a child again. xD

Anyway, I'm the EXACT same way about understanding details of mechanics in these kinds of things, so we're going to get along DANGEROUSLY well.

And yes. ALWAYS frustrate the floofer.

This is why you're co-GMing, Dazz, you know exactly how to make the world hate her.

Thank you very much for the answers and I very much appreciate them. I will in fact join and start on making a profile tonight.