[SU/D] Children of Aether

Martel

All your username are belong to me.
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Children of Aether


Forward


Third time is the charm, as they say. It's been four years, we've reminisced about it and contemplated bringing it back, but now we are finally going to bring it back. This time, we're going to finish it. To that end...

This RP is private. PRIVATE. If you have not received an invitation to join, you will not be accepted, irrespective of how amazing your profile might or might not be. PM me asking for admission and I will ignore you if you're lucky, and give you an earful if you're not. You are welcome to post in here and discuss the RP with the participants, but you will not be invited to join.

However, if there are any future projects, you may be considered, depending on your enthusiasm, ideas, and ability to express yourself, and my other RPs - if/when I make any others - that are not connected to this one are open to all. Thanks for reading~


Premise

Throughout its long history, mankind has sought understanding of both itself and its place within the universe. With the advent of modern science and technology, practices of magic and worship of gods and demons have fallen out of favour, outside of organized religions. Tales of mortals wielding the power of gods, spirits walking the earth, and wars between forces beyond mortal comprehension, have become myths and legends, no longer fitting in with humanity's incredibly limited view of the world.

Yet despite humanity's ignorance, these forces continue to struggle for domination, and spirits continue to walk this mortal coil, seeking individuals of merit to wield the very elements themselves. One such spirit, an ancient deity known only as the Horned King, continues to awaken young girls as Witches to do battle in a contest whose rules and ultimate prize have long been lost in antiquity. The losers face death, yet for the winner, Eternity is said to await...

However, there are others who would see the Horned King's plans, whatever they are, come to naught, and are not above recruiting their own witches to champion their cause. Soon, a convergence the likes of which has not been seen for millennia will strike the city of London, England. It begins with one small girl, dancing upon a field of flowers and corpses...



Setting

This RP is set in present-day London, England.

True Names


All beings possess a True Name; a perfect expression of their innermost essence.

Humans are not born with conscious knowledge of their true names. Many go through their entire lives without knowing their true names, although many touch upon the knowledge in their lives – near death experiences, intense meditative states, dreams, and even stray thoughts; all that which taps into the subconscious mind, where the knowledge of oneself is stored. However, they will not truly comprehend the significance of their discovery, and will often discard or misinterpret the revelation they are exposed to.

True Names are the province of the Gods, who are capable of divining a mortal's true name with a single glance. It is through this method that witches are born: once their true names are revealed to them, they are awakened to their nature and are thus able to wield the power of the elements that the deity may bestow upon them, should they be judged worthy. A human who has been awakened in this fashion is both subject to and shielded by that deity.

To know one's true name is to recognise one's nature and place within the natural order; to harmonize conscious with subconscious, and reach a heightened state of awareness. For witches, knowing their true name allows them to wield the elements and sense those who have had their true name revealed to them by the same deity and awakened in the same fashion. It also grants them with various pieces of instinctive knowledge: how to wield their elemental powers, how to recognise others of their kin, and to slay their kin and acquire their powers, for example. The drive to act upon these urges is stronger in some than it is in others, however.

For witches, to be forced to reveal their true name to another of their kind spells an end to their freedom. A witch who possesses another’s true name holds her opponent's soul within her hands, to do with as she pleases. She may choose to take the witch as a slave, for the other is bound to obey all commands. Pleasure or pain beyond compare can be caused with a mere thought, and the mind can be subverted at whim; memories changed, opinions altered, thoughts accessed and comprehended instantly. Alternatively, she may opt instead of absorb her soul, acquiring her powers and erasing her very existence.

To possess another’s true name whilst they in turn possess yours binds the two individuals together, and neither can exert an influence over the other. It establishes a spiritual connection between the two that can allow for the transference of thoughts and emotions, and even elemental abilities, should the two witches in question be willing. This is often why witches who defeat their kin in battle will choose to kill the loser, rather than simply leaving them as a powerless mortal after acquiring their true name: should the loser somehow discover their true name in turn, they can re-acquire their powers and re-assert their identity and individuality, and the only way to then to best them would be in a battle to the death, the outcome of which may not be entirely certain.

Like witches, deities also have true names. Once known to mankind, these have been lost in the annals of history, myth and legend. Presumably, to know the true name of a godhead would allow a witch to compel that godhead to grant them greater power, although who can say if this is true?


The Horned King

A nondescript figure wrapped in a tattered black cloak, his head adorned by a crown of antlers (or sometimes flames) that form his namesake, the Horned King is the deity responsible for the awakening of the majority of witches who have appeared over the last seven centuries. Believed by many to be a demonic entity, or perhaps even an Angel of Death, he is predominantly responsible for the misconception that witches are “evil” in the traditional religious sense.

Yet despite his sinister appearance, the Horned King is a benign figure. His sole act of interference in the mortal realm is to reveal to a witch her true name, at which point he will disappear back from whence he came. His motivation for interference, method of selection; everything other than his current alias, are all unknown...


The Triple Goddess

Whilst the Horned King is a single entity, the Goddess of Witches is divided into three distinct aspects: the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone. Despite being worshipped separately, they are believed to make up one aspect of a single, nameless entity.

Even less is known of any of these three divine figures than is known of the Horned King, however: for reasons lost in antiquity, worship of them is no longer common, with some not even being aware of their existence. Some witches have claimed to have received their powers from one of these three figures, however...or, at least, not from the Horned King, who is the benefactor of most.


The Elements

There are never more than eight witches at any one given moment, with new witches not being awakened until all those of the current generation are dead, either through contest with their sisters, accident, or old age. Each witch has their own unique ability to wield one of the elements; primal forces which are components of Aether, from which all forms of life stem from.


No two witches can possess the same element at the same time, although witches can find their powers being interfered with by another, due to their conflicting or complementary nature: together, the wind and water witch could conjure a prodigious storm, whilst a clash between the fire and water witch would result in copious amounts of steam. Each element has its own distinct advantages and disadvantages and, whilst some elements are more physically powerful than the others, their drawbacks have prevented their wielders from gaining victory over another, time and time again throughout history.

Whilst witches are capable of a great deal, the greater the feat, the more concentration that is required to attain it, and witches cannot unleash the full potential of their powers often for more than a minute without losing control of it, or passing out from the mental effort required of summoning and controlling the forces in the first place. With more elements comes greater power, however, and a witch with elements that complement one another can wield them in tandem to create a devastating force.

But for all their power, witches are still mortal women, and suffer a mortal’s frailty. They can be wounded and killed by anyone, not just others of their kind. Due to their enlightened state and connection to the world around them, witches will heal far faster than ordinary humans and are capable of withstanding a great deal more punishment, however.


The Elements as bestowed by the Horned King

Fire
Water
Earth
Air


Other Elements

Lightning
Nature
??
??


Application Form

Name/Alias:
True Name:
Age:
Element:
Appearance:
Personality:
History:
Character theme:
Battle theme:
Other:

Cast

Poppy [?] - Martel
Ray [Earth Witch] - Martel
Lily [Wind Witch] - Martel
Keelin [Lightning Witch]
?? [Fire Witch]
?? [Water Witch]
??
??
??


We'll start when we're good and ready.
 
Posting up my bios. The only thing missing are their history, which I've never really enjoyed writing as I think those should be found out as time goes on if they're ever brought up rather than letting someone read LITERALLY EVERYTHING about your character beforehand. Anyway, here they are.

Lightning Witch - Keelin Kenway

Basic Information

Preferred Name: Keelin Kenway

True name: Natulcien


Age:23

Dateof Birth: October 13th

Gender:Female

Sexuality:While not a subject that comes up often, Keelin finds she enjoys thecompany of women far more than the company of men. She's tried withmen, but it never works out. That being said, it's extremelydifficult for her to grow emotionally invested in a relationship.

Titles:N/A

Affiliations:N/A

PriorAffiliations: N/A

Occupation:Thief/criminal – Using her abilities to manipulate lightning,Keelin has taken to stealing from those that won't miss it. Largebusinesses, corporations, etc, if they have plenty of money, Keelinwon't think twice when it comes to relieving them of it. She stealsenough to ensure that she can live and travel comfortably. None ofher money is shared, as she isn't a “modern day Robin Hood”. Infact, she's completely selfish, and she doesn't mind hurting someoneto get what she needs. If pushed hard enough, she's quite confidentshe can kill for it.

Appearance:At first glance, Keelin looks like a rebellious teenager and nothingmore. This, however, is exactly how she likes it. Standing at 5'9,she isn't exactly tall, but isn't exactly short either. Deliciouslyaverage in height, she doesn't stand out much in a crowd. Her hair isnaturally jet black and long. Braided in the back, her braids reachdown to the very base of her back. While they're also black, thereare strands that have been dyed white. This, unlike her height, doesmake her stand out. Upon her ears are often a pair of headphones. ForKeelin, it's uncommon to see her without a pair on. The ones shenormally wears are open back as to allow her to not only listen tomusic, but her surroundings as well. It goes without saying, however,that at times she's not listening to her surroundings at all.



Herskin is fair and pale, perhaps a bit too pale, as she doesn't get outmuch during the day. She does her hunting at night. Her eyes are apale shade of blue, but are almost always hidden by sunglasses duringthe day on those rare occasions that she actually goes out. Herclothes are mostly black. She wears a zip-up hoodie that is neveractually zipped up and reveals a plain black t-shirt that are tuckedinto a pair of loose cargo black pants. Her shoes are, you guessedit, black track shoes. Around her neck is a rather thick black scarfthat she almost always has on her.


M0oSPyX.jpg


AppearedAge: 19

Height:Five foot Nine inches (SUCK IT, NON-AMERICANS. TAKE THESEMEASUREMENTS IN FREEDOM UNITS.)

Weight:118 pounds

Build:Lithe

SkinColor: White – pale

EyeColor: Pale shade of blue

HairStyle: Braided in long dreadlocks that flows down to her base of herback

HairColor: Jet black with white strands in it

Abnormalities:A small birthmark in the shape of a triangle on the nape of her neck.There's a rather large burn scar upon her left shoulder from achildhood accident; mostly covered by a tattoo that covers not onlyher left shoulder, but her arm as well.

Tattoos:
hT1hego.jpg


Personality: on the surface she seems cold, distant, almost vacant to the worldand everyone else around her. She rarely speaks unless spoken to, andher words are often bitter and cold. As a result, relationships, nomatter the sort, are very rare for her to come by. This isn't so muchher being socially awkward or incapable as much as it is she, givenher circumstances, doesn't see the point of an extended relationship.Be it friends, family, or love, she finds she relies on herself, andif she can't manage to rely on herself, then it's merely a sign ofweakness. Distance kept with other people makes her stronger, notonly does it make her stronger, but it also keeps her safe.



Followinga strict belief of “myself above everyone else” Keelin takes careof herself, and that's it. She has little desire at all to ensure thesafety or well being of anyone else. The thousands she just stolefrom from a rich businessman? What need does anyone else need forthat? She's not a nice or giving person. She is selfish and doesn'tmuch care what others think of her for it. She has a firm belief ofwhat the “ideal” person is, and she knows damn well that shedoesn't meet this criteria. However, should one meet the criteriathat she has in mind, she will find herself growing attached to them.


Shouldone actually manage to get close to Keelin, she is an extremely loyalfriend that is capable of acts of kindness. She will attempt to keepthem safe because they can be what she doesn't believe herself to becapable of: a good person. Basically, “everyone is shit until itcan be proved otherwise”.

BaseAlignment: Chaotic Neutral

Personalitydescription: Selfish bitch with steep and often unreasonable criteriafor making friends.

Abilitiesand Powers: The complete and total control of lightning.

Equipment:A pair of rather large audiotechnica headphones

BriefBiography:

Friends:

Family:

Enemies:







Secondly, you have your Fire Witch - Allyson


BasicInformation


PreferredName: Allyson Roslyn

True name: Minyatur

Age:18


Dateof Birth: 30[SUP]th[/SUP]of December


Gender:Female


Sexuality:Asexual – While does doesn't actually identify as that, she doesn'tthink about her sexuality much at all. She spends most of her timestudying and playing video games. To quote her, she'll “figure itout when she gets there”.


Titles:Grand Duchess of Pain... in the MMO she plays.


Affiliations:The Adventurers League... also in the MMO she plays.


PriorAffiliations: Farellia Acquisitions... also in that MMO she plays,but was removed from the guild due to rumors of her breakingsomeone's leg. To this day, Alyssa has no idea how this happened.


Occupation:College student – Originally from the US, Allyson is now a foreignstudent at a private college in London. She works hard in her studiesand doesn't make much time for friends, except in her online games.Mostly a shut away, she stays in her room, studies, reads, and playsvideo games when she doesn't go out to class.


Appearance:Allyson is a rather tiny and frail person. She's five foot three andonly weighs 103 pounds. Her hair isn't very long as it only goes downto her mid back. Straight, but constantly tangled due to her lazinessin brushing it, her hair is a rather bright red. Blind as a bat, sheabsolutely requires a pair of glasses to see. As she goes to aprivate college, she wears the required uniform of a white collareddress shirt, a red tie with the school's emblem engraved on it, and along knee length skirt with opaque hose and dress shoes. While shehates it, it is, sadly, the required uniform.


Tostate that Allyson is pale is an understatement. Her skin is so palethat it looks as if the sun practically avoids her. Her eyes are anemerald green.


XKzx5Mu.jpg



AppearedAge: 16


Height:Five foot three inches (FREEDOM UNITS)


Weight:103 pounds


Build:Frail and lithe


Skincolor: White – Extremely pale


EyeColor: Emerald green


Hairstyle: Mid length hair that's constantly tangled and unmade


Haircolor: Bright ruby red


Abnormalities:A scar on the palm of her hand from being stabbed with a pencil inthe 1[SUP]st[/SUP]grade.


Tattoos:Not in a million years


Personality:Nice, naive, and the least violent person anyone knows, Allyson ismostly shy. While on the internet she can talk to people withoutissue, face to face she's a trainwreck. She often puts others beforeher self, and tend to fold like a lawn chair when met with anyopposition to just about anything. As a result, people often tend totake advantage of her. However, she's too naive to figure out thatit's happening. She remains close with her family, and as such callsand writes them often. When making new friends, she has an issue ofgetting attached a bit too easily. She's easily manipulated and fartoo trusting for her own good.


However,once she has her mind set on something, she can be a bit stubborn.Allyson chooses to believe that most people are inherently good. Shehas difficulty believing that people can do horrible things for thesake of doing horrible things. Wanting to be a doctor when shegraduates, she enjoys helping people, even when it means puttingherself in danger.


BaseAlignment: Lawful good


Personalitydescription: Nice and trusting college student is too trusting forher own good.


Abilitiesand powers: Control of fire.


Equipment:N/A


BriefBiography:


Friends:


Family:


Enemies:

Also, jesus fucking christ, why do the forums force words together like it does? Shit that's annoying when copying over something from a word document.
 
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Water Witch

Preferred Name: Elise Truss

True Name: Fluenta

Age: 22

Element: Water

Abilities: Like virtually all witches, the potency of Elise’s powers will demonstrably vary depending on the extent of her control over them and her willingness to utilise her abilities. The ubiquity of water and the countless ways to bend the element to one’s will makes a Water Witch one of the most potentially powerful and flexible entities to contend with. Water witches of the past have all been able to tap into that well of destructive, torrential power not for destruction, but for nurturing and life. The gentle drops of summoned rain can bestow bounteous harvest and the deliberate manipulation of vapour in the air can provide succour to the parched. Should a Water Witch ever arrive at a situation where she requires an alliance and cooperation with a Nature Witch, it will certainly lead to total, unchecked power of the latter.

But how easy it is to forget about this element’s potential for unbridled destruction. Elise has not forgotten; the memories of a particularly traumatic incident from a relatively recent past continue to haunt her, as she vainly seeks to unilaterally disown her powers. She has the potential to manipulate the flow of nearby liquid water and snatch the very vapour from the air to create anything from surging water columns to an entire tidal wave. When stripped of control entirely, Elise is at her most dangerous if there is a voluminous source of nearby water to draw upon, and when her body is able to harbour and sustain enough energy to maintain such an attack that it can reach its destructive zenith. At the height of the Water Witch’s potential, an entire metropolis can drown in minutes.

Though Elise ardently seeks to suppress her powers, they discover a way of randomly triggering anyway, like a sentient existence desiring to regularly remind the young woman of what she has become. After the moment of bestowment, there is no forgetting, it attempts to tell her. You cannot hope to run far from an element so ubiquitous and so unavoidable. Every sight of liquid water is stark reminder that she is a walking engine of torrential destruction. That involuntary overfilling of the bath can just as easily snowball into an entire neighbourhood awash with rushing sewage from erupted pipelines. Fortunately for her, since the incident, the unintended flickering manifestations of her power never surpass anything more than sudden bursts of rain from a cloudless sky, or the garden hose spinning completely out of control.

Appearance:

Skinny and unremarkable (sans perhaps the bizarre body proportions in this image, but blame the artist for that), Elise easily blends into an average London crowd. At approximately 165cm in height (5 foot 5), she hovers around the average height for a young woman of her age.

Her most defining feature is the side ponytail that stretches down her left hand side down beyond her shoulder level, accompanied by a long fringe sweeping leftwards across her forehead. Originally ginger blonde, her hair is now dyed a distinctive raven black colour, though the ponytail’s natural tendency to stay moderately wavy does project what appears at first to be wet hair. By contrast, her skin is pale but fair, with the occasional spots of pale freckles. Virtually unblemished, her face is bereft of anything notable. Not a single piercing is present, and she eschews most forms of make-up. The only noticeable oasis of colour in her face is from her piercing sapphire eyes.

Need I make much comment about her clothes? I suppose not; I don’t need to bore you with the details. It’s an unremarkable casual look. She wears an ultramarine twelve-buttoned cardigan (it looks expensive, but it’s likely to be £20 from Next, I imagine) with three-quarter sleeves on top of a plain white low-cut top. Below is a pair of dark skinny jeans, finishing off with a pair of dark leather long lace-up boots reaching up to her upper shins.

Personality: Elise is considered an enigma. It is beyond obvious that she is hiding something profound from others, but no attempts to probe any essence of truth from her have ever been successful. Elise is fiercely guarding of her past and she exerts every effort possible to divert the topic away if it ever centres on her personal story. Unfortunately for her, it naturally inspires only intense curiosity from others, opening the floodgates for constant questioning and the rapid spreading of unfounded rumours and conjectures. It occasionally prompts a few questions of trust; why is Elise so reticent that not even a few close friends can be safely confided with? What is so juicy about her past that she is often visibly shaken at the mere raising of the topic? What is going on in her mind that is so compelling and yet so forbidden to leave its confines? Press the questions and Elise will likely temporarily flare up with a fleeting burst of fury.

Unsurprisingly, Elise has trouble maintaining close relationships, though she is not a natural social recluse. If anything, she is somewhat of a paradox. She makes conscious attempts to enkindle friendships and strike up conversations to assuage a bitter feeling of loneliness, but is terrified of allowing these relationships to become…too intimate. She has accidentally let slip to a co-worker that it never worked out between her and her boyfriend, in fear that she would “endanger” him. Quite what she really meant no one can ascertain, because Elise is after all, a cryptic young woman. Clearly, a cocktail of a very difficult history and an overwhelming barrage of guilt are eating at her from within. The more she tries to suppress, the more pronounced her terrors feel when they intermittently strike while she is unguarded. The more pronounced her terrors are, the more strain on her psychologically as they remain bottled up – all of that kinetic energy dammed and with no outlet to be vented at. She attempts to seek out and enkindle friendships, but what is lurking behind that mental dam stops her from going too far and forces her away. To her friends, Elise can be infuriating and unreliable.

Unbeknownst to everyone else, Elise is absolutely terrified of her powers. This is particularly egregious when her mental state is already as strained and in flux as it is. There is the theory going back through untold history that a witch’s power becomes more potent and feral the weaker the host’s mental state is at that precise moment. This is not lost on Elise; the young woman is very aware of this, with something murky in her history being the damning private evidence for it. Perhaps this is what she meant when she accidentally blurted out that she did not want her ex-boyfriend to be “endangered”. Perhaps she is absolutely terrified of herself and what can happen at any moment. Any shred of anger – any moment of control waning – can be physically devastating to the environment around her. As a result, Elise also appears to exhibit conspicuous hydrophobia.

In her everyday life, Elise is fiercely careful with her words and with how she interacts with others. She is curt, polite, modest and a diligent worker. She enjoys toiling away at something – anything – if it can divert her mind away from unwanted thoughts. At any sight of drama, she will not pick a side. She will leave the room if need be and completely get out of hearing range. Anything can trigger her powers after all. It is just too bad that it leaves her in this rather paranoid state.

History: This is what everyone wants to delve into. Elise’s reticence regarding her past has inspired a litany of falsehoods, rumours and conjectures, but what actually happened?

All that I can disclose is that Elise underwent a difficult upbringing. She resided in Tower Hamlets, one of the more deprived and most corrupt councils in London (and the country, if we’re on about the latter) with two siblings. Her older brother of three years, Jack, left home at the age of 16 and had allegedly entered the criminal world with a heroin addiction. After Jack left the family’s life, it was simply Elise with her younger sister of six years: Eva. While their mother toiled with a series of minimum wage jobs to make ends meet, their father was a jobless alcoholic. Ever since he was discharged from a production line level factory job with the onset of the financial crash, he languished home ever since, making life viciously difficult for his two daughters when their mother was not around. He was particularly vicious towards Eva, his younger daughter. Eva was diagnosed with some learning difficulties and this granted her father plentiful ammunition to label her a “retard”.

When Elise was sixteen and her sister ten, the Truss family was divided for good. Their mother left, taking only Elise with her. She was unable to fight for Eva’s custody and thus the vulnerable ten-year old was left with the alcoholic father. Despite the pleas, there was bafflingly little that was done, especially with the local authorities being as corrupt and ineffectual as they were/still are. It had long stung Elise how her little sister was left with that man. The very man convinced that his younger daughter was mentally inept purely because of learning difficulties?! The man who had made life so unbearable for their mother that she had no choice but to walk out? The man who was essentially just waiting for his body to rot as time marched on, with not a single scrap of a dream remaining? How was Elise to comfortably live knowing that circumstance had cruelly allowed her sister to be left with him? She had already seen Jack leave their lives while destroying his very own.

Four years ago, something tragic – and mysterious – happened at the apartment block residence in Tower Hamlets. Official reports simply stated that this was a freak one-in-a-million chance accident, perhaps explainable by the relative low quality construction of the 1960s-era block. The sudden, unexplained bursting of all water pipes in and around the building caused several flats and floors to flood and even collapse. Casualties were low, except for one certain apartment, where a 46-year old man with the surname Truss was found dead, having been pinned down to the floor by falling furniture and chunks of the ceiling…and drowned. Eva’s body was never found and official reports to this day insist that the teenager is missing. How likely is it that this vulnerable sixteen-year old girl could escape from the carnage alive? If she had indeed died, what had happened to her?

Elise never speaks of her sister. In fact, none among her acquaintances are even aware that she has – or had? – a sister. She completely eschews talk of her family and only tersely explains that she had left behind a deeply scarring episode of her life. In the last couple of years, she claims, her life slowly settled down. She was able to complete her A-levels, albeit with average grades, and is due to begin her final year at the University of Southampton studying psychology. Yes, psychology. There is something apt about that choice of degree course. After a series of short-lasting jobs, she has managed to land a job as a cashier at a nearby Primark in London. To this day, she still does not know what happened to Eva and she will not disclose any knowledge of the incident four years ago. Its very mentioning leaves her visibly shaken, like it’s the very epicentre of a bad memory that has to be suppressed with all it takes.

She is the Water Witch, so at some point in her recent past, the Horned King bestowed on her the ability to manipulate water. When this happened, is not clear. Whether this is connected with the freak water explosion incident of four years ago in Tower Hamlets…only she can say.

Themes: TBA
 
Look at you, putting actual detail and shit into the abilities section and not being vague as hell about it. ​You tryin' to one up me, m8?
 
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