Spirits of the Earth

SO
I've been having this crazy idea whirling around inside my head that's a mishmash of so many of my beloved favorite things and it finally came to fruition inside my head where it makes sense to explain it and offer it up as a potential event!

So! That being said...
Have you ever seen the 1999 cinematic master piece 'The Mummy' staring Brandan Fraeser and Rachel Weisz?

Have you ever loved the goofiness and loved the exploratory aspect of the animated movie El Dorado/Prince of Egypt?


Than look no further than the proposed idea I gots for an event in Essryn :D


The basic premise is the cursed corpse of a man who 'tried to become king but never achieved it' comes back to life and is determined to gain the power that was taken from him. With it comes along a plague and other shenanigans!


'The Never king's' reign was short lived and controversial. Some say he never actually 'became king' and was a poisonous usurper. However, he did have royal blood and his claim wasn't entirely fanatical. But whatever he did do earned him a gruesome execution and had his name erased from history - chiseled off of any and all monuments that had been attributed to him in life and the life there after.

This is where the curse comes into play- either he, or someone working with him, cursed him so that upon his return, he will become a 'god king' and assume his rightful throne, punish those who destroyed his short lived empire- and become the last and immortal god ruler of Essyrn.


This idea becomes a site wide event because:

1- there would likely be a small cult following around the newly 'awakened' king who is slowly building up his power and purpose to take the Essyrni throne and to achieve the promise of his curse - to become this immortal god entity. I'm thinking there's a pretty extensive process and he could possibly bring back to life some of his former associates, etc as he's gaining momentum.

Some of his powers would affect things not only on a political level, but plagues and rare diseases cast by his own hand could be afflicted onto the people as this resurrected person goes through all the steps to gain more powers and steps towards immortality. I'm thinking he has his own little guide book that helps him lol in ancient essryni etc etc
But things like plagues, zombies/mummies/liches, crazy weather powers etc begin to arise in Essryn.

2) The other opposing forces would be trying to figure out how to kill this man off and stop him from achieving this 'god hood'. He's clearly a threat to the current Shah and as pieces about his history begin to emerge that hadn't been fully destroyed by those that killed him during his mortal life... scary realizations come afoot and the 'good guys' realize they gotta stop him, least Essryni fall into a frightening era of chaos.


The bad guy can gain more powers through various factors of his curse:
1- sucking the souls from enough persons that he can essentially 'live forever' - only catch, the person giving up their soul has to willingly give it. Those souls he can keep as a stock pile in order to use towards achieving god hood. However, if he gains souls by 'stealing' them, they can temporarily gain him abilities, but they're not a permanent solution. Hence why he'd have to establish himself and gain followers willing to give away their souls. He can only 'steal' one soul every 24-hours to feed off of. It gives him 1 days worth of life. So he has to 'steal' souls everyday until he achieves godhood-
Or he just returns to being dead :)

Giving away one's soul doesn't kill a person- they just seem... 'off', muted, not quite themselves. Their constitution and any powers they had before are greatly reduced and they seem purposeless.

Can souls be restored? No one knows :D Maybe read from the book ;)

However, being 'soulless' adds to the many problems arising! Also, it seems if you are soulless, the wannabe 'God king' can use his growing powers to manipulate you to do things on his behalf.
So more people he sucks souls from, the bigger army he can gather.


Those he can willingly suck a soul from are also limited- although it's uncertain if this number is one a day or one a week. Since the food is 'willing' and is being incorporated into his immortal godhood manifestation, there seems to be a 'gestation' period before he can eat again. It does not seem one type of soul eating affects another. Unwilling souls are only temporary sustenance that gets used up and can not be added to his power pool (only the ability to utilize the soulless later as an army). So he could, in a sense, eat both types of souls in one day if the timing was right.

As his power tiers grow, he gains more power.


In order to make godhood the below stages (or tiers) need to be conquered before the curse/blessing can become 'set'/(permanent):
Death, Soul, Land, Sky, and finally- conquering Life- to become a true immortal.

STOLEN SOULS- if your soul is stolen unwillingly, you only have 24 hours to get it back before it's permanently digested

WILLING SOULS- your soul is stuck inside him in his pool of power unless, HE decides to relinquish it... or his death comes, whichever happens first. However, your soul is lost forever in this process if he ever DOES achieve godhood because he then digests those souls and manifests himself into a 'god'


*The below tiers are subject to change - these are just the first draft! the land and sky tiers are likely to be edited as we move onward with the plot as I feel these are the least fleshed out aspects of the tiers- and could possibly end up just being merged, depending on story and circumstances

God tier- he will achieve 'immortality and godhood' but first has to go through the other tiers to achieve this! (More on this below)

First tier- (DEATH) he is awakened from the dead (I mean- conquering death itself IS impressive!) and can eat souls to survive and begin his 'pool of power'

Second tier- (SOUL) his second awakened tier allows him to tap into the first level of god powers, this also gives him access to his control of 'soulless' and can begin to tap into first tiered abilities. This also begins his own gestation of creating his 'god soul' needed to gain him the god power he desires

Third tier (LAND) this tier takes some time to gain- as he needs so many souls of the living to create enough power to begin to manipulate and lay claim over aspects of the lands around him- and they come and need conquered in no short order: Sand, Water, Earth, Plant-life (tbd)

Fourth tier (SKY) this tier takes just as much time to gain and allows him to lay claim over the following: insects, winds, storms, and stars (would be pretty gnarly if he could pull down an asteroid to smash things to bitty bits) or create other such phenomenon like perma-eclipses etc (tbd) Might even be cool if aspects of flying or what have you, come into play.

Fifth tier (LIFE) this tier is insane and takes some time to even get close to achieving-
in the end he has claim over the following and then is able to become 'immortal' and achieve godhood and digest all of his souls fully to achieve the final outcome. But on his way there he has to lay claim over the following: Objects of Man (he can breath power into inanimate objects men have created- such as clothing, ropes, buildings, etc),
Disease and Pestilence - lays claim over the diseases and plagues
Seed of an heir (right before he can become a god, he will obtain the ability to ensure a legacy by now begin able to sire children) and in fact, has to do so before he can move onto the final tier of immortality, which then earns him the next step God Hood.

God Tier- he has reached immortality and can do all of the previous abilities. Each ability takes some usage of the pool of souls he's obtained, and he only has so many uses before they have to 'recharge' and he can use them again. Now that he's come onto God Tier status, he can continue to gain souls to a point where this 'wait' period is more or less nonexistent and he can bend the world to his will. Also, at this tier- he no longer has to eat souls to live and it is nigh impossible to kill him.


The only way to fully be rid of the god king as he grows is to either:
1) remove all his souls
2) don't allow him to eat a soul for 24 hours so he can die
3) I'm sure there's some secret in the "Book of the Dead*" he follows but he won't share that with you! - might have to do with him eventually siring an 'heir'...
*note 'Book of the Dead' is the place holder >_> I'll make neph come up with something far more clever to name in it's place



1) Does anyone wanna play the God king? If not, I'm game for playing the big bad I designed!

2) Anyone wanna be a minion or design someone from his past? Whether they're on his side or someone opposing him? Clearly Mr. God King wannabe needs friends!

3) This will *obviously* affect the Shah, so I'll need those to rally around her to help her figure this all out! So clearly, a rag time group of wannabe heroes and also everyday knights and warriors who are already loyal to her crown

4) Current day myth searchers who want to be for or against the God king's rise

5) Innocents and 'Ostriches'! - Unfortunate bystanders and those who refuse to believe there really is a problem forming.


1) While threading, we'll just ask that you remain reasonably active so the event doesn't go stagnant! We're estimating to have the event move forward each time we finish plots per tier event *based on the god kings tier growths

This means that plotting into said portion of the event closes once we go live and get knee deep in Threads.

Threads still exist in liquid time like all other threads on the site, just major event arcs are only open for discussion and creation during the active plotting stage! i.e.- if the big bad guy is on tier three and we're actively playing it out but you have ideas for tier one.. unfortunately it's too late for said idea to affect the event plot.

2) Additionally for the main, major plot important threads we do ask again for regular activity (approximately a post/week to these threads where necessary). Obviously exceptions apply but we want to try and keep the ball rolling and not stagnant. If you have concerns during the threading process, don't be shy. We can work on this together!

3) We are looking to keep each tiered active plotting open for roughly 2-3 months - but will keep said boards updated so members are aware! We're hoping overall the whole set of arcs will take about a year total OOC gameplay time. Obviously your individual or side threads can continue to be written for as long as you want but this should hopefully keep your characters from getting locked in an event with no end and you unable to do other major plots them when you want because of the uncertainty of THIS event.

4) To start off some discussions and plots, please list your characters and where you'd like them to get involved and why!

Stay tuned for the next post which will go into a little bit more history on this God King Wannabe and how we aim to go about creating this consortium of fun. Nephero has expressed interest and will be working on the BBEG (big bad evil guy) and we'll be working on finalizing locale and fun scenarios to toss characters into!

Heyo! Getting back into the swing of things, I would be happy to toss Lapis (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=20846.0) and Zahir (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=24700.msg364627#msg364627) at wherever they might be most interesting in this mix :)

They currently thread together but there could certainly be flashbacks that Zahir might be involved in.

While plotting, we'll just ask that you remain reasonably active so the event doesn't go stagnant! We're estimating to have the event move forward each time we finish plots per tier event *based on the god kings tier growths

Meaning plotting into said portion of the event closes once we go live and get knee deep in Threads.

Threads still exist in liquid time like all other threads on the site, just major event archs are only open for discussion during the active plotting stage! Ie- if the big bad guy is on tier 3 and we're actively playing it out but you have ideas for tier one.. unfortunately it's too late for said idea to affect the event plot.

We are looking to keep each tiered active plotting open for roughly 2-3 months- but will keep said boards updated so members are aware!

To start off some discussions and plots, please list your characters and where you'd like them to get involved and why!

Parsa could definitely be a boon for the Shah.  He might have visions of the coming menace and try and provide help keeping track of what level BBEG is on.

Also, with the Civil war coming to an end, Alexis and Michael might be free to bring their army south for the right price.  Alexis is an Adhara if that happens to be worth anything?

If anyone has a specific character they want to toss into the plot cauldron and they happen to have an ancient artifact of mysterious origin that could relate to the god king- please list and link your characters here so I can take a look at it and work on appropriate plot spots for 'em :D

I'm currently working on the idea that, during this wanna be God King's rein, that experiments would have been done towards obtaining his goal, so anything related to what he's dabbling in might be considered a relic from his priest's experiments, or some such!

I figure if we can get them all listed here (and again, please include links so it's easy for us to reference!), that would be awesome! Also include a description and if needed, synopsis of said antique! 

(A better explanation of the two I offered lol)

Zahir (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=24700.msg364627#msg364627), a djinn who was bound to an amulet (a bronze pendant carved with the symbol of an ancient Essyrni mage order) over three thousand years ago. The binding requires that he form a contract with whoever possesses the amulet; once the terms of the contract are met, he's imprisoned again.

Lapis (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=20846.0), a freedwoman historical scholar and the person currently in possession of Zahir's amulet. Though she's had the amulet for a few months, she and Zahir have yet to dictate a formal contract. This means that his powers are limited, but he is at least free enough to be able to walk around with her outside his amulet (most of the time).

Their dynamic is not sustainable, as the binding spell will eventually force them into a contract or remove the amulet from Lapis' possession.

I'll happily throw both Fenris and the Celestial Aegis into the mix.
Fenris is definitely opposed to the never king...at first. She could be swayed, (she might need some...perhaps...violent persuasion). She's had a map to the Celestial Aegis for so long she's rather enjoying the power she gets from the map alone.

Kael will be also opposed to the Never King. He's a protector so maybe helps protect the group of adventurers? He's a super flexible character.


Fenris will have a map of sorts that leads to the celestial aegis. Said map is rather an artifact in and of itself; as Fenris is not quite her normal self.
Currently Fenris is with Nightcrawlers char Fletch, about to go after the Celestial Aegis.
Still fleshing out lore for the Celestial Aegis, so if anyone has ideas for it you're welcome to suggest :)

Celestial Aegis:
Dark effects:
1. **Mental Degradation:** Exposure to dark artifacts can erode one's sanity and judgment, causing irrational thoughts and behaviors.

2. **Addiction:** Some dark artifacts create a dependency on their power, making individuals crave their use even when it's detrimental.

3. **Loss of Empathy:** Users may become increasingly callous, losing their ability to empathize with others' suffering.

4. **Nightmares and Hallucinations:** Dark artifacts can induce terrifying dreams and hallucinations, blurring the line between reality and illusion.

5. **Manipulative Influence:** These artifacts might possess a degree of sentience or influence, actively coercing the user into malevolent actions.

6. **Isolation:** As individuals become consumed by the artifact's power, they may isolate themselves from friends and loved ones, further deepening their descent into darkness.

7. **Moral Corruption:** Users may become morally compromised, willing to commit heinous acts they would have once found abhorrent.

8. **Spiritual Taint:** Dark artifacts can taint one's soul, making it more susceptible to dark forces and potentially condemning the user to a grim fate.

 9. **Attraction to Evil:** Individuals may develop an attraction to dark magic and malevolent entities, seeking out further sources of power and corruption.

It's important to note that these effects can vary widely depending on the strength of an individual's willpower. Protection, knowledge, and intervention are often necessary to counteract the corrupting influence of dark magical artifacts.

I would be done for participating in this. Prior to reading this thread I had a character idea in mind for a wannabe fortune teller. To fit her into this plot I would say that she never did anything magical until she received a prophecy of the never king's return. She would obsess over this and quickly join the cult that is forming to return him to power. In her mind, the more she does for the never king, the more magical power she would gain.

Please be sure, when you're posting up character ideas, to include if your character is one of the three:
-Actively For the Never King
-Actively Against the Never King
-An Unfortunate bystander that gets sucked into the chaos


Those for the Never King would have either a) known who he was and may have had an ancient affiliation with him or b) present day would likely assist once they come to realize his awesomeness

Those against the Never King would either a) work for/support the current Shah and her kingdom  b) once they realize what's going on, kind of don't want this dude to end up with such extreme and insane powers

Unfortunate bystanders- you happen to be in the wrong place at the right time and are tossed about like a damn tumbleweed in the wind,- and could be good or bad, you're just there to survive, whether it be to appease the never king or be against- or just to try to get the hell out of this insanity.


More info coming soon!

To start us off, I'm going to list my current characters that *Could* be potentials for plots.
Keep in mind, they'll likely be a lot of 1 on 1 threads and a few group threads mixed in between. It'll be run similarly to how the Civil War was run- so don't hesitate to ask any questions if you got 'em!

If a character of mine has an asterisk next to them- it means they're definitely going to be a part of the event. The others are maybes if they have the right reasons to join in :)

I'll likely be adding more to my list and more details as well, but this is what I have for now x.x


AGAINST THE NEVER-KING
*Persea (https://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=16557.msg184285#msg184285) - the shah of Essyrn- obviously she would want to protect her throne!

*Amalin (https://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=14357.0) - because of what had become of he and his sister, he aims to make amends where he can- and if that's to oppose this resurrected king- so be it!

Evelyn (https://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=16556.0)- even though she has foreign blood, she is still a merchant princess, and would not stand for the empire collapsing. This is her home.

Djchasetese (https://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=27176.0) - this is his home- and gods forbid some demon comes along to conquer it and turn it to darkness!





FOR THE NEVER KING
CHARACTERS COMING SOON


UNFORTUNATE BY-STANDER
*Tethysis (https://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=14397.msg129600#msg129600)- an unfortunate cursed lady- who had become an unwitting participant for the Never King and hadn't truly realized it until she woke up in an endless 'life and death' cycle she can not break! So while she would likely be against the man, she really is just an unfortunate by-stander!

Ithica (https://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=26929.msg390065#msg390065)- a slave/librarian trapped to live her days in the secret library in Essyrn. Might be some useful books in her little secret library...

Jackal (https://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=27298.msg398712#msg398712) - might be a good guide in the desert! Contemplating making his home near the ruins of the never king's fallen city

Opus Dey (https://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=18237.msg219720#msg219720)- world wild crime lord with Essyrni roots. I could see him being none too pleased someone's shaking up things in 'his empire'

Danning Gates (https://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=18571.0) - an unfortunate Connlaothian priest who was sold south to Essyrn in order to make 'vanish' as he protested openly the war

Kell (https://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=26925.msg390045#msg390045)- potential tool.. dunno. Would be fun to put him in the hands of someone that would least likely try to help because they're so weak or something but *shrugs* not sure if he'll be joining! We shall see

Kraz (https://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=27175.0) - a rough warrior slave type that still needs his character more developed so it's possible he could end up here!

Ne'friss (https://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=14581.msg132750#msg132750)- she would most certainly taken UNKINDLY to this king coming about, but she also wouldn't just willingly throw herself into battle, nor her resources

Throwing my lads into the mix:


Ven (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=27218.msg397674#msg397674)

Ven would be an unfortunate bystander at first*, but he'd be against the Never King once he understood what was happening. He's not a big fan of the undead, ironically.

*If it meshes well with the event and the lore, he could either:

A) be unwittingly sending every soul he consumes to the Never King, or
B) be considered a threat because his ability to eat souls would mean he could pull them out of the Never King. This could mean that agents of the Never King go after him.



Fletch (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=27219.msg397675#msg397675)

At this point in his timeline, Fletch will be desperate and easily swayed by the promise of an extended life (unnatural or not.) He's currently bound for the Celestial Aegis with Giraffe's character Fenris, which means that he will end up either as an unfortunate bystander, or he might side with the Never King in exchange for the promise that his illness will be cured. His choice would depend on where the Never King is on the spooky/gross vs enthralling/charismatic bad guy scale. His choice would also be entirely self-serving and will only last as long as he thinks he will get a good bargain out of the whole thing, so you might consider him more of a wild card.

(Lol whoops looks like I jumped the gun so for a better better version:)

Updating this cuz I thought of some more people!

AGAINST
Zahir (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=24700.msg364627#msg364627), a djinn who was bound to an amulet (a bronze pendant carved with the symbol of an ancient Essyrni mage order) over three thousand years ago. The binding requires that he form a contract with whoever possesses the amulet; once the terms of the contract are met, he's imprisoned again.

He could serve the plot in a variety of ways (particularly if the way he got bound to his amulet somehow coincides with the initial fall of the Never King); mostly I imagine he'd pretend to be unbothered by the whole scenario but actually HATE this guy


Ally (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=20570.0), my "accidental dragon". She has something of a handle on her powers these days, but it can still be a coin flip. I imagine she might come across rumors of the Never King while searching for answers about her mother's alchemical research (which dealt with souls!!) and decide that something needs to be done about this guy.


UNFORTUNATE BYSTANDER
Lapis (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=20846.0), a freedwoman historical scholar and the person currently in possession of Zahir's amulet. Though she's had the amulet for a few months, she and Zahir have yet to dictate a formal contract. This means that his powers are limited, but he is at least free enough to be able to walk around with her outside his amulet (most of the time).

(Their dynamic is not sustainable, as the binding spell will eventually force them into a contract or remove the amulet from Lapis' possession.)

As a historian/archeologist, she might actually work pretty well as a researcher trying to figure out how to beat this guy, once she's dragged into the situation (likely due to her connection to Zahir)


Ashir (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=20179.0), yet another alchemist, lol. I could see him being more neutral about the whole situation--he really just wants to get out of his current situation, and he'd help whichever side offered his best chance of doing that.

So I just made Kallippos (link in sig) and he would definitely be opposed to something like this. He's one of the few in his herd who are able to move on their own due to the nature of his duty to the tribe, and he's not he only Wayfinder for them, so it would be less of an issue for him to investigate evil happenings than it would be for another member of his herd. I'm not sure exactly how he would fit into the whole thing so his role would probably begin in a pantser role. I'm definitely open to plotting for this, however!

His role could either be actively against the bbeg or someone who gets sucked into the chaos; just need some plottage to figure out which and how. :) Most likely he'd be in the city somewhere during one of his herd's rare visits but beyond that...I dunno. PLOT MEH.

AGAINST THE NEVER-KING
The Oracle (https://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=27334.new#new) - An old acquaintance of the Never King's who's already in the desert who is going to take none too kindly to his returning. They aren't with the good guys though and they ARE gonna make sure they are EVERYONE'S problem. Juuuuuust gonna let the Never King take out some of the flies from the honey and rest up first. I did see someone else also has a seer NO WORRIES, do your thing! This is as much a title as an ability and eventually my baddie will need followers I just need to finish and also am working with Neph on figuring out their connection to the Never King

FOR THE NEVER KING
Maybe in the future


UNFORTUNATE BY-STANDER
Emyr Kasabian (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=16576.0)- Merchant Prince although he wouldn't call himself unfortunate. Emyr's the type to roll with the punches and he's going to try and figure out which side will benefit him the most (if such a side exists) before acting. He aims to come out on top and doesn't really care what your moral compass is so long as he benefits from what you're doing.

ARTIFACTS
The Oracle's Eye: Never King stole something not his and now possesses the ability to potentially use Second Sight Scrying to see things through another's eyes

I think Aranea's ready for this. I could see her being drawn into the chaos somehow, but it's also possible she could be hired as an assassin by the Never King. She is a wild card who would basically work for the highest bidder, so her "allegiance" could go either way but could also switch down the line if she gets a better offer. On the other hand, pissing her off might cause her to switch sides as well.

Winston McKean (https://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=27304.msg398921#msg398921) is a character in the works who will likely be a catalyst for this event.

So I'm torn on how I'd like the lost city where the never king will be awakened is found. On one hand, it would be fun if my desert guide Winston finds something of value there and begins to sell travel passes to adventurers to explore the ruins and exacavate it for wealth and knowledge- all the while not realizing he's slowly drawing attention to a city that's damned and meant to be forgotten.

This could be sort of what draws some of the initial characters towards the desert. And it's through all of this new explorations that pieces of the ancient puzzle are unearthed until- WHOOPS, never king himself is awakened. So more or less, the beginning of this event is archeological, adventurers, and grave robbers before BAM- they awaken a BBEG and now they gotta deal with the consequences.

I'm still fleshing out the idea, but wanted to put it here so I had it to go back to as a reference.

So I've posted up Winston's buddy Lenny
https://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=27307.0

Figured I'd put him here so it's official XD

Anyway, I'll be posting more plottings today/ this weekend for how each character will likely get sucked into the event- so mostly meet and greets that the characters don't realize will lead into far more than they've bargained for..

Bwahahaha!

So to also make this official, as opposed to just discord chatter:

The plan for the moment is that Min (Aranea) doesn't spend much time in the city of Essyrn. She has a contact there who basically acts as a middleman betwixt her and whatever seedy parts of the city there are, and of course gets her jobs and information. He probably puts her in contact with fences or is a fence himself...either way, someone will move through the underbelly and wind up talking to him. He makes the deal, knowing Min well, and gets the up-front payment. He takes his cut, gets in contact with Min somehow, pays her, and gives her the details of the job. Then she kills whoever she needs to kill, and he collects the final payment for her. And if she doesn't get paid...well, it's probably a good idea to make yourself incredibly scarce very quickly.

So she takes a job to kill someone and her middleman puts her in contact with Lenny after giving him some small sum to get her where she needs to be and make it plausible. Lenny says he needs extra security or something because, y'know, the desert is dangerous...so Min joins the group heading out to the ruins. This puts her close to whoever her target is. It'll be an NPC so there's no conflict with her not finishing the job, et cetera, but ultimately she's also drawn into whatever madness is happening out at these ruins.

That still a good plan, Spice? 8D

I have some more plots to get things started on the adventurers front but am waiting on @Goldie to finish her one character , as this character's background will likely affect some ways the adventurers find themselves:D

BUT NO PRESSURE GOLDIE

also my phone posts don't like to tag ppl.. which is rude u_u

But thank you sylent hyll for also posting your ideas here so I can keep everything organized!

(I thought of two more characters so I updated my original post lol)

For the Never King
None, as of right now

Against the Never King
Parsa Khosravi (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=25305) - A clairvoyant merchant prince with both the means, motive and opportunity to oppose the potential tyranny of the old king.  Likely working in the shadows to coordinate and support the Never King's adversaries, likely through a mix of information and coin to, if nothing else, provide a convenient excuse for other characters to be somewhere.

At a more macro level, if there is any possibility of an encroaching undead horde, he could already be in the process of hiring mercenaries to help defend Essyrn, should the event happen to lean in that direction.

Unfortunate Bystander
Zahara ult Makhia (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=24823) - Moraki slave and Gladiatrix.  Not in a position to do much but she lives in Essyrn.  Unlikely to have a major opinion on the politics of the Never King's return.

I should probably make an official list, so:

Definite:

Ghaej (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=27306.0) - Already in on things.

Thrax (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=27053.0) -  my excitable gnoll bardbarian, along with DragonSong's Hanako (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=20115.msg277125#msg277125), can be in Essyrn after their share of treasure-hunting glory.

Highly Likely:

Stygian -  my upcoming crocodilian innkeeper could be an innocent bystander dragged into it, while his human-hating people could be recruited by the Never King.

Theoretically Possible:

Ankoku (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=27077.0) - Small. Fuzzy. Insanely deadly. It doesn't seem out of the question for a Shadow Ranger to get involved.

Watt (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=27169.0) - My friendly construct that is very destructive if actually angered. The surest way to do is to hurt his friends.

Ok!!! I'm so so sorry for the time it took to put this together.

I will be leading the Mtetezi - a group of female desert warriors whose sole purpose is to work to keep the Never King from rising. They have a very far reach with an intricate spy network and have done everything within their power to collect and house any and all mention of the Never King in the world at large.

Jelani is their leader and her info can be found   HERE! (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=27325.new#new)

If ya wanna be a member, lemme know ;)

Because of today's events, and as a nod towards the original influence of the event (The 1999 Cinematic Masterpiece starring Rachel Weisz and Brendan Fraser) I wanted to make a post towards some of the additional event plotting I've been working on.

For starters- I'm going to have the ancient city where the Never King was from only be visible during a solar eclipse. Other wise, the area just has ruins and nothing of true or real value to relinquishing the mysteries of once was.

But the true and former city will be revealed during the total eclipse of the sun, where any residual dark magics lingering behind would be at their most potent. Like in the Mummy when Hamunaptra is revealed as the sun rises, so will it be for this city when the solar eclipse is at it's peak. Leading up to this event, the whole area would be an active hot spot for strange magics, ancient ghosts and so on. This event also happens during the lunar eclipse, except the city itself does not appear during this event- only the ancient magics and active ghosts are their most potent.

In any given location on Earth, a total eclipse happens only once every 360 years- I'm assuming such an event would be similar in nature in the SOTE universe, thus making it a unique event to the onlookers when one occurs.

That being said, obviously this event is going to start off because of one such event :D
And with my character Winston already trying to make the area a hot spot for travelers and adventure seekers, he doesn't realize that while he is doing this to make money off of those of a curious or greedy nature- that this is going on during a year in which there is fated to be a total eclipse of the sun.


Before I post more, I just wanted to place this here to get thoughts and feed back!

I'll be posting more about the hows and whys behind the mysterious phenomenon and curse once I finalize the unique artifacts that'll be referenced in this event as well as my priest character who is meant to be a keeper of the knowledge of the Never King- AND is also meant to be the blood sacrifice to awaken him. One who is purely faithful must give up their own blood so that the Never King can rise again, were a fate to befall him and he were to die before his true rise to power.

Of course, this DID happen, the poor Never king's reign DID fall and many were scrambling to cover up the dark magics he was awakening- as I'm envisioning the dark magics / lich powers would be a joint effort to those following him. Not all that would follow this king realize the darker intents, so there would be a number of fellows studying the unique arts in this prophesized portion of the desert.

In a sense, this small portion of the desert is almost similar in nature to the corrupt powers of the Fell- but it's not exactly there on a permanent basis and the powers seemed to be contained or related to the cycles of the moon and sun and quite obviously, through the solar eclipse - their union.

The Metetzi warriors have a steak in on this which, I'm sure I'll be plotting a bit more with goldie on the depths of their connections, but they would have been around during and likely prior to the Never King's rise.

Maybe the Never King was a prophecy in which they were aware and tried to steer the events for themselves,

What is for certain is-
They apparently have possession of this so called 'priest' who was meant to spill his blood to save and rise again the Never King-
and it just so happens he doesn't seem to be able to die or age since those events transpired and he was never used as a sacrifice to awaken his king.

So to this day, the Metetzi have a hold of this man, who still dreams of awakening his king to bring about his full potential unto this world.

Some ideas I might play around with on this are that he's set in stone during the times his death wouldn't affect the never king- but during events, such as the coming of and during eclipses, his body will turn back into it's mortal form in hopes he can finally sacrifice his blood to his King and bring him back into our world again.

This priest (who again, I need to finish creating lol) documented everything so meticulously about how and what the never king's purpose is that each time he returns to mortal form, he tries to make his way back to the city to awaken his King.

SO far, he's not been very successful, as the Metetzi have his petrified stone body held within the deep caverns beneath their village- and it is guarded and protected by no less than 2 highly trained warriors at any given time.

This priest is also going to be the one responsible for creating 'The Golden Map'- an intricate, golden book like object that has foldable parts and secret compartments that are designed to move and open to reveal secrets about the locations of the various artifacts hidden that are meant to be utilized to awaken the never king, or to be used BY the awakened never king.

I'm still working on the specifics of this unique map, but the ideas are still coagulating inside my head so I'm letting them continue to stew while I at least share the rest of what I was thinking here and wanting to gain feedback, since this was a lot to toss out there x.x

Let me know your thoughts! More will come :D

To add onto my thoughts from earlier, the area where the kingdom was / is could be considered like a Bermuda Triangle sort of location- as the natural residual dark magics and practices from the Never King and his followers Era could / would still affect the place- on top of the Metetzi doing their own deterring of the area.

Okay been working on plots so wanted to post updates here to get thoughts and plots from others!

The Lost city has a name!
The Lost City of A'bahn-dor

The Sacred Text that Anphis scribes finally have a name!
The Scrolls of Anphis

The start expedition is finally going through it's final stages of pre-plotting so it can be underway!!

Currently, the only active threads toward this event are with the Shah and Mad Emporer's character Ghaej in some character developing journey of their own :)

Anyone else can do the same- just let me know what your characters will be doing initially and how you plan to eventually draw them into the chaos.

For those who want to be apart of the initial exploratory part- I'm working on a merchant princess/ scholar type character who hires Winston so she can explore these so called new 'ruins' in the desert to see if they pair up with her research over some known missing dates in history. She's been meaning to crack the puzzle as to why a specific set of years seems erased from ancient history- and some of it seems purposefully so.

So she's looking to hire those to join her to protect her, aid her on her quest- etc
Winston and likely Lenny will be tagging along, and I'm assuming a few other characters might as well. She will pay for certain services, so be sure to make her claims appealing as she's not just going to hire whomever for whatever, however, she is also up to outsiders paying HER to join on her entourage if they want- but it wouldn't exactly be advertised. But if someone where to over hear about the expedition and wanted to join along.. they could certainly plead their case to this merchant princess so they could tag along.. of course, at a price :)

Said merchant princess could also have friends and family that might join her.

Thoughts and plots? Let me know! I'm working on her profile currently and should be posting it up shortly.


Pre-planned caravan events proposed:
Those that join the merchant princess's crew would likely find themselves facing down the Metetzi once they do arrive at the ruins. However... plots are a foot- and some interesting turn of events are to come down regarding 1) The eclipse eventually showing the 'true city' (I'm thinking maybe the eclipse portion/ magic might just reveal the ancient castle of the Never King so that the rest of the city would have fallen to ruins, but the castle itself comes and goes with the tides of the eclipse)  

2) Anphis breaking free of the Metetzi grasp and would be making his way towards the reawakened castle in the ruins of A'bahn-dor. 

3) Before all of that, both the Metetzi and Adventuring group end up having to band together against a large creature that awakens and threatens to KILL THEM ALL- but in the aftermath of said battle ensues, and Jelani (leader of the Metetzi) realizes one of the severely injured men are someone her family owes a life pact to- she declares a truce and tells the adventuring party they have until she returns with Winston after hoping to heal him and then they have to get out- or face the wrath of the Metetzi. So the exploration party is left alone for a small amount of time while Jelani escorts Winston back to her sacred/ secret home land with her people to heal him- and somehow Lenny weasels his way in (either he sneaks in or pleads that 'Winston is my only family' crocodile tears bit. Once Lenny is there...
He kind of purposefully releases Anphis thinking there's some promise of gold 
>_>


I hope that makes sense! Goldie or someone can correct me if I typoed or wrote something wrong or confusing XD

IT HAS BEGUN
  (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1149031066523406356/1170146639617474731/e268a579f2cf4fd7606a348540fed89e.jpg)

(if you know, you know...)

BUT FOR REALSIES.

I started a post for the event so enjoy :D

https://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=27360.0

Eaves droppers and those who Ibra might have invited are also encouraged to reply. 

BUT IT HAS BEGUN

I'M A STICK!!!!!!!

also Jelani has a thread now too ;)
https://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=27357.msg401433#msg401433

I forgot to post it earlier, but the Shah has a thread too :)
https://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=27308.0
not an open thread but related to event~

I'm hoping to have time tomorrow or Sunday to work organizing the event information so it's all easy to find and follow, but for now- we can all just enjoy the chaos of just using the plotting board and discord for now XD

I started working on the information page (https://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=27363.msg401599#msg401599)!!

There's not much to it but..
I did work on the character page found here (https://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=27363.msg401602#msg401602).

Please post HERE if I missed any of your characters!!! Or if I messed up a link or put them in the wrong spot or didn't describe them correctly

The information page is not meant to be replied to as it's just me posting things to link back to as easy reference on the site!

<3 thank you