The world is split into two large continents, the Kingdom of the Undead and the United Nations of the Living. The two continents had at first lived in harmony, but small frictions started here and there when disagreements sprung up. For the Kingdom, they wanted the souls of the deceased and the bodies of the dead from the Living to become new citizens of their land. However, for the United Nations, they wanted their people to rest in peace after death, and not have their spirits and bodies ‘violated’ by the dead, ‘forced’ to walk the earth even after life has left them.
The war finally started when a ship loaded with bodies from the Kingdom was sunk by the United Nations on the coast of Archelon, the port near the United Nations that the Kingdom regularly stops at for ‘fresh supplies’. The Kingdom is infuriated by the United Nations’ actions and has declared war.
The Kingdom’s advantage is that they have a near endless amount of dead bodies to fight and control. Necromancers are able to bring up as many of the dead to fight for them as long as their magic is able to sustain the magicka needed to keep the bodies animated, while the Living are restricted by their numbers. However, the United Nations aren’t completely helpless; they have the advantage of technology. Due to the Kingdom’s general everyday-life being very monotonous, its citizens often nearly always sleeping without the needs for reproducing nor eating, their technology is far behind compared to the Living. While the Undead are fighting with crude bone-swords and clubs and charging forward without any order, the Living have catapults, battling rams, and generally better-made weaponry.
1. Name: Tormina Age: 26 Occupation: Battle Priest Faction: Temple of War, United Nations Bio: Tormina is a member of the Temple of War. She showed talent for performing battle-enhancing magic, and became an apprentice to the temple at a young age. She later became a full priest, and when the war broke out, she joined the United Army as a member of the Enhancement Troop along with several other men and women skilled in the arts of battle-enhancing. Picture:
SPOILERX
Cloak she wears:
2. Name: Nethru Age: 37 Occupation: Necromancer Faction: Not-Yet Undead, Kingdom Bio: One of the minority of living beings within the Kingdom, where most were dead, Nethru liked it there. It was quiet, and he liked the quietness. The essence of death was strong in the Kingdom, and made his practices all the more easier. He joined the war to fight for the right to continue practicing necromancy. Picture:
SPOILERX
Staff (but with a lot more skulls decorating it than just one):
3. Name: Damascus Age: 448 Occupation: Death Knight Faction: Undead, Kingdom Bio: Damascus was summoned by Nethru one day. Being quite powerful, Nethru had no control over him. He was bored enough that he decided to stick around, as the necromancer seemed to have a talent of running into trouble, and he was bored to the point where he welcomed the trouble. When Nethru decided to join the war against the Living, he followed along. Picture:
SPOILERX
Steed is a combination of all three images below, but without the wings:
(the armor)
Last edited by Antagonist; 03-18-2011 at 05:50 PM..
Armor, it was surely something that could be used for torture. It weighed Evadne down as she walked along the dusty road of the Kingdom. She needed to find someone to help with her quest, someone powerful who knew many things. Her mind wandered as she continued her journey slowly trough the gray lands. The bay horse she'd once ridden lay dead somewhere, killed during a skirmish with bandits.
Shrubs, dead things, the scenery was anything but beautiful. Dust rose with every step, making the woman wish she'd thought of packing some cloth to cover her mouth and nose. Soon, thought the woman, she would find shelter. Night could be fatal for a lone traveler in the wilds of a kingdom populated by the dead. Dark hair fluttering in a small, welcome, breeze Evadne trudged on aware that her days where numbered. Her quest for the perfect steed, a partner who could help her accomplish the other quests she had in mind, was proving to be difficult.
A clicking sound, constant an annoying, burrowed into her ears. It brought her attention to the road ahead. Surely those where the sounds of another approaching. Maybe they had food, or even water. Perhaps they where one of the dead, who might be willing to aid one of the living. Or it could be an opponent. Quietly she grasped her sword, ready at her hip to be put into action in the blink of an eye.
Last edited by PapillonCameo; 03-21-2011 at 01:44 PM..
Nethru was sore. He felt as though his rear end was going to split apart any moment now. He glared at the reanimated horse below him, who paid him no attention as it continued to trot along at an agonizingly slow and lop-sided pace. In front of him, Damascus was steering the ropes. The death knight was sitting completely upright, his back almost rigidly straight. Nethru mentally grumbled about how the dead were lucky they never had problems with having sore and tired muscles.
The two of them were on their way towards a small town, where a small army of Kingdom soldiers were gathered. Nethru was to be in charge of leading an attack on a small troop of United Nations soldiers, who were camped on the other side of a nearby river across from the town. Damascus, as always, tagged along. He would also be leading the skeletons and zombies, since the simple-minded cannon-fodders are no more capable of attacking the enemies according to plan than a troll was with building a catapult.
The road was deserted, which was pretty normal considering most of the Kingdom's residents were dead things and didn't really have much of any reason to be traveling about except when they were being summoned by their sires to battle. On the sides of the road, there were also a few scattered bones lying about, probably from some scuffle between two undead. The scenery was so monotonous that Nethru would have fallen asleep a long time ago had his butt not been killing him.
"I'm stopping for camp after another mile. My back is killing me." He said to Damascus, who simply nodded to indicate that he understood. Most dead things don't talk much, especially if they were born naturally from wisps of Essence of Death. It was only those who were 'turned' or had kept their memories from when they were alive that they would have more things to talk about. And Damascus was a complete, one-hundred-percent natural-born Undead. He wasn't sure just when or how he was born, but it must have been a long time ago, as he was more powerful than many of the other deads that he had came across in his years living in the Kingdom. And it was harder to get more than two sentences out of the death knight than it was to get a fish to learn how to tapdance.
Cecilia walked along the dusty path. She wanted to return to the United Nations as soon as possible, but curiosity had brought her to the Kingdom. She had wanted to see one of the undead up close for the first time, and well, she got her wish. Though now she regretted ever stepping foot in this place. She grimaced at the sight of a carcass of what looked to be a wild dog of some kind on the side of the pathway. She should have just kept to reading her books about the Kingdom and it's inhabitants, rather than make the long journey out here herself on foot. Luckily she hadn't encountered any enemies, and she packed rather light.
"Why oh why did I have to walk so far?" She groaned. Her feet had begun to ache but she refused to stop and rest. This wasn't exactly the safest place for a nap, and she felt vulnerable being alone. Her skills with magic weren't as great as she wanted them to be, but she'd be able to defend herself if she needed to. Her stomach let out a low growl suddenly, startling her a bit. She sighed. If she were to run into trouble, a growling stomach wouldn't sound very intimidating. She reached into her knapsack and dug around until she found a bright red apple. Sadly, it was her last, meaning she'd have to find food somewhere. Cecilia was a good two days away from the border into the United Nations.
((They're actually two separate continents o.o But I guess they could be connected...like with a huge mountain in the middle, so they have to do trades with ships or something.))
Seeing a horse approach with a lugubrious knight upon it's back, she sighed in frustration. Evadne kept plodding on, hand on sword, with a surly determination. If she had to battle so be it! Reaching the knight she frowned at the sight of another man holding onto the obviously dead knight. "Excuse me sirs, but have you any idea where I could find shelter? Or maybe even someone who could aid me with my quest? I am searching for the perfect steed, for a questing knight such as myself." It was worth a try. Worst came to worst, she would at least have made an effort to be nice without beginning a battle.
((lol It's fine. Nothing's down in concrete in this RP anyway. XD))
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Damascus halted the horse, bringing Nethru back to reality with a jolt. The death knight did not give any other indication that he had noticed the armored female standing on the side of the road, remaining rigidly seated upon the decaying horse, reins in his hands.
"Hmm?" The necromancer wearily peered his head from behind Damascus to face the un-undead knight. It was rare to see someone not of the Dark faction wandering about, but not completely unusual. The Kingdom does own a vast amount of land, after all. "Shelter? 'M afraid not; there's a town about fifty kilometers from here if you follow the road, but other than that, what you see is what you've got." He motioned to the deserted, sandy, and lifeless area around them. "And as for the perfect steed...I would love to have a perfect steed myself," He grumbled, more to himself than her, "or I'd hardly be riding on this pathetic lump of rot."
He really didn't look forward to traveling the fifty kilometers the next day. His nether regions were painful enough as it was already.
Things seemed to be getting worse every minute. No shelter for miles, and no clue as to where she might find the steed of her dreams. Evadne remained still though she felt like letting disappointment tinge her face. Instead she removed her hand from her sword and moved forward closer to the two strangers. An idea formed in the woman's mind. "I have a proposition for you then. Let me travel with you, and perhaps we may all find what we want."
The knight had realized her chances of survival in such a desolate place without guidance were quite impossible. The chances of others coming by this way were also dire. For self preservation she would ally herself with whatever these two were for the duration of this journey. After that, who was Evadne to say what the gods might have in store for her?
"Heh, it would be easy for me find my current want: To stop riding this damned horse and give my butt a rest..." Nethru mumbled, though inwardly he thought about the knight's words. While Damascus was quite powerful in his own right, he was still just one death knight. It would be hard for Damascus to constantly keep an eye on him while fighting multiple enemies. While he could fight, he was best at tossing spells from afar and not in close combat. Having another knight would be handy, though then there was the female's intentions...
"Which side of the war are you on? If you wish to travel with us, then that will mean you are aligning yourself with the Kingdom. We are headed towards our camp for a battle coming up."
Evadne's armor clanked as she shrugged. "I will not survive over long without shelter or food in this place, so it seems that either way I have no true choice. I will fight for the Kingdom because I must to survive." There was also the matter of her exile for trying to get the others to see reason. Her fellow knights, those she had risen to knighthood with, had turned their backs on their oaths of equality. They treated the dead as nothing more then things when they clearly had minds of their own, even if not all of them could speak.
Adjusting her sword the woman moved to the mount's side. Her muscles screamed in protest. How Evadne would fight this battle exhausted as she was, she had no idea. "Tell me of the upcoming battle. If I fight for the Kingdom, I must know the plans so that I may do my utmost to help and win in the process." They could win against those fools because they underestimated the dead. The left side of the woman's rose colored mouth quirked up in a half smile. this was going to be quite the adventure.
Nethru's eyebrows rose, though it was hidden behind his large hood. "You're asking a lot considering we've only just met. Battle plans are not to be given out easily, especially to living creatures...no offense." He had nothing against living creatures, considering he was one himself, but at least the undead are completely on the side of the Kingdom...the United Nations abhorred anything that was dead and moved, so it was almost guaranteed that if there's an undead walking about, it was on the side of the Kingdom's. "Either way, you're looking dead on your feet so there's no way we're sending you out for battle now...besides, I'm feeling quite dead myself." He finally decided that he had had enough and hopped off the horse, stumbling slightly from his sore behind and legs. Damascus gave him a look, before removing himself from the steed as well.
"Let's stop for camp for tonight and talk about plans tomorrow. I could use some rest now." He rummaged around a small sack he carried for a few moments, before he found what he was looking for. "Aha." He pulled out some jerky strips made out of...questionable sources, and offered some to the knight. "Here. You look famished." He bit into one and chewed. It didn't taste too bad, as long as one didn't think too much about what it was made out of. Nearby, Damascus led the horse off to tie it to a dead tree before getting the supplies out to build a tent.
Taking the strip of meat gratefully Evadne sat down with a clang. She began removing her armor with both hands while chewing on the jerky wordlessly. The first thing to come off was her cloak, which she wrapped around herself after everything else was removed. She regarded the hooded man, clad only in a tunic and breeches now, with a small smile. To repay his kindness she rummaged in her leather bag, that had hung at her hip moments before, and threw him a small porcelain jar. "That salve will help your sore muscles. It works, believe me."
For a few moments she regarded the other silent man, and concluded he was either dead or a very quiet man indeed. The tent looked very welcoming to her. Evadne had left the majority of supplies with her dead horse, unable to carry very much save the essentials. The food had run out quickly enough. "My name is Evadne. Hopefully your trust will be gained before we must go forth in battle together. It would be a shame if something happened and you ended up dying when I could have helped save you because you distrust me. She returned to chewing the meat, not even caring what it was.
Nethru caught the jar and opened it, sniffing at the contents. He recognized some of the ingredients through scent, though being a necromancer he focused more on animating dead bodies than studying alchemy, so he was unaware that the certain combination made up of a sore-relief salve. He dipped a finger in and rubbed the contents onto his arm, testing it. It made his skin feel cool, and it did seem to work rather well, so he shrugged and dipped in, reaching into his robes to apply the salve onto his bruised skin.
"You seem very confident of your abilities." He murmured, "Do you prefer charging forth in battle, or staying behind as an auxiliary unit?"
Damascus finished setting up the tent, and started to keep watch around the area, not having the need to eat nor rest. Neither him nor Nethru bothered to start a fire, as they knew it attracted all sorts of unwanted attention that they could do without at the moment. The death knight could see well into the dark anyway, so light wasn't really necessary.
Evadne wiggled her toes in her boots as she thought of the question. Shrugging she removed her leather boots and sighed with relief. There weren't too many blisters at least. The young warrior settled herself into the rocky ground, nodding in approval at the fact that no fires were lit. For a while she simply tilted her head back and looked at the stars.
A yawn escaped her, before she reminded herself to answer. "Truly, my position doesn't matter to me. But I do hate having to take orders, which might throw a wrench into the things I might be willing to do. Usually I wait for an opening to try and charge into the enemy camp and take out the important people." Her dark hair fell freely around her shoulders, now unbound, as she bent her head back onto her pack. It was the closest thing Evadne had to a pillow and she wasn't about to ask her dark clad companions for such a thing. The knight already owed them enough as it was.
