< atton revisited > The information page for Atton has been fully revised and updated with the new map!
< updated calendar > The Fortuna calendar has been updated in the "Other" lore section! This includes a document which displays the calendar for you to see, making it much easier to understand.
< moving map > The first functional map has been released in the News section! This map is also interactive, allowing you to drag and drop between points in order to determine distances. This is the first iteration, and there's more and better to come!
< first annual awards > The results for the First Annual Fortuna Year-End Awards have been posted! Go and take a look at who the finalists were, and who took home the big prizes!
< new default skin > Our new skin has passed the beta test, and is now the new Default for the forums! If you have any issues with this skin, send a PM or Discord to Mellie.
< human lore update > Humans have been updated with TWENTY-FIVE subraces/subcultures which add numerous options, and a little extra lore and flavour.
< magic lore update > Magical Lore has been enhanced with the addition of a post on Magical Education. From Beginner to Expert, this is how you learn the spells.
< a change to member groups > Member groups are now based on storyline! You can change your displayed storyline by editing the settings in your profile.
Welcome to the world of Fortuna, a land of fantastic proportions. This is an original fantasy roleplay that takes place in a world developed over nearly a decade of work and collaboration. We aim to encourage all participants to have a hand in the stories of the characters here, and the world around them. Your choices are key - so make them with pride. You decide who wins the wars, you decide who becomes King, the world is ours, and together we will bring it to life!
Late on a Two-Moon Night The 2nd of The Shared Mind On the Island of Kaikoa
"I
t is this day, and with a heavy heart, that I announce the end-times of my chieftaincy."
It was really happening.
When Halu had heard the words, he felt as if his world had come crashing down around him. Just moments before he had been celebrating another birth year with his friends. He had been enjoying the festivities. He had been... Happy. Now, it was like everything was over. He could not simply Live anymore. He needed to live for a purpose.
He barely had a chance to look at Kapu or Lani before his mother had a tight grip on his arm, and had pulled him back home. He sat there, dumbfounded, listening to their instructions. He hardly noticed when his tutu appeared, performing some ritual with flowers on his body. His father was excitedly talking about tattoos. His mother was giving excruciatingly specific advice for how to act, dress, travel, eat, go to the t--
"Halu," Her voice was quiet and specific as she stooped to state into his eyes. Her hands were warm and tight on his shoulders. Even though he was built like a wall, so was she - and she had the intimidating persona to match. He felt tiny as she stared him down, as she told him what she expected: "You will not disappoint me." Everything was contained in those words. He nodded.
Halu did not want to be Chief. He hadn't known that until he heard the Chief resign, though he had suspected it for a long while. No, he would not make a good Chief. He wasn't a leader: He was a protector. Kapue'o was connected to the Great Spirits, and had a wisdom far beyond any Halu could be capable of.... He would make a great leader. Kailani was connected to Wyghal, and the waters that defined their people... She would make a great leader.
He knew what he needed to do.
With his equipment all packed, he went to their usual spot. Their birth festival was cancelled in favour of preparations for the Uhane Holo, and so the night was deadly quiet as he wandered through the lush jungle. The youths wouldn't leave until morning, but he almost knew that Kapu and Lani would have the same idea as him. He stopped with a sigh when he found it, the boar tusk buried in the earth. They had carved so many things into it since then, it hardly looked animal anymore. That boar had tried to tear them apart, and had only brought them closer together. Halu could only hope that the Uhane Holo would do the same thing.
He dropped the deadwood and the burlap sack of rocks he'd been carrying and got to work building a fire. He wanted this to be a long night. He wanted them to be tired in the morning. He wanted to hold onto this as long as he could. When they left the village - they'd be separating. This was supposed to be a journey of self-discovery, but Halu didn't know how to be alone. He needed them.
Kailani, of course, knew that this day would come. It always did. And perhaps on some level she may have even suspected that it may come sooner than anyone else anticipated - the chief grew weaker by the day, her age truly showing and her firm sense of strength at last beginning to yield. It was less surprising to Kailani, she felt, than it may have been to some others.
But to stage the announcement on the day of her, Halu, and Kapu's birth festival?
That, Lani had not suspected. She had woken up this morning believing that she would be able to enjoy this day with her friends, celebrated by the village as the three of them always were each year, their parents all voicing how proud they felt of them and how great an omen it truly was that they were born so close together. They never seemed to tire of recounting that, despite the fact that the trio obviously knew it. And considering that, perhaps she should have seen this coming. The chief liked to take the stance that all other chiefs took, of course. The stance that there was no favorite. Only the best candidate would be allowed to become chief. But most people, Kailani included, suspected that the chief likely did have especially high expectations and favoritism for the three of them, for the same reasons that everyone else did; they were born together, one each from three elements, and were seen as a good omen for the tribe.
As such, she decided she really shouldn't have been surprised. Of course the chief would choose today to make her announcement. And just like that, their birth year festivities were overshadowed, and the Uhane Holo was to begin. She wouldn't lie; the prospect was exciting to Lani. She had always wanted to venture out into the world, always wondered when her chance would come. She was more interested in the travel and the knowledge than she was in actually becoming chief, though. Not that she was particularly opposed, but... somehow she felt as though she lacked the commanding aura a chief truly needed. She was comfortable where she was, as a healer, as a dancer. She would have been happy to simply gain knowledge of the outside world and then return to Kaikou to succeed her father as High Dancer.
She supposed, though, that her opinion could always change. That was the point of the journey, was it not? To gain new knowledge, new perspectives... Kailani could find new resolve out there in the vast unknown. It thrilled her to think of it. But... But still. Their birth celebration had been cancelled today. Halulahi seemed unsure, unsteady, when the announcement came. Unusual for him. Kapue'o was unreadable. She found herself thinking that her friends may have each had a different, or perhaps similar, outlook on this event as she did.
It was with a sense of knowing intuition that she headed out that night. They had all been so swept up by the announcement of the Uhane Holo, by the preparations, that Kailani had not seen much of her friends or the other youths for the rest of that day. It was lonesome, and she felt a resounding loneliness echo back to her from somewhere out there. She knew in her heart that they would meet tonight. The same place as always...
Kailani left her belongings behind - all except her shells, of course - knowing that Halu would handle setting up a camp. She'd regather her own belongings come daylight. Her feet tread the path that was so familiar to her after all these years, familiar enough that she could walk it blind and know every turn, every root, and every bush. And eventually she found their little spit, seeing a familiar hulking figure already there, setting up camp just as she predicted.
"Hello stranger," she greeted as she approached, drumming her fingernails against the surface of her conch shell. She offered Halu a warm smile as she sat by the fire he had gotten started. The warmth of the fire radiated more than just heat; it radiated a feeling of familiarity, something she could only feel from Halu. It was as though the fire contained a piece of his very soul. It was warmer and cozier than any other flame she knew.
"Quite the birth year, don't you think?" she asked, offering him a pleasant, if only slightly saddened smile.
Kapueo had always known that some day the Uhane Holo would come, but despite everything it had always felt like a distant dream, something that seemed disconnected from the reality of his life. He knew it would come but it never felt real.
Not until today.
The chief had seen fit to make the announcement today of all days, the day that he, Halu, and Lani celebrated their day of birth, and the day that should have been lighthearted fun became suddenly heavy with the weight of responsibility and change. Uncertainty and expectation. Excitement and dread. Kapu's jaw clenched and a rock settled in his stomach, but his face remained impassive against the storm that was the announcement. From this moment, everything would be different. From this moment they were no longer youths but potential chiefs, waiting to prove themselves worthy of the greatest honour to lead their people.
Kapu wasn't sure yet if he wanted that honour. Hell, he didn't even know if he was worthy of it. He knew his father would say he would make a great chief. He would say that he had trained his whole life to become just that, and that e could not dishonour himself or, gods forbid, his mother by failing at the task now that it was here. He knew what his mother would say too, if she were here to say it. "You are worthy of every greatness, Kapu, if only you believe it to be so." His mother had always tempered his father's sharpness. Without her here to soften him, all he did was cut.
Within moments of the announcement Halulahi's parents had swept him away, already preparing him for what was to begin the next day. He didn't know what Kailani would be doing now, but he didn't stay to find out. While everyone else was still busy with the news and the beginnings of eager preparation, he slipped away into the forest.
-----
It was night. The cool darkness was comforting to him. Familiar. The forest was alive with nocturnal voices - the howl of the wolf, the low whine of cicadas, the whispering of leaves in the breeze, the screech of an owl - and suddenly the voice of another. Lani's melodic tone stood out, foreign amongst the noises of nature, and on silent wings he followed it to the light.
In the shadows just outside the reach of the fire's glow skin replaced feathers and he landed on his feet with practiced ease, his cloak settling around his shoulders and covering the tattoo of the great owl on his back. Kapu was the last to arrive at the fire, though of course they would all meet there tonight. They were connected by something greater than themselves, drawn together like the sea to the shore.
What would they do now that their quest would separate them? What would it feel like to be across the world not only from the place he called home, but the people? He knew it was meant to be a journey of self discovery and growth, but he didn't mind only knowing who he was in the context of those around him. He didn't know what his place would be in the outside world. Would he have a place there at all?
He couldn't sit with all these thoughts filling him, so he stood instead. He looked across the fire at his two closest friends, feeling so close to yet so distant from both of them, and opened his mouth as though to speak, but then closed it again and set his jaw with frustration. All this time, all these years together with them and in training for this very day, and yet he didn't know what to say. He didn't even know what he felt right now. "I am not ready for this."
ani was the first to appear, and something about her presence seemed to settle Halu's sense of unease. His shoulders relaxed, the hunching mass of his body reforming from child to man, and he found himself able to leave his crouch in favour of sitting cross-legged before the fire. He smiled back at her - the same kind of sad smile she had offered him, and the tired pulling at his eyes seemed to answer her question far better than he could have with words.
Kapu swooped down, appearing a flurry of feathers and then fabric, and he seemed to be having the same troubles Halu'd been having moments before. Restlessness. Listlessness. When his statement finally came, it hung in the air with a weight Halu had only known once before, from the time when he'd confessed his feelings to the beautiful boy sitting across from him. It was that day he'd realized words could be heavy. It was something he noticed again now. It was as if his ears were full of molasses and the words couldn't process right. Or perhaps he was just refusing to process them.
"Tomorrow we need to be ready," He finally said, trying to find the person in him who could smile through anything. He forced the foreign shape onto his face and filled the clearing with his laughter, drumming his hands on his thighs with a thick slapping sound. A drum roll as he stood up and pulled his two friends towards him, one with each powerful arm. "Tonight isn't tomorrow. Tonight is tonight! It is our birth year my friends, my Lani, my Kapu - and tonight is for us!"
It was almost heartbreaking to see the look on Kapu's face when he approached them, his statement ringing with such certainty. Kailani had known for many years that this was coming, and felt as though regardless of her impressions of her own qualifications, the journey was at least something she was ready for. She'd been ready and practically itching for it for a long time. And yet now that the time was here, it seemed as though neither of her friends felt the same. Whether hung up on the matter of being chief, or not prepared to set out into the world at all...
Though of course she knew what that meant. It meant separation. Halulahi and Kapueo were her two dearest friends. They had always been together. She had wondered many times how she might cope with the reality that they would have to separate while they journeyed. She believed she was ready for that, too. They would reunite in time. But still... it would be hard.
"Tomorrow we need to be ready," Halu said as he stood, seemingly trying to reinvigorate them with his cheer. He yanked them close to him, and his words were clear indication that tonight would be a time for joy.
"A celebration!" she replied in her musical tone, pulling herself free from Halulahi's powerful arm to perform a twirl near the fire, a ring of water summoned around her as she did so to spiral with her. She moved her arms about briefly to churn the aquatic coil, lifting it above her before spreading her arms with a sudden stop. The water blew apart into tiny droplets and cascaded around them, changed into minuscule ice particles that glittered in the firelight. "Tonight we dance and play, like old times. And we will remind each other that tomorrow will be simple. We'll overcome this, and remain connected, just as we have through all other things."
She smiled gently at the two of them, sensing different feelings of indecision in them both, but also a well of hope. They merely needed her to remind them of what she never forgot: their bond, which she could always feel like a link between them. If they could always remember that, they would fear no challenge.
Halu was right, and his words helped to ease his worry somewhat. Tomorrow they would need to be ready, but for now they were just who they always were and they need not be ready for anything more than the celebration of their birth year. Tomorrow they would be ready, one way or another, and they would set out on the journey that would change their lives forever. Change them in ways Kapu couldn't even imagine. Halu pulled them both in for a strong embrace, and Kapueo hoped that no matter how they changed they would always fit together like this. Like friends. Like family.
When they separated Kailani danced and in doing so she brought forth a shower of water and ice, beautiful and sparkling in the firelight. She was right as well. Tonight they would dance and gain strength from it and each other and then tomorrow... they would think of tomorrow when it came. Perhaps by then his nerves would be from excitement rather than dread. He would take on the challenge like he had taken on the challenge of his Dance - he hadn't thought he could complete that either, but he had persevered. Perhaps the only way he could learn was through uncertainty and tribulation.
He flashed a smile at his friends and nodded once, decisively. "You are both right. Tonight, we celebrate. Tomorrow, we will take on the world."
oth of them agreed with him, and Halu let out a deep bellied laugh. He'd not forgotten his apprehensions as they hung in the corners of his mind, but he would do all he could to ensure that Kapu and Lani would forget their's. He turned to his bag and pulled out one of his batons, lighting it in the fire he'd started before spinning it in his hands. He began to sing a tribal refrain, slapping his hand on his chest or a nearby tree as percussion, laughing as he struggled to keep the baton twirling properly with the distraction.
"Alright, alright - we need to get serious," He caught their eyes as they laughed at him too, and pretended to be dark and serious. The character he would play to the rest of the tribe. He twirled the baton more slowly, the light catching the underside of his face and casting intimidating shadows as he glowered at his friends. His lips were stone-set into a frown, but the edges quivered slightly as he tried to keep a straight face. "My name," He puts on his best impression of Chief Manaoki - an impression that he would never bust out around anyone but Kapu and Lani, "Is Ma! Na! O! Ki!" With each syllable he struck a pose, finishing the last with the baton twirling through the air above his head before it landed lit-end down in the fire.
Without fear of being burned, Halu reached into the fire and pulled the baton back out, pointing it at Kailani, It was the same kind of melodrama that he always viewed Manaoki to have. She was always serious. Everything was the end of the world. Halu didn't know why - he couldn't imagine the world ending. Kaikoa was always so peaceful. With the baton pointed at Lani, he pointed his nose up in the air and looked down at her with a judging sneer, "You! Youth! Do you fear death?"
When Halulahi suggested they get serious, Kailani was of course prepared. Her face immediately became solemn, almost comically so, and she nodded grimly as she took a seat on the dirt with Kapueo. Together they watched as Halu put on his intimidating act, and then imitated their chief (she tried very hard not to laugh, because obviously they were being serious).
When he pointed his flaming baton at her, its heat reaching her face just softly, she fell back and laid the back of her hand over her forehead. "I do! I do chief Manatoki!" she nearly wailed. "For I have not yet finished getting a tattoo of a fig tree! How ever will I become one when I die???"
Kailani, of course, could not actually have tattoos, but that was beside the point. She turned to face Kapu, desperately scrabbling to her hands and knees. "Please! Please Kapu! You must help me!"
Kapu and Lani took a seat and watched with amusement when Halu began to dance with his flaming baton and accompany it with his usual belly drums and slapping trees. After a moment though he told them they all needed to be serious and Kapu put on his serious face. He was probably the best out of all of them at having a face that looked actually serious even while they were only pretending, but the way Kailani looked like she was struggling to be serious almost made him break the facade. Halu began to impersonate the chief, a favourite for when the three were joking around, and dramatically introduced himself while posing with the baton, finishing off by pointing it at Lani and asking just as dramatically if she feared death.
Kapu almost laughed at the way Lani fell back with her hand to her forehead, announcing her fear in matching drama, then scrambling to beg for Kapu's help. Kapu was terrible at this kind of joking around, the other two were much better at coming up with funny things to do or say, but he liked to play along as well as he could anyway so he put on his dramatic face and got to his feet, putting himself between Lani and Halu with his hands dramatically on his hips. "Oh great chief Manaoki, the greatest thing to fear from death is missing out on how amazing the new chief is going to be! So it is not us who should fear death, but rather you!"
alulahi had given a great and pompous laugh as Kailani fell backwards in demonstrating her fear of The Great Chief, although it was true he had never once heard Manaoki laugh. In fact, he had never seen Manaoki smile. None of them knew if she was even capable of it. Did she lose her ability when she became chief? If that was the case, Halulahi would even more certainly pass.
Lani turned to Kapu for aid, and Halu attempted to fix his face into a frown as he placed a stern hand on either hip, flaming baton not bothering him no matter how close it got to his skin. Then Kapu approached, taking his own hardened stance, and got into the act, making it even harder to keep his smile down. Sometimes Halu and Lani had to fight to get Kapu to join in their games - today, like other days Halu described as ‘special’, he was doing it on his own. This fact made Halulahi glad, it made tonight feel Important.
"Me? Fear death? Ha! I am the great Ma! Na! O! Ki! And I shall lead the Kaikoa for eternity!" He brandished the baton as if it were a sword, pulled his arm up and struck a classic Mot dueling position. He couldn't be sure if Manaoki could speak Mot, but he said: "En garde!" anyway as he swiped (from a very safe distance) at Kapu.
The skin OTHERWORLD was made by JAWN of WICKED WONDERLAND.
FORTUNA-RPG was created by MELLIE. Images belong to their respective artists. All codes and scripts belong to their respective coders. Please DO NOT take anything without the owners' permission.