< 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!
Kailani gasped in an overly dramatic fashion when Halu took his first swing. And when Kapu jumped to his feet to strike a (very exaggerated) defensive stance, she made sure to put extra dismay into her voice as she fell back onto the sand once more. "Oh, Whyghal! My friend has offended the chief, and now they wage war! It seems my tattoo shall go unfinished after all..."
The two boys seemed to become swept up in their little playfight while Kailani wailed, but little did they know, she was merely biding her time... waiting for her moment...
With Halu's back to her, Kailani reached for a stick near the fire that had not yet been used as fuel. Yes, soon, soon she would be ready to make her move...!
[attr="class","stockbg2"]OOC Notes: Just kind of assumed they'd start a mock fight, but I can edit if Kapu would act differently! If not, though, I figure I'll give you guys a couple posts to describe the "fight", and then Kailani will make "her move"
Halu, or rather Chief Manaoki, brandished the fire baton and after an 'en garde!' he swung it at him in exactly the best kind of exaggerated combat they're all come to know and love since childhood. Kapu jumped backward and landed in a solid horse-stance kind of pose, deflecting the baton with a wave of his hand and pushing his palm forward in retaliation, the air itself moving to push the 'enemy' back. "Your eternity ends tonight, Manaoki," he announced dramatically, though a small smile broke his facade briefly.
The play fight was familiar, perhaps one of the last familiar things before they were to leave their home on a new adventure, and Halu knew exactly the steps in this dance. Kapu did too. The baton spun and Kapu deflected and struck back with his own attack. Halu dodged but in doing so put himself in the line of fire for Kapu's next attack. Kapu backflipped over a baton swing and landed precariously on a boulder, stabilizing himself with a gust of wind. Halu let out a battle roar and charged him, and Kapu jumped over him and twisted midair to grab the baton from his hands. Halu let go of it easily, though with a show of pulling against it, and Kapu twirled it tauntingly in front of him.
It was then that he noticed that Halu had his back to the fire now, and to Kailani who had picked up a stick of her own. Aiming to keep Halu distracted and allow her to get the 'final blow', Kapu threw the baton spinning into the air above his head and shouted, "You are no match for me, great chief Manaoki. But more than that - you are no match for my friends."
alulahi was reveling in the fun they were having. He always felt at his most honest here with Kapu and Lani, playing the games they had been playing since childhood, far away from the rest of the village. It hurt his heart to think about leaving them, and so in these few moments he would forget about all of that.
He would forgot about the competition the Uhane Holo would see the three of them engage in, and instead focused on how Kapu and he were acting the steps of a dance they had known for so long. He would forget about sailing alone on the distant seas, and instead he spun his baton to create a ring of fire, Kapu -- always faster -- deflected it, and made a counterstrike. Usually Halu would roll to dodge Kapu's usual move, but today he needed to forget, and so he sidestepped and swiped, directly into position for his friend's plan. When Kapu jumped and pulled the baton from Halu, he did not hold onto it and send the two into a wheelbarrow flip, but instead let his friend take it, and win. Well, almost win.
Halu crossed his arms before the fire, purposefully pretending that Kailani wasn't near and ready for the final strike. Kapu intentionally missed with his toss of the baton, and Halu puffed up his chest to look bigger before him. "Friends? Ha! Your friends ran off long ago!"Just like they'll do to you, Halu."Your tiger is too afraid to pounce,"I am afraid. So afraid."You won't be able to--"
The stick Kailani had plucked up smacked Halulahi soundly across his back. Normally, it would have been barely a thunk, enough to signal Halu to "go down", defeated. But this time it had not been; it had been a forceful smack, with actual force put behind it, enough that she could see Halu actually recoil in a bit of pain, but probably even more from the surprise of it.
This wasn't normally something she would have done, it was not rehearsed.
But as Kailani watched Halu and Kapu fight, smiling and laughing along as she got carried away by the fun of it all just like they were, she started to notice it. Halu, for all the strength he tried to project, for as much as he had tried to encourage them to let go of their worries for the night... he was the most consumed by them. Kailani could see it in his aura, the emotions that flowed off of him like so much water. Sometimes Kailani found her gifts as part of the water dancers to be a tad inconvenient; she felt like she unintentionally pried into private matters when she noticed these things. But this time, she was glad for it.
Of all people, Halu should not be the one feeling doubts tonight. He was strong, responsible, and had one of the biggest hearts Kailani had ever known. To let such a heart be gnawed at by fear and self-doubt was just something Kailani couldn't do, especially not for her friend.
So she decided to smack some sense into him.
Halu looked at her with a wide-eyed stare, one hand at the small of his back where the blow had connected, and seemed now more confused than anything. Behind him, the baton that Kapu had tossed into the air landed with a thud next to his feet, the shorter man now too preoccupied with what was happening to have bothered catching it. Kailani gave Halu a knowing smile.
"It seemed to me that there were a lot of useless things rattling around in that head of yours, Halu. More than usual, at least," she added, laughing softly. "So I thought I'd give you a little something else to think about - something real. Those doubts you carry... that you both carry. Those are illusions. Murky water that you just need to sweep away. But pain? Now that's something more real. And you'll experience a lot of it if you let those doubts weigh you down, going forward. And I won't be able to heal all of it."
Dropping her stick, she took a few steps forward and gave Halu a light shove to his chest with her fingertips. "Now come on, Fearless Manaoki. How are we supposed to believe your performance if you can't even convince yourself?"
tap. That was what had been expected from Kailani. As typical, he would pretend as if it were more than a tap, and go down as if she were the strongest woman in the world. He did not receive a tap from Kailani, however -- she struck him. He was strong, and so while it certainly hurt, it didn't harm... But it was frightening. He turned to her with a wide-eyed look, a part of him worried that this was the start of everything. They were competing now, why would she not use the opportunity to weaken him? No, He had to insist to himself, This is Kailani, not Haukea. Not Koa. Kailani.
She solidified his thinking when she called him out on his thoughts. He shook his head and ran his hands through his hair in embarrassment -- she wasn't scolding him, but sometimes he couldn't help but feel like she was, especially when she was right. He thought for a moment how he would miss her wisdom, but then (worried that she might give him another smack) rid the thought from his head and smiled. "That's right..." He began softly, and then suddenly moved to scoop Kailani up with a single powerful arm, huffing her over his shoulder in a smooth movement, "I am the Fearless Manaoki! And you have all fallen for my trap! Everyone knows Manaoki knows no emotion!"
With thunderous laugh and earth-shaking steps, Halu charged (Lani held firmly at his shoulder) to Kapu, reaching his other arm out to grab his friend and lug him over the other shoulder.
As soon as Halu snatched her up, Kailani let herself be taken and released a dramatic scream as he bellowed his hearty laugh, kicking her legs helplessly.
"Oh fools that we are!" she cried out as Halu plucked up Kapu as well, meeting her friend's smile over the expanse of Halu's back. "We allowed the chief to trick us! We've faaaaaailed, Kapu!"
Her 'weapon' was already out of reach, dropped when The Great Chief kidnapped her... but there was yet one way to punish the wicked!
"Kapu, we must pray to the sea! To Whyghal! He will save us!" Kailani pointed out at the water lapping at the shore nearby, and clapped her hands together quickly afterwards. As she began to 'pray', Halulahi merely laughed louder, spinning in circles with his two captives.
Halu, or rather the great Chief, laughed that his friends had all run off, his tiger was too afraid to pounce. In the moment before Lani whacked him with her stick, Kapu realized that maybe he wasn’t the only one who was scared. Somehow that made him feel better than if they had all been confident - he could be much braver for other people than just for himself.
And then Kailani soundly smacked Halulahi with her stick, with a force that surprised both boys though Kapu was immediately grateful that he wasn’t the one that she whacked. They all knew each other’s Kimora and Halu was strong and could easily take a good beating but the surprise was enough to throw him off a bit.
Then Lani, dear sweet observant Lani, chewed Halu out - well, maybe chewed them both out - in her usual kind and vaguely esoteric way. Kapu sometimes wished he could be as centred as Lani, but they all had their strengths and weaknesses.
Halu seemed to take strength from her speech, as he announced it was all a trap and he scooped Lani onto his shoulder and ran over to pick Kapu up as well. Kapu let himself be taken and laughed at Lani’s dramatic wails before joining in himself.
”We have been duped, oh woe is us!” he replied, not perhaps as great of an actor as Lani was, but getting into it nonetheless. ”Only Whyghal can save us now.” And he clapped his hands together as though praying as well.
The moment was now. As Halu continued to spin them, laughing loudly, and Kapu joined her in prayer, Kailani called out to the waves. They danced away for a moment, but she beckoned them closer with a smile, inviting them to play. "Ooooh, Mighty Whyghal!" she cried, Kapu echoing the name of the god and raising his hands up. The water came a bit closer. "Hear our prayers!" she urged, and the water started to swell. Kapu's face, she could see, was starting to crack up a bit as he noticed what she was doing. "And smite this tyrant of a chief!"
The water's swell grew larger at Kailani's beckoning, the spinning that Halulahi was subjecting her to only aiding her in 'dancing' with it. A small wave, just barely taller than Halu, was flung up onto the shore, Halu's eyes widening a fraction once he noticed it. Lani and Kapu meanwhile simply broke out into non-concealed laughter as the water approached, just before it buried the three friends. Halu was knocked over, and the three were sent tumbling along the sand.
There was no danger in it, of course; the ocean was just playing with them, urged along by Lani, and the tumble had been light and easy. The water receded a moment later, leaving them all soaking wet while Halu was flat on his back, staring at the sky as though soundly defeated. Kailani was giggling madly to herself as she managed to get to her feat, dripping as she stomped over to Halu and stood proud.
"Behold, Kapu! Whyghal has answered our prayers and toppled the great chief!"
e had managed to gather his two friends into his arms easily, and held them loosely by his shoulder almost as if he were carrying flour sacks as opposed to people. He spun them 'round, making the occasional light-hearted 'grar' noise to insist he was still Mana'oki and not a chuckling Halu. He found himself getting dizzier and dizzier, and though he usually disliked it (water dancing was full of spins, fire dancing was firm movements) he enjoyed how light he felt. Even as the water struck him he did not mind how easily it could push him over, and he hardly minded to mild thud of hitting the sand. He loosed his grip on the two of them when there was no longer a danger of them getting hurt, and then laughed breathlessly to the sky as he lay on his back in the sand.
"Ha! Haha--hmm," His laughter turned to contentment as he lay beside Kapu and looked up to Kailani. Her aura above him felt cool and calming, while Kapu near his side felt - or rather made Halu feel - warm and excited. The balance lead to a Halu who was full of adrenaline for the night which he hoped to last forever, but who was content to lay there and look at the stars with the two of them.
"Yes, even Mana'oki cannot stand to the power of Wyghal..." He murmured somewhat, the tide tickling at his leg hair as it ebbed and flowed, "But I believe that we can. Us three, together, we can weather any storm that Wyghal sends our way. We shall not fall to competition," He could see Kailani, framed by the moons, nodding above him, and so he then turned to Kapu. Kapu, who's skin looked almost blue in the starlight and the water, distant from their firelight; Kapu with eyes so sharp Halu was sure he could see stars that the tiger could never imagine. Kapu was so strong and focused, he would make a wonderful chief - especially with Kailani to advise him. Or perhaps Kailani would be chief, and Kapu would be her advisor. The two balanced each other so well.
Finally, after observing the stars through Kapu's eyes, Halu finally finished: "Right, Kapu?"
Kapu laughed as the ocean was brought to life by Lani’s call, and moments later it splashed over them all and knocked them, fairly softly, to the ground where more laughter was had by all of them. Lani stood and made her proud announcement, and Kapu’s laughter faded into contented silence.
In the moments before Halu’s reply he looked over at his friends and committed this moment to memory. The soft breeze, the gentle waves, the stars above laid out like a perfect quilt, and his friends at his side. This moment might be the last of its kind. In the morning they would leave and the Uhane Holo would truly begin, and though he knew they would remain friends no matter what, he also knew that the Uhane Holo would change them in ways they would never expect. They wouldn’t be the same people when they returned.
Halu spoke then and said that he believed the three of them together could withstand any storm, and Kapu looked up to the stars with a faint smile. Yes, they would return different than when they left, but they were connected by fate in a way that could not be so easily shaken, not even by this competition. They would weather any challenges that faced them and Kapu was sure that when it was all over one of them would be the new chief but it would never be at the expense of their friendship.
”Right, Kapu?”
He turned his gaze to Halu, their tiger, their strength and nodded once, decisively. ”Right.” He was glad for this night. For this time together. It was amazing how he could feel so sure now when only a short time ago he had only been sure he would fail. Maybe this was exactly what they all needed.
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.
