< 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!
Afternoon on an Overcast Day The 4th of the Shared Mind A Catamaran Just Off the Shore of Olathbe
I
t had hardly been a day, and Halu was already homesick.
He had been taught many things, had experienced many things - certainly he was worldly enough already. What he didn't know anything about however, was being alone. The most loneliness he had experienced was when Kailani and Kapueo had kicked him out of their camp as children, and since then he had never been without them, without family, without the tribe. When they'd made it through the whirlpools however - it was time to separate.
Kailani would go her way, Kapueo his -- and Halulahi headed to Olathbe. His grandmother was from the place, and her family would supply him with a boat, and some further connections. Other family members throughout the world who would expect his presence. Places to go where he could send mail. It had all felt so strange, so dream-like. It was more foreign than he'd ever imagined, the outside world.
So when he received the catamaran, and said his goodbyes to the family he'd never met before, he'd immediately set out. He didn't go far - he could still see the shore - but he needed to be away. Out here he felt closer to Kaikoa. Closer to Kailani, Kapueo. Closer to Wyghal. Out here he was in the sea, and it was much more like home than Olathbe. Olathbe where people rode horses, or in carriages. Olathbe where the homes were made out of sand and clay, not wood and plant. Olathbe, where everyone looked at him as strange. No one there dressed like he did.
No one else was sailing today, and the beaches were near empty. The clouds ahead promised rain and rough seas, and these waters never carried many merchants. So he'd anchored the boat, and laid out a dhurrie at the bow of the ship. He needed closeness with something he knew right now - and that something would be Wyghal. He pulled out his two batons, wrapped them with cloth, and dribbled them with oil. Seconds later, they were lit, and he was dancing. The movements were stilted at first - nervous, almost. He felt... Naked. Vulnerable.
Watched.
But as he continued, he could feel the closeness he always aimed for with his God. The twisting of the batons was reaching out for his hand, and the wave in his abdomen was a response. Each step was a motion that gave him his stripes, and the breaths were the growls of a predator. He could see the tiger in his mind's eye, could feel the transformation taking hold... But the moment he punched his hands forward, turning them to paws, a splash and a seemingly mortal sound interrupted the music in his mind. His hands immediately reverted, and his eyes flew open to rush over the waters around him.
"Is someone there?"
Perhaps he wasn't so alone after all.
Cari Oceana I was gonna make this open, but nah, I knew who I wanted ; )
Post by Cari Oceana on Feb 22, 2017 11:06:52 GMT -7
Cari had spent her entire life being one with the waters of Fortuna. The oceans, the rivers, the lakes – they were all her home. She knew them with the same knowledge that a mother might know details of her babe – not entirely, but deeper than anyone else. She knew each wave as if it were her sibling, and welcomed each raindrop as if it were her own child. Cari not only loved the waters, but she lived them.
She did not, however, know much about the ones who travelled her waters. Oftentimes vessels would make their way back and forth across her home, very rarely stopping to take the time to talk to her. Not that they would know that she was there, or that they were running through her home. The people of the land didn’t seem to care much for the water – but they intrigued Cari all the same.
So when a small ship made waves one afternoon, she couldn’t help but investigate. In the water, she turned all of her attention to the little boat – the little boat that sported a big man on top of it. He seemed stressed out, or worried, or both, or neither. Cari couldn’t tell, but he certainly seemed lonely.
And then, without any warning, he began dancing! He lit two sticks on fire and began twirling them and turning and dancing and it looked like so much fun! She just needed to get a closer look. Cari had been practising with her mortal form for a little while now, so she figured ‘what better time than now to try it out on a person!’ She very slowly (and very quietly) rose herself up and out of the water, just enough for her torso to be exposed. Mortals were very concerned with the naked body, so she cloaked herself in a dark blue cape.
Using her mortal eyes, she could see a clearer image of the man as he danced. His own eyes were closed, and it was beautiful to watch as he was lost in his own movements. When he thrust his hands forward, they turned furry! And larger, like big mitts! It was so startling that Cari shot her hands to her mouth and gasped.
It seemed to have caught the man’s attention, which wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted to keep watching him dance. His hands turned back into, well, hands, and he asked if anyone was there. She was there!
“Me! I’m here!” she yelped, and waved her hand so that he could see her. The man was much bigger and much burlier than she appeared to be – but she was the sea. She was much, much, much bigger than he was. She floated over to the edge of the man’s boat and rested her chin on its rim. Her movements were completely unaffected by the waves.
“Hi there!” She said, cheery as can be. She’d never spoken before, and she hoped that she was using the language correctly. She knew words – all the best words - she just couldn’t speak them very well.
he waves answered back - which was surprising on its own - but he was taken more by surprise that it was a small girl who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere to give the call. She was still mostly under the surface and beyond his eyes, but what he could see lead him to the knowledge that she must be a child. His eyes scanned around her, expecting a parent, a guardian of some kind to appear next. To scold him for 'threatening' her. He had discovered in his short time in Olathbe that his mere presence was a threat to most. Big and brawny, brows that always seemed furrowed - it made him look angry, dangerous.
He made a conscious effort to soften himself up. "Uh, hi," He offered her a smile and raised his hands to show he wasn't a threat before dipping his flaming batons into the water to put them out. He tossed them back into the bag and joined her over at the edge of his boat, still waiting for someone else to appear. Why was she alone? Why was she so far from shore? She didn't look like a merfolk, and he couldn't think of any other mortal being that lived in the water. She ought to be playing in the shallows, where it was safe.
He couldn't put that protective instinct aside, "Did the current pull you away from shore, little one?" He raised a hand to his head to shade his eyes as he looked to shore, squinting. It didn't look like anyone had lost a child. Perhaps they had not yet noticed, "I... I suppose I can return you to shore, if you'd like to climb aboard. The sea is the most beautiful thing in the world, but the waters... They can be ruthless if you don't treat them kindly."
Halulahi was unsure if he should be doing this. It was an act of kindness, yes, and exactly the kind of thing he was supposed to be doing... But he didn't want people to think he was trying to hurt this kid. He could break her with a single fist, and it didn't matter if he never would. People outside of Kaikoa went by first impressions and first impressions alone. His was never a good one...
Wasn't it worse to just leave the kid to drown? Sure she was having fun now, but if a shark attacked - or she got caught in an undertow? Halulahi tentatively offered the girl his hand, making his decision clear.
Post by Cari Oceana on Feb 23, 2017 17:11:14 GMT -7
There was something cute about him, this dancing man. Despite his big burly appearance, he seemed to have a soft tender heart. A heart that was worried about Cari has she floated against his vessel. He didn’t even try to force her on board, merely offered a hand. Now that was a gentleman. He was so concerned about her well-being that she figured she would put his mind at ease.
“The sea is the most beautiful thing in the world, you’re right. Thank you! Not many people can see that anymore. But me, I see it every day!” Cari rose up out of the water fully, standing atop of the surface on bare feet. Her cloak covered to just below her knees, but was completely try. Her feet, hands and head were slick with water. She gingerly reached one leg over the edge of the boat and climbed aboard. Standing, let alone walking, was not something that she was fully accustomed to, so it took more than a few tries to balance herself. She didn’t fall, only stumbled.
“My name is Cari! I’m so sorry for interrupting your dancing – it was so… so…” She struggled for a moment to find the word. She couldn’t properly convey how amazing she thought it was, so instead she decided to use her favourite word. “Happy!”
s she raised out of the water, Halu's first instinct was to look away. It seemed rude to watch anyone doing that, let alone a child. The only person he could imagine watching in such a vulnerable state was Kapueo - and even Kapu he'd make himself look away from. But as he heard the light dripping of water on water (and not the struggling sounds of a little girl trying to yank herself over the lip of the boat) he peeked by and found himself aghast at what he saw. She was standing! On the water!
She climbed in, and Halu watched as she wavered with standing. It seemed almost unfamiliar to her, and Halu now knew that this was certainly not a landwalking creature like himself. She wasn't merfolk, and he didn't think this was what Aquan looked like (He knew someone who was half aquan, and they didn't look like this) and so he settled on the most obvious answer: She was an emissary of Wyghal.
He immediately dropped to his knees and bowed before her, his nose pressing against the deck, wet with sea spray. "Thank you, Aumakua Cari," He did not know if that was the term she would prefer, but it was the most respectable thing he could thing of. Aumakua was above Chief, above the elders. A deified ancestor. Was that not high enough? He was worried now. Excited, too, but certainly worried. "I apologize for using the dance in such a disrespectful way," He hurried to say, now guilty for dancing to clear his frustrations, to put him in a better mood, it was more important than that.
Wait.
Did she say... Happy? He looked up from the deck, his nose tingling as it was no longer squished against the hard wood, "Many pardons Aumakua Cari, I... I am very grateful that you enjoyed my dance. I am honoured that you would appear to me. Are you... Are you here to guide me on the Uhane Holo, Aumakua Cari?" No, no. Why would she be there for that? She was far too important. He needed to take it back. His nose hit the deck again, "Many pardons, I do not pretend to assume your intentions, Aumakua Cari."
Post by Cari Oceana on Feb 28, 2017 18:11:02 GMT -7
The big burly man bowed to her, and Cari didn’t know what to do. She’d never interacted before, was bowing something that everyone did to everyone? And he called her something – a word that she had never heard before. Au… Aumakua? She didn’t know what it meant, but the man seemed to really mean it, so she wouldn’t question it. She would just try her best to pick up what it meant along the way!
When the man brought his head up from the deck, his nose was bright red – he must have been pushing it into the floor! Hopefully he didn’t expect her to push her head into the floor too.
He asked her if she was there to guide him somewhere – to Uhane Holo. Another thing that she did not recognize – could she possibly guide him there? At the very least, she wanted to go with him. Adventuring was fun! “It’s okay, it’s okay!” Cari replied, waving her hands in front of her face. The man was too nice; it made her very shy and embarrassed. “I’m here because… well, it’s hard to explain – especially to a stranger! I gave you my name; you’re supposed to give me yours now, aren’t you?” She reached down and placed her hand on his shoulder, guiding him back to a raised position. He was much bigger than she was – nearly as tall kneeling as she was standing! They needed to be friends – Cari wanted to ride on his shoulders.
Last Edit: Feb 28, 2017 18:11:38 GMT -7 by Cari Oceana
he was so... Kind. Moreso than he expected! In all of the stories of these emissaries of Wyghal, they were kind and helpful to the devout but... For her to have him stand, to insist he not show such reverence... It was impressive for a celestial creature such as she. It did not seem right to stand towering above her, but he followed her orders and smiled a little at her insistence - breaking only as she pointed out his bad manners. His eyes widened a little and he bowed his head slightly in embarrassment. "Yes, yes Aumakua Cari, accept my apology. My name is Halulahi, Descendant of Chief Onomaka. It is an honour to stand before you."
"And you do not need to explain yourself Aumakua Cari, I understand," He turned slightly, planning to grab his map, but stopped and looked at her for permission to move. She did not move to stop him, and so he smiled and turn to his bag, carefully pulling out the parchment. He knelt before her again, this time unfolding the map on the floor of the catamaran to show her. Nothing on the map had yet been marked by him, but the ancestral locations were all specifically labelled. An exquisite map - one he could never hope to replicate.
"We have just begun, though I am sure many others have already arrived here," He pointed to a location in Submiere. It was the closest location to Kaikoa, most youths would go there first. He had another location in mind, which he pointed to next, "I felt I should go to the Puhi Lanahu first - my ancestor's defining point. But... It is far and dangerous, and... I am alone, without my friends. Aumakua Cari, if you please -- would you offer your advice to me? Shall I take the smoothest course, follow with the others or should I..." He drifted off, raising his gaze to look at her. She looked so young, and yet he knew she was nearly a God - a powerful figure. He would defer to her wisdom, always.
Post by Cari Oceana on Mar 7, 2017 12:56:40 GMT -7
Halulahi.
Halulahi
The name danced around Cari’s mind playfully. She had an image in her head of the man dancing around, and decided that the name suited him perfectly; fun and flow-y and full of life and energy! She could already tell that she would like this big, burly man – he would be her first real mortal friend. The sea would always be her love, but Halulahi would always be her first friend.
For such a strong looking man, though, Halulahi seemed a bit of a scatterbrain. He kept turning to look at her, almost as if he wanted her approval. Well, it was his boat; he could do whatever he wanted! Or maybe he was just that sweet and nice that he didn’t want to scare his guest.
Halulahi rolled out a beautiful… something onto the floor of his boat, and pointed to various markings made on it. Cari couldn’t help but be drawn to the wondrous colors, and there were lots of labels on it too! Submiere, Kaikoa and others that she wouldn’t dare try to pronounce. It was a really pretty picture.
But then Halulahi seemed unsure of himself – unsure because he was alone. He had to go somewhere, but he was scared because there was no one else with him. Well, that didn’t make any sense!
“Hah-lew-Lah-Hee,” she started, dancing each syllable off of her tongue. It was an outrageously fun name to say – she just had Cari. Significantly less fun. “You’re not alone at all, silly. I’m here! So how could you be alone?
We should head there, to Puhi… to that place you said. What is the point of being alive if you’re afraid of a little adventure!” She was speaking of herself, more so than Halulahi. She’d spent the entirety of her life in her safe (not-so-little) bubble. But now, with big, muscly Halu in tow – Cari would pave her own path on the seas!
n the many stories he had been told about the emissaries of Wyghal, never had he heard of their kindness. Perhaps, he began to wonder, they made less interesting stories. Those that provided trials, that provided challenge, that forced one to re-evaluate their path - they were stories of great learning, stories to tell to children to have them molded in the way the elders desired. Aumakua Cari was kind, and her very presence was now filling him with confidence. Why should he be afraid? She was quite right - he wasn't alone.
His features softened from the tense fear of disapproval he'd had moments before, to a friendly smile that seemed more fitting on his face. He reached up and scratched at his beard as he nodded to her thoughts, looking at the spots marked all across the map. Puhi Lanahu. He would go to Puhi Lanahu and bond with his ancestors - and Aumakua Cari would help him. Steeling his resolve, he folded the map back up and stood to look out onto the horizon. "You are right, Aumakua Cari! What am I if not alive? Then I shall sail, fearless!" He moved to the anchor weighing down the catamaran and keeping it in place, pulling it up with bare hands and carefully wrapping the chain between his palm and elbow. With everything neat and arranged, he settled the anchor in a hefty crate with caution, and then situated himself between both oars locked into the back, adjusting them cautiously.
"Aumakua Cari --" He suddenly realized, "You say we... You shall come with me? I would be greatly honoured by your presence." He would imagine it to be good luck to travel with an emissary of Wyghal. She would keep him away from whirlpools, and was likely an expert sailor through storms.
He wondered if Kailani and Kapueo had been met by one, too. If any of the others had. He wondered briefly if maybe... It was a sign.
Post by Cari Oceana on Mar 7, 2017 15:41:38 GMT -7
Cari was happy! It seemed that Halulahi had found the confidence within himself to move forward, and Cari was part of the reason why! She was asked if he would be going along with her, and she smiled brightly.
“Of course I’m going along with you! We’re a team. Don’t you think that it’s fate that we ended up together?” Cari float-walked to the front of the boat and sat along its edge, letting her feet dangle into the water as Halulahi pulled up a big, heavy looking metal thing. The familiarity of the water – even just the inch that her toes were in – was comforting. Cari had long since decided that she would go on her own adventure, and now that she had a companion, it was time to leave the familiar behind.
She lifted her feet out of the water and sat cross-legged on the edge. She wasn’t sure where they were going, or what they would encounter, but she was certain that it would be better than just existing below the surface.
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.
