< 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!
Solveig had left as soon after her talk with the priest as she could, waiting only long enough for the worst of her wounds to be healed before taking two horses from the keep and riding out towards Rielcia and the temple where she could find a conjurer who could help her save her people. She rode hard and fast, switched to the second horse when the first one tired, and gave them all an adequate rest each night before starting again in the mornings.
After just over two days of travel, she arrived at the Temple of Nyxca. She knew Brynja, her own horse, would have gotten here even sooner but unfortunately in the rush of the day previous she had been left behind in Rielcia near Sia's tower when they had returned to the keep. This horse was adequate though. The only thing faster would have been teleportation, but with Regentis in Aissic for the festival he had brought with him the only conjurer capable of such a thing - aside from her love, who was currently the reason she had to travel at all. The Anpu had attacked the keep and left nearly half a dozen people trapped in the Elsewhere - Sialarvanya one of them.
Just before she'd left, the priest had given her a beautiful necklace of Khades and blessed her journey in Her name. She ran her thumb over the cool black stone in the centre and took comfort from it. She would need all the help she could get to succeed on this dangerous journey. It was only here at the Temple of Nyxca that she could hope to find someone with the magic needed for astral projection, the magic to get her into the Elsewhere to save her soldiers and her love. She dismounted and knocked on the heavy door. It was late, but no temple ever really closed. Some had priests and followers who even lived there full time. She hoped this was one of them
After standing at the door just long enough she worried no one was around, it swung open and a woman greeted her with a look of what Solveig would assume was suspicion. "What might a soldier be doing on the doorstep of my lady's temple, this eve?" she asked, looking Solveig over warily but curiously. It was possible she expected some sort of trouble, given that Sol was wearing her full suit of armour. Solveig bowed respectfully and upon rising replied, "I've come for aid. The keep of Regentis Scleris was set upon by a pack of Anpu, and many of my cohorts have fallen prey to their dark magic. I was told I might find someone here who could help me travel to the Elsewhere to save their souls. Please, is it possible?" The woman raised a brow and after a moment she nodded. "A noble yet dangerous cause. We may be able to help." And she stepped to the side to allow Solveig entrance into the temple.
Post by Charlotte Firiana on Dec 9, 2017 17:05:01 GMT -7
The Temple of Nyxca was an oddly welcoming place to Charlotte, and not due to any particular doing of its occupants. In fact, the occupants of the temple mostly avoided Charlotte due to a superstitious belief that she was not for them to interfere with. This suited her just fine. The notion of working with others was still something Charlotte was only recently starting to dip her toe into, so the fact that the priests here were avoiding her due to some superstition was of no concern to her. Especially seeing as how she didn't even know still why she was here yet, and didn't want to have to answer any questions of that nature; it would be embarrassing, honestly.
She'd been roaming the Eleusian countryside, prior to her arrival here, doing what she usually did: following her intuition to try and find leads. Except instead of trying to find apocalyptic leads (like she'd been spending years doing already), now she was trying to find leads on the locations of the thirteen staves which were integral towards breaking one of the seals on the Doors of Death. So, technically that was progress. She had a more concrete idea of what she was looking for, after all. Of course, she'd still had very little luck in actually finding any of them, which was particularly irksome. Among all the thirteen seals, this one seemed like it would have been the simplest one for her to prevent the breaking of, and the most surefire way to assure that the Doors could never be opened. All she had to do was find just one of the staves, just a single one, and lock it away forever. If she could do that, then the seal would be impossible to break, and the Doors could never open.
Naturally, of course, it was not a simple task. Wherever Fayana had elected to hide the thirteen staves, those ages ago, she'd clearly done an exceptional job of it. It gave Charlotte some solace to know that whomever was trying to break these seals was sure to have just as hard a time of it as she was at stopping them, at least. Charlotte's search was taking her all over Fortuna with no real results to show for it, always following some vague sense of intuition that told her she was going the right way. Along the way, she kept encountering others and getting tied up in their business, and she was beginning to wonder if her intuition was actually guiding her towards saving the world, or just guiding her towards helping the next sob story.
Which brought her to the temple. After a particularly tiring and fruitless day of searching around the Rielcian illusory forests, she'd decided she needed a break.
'Why not pop into the Temple of Nyxca?' Sojourn's voice had suggested, one of her two companions for the day, alongside Miss Diamond. She seemed pretty excited by it.
'And why might I do that?' Charlotte wondered.
'Well it's a temple, first of all, so it's a nice place to rest, and a quiet place to meditate too! You could, I dunno, reorient? I'm no divination expert. But Nyxca is the Goddess of Conjuration! And that area is my specialty, so... I'd personally like to go?'
Charlotte smirked. In that private part of her mind, the part she was careful never to let her sponsors seep their way into, she offered another thought towards a suspicion that had been growing in her ever since her visit to Simon's some time back. She had a feeling Sojourn had another reason she wanted to visit the temple.
"Well," she breathed. "Why not?"
She could feel Sojourn's giddiness at the response, and her sponsor wasted no time in pulling up an image of the inside of the temple into Charlotte's mind a moment later.
'Eager aren't we, darling?' Diamond chimed, a thin quality to her voice that seemed to suggest something about the situation bothered her.
'I'm just... a bit excited is all... hehe...' Sojourn responded.
"Why the inside?" Charlotte asked, instead of commenting.
'Just trust me!'
It was with a sigh that Charlotte did just that (Sojourn was hardly the least trustworthy of her sponsors) and reached for the magic she provided. A puff of purple smoke later and Charlotte was standing right smack in the middle of Nyxca's Temple, before a statue of the goddess. There were several devotees within the chamber as well, all of whom looked startled to see her. Charlotte raised an eyebrow at this; one would think those who followed the goddess of conjuration would not be so surprised to see someone teleport.
'Ah but that's just it, Char!' Sojourn said. 'Nyxca's Temples are places that are normally impossible to teleport into for most people; only devotees can do it, because the temple is divinely warded against anyone else~'
'And how exactly does that not extend to us then?'
'Well,obviouslyI'm a devotee of Nyxca, Char! But see, these priests have no idea who you are, and you don't carry their signature magic on you, so they're not gonna think you're one of them. Which means they'll leave you alone.'
Charlotte glanced around, noticing that none of the priests had approached her yet, and all who had seen her seemed locked in silence. She scrunched up her brows in confusion.
'I'll bite. Why are they leaving me alone?'
'Oh there's this old superstition that if someone is capable of teleporting into a Temple of Nyxca without being one of her devotees, it means that that someone is probably either Nyxca in disguise or a Witch. So to avoid the risk of offending either one, they just leave you to your business unless you do something disruptive.'
Charlotte could hear Miss Diamond sighing in her mind, and she wanted to echo the sound. So this was what Sojourn had meant by 'trust her'? She'd just lost some credibility points, because Charlotte did not want these priests thinking she was a Witch. Or Nyxca.
But true to claim, the priests and priestesses all stayed out of her way during her time there. She noticed they always watched her, somewhat carefully, but for a while no one approached her. And hey, that did mean Charlotte was given plenty of peace and quiet for meditation, in the warm comfort of a sheltered building. At one point, one priest finally did approach simply to ask her if she would like anything to eat, as it was time for their dinner. Charlotte, urged by Sojourn, accepted that invite, and enjoyed a filling, free meal.
She almost felt bad about it.
But still, the longer she spent in the temple, the more welcoming it felt to her. Something about it made her feel like she belonged, and again she stifled her suspicions into her most private thoughts. She'd resolved herself to only spending the night here and then being on her way on the morrow. But that was when an unexpected knocking came at the Temple Doors. Unexpected both due to the late hour (Charlotte had been drifting off in one of the pews), and also because she hadn't guessed that a Temple was a place people needed special invitation to enter (via the front door, at least).
Used to waking quickly, she had her senses about her in only a second or two, and was already paying attention as one of the priestesses answered the door and questioned the soldier (or so she said) who waited outside. She heard the woman's answer as well; that a pack of Anpu had attacked her comrades, and she was looking for help to pull them out of the nightmares the creatures were known to curse people with.
Charlotte wrinkled her nose in distaste. Anpu were among her least favorite beasts in Fortuna, primarily for their penchant for striking silently and lethally in packs, a far greater danger on their own than many of the more direct beasts in Fortuna. Still, she preferred them to Xankwile. At least the Anpu tended to leave behind a mess that people like Charlotte could clean up. The Xankwile, not so much. It was with that thought that she got to her feet.
'Oh, Char, don't tell me you're gonna...'
Miss Diamond chuckled. 'You even have to ask, darling? Our little dear here has been quite the do-gooder lately.'
That was hardly it. Charlotte had followed her intuition, and it had led her to Rielcia. She had waited in a Temple, and was now presented with a problem that she was well capable of solving - and not just with Conjuration, as the soldier seemed to be seeking, but one which she could address with Divination as well. Logic dictated that if her power had led her here, and now such a situation had presented itself, then it was likely that this was the reason she had been guided here to begin with. The sooner she dealt with it, the sooner she could potentially find her next clue.
Charlotte glared at nothing and ignored them as she made her way over to the priestess and the soldier, the latter of whom had just been let into the temple with the door closed behind her.
"Excuse me," she greeted, catching the priestess by surprise. "I could not help overhearing. I do believe that the aid you seek is within my power."
The priestess passed a not-so-subtle glance Charlotte's way, and it seemed clear that the woman still hadn't quite worked out in her own head if she wanted to believe that Charlotte was Nyxca, or a Witch.
"Oh, My Lady, I'm sure there is no need to trouble yourself, when such capable conjurers fill these halls..."
The statement could have been a servant trying to spare their goddess from such a menial task, or a devout woman trying to urge a Witch not to make a devil's deal with this poor unsuspecting mortal. Charlotte shook her head.
"It would be no trouble. I am sure your priests are more valuable here at the temple, at any rate, rather than being sent off on a dangerous errand. Though I suppose the decision does rest with our needy friend, does it not?" She met the soldier's eyes at this, the question plane in the air.
As she entered into the temple Solveig removed her helmet and held it at her side, taking in the impressive temple before her. Every temple she had been in had been incredibly beautiful and well-kept and this one was no different - the stained glass was a marvel to look at and the altar was tasteful but equally awe-inspiring. Solveig bowed her head briefly in reverence to Nyxca, a goddess she had never prayed to before but who, if this all worked out, she would forever be indebted to. When she looked back up it was to see an approaching woman who appeared younger than her (though you could never be sure, what with races that lived forever and people who could shapeshift or use some sort of glamour) who offered her assistance. Well, technically she didn't offer it but she said it was something within her power, which Solveig assumed was an offer. Not for the first time in her life, Solveig wondered briefly what she would be capable of if she had been magically trained rather than martially. She had never had an affinity for magic of course, and in most of her everyday life it was not as useful to her as her own skills were, but that didn't stop her from wondering every once in a while. It was such a fascinating field of study with so many applications.
She didn't dwell on it long though, as she remained quite proud of her own skills and never worried too much about the things she couldn't do. She had Sia, her love, her heart, to consult if the need ever arose for more magical solutions to problems. Except right now, of course, when Sia was affected by the problem she needed a solution for. It was like a blow to the stomach each time she thought about what had happened, and how close she could be to losing Sia forever.
The way the priestess spoke to the newcomer was interesting to note, as it appeared perhaps the newcomer was of a higher status despite appearing so young. But yet, her answer was that the priests were more valuable here, which meant perhaps she wasn't even a member of the temple at all, or not in the same way. Some kind of nobility, perhaps? The newcomer and the priestess both looked to her then to make a decision regarding who should help her with her task, and she returned the gaze to the younger one and knelt, bowing her head. "I know it is much to ask as I've been told the task is incredibly dangerous but I would be honoured for your assistance, my lady." Regardless of whether she was a noble or simply a strong conjurer, if this woman could help Solveig save Sia and her fellow soldiers she deserved the respect equal to any nobility.
Post by Charlotte Firiana on Dec 9, 2017 19:18:54 GMT -7
'Wow, she's really polite,' Sojourn commented.
'And a tall drink of water to boot,' Diamond added.
"There is no need to bow," Charlotte stated to the soldier, finding the action perhaps a touch awkward but not displaying any particular degree of discomfort over it. She wondered if the soldier had gotten the wrong idea about her based on the priestess's use of 'my lady'. "Status is a rickety bridge to tread upon; one I'd just as soon avoid. The judges' gaze arrests us all equally upon our final sunset, heedless of which bridge we crossed to reach them, at any rate."
The priestess cocked a quizzical brow at Charlotte for that one, but it got the soldier to stand, at least.
"Now then. If your decision is made, why don't you tell me where we are headed?"
This seemed to spur he priestess towards further action, as now she seemed somewhat flustered. "W--, you intend to leave immediately? Perhaps our traveler could use some rest, my lady. And you've only just arrived today as well..." she said, wringing her hands nervously.
'Oh now this is just funny,' Diamond remarked with a laugh. 'She can't seem to decide if she'd rather you stay or go.'
Sojourn was practically cackling. '"Is she a witch?? Is she Nyxca?? I just don't know! But I don't want to chase my goddess out the door if she's that one!" Oh my gosh, Char...'
Charlotte really didn't think the situation was that funny, but Diamond and Sojourn seemed to be getting an absolute hoot out of it. It actually made it a little hard to focus on the conversation with those two laughing it up in her head.
"I've rested plenty," she replied to the priestess. "Though I suppose I could spare a bit more time for Thorseph, in the event that our soldier here is weary."
The woman who had offered her assistance insisted there was no need to bow, stating that everyone was judged equally in the afterlife. It seemed exactly like the type of opinion someone with her appearance would have, though Solveig would never say that as she of all people should never judge someone by their appearance. She nodded in response and stood, feeling no level of discomfort for the action or the attention it had garnered from some of the other priests and priestesses in the area. She noticed that many were giving the cloaked woman wary, sometimes even suspicious looks and again the priestess who had welcomed her seemed flustered in a way when speaking to her. Without knowing who this woman was there was no way for Solveig to know why they were treating her in such a way. Was she noble but preferred not to be treated that way? Was she incredibly powerful but modest in her abilities? Solveig thought there could be no one in the world more powerful than Sia was with conjuration, but that didn't mean anyone else couldn't still be impressive with the magic.
The priestess mentioned that perhaps Solveig could use some rest, and the younger woman said she herself was rested plenty but could spare the time if Solveig required it. Sol shook her head, though it was true she could use a proper sleep and hearty meal to put her back at 100%. "I have rested enough, and have travelled many days to get here. I fear my people may not have the time to spare. Conjurer, I submit to your wisdom. I know little about magic, but the priest at the keep told me I must travel to the Elsewhere to save my people and that this could be accomplished through astral projection."
Post by Charlotte Firiana on Dec 10, 2017 15:20:55 GMT -7
"Well then, it appears we have a decision," Charlotte stated simply. The priestess still seemed like she was concerned over this turn of events, what with the soldier's mind seemingly made up, but the potential risk of stepping on toes seemed to hold her back from trying to dissuade either Charlotte or Solveig any further.
"We can leave immediately then," she continued, now directing her words to the soldier as she stepped past her, back out into the outdoors. "Time is, after all, of the essence, and with me by your side, the return trip should not require the days you spent arriving."
The soldier had addressed her as 'Conjurer', speaking of Astral Projection as the prescribed method of saving those whom had been put under the Anpu's spell. This was good; she'd been well-informed, for the most part. Though Charlotte now supposed that whomever had told her of this method likely did not know of the shortcuts that Divination could provide. As Charlotte waited for the soldier to follow her outside, she beckoned her Crystal Ball, which floated up beside her from its resting place in the pew she had abandoned (its movement surprising a few of the priests who hastily stepped aside as it gently flew past them). She stared into its curved surface contemplatively, eyeing the reflection of the moon and stars and seeing what basic information she could glean about how this night might go.
'Khades Left Eye hangs low in Sylvus tonight,' Diamond mused.
"And the Right Eye sits half-closed in emptiness," she murmured back. An omen of forthcoming ignorance. Charlotte would need to be sure to keep her wits about her for whatever was in store.
When the soldier had stepped up beside her, seeming expectant, Charlotte returned her attention to her, addressing now her earlier statement more verbally. "Astral Projection will indeed be the method by which we will attempt to save your comrades. Though that path is lined in bramble, I've the means to cut the thorns away; tonight finds you in good fortune, to have encountered this conjurer." Here she offered the soldier but the barest of smiles, a slightly satisfied glint in her eyes. "Though I believe I would prefer 'Seeress'."
The cloaked woman was eager to begin. Coupled with her confidence when talking about her own abilities it gave Solveig a level of reassurance she definitely needed. She realized she had been tense and on edge since the attack, and while it would be a long time before she truly relaxed - long after she successfully rescued Sia and her comrades - she felt some of the pressure ease from her shoulders as her plan began to take form. She had made it here and found someone who could help her. Someone who was not only able but willing to help her on what might be dangerous not just for Solveig but for all she knew dangerous for the mage as well. Would the conjurer be risking her own soul in this as well?
The woman walked past her and out the door of the temple, and Solveig paused only long enough to thank the priestess for her assistance. It was also long enough to watched as a crystal ball rose up and floated out of the temple to meet its owner, who happened to be the very woman helping her. A real crystal ball. Solveig watched the woman's lips move as though speaking, though there was no one there. Perhaps part of a spell or ritual. Magic was like martial arts to Solveig - she knew the different kinds and some of what the moves were but that was all, and she was both interested and worried about her foray into this, whatever it was going to be. Whether it cost her life or her soul, she was going to get Sia back.
Solveig joined the conjurer outside the temple and listened as she spoke, once again comforted in a way with the confidence of the woman. She said that Solveig was in luck to have found her, and Solveig returned the slight smile with one of her own. It was too early to her to be happy, but possibly hopeful was a good word. And the woman spoke again, claiming a different title: Seeress. "Well then Seeress, I'm at your mercy. Please, tell me what I have to do to save my people."
Post by Charlotte Firiana on Jan 4, 2018 5:02:35 GMT -7
"Well to start," Charlotte replied. "We'll need to return to whence you came. And for that..."
Her eyes dropped to the amulet the woman had hanging from her neck. She recognized it easily enough as an item typical to Malscuri zealots; a necklace worn by those of Khades' faith to offer them blessings in the dark night. An appropriate item to have on hand in dealing with Anpu as well, Charlotte mused. She reached for it, her fingers delicately ghosting over the cool black stone in the amulet's center. She could detect the presence of another individual on it. Her diviner's eyes found no firm connection between it and the soldier. This had been given to her only recently.
"If you are willing to part with this, it shall adequately serve to guide us back. I suspect that that is why it was bestowed upon you to begin with."
The Seeress said they would have to return to where she had come from and she nodded to show her agreement to the plan. She would be glad to return to the keep. Being able to be near Sia physically would give her comfort, even if her soul or metaphysical presence would be leaving in order to save them. At least then she would know that if she didn't make it back her body would be easily found, and not lost somewhere in a temple far from home. She hoped the woman was a strong enough conjurer to transport them both back to the keep, as she worried they didn't have the time required to ride all the way back. She supposed she would have to be strong enough to do such a thing, as if she wasn't she probably wouldn't be strong enough to do what needed to be done to save her people, and she had seemed quite confident in her ability to do the latter.
The woman reached out and brushed her fingers over the amulet that Solveig had been given by the priest and said that it would be able to guide them back if she was wiling to part with it. Sol was unsure but willing to do whatever it took. When the Seeress said she suspected that was why it had been given to her in the first place she considered it and decided that she didn't really know enough about magic to determine if that was the truth, but again she would do whatever it took and if the woman needed the amulet then she would have it. Solveig carefully unclasped it from around her neck and held it out to the woman. "Whatever it takes," she said. She had a brief worry that the woman was going to do what Sia did to unwelcome guests - magic them away against their will - and hoped that wouldn't be the case. This woman seemed less of a trickster than her beloved, though she supposed that could just be what she wanted her to think.
Post by Charlotte Firiana on Jan 11, 2018 6:31:12 GMT -7
"I can tell you are quite dedicated," Charlotte answered, in a way that was as much a joking tone as she could muster in her flat voice. This soldier lady had made it very clear that she'd do "whatever it takes" multiple times, and her dogged commitment so soon after meeting her was almost exhausting.
Charlotte took the necklace as it was offered, running her fingers along it once more, and she stared deeply into each solitary bead of the trinket for a moment, as though looking at something far away. And she was indeed. With her inner eye, she mentally traced back the path this necklace had traveled. She saw as waves of dedication rolled off of it, feelings the necklace had picked up and taken in over days of riding in the possession of the soldier, Solveig. She witnessed the moment it was handed to her by the priest of Khades, who bid her - Captain Solveig Alfhild - safe travels.
She came back to the present with merely a few blinks.
'I've got it, Char,' Sojourn informed her. 'Quite far away, but you're nice and energized, aren't you?
Practically bursting at the seams, Charlotte deadpanned back in her mind, though it was certainly true she had energy to spare at the moment.
'Heehee. Then give it a toss.'
Charlotte turned away from Solveig and threw the necklace onto the path before them. As it made contact with the ground, the necklace shattered into glowing pieces which instantly began to move and flurry rapidly, reshaping themselves into a shining, circular expanse of what looked like purple fog.
"That would be our transport, Captain Alfhild," she told the taller woman without turning back to face her. "Step through and we shall be where we are needed. Though I assume you'll want to retrieve the horse you arrived upon first?"
Said horse was nearby, not even tethered in Solveig's apparent haste to dismount it and knock on the temple doors earlier. Currently it was hoofing at the ground restlessly as it eyed the swirling gaseous vortex Charlotte had summoned, evidently unnerved.
The skin OTHERWORLD was made by JAWN of WICKED WONDERLAND.
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