< 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!
Post by Ellis Danton on Jan 5, 2018 21:12:49 GMT -7
"B-b-b-be--"Because He tried to say, but it was so damned hard.
Why was an easy thing to answer in his head. It was instictive, visceral. In words? It was so much harder. Especially because he needed to make sure that she knew he was afraid because of who he was, not because of who she was. He was a worm, a pathetic coward, and she was... Xanthe. Perfect, intimidating, amazing Xanthe. "I-i-i..."
In the end, words were too difficult. And so he did something that a smarter self would not have done. He took off the gloves and held his hand out. The scar, despite being five days old, still looked inflamed and red. Still, it was clear. The symbol of the willow tree, the symbol of the Gold Leafs. The symbol that he belonged to Pelagia, that he was a prized... Something to her. A servant, a worker, a soldier. He wanted to explain it, but he didn't know how. It just... Was.
Words, which never came easy to Ellis unless they were in her own tongue, seemed to become impossible. She watched and listened and waited as he tried to form something twice but in the end it was actions that spoke for him. She didn't understand what he was doing at first. He took off his gloves and she wondered what purpose that would serve to help him explain when words were not enough, and then he held his hand out to show her what it was that he couldn't explain.
She saw the scar, the willow, the brand, and she took a step back as though repelled by it, eyes going wide with shock and something else... Confusion? Fear? Anger? It was hard to tell. She had known of course, she knew he wasn't hers, not the way the Attonja were, but he had told her he wanted to stay in Atton forever. He had seemed so awed by her country and by her that she had thought maybe... no, no of course not. Whatever spark of hope she'd had that he would join her, really and truly, was crushed beneath the boughs of the willow engraved now into his palm. Magic may be able to heal the skin, but the claim could not be so easily erased. He had made a choice. And this choice was why he had avoided her all these days. This choice was why he was afraid of her now. He was free to make any choice he wanted, of course, but that didn't stop it from hurting. It didn't calm the storm of emotions that crackled now in her chest. It didn't stop it from feeling like a betrayal.
After everything he had done… After everything she had done…
Xanthe knew this wasn’t the reaction Ellis would have wanted. She knew him well enough to know that, at least. When she finally tore her gaze from his palm she saw the look on his face and part of her wanted to comfort him and assure him that it was okay, that this was fine and she still cared for him and it wouldn’t change anything and he had no need to fear her. Another part of her wanted to show him why he was right to fear her in the first place.
But she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t do either of those things. She still cared for Ellis, of course she did, but she couldn’t say this wouldn’t change things. She couldn’t say she forgave him for it either. Maybe she would eventually, but not right now. Right now she was very, very upset.
Lightning struck the crest of the temple and the clap of thunder that accompanied it seemed to shake its very foundations. Xanthe could hear the worried shouts of the peacekeepers as they called a retreat into the safety of the building as the rain began to pelt from the sky. Atton experienced bad weather often, but Xanthe had a bad habit of letting her emotions get away from her and they tended to manifest in stormy ways.
”Pelagia.” It wasn’t a question. There was no one else who could have done that to Ellis, unless he had done it to himself and that thought wasn’t something she was willing to entertain.
Post by Ellis Danton on Jan 5, 2018 23:44:29 GMT -7
He did not know exactly what her reaction would be, how could he? However, it would have been a lie to say he had no expectations, or hopes. He expected her to be hurt and betrayed. More deeply saddened than before, and that would have hurt him deeply enough. He had hoped for her to understand, to be angry at him for hiding it, but not for the fact that he bore this mark that seemed to separate him from her.
He did not hope, or expect what happened.
The hair on his arms began to raise as she stared at it, and the air around him felt charged and shallow. There wasn't quite enough to fill his lungs, and what did seemed to sparkle through the void of his chest. Then came the clap of thunder that shook the entire temple and nearly brought Ellis to his knees. He knew it was just a happenstance, and a common one in a place like Atton... But he couldn't help but feel like it was Xanthe in the storm. Her hurt, betrayal, anger, all in one earth-shaking clap of thunder.
She said Pelagia's name then, and even though it wasn't a question he nodded his head in response. What had he done? What had they done? Could this possibly ruin the peace? Did Xanthe care that much for him? That if he swore himself to Pelagia the two could not unite in peace? No. That couldn't be. He wouldn't let it even if it was. He needed to... He needed Xanthe to calm down, to realize this wasn't done to hurt her. He would never do anything to hurt her.
Not on purpose, anyway.
"Xanthe," He managed, reaching forward to close the space between them and to grasp her cheeks. To pull her in. To press forehead, to forehead. He didn't notice how wrong it felt when the scar touched her face. "Xanthe, i-it ch-changes nuh... nuh... nothing."
She wanted to yell, but she didn’t. Instead the wind howled for her. She wanted to hit something, but she didn’t. The rain pelted everything in its path on her behalf. Ellis spoke her name then and moved toward her. With her back already against the statue she had nowhere to back away to when he placed his hands, his traitorous hand, against her cheeks to pull her forward. To touch their foreheads, as they had done time and again. As her people did in greeting and reassurance and how she had done to him so often. She remembered saying it, ‘you are good, Ellis,’ so many times.
This was not one of those times.
Ellis said it changed nothing, and she didn’t believe he would lie to her like that but she also didn’t believe that what he said was true. He’d barely gotten the words out when she grabbed the wrist of his branded hand and pulled it away from her, as though it were a poisonous snake as opposed to the hand of a friend. ”Xe Ellis,” she replied. ”Os quxpuz te bani.”
He didn’t know of course. He couldn’t have known.
She wouldn’t be here without Ellis, she reminded herself. But of course, Ellis wouldn’t be here without her either. She let go of his wrist, realizing she had been holding too tightly when she saw the red marks her fingers left, and moved out from between him and the statue, stepping back out of reach. She still felt just as trapped. She felt the overwhelming urge to take his unmarked hand and brand it herself, and her own hands clenched into fists. But she wouldn’t do it. He wasn’t hers.
”Fa jexez xea.”
——
Os quxpuz te bani- It changes so much Fa jexez xea - You don’t understand (I took some translating liberties with this one)
Post by Ellis Danton on Jan 6, 2018 14:48:20 GMT -7
They had done this action so many times that it seemed like the only thing to do. Even though it was a part of her culture Ellis saw it as a part of their relationship, and so in his heart he knew that it would help. That it would make things better.
He couldn't have been more wrong.
She grasped his wrist roughly and he let out a yelp of pain like a dog that had been stepped on by accident, but as she continued holding him he looked at her with the wet eyes of that same dog who realized that there had truly been no accident at all. His jaw was slack in shock as she stared at him and told him he was wrong, that it did change something. Nothing would make that so clear as those fingers circled tightly around his wrist, a snare he had been caught in. He always anticipated pain like this from meetings with Pelagia, but never had he suspected it from Xanthe. That was what made it all so much worse. That it was his fault was only icing on the cake.
She let go of him, and his wrist screamed with a mixture of relief and fresh pain from the sudden realignment of skin. Despite it calling for his attention he didn't look at his wrist -- he just looked at her. She was a stranger to him now. Was that how she felt about him? Had he betrayed her so badly that their time together had been erased? She told him he didn't understand, and he knew he didn't, but that couldn't change the fact that he wanted to. He tried to tell her just that, but the words died in his chest, incapable of forming as his mind was too busy brimming the corners of his eyes with tears. He stared at his feet and prayed.
"L'rax sa tedoj auns'r ta hud'ux ex... H'nef yxjan yiq hes'z..." He finally managed, his voice struggling to make the words but not fighting for the pitch as he sang. Even when the consonants wouldn't come, the tone did. He didn't know what else to do, what else to say. He closed his eyes, a tear rolling down his cheek as he pretended they were at that lake together, her singing to him, him still so unimportant to her. It was easier then. "Thaslax sa th'dum t'miz di yiq naj aiaz... Yi mux thunadi ta..."
L'rax sa tedoj auns'r ta hud'ux ex... H'nef yxjan yiq hes'z... -> When the solid ground is falling out... From underneath my feet Thaslax sa th'dum t'miz di yiq naj aiaz... Yi mux thunadi ta... -> Between the black skies and my red eyes... I can barely see
Last Edit: Jan 6, 2018 14:49:40 GMT -7 by Ellis Danton
She was angry, but she hadn't meant to hurt him. She hadn't wanted to hurt him no matter how much his choice hurt her, but she could see now that she had. She wanted to go to him and heal the pain. She wanted to heal away the scar too. But she also couldn't bring herself to close the space. She needed time, time to be angry at him and Pelagia and the world and herself for thinking there could have been any other outcome. She needed time to shout and rage and let the storm pass. She would be okay with it eventually, or as okay with it as she would ever be, but right now the wound was so fresh that every movement made it burn. Every word stung. Was it an overreaction? Maybe objectively. But in her heart, this was being reserved. After all, the last time she'd gotten angry at a betrayal she had smote the offenders to ash.
She didn't know what Ellis could do to make it better. She didn't know what she could do either, except to let it pass. Ellis wasn't looking at her now, staring instead at his feet, but he began to sing the song - her song - that she had sung to him so recently when she had brought him back to her camp. And that he had sung to her in Feofil's room, playing the piano. So much had changed so quickly.
The words he sang were strangely fitting for himself in this moment, as the storm thundered above and tears did fall from his eyes, and as he trailed off she picked up the next lines which hurt to sing because of their own truth for her, "Lax yi naudoga yi ruba thax das jelt, thi yi udi di yi S'notha..." but she trailed off then too. The song spoke of how even when you had nothing else, Jaosi would be there for you. She let out a rueful laugh. "Fa lod henaban tha bosud se yi, Ellis, thys fa vuox yi. Yi xaj sofa se tha fuj thahena yi mux henpoba. Yifu teni."
Sorry for hurting him. Sorry for making him cry. Sorry for being angry. Sorry she couldn’t forgive him for this as easily as she had come to trust and care about him in the first place.
With all of that said though, she couldn't stay here any longer. She didn’t want to risk hurting Ellis more than she already had, and she needed time. She took one, two steps backward, her gaze lingering forlornly on her branded friend, before turning and leaving the room.
As she neared the main entrance some of the peacekeepers warned her about the dangerous storm, and she only stopped briefly at the door to respond, ”I am the storm.”
She made her way to the jaosi s’na with ease and then with a great flash of lightning she was gone. _____
Lax yi naudoga yi ruba thax das jelt, thi yi udi di yi s'notha - When I realize I've been let down by my friends and my family
Fa lod henaban tha bosud se yi - You will always be important to me Thys fa vuox yi. - But you hurt/pain me Yi xaj sofa se tha fuj thahena yi mux henpoba. - I need time to be angry before I can forgive Yifu teni - I'm sorry
Post by Ellis Danton on Jan 6, 2018 17:22:10 GMT -7
He didn't fix it, he couldn't fix it. He thought he had at first, when she sang the next line for him (the sounds had been unable to form at his lips), but it was too good to be true. She was truly angry, righteously angry, completely betrayed, she was... He had... Her laugh was the worst part. It was clear she didn't find any of this funny, but he heard it almost as a mocking sound. The underscore of his failure to overcome his weakness. A mockery of his pathetic existence. A dismissal of him as someone who would ever matter in the same way.
He would still be important to her, yes. But he would always be the person who had hurt her, too.
She left him, then. Alone in the room with the statue that was all wrong, and he fell to his knees and stared at the hand that felt both right and all wrong. He had held this precious thing, this friendship, and he had dropped it. He had broken the fragile thing and irreparably broken a piece of it. Finally, as he processed the incredible scope of what he had done, he let out a shuddering breath and cried -- really cried. And as he cried, he blubbered the comforting words of the hymn.
Ox sa aia eh sa tsenthe, Fa t'sui ox velan
Ox sa qaxsan eh sa lun, Fa pun'j yi teyd
Fa udexa una sa red'j... Lax yi tuodz una senx
Fa deba deev'z, yi ox sa aia eh sa tsenthe.
Outside, the storm raged.
In the eye of the storm, You remain in control In the middle of the war, You guard my soul You alone are the anchor, when my sails are torn Your love surrounds me in the eye of the storm
Last Edit: Jan 6, 2018 17:22:33 GMT -7 by Ellis Danton
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