< 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!
Rill had not intended to fall asleep in Gurk's pocket. See, he was a fairy. Technically fairies didn't even need to sleep, but he had been having a hard time meditating lately and he had been so cold but her pocket was so warm and soft and dark and he closed his eyes for a second only shortly after they'd entered the tavern, and then all of a sudden he had been jostled awake by his Gnomish ride apparently climbing onto something and yelling an angry tirade at someone. You missed the whole thing you dolt. Ouch, no need for name-calling. He didn't know how much time had passed or what had been said in the meantime, and he was really frustrated with himself for that because the whole point of this had been to come in and make sure they weren't bounty hunting him or his friends and here he had fallen asleep during the entire part where they talked about who or what they were hunting. Yeah you really mucked that one up, eh? Oh shut up.
Gurk had said something about a grenade then and for a tense moment he was worried he would have come all this way to get exploded by an angry gnome, but thankfully no explosion had killed him and it was shortly after that when Gurk had hightailed it out of there, claiming the last one out had to get the bill.
Once they were outside, Rill risked a peek out of her pocket and when it was determined the rest of the group either wasn't coming out yet or had already left and he missed it, he figured it was a good time to speak. He didn't really want to come out of the pocket yet though. It was really cold outside, and he was finally feeling cozy and warm and maybe he should just close his eyes again and - NO Rill, oh my gosh get yourself together. Right. "So that was interesting," he decided to comment. He was pretty sure he had heard some of the first part of the meeting, but he couldn't claim to know any more than he had before they'd gone in. But on the upside, he had a really comfortable nap. Honestly, that was the most comfortable he had been since... well, since before he had gotten imprisoned.
[attr="class","gurkpost"] Well, that had been something, hadn't it? Gurk was pretty sure she had done well, as far as bounty hunters went. She had been threatening, but not mean to the people who would be her friends and confidants moving forward. She had also proven her worth. Or rather, Solana had proven her worth by throwing her worth out the window and blowing up some something-or-other that Gurk couldn't bother to care about. She more cared about Solana and really-really-really-really-really-kinda hoped that the chick was impressed by the blast. It was a pretty sweet explosion, all things considered. Maybe she'd ask later? No. Nah. You couldn't talk to someone you had a crush on, even if they had already talked to you, and even if it was clear they didn't like you and you really shouldn't like them because they were mean. Talking to your crush was so passe. So, no talking. For now, anyways.
Gurk had slipped into the small alley next to the tavern and the whatever building it was next door (it smelled like salt and smoke, which really could be any number of things), and sighed in relief. She had spent a whole heckuva lot of time alone the last year or so, and it was nice to have some friends now, even if most of them were friends for the sake of money. Besides, weren't all friends like that? Reminded that she did have one other friend she gasped in realization and then shoved her hand into her pocket with such force that it would certainly have crushed and bruised Rill at least somewhat -- but thankfully she had dipped her hand into the wrong pocket. She didn't realize that quite right away, first thinking that she had crushed him, but then she heard his little voice and looked to her other side and saw his little head and she let out a not so little sigh of relief.
"Wasn't it just!" She agreed excitedly, grasping Rill only somewhat gently to yank him out of her pocket and into the coolness of the air, "I think they were impressed, don't you?"
Rill did not like being manhandled. Well, that may not always be true because he could think of a certain man he wouldn't mind being handled by - "That was the worst. Never think that again." - but he definitely didn't appreciate being manhandled by Gurk just yanking him out of her pocket. Her fingers pinched around him and his arm got caught against his side and his other arm was up by his head and he could feel one of his wings was in an awkward position but thankfully those were a lot tougher than they looked, and he was rudely re-introduced to the coldness of the outside world. He let out a little shout of surprise as it happened, but he thought maybe Gurk was a bit too into her own thing to notice or care.
She asked him if he thought they were impressed and he was already wiggling against her fingers trying to free his arms when he replied, "Well if they weren't before, that explosion sure would caught their attention! Um, how many bombs do you have anyway? Where are they all coming from?" Most importantly: she wasn't going to accidentally explode anything else, right?
[attr="class","gurkpost"] Gurk didn't notice Pill's struggling, and held him before her face as he spoke. He was right, they were a little tepid on her before the bomb, but they just had to realize how COOL that was, right? Solana probably thought it was cool, too. There weren't many explosives in Fortuna, since you could just magic an explosion, but Gurk's explosives were real, and they were like, bachkuuuhhhhh! Babueuoommm! Kshchhchhahahhahh -- And all no matter who was throwing it. And if they really needed it, she could come up with some other inventions. She was like their Q! Which was a reference that didn't really make sense to her, but probably meant something hip and cool to someone, somewhere.
"How many? Uh, well, let's see," She began counting on her fingers, first her left hand-- onetwothreefourfive -- and then her right hand -- sixseven -- her fingers opening up as she counted -- eightnine -- slowly releasing Pill -- ten -- "Well, whaddya know! I don't have enough fingers! I pretty much spend all of the money I make on materials, and all of the time I'm not making money on making them, and then multiply that by seven... Definitely more than the number of fingers and toes I've got! That's even including my special bonus sixth toe, too.
"And where do I keep them?! Well... In this!" She held out her Infinity Gear dramatically, the small gear about the size of Pill's head with a screw crossing through it that always hung around her neck. It buzzed with a little bit of magic, enough that she had to admit magic had some useful applications. Just not boom-making.
"Y'see, I'm not just an expert physicist and chemist and engineer (she had no such degrees)I also have a liiiiiiiiiiiittle bit of the magic joojoo. Conjuration. So I've got a tiny pocket that's just for me and no one else, and all my inventions are there! Most of them explode, but not all, sadly. Wanna see them?!"
She counted on her fingers. She counted... using her fingers? Gurk was like a savant or something, because she could somehow make real working bombs but when asked how many she had, she needed to count on her fingers. Of course, this worked out for Rill because as she was counting on said fingers, they were releasing him and the moment his wings were free he flew back and out of her reach, just in case she decided to try to grab him again.
Meanwhile, Gurk was explaining that that she made money and spend it all on materials and then spent her free time making them and why did she need to make so many bombs?? Also apparently she had a sixth toe. AND she had some sort of magic necklace that apparently she had created because of course she also did magic and she had made some sort of storage charm for herself to keep all her inventions. Most of which, she declared proudly, exploded.
"Wanna see them?"
"Wow boy that sure does sound temptin' an all but I really don't have the time, y'know? I really gotta get lookin' for my friends, and the world is a prettttty big place. This has been a blast - no pun intended - but I don't think my friends will be anywhere this cold. I don't suppose you know if there's a teleporter around here eh?"
To be honest he had no idea whether Endless or Tehodis would be anywhere this cold, and he was again reminded of how little he knew about either of them despite almost losing his life and mind because of them. It was always an uncomfortable thought and like usual he just tried to ignore it. Sure, he had known them for less than a week, and sure maybe he had developed feelings really fast for Endy which may not have been entirely proportionate to how long he knew the other boy, or even how much he had known about him, and sure he had been shoved in a box and left to go crazy for all eternity because of them and sure it had been years in the mortal realm and neither of them had come to save him and sure he was risking his very existence by trying to find them and warn them about Haelrin and... wait, where was he going with this?
Right, he was ignoring it. Shoving those thoughts riiiiiight down into a dark corner where he could pretend they didn't exist at all. He could deal with them later- or never -but right now he was determined to find Tehodis and Endless whether they wanted him to or not.
And the first step was getting somewhere warmer, if not for them then for his own health and wellbeing, being he was pretty sure he wouldn't do anyone any good if he froze to death out here.
[attr="class","gurkpost"] Gurk couldn't help but be a little disappointed. A normal person might have been able to read Pill's discomfort (and know his name was Rill) and would have been disappointed that he was trying to excuse himself from the entire Gurk-adjacent situation. Gurk was not at all a normal person, and she didn't even register that Pill (because she did not know his name was Rill) was at all anxious about her. She was just disappointed he didn't want to see her toys.
Shucks.
"Huh, well, can't say I blame them," Gurk yawned a little as she dropped the chain down with a jingle and stretched her arms out in exhaustion. Today had been a day. A good day. But it was a day. And she was tired-- but even though she was tired she didn't really want it to end. If it ended, her new pal would be teleporting away to some distant and warm locale and she might not see him again. That was depressing, and not only because she hadn't shown him the variety of bombs that she had crafted. She supposed could take on a new name to remember him by, the fairy that saved her life and who she saved also and as well at the same time... But it still felt too short lived.
Maybe she could delay him.
"You kinda hafta really wonder why anyone would choose to live here, yeah?" She plainly ignored the question, her diction suddenly more pronounced and her phrasing slowed by a quarter, "I think that's why the towns are all soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo--" She took a breath, "Sososoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo--" One more breath, "Oooooooooooooooooo -- oh -- ohh - oooooooo... Small. You go to like, Niseca and it's like whabow! Pitouli! Zabahbadoowap! Zingity blandba! Like, big. Big big. Montevier is probably as big as eighty four Tasarks, give or take. So, yeah. Oh! You know, I could probably calculate exactly how many Tasarks are in a Montevier. Can you hold a measuring tape?" Yeah. That should hold 'im.
Yeah, Rill couldn’t blame them either. He couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to live here, which was actually exactly what Gurk said next. After yawning, of course. And then she did something so very Gurk-ish and for some reason took three whole breaths to draw out the word ‘so’ and with each passing second Rill was starting to shiver more and more, because the wind was picking up again and he really wanted to go.
Gurk said that in Niseca the cities were as big as eighty four Tasks, which was honestly hard to believe but given the fact that he was very small in this world for some reason so everything seemed even bigger than usual he was at least sure it would seem big no matter how big it actually was.
When she said she could calculate it and asked if he could hold a measuring tape he shook his head and held out his hands like ‘stop’ and said, ”You’ve been to Niseca? Where is it? How do I get there?”
”She might be even crazier than you are, Rill. You sure you wanna stick around?” Good point, but he was pretty sure he couldn’t just fly there himself by choosing a direction and going, soooooooooooo here he was.
[attr="class","gurkpost"] Niseca, that's what got him excited, huh? Maybe, she thought: His other friends (other because she was most certainly his friend) had said they lived in Niseca. Then she thought: Why wouldn't he have told her that before? Then she thought: Oh, maybe he did and I wasn't listening. It had happened on occasion - she had a memory like a steel trap, but an attention span like a sieve.
"You bet I been to Niseca!" She answered with exuberant nods, "Heck, I been there tons! Whenever I get sick of Aissic and trying to break into Tanad and I'm all like, 'Oh boy I could do with not dying to hypothermia!' I start to hightail it back to Niseca. Some parts are cold, but the farther south you go the warmer it gets. Don't know how weather works in the Feywild, but here we have a thing called an 'equator' and it gets warmer the closer you get to it, because the sun - which is where heat comes from - prefers to hang around it. You'd probably like it! It's not far, either, just about a week and some's walk-- Er, probably less in flying time!"
Wait, why did she tell him that? Didn't she want him to stay? Damn her big mouth! "But uh," She continued, "It's pretty dangerous. Might wanna try to uh... Join a sledding caravan. For safety. In numbers. Or take a boat? I don't know how often boats leave... Er... Or I mean, if you wanna hang around a bit longer maybe I can take you there! I know the way. And I haven't died yet!"
Not for the first time and probably not for the last, once Gurk started talking she got all caught up in it and didn't seem to want to stop, though when she said it was a week or even less away he perked up at the finally relevant information. A week or less? He could fly so much faster than walking, he was sure it would shave off a day or two or hell if he didn't stop to rest much maybe even three!
Gurk said it was dangerous and he frowned at that, but wondered if it could really be more dangerous than the Feywild, or the trip they're already made from the cold tundra to Tasark. She sounded worried but whether that was for his safety or just at the idea of him ditching her or a completely different thing because her brain went a mile a minute and she might not even be thinking about this anymore was anybody's guess. "Gurk I really appreciate the offer but I'm gonna be honest, I can outfly just about anythin' in the Feywild and probably most things here too. I've already wasted so much time... It's been years out here while I was stuck in the Feywild and now that I'm out I have to find my friends. They're in very real, very immediate, very godly danger! I really appreciate your help but please Gurk can you point me in the direction of Niseca? I shouldn't have even spent this much time here in Tasark..."
She'd said it was a week or less away, but she hadn't said which direction. To be honest he didn't even know if she would be able to tell him the direction, based on how lost she had been when he'd first found her. "Maybe it would be better to ditch her and find someone who can actually help," came the true but harsh advice from his less corporeal friend. He knew he wouldn't do that. He'd never been the kind of person to just ditch someone. It was why he tried to help all the mortals that came to the Feywild, and why he had brought Tehodis and Endless back to his home when the storm rolled in after he'd found them. He wanted to leave right now but he would at least spend another minute or two to get to a real goodbye.
[attr="class","gurkpost"] "Oh yeah, I guess, danger, immediate, real, friends, totally, I get it, been there, done that..." Gurk's eyes cast down briefly, a momentary lapse in showgnomeship. She didn't really care all that much. She was pretty sure. Even if she wasn't sure, there was only one way to test a hypothesis. Rill would leave, possibly never to return. She didn't have a mailing address - his or her's - which meant there would be no contact. If she cared, she'd find out in a week or day or hour or minute. Experiment! Evidence! Science! Yeah, that was the junk that could always cheer her up.
Her face rose back up in the split second she thought those thoughts, her golden curls bobbing slightly as she nodded, and shot out her hand for Rill to shake. "Well then, I guess that's the short and shorter of it, Pillbox! Good luck in finding your friends and preventing calamities and all that gack!"
Despite all of her thinking, Gurk didn't think to remind Rill to get a jacket or something. It was still a lot of tundra and snow and cold to get to Niseca. She would of course remember later, exactly two minutes and forty-seven seconds after he left. It would be too late by then, but no one could really say Gurk had forgotten outright.
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.