< 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!
✉ notes: I'm channelling that night where we went to that movie and it was SO COLD
my heart it aches to stay
but the flesh will have it's way. and i'm already gone. i'm gone.
[attr="class","ohlovebody"]The offer Bronwyn made was both immediately tempting, and immediately worrisome. What was Bronwyn's game here? Natalia had heard tell of weak miners tempted by the offer of riches or kindness, who had turned up dead or not at all. The guard would always say the same thing - accident, suicide, immigration - but down below they spoke otherwise. Well-to-do psychopaths desperate for a kill that no one would bat an eye at, that's what they'd whisper. People no one would miss. There was a war, and they had no weapons. Natalia was someone that no one would miss, certainly. She should refuse, keep her distance, keep her guard up--
But instead, she swallows her fear and her pride, nods silently, and moves over to sit next to Bronwyn. She keeps a foot between the two of them still - each thigh likely not capable of accidentally brushing the other - and with shaking hands reaches out for the charm.
Already next to Bronwyn it feels warmer, but as Natalia's hand meets the charm it's like something otherworldly. She did not realize just how cold she was until this moment, until her body ran with an all-encompassing warmth like bathing in the summer sun. It was overwhelming at first, her ears, cheeks, fingers, and toes all stinging painfully as the reality of frostbite contended with the magic of the heating charm. It was a strange feeling. Intense relief. Painful reminder.
She really had forgotten how cold she was.
"Gods--" She gasped as her mouth finally began to work. Her eyes are closed for as long as it takes for her to force them to open, and then she looks at Bronwyn - breathless, lips frozen in a parted shock. "I... I can see why you uh, well, I don't think you're crazy for having a picnic out here, anymore. Sorry, what I mean to say is that I didn't think you were crazy beforehand, but I couldn't understand you. I... I sort of do, now. Oh, Gods, forgive me: Thank you, Miss Bronwyn."
Natalia moved closer, but not too close, and Bronwyn's eyes moved to the space left between them maybe a little shyly. When Natalia reached out it was with shaking hands, maybe from the cold or maybe from nerves or maybe from something else that wasn't apparent yet, but she took the offered charm and gasped, as though she truly had forgotten how cold she was until she felt the warmth again. Bronwyn's smile turned a little sad then but the worry in her eyes shifted towards relief when Natalia's eyes closed, her face so openly expressing relief, shock, joy, any number of expressions and settling in on what might be... reverence.
Bronwyn's eyes had drifted down to Natalia's lips, parted slightly in her shock, when Natalia's eyes reopened and she quickly looked back up, flushing a delicate pink on her cheeks. at Natalia's words she looked away and back again, chuckling a little. "That's... fair, I guess. Now it's just you who's the crazy one." She winked liked it was a joke and shook her head like she still couldn't believe it. "It must be the coldest night of the year, you could have frozen right to the ground out here. What in the world were you doing without a heating charm?"
✉ notes: better late than never... also wow my previous post was tense all over the place. eek.
my heart it aches to stay
but the flesh will have it's way. and i'm already gone. i'm gone.
[attr="class","ohlovebody"]It certainly would seem crazy, Natalia imagined. Here was Bronwyn, not knowing, realizing, or thinking that she was living in a different world than other people. It must have been easy, while living in happiness, to not see the struggles around you. The rich didn't miss the forest for the trees. People like Natalia lived in deserts.
It made sense then, that Natalia had known these other worlds existed. She didn't know what they were like... But she knew they were pleasurable, and she had so desired one for herself. That desire had been what brought her to the mines. That desire drove her away from love. That desire was what kept her head down, kept her working hard, kept her... In line. The taste Bronwyn was giving her tonight? Did nothing to sate her. If anything, it only worked to tantalize.
Natalia wasn't sure how kindly she could answer Bronwyn's question without... Scaring her? Embarrassing herself? Making Bronwyn feel guilty? Making Bronwyn realize the kind of dirt she was so nearly rubbing literal elbows with? She couldn't answer. So she instead decided on a question.
"How much did this cost?" Natalia's words were cautious, and delivered with averted eyes. It wasn't an answer, but it did imply one. Hopefully that could be good enough.
The words settled for a moment before Bronwyn's eyes widened ever so slightly and she let out a small 'Ah’ that was almost more gasp than word, that flowed into a slightly embarrassed chuckle. “I don't remember, to be honest…” she trailed off, but caught Natalia’s eye and smiled lightly before continuing with, “But right now I’d say it was worth every gold.”
but the flesh will have it's way. and i'm already gone. i'm gone.
[attr="class","ohlovebody"]At first, Natalia had a thought of pure offence at Bronwyn's ignorance over the cost of a heating charm. After all, it said a lot about her that something so expensive - a magical item! - was nothing to recall. Natalia could remember the last dessert she purchased. The last pair of shoes. The last train fare she spent. She could remember them to each crown, shackle, and nib, every last bit that she spent from the Empty Lantern to now. She doubted, in that thought, that Bronwyn knew even how many crowns she had spent in the last day, let alone in the last year.
The second thought that crossed Natalia's mind, however, came at the surprisingly candid comment on worth. It possibly had something to do with the healthful sparkle that Natalia noticed as Bronwyn caught her gaze. It possibly had something to do with how right she was. It had a lot to do with how charming Bronwyn seemed to be. Words came easily to her, and Natalia imagined people did as well. Her cheeks were already toned with flush from the shift of cold to heat, but they managed to flush a little bit more as she turned her gaze down to her hands where they plied over the warming charm.
"You're a very strange person, Miss Bronwyn," Natalia muttered, regretting the word choice immediately, "Not strange as in... But, that you aren't quite what we imagine when we think up a person of means. You're more the person we think of, when we imagine ourselves as that person. Er, you know?"
Natalia said she was a strange person and Bronwyn giggled, cheeks adorably dimpled. This wasn't the first time Natalia had said something like that tonight, but Bronwyn seemed to find it charming more than offending. Natalia however immediately rushed to clarify herself and Bronwyn cocked her head and nodded along at her explanation until she was finished and seemed to be thoughtful for a moment before nodding once more. “I get it, I think. I think there's a compliment in there somewhere, so um, thank you," she replied maybe a little sheepishly, but the smile on her face showed that she was pleased with the almost compliment. She shivered just a bit and shuffled a little closer to Natalia, not quiiiite enough to touch but close enough to be inside the personal bubble the other girl had established a moment ago. She looked a little apologetic but also from this slightly closer angle her eyes trailed over Natalia's features briefly before she looked away. “Sorry, the charm is more for personal use so the heat doesn't extend very far."
She took the opportunity to grab the basket though and moved it onto her lap, where she took out the bottle of spiced mead and a corkscrew to open it with. “My favourite part of any picnic," she explained with a smile before starting to work at the cork, though she messed it up a couple times and then her hand slipped and caused the screw to rip out a chunk of cork instead, almost jabbing her finger in the process. She bit her lip and blew out a slightly frustrated sigh, then turned to Natalia with an embarrassed smile and held out the bottle and corkscrew instead. “Please save me, I'm a hazard."
✉ notes: wish fulfilment: I cannot remove a cork in real life.
my heart it aches to stay
but the flesh will have it's way. and i'm already gone. i'm gone.
[attr="class","ohlovebody"]As Bronwyn moved closer, Natalia held her breath a little. If she inhaled, she would take up more space and accidentally touch the other woman, which just wouldn't do. Natalia could see, even in the forgiving flicker of firelight, the dirt and dust of the mine stained into the inner threads of her pants; Bronwyn's clothes were unstained and her skin was clean.
As Natalia thought these things, Bronwyn was looking at her, and so - self-consciously - Natalia adjusted her leg somewhat to angle it away from Bronwyn. Still, keeping the other woman in the bubble as she explained their closeness. Yes, that made sense. The new position was less comfortable physically, but it put her mind a little more to rest.
Natalia moved the charm into one hand, and let it rest at the edge of her leg, expanding the bubble of heat as much as she could with a small whispered, "Sorry," Which was quickly covered by Bronwyn rifling through the basket. The woman pulled out the bottle of mead and began to work at it as Natalia observed. Bronwyn seemed hopeless, which Natalia found both endearing and annoying. What did this woman do with her life to deserve what she had? She couldn't uncork a bottle.
Natalia's thoughts immediately went to the unsavoury, imagining the woman as some premium consort for some slim selection of rich men. She was beautiful, after all. And she was charming, after all. And she was strange, after all.
Natalia was pulled from her thoughts as Bronwyn held out the bottle and the tool that had so failed her, asking for help, to which Natalia gave a stunted set of nods. The bottle felt strange and familiar in her hands. A reminder of the days she had spent drinking wine in the valley, sipping on fresh nectar made by friends and family, listening to the music of her bard. Her one love.
She had uncorked many bottles in her life, but none since her previous. Still, like her own name, the motions came with ease. She twisted the corkscrew in with speed from her old familiarity and strength from her new work, and then locked the step in place before using the tool for leverage. In moments, the bottle gave a resounding 'pop!' and the smell of spiced mead mixed with the burn of the wood around them, having some effect of warming Natalia from the inside. "Wow," She managed, swallowing her desire for the drink before holding the bottle back out to Bronwyn.
Bronwyn watched with interest as Natalia took the bottle and opened it with ease, and the other girl let out a wow before holding the now opened bottle back to her. “Thank you, Natalia," she said warmly, taking the offered bottle and settling it on the ground between them for a moment while she fished in the basket for something else and came out with a crystal glass. She looked at the glass for a moment almost self-consciously and then shook it off and poured it full of mead. “As the guest of honour, you get to drink first," she began dramatically, holding out the glass to the other girl with a flourish and a smile. “I made it myself, but don't spare my feelings if you hate it."
but the flesh will have it's way. and i'm already gone. i'm gone.
[attr="class","ohlovebody"]"N-no," Was Natalia's quick reply, her hands rising up to her chest, palms out and wagging vaguely in refusal. There were numerous reasons Natalia didn't wish to drink first, not least of which was how wrong it felt, but most of which was plain, and simple fear. She had no way of knowing what could be in the mead, other than the usual, and a small piece of her worried that all of this was some elaborate trick to... Something. It didn't make much sense, but in all honesty: It made more sense than Bronwyn just being this kind. Amber eyes wide, Natalia continued, "I... Wouldn't dare. Please."
At Natalia’s immediate refusal Bronwyn deflated a bit and her face grew worried as she brought the cup back, looking down at it as though afraid the mead had turned into snakes or something, but it was still just mead. She looked back to Natalia curiously, and the girl continued by saying she wouldn't dare, which earned another worried and vaguely sad look before Bronwyn nodded. ““Oh, okay, I'm sorry,” she began, taking a drink from the cup that was less than a chug but definitely more than the delicate ladylike sip she looked like she should take, then she looked down at the cup with a flush of embarrassment.
““I uh, I think I get it. I should have known that someone this far out probably didn't want company, but I pushed it on you anyway and now you're too nice to tell me to leave.”
The skin OTHERWORLD was made by JAWN of WICKED WONDERLAND.
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