< 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!
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< 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 Endless Laeretti on May 28, 2018 0:04:09 GMT -7
Endless clenched his fists. Now or never, huh? That's how it was going to be?
He had to wonder why he was trying so hard. In his head, he kept chasing after the friendship he remembered with Tehodis. Even before having his memories completely restored, he knew that it was there. He could feel it, whenever he thought back to her. It was part of why he had been so hurt back then when she had just stopped showing up to their little meetings. Why he had gotten sick of being in Submiere at all, and took off. He felt it again when they reconnected, when he helped her catch that criminal. That memory of friendship that had once been there. And he thought she had felt it too. Enough for her to have painted him into an image despite not even remembering him properly.
But Tehodis had arrested him shortly afterward, for a petty reason. Sure, he'd been the one to come forward about his past theft but that was only because Tehodis had been painting him up to be some noble soul in their chats, and he needed her to know he wasn't perfect. She'd been nice enough to him in prison but was still the one who put him there. She came calling for him when she was at death's door because she knew he could save her, and now she wanted nothing to do with what their actual shared past was.
Maybe the girl who had tried to sacrifice herself for him and treated him with love and understanding despite only knowing him for a short time... maybe she really was just, not there anymore. He had important information, genuinely vital stuff, and she couldn't even trust him well enough on that to give him proper attention, to set aside her discomfort with the past. That friendship he was chasing no longer existed, and she clearly didn't want it to.
"Fine," he spat back, shoulders hunching now. "If that's how you want it, then not at all it is."
He didn't want to look at her right now, so he turned and stormed out, slamming the door behind him. In the back of his mind he told himself that Simon at least didn't deserve him treating his property like that, but whatever. He was mad. He was mad at Tehodis for not being the person he wanted her to be anymore. He was mad at himself for bothering with any of this, for returning to Submiere when he had a feeling it would have been a bad idea. For not simply staying with Simon back when they'd met the first time. He'd felt cozy here, then, and Simon seemed like he would have been willing to let him stay. Maybe he could have been happy here.
He squatted down in the snow, watching the faint blue on the horizon that told of oncoming sunrise. And maybe Tehodis would have also died because without you in Submiere, how would she have found any help?
He may have been mad at her, but he didn't like that idea. He hung his head and fisted a hand in his hair. Tehodis didn't deserve to die. Few people did, honestly. He might have even overreacted back there. Her life was technically still in danger, even now, and he was choosing not to tell her about it because...
Because she's being a brat, he fumed. And so are you.
Well. There was no helping it if she didn't want to know. If she was going to be so resistant to the idea of even hearing it. But Endless supposed that even if the person he had once known no longer existed, that didn't change the fact that she had existed once upon a time. And she'd done everything she could to help him, even against his knowledge.
Silver eyes dropped back down to the snow-dusted earth, more and more patches of dirt becoming covered up as they progressed towards the Winter Storm. Winter was growing more harsh, and wouldn't start to break for another month or so. He remembered reading somewhere, in these past four years, that Fey creatures were most active once the snow receded. They preferred it that way. At the time, he couldn't really understand why he felt so compelled to want to read about fairies, but now he understood that it must have been his subconscious sending him a message.
He tried to do the math in his head. Technically speaking, it hadn't been nearly long enough for Haelrin to come after them. They had another 2-3 years, according to the time difference he'd been taught in the Feywild. But he'd also been told that especially egregious cases could sometimes compel Haelrin to grow a little less patient. A little more than half a year would have passed in the Feywild by now. And something in Endless's gut told him that penance was coming sooner, rather than later.
"She doesn't want to know about it... but I can't just leave her to the wolves, either..." he muttered, fingertips tracing shapes in the snow. He was beginning to cool off, at least.
He made a decision then. He'd be true to his words. Tehodis wouldn't be told at all, since that was what she wished for so desperately. And when he returned her to Submiere, he'd turn and leave and never look back. No point in pursuing anything further with her when she was so clearly against it. But out of respect for the person she used to be, he'd be trying to save her, regardless. He'd find a way. He'd research, he'd figure out a method for returning to the Feywild. He'd save Rill. And he'd... he didn't know how, but he'd find some way to make Haelrin stop. To leave Tehodis alone forever.
It wasn't fair that he could do whatever he wanted. It wasn't fair that he could just toy with mortals who wound up in his realm, just because they'd been tricked into going there to begin with. Nothing about Haelrin was fair. Endless had been atheistic for as long as he could remember, but new memories now reminded him that he had indeed learned of the existence of gods. And frankly speaking, Haelrin didn't make a strong case for their supposed benevolence. If the gods were anything like Haelrin, then they were nothing but super-powered bullies.
Post by Charlotte Firiana on May 28, 2018 0:20:09 GMT -7
[googlefont="Griffy"][googlefont="Abel"]
14th of the Scales of Judgment, 5152
A LINE, ONCE CUT, WILL ALWAYS HAVE KNOTS WHEN REJOINED
Simon's Cottage, Niseca
Though Charlotte could claim to have a rather accurate read of most situations, she hadn't quite expected this outcome. Endless had abandoned his intention to tell Tehodis of what he'd told Charlotte earlier. The Moonborn boy stormed out, thrown into quite the state of anger over Tehodis's behavior. Charlotte supposed she could see where the frustration stemmed. To someone who possessed more investment in Tehodis than Charlotte did, and whom possessed far less patience than Charlotte, Tehodis's attitude could have come across as... Well. Perhaps Charlotte's empathy didn't extend so far as to put an actual word to the feeling. But it was unpleasant.
Granted, she didn't think storming off like a child was the correct response, either. All it did was enable Tehodis's own petulance, and reaffirm the notion she seemed to have that avoidance would get her what she wanted. Whatever lack of general emotion Charlotte felt, she and Tehodis certainly at least possessed some form of bond now. And Charlotte would like to think that her... friend? Wouldn't continue to behave this way forever.
There was much work to be done there.
'More work than is worth investing in,' Specs added, never failing to remind her of his own distaste for the woman. 'She is as much a distraction as you could possibly find, Charlotte. Completely worthless. An utter waste of potential.'
You seem to possess a very particular degree of bitterness towards her, Specs. Is there something I should be aware of?
Charlotte's snappy remark may have actually caught Specs off-guard, for he did not have a response immediately prepared as he so often did.
'Quit wasting your time with her,' was all he said, after a moment.
Charlotte could waste her time however she damn well pleased. And right now, she wished to 'waste' it trying to patch things up here. Something had stirred in her, whatever that something may have been, and it left her with an odd sense of investment in the outcome of this spat. And besides, she still wished to know more about Endless. To divine what purpose there was to their meeting, and indeed divine what purpose Endless had been brought into this world for. When one was seeking to avert twin apocalypses, the arrival of a Moonborn was perhaps as clandestine a sign as one could hope for.
Charlotte did not speak, neither to Simon nor Tehodis. She simply stood up and returned to Simon's room, where she made quick work of retrieving her cloak and boots, then passed once more through the living room and out the door. It was time once again to play mediator.
Post by Tehodis Kitai on May 29, 2018 8:07:39 GMT -7
Tehodis winced as Endless scathed at her, but did not meet his eyes or say a word as he left. It was only as the door slammed that she released the shuddering breath that she had been holding, and fell against the wall. She slid down as tears choked their way out of her, the slow movement coming to stop as her knees clutched in front of her.
She was no longer able to hold in the rivers of tears she had been containing until that moment. They released of their own will, and she felt terrible for doing it in front of Simon (and Charlotte, who was gathering her things and walking out), which only made it all worse. She brought her elbow to her knee and tangled her fingers through hair, scraping it through as she tried to get herself to calm down. She willed the other arm to move, but the absent space merely throbbed with pain.
Tehodis was struggling, no longer able to hold in that which wracked her. The constant pain she was in from the curse was now in control. The constant fear of what future held for a one-armed woman drove her emotions. The shame of being obnoxious, annoying, unlikable, worthless, and feeble, ransacked her mind. Tehodis just couldn't deal anymore. She didn't know how to recover from all of this.
"I-I'm suh-suh-suh-sorry, Simon," She managed to piece out between tears, eyes fixed on the creases of her pants as she avoiding making anything related to eye contact with him.
Tehodis told Endless that she was ready to listen to his news. The news that was so important that Endless had crashed everyone awake at some ungodly hour of the night to share, which apparently was so important it needed to be shared right now instead of waiting until morning. Tehodis, who had just been cursed and almost died less than 12 hours ago, and was at this very moment missing an arm because of that curse, and who had come out of the bedroom with her clothes a mess because she had tried to do up all her buttons with just her one arm and whose despondent look had made even Simon feel bad for her, had told Endless that she was willing to listen to what he had to say. She looked like it took all of her willpower just to get out of bed after what had happened the day before, and Simon could sympathize with that. He'd almost been killed by those spider eels yesterday (he and Endless both had) and he was still reeling from that encounter, and he had no permanent scars or entirely lost limbs to show for it.
So anyway, here was Tehodis basically looking like she was barely holding back tears, and instead of telling her what was so important, Endless questioned whether she was really listening. And then, when Tehodis looked like she was about to break down crying at the accusation and told him to either tell her or not, Endless chose to not because apparently whatever it was that he remembered, which had been so important to wake them up right now to tell them, was actually not that important at all, and rather than console his friend who had lost her arm and almost died Endless he acted like a put-out child and stormed out of the house.
Simon steadfastly reminded himself that this was not his business and he wasn't getting paid a single copper to give a shit about any of this, and he had already done more than enough to help them out, at great personal risk and using some very expensive and difficult to acquire materials to boot. And why was that? To get closer to Endless? Endless who had seemed so kind and gentle and adorable and completely unlike Simon (well they say opposites attract) except now whatever he had remembered had turned him into a total jerk and Simon wasn't digging that at all, so he really had no reason to try to fix literally any of this. None at all.
Except now Tehodis was openly sobbing, having slid down the wall to sit crying against it. The moment reminded him of his younger sister, who had come home from school one day sobbing because some boy she liked had picked on her while all his friends watched and laughed. Tehodis clearly had it worse, but the way Dia had cried about it had been as though she'd almost died as well. It was one of the few times he had felt particularly protective of his sister. She was an incredibly accomplished mage but he supposed even prodigies could get their hearts broken. Now, when Tehodis sobbed out an apology to him only a moment after Charlotte had silently grabbed her cloak and left, he could feel the same protective anger as he had with Diamantina and he knew like a dumbass he was getting involved despite his better judgement.
"You have nothing to apologize for Tehodis," he responded a little gruffly, then snapped his finger and pointed at the armchair and said, "Kilik." The cat perked up and hopped down from the chair while Simon quickly threw on a pair of shoes, and as he stormed out the door following the others Kilik moved over to the crying Tehodis and brushed against her leg, offering comfort in the way only an animal could do. Better comfort than Simon could offer anyway.
The moment he was out the door he shouted after Endless, who had walked far enough to be outside the heating charms around the cottage and now appeared to be sitting in the snow. Charlotte had walked out only seconds before he had, so she was between them as he called out, "Endless what the fuck! You wake us all up with really important information because you chose right now to take that potion and then don't share the important information because Tehodis, who is sobbing her heart out right now by the way, didn't look like she was listening close enough for you? You knew she didn't want to remember, and yet she was still willing to listen to what you had to say, but that wasn't good enough? The woman just lost her entire arm and almost died and she's understandably still pretty fucked up about it and you're being a complete jerk." He spoke as he walked, a tirade he didn't allow to be interrupted, until he reached the edge of the circle of warmth and protection around his cottage where he stopped, both physically and verbally. He didn't step past the border into the snowy land beyond, and with the rush of anger verbalized he let out a final huff that turned to mist where it met the cold air a few inches from his face.
Post by Endless Laeretti on May 31, 2018 17:36:05 GMT -7
"That was a bit dramatic, don't you think?"
The woman's voice caught him off-guard, soft in that way it always was and yet somehow carrying a stern, cutting edge to it. Endless jerked and turned to see Lila headed towards him, now dressed for the outside weather, leveling him with a hard stare. It was hard as always to read any kind of feeling or intent off of her face, but a sixth sense told him that she was unhappy with him.
The idea merely made him bristle.
"Look, I don't need to hear anything else from you," he replied, glaring. "Just because Simon and Tehodis seem to hang off your every word doesn't mean I will. I don't even know you."
"That didn't seem to be an obstacle for you when you elected to inform me of your memories."
Endless paused, a slight flush of embarrassment over him. "You asked. And I didn't have any particular reason not to tell you. I thought maybe you'd have some helpful advice or something, before I talked to Tehodis. Isn't that what fortune tellers are supposed to be good for?"
The way she looked at him now actually looked something like a mild glare. It was the "angriest" expression he'd seen on her yet, which he imagined must have meant something.
"Don't assume my purpose to be that of a glorified psychologist," she said. "I did believe I could offer you counsel regarding what you have seen. I still believe that I may. But before I could speak my piece, Tehodis joined us in the living room. And then you proceeded to throw a tantrum."
Endless reared back indignantly, prepared to spit a venomous response back at her, to tell her that it most certainly was not a tantrum, and that Tehodis was the one acting like a child, but Lila lifted her hand to silence him before he could begin.
"Hold your complaints. You may wish to save them for our next interruption."
And then Simon was there, marching outside and stopping just short of the heat barrier, and he began berating Endless as well. It was a surprise, to have him of all people coming after Endless like this. And what's worse, he was making sense; he reminded Endless of the objective reality of the situation. He reminded him that what Tehodis was going through right at this moment was probably a lot worse than Endless was giving it credit for. Endless was behaving as though she was a mind-reader, as though she would just intrinsically understand that if Endless said he had dire, important news, then it must be so.
Endless was living in the then, rather than the now. His newfound memories were four years old, but were so fresh in his mind now that they truly seemed to be the most important thing in the world to him. It was like he couldn't understand how Tehodis could possibly not feel the same way about them. Not until now, at least, as Simon reminded him that she had in fact almost died. That she'd lost a piece of herself, and was probably drowning in thoughts of how she was going to move on with her life with that kind of permanent damage. She was sobbing inside, apparently.
It made Endless feel lousy, and hearing it from Simon only made him feel bitter. Simon was supposed to be on his side. But apparently Endless was just the bad guy to everyone right now. And no matter how much he knew he deserved that, it didn't make him less obstinate.
"She didn't want to know," he bit back, "You're right. I was stupid to even try and tell her. If she wants to leave me to remember it all, then fine. She doesn't have to know. I'll take care of it by myself. You just..." He looked back at Simon, and he felt a clench on his heart. Both because Simon, the guy he liked, was looking at him with such a pissed off expression, and also because Endless was remembering Rill, the other guy he liked. Those feelings felt incredibly fresh to him now, and they were clashing quite terribly with what he felt for Simon. "You just tell her to forget about it. That's what she wants to do, anyway. And if I'm such a pain in the ass, then I'll just... leave."
"No, you will not," Lila stated, louder than usual and more firmly. Endless looked back at her to see her pinching the bridge of her nose between two fingertips, a clear look of frustration. "You've already left her feeling like a mess. Are you to abandon your duty to return her home now? I suppose your criminal pardoning means little to you. Or recovering your personal effects."
Endless halted, blinking. He'd forgotten about his charm, about the Ameth locked away inside. "How did you--"
"I warned you already not to think of me as a glorified psychologist. Are you going to further disrespect my capabilities with such a pointless question?"
Endless didn't really have anything to say to that. The more she spoke, the more he really became aware that for whatever reason she was not at all happy with him. Was this just because of Tehodis? They'd only just met, hadn't they? Why did Lila care so much?
Lila turned to face Simon. The other man had looked like maybe he would have had something to say to Endless's little declaration as well, had Lila not cut in first. Part of Endless wished she hadn't, and that Simon would have told him to just get going then, or something like that. Give him an excuse to get out of his life. Endless would rather be hated by Simon than entertain feelings that might end in ruin anyway.
"Simon, would you please leave him to me?" Lila asked, her tone more insistent than usual. "There is much I need to discuss with him, and I fear that until I do he will not be able to return to rational thought."
Post by Tehodis Kitai on Jun 1, 2018 23:37:56 GMT -7
Left almost alone to wallow, Tehodis had run dry of tears. Her body was still wracked with sobs, but now they were just a movement, a painful tensing and untensing, and an occasional choked breath in. She was stressed, panicked, fearful, sick to her stomach. All she wanted to do was go home, but she didn't really know where that was. It wasn't Rielcia. It wasn't around Endless. It wasn't Submiere, either, not really. But at least Submiere had a place she could be alone. At least Submiere could solve the problem of Endless: Let him take the only thing still forcing him to put up with her, and move on.
She thought about all of this as Kilik kindly acted the part of a cat, purring and making valiant attempts at comforting her. There was little she could do, of course, but the vague motion of petting the soft creature had a focusing effect. Tehodis began to realize that she might be able to speed up the process somehow. Charlotte had mentioned an SSPB officer attempting to locate them. If only she could somehow tell them that she was here, awaiting his assistance back to Eersaeb... She had a solution.
Shakily, she crawled forward. Standing seemed inopportune at the moment. She managed enough to gather the few things she might need from Simon's stash, hoping he wouldn't mind. She reminded herself she could pay him back for these things, unlike for what else he had already given. She settled herself with the herbs, the bowl, and a curious Kilik, and tried her best to sit cross-legged. She hadn't done this in years, not since she lived in the swamps of Malscure, but the muscle memory was active in all but her absent arm.
"Our shared bond is the road that connects us," She whispered through sniffles and sighs, "You are a beacon in the night-- A star pointing north-- Show me where you are."
Nothing happened for a time, and Tehodis simply repeated herself. Over and over, again and again she repeated the words and focused on the bowl. "Show me something, anything." And eventually? It did. A small fog seemed to appear in the bowl, visible only to her, and it was the veil behind which the man was. She moved it with her mind, the fog shifting like a curtain to reveal an image of a man in an SSPB uniform camping in the midst of the woods, trying to make sense of his location. Tehodis focused on the man, who she recognized to be an officer named Fadil.
Fadil had great respect for Lord Woodrow, enough that it outweighed the lack of respect he had for Tehodis. She considered their previous interactions, attempting to strengthen the bond the two of them shared. Revisiting their brief conversations or glances, she watched as the picture grew somewhat clearer, until finally -- it was enough. "Fadil," She whispered, her vision disappearing behind a glow of white, "I-- I can guide you here...
Endless seemed to miss the entire point of Simon's speech, because he indignantly replied that yes, Tehodis hadn't wanted to hear any of it and he had been stupid to even try. This of course was kind of true, but not entirely, and clearly whatever Endless had remembered was completely awful or whackadoodle or something to make who Simon thought was a fairly calm and nice person behave like such an insufferable twat. He said if he was such a pain in the ass he would just leave, and Simon was ready to bullshit that right out of the water when Charlotte stepped in first and reminded him not only of his duty to his friend but his literal duty to return her safely. After reaming him out in her own way, she turned to Simon and asked to be left with him so that she could talk some sense into him. Apparently she, because of course she was so special, was the only one who could bring him back to rational thought.
Simon realized that maybe he was bit more pissed off than he had intended to be, and thinking shit things about Charlotte wasn't going to help anything either. Was he a little pissed that he couldn't talk Endless down himself? Yeah, of course, he could imagine a variety of situations in which he and Endless ended up making up, making out, maybe even some semi-angry sex somewhere, whatever. It would at least have done a little to pay him back for all the hassle this whole thing had been to Simon, but he was beginning to think that things weren't going to go much farther with Endless, especially now that he drank that potion. He wondered if it would have been better for everyone if he hadn't offered to make it, or offered to go out to get replacement flowers for it. Certainly would have saved the hassle of almost getting killed by spider eels, which was something Simon had never wanted to experience and would be very sure to avoid in the future.
Well, can't change the past.
"You're better than this Endless. I've hardly known you and I still know you're not this much of a dick. So whatever she has to tell you, I hope it calms you down enough to realize that for yourself."
He had no intention of joining them out in the cold, and he'd said what he'd come out here to say, so if Charlotte thought she could handle it from here he was fine with letting her deal with it. He didn't really want to head back inside to deal with Tehodis either, so he decided he would go check on his garden and maybe pick a few things to replenish his stores. He had a few things that would need replacing after the minor explosion from breaking the curse yesterday anyway, and the garden was out the back so it would give Endless and Charlotte their alone time.
The skin OTHERWORLD was made by JAWN of WICKED WONDERLAND.
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