< 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!
Iunia’s contingent had been enjoying a week of relative peace. There had been few lasting skirmishes with the weather so cold, and fighting was already few in far between in such a strange, stormy land. No one wanted to risk losing troops to an uncertain gambit, and between the weather and the terrain, there was a lot to be uncertain about. Hoping to beat back that uncertainty, perhaps, Iunia and seven others had been tasked with mapping the nearby tribal lands. The lands were unclaimed but by the native Attonians, and the claim of the Attonians, however valid, would do nothing to stop the engines of war. The Malscure-Rielcia forces were keen to gain an upper hand where they could, and knowing the land was the first step to conquering it.
Their little team included a surveyor and a mapmaker for this purpose, but Iunia was neither of the two. She was there with five other soldiers as guards, protecting the two fragile civilians from enemy combatants. Well, enemy combatants and any potential “savages.” Iunia found to title somewhat ridiculous— it sounded like something Hase would say when chiding her for not using silverware. But the noncombatants they were escorting seemed terrified by the idea of the natives, their heads probably filled with over-exaggerated stories from the mainland. She overheard one of the two muttering something or other about not wanting to be eaten, and she snorted.
Iunia hadn’t seen much of the native Attonians, and the few she’d seen from a distance didn’t seem to keen on trying to attack and eat her. The stupidity of fearing a scary bedtime story caricature over an actual threat, like an opposing soldier, was ridiculous to Iunia. She kept this two herself, but she smiled when one of the more vocal soldiers started in with ribbing the surveyor.
All eight members of their little party were wearing thick wool and boiled leather, good for keeping out the cold and little use against attack, but it wasn’t as if reconnaissance warranted actual plate armour. Most of her companions had declined to take a mount, but the surveyor, a heavyset man carrying more than one bag of tools, had insisted on a horse. Iunia resented being relegated to horse-whisperer, but the man was an inexperienced rider and the forest was thick, so the bulk of the centaur’s job had been leading the man’s pack animal.
At the moment, that had stopped to break for lunch in what could hardly be called a clearing, but was close enough. Fenwick had shot down a large bird, and now they were roasting it over a spit, unwary of the smoke. Iunia was relishing the opportunity to eat something fresh and not rations, and at first she thought the mapmakers’s horrified face was in reaction to the impropriety with which she was devouring the animal. She quickly realized this wasn’t the case, however, when the man shakily pointed somewhere behind her, muttering the word “savage” under his breath.
After meeting with Gilles the previous day, Xanthe had done a lot of thinking. If she was to sign a treaty with Eleusia she wanted to know more about them, and not just what they would show her in a carefully controlled meeting. She wanted to see them as they were, which was why she had found out where they were set up (she had known of the enemy camps for some time, as they'd been here for years, but she had never before known which camps belonged to which of their tribes) and had decided to scout out their area.
But it seemed today they were scouting hers.
She had seen the group of them earlier and at first thought there were two on horseback and six walking, but upon closer inspection she saw one wasn't on horseback - she was partly a horse herself. It was like the body of a human had melded into the shoulders of a horse, and the creature was so foreign to her that she had decided to follow them. She probably would have followed anyway, since they were invaders and they were straying too far from their own camp for her to be comfortable. It didn't look like they were marching somewhere to attack, but with five soldiers and a woman horse as well as two others who she couldn't get a read on she was curious, and as always with the invaders she was wary.
There had been great strides towards peace recently, with the treaty signed between Atton, Vieri, Niseca and Aurcaele and a possible inclusion of Rielcia and Malscure on the horizon, but the end of the war was a long ways away still and Xanthe wasn't ready to let down her guard.
She followed them silently, hidden, as one with the nature around her as any Attonja would be, as they marched and eventually the group of them settled around a fire to cook a bird they'd hunted. They were clearly unafraid, or stupid, because they made no effort to hide their smoke or burn wood that wouldn't let up such a strong signal of their presence. Xanthe wondered who else might see the beacon and decide to investigate. Not her own people, no, but perhaps soldiers from the other countries. Best to make this quick then.
She stepped out of hiding and approached their clearing cautiously, no weapons in hand. The tattoos down her neck arms denoted her importance in the tribe though whether the invaders knew of such things was unknown to her. Either way, she was confident she faced no danger from them, but she was still prepared for anything.
One of the invaders saw her and looked like he was about to shit his own pants, and he pointed in her direction as the others started to look her way as well. She stopped moving but stood with confidence, not cold even against the cold wind that blew by her and rustled through the gems in her hair. She watched them warily, the face of Attonja judgement, before eventually she spoke.
Iunia stepped in front of the terrified man, one of her companions snickering and trying to get him to calm down with little success. Oh, good, Iunia thought. Now our first impression is one of cowards and fools. Still, there was time to remedy that. And she was curious to speak to one of the Attonians, at such long last, even if this particular woman looked less than pleased and the two idiots behind her were babbling frantically like the newcomer was somehow going to take out six armed soldiers just to personally punch their faces in.
“I am with my people now,” Iunia replied. She had no way of knowing how much of their language the Attonian understood, and although her magic enabled her to understand any language, she could not speak any language. So she tried to stick to common terms, terms that a person would know even if they had just started learning the language. “We are here only to see the land. We want to learn more about this place. We mean no harm.”
‘Not meaning any harm’ meant very little, though, and Iunia knew that. She’d spent most of her young life bartering, and she knew information like this, knowledge of the land, was surely valuable. She herself had little to offer, and was hardly in a position to negotiate, but she also knew she couldn’t turn back on a mission because of a few stern words. Nor could she stomach fighting over nothing more than a request to leave. And since apparently everyone else was just going to sit there and let her do the talking, she made the calls, so she said “We know information, knowledge, is worth much. We offer knowledge in return. If you allow us to draw the land, you can ask us all that you want.”
Normally she would staunchly avoid such an offer, but in this case, she knew very little that could cause trouble in the telling of it. Everyone in the group was low ranking, any secrets they had just the personal kind. Her superiors wouldn’t care if she told the Attonian anything she wanted to know, especially if it would strengthen ties with Atton. And Iunia had seen a glint in the stranger’s eyes that she hoped was curiosity.
Fenwick was stamping out the fire, because they were arrogant but only to a point, and it would be silly to keep flaunting their location as they were. All in all, of course, Iunia wasn’t too concerned. She doubted any enemies would bother chasing after a fire in the woods, a fire deep enough into tribal land that few would suspect the cause of it to be anything other than native Attonians. The risk still unsettled her, but she’d learned that small things like this were worth dealing with if it meant the usual increase in morale for her human companions. Humans, it seemed, enjoyed risky things. They also enjoyed food, and offering food was nice in every culture Iunia had ever encountered, so the centaur gestured to what was left of the bird. “Want to eat?” She asked the Attonian.
Xanthe watched the group of them silently as the horse woman stepped forward, putting herself between her fearful companion and the newcomer. In that action alone Iunia had shown the Attonian woman much about the dynamics of the group, and of herself. The soldiers in her group were on guard and the two unarmed men both seemed afraid, but Iunia showed no fear and also made no move to attack. It was admirable, and it earned an amount of respect from the Chief.
When the beastfolk spoke Xanthe listened, and did her best to understand. Iunia wisely chose simple phrases, common words, not speaking as though to a child but with respect to Xanthe's potential beginner knowledge of the common tongue. She didn't call Xanthe a savage, or threaten her, or do anything that would gain her ire. Xanthe decided she must be the leader of their group. She said they were here to see the land, to learn more about it. Xanthe knew teaching, and learning. She had done much of it these past weeks. But was the willing to let these strangers survey her Atton, defile it with their touch? She had seen scouting parties before sent into the untouched wilderness and when left to their own devices they would come back with more of their people and clear forests, taint the water, and set up another camp. They were like termites, eating away at her land. Iunia insisted they meant no harm, which was one of the first phrases Xanthe had learnt years ago, but did the invaders ever really do no harm? They could say these words all they wanted, but even the Peacekeepers were not completely harmless.
But then the woman said something that piqued Xanthe's interest. If Xanthe allowed them to draw the land, she could ask them all she wanted. An eye for an eye, knowledge for knowledge. Teaching and learning, again. She knew none of her people lived in this area, they would never live this close to the invaders, but if they continued on the path they had been travelling they would find a temple to the Storm Deity, their Jaosi, and she had seen the invaders do horrible, blasphemous things to their temples in the past. She would not allow this group to do anything of the sort.
She decided that if she was going to agree to this offer she would travel with them, and ensure they really did cause no harm.
One of their people was stomping the fire out, either because they were ready to break camp or because they came to their senses about sending such a clear signal of their location, and it was at that time that the horse woman asked if she wanted to eat, gesturing to the remainder of the bird. Thinking about eating with the invaders reminded her of the meal she had shared with Ellis, the one he had cooked for her right after the treaty had been signed. It was a good memory, though tainted now by what she knew happened after she left.
There was a lot for Xanthe to respond to, and she did so with a simple nod. Yes, she would allow them to draw her land. Yes she would ask them questions. Yes, she would share in their food. It was an offering, and she wouldn't refuse. She approached them cautiously still, taking note of the others but ignoring them in favour of their leader, the horse woman, the one who had offered to break bread. The woman was tall, but elegant. Her human skin was pale and her stature elegant. The coat of her equine half was light as well, though with spotting the same reddish colour of her hair. Xanthe had never seen a creature like her before. "I accept your offering," she spoke, her words accented but sure. Another gust of wind rolled through their almost-clearing, though Xanthe paid it no mind. "Who are you, and where are you from?"
Iunia stifled a sigh of relief when the Attonian woman nodded, accepted the trade and their offer of food. Fenwick, the friendliest as well as the best shot on the team, had snapped out of inaction to put the remaining meat on a broad leaf and stand at Iunia’s side, holding out what remained of the bird, which was now mostly bones and gristle except for the untouched right wing. Meanwhile, Iunia was wondering how to best answer the woman’s question. Iunia assumed she was speaking to her directly, and not to the group as a whole, but in explaining herself, the identity of the group as a whole would be evident, anyway.
The first part was easy. “I am Iunia Bonesnap, soldier of the Malscure-Rielcia Alliance.” Then it occurred to Iunia that maybe the stranger was also trying to ask nicely what she was, and she hadn’t seen another centaur as long as she’d been in Atton, so that was probably a very valid question. “And I am a centaur,” she said, before pointing behind her at the group “unlike my other companions, as you may have noticed.”
Jana, a hulking soldier with more muscles than the rest of them combined, laughed shortly at that. “You sure are, Cavalry. Our guest’d have to be blind not to see that,” she muttered. Then, blinking, as though she’d just remembered where she was, she looked up at the Attonian and introduced herself. “Oh. And I’m Jana. Pleased to meet you.” With that, the ice was broken, and some of the easy banter of earlier returned— the soldiers were introducing themselves (and sometimes each other, with the expected amount of ribbing), and while the mapmaker was silent as stone, the surveyor managed a short introduction, almost-but-not-quite managing to look the native woman in the eyes.
As for the second part of the question, where she was from? Well, that was a bit more complicated. It was instinct now to answer Malscure, and she was Malscuri, and her home was Malscure, but that was not where she came from, or at least not the only place. She had promised honest answers, not half-truths, and she made good on her promises. For a moment, she chews her lip, wondering what to say. “We’re all from Malscure, but I wasn’t born there,” is what she settles on. “Most centaurs are nomadic. I... no longer am.” And that was all she would say about that, unless more was asked of her. She’d make good on her deal, yes, but she wasn’t going to spare any words on information not requested in the first place.
Sorry this is so late! Some unexpected stuff came up irl. Also sorry for unleashing so many random npcs on you. I just figured soldiers wouldn’t be wondering around alone outside their territory much ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
After she accepted their offer one of the other soldiers came over with the remainder of the bird on a leaf, which she took from him almost ceremonially, or at least in such a way it was clear that she took the exchange much more seriously than they probably did. She took a small piece of meat off the wing and ate it, but again it was like eating it was less because she wanted food and more like she was finishing a scripted exchange. For Xanthe, breaking bread clearly had meaning. Whether their group gave it the same important was something she did not know.
The horse woman introduced herself as Iunia Bonesnap and Xanthe had been correct that she and the rest of them were with Malscure and Rielcia. She also said that she was a centaur, and though she gave no further explanation of what that word meant or how it related to her Xanthe had a strong feeling it was in relation to her uniquely equine form, and so she nodded once to indicate she understood, or at least thought she did.
One of the others laughed at the mention and introduced herself as Jana, and in doing so seemed to allow the others to feel much more at ease. Strangely enough the more casually they acted and introduced themselves the more on edge Xanthe appeared to be. Though she listened to their names and even their good-natured teasing towards each other as they spoke she grew more tense the more they loosened up. She appreciated the surveyor's short and respectful introduction, and glanced to the mapmaker appraisingly as he remained silent farther away. It was true she didn't necessarily want them to be terrified of her, but she did want them to respect her - something it didn't seem that they were doing at the moment.
When their introductions were finished Iunia answered her second question by saying they were from Malscure. She said more, but Xanthe didn't understand. Centaur was familiar to her now but 'nomadic' was unknown. She'd never had occasion to learn the very niche word. Whatever it was, it didn't seem something Iunia wanted to speak more of. It also seemed that despite their group's curiosity of her land, they did not seem curious enough about her to ask for an introduction in return. Or perhaps they simply felt that she held all the cards in this situation, and they didn't want to ask for any more information than she would freely give to them. Or perhaps they simply got so caught up ribbing each other they forgot they had no idea who she was.
"I will show you this," she said, motioning towards the area of land they had been heading towards. She didn't know how much of it they wanted to scout, but she would lead them to the temple along this path first and use their reaction towards it to judge how deserving they were of being allowed any further. "You follow. I ask questions. Do you understand?"
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.
