< 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 Quinn Connelly on Jul 12, 2018 9:10:25 GMT -7
A
h, so it was one of those things. A religious thing.
Quinn Connelly wasn't a fool. She knew that the Gods existed, certainly, but she was as far from devout as a clever person could be. Yes, of course she kept Evankka and Osmene in her thoughts, wanting to hedge her bets just in case she was wrong -- but it was mostly clear-cut to her that the Gods were a form of magic as much as anything in the world, and faith wasn't going to make a lick of difference one way or another. The world would do what the world did, and it was up to you to push those forces in your favour or not. Wyghal, she figured, did little to protect Kaikoa... But what the island folk associated with him? Sure as shit. If a storm blew over the ships of an empire sailing for Kaikoa, it might as well be the work of a God.
Eh, She supposed, Whatever sinks your enemy's battleships and keeps you happy.
"Sounds like a pretty calming life, then, not worryin' about the arseholes up here barging in on you. What would make someone want to leave it behind?"
Kapu cocked his head to the side at her question. He couldn't speak from experience of course, as he himself was quite content to return to Kaikoa when the trial was finished, but he knew there were those who weren't. "What would make someone want to become an airship captain, and pick up a stranger walking through the woods?" he queried back. "Curiosity, adventure, love, loss, there are many things people find out here that they cannot find in Kaikoa, or things in Kaikoa they want to leave behind. The Uhane Holo is the perfect opportunity for them to travel the world and discover a new life for themselves, should they not wish to return."
Post by Quinn Connelly on Jul 12, 2018 9:55:40 GMT -7
"T
ouche, touche," Quinn laughed, placing a gloved hand to her heart as if the comment had been a well-aimed jab at her pride, "I'm not so complex that I wanted an airship for adventure, though. I wanted one for one reason and one reason alone-- But you better hold on."
With that short of a warning, Quinn wrapped ropes around her arms, and grasped them on either side of her body; at the same moment she kicked open a panel on the ground, and then stepped forward with a heavy lunge, pulling ropes and pressing her boot down onto a panel with a fluid motion motion, and as she did... The ship took off.
The air blasted up from behind them, redirected from the current cutting across he base of the ship, filling the sails to the point of ballooning them nearly to the point of ripping. With a whir, the enhancements built to their highest peak, and the ship went from sailing at a sea-ship's pace to speeding at the velocity of a rock falling from Vieri to Fiamont. And as it flew on, wind whipping through Quinn's hair and stinging her cheeks, she laughed.
Kapu had perhaps let his guard down too much, or perhaps he expected much less from this floating ship, because when Quinn Connelly told him to hold on he very nearly didn't. Luckily for himself, he was standing close enough to the railing of the ship to grab hold of it just before it took off - something about the intensity with the ropes and the panel on the floor had him take her warning seriously just in the nick of time. Even still, as the ship flew out almost from underneath him Kapu planted his feet as well as he could and with his free hand motioned in an up and down circle in front of him, and at the completion of it the air around him, rather than practically throwing him off the ship, redirected enough to hold him back on it instead.
He probably wouldn't have been thrown right off the ship from the force and even if he had it wouldn't have killed him, but that didn't keep his heart from hammering in his chest or the sharp bite of adrenaline off his tongue. He had never seen a ship, on the sea or the air, move as quickly as this one was now. Without the water in the way the ride was smooth, like falling sideways, and after the initial shock wore off he leaned into the wind and began to understand why Quinn liked it. He could literally fly, but this was something else entirely. His cloak pulled at his shoulders as it whipped out behind him and the kupe'e around his ankles and neck felt like they might blow right off - he believed they wouldn't, as he had constructed them soundly, but they were only leaves at the end of the day and this wind was not something they normally had to stand up to. He looked over at Quinn and saw she was laughing, and then he was laughing too, laughing into the wind, and though he couldn't bring back a fast airship as his important place for the Uhane Holo he felt like the experience was something he would never forget.
Maybe he could see why people might want to leave Kaikoa after all, with a whole world filled with experiences like this.
Post by Quinn Connelly on Jul 17, 2018 10:53:13 GMT -7
Q
uinn sailed the two of them for a time at this high speed. They blasted over the forests, and soon found their way over green valley, where farmers turned their heads up to watch the ship briefly cross under the nearby clouds. It wasn't a rare sight by any means, but the speed at which the ship was moving was likely a shock, if not a concern. Quinn didn't share those worries, knowing that there wasn't a chance in Fortuna that she was going to crash in an open field. Nah, if there was a crash, it would be a glorious one. One that was the result of some silly risk, but all too worth it for the rush of adrenaline a success could grant her and her passenger.
No, Quinn was worry-free. She didn't even have a concern spared for Kapu, her gaze only drifting to him once or twice. He seemed to be enjoying it, despite the initial shock, and Quinn was pleased as punch with herself. As they cleared the farmlands in a hurry and passed into the rolling hills dotted with windmills, a pearly-white grin plastered onto her face. She readied for the challenge, happily lowering the vessel enough feet to put them in line with the whirring, dangerous blades of the windmills. It was a wide space between each one for the most part, and so Quinn had little trouble barreling through, or around them all, but she was certain that the millers (and perhaps Kapueo, though he seemed an absolute natural in the sky) were less certain of her prowess.
Towards the final set of mills, to the edge of a rocky mesa, she saw the gap, and the angle. One mill was taller than it's neighbour, meaning that straight on would catch the tip of the sail, tearing it to pieces and causing them to make a crash landing down over the mesa - a good hundred foot fall. But if she could just tip the ship slightly, she'd be able to make the gap by half-foot. Of course, she could simply round the mills entirely, using the massive lengths of space on either side to cruise past without a worry.
But it was too tempting.
"Hey, Kapu!" She yelled, trying to get his attention over the whipping of the wind, "Can you grab the ropes here? Full strength, and hold 'em steady like you've got a grizzly bear on a leash!""
Forests, fields, farms - they passed over them all with a speed that never ceased. What would have taken Kapu hours to walk took hardly minutes in Quinn's vessel. He only wondered once why she had the need for a ship as fast as this one, but seeing her face and the joy she got from it answered it well enough for him.
Part of the farmlands had windmills placed along the hills, and as they veered towards them he had a moment of panic, sure that somehow this had been a test all along and he had failed and now the ship would crash as recompense, but Quinn was unafraid. She didn't have the look of someone intentionally causing a crash, nor the look of someone trying to prevent an accidental one. She had the look of someone about to do something stupid for fun, and so instead of jumping ship he tightened his grip on the rail and prepared to offer assistance if needed (or bail if it looked like things really were going south).
As they flew between the blades it seemed he needn't have worried, as not only was the ship more than fast enough to make it through, Quinn was an excellent captain and could maneuver the ship like it was an extension of herself. Holding onto the ropes as she was it almost seemed that it was.
And then they were reaching the end of it, and he was expecting for them to fly over or around the final set until he heard her call his name and wondered why he would have thought that. He knew little about Quinn, but what he did know was that this seemed to be exactly the thing she would want to try. Grab the ropes there, she said, full strength, and hold them like their lives literally depended on it. He laughed and yelled back, "You better know what you're doing!", before letting go of the railing to instead grab the ropes she was speaking of and wrap them around his forearms tightly, doing as instructed and holding steady. He wasn't as burly as Halu, but he was strong enough to do as he was told and hold on tight - he was not] planning on dying here when he had a lot of perfectly life-threatening actual trials to complete.
Post by Quinn Connelly on Jul 20, 2018 8:59:58 GMT -7
"I
've got some idea!" Quinn winked as Kapu pulled the ropes from her. Despite her apparently cavalier composure, she didn't dawdle to get her plan together. She tumbled to the bow of the ship, digging her toe into the end of a plank as she landed and flipping it up. Underneath was coiled a hemp rope with iron filigrees, tied onto a small, but heavy bolas. She pulled the coil out purposefully, holding its length in one hand and spinning the end with the hook in the other. As she crouched she slipped her foot back over the plank, closing it with a small plunk as the mills got closer... closer... "Ya only got one shot at this one, Quinnie--"
At just the right moment, Quinn threw the bolas with a sideways lob, letting the rope burn across her hand as it fed forward and then-- THUNK! The bolas spun around a thin ridge on the mill, the balls knocking against it like a door-to-door salesman as Quinn grasped the length of rope with both hands, crouched, and pulled with all of her weight. At the end of the tug, her hands moved quickly to loop the rope through a metal support on the ship, weaving it and knotting it three times over to make a firm connection between mill and ship. Her boots lodged themselves to either side of the support, giving it as much extra weight as she could and then-- The line went tight, and the ship lurched. The starboard side came up towards the tied off mill, tilting port to the grass below at just enough of an angle that--
...
...
...
They cleared both mills! Starboard side by just a few hairs, but they damn well cleared it.
Quinn's excitement raged behind her eyes, satisfaction apparent in the smirk that crossed over her lips. It wasn't over yet, though. With the line still taut, the mill would just pull them back and send them rippling over the valley they'd only just left - which wouldn't do at all. She had a delivery of a pretty aasimar boy to make. Barely holding herself from tumbling down to the port-side valley, Quinn pulled free her pocket knife and flipped it open, powerfully slashing through it with one fluid motion and sending her side of the ship careening back downward with the release -- and speeding them over the mesa to even out at a sail over the canyon.
As the ship bounced back to steady, Quinn's eyes were wide, her hair a windblown mess, her cheeks bright red with the stinging of wind and rushing of adrenaline -- she was alive. Her breath was short and she panted as she leaned on a railing, looking back at the mill with the rope waving them goodbye, looking forward over the craggy landscape and the horizon she aimed to catch, and then up to the clouds. As she looked up, she cupped her hands over her mouth, her legs shaking beneath her from pure endorphins, and howled up to the sky with an avian-like wolf call. She was a fucking goddess.
Kapu sincerely hoped that when she said she had 'some idea' that she was making a joke. While she ran off to the front of the ship he watched as she revealed yet another secret compartment that she somehow opened with her feet, and he wondered just how many of those her ship was equipped with. He muttered a quick prayer of safe passage to Wyghal, hoping that like the whirlpools in the sea he would guide their ship safely between the windmills' swirling blades. It wasn't that he didn't trust Quinn, it was just that he trusted Wyghal more. The wind didn't let up as they careened toward what could very well be their doom, and he wondered if he would be strong enough to steer them away from ruin should her plan fail. He hoped he wouldn't have to find out.
The secret compartment contained a bolas, which she threw across to one of the mills and tied it off, holding it tight as it lifted the side of the ship so they were flying at an angle. Just enough of an angle that the ship cleared the mills - barely - and Kapu let out a whoop of joy and relief. He could still feel his heart hammering in his chest, but it was a feeling he was beginning to kind of like. He thought maybe he could do with more of it in his life. There had been no vital reason for them to fly the ship between the windmills like that, they hadn't been escaping something or hunting something and it hadn't even been their only way through - it had been for the sheer challenge and excitement of it that Quinn had set her sights on it. He supposed he was lucky that she was actually capable of rising to that challenge, or else they would be in a flaming heap on the hillside by now.
She cut the bolas and the ship evened out and continued along its way, steadying to a level cruise. He was glad that he had the ropes to hold him steady because after all that he felt like he might just fall down from the rush of it. Quinn looked like she hadn't been unaffected either, and she howled up to the sky in a victory call to the heavens. She had proved something here today - to herself and to the gods. Or maybe he was just thinking about it too much in the aftermath.
Post by Quinn Connelly on Jul 26, 2018 12:25:56 GMT -7
K
apueo sounded like he was a mile away as his exclamation rang over Quinn, but it was enough to catch her attention, and have her swinging back over to him. "Wasn't it just?" She spoke a little too loudly, and clapped a hand on his shoulder in a congenial fashion.
"It makes you feel alive, you know? You realize that... You're mortal, you're damn mortal, and you don't know it till you face it, so you don't live till you do it. You ever act mad like that when you're flyin', Kapu? Do something just because you think you can? Just to remind yourself what being alive should feel like?"
All the talk about mortality was... not really where he wanted to go with this, so as she talked about how awesome it was to be reminded of it he simply nodded to move the conversation along. She didn't seem like she needed much from him in that regard, but then she asked him a question. "Ah, my flying is not the same as this, but every time I fly I feel alive." He wondered if he should show her, but figured while sailing at speed probably wasn't the greatest time to do so. Maybe once they got to the forest. "Is it ok to let go of these ropes now?" He figured, and kind of hoped, they were done with the arial acrobatics for now, but even for regular flying he wasn't sure how an airship worked or what ropes needed to be pulled when or where. It was similar in a lot of ways to sailing, but also vastly different. And to be honest he was only a mediocre sailor on regular water. After their misadventure with the whirlpools as kids Kapu hadn't had much need or desire to sail, so while he knew how to do it he wasn't nearly as adept as Quinn was with her own vessel.
The skin OTHERWORLD was made by JAWN of WICKED WONDERLAND.
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