Legend of Ransera

Glade 84, 124

It had been several weeks since the Ecithian Senate put out the word across Drathera. With the Eclipse and long winter ended, the Commonwealth needed to take stock of their lands and their people. Delegations and expeditions were being organized to seek out each of the villages, to ensure their survival and see if they needed help. Especially since all of the Chieftains had refused to return to the Senate following the exile of Chieftain Boraba and all of Ounokt Nora. And with expeditions being sent to the villages, two others were being formed, one for Dratir, the Historium of Ecith, and the other for Kythera, the Hanging Gardens of Ecith.

And on the 84th day of Glade, a bright and sunny and warm day, down in a large floating park in the river delta of Lowtown, the Kythera expedition was being convened. The leader of the expedition was an Orkhan man, a high ranking member of Ecith's Shield Armies by the name of Ooklo. He was well respected, a veteran of the war and a herbalist, a medical officer. He stood there in the center of the park, among the vines and flowers, a bright smile on his face, introducing himself to each and every person coming to volunteer for the expedition.

He gave the people a chance to gather before his booming voice rang out over them.

"Thank you all for volunteering to come and help. We cannot take everyone, for we have limited resources and do wish to have some semblance of expediency. As such, I have created three teams to be part of the expedition. The Satchel Team will be traveling by Flood Hippo, lead by myself. This team will consist navigators, mapmakers, healers, artists, and anyone else who thinks they could be valuable in some fashion to the expedition. This team will be escorting the supplies for both the expedition and the supplies we will deliver to the encampment that may or may not still exist outside of Kythera. If you wish to join Satchel, please, come and I will interview you.

The second team is the Shield Team. This team is to consist of capable fighters to help protect the Satchel team as we travel. The grasslands and jungles on the route to Kythera are untamed and unforgiving. If you have not proven your combat prowess in some fashion, then you will be tested here and now. This team will be lead by Major Alua, and she will be your test.

Finally, the third team is the Wind Team. This team is the scouting team, sent out ahead of and around the Satchel Team, to track the best and safest routes to take, where to make camp, and to see dangers before they arrive. This team will be traveling by flight and each member must be capable of surviving alone in the wilds. This team will be lead by Ward Norani Windwalker. You will need to provide your own means of flying to be on this team." He nodded over at Norani, standing by the water, "Speak to her if you wish to join."

He paused for a moment.

"I shouldn't have to remind everyone just how dangerous this expedition will be. There's a very real chance you do not return. There's a very real chance none of us return. But the darkness is gone and the clouds have parted and we must reunite our people once more. So if you accept these risks, present yourselves now. We leave at first light on the morrow."

A murmur went up through the crowd and people began to sort themselves out toward their respective desired teams, or off to the side if not feeling up to the challenge.

!

Message from: Aegis

This is a long and multiphase expedition. I will not be moderating the entire event, but rather will be monitoring it and dropping modbombs where appropriate. If you wish to join, you're accepting the risks of the expedition, and if you wish to drop out later, your character will be on their own to find their way to safety. Each phase will contain multiple threads that the participating players may set up and run amongst themselves. You may do as many solos and collaboratives during each phase as you wish. This is meant to be a guide for players, to allow them to drive the details and nuance of this expedition themselves. When a phase closes, it simply means no new threads may be started for that phase and I will provide an overview of the next phase. All still in progress threads may be finished. Phase 1 - Leaving Drathera and traveling toward the Imperial March, approximately 30 days by Flood Hippo, arriving around Searing 23rd. As this is in the next season (which starts June 1st), Phase 1 will be open from now until June 15. Phase 2 - Traveling along the Imperial March, approximately 45 days by Flood Hippo, arriving around searing 68. Phase 2 will be open from June 1 until July 15. Phase 3 - Arriving at Kythera around Searing 68. Phase 3 will be open from July 1 until finished.

It had been a terribly long season for the Windwalker. War Consul Lonelyblade had kept her schedule terribly full with all the training and tasks and missions he'd been sending her. She was standing there by the river's edge, looking down at herself in the reflection of the water. A frown was upon her face, as she read her own markings. They didn't feel right, they didn't feel complete, they didn't feel true. They were the markings of a young woman, full of love, whim, hope, excitement.

A pebble leapt off the the bank she was standing upon, skipped over the surface of the water, obscuring the reflection among the ripples. She nodded. Earth was right. That wasn't her. But neither was the woman that crawled out of that darkness. She was something else now, a bit of both and something more.

As the crowds gathered, Norani summoned her pebble into her hand, gripping it tight as they swallowed up the space. As bystanders moved in close, their arms pressing into hers, one older man placing a hand on her shoulder for support from his injured leg, she squeezed her pebble tight. She wanted to run, she wanted to call the winds, to push them all away from her, she wanted them to stop touching her.

Her body was starting to heat up, the fire within rising to come to her aid. She shook her head, she didn't want to hurt them. She was Ecithian, and Ecithians weren't meant to be alone. She wanted to want to be touched. The fire subdued, settling back into her heart, sending up a memory. Or rather the feeling of one. Yeva's lips along her neck, at her ear, along her jaw.

Her grip on her pebble loosened and she started to relax.

The darkness hadn't taken anything. It couldn't. She knew she was here to love and to love endlessly and she loved the people of her country, and she loved Yeva, just as she loved the winds and the waters and the lands. And that love was hers to give. It couldn't be taken.

She opened her eyes as her name was mentioned, as people stepped back to give space. The old man moved as well, but Norani reached up, a hand on his. She put a smile on her face, one that wasn't fully genuine, but held a shadow of her real one. "Stay, please."

He nodded, smiling. She squeezed his hand.

She looked out over the crowd, "If you wish to join the Winds, please, come, tell me your story."

Behind her, the water showed a reflection of her, obscured not by the ripples of water disturbed, but by a shadow from an unseen source.

It had not really been the witch's intention to join the trip to Kythera. She was interested, of course; Kythera had been the home of her seldom-glimpsed grandmother before she had traveled to Ailos, and aside from Gihah K'uvfoi'uv Fi'uv, was the only place in Ecith which might plausibly contain history from her own family. In a better time, she'd have happily gone to the ruined city by herself, evading the minions of the Queen and scouring the place for treasure.

But there were other, preemptory concerns now.

"Major Alua?" she said to the officer who had been appointed, "Imogen Ward. I'm a fair fighter and trained war-mage. I'm afraid I've been a bit sick for a while and I'm not quite at full steam-"

(Probably not the right expression for Ecith, come to think of it, where they didn't even use steam technology.)

"But I should be strong enough to guard the train." By way of explanation, she offered, "I'm good with sword, shield and lance, I can fight in the air or underwater. If we run into the Queen, it'll be my fourth time being attacked by a Primal, and I'm still kicking."

The witch didn't love talk like that, for it sounded too much like boasting- but if anything, she was downplaying her battles over the last two years. She might be half the mage she once was, but her skill with the sword was only beaten by the acolytes of Raxen, and she was pretty confident she could take some of the Arbiters anyway. For a dangerous expedition, it was best that a commander know all of their solders' skills, even if it smacked of braggadocio.

"I'm so-so at emergency medicine, but I've got magic to destroy poisons and the dread mists, and I don't get heatstroke. I can talk to dead people and to animals, and to, uh, buildings, kinda. Plus I can follow orders and I know how to communicate from long distances."

Imogen was wearing fairly usual attire for Drathera, pants and a vest, with arms and midriff bared to show her tattoos. She carried none of the weapons she'd named, but a bow was slung on her back, and she carried a light pack- much lighter than most of those in evidence for the assembled persons. Kitty slunk around near her feet, circling her slowly as she talked to the Major, showing absolutely no interest in the conversation. His attention was focused on the flood hippos, which clearly inspired a deep sense of distrust and fear in the shadowy cat's mind.

"That good, or did you want to fight me?"

☠ He heard there was a gathering forming, a great expeditionary force heading to Kythera. The main reason he came to Ecith in the first place was to reach Kythera, to reach that book. Standing among those gathered he knew he had no choice but to be here. He knew there would be no better chance than now to get there.

When everything got started he wondered what team he would have been best suited for. He contemplated his own abilities and skills trying to figure out the best way to be useful. He could fight, he was becoming decent with his axe, and knew how to coordinate his magics and martial skills together to be effective. He knew that he had to get on this expedition and he was well aware his logistical knowledge was lower than he would like to admit, so Team Satchel was out of the question. He also knew he didn't have a flying mount, and hadn't met any infernals yet that could, so the Wind Team was also out.

His only option was the Shield Team. He was nervous at first, as he wasn't sure how this "test" was going to go for him. If he knew anything about the Ecithian people he knew that they were passionate about everything they didn't, that included fighting. It was part of their tenets, their culture....his culture now that was a citizen. Calming his nerves he took a step forward and made himself known to the leader of the Shield Team Major Alua. ☠

"I am Phozenzia Len........" It was a force of habit to introduce himself that way, but he had no need to do it now that he was Ecithian. "My name is Læbirius, I wish to join the Shield Team." Without missing a beat, his axe and shield came into his hands as he readied himself for the trial by combat that would soon come.


"Common Speech"
"Vastian Speech"
"Vallenor Speech"
"Self-Thoughts"