Nocturne

Nocturne

plot: Welcome to Nocturne, the city where the sun never rises. A city so large it would take weeks to walk from one end of the city to the other. A dark town overrun with spellcasters, demons, and thieves. A place where money will buy anything... except justice.

It wasn't always like that, in fact it used to be just the opposite, a place where the sun never stopped shining, even when it rained. A city of incomparable beauty. Nocturne lies at the heart of the world, a place of immense power, and it reflects the nature of its rulers.

Once the kind, just, royal family, ruled with a fair and even hand. Until they came, the Cabal. In a single year they overthrew the ruling family and took the throne by force. After that nothing was the same, what was paradise became a nightmare.

But there was one thing in the world that could return the city to the way it was. The surviving members of the Order, a circle of Mages sworn to protect the royal family. They began a rebellion against the Cabal. They used taboo blood magic to call the elements out of the ether, and trap them in physical form.

The Cabal learned of the plot against them and sent an army to wipe out the Order. Cornered and desperate the Order sent the babies into hiding scatterering them across the width and breadth of the city. Buying time.

Every three years the Elements powers would unlock a little more, until they turned eighteen. When their powers and true forms would be fully unlocked. The greatest weapons given flesh. But the Order was betrayed. The Cabal learned what they had created and now it is a race to control the Elements.

The Order or the Cabal. Which will you side with. Or will you go your own way. One things for sure, in a city where the sun never rises, it's going to be one hell of a night.

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rules: Usual rules apply, no god moding no killing off characters, and keep it to two characters per person.
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Characters: Please follow this profile. The thing that marks Elements as different is the glowing sigils etched across their bodies, a new glyph appears every three years. Each Element's glyphs shine a different color. Also don't mention what you can do with your element, surprise each other.

name-
age-
gender-
element- (both element and glyph color)
appearance- (both human appearance and their beast form, the mythical animal they can become once they turn 18, denoted by their final glyph)
history-
personality-
abilities- (their mundane talents, ones unrelated to their element.)
other-

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My Profile-

name- Ahzal (Zal) known as Thorn in the underground.
age- 18
gender- male
element- wind, green
appearance- human- http://media.photobucket.com/image/gree ... e.jpg?o=43

gryphon- http://media.photobucket.com/image/gryp ... .jpg?o=709

history- Zal is one of the youngest Elements, his mother was still pregnant with him when they were scattered across the city. She was seperated from her Mage Guardian, and like all the Elements mothers, she died giving birth to him. But she possessed some magic of her own, and with her last breath, cursed her son, and threw him into the river.

He was picked up by a band of thieves, half drowned. Zal grew up being raised by all the men and women of the Thieves Guild, adopted by the Rogue, or Thief King, of the city. This prince of thieves grew up running the tunnels and alleys, playing in the hidden secret places of the city that no one knows about. Zal knows he is cursed, but doesn't know how. While the thieves know of his powers no one knows the full extent of them.

personality- Zal is always calm under pressure, he never lets anything get to him. From cool head to cool heart. When he was small bad things would happen when he was angry, strange, unexplainable things. Eventually he ruthlessly suppressed his emotions, stifling his true powers. He still feels but it is distant, behind a wall of ice. He is fiercely loyal to his friends and comrades, and would rather die then leave even one man behind. Basically he is ambivilent to most of life.

abilities- Picking locks, pick pocketing, climbing, stealth. Basically all the trade marks of a thief.

other- up for love, his final glyph is a griffin wrapped around his torso. http://media.photobucket.com/image/grif ... en.jpg?o=3

also, since the gryphon is a mix of eagle and lion, he can also take on those shapes.

name- Arkady

age- 20

gender- Male

element- Water, black

appearance- Human http://elainex.deviantart.com/art/Water ... r-44108959

Leviathan - http://urbanklaw.deviantart.com/art/LevIatHAn-65425186

history- The Order left a young Arkady with a small religious sect in Nocturne, with instructions to keep him hidden away forever. They kept him deep within their cloisters, trying to raise him to their beliefs. As his talents manifested, however, he was given more and more free reign, as a seer within the group believed him to be either a saviour who would help free the city from the Cabal, or a nightmare who would only cement their rule.

The sect has kept a close eye on him, making sure he never moves far from the cloisters, and never without several watchers. After all, they need to ensure that he is gradually moved towards the ways of the Order, and as far from those of the Cabal as possible.

personality- Arkday personifies the proverb 'Still waters run deep', appearing to be a quietly contented young man. He is rarely without a calm smile on his face, and seems to think carefully about everything he sees and hears. Beneath the surface though, his emotions are in violent turmoil, pulling him every which way, with the monks' training instilled in him urging him to take action against every evil he sees, and a darker side wanting him to unleash his powers fully for his own benefit. But this isn't apparent to most people, who see only a quiet boy with an eerie, unfathomable smile.

abilities- Unarmed combat, running, acrobatics.

other- Up for love, his final glyph is a leviathan between his shoulder blades. http://images.elfwood.com/art/c/e/celfa ... iathan.jpg On land, the leviathan form itself can't reach the size of the legendary beast, but it's still pretty big.

name- Roseanna Cabal (called Rose)

age- 18

gender- Female

element-N/A

appearance-

Spoiler

history- The princess of the kingdom. Her father is the king of Nocture. Rose herself is a beautiful girl who has spent her whole life bending to her fathers wishes and doing waht she is told. She thinks there is nothing to do besides her fathers will. Recently she had been sent out to capture as many of the Elements as she can. She helped lead the army when her father can't and was doing anything to make him proud.

She developed her own concious, in time, and started to realize the elements were not bad people. But because she was a Cabal, they were out to kill her, wether she wanted to kill them or not. She is in the middle of a tough desition, go try and find the Elements and offer her help and risk being killed, or stay in the army and fight for her life.

personality- She is a very kind girl who doesn't like watching people die or killing them herself.
She knows how to make a point and can win almost any argument. She believes everything could be worked out peacefully, if each side would just stop fighting.

abilities- She can speak five languages and has a whole army at her control when her father doesn't controll it.

other- Will, in time, go and try to find the elements.

*Umm, Kaywiia the Cabal is trying to capture and control the elements, not kill them.*

name- James Matthis

age- 19

gender- Male

element- Hate/Anger/Passion(?), dark red

appearance- As a human he is average height with broad shoulders and quite pale, but isn't everyone who has never seen the light of day? He has dark hair, he's not sure if its black or just dark brown, that is messy and kept fairly short. His eyes are a light blue laced with white.

His animal is a Black Panther.

history- Grew up in an orphanage in one of the poorer parts of the city, but all of the kids thought he was weird, so his childhood instinct was to leave. He fell in with a band of assassins and grew up learning the trade. He learned fast, but his build forced him caused him to be trained as a bouncer for the clubs the guilds ran. When he was 14 he began his training as an actual assassin, and was very promising. By fifteen he had his first job. He began to grow addicted to combat, probably as a way of release (because in a fight everything is drowned out except you and the man you are trying to fight). Two people have tried to kill him in his sleep, causing him to have mild insomnia. The trauma of his child hood has caused schizophrenia that manifests itself in personality that is quick to erect a mental suit of armor and not come out. He often gets very bad headaches that last only last for a minute but are mind splitting.

personality- He's the quiet and dangerous type. He doesn't talk much, but mostly because he doesn't want to. He is a supreme realist, and he doesn't think much about the future and he tries not to dwell in the past. He has seen the darkest parts of the city, and knows that no one will try to stop it, but he would be willing to sacrifice himself if someone wanted to try. He is known for being very cool under pressure and perceptive, with an almost Sherlock Holmes' level attention to detail.

abilities- Very good at fighting, and cool under pressure. Is very smart in things that are important to him (the human biology-so he knows where to hit, geography, etc.), and has a great attention to detail.

other- Has insomnia, schizophrenia, and a sensitivity to bright lights due to headaches.

I'll call a spot for an Earth element.

I call fire I'll post in a bit

Ahhhh can there be other elements than the original four of Fire, Earth, Wind and Water. Like could there ice, electricty, wood, steal....and stuff like that

If so I pick ICE!

Name- Scarlet Vangas

age- 19

gender- female

element- Fire light reddish orangish

appearance- human- straight black hair that goes to her shoulder blades, chestnut brown eyes with speckles of red. She is average height with a slim frame.

glyph- a black wolf http://media.photobucket.com/image/black%20wolf/lugiaXDTrainer/Black20Wolf.jpg?o=3

history- Scarlet was sent to a middle class family where she lived an okay life. Through her life if she got to emotional something would start to burn, or a small fire will start. One night she had a nightmare, and in her sleep she accidentally started a fire that got out of hand killing off anyone in the house besides her, and her 'older brother'. He some what understood that she started the fire, but knew it was an accident. He didn't want the 'government' to come to take her away. So they went into hiding in a poor part of Nocturne. They earned a living by pretending to be physics (over the years she got good at it). While walking to the store a thug attacked them and killed her brother, he might of lived if, but no one would help them and he died in her arms.

personality- She seems oblivious to most of the world, she hides behind a sly grin that makes her always seem like she up to something. She is very confusing always twisting people's words to see how they react. She loyal to her friends and will help them any way she can.

abilities-acrobatics, stealth, good at reading people (like their emotions or guessing what people will do next)

other-her last glyph is a wolf on the top of her forearm and wrapping around onto her neckhttp://media.photobucket.com/image/wolf%20tattoo/hurley-raven/tribalwolftattoo.jpg?o=120

name- Teresa

age- 22

gender- Female

element- Pain. Black, purple, and white.

appearance- Can't find a good pic, but she's got black hair with white and purple streaks that goes to around her mid-back in loose waves, and amethyst eyes. Her skin is pale, and she's very slim. Average height.

Beast form- Sorta like this. http://i497.photobucket.com/albums/rr33 ... Dragon.jpg Except the markings are dark purple and she's more snakelike. You know, no fur and horns and stuff. About seven feet long.

history- Teresa was supposed to go to a middle-class family, but something happened and she was picked up by a group of thieves. She grew up with them and is a master pickpocketer and amazing at breaking and entering.

personality- Seems cold and cruel when you first meet her, but once you get through that outer shell she's really an amazing person. Wants to get out of the thieving business but doesn't really know how to do it.

abilities- (their mundane talents, ones unrelated to their element.) Excellent with daggers, and very agile. She can break into almost anything, and pickpocket almost anyone.

other- Up for love.

*Alright we can get started on the storybook, those who haven't posted profiles can join as we go along. Nocturne is divided into seven districts, Upper City, everyone there is Cabal, Middle City which is the rest of the Nobility and wealthy, Lower City, criminals and homeless, Merchant district, Temple district, Army district, and Farming district.

Yes you can use elements other then the basic ones, but similar elements are twins eg: water/ice, fire/lightning but the twins would have been seperated. Those elements who were seperated from their Order guardians wouldn't know about the other elements.

Also Crocks, since Teresa and Zal are both thieves could they be childhood friends?*

Ahzal-

Zal crouched on the rooftop, scowling he studied the temples scattered around the hill tops. His eyes gleamed in the darkness, breath frosting slightly in the late autumn air.

Exasperated he glanced over at Roan, she was thirteen and had come running to him when her brother went off to rob the temples. Vane wasn't experienced enough to leave the Lower city. As the Thief Lord's son, it fell to Zal to pull the young hothead out of the fire.

"Don't worry Roan, I'll get him out." He smirked and pulled the hood up to cover his face, the mottled black and grey clothes were skin tight. Zal checked to make sure his daggers were in place, then he stepped forward and off the roof.

The gale caught him before he fell a foot and he rose silently into the night sky. Strengthening the gale he dove towards the roof of the temple.

Arkady

It was a rare event when the temple would allow Arkady to wander at night. They said there were far too many negative influences that lurked in the shadows, and that it was best that he be kept away from them whilst his destiny was still undecided. So he sat in the tower, looking out over the city. Behind him, various relics and treasures of the temple rested, things with no day-to-day use that the monks had heaped there for protection. He watched the city from the tower most nights, and so anything of significant value was safer there with him.

The brush of cloth in the stairwell caught his attention, followed by the quiet steps of soft-soled shoes. Arkady frowned, moving towards one side of the door. It opened slowly, the hinges creaking as it swung inwards. Whoever was on the other side of the door was waiting for something, probably trying to make sure that no one was within the room.

The thief stepped through a moment later, radiating confidence. Clearly he believed that this was going to be an easy mark. Arkady's arm snapped out, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and dragging him off his feet. Not wanting to give him a chance to retaliate, Arkady quickly hit him over the head, dazing him.

He pulled the hood back, looking hard at the intruder. Just a boy! Arkady thought, No older than fifteen! He pulled him up a little, adopting his light smile. "Did you really think the temples would be without defences?" He raised one arm a little, "I should send you back to the Lower City with a few good reasons not to come back."

**Sounds good to me! **

Teresa slipped out the door of the house, a bag of money tucked away into her belt. This building had been child's play. The Thief Lord would be very happy with this. She ducked into an alleyway and walked down the road. Petty thieves and pickpockets saw her and shrank back into darkened corners, watching her with frightened eyes. She'd gained quite a reputation back here.

She paid close attention to the bag at her belt in case some foolish pickpocketer tried to cut it open.

She was right to be cautious.

She felt someone behind her, reaching for the bag. Teresa whirled around and pinned the unfortunate pickpocketer to the wall, eyes narrowed. "Don't you dare," she hissed. The terrifed pickpocket squirmed, and she threw him to the ground.

She kept walking as if nothing had happened.

*If you can, try and make a list of your character's glyphs, and their general location. Any people born after the Cabal took over can see in the dark.*

Ahzal-

"That would be unwise." The older man stiffened as he spoke. Zal pushed the balcony door open and stepped into the room. The other boy was only a couple years older then Zal, he wore the robes of a dedicate rather then an ordained priest.

Zal inclined his head to him his words sardonic. "My apoligies if our apprentice offended the temple. He is young and lacks the experience to match his arrogance. If you will excuse us, I will see that he is duly punished."

"So I should take the word of a thief?" He queried, his lips curled in an amused smile. "Stealing from a temple is heresy, which is punishable by death."

He laughed softly. "So you won't let this go. Unfortunately, neither can I." Pushing out his hand, Zal sent the pair crashing into the wall with a blast of wind. Hurrying he grabbed the now unconscious Vane and threw the windows open.

Gently he sent Vane to his sister on a cushion of air. Before he could take off into the sky a wall of water came crashing down on him and everything went dark.

Name- Kessa Talut

Age- 19

Gender- Female

Element- Earth (Her glyph is a golden, shimmering, brown)

Appearance- Human: http://momoroxette.deviantart.com/art/Fierce-Earth-Sorceress-133308678(Except she doesn't have all that ivy coming down her arm or on her face)

Beast: Kessa takes the form of a jaguar. http://fremlin.deviantart.com/art/Jaguar-67457182

History- Kessa was raised by a merchant family who ran a shop that sold parchment, writing utensils, and the like. Kessa grew up with a fascination with the written word. Her parent's shop was one of the main suppliers to the temples of Nocturne, and Kessa sometimes delivers new materials to them. Kessa usually stays at the temples longer than necessary, as she has her eye on a future apprenticeship there to become a scribe.

Personality- Kessa smiles easily, and seems to find the brightness in almost anything. She's ambitious and carefree at the same time. Kessa can be nieve at points, because she always expects the best from people and is hurt when she is disappointed.

Abilities- She has a very good memory and can usually see loopholes in plans. She's good at bargaining as well.

Other- Up for love. Her final glyph is a jaguar located on her left ankle. (http://wildspiritwolf.deviantart.com/art/Tribal-Leopard-Tattoo-Commish-42957873