Path of Destiny (Open to All)

Please post profiles. This storybook is a fantasy storybook.

Prompt:

For ages, the nation of Freedonia has lived in peace and harmony. Now though, it faces a threat from the East. Hordes of dark creatures and servants of evil, under the command of Arzor the Cruel, have set their eyes on Freedonia. Your character has been summoned to Freedonia to stop Arzor and defeat his minions.

Please use the following format:

CodeSelect all

Name:
Age:
Species:
Appearance:
Skills/Abilities:
Bio:


Also, please take a moment to fill out an author bio, so that your fellow storybookers can find out more about you.

CodeSelect all

YWS Name:
Age:
Favorite Author/Book:
Current Project:
Bio:


Male spot save please.

Name: Adeline Meyers
Age: 18
Species: Human
Appearance: Adeline is very short, standing at approximately one meter fifty, and looks -- as well as acting -- very childlike. Her skin is fair, her face open, honest and cherubic. Her hair and eyes, due to a defective Mage gene in her DNA are a burgundy-violet color. Her hair is kept in a messy approximation of a double-ponytail and two bangs around the side of her face. She wears a white scarf because she thinks it's cute, a black sleeveless vest because she likes to move quickly and without feeling oppressed by the notable heat of her homeland, and black silk pants (a memento from her travels with the Genoa Corsairs), tucked in at the knees, held in place by a belt. She's very boyish, and thus seen as a disgrace to her heritage by some.

Spoiler

Skills/Abilities: Adeline's mother is a mage, as her five siblings, but for some reason Adeline was never able to cast magic, though she was taught it's principles. She also knows the brutal, street-fighting counterattack-based martial arts taught by the Morvorian Adepts. She can also read and write, which she was taught at a young age, and can knit -- badly -- as well as cook -- even worse. She also knows Draz-krov, the language commonly spoken by creatures of the night, though she's still learning.
Bio: Adeline is the third youngest child of the rich and powerful Meyers family, and as thus saw little future in the world of nobility. Her eldest brother, Thomas, was destined to inherit the greater part of the fortune and become a land-owing lord, the second-eldest, Martha, was engaged to some to marry some prince or another, same with Adeline. Her younger brother, Mark, was already studying with the Ganji scholars of the eponymous mountains, the younger brother still and the youngest, Mary-Anne, were barely children.
Adeline didn't like the prospects for her future, and despite also being engaged, chose to run away, taking what she could. She reached Genoa fairly easily, hopping from one merchant caravan to another, and from there stowed away on a Genoan Corsair ship. She was found out once they were at sea though, and was put to work. One of the members of the crew was a retired Morvorian Dan, and taught her the basics of the art.
One unfortunate day, the Corsairs were attempting a particularly daring operation, first setting upon a Memnos ether-ship, then selling the contents to Arzor's forces, then double-crossing them. Unfortunately, that didn't work out so well for them. Most of the crew was killed, some survived and were sold into slavery. Adeline was kept as a Lieutenant's 'pet,' until she was forced to kill the man in self-defense and ran. She was recaptured barely a day later -- being fully in Arzor's teritory -- but, this Lieutenant, a certain man named Smith, was smarter. He recognized Adeline's potential, after she had told him of her tales, and also knew she was a mage. Smith then learned she was a member of the Meyers family and contemplated sending her off in exchange for a ransom, but wasn't sure what to do. So Adeline was shipped off to the higher ups, a Captain, specifically. She waited for judgement for a few weeks, and attempted escaping again, killing more guards. The Captain's men beat her, and were about to kill her, until said Captain decided she was more useful to them alive. So Adeline, quite to her pleasure, served as a mercenary/bounty-huntress in Arzor's army. She learned quickly, even had a chance to perfect her martial arts, and learned Draz-krov, mainly out of necessity. Adeline even got to meet Dark Lord Arzor himself at one point, when he tasked her with a particularly delicate assassination attempt, her third so far. She managed to complete the task, going as far as burning the house down, though she was plagued by nightmares for a while, and fell ill. Arzor had one of his mages teach her more about magic, specifically, the dark arts, and how to maintain rigid self-control and suppress emotions when necessary, which required little to no magical exertion. Now (two years later), she's under permanent contract to work every day from seven-thirty in the morning to nine-thirty. She resides in a small flat in Globus, the capital of Freedonia, where she's performing some espionage on behalf of Arzor's forces.


~~~~~

Spoiler

YWS Name: ItalianIlluminist
Age: 13
Favorite Author/Book: Terry Pratchett/George RR Martin
Current Project: like ten different parodies/fantasy stories
Random Stuff Bio: I live in Italy, Naples, and go to a humanistic highscool (for y'all that might not know, basically subjects like maths and science are considered secondary, while we do lots of Latin and ancient Greek). I enjoy stuff like surfing teh internetz, writing, SBing, listening to death metal/electro/piano music. I joined YWS because yaaaaay, a totally not-lame writing site. That's about all I can think of at the moment.

Freedonia? Really?

Anyway, sounds like fun. I'll think on a character and post soon

Placeholder for profile. I'm in, Griff. You convinced me!

Hope this okay, Griff!

Name: Naiazalee “Naia” Kiriean.
Age: 20.
Species: Human/Mage.

Appearance: Naia is not tall, but she’s not short, either, standing at around 5’5 in height. She’s average in body, healthy but not stick thin or too big, with a very light tan to her fair skin, and she has very dark hair, though not quite black. Her eyes are a very dark reddish-purple, though they just appear dark brown until the light hits them and lights up the purple in them. Unlike her distant cousin, Adeline, Naia’s eyes are darker than said cousin, as well as her hair, more black than reddish-brown. She also looks a little older than her cousin, less childlike and more adult-like, in both appearance and mannerism. Naia wears black, usually, with dark purple and red accents; her current clothing is an off-the-shoulder black dress with dark purple and red skirts.

Spoiler

Skills/Abilities: Naia’s abilities are somewhat questionable to mages, often being the cause of her being called a necromancer--despite the fact that she isn’t one. Both her parents were mages, though Naia’s mother never told her who her father was. She prefers to define herself as a healer, because, technically, that is what she’s best at; her main ability. And she’s very good at it, very powerful, too--but she can’t heal someone who’s already dead; she could kill herself if she ever tried, so she needs a tight reign over her abilities pretty much all the time. She has other magical abilities, such as her manipulation of the elements--she’s better at earth and fire than the others. She can cook, but she’s not the best at it; she can hunt, with a bow or her staff but not a sword; she’s decent with daggers and throwing knives, having several hidden on her. She can’t knit, can’t sew (unless you count patching holes in clothing, of course--but she could do the repairs with magic anyways), can’t dance. Can’t do anything a prospective young lady of marriageable age should be able to do. Except cook; at least she doesn’t burn it....most of the time.

Bio: Naiazalee was born to two mage parents, but never knew her father. She grew up amongst her mother’s family, learning the family’s craft--which just happens to be healing--and also learning how to become the perfect wife; sewing, knitting, cooking, things like that. She hated it; her childhood was fairly strict, her training in magic structured and very, very strict, like most of everything else. She was taught the basics, then slowly, as she grew, more complicated things. Her mother and the rest of the family tested her, trying to find her limits. It wasn’t a pleasant childhood, and her family had nearly burned her out at least twice. Burned out being a term for when a mage has used so much magic that he or she is in danger of dying.

And then Naia hit seventeen and ran away. She didn’t want to marry the mage they’d picked out for her, didn’t want to be stuck somewhere she was beginning to hate. Her mother and the others hadn’t even bothered to ask her what she wanted; and Naia definitely wasn’t interested in the man they introduced her to. After all, the Kiriean family prided purity of bloodlines over love. It was something that made Naia mad. How could they toss something aside in favour of keeping the magic in the family? Well, she’d show them. So she ran away.

Naia spent the next three years, drifting from place to place, offering healing and magic where needed, amongst other skills, such as hunting (which she learnt thanks to a cute farm boy two towns south and west of her hometown; he’d hurt his leg almost beyond repair, and she’d healed it for him. He’d been a few years older than her. He never asked for anything, just offered to teach her how to use a bow and hunt once he’d heard about what her family had tried to do; that had taken close to a year (and she was surprised that her family hadn’t come looking for her yet) before she had to move on) and how to use her throwing knives (courtesy of a band of travelling performers she saved from bandits---don’t ask how; she doesn’t want to tell. It was a little messy. In return for her helping them while they traveled about for a few months, they taught her how to use throwing knives). By then, she was close to nineteen.

She spent the next two months in hiding, having seen her supposed husband-to-be in the city’s market. It was then she decided to flee her homeland; she’d come too close to being dragged back to her old life and was rather fond of her new one. So she headed for Freedonia. She figured it was better than what awaited her in her hometown. It took her a year, but she finally got there. And over the time since she’d left home, she’d built a reputation for herself; Naia the Mage who Brings People Back from the Brink of Death. Of course, she’d only done that a few times, wary of burning herself out. She never wanted to die, but she’s come close a few times---mostly while she was saving children (She has a real soft spot for them)--and hopes that the next time won’t be her last.

How Freedonia’s king learned of her, she’s not sure, but one thing she does know? Her family support Arzor the Cruel, and she has no love for him, or the dark magic her family insisted she learned. She’s forced herself to never use it or think of it again, hoping she’ll seem less dangerous that way. Of course, that doesn’t change the wary attitude towards her. After all, the Kiriean family seem to be rather...willing servants to him. Naia doesn’t want that, at all. So she’s willing to help Freedonia stop him--and in doing so, stop her family, too.

Spoiler

YWS Name: ScarlettFire.
Age: 22.
Favorite Author/Book: There’s never just one! But at the moment; Lian Hearn, Rowling, Tolkien, George R. R. Martin.
Current Project: On Wings of War; high fantasy. It’s my nano, so it’s taking up a lot of my time. XD
Bio: Scar’s an Australian girl who has been writing since she was a kid. She lives in a little country town and love the sun and the beach (not that she sees much of it anymore). She writes a lot and read even more than she writes. She also draws, paints and writes poetry. When not writing, she spends her time drawing, altering pictures and photos or working as a bartender at the local club (not that she’s actually getting any work right now).

Name: Marlon Grey
Age: 25
Species: Human
Appearance:

Spoiler

Skills/Abilities: A professional mercenary, he's developed a number of skills for business and fighting. He doesn't have magic, but he does seem to generate luck.
Bio: The son of two royal academy librarians, he spent much of his youth wandering the shelves, reading adventure stories and everything else he could get his hands on. He eventually joined the academy as a student and became an officer in the army, and rose to become one of the youngest commanders in the army.

After a disastrous defeat, he was forced into an early retirement. This lasted an entire six months, after which he formed the mercenary group that would become the Grey Ghosts. His charisma and leadership ability has helped to make it one of the most successful mercenary groups in the world. He has come to Freedonia to see if they would like to buy his services.


YWS Name: Griffinkeeper
Age: 24
Favorite Author/Book: Terry Pratchett, The Art of War
Current Project: Storybooks and YWS Fan-fics in various stages of completion.
Bio: An accomplished writer, this author is synonymous with storybooks and YWS Fan-fiction, having written it for more than eight years. In addition to these things, he has a great knowledge of math, which lends itself to odd quirks.

Name: Mouse
Age: 28
Species: Giant
Appearance: Mouse stands 14 feet and 11.3 inches and and thus has an extremely imposing demeanor. She has a very thick build, abrupt and angular features, and a head of wildly curled red hair. Her skin is pale but covered in brown freckles. She has deep-set green eyes and wears dresses of roughly textured and plain fabrics.
Personality: She has a very good sense of humor though it is often wistful and pessimistic. She is socially awkward and prefers to work alone. She does not engage in small talk though she will actively engage in a debate or more intellectual conversations. She is a closet poet, though she is rather awful. She is quite blunt in her mannerism and sees no use for formality. She talks to herself quite frequently and, though it is not entirely impossible to get along with her, she is quite set in her ways.
Skills/Abilities: In peacetime she was an architect and spent her time drafting buildings with higher ceilings and larger doorways. She works well with her hands and has an inventive mind that can easily adapt to support war efforts. She is very well read and can grasp complex concepts such as physics and calculus with helps nurture her engineering abilities. Additionally, her size and strength makes her an effective warrior as well though she is rather raw and untrained.
Bio: The daughter of two bitter humans, each with a rather sarcastic sense of humor. She was largely ignored and quite literally occupied the space of the elephant in the family room. Because she was left to her own devices she was able to cultivate a strong mind and began to build structures and machines that, though originally meant to improve her own situation, eventually evolved into complex machines with a variety of uses. She was hired by the council of Freedonia as an urban planner but her skills are clearly useful in wartime.

Spoiler

YWS Name: Threnody
Age: 16
Favorite Author/Book: David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest
Current Project: A novel and a smattering of short stories.
Bio: A orchestral bassoonist who also knows a thing or two about linguistics and literature. Interested in geography and epidemiology and hopes that these little hobbies will evolve into an interesting career...or at least an interesting story.

(I almost recycled a profile for Morris. They're both water people.)

Name: Morrissey "Morris" Brook

Age: 25

Species: Water Nymph

Appearance: Six feet tall in human form, ten feet long when in water. He has an inconsistent speading of scales on his legs even when he's in human form. His hair is mud brown and his eyes sea green.

Spoiler

tumblr_m9sf8tmMfC1qcn1uoo3_500.jpg (25.13 KiB) Viewed 601 times

Skills/Abilities: He has influence over water. He's flexible and can bend in ways that seem impossible.

Bio: He was raised by human folk, but sacrificed to the water nymphs in exhange for them leaving their costal citites and towns alone. Morrissey was not originally a nymph, but transformed into one but the King. Because he was not born nymph he still has scales on his legs when he transforms and human facial features when in the water. The King adopted him as his own son and helped him perfect his powers, when he was old enough the King gave him a seal of royality. Through his upringing Morris had connections in both water and land, and his tribe that sacrificed him still trained him on land to be a hunter.


-----

Spoiler

YWS Name: ReisePiecey

Age: 17

Favorite Author/Book:

Current Project: Family Business

Bio: I move around a lot, but right now I live in Texas. I have two other sisters and one brother and I'm the oldest. I enjoy writing (duh) and am currently trying to perfect my French and learn Japanese because I want to live in Japan when I'm older to pursue a fashion photography carreer (Japan is the fashion capital of the world). If I can't do that I want to be a pschologist or a pediatrician.

Okay folks, we'll be starting tomorrow.

Name: Aric Glindir (Aric The Bright-Eyed)
Age: 23
Species: High Elf

Appearance:

Spoiler

Olive skin and sanguine hair that rolls under at his shoulders, locked partly into a pony tail by a golden ringlet engraved with runic markings that serve no powerful or mystical purpose, though they do give passage into some high circles in the elven worlds. He carries a bow carved from a Grand Naga's spine and sinew (because let's be honest - not everyone can find a dragon to carve up) and a quiver of assorted arrows, a satchel of survival goods, and several traps along his belt. He dresses currently in leather and mail, sewn from the hides and scales of nearly seventy Naga in the southern shore of the Sin'Dorei lands.

Skills/Abilities:

Spoiler

Marksmanship and survivability. He prides himself in his speed and accuracy, but gets freakishly panicked when in close quarters with an enemy. He has a knack for charming beasts, too, though they seldom live beyond a battle or two. In this way, he has taught himself to remain detached and light-hearted.

Bio:

Spoiler

Aric was born in a strange phase of governmental shift in his home country of Eversong (an island southeast of Freedonia). During this shift, children were removed from their parents and sorted into classes of combatant to fend off the growing empire of Arzor the Cruel. At age 16, Aric first saw battle, and along with his fellow rangers, sniped the oncoming naval force from the cliff-grasped shore of Eversong.

It was in the end of that battle that Aric saw the most beautiful, terrifying creature he'd ever imagined: Netherstrasza, Arzor's black dragon. Aric vowed that day that he would one day slay Netherstrasza, and claim her scales as his armor. Seven years later, as the conflict in the East of Freedonia brews ever hotter, he may have his chance.

_______________________________

YWS Name: Lumi
Age: 20
Favorite Author/Book: Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk
Current Project: Real Life
Bio: This YWSer is no one of consequence from nowhere of consequence who does nothing of consequence. In the deep south, he studies to become a journalist, and has exquisite taste in music.

Globus was the Capital of Freedonia and the center of the business world. Renown for its markets and its art, it was the natural place to find a mercenary like Marlon Grey.

Marlon was whistling in a cafe, when his lieutenant sat down next to him. His name was Perkins, and he wore a grim expression.

"Ah, Perkins. Welcome to Globus. You heard the news?" Marlon greeted him.

"Yes sir, although I was hoping you would be less successful."

"Their situation is desperate, it made the negotiations quick and easy."

"True sir, but their opponents outnumber them twenty to one. There is no way we can overcome those odds with mere strength of arms."

"Perkins, when aren't we hopelessly outnumbered? Besides, Freedonia has such powerful defenses, that all we really need to do is make sure that they are adequately manned. Trained defenders versus untrained mobs of minions? It will be easy." Marlon leaned forward and spoke in a whisper. "The hard part is in applying the right pressure at the right point at the right time, which is what I have to do."

"So the rumor is true," Perkins said quietly.

"Yes, I've been put in charge of a multi-national special team. You should see some of their profiles, they're some of the most formidable warriors in Freedonia, or allied to them. And all I've got to do is hike for a few days with them in order to reach some magical nexus, where some mages will fuss about some stupid prophesy. By the time we figure it out, our forces will have already saved the day," Marlon whispered.

"Somehow, I don't think it will be as simple as all that," Perkins said.

"If it were that simple Perkins, then your talents would be wasted as my lieutenant. How fortunate we all are that our lives should be so interesting."

"Indeed. I suppose my next move is to move our troops inside the gates and start preparing the defenses and their guards?"

"Well done. I must be off, I promised to meet my team in a tavern."

"When do you meet them?" Perkins asked.

"Five minutes ago. So long!" Marlon said, running off.

Spoiler

No DT will be necessary. We'll use the spoiler tag for that instead. Please have your characters waiting in the tavern.

Morrissey Brooke--

I tried to scratch, discretly, at my legs, or more specifically the dried out scales flaking on them. It was disgusting, I know, but it was so hard to resist the temptation, especially when I was anxious. Right now I was very anxious. It was said that we would be met by our organizer five minutes ago, five whole minutes. I scratched harder and someone next to me cleared their throat. Okay, enough scratching. I get it.

I looked around and was once again in awe of all the different types of people in attendance, elves and giants, even a human or two. They didn't look like the people from my tribe, maybe they were friendly. I rubbed my legs against each other, flakes fell to the floor. I've been out of water for too long. Could they not have supplied me at least a bathtub? Ah, but why would they think I needed to have one? I did say I could survive forever out of water if I wanted.

I eyed my bottle of water, one supplied for each member in attendance, and tried to quickly douse my legs without being seen. Everyone else seemed occupied so I gave it a shot. Better, much better. And no tail sprouting, which was something I was immensly grateful for.

Spoiler

(Really didn't know how to start this so excuse Morris' internal babbling.)

Marlon walked into the tavern and stopped. He had seen taverns before, but was unprepared for the emptiness this tavern had. No one was there, except for the bartender.

"Can I help you, sir?" the Bartender asked.

"Where is everyone?" Marlon said.

"Haven't you heard? Arzor's army is a week away now. Everyone is leaving the city."

"They don't think it can be held?"

"Arzor's army outnumbers us 20 to 1 and battle would be futile," the bartender replied, cleaning a glass.

"Who told you that? And why are you still here if you believe that?"

"My Mother-In-Law told me that just before she left the city. I think that answers both questions." Marlon laughed.

"So there wasn't anyone here waiting for Marlon Grey?"

"There were some, but when I told them I didn't have alcohol, they left."

"Did they say where they were heading?"

"Not to me. Sorry."

"Thanks anyway," Marlon said, tossing a coin to the bartender. "If anyone asks about me, I'm going to the royal stables, assuming they haven't been stolen by fleeing refugees. I'll wait there for an hour and anyone that isn't there is going to have to play catch up."

"I'll pass that along," the bartender said.