The gryphon entered the great hall. The court was gone, which would be unusual for a casual visitor. But for a Captain of the King's Own, it was nothing new. The King usually gave him the more secret tasks, especially those that he needed completed.
The gryphon approached the throne and bowed before it, spreading his wings to their maximum length.
"Arise Fallon of the Guard," the King said. Fallon brought himself out of the bow.
"Your Majesty sent for me?"
"Yes. I have a mission for you of special importance," the King said.
"I am your servant. What mission do you ask of me."
"I want you to take this Ewe and this Llama to Lyra the Enchantress." Fallon blinked a few times.
"I take it these aren't simple animals."
"Not at all. That is not your concern though. Your job is to escort them from Lyra and back here. I need you to pick your best men for this mission."
"I have a few in mind Your Majesty."
"Excellent. Here are your instructions. Outside of town there is a sheep herd. Dress your men in peasant clothing and proceed to Lyra's place as quickly as possible.. Good luck Fallon," the King said as he gave Fallon an envelope.
"Thank you Your Majesty," Fallon said, placing the envelope in his webbing underneath a wing.
The Ewe and the Llama followed Fallon out of the court.
"This is nuts," Fallon said.
"Tell me about it," the Llama said.
******************************************************
Some ground rules.
1. This Storybook is rated PG-13. Keep all material at or below that range. Any violations will be edited.
2. No evil characters. Keep all characters you write for in the guard or directly associated with the flock. Evil villians are NPC's.
3. Concerning joining the story. I have no objection to new contributors. If you join after the story has started, please consider being a member of the guard. A few NPC guards will be with the flock, just in case. At the very least, the newbies should have a tolerance for hanging around sheep.
4. About magic. Magic in this society isn't really present. Some people, like Lyra, possess it, but these people aren't really the type to join some random sheep herd. If anyone did possess magic, the King wouldn't be sending them to some Enchantress in a distant land.
So, magic is forbidden to our humble characters.
5. A note about the type of people who would join a sheep herd. Generally, these people are desperate. Anyone of respectable size or power wouldn't waste their time on peasants that smell of sheep manure. Mercenaries might not mind the smell, but I doubt they'd find any money in guarding sheep.
In fact, mercs seem like the sort of people who would try to steal them.
6. Absolutely forbidden character types: Half-anything (possible exception for half-elves, but beyond that...), Dark Species (Vampires, Dark Elves, Trolls, etc.), and royalty (we got enough of them already.)
7. Character Bios. I discourage them (it takes away all the fun of discovering a character) but if you want to post one, then you may.
8. Concerning spelling. If you know your spelling to be a little less than what it ought to be, please use the spell check button. I don't mind a small typo here or there, but if whole sentences are incoherent, then I will ask you to use the spell check function. (Note: I will not edit misspelled words, this is your responsibility.)
9. Concerning the rules of grammar and capitalization. I won't execute you if you put a comma where a semi-colon should be, but if you write a paragraph without capitalization or a single mark of punctuation, then I will ask you to edit your post.
10. Concerning the Omnipotent. While certain forces (like luck and irony) may influence the fortunes of our characters, I would prefer it if we didn't have any divine appearances. Super characters (i.e. Warriors that are capable of felling any opponent and any number of them) will be considered divine since they are unkillable. I don't plan on killing any of the characters, but the threat of death should at least influence their thinking.
11. No Team Killing. Storybook writing is a team activity, killing a fellow author's character is considered team killing. If an author leaves a storybook or if the character becomes inactive (the author hasn't written for that character for a couple months) then the character becomes an open character. If this is the case, another author may take up the character.
12. No God-moding. If you should hit another persons character, don't describe the impact. This way the other author can decide what happens to their character. The decision rests solely with the author of the character that is getting hit, although I heavily encourage authors to be realistic with their characters. If the punch is thrown by a drunk, it might make sense for him to miss. If the punch is thrown by a sober bouncer, then it is much less likely that your drunk character will be able to avoid that rock the bouncer calls a fist.
If you must fight, I recommend being very vague. So instead of describing a fist fight blow by blow, you could instead say "A fist fight broke out between the two."
13. Final Word. These rules are very general. Their intent is to provide an interesting, even, and understandable environment in which we can write. If you see something that should be here, please say so. If you have an idea on there that contradicts one of the rules, run it past me, but don't hold hope.
Alright, those are the rules. If you made it this far, you are probably perfect for writing here.
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