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Post by Arc on Jul 14, 2005 0:27:56 GMT -5
This comes from a game Volk and I are running currently, where his ex-compatriot and he fought in the beginning over the (unwitting) affection of a certain half wind dragon female by the name of Vorelthrae. The three were seperated at the beginning of The Fires of Arthuria and Scripto was only heard from a handful of times since. Here's his story.
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Post by Arc on Jul 14, 2005 0:57:19 GMT -5
The Land of Arthuria has been quite peaceable the last 20 years under the reign of a King named Alagas. This King was noble and good in his day and has proved to be a wise ruler for his people, until recently.
To the east of Arthuria, lies a land called Yatul, a place of theives, brigands, and highwaymen. South of that lies the pinennsula of Latania, the last bastion of Empirial rule on the island called Clavius.
Once upon a time, many centuries ago, the Grand Empire conquered the entirety of the mainland continent, and all outlying settlements. At that time, the island county of Clavius was ruled by a count appointed by the Grand Emperor himself. Unfortunately, as the Count grew old, his sons disputed who would rule the island. It was decided to divde it into three sections, one roughly half the land mass, and the others splitting the rest. The Crowned Prince took the official County and made his captial in the farthest western reaches of the fronteer, on the coast by the ocean. He called his new city Nerles. The other sons also selected captial cities, Brades in the south, and Ultharn in the north. The princes each had one son, ensuring that their royal heritage would be unsoiled.
However, the youngest Prince, whom ruled the subcounty Yatul, had two illegitemate children. This caused great unrest in his kingdom. eventually, his youngest son had him slain and took the throne for himself, causing even more infighting.
Several generations tell the tale of consistent destabilization, as each city begins to become more and more independent. After a hundred years, the subcounties had split even further, installing themselves permenantly as kingships, recognizing no family loyalties at all.
The Empire, on its decline, had allowed this to go on, instead focusing on rebuilding its own internal structure and withdrawing largely from the island of Clavius. Only the southeastern kingship of Latania proved to have any interest in keeping up trade routes with the ancient power of the continent. Meanwhile, Yatul grew weaker, and Arthuria fell from its grace as the major power on the continent.
The loss of the title inspired a particular king named Arton to construct a legion of elite troops. He poured thousands of gold into forming his new brigade, and thousands more importing the crafters and materials necessary to build a firearm cache for these troops. The advent of the cartridge round brought huge success to these new knights, who were able to tame vast tracts of land and defend nigh-impossible barriers from invasion by the other nations.
Alagas, son of Doeton, son of Arton, was a Knight in his younger years and helped fight off a minor invasion by a seafaring race of elves off the coast, earning him much fame. Later, he spent much of his resources building his army for a war he hoped would never come. Recently, he spent a large budget on city battlements and seige weapons, the likes of which would be used to slay giant beasts or even dragons. He has become soft with age and his mind is addled. With a weak king, an assassination threw the entire island of Clavius into a warzone.
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Post by Arc on Jul 14, 2005 1:25:00 GMT -5
King Alagas has been loosing his mind stadily ever since an odd head injury in a small skirmish with some mysterious raiders about 5 years ago. With peace such as it was, little thought was given to his condition and the Prince prepared to become King when he passed on.
Prince Vanith was a very cunning and sometimes ruthless man with little in the way of morals. His crowning achievement as Prince was widely assumed to be his additional expenditures on interrogation and torture research. He lead a company of elite knights called the Black Eight in many campaigns across Arthuria, often putting down uprisings and settling border disputes by force.
For the past five years, the King had been steadily dumping more and more resources into finding and tracking down the Dragons who lived in the mountainous center of Arthuria. This confused many of his aides and advisors; the Dragons had been at peace with men for a little more than a century, and their wrath was terrible.
But he pushed on, sanctioning several secret raids against them, and often putting his son in charge of these attacks. The raids were quite successful, as the king had the Black Eight equipped with Dragonlances and Scale Piercing firearms.
After seven such raids, the prince was discovered in an alley close to the Castle Palace proper, torn limb from limb by some kind of crazed animal or supernatural being.
Ripples effected every facet of life. Gates were closed and sealed. Anyone could be suspect. Many wizards and hermits were slain in an attempt to eradicate the Dragon Threat.
A minor noble by the name of Vorelthrae of Caex (who happened to be a Half-Dragon, and obviously a spy for the enemy) was brought in for the Prince's "questioning."
An attack on Nerles was initiated shortly thereafter by an unknown force. In the hysteria of the courts, it was assumed that the men who had come to assassinate the king were Dragon Sympathisors. Three people escaped in the fighting.
The King declared war on the Dragons, and the year of this event came to be known as The Year of Flame.
A plan was devised to eleminate all threats. A two stage, two front war was about to erupt. The king ordered the construction of a blackpowder cache four carts large, with a concentric ring designed fuse. The bomb was placed at some distance to Nerles, while gate guards rapidly barricaded the city walls. The second stage would be the initiating of wide sweep cross-country knight brigades, for the expressed purpose of eliminating anyone seen to be a threat.
Noble Vorelthrae Caex, a Knight and ex-Academy Accolyte named Karnyn Sivvi, and a former slave turned house scrivner called Scripto were on their way away from Nerles when they came across the bomb. In the midst of trying to stop the charges from being started, they lost sight of eachother and went seperate ways to escape the danger of the Great Spark, which started The Fires of Arthuria.
These three youths had known each other for some time, and the two young men had become quite attached to the Lady of Caex. They each insisted that they alone should have the chance to fall in love with her. While not outright hostile to eachother, theyhad managed a kind of friendly rivalry since they had met. But with the Spark minutes away, the game had changed.
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Post by Arc on Jul 14, 2005 11:08:38 GMT -5
Scripto was born a slave in the town of Deneth, a half-day's walk from Nerles. Both his mother and father were slaves aand thus he had no name. His father was sold shortly after his birth. The owner of the farm was loosing his land and was trying to make good by liquidating his assets before he lost everything. His mother was sold as soon as he was able to survive without her. He continued to work at the farm, going into town on errands and often picking pockets on his way. When the young man was ten winters old, he was given to a scriptorium as a student, to fill an extra seat. And with that, he never again saw his old master.
Having no name, the boy was unable to sign any works that he created. he devoted himself utterly to his work and excelled at the art, often impressing his teachers and embarassing his colleagues. At the age of 15, he met his father again, who had been blinded with a hot iron for leading a small rebellion. In honor of his father, the young man used his mental resources and back-alley skills to collect materials and put together a marvelous book on the subject of love. His intention was to give his father the book and read it to him so that he could know what it said. His words were what he wanted heard, not the quality of the book. This was hsi way of showing his respect for his father. However, his father's new owner (the one who had blinded him in the first place) found this artifact and it was of astonishing quality. He sought to show the book to the King and fetch a handsome price for a slave who could fabricate such an exquisite book.
He showed the book at a courtly art exhibit, where it tore apart the competition. The King was quite impressed and called for the artist's name to be read off. When none was found, he called the artisan to come forth. The man stepped forward but a loud, young voice came from the back of the crowd proclaiming his father's name, embalzoned on the front cover and binding. The young man pushed his way through the crowd and explained his case and life story, to the astonishment of the courtiers and nobles present. The King asked the boy's name after his story, and upon hearing that he had none, he was proclaimed to be Scripto, and was given a position as a House Scribe, fully employed as a free man under the King's own scriptorium.
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Post by Arc on Jul 14, 2005 11:28:32 GMT -5
Scripto became naerly obsessed with the words found in the books he had gained access to. He would bring them to his father and read to him. Scripto's success as an artist was limited thereafter however, because the noble who owned his father contunually debased the young lad, using every little sin he could find to discredit the boy. He was never allowed to begin his formal training as a Grand Painter, and was relegated to the role of House Scribe for the majority of the time he remained in the city.
After two years, his father passed away. Scripto was furious and dispaired, but had to keep working to keep his job. He was rebuffed when he tried to investigate his father's death, but he learned that as a House Scribe he could get himself into restricted areas when documentation of an event was required.
Scripto wrote a poem in honor of his father, and it was a great success in the court. The King was growing increacingly erratic these days, and it was against that background that his poem spread amongst courtier, nobles, and even some of thepopulation at large:
"A Good man
Who falls
Is not a failure
But a Hero."
Scripto then began a path that would take him past the reaches of Clavius, even to the mainland, and beyond.
Scripto began studying the greatest works of THE Art, and studied magic whenever he could. With a small modicum of innate talent, he grew and expanded his knowledge. He grew to be a potent man in the ways of subterfuge and also in magic. He eventually began copying the texts used at the Arcane Academy as part of his job. This is how he met Karnyn Sivvi, and eventually, Vorelthrae Caex.
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Post by Arc on Jul 14, 2005 11:36:03 GMT -5
Scripto had been unwittingly copying the texts for numerous classes that Karnyn had been in as an Acolyte. But Karnyn had dropped out of the Academy, choosing instead to take up the training to become a knight. He found that he was a natural leader, and quite brave in combat. He also brought more experience and some slightly different skills to knighthood, that were usually reserved for Elite Knights. Scripto and Karnyn met for the first time at a library where Scripto was doing research. Karnyn recognized the books he was studying and they had a short chat about magic theory.
Scripto and Karnyn became friends and met on occasion to talk about more advanced forms of magic, and to eat lunch. It was on one of these fateful lunches that they met the young Vorelthrae of Caex.
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Post by Arc on Jul 14, 2005 11:51:23 GMT -5
They were eating sandwiches and talking about some nuance of Abjuration when a young woman of astonishing colors and (Were those ... Wings?? I just saw?) magnificent grace. She wore the robes of a noble house, but not one Scritpo had ever seen. He recognized the embroidered sysmbol and its colors to be house Caex, and noted that she was the one he had heard of. Karnyn was interested in hearing more, and they watched her enter the Hall of the Knights with two retainers. Scripto excitedly told Karnyn that there was a lone member of Caex in the Court, who's father was missing and mother had died. Or was it the other way around? He couldn't remember in the heat of the moment. She was all alone, and quite so, she hardly had enough money to employ her retainers, and with no known skills outside of courtly life, she was bound to run dry soon. Karnyn noted that someone should help her, and Scripto agreed whole-heartedly, but between them the hadn't enough coin to buy a shack on the edge of town. They decided to try to find a way to help her in the long run, no matter what the cost.
When they exited, Lady Caex looked quite depressed, her retainers trotting to catch up. Scripto caught bits of the conversation and together they pieced together that she must have been trying to join the Knights as a way to keep herself out of debt. Karnyn supposed that she would have been turned away for being a Half person. Scripto agreed and told him of a secret order that was given against Dragons and Sorcerers in the major cities around Arthuria. The order had been issued by the King to have all Dragons and Dragonblooded removed from offices of power. The young lads fell into silence as they watched her slink away, her glorious blue-green hair slipping loose of its bonds as she strode off, up towards the Palace and Noble Quarter.
They both agreed that she was the most beautiful thing they had ever seen.
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Post by Arc on Jul 14, 2005 12:05:41 GMT -5
Karnyn and Scripto had a slow and cautious rivalry for the next two years, as they each tried to gain more of her attention. She became friends with the both of them, but she always seemed shy and afraid to get into a deep relationship.
The boys had several small fights over her, especially when she showed more interest in one or the other. Unfortunately, this embittered them against each other as time went on, and each was driven to excell more than the other. A stalemate was reached when they noticed that she rarely left her house anymore, and they suspected it was out of fear of even more harsh decrees by the increacingly insane King Alagas.
Weeks passed. They had heard nothing from her for some time. Then news of the Assassination of Prince Vanith spread like wildfire. Both of the young adults were astonished by the news. They were even more astonished by the fact that Vorelthrae had been brought in for questioning.
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Post by Arc on Jul 14, 2005 12:24:49 GMT -5
There was an Incedent at the Walls of Nerles. Scripto heard that Karnyn was involved in it. Enemy spies had come and almost annihilated the Gate Guards, but Karnyn har largely saved the day with some excellent tactical planning.
They met at her interrogation. Gleaming chrome instruments lay on the table near her. A captain by the name of Vanco was presiding over the interrogation, while Scripto documented the proceedings. The interrogator was prepared to do much worse. After slapping her around a bit, to the dismay of Scripto and Karnyn, Vanco demanded even more answers that she obviously did not know. Angered, He slammed a puncturing implement through her arm and into the arm of the chair. Her screams mixed with the odd sounds of gunfire from the other end of the dunegon, outside the interrogation chamber.
The Captain went to go see what happened, and that left the interrogator and the boys alone with Vorelthrae. He continued to ask more questions, and the they looked at eachother, trying to find away to escape with her. Scripto made up his mind. He stood and walked up to the interrogator. He punched him in a spot on his neck that made him crumple to the floor. They then freed Vorelthrae from the chair and placed the interrogator in it.
Vanco returned. He looked around, and held up his gun. He demanded answers. Scripto stepped forward and took the blame. The Captain pointed his weapon at his face, and pulled the trigger.
Casting his unloaded sidearm to the ground, he took Karnyn and left the other two in the room and locked it. Vanco and Karnyn went to fight off this second attempt to break into Nerles.
Sometime later, Karnyn began the investigation again; Vanco had been seriously wounded by a grenade in the fighting. Karnyn had gathered a cart and the three of them fled the city under cover of night.
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Post by Arc on Jul 14, 2005 12:39:25 GMT -5
They came across the path of the Great Spark and Karnyn, knowing now of Vorelthrae's ability with stealth, asked her to go check it out. They took the cart along the path in the tall grass as she swept in, and they lost track of her. They decided to go and look for her. Scritpo swept in as fast as he could, leaving Karnyn behind in his heavier equipment.
He scouted around the grove they had set up the 60 barrels of gunpowder in. He carefully avoided the area guarded by a treeborne ranger with all manner of ranged weapons. Fortunately he seemed asleep.
Scripto actually managed to slip into the grove behind the enemy, searching for where Vorelthrae might have gone. He tried to break the fuses that would have started the Spark, but he was forced to hide from a roving guard detail. He heard men getting on horses. When he looked up, he saw only a few horsed men still left, and each was bearing a torch.
He stayed until they actually dropped the torches, and he continued to scream for Vorelthrae as he searched the flames, as they piled higher and higher each second. The first gunpowder barrel went off while he was still standing in the grove, throwing him to the ground and burning him severely on the chest and arms. He picked himself up as the barrels began to explode, and ran with allthat eh could muster. The Final Charge of the Great Spark went off when he was only a handfull of yards away, blowing him clear into the flames that had started. But he got up again. And he ran, wondering if he would rather lose his friends and live, or be with them in death.
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Post by Arc on Jul 14, 2005 13:14:47 GMT -5
Burned and scarred, Scripto limped along his path south towards the city of Dadion. His hack bled still, from is constant movement, never letting the flesh heal. He didn't have time. He had to get to Dadion before the fires so that he could warn them. It took him two days to get to the north-south fork that lead to Dadion, but he had not seen the fires for a day now, so he supposed that he could make it.
Two more days down the road, he collapsed from blood loss and exaustion. Miraculously, a young woman named Ethin on her way to Dadion took him in her cart. She found that he was alive, and bandaged him as best she could.
A few days later, He woke to find that there were knights at the gates, lighting fires. The Lord of Dadion had decreed daily inpections of any home that might hold traitors or Dragon Sympathisors.
Scripto lead a handful of rebelious Knights and Wizards to a small victory, and was able to help twentyone suspects to escape the city, but as a consequence, King Alagas had the city razed. The knights moved on, and Scripto's band of refugees fled south and east, away from Nerles and the reach of Alagas's Knights, who now roamed free and slayed whoever they wished. He found that his savior, Ethin, had not been amongst the people he led away from the city. Torn up again inside, he focused all his rage into leading his group, who became a Faction in their own right, called the Dadists.
Scripto furiously trained his soldiers to he beleaguerment of his own health, but he pushed them so hard that he molded them into a veritable destructive force. He used street tactics and underhanded blows along with teamwork to bring down knights they encountered. They grew stronger with each victory as they each gathered more and more weaponry.
Scripto slayed a Captain with magic somewhere near the mountains of Asins and took his weapon. It was a mighty sword, with a firearm built into the design. He made this the emblem and mascot of his company, using it as symbolism that the Dadists would be able to subvert any resource set against them.
When the Dadists reached Asins at the southernmost edge of the Central Mountains, they drove the Knights and Lord from it by force. Scripto purposefully allowed the Lord to live so that he might warn others of the power of the Dadists.
In Asins he spent several days of sleepless study in their library and took whatever he could from it, shaping his magical skills into a killing tool. He studied every text. His skill with words allowed him to cover vast tracts of tomes in very short time. He began to learn about ancient arcane methods and legends of old. But he didn't stop there.
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Post by wowposter on Sept 4, 2008 9:48:27 GMT -5
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