Knights of the Order of the Rose Cross OOC

[SaejiFine]

Long ago an alliance of dwarves and humans began their search for vast riches beneath the worlds tallest mountains. They dug deeper and deeper into the earth wanting more and more of the vast wealth it had to offer. There was nothing to hard or too impossible for the greed to overcome. However that deep in the world they hit something, something that would change the face of the land forever. Something which the monks could not predict, the elves could not discern, and which the greed had not expected. Demons poured forth into this world with but one goal. Destruction.

The dwarves blamed the humans accepting no fault for their own and retreated back into their fortified cities of underground splendor. There they awaited the onslaught of the demons as they tried to wash their hands clean of the incident which would surely shape the land they loved. When the humans realized that no help would be coming from the dwarves they turned to the mysterious and powerful elves. The elves turned them away saying that they needed to fix their own mistake. They brought this into the world now they needed to take it out.

The humans were furious, it seemed that no one would come to their aid and so they took the demons on themselves. Nearly a century of bloody warfare covered the land, the humans were tenacious and would not back down without a fight for what they considered near and dear to their hearts. Millions lost their lives to the ferocity of the demons. Born of necessity and funded by the king himself an order was formed. The Knights of the Order of the Rose Cross. A ragtag group of fighters who were crazy enough to devote their lives to slaying the demons. Now decades after these great wars have stopped the demons are few and far between. Sometimes used to scare little children into being better behaved but more often they are trying to be forgotten.

The Knights are still working however because the menace the demons pose still haunts the humans. They can be seen causing destruction in small towns which is where the Knights are sent in to exterminate them. It is an age old tradition that where possible has been handed down from generation to generation. Until this point...

The young Raphael has been appointed the leader from his father who has passed away from sickness. He is young, but experienced in killing demons. However he has a thought that demons might not be all that different from the humans the Knights protect. Perhaps not all of them are as bad as they have thought for so many years. He only brought this up with his father once and was bitterly rejected and told to toss such filthy thoughts from his mind. Sympathy for the enemy cannot be tolerated... but now Raphael has risen to the position of commander and has shaken things up a little... the biggest and not necessarily welcomed change of giving combat positions to women has made him slightly unpopular but he feels they deserve the right to fight. And it seems that they will need all the help they can get because a new threat seems to be rising in the shadows... waiting for an opportunity to strike.




Character Profiles

Name:
Age:
Rank:
History:
Appearance: (Please include your desired weapon and magic)






Name: Raphael Solunt
Age: 25
Rank in the Knights: Commander
History: Raphael was born in the cities, his mother was a bakers daughter and his father was a new initiate to the guild. His father had been attracted to his mothers store with nothing but the smell of baking sweetbread to lead him. Then his mother's good looks led him the rest of the way. They say the rest is history but there was an accident, his mother was on her way to pick up wheat from a farm out of town when she didn't return. Her body was found so mutilated that they determined that his father determined it could have been nothing else but a demon. Evidence was later found that suggested it was a deranged highwayman trying to throw people off his trail, my father's hatred for demons didn't diminish.

Growing up next to his father Raphael learned from a very young age how to fight and to survive, he had a natural talent with the sword and began to be the practice swordsman for some of the Knights in the guild until he could join up himself. Raphael had a close relationship to his father but he learned quickly not to bring up certain ideas to his father's attention. There would be nothing but trouble. Knowing that his ideas differed from his father's never deterred him from what he knew he needed to do.

His father dying of sickness took the entire order by surprise, leaving it to his son was the next. He was young, unmarried, and by most considered inexperienced. This caused some to leave. After announcing that women were now allowed to join up several more declared the Knights a fallen order and left. His acceptance of dwarves and elves seemed to fall in question as well but the king's seal never left the Order. Now Raphael leads the Order, some of his ideas dormant but stirring in his mind. Evidence that the demons might be more human then they'd assumed keep popping up in various places, a long harbored belief for Raphael but he knew it would be unaccepted and has kept such thoughts to himself and only reveals them to his closest allies. Even if he considers some demons above their animalistic nature he knows the horrors they're capable of and will not hesitate to kill. But something stirs inside him when he does and he wonders...

Appearance: http://arilenas-world.de/images/RuneKnight2Male.jpg

So just the appearance part on this picture, I just want a regular hand and a half sword with a green pommel stone. No magic for me

 

[MolecularMachine]

What's the extent of magic you're looking for? Elemental control? Shapeshifting? Summoning?

 

[Sir Basil]

Will likely be playing an elf-exile for this.

[MENTION=5559]MolecularMachine[/MENTION] , I believe it's very low magic.

 

[The Piper of Pipers]

I'm planning on a dwarf. I'll try to get it up as soon as I can, but I'm out of town for a wedding and things are sorta up in the air at the moment.

 

[Sir Basil]

Consul Narendra Vadakkedath​

(Nair-en-drah Vaid-uh-keh-dath)​

​

​

"No man has a greater love for his king than I had for mine, even as I drove my blade through his dark and corrupted heart. "​

​

​

​

Age​

Appears roughly in his thirties, but is closer to three hundred years of age. Given his pure-blooded heritage, it is likely he will live another two hundred years, unless he is either slain or succumbs to disease. He roughly has the knowledge and training of a Man in their mid-forties.​

​

Rank​

Elvish Consulate-Officer​

The political title Consulate is used for the official representatives of the government from one state, operating in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consulate's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the peoples of the two countries. Narendra claims this rank, whereas the truth of the situation is quite different.​

​

Appearance​

Narendra, like most members of his race, has yellowish-papery skin, with black lips, and eyesockets. This comes from the fact that Elvish blood is black, and in the places where the skin is thin, the dark blood shines through. Narendra has high, gaunt cheekbones and a rounded, prominent nose that sits directly in the center of his face. His eyebrows are very light. Across his face he has a long black scar that is perfectly straight - too straight to be a wound from warfare. The actual origin is ritual scarification, performed in the sight of his gods. His teeth are slightly pointed in his black-lipped mouth. He is built sinewy and strong, thin and athletic, but stands only at 5'8, given that most of the Elven species is slightly shorter than their human counterparts. Where there should be white in his eyes, there is instead, red, customary amongst his people, and his irises are are a tawny brown-gold. He wears his hair long, and like most Elven hair, it begins silken and white, but the longer it becomes, the more yellowed and brittle it appears. His slightly pointed ears generally poke through his hair, slightly. ​

​

As is customary within the Elven military system, he wears black, gold, and red armor. The leather of the armor, fashioned into leaf-like plates, serves as bracers, greaves, and pauldrons. Beneath that is a set of padded-red cloth armor that features small studs of gold, for extra protection. A sash is tied around Narendra's waist, to support his leather sword-belt. One one side of Narendra's narrow hips, hangs a short, golden handled dirk, while safe in a black leather sheath is a gently curved scimitar, similarly golden-handled. He wears black leather boots with a careful embroidery of golden leaves done on them, a motif that encircles his pauldrons and his greaves as well. In the colder places of the world, he wears a heavy red-wool cloak about his shoulders, trimmed in black fur. There is more embroidery on this cloak, done in black thread, that shows more leaves and flowers; with more embroidery at the bottom of the cloak and progressively less near the throat clasps. The calsps themselves, are fashioned out of gold as well, and set with small garnets to give the illusion of holly branches - a sacred plant amongst the elven people. ​

​

Narendra walks tall, and proudly. He holds his head back and keeps his gait even and graceful. He wears a heavy hood over his head, however, and makes an effort to keep much of his features hidden. With what little glamour he has - Narendra was never very adept with magic - he's changed his features to a degree. Beneath the glamour, his features are much sharper, and as with most elves, he has some bark-like protrusions on his cheekbones, and shoulders. These, however, are carefully concealed, as they would give away more of his nature than he would like. ​

​

History​

Narendra Vadakkedath was born under the star of Makara, which gave him the name Mirza, in elven tradition. For many elves, their birth name is different from their official name; the birth name starts with a letter auspicious on the basis of the star shining brightest in the sky when they were born - and for Narendra, that was the star of Makara. Thus, for thr first a hundred years of his long-life, he was known by the child-name, Mirza. He was born into a small, rather poor, by elven standards, family. His mother served as a garden-tender, one of the honoured if impoverished people who took care of the sacred elven groves. His father, on the other hand, worked primarily as a carpenter ; and in later times, a shipwright. During those first twenty years of his life, Mirza lived comfortably if simply with his family in Nivas Chaman, the ancestral homeland of the elven race. However, this time was soon cut short with the arrival of demonkind, as man and dwarves ignored the elven warnings of staying away from the caves and lands of Chaman. They had unearthed something great and terrible, and elf-kind were the ones who suffered. ​

​

Mirza's family fled Chaman, and ran to the Nivas Nithya, the eternal home-land of the elves, where in the ancient wars between elves and their estranged kin -- the Mṛtyu -- they held out for centuries. Here, the fled, in the desire to escape the war that they had never desired to enter. For a time, they were safe there, spending another fifty years secure within its halls.But the fortress would not hold. When Mirza was seventy, the equivalent of a human teenager the keep was overrun by demons, and Mirza, his family, and the rest of the elves fled deep within the caves, where their kin and ancestors had prepared for the worse. The elves soon began to adapt to life without the sun, beneath the earth, where they could no longer see fruit or flower. Mercifully, they were guided by the strong leadership of their king, the Raja Aqula Saṅkaracarya and the surviving young prince - an elf around the same age of Mirza himself - Tagara, named for the star of Tula. Their queen, sadly, had been slain by demon kind, and her body was never recovered, much to the grief of both the young prince and the king. The demons raged above them, and the keep above the elves became claimed as their own. The elves never returned to the surface of Nivas Nithya, and claimed the caverns beneath their once-home as Kila Kandara, the cavern-castle.​

​

​

​

Mirza earned his adult name, Narendra, after he entered into a small sub-sect of elves, fanatics all, who had decided that they would work to protect their new-homeland and keep demons from peering too deeply down into the caverns of the earth. They fended them off with dirk and scimitar, with bravery and skill. Narendra's division soon gained fame and fortune after actually bringing down one of the lietenants of the demon army themselves - considered to be an unprecedented feat. When they returned, scarred and battered, Narendra's unit were hailed as heroes, and Raja Aqula Saṅkaracarya named them all to the elite personal honour-guard, meant to defend his family; the Rakhavālā. Narendra was only a hundred years old, and many in his unit were still within their single digits and bore child-names. ​

​

Narendra, as the oldest, was seen to be a leader to the other Rakhavālā, and worked more closely with the royal family members than the other members of the guard. He particularly grew close to the young price Tagara - who had been given the adult name Girisha, or Lord of Mountains, some years prior to Narendra. They were very nearly the same age, and spent much of their time in each other's company. It was not too long until Narendra and Girisha were inseparable, and it aws widely reported that Narendra was hardly an honour-guard at all, but was instead Girisha's concubine who had risen through the ranks on Girisha's affection. It was true that Narendra was rising through the ranks - he frequently led escapades closer and closer to the surface levels, and reclaimed many of the surface ruins for the elves, winning glory for both himself and the Rakhavālā ; which won the affection of Raja Aqula Saṅkaracarya. Soon enough, Narendra found himself at the age of a hundred and seventy serving as a general and assembling troops for a general assault on Nivas Nithya, so to reclaim the entire homeland. ​

​

After nearly a hundred years of preparation, the Rakhavālā assembled and the general army of elves made their push - and did reclaim their homeland. Nivas Nithya, the city, was retaken. But all around their walled city, the fields and forest were gone, and the soil had turned bitter and acidic - nothing would grow. Demonkind had poisoned the landscape, and everything the elves had once held so dear was now gone. Nevertheless, the elven people began to rebuild their proud ancestral keep, while cultivating what few things they were able to grow in the surfaces deep beneath the earth. They were isolated, from the rest of the world, by the sheer fact that their lands were too poisonous to walk through, and that to journey across them would be a long and hungry journey. Narendra joined in the rebuilding efforts, and since it seemed the times of war were over for elven kind, enjoyed the position of Chancellor, bestowed upon him by his lover and prince, Girisha. He was at his king and prince's side every day, and advised them on the rebuilding progress from the standpoint of a peasant and commoner, describing his life before he had become an accomplished general. ​

​

However, the King was once again Joined - the name for elvish marriage - to a beautiful young elven maid, when Narendra was two-hundred years old. She was more beautiful than anything that Narendra had ever seen - more beautiful than anyone had ever seen. The Raja explained that she had been a peasant girl herself, but such beauty should be enjoyed by all people, and thus, she should be seen as a Queen. The logic seemed sound to the elven people, who admired beauty above all other things. She, unlike the queen before her, took great interest in the rebuilding process, and whispered often into her husband's ear. Narendra wondered about her - and assumed that she was merely a girl who had seized an opportunity. She was quite young, only a hundred or so years old, and the good Raja was venerable - nearing the end of his five-hundred and six year life. She would live a life of wealth and comfort as a royal widower, and perhaps would even marry Girisha, if it was approved by the council of Chancellors. Narendra certainly would not try to veto such a thing.​

​

But soon, he grew suspicious of her. She suggested expanding their borders, into the poison wastes. She suggested tearing down and building again. She suggested that they seal off the caves and try to grow things within the earth. Terrible advice, of course, but advice that advice that the King listened to above all others. Things turned violent. When she was disagreed with, the King saw those men as traitors to the elven race - Dēśadrōhī - and they were ritual sacrificed to Yama, the elven god of "Finding the Path", and the chief deity within the Elven pantheon. Girishia feared for his father and his lover, and Narendra soon learned to hold his tongue int he presence of the king. The King's mind became more and more poisoned with the talk of his new wife, and soon, it was only the King, his Queen, the prince, and Narendra sitting in the council of Chancellors. The other Chancellors had been killed, including many members of the Rakhavālā - despite Narendra's quiet protests. Narendra and Girisha were able, however, to draw the King away from his wife's side, and convince him that was he was doing was vile, was wrong. And it was his son's argument that changed Raja's mind. He saw clearly for the first time in years, and demanded that the woman be burnt upon the altar of Sita, the elven goddess of Mercy, as atonement for his actions. ​

​

The wife was found, and bound to the altar. She cried and screamed, but eventually, was burnt to nothing more than a few white ashes. For a time, it seemed as if all would be well. But the King's eyes were still clouded. He ordered his people to work themselves to the bone, and all who refused were seen as Dēśadrōhī and were killed. The military was reformed, and the Raja used them to force the peasantry into doing whatever his whims dictated. There were mass orgies that the King demanded, though they were more like rapes than anything else. Slaughters and sacrifices were arranged. Things were worse, once the wife was gone. Narendra slowly began to understand what had happened, after spending many hours researching the ancient elven texts, Dharma, that the ancestors of his people had left behind. The Dharma revealed the nature of one such demon, the Vēśyā - the demons of Lust. A Vēśyā could bend a man's will to their own and grew more powerful upon their death, able to possess the person whose will they had broken. The only way to slay them at this point was to kill the person who they now possessed. Unable to bring himself to tell Girisha of what had to be done, he came to his King's quarters late one evening and killed him in his bed. He was three hundred years old. ​

​

Soon, he was discovered, and soon Narendra was branded a kingslayer and an exile - a Nirvāsana. Girisha, unable to bring himself to slay him upon the altar of Yama ; exiled him to the poison wastes. Nerandra, heart-broken and burdened, walked through the poison wastes without food or water for a week, and collapsed on the border of the human lands, near a small village. He was eventually nursed back to health, and hearing that there was a human coalition fighting against demons, Narendra opted to join them - heart still heavy with the grief of what had been done. ​

 

[SaejiFine]

Well... Sir Basil! *Claps incessantly* Bravo! Brava! Bravisima! I love the character!

I like the non-traditional elves as well. Very Nice touch. I can tell that you put a lot of time and effort into character building and world building. Perhaps I need to take a few notes from ya! Care to teach me your ways?

 

[Sir Basil]

Glad you like him!

My advice is always to Use Archetypes , but Avoid Cliches