The Chanters (restarting, open for new/old players)

[Windstormugly]

Due to initial problems, this RP is now restarting.
This means new accepting of characters, (even those that were accepted the first time around, as I want to know what players are actually going to join).
Also a few changes to the story will occur, mainly how we start it up.

Thread is "restarted" at page 10, after the post with huge orange text.

I hope you will find this restart enjoyable.
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The world of Emculor, a home to nations of man and beasts alike. Their gods walking among them, showing them the way to sing miracles into reality. The world of the chanters, magic wrought with words of meaning. Fate and equality governing a new haven of calm among the chaos.
But not for eons since.
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"Peace" has reigned over Emculor for the last thousand years, the Belief keeping watch over the various kingdoms sprouting from the ravaged lands of old. Hunting the chanters, the heretics using magic wrought from beyond. Whether they be healers or saints, they are all guilty in the eyes of the Belief, guilty of crimes only spoken about in legends. Only remote places safe homes for those capable of magic. The only ones standing against their purging witch hunts as dangerous and feared by the populace as the Belief themselves.

But for all the crusades brought by their hands, the amount of chanters born and trained are for the first time since the legends growing once again. And the uprisings are brewing. Some chosen few awake one day with a goal in their life, a calling to return the Old gods to their rightful place, and overthrow the Chanters reign, for the Old gods know them to be there. And for that they have sought those meant for glory.
They are the gods chosen ones, bestowed with a reason in life bigger than their own. Even if they want no part in it, they will venture into the brewing world, and bring about a change.

Bards and peddlers, couriers and entertainers throughout the lands speak of unrest, as prophecies and myths come to life. And old songs are sung by the children, those still able to hear the magic in their sleep, songs that have never been.

Gods made our world
and us in their image.
Gave us power
we struck them down.
Chanter-Wars
world beyond the brink.
Old gods gone
Belief against the chanters.
They fell into silence
thus we thought them gone.
Now only myths and legends
hunted born or trained.
Old gods rise anew
we are their called
reckoning approaches.
Let the Chanters sing the world to rest.
​

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A little word of warning: This Story is Dark as void.

Chanting (Magic)

In the world of Emculor there is something called chanting, a way to make miracles happen, granted magic.
Those with the voice within them are able to send their inner energy into the beyond and ask for magic, and something answers, giving them powers to cause miracles.
There are two kinds of chanters, those that are born with their voice reaching out.
And those that are trained to release it.

For those trained, the first chants they make are often small things.
One to call forth a small mote of fire can be along the lines of the following:
"Ember unfrozen, glow still warming, flame still burning. Fire."
More practiced chanters are able to bring about the same miracle with but a single word:
"Fire"

There are endless ways to chant, as everyone say different things with the same words. But in essence the longer chants bring about the bigger miracles, because they are able to convey your intention to the magical force residing in the beyond. Continuously repeating a chant before releasing its miracle is often done to make sure of its realization.

Using chants make the inner energies be depleted, and thus one is not able to continuously speak, sing or recite chants. And causing miracles make one tired and drains the vitality as well. A good meal and a nights rest most often enough to revitalize you.
There are also chants that are made to be invoked by anyone reading them with trust in their minds, the most evident example the scriptures and psalms the Belief have in their holy texts.
Other scriptures hold forbidden chants never meant to be used, their power and wickedness not meant for mere mortals.
Even objects have been made to invoke chants, often treated as holy relics. BUt more mundane trinkets exist in abundance.

Races and the Lands

Emculor is home to both humanoids and diverse kinds of beast-men, generally called the ubions. Beings halfway between animals and man. Some are as intelligent if not more so than humans, who are the only humanoids left from the world of old, while others are only slightly more dangerous beasts. Among these the most notorious ones are:
"Tails" (reptiles and amphibians) living in the swamps and jungles, their cultures full of strange customs and oddities.
"Ears" (lupines and felines) always travelling or fighting, their caravans seen as both opportunities and hazards.
"Wings" (birds and other flying creatures) fond of anything that glitters, their high placed nests a secluded mystery.
"Hooves" (ungulates) cultivating the vast fields and traversing their luminous forests, celebrating the gifts of nature.
"Teeth's" (rodents) brave to the point of stupidity, their families proud and numerous.
"Fins" (fishes and various creatures of the depths) living along the coasts with their boats and shrines, playing and luring with those that enter their waters.

The scorching sands to the west, the stormy waters of the south, an endless forest to the east and the harsh mountains in the north all encase the known lands of Emculor. A lush lowland with rocky cliffs, glittering lakes, evergreen and leaf forests as well as marches, deserts and frozen tundras.

(map coming up along with places as the story progresses...)

Factions and Kingdoms

A few kingdomes thrive in the beauty of Emculor, all living with the guilds of trades and conflicts.

The Belief, a religious order dedicated to the safeguard of the world from the chanters madness and destroying influence. Keeping both law and order throughout the known lands, their enforcers and judges unyielding. And their rituals and ceremonies held by priests and bishops bent on purging the chanter plagues, spreading their faith in the god of order. Churches and temples strewn about the roads, serving as strongholds and safe houses.

The Golden wheel, a group of traders and caravans, dealing in all areas and with all wares and goods there is a demand for.

The Curved blades, hiring their members out to the highest bidder. A gathering of those pursuing the arts of war and battle.

The Unspoken, made of those chanters fighting for their survival, the hate fueling their miracles made them twisted and broken. Their war of attrition against the Belief turning them into the fears in the night. They have no qualms about the actions and atrocities deemed necessary to kill all of the Belief.

The empire of Tulahvor, a multitude of fiefdoms paying allegiance to a single leader, the power he controls stretching from the deserts in the west to the jungles in the east. Their culture interwoven with the Belief.

The Zahguts of Mezkanessh, a monarchy built on the lives of their slaves. Horrifying stories the only clear knowledge leaving the closed jungles.

The Freeledge, walled cities among the hard-rock spires in the north-west. A sanctuary for even the various chanters fleeing and revolting against the Belief across the empire.

Gods

God of the land
Goddess of the sea
Goddess of the sky
God of the humanoids
Goddess of the beasts
Goddess of the union
God/Goddess of the chants
Goddess of life
God of death
God of order

There are more than one chosen for each god.

Character Skeleton

Name:
Age:
Gender:
Race/Heritage:
Appearance:
Personality:
Skills:
Occupation:
Faction: (If any)
Biography:

Chanting abilities: If any:
(The amount of chanting traits, how does your character chant, with the use of songs, words, hymns, psalms, written words
History and usage, how did your character learn to chant, and what have they been using it for?)

Chants:
(The chants they most often use, and their supposed consequence. Examples...
Their true chant, belonging to them and then alone. This one is usually much longer than their other ones, and the miracles brought with it are often at a high cost and risk. Written out with any important information, criteria that needs to be fulfilled, possible result at failure?)

Example of chant:
Glowing, growing, never slowing.
Source of knowing, ripe fruit sowing.
Rise from slumber, endless hunger.
Swarm will wander, lands forgone them.
Waken empty, fill our numbers.
Nowhere showing, shadows flowing.
Ever ruling, still evolving.
Rise again, we are unholy.
Have you, heard of, Lothn?

Intended result, a summoning for an avatar.
Need to sacrifice blood, and a risk that all your blood will not be enough.
You must have brought death to numerous enemies as well as bathed your fangs in their blood.
If the chant goes wrong, the avatar may prey upon yourself.​

Patron God: (If any)

Your quest for glory shall begin scattered around the known lands of Emculor. Maybe your character is in the midst of something, maybe with the character of someone else.
State your ideas, whom you want to be teamed up with, and I will create the surroundings for you when we begin.

IC:
(link will be posted once we begin)

 

[Windstormugly]

Accepted character:

Windstormugly:

Merhapn

Name:
Merhapn Lifeseater
(Merhapn himselfs speaks it with a soft meow as Määr'happen. People who fear him never say his real name, thinking that he may be listening.)

Age:
There are records of him appearing across the known lands of Emculor for hundreds of years, but if one asks him he just smiles.

Gender:
male

Race/Heritage:
He is rumored to be a union between a humanoid of times long gone and a sinister cat.
But most nonhuman died during the Chanter wars, and Merhapn never speaks of his heritage.

Appearance:
Merhapn stands at seventeen feet, his skin the color of sand with rope-like muscles and tendons underneath.
Long raven hair falling in ripples down his shoulders, his feline ears peeking out from it.
Blue Eyes peeking out from a sharp face, sharp cheekbones and an eagles nose.
A wide grin showing off rows of spikes for fangs.
His hands and feet end in red claws, gleaming faintly in the right light.
A long and furred tail flicks impatiently with Merhapns interest in things.
He prefers to wear a patchwork of a robe, sewn together of multiple beast hides as well as cloth of wool and silk.
It somehow fits together in a chaotic likeness of its owners fickle nature.
Underneath it he wears a hunters garments, upon which he fastens knifes and trinkets.
His weapon of choice always rests upon his back, a twenty feet broadsword,
its edges able to split leaves that fall down on it. The handguard adorned with the faces of praying devils.

Personality:
"We went at him with nothing short of an army, he laughed at us. And then we were slaughtered." Told by an old warlord now rotting away in the Beliefs dungeons.
"He travelled with us for years learning our trade and becoming like one of the family. Until we got attacked by a group of chanters.
I couldn't believe that it was the same man, he seemed more like a devil then." The leader of an Ears-caravan.

Skills:
Weapon-play, tracking, survival, sewing.

Occupation:
Tracker, Pursuer, Executioner

Faction:
The Belief.

Biography:
There are few who know of Merhapns life, and those that wish they didnt.

Chanting abilities: If any:
Merhapn supposedly knows how to chant, but being a part of the Belief he only asks the god for divine might to strike the heretics.
He knows the prayers, though one will rarely hear him utter them, and when he does it sounds like a mockery.
Prey that has survived his hunting speak of him bellowing verses that made their courage scatter, and the battlefield becoming a nightmare.

Chants:
I stalk, I track, your path revealed.
Find you, hunt you, your flesh decayed.
No escape, no release, your soul devoured.
Cower, struggle, show your fear.
Your life soon gone. Mine to take.

Hunting parties accompanying Merhapn in the pursuit of heretics and blasphemers
have seen him enter a trance of abandoned reason and humanity,
turning into a beast on the hunt, pursuing the prey even when the trace is long cold.

Patron God: (If any)
God of Chaos

 

[Novum Genus]

Name: Hyreich
Age: 35 [In proportion to humans, since I don't know if my race is longer lived or shorter lived]
Gender: Male
Race/Heritage: Wings [Hawk]
Appearance: http://nightlyre.com/artwork/galleries/furries/heagle.jpg
Personality: Kind, courteous, and caring, though to friends or possible friends. People whom he dislikes he often treats politely and kindly, though there is a passive-agressive bit added on, but he can also be truly fearsome if angered.
Skills: Healing, flying, acrobatics, archery, and shortblade/knife skills
Occupation: Hunter-gatherer to strangers, healer and cook to friends that are also Unspoken/Chanters
Faction: Unspoken
Biography: Hyreich was born and raised in the wild by his two parents, who was a more hawk-like Wing, and a regular human. He thought them an odd pair, even when he was little. He grew up normal-ish, being taught by his parents and overall living a sheltered life. He didn't know or care where he was, except that he was safe.

When he reached 6 years old, soldiers came, executed his father, beat, raped, and then shot his mother, and then tried to put him in a ring with a very angry boar, for sport. Using his claws, beak, and wings/hands, he managed to piss of the boar to the point that it charged him, torn down the weak barricade that had kept the fights from getting into the spectators, and fled in the panic. Since then, he ran as far away as he could. Once satisfied with the distance, he built a cottage, and lived quietly, not wanting to revisit the people of his nightmares.

Chanting abilities:
- Healing chants
- Example may be to heal a sword cut, or perhaps an arrowshot wound, though the pain does transfer to him slightly, and uses up his strength
-Wisdom chants
- Example may be, when chanting, his targets will possibly figure out a weakspot faster, or be able to dodge more attacks. It'll increase reaction time and combat effectiveness, mainly.
- Athletics chants
- Example be that when he chants, one will have improved speed, or strength. Fly faster, swim faster, move faster, increase in strength and agility. Support-y type.

Chants: The chant he uniquely knows is that to heal whoever he is targeting, from any distance, though can be very taxing on himself.

Patron God: God of the Skies

 

[Windstormugly]

@Tiltshift no problem, there may be more chosen ones for any of the gods.

@The Oddsman think of the age as more or less the same.
I would like a bio, especially since you are one of the unspoken. PM me if youd prefer that.
It was a bit unclear (wich I hope is fixed now), but could you add on to the chanting sections according to the further written cs.

 

[Novum Genus]

Sure, I'm working on it now xP
sorry for being inspecific? Unspecific?
Nonspecific. There we go.

 

[Windstormugly]

Inspecific has a nice ring to it. I await your finished cs with anticipation @The Oddsman

 

[Novum Genus]

XDDDDD
"Hm, they didn't seem to do anything. Must not of worked!"

*Hammer on the RECOMMEND key*

 

[Bitterblue]

So I am a bit unclear, is the Belief a bad or good thing? (It's morning, and I'm just waking up :P) But this sounds totally cool.

 

[Windstormugly]

They have been hunting down every chanter they are able to for more than a thousand years. But they may be in the right, who knows. I mean, chanters are dangerous right?

 

[Bitterblue]

Hmmm Will be working on a CS :)

 

[Ruko]

Name: Kael M Kharn
Age: 64
Gender: Male
Race/Heritage: Human
Appearance:
(Cant find an image appropriate)
Kael, or as he prefers to be called, Kharn, is a mysterious figure. He has a tall and elegant posture, as if he were a noble of some kind, however he is rarely found clad in something other than a black cloak. His face is sharp and pronounced, and framed by a white beard, similar to that of Count Dooku from the other side of the fourth wall. He carries no weapons or armour, finding his abilities to be far more reliable.
Personality: Kharn is a rogue, and he prefers to work alone. He is cold and level-headed, and he is adept at hiding his emotions. He wears a constant mask of hatred which contorts his face into something that can strike fear into the core of an adversary. He can be reckless at times, and sometimes his anger can manifest in more than one way.
Skills: Kharn has a natural gift for tactics and leads teams of angry chanters into successful attacks against the believers. He is also extremely talented with "magic" and only needs to imagine the words of the chant rather than say them. Which is quite fortunate given that he is physically mute.
Occupation: Mercenary, bounty hunter and high-ranking official in the unspoken
Faction: Unspoken
Biography: (not got much time tonight so doing tomorrow morning.)

Chanting abilities: If any:
Kharn can summon his power by reciting chants in his head. These take the form of an ancient language forgotten to most, and as that culture had words for menial things that modern people wouldn't even think they would need a word for, the chants are more accurate and often faster to cast than their commontongue versions. This comes at a price though, and, even though he can mask it to others, his mental state has come into question several times.

Chants:
Kharn generally focuses his power into punishing his enemies. His favourite chants are those that channel pure death and shadow, and with good reason. They produce a much messier outcome. They are also more expensive, so he can often be seen using lightning as well. He uses brutal and effective power, and is working on trying to figure out a way of physically tearing the vital organs and/or blood out of a victim.
His most used power of each type:
Mindlock:
Kharn shuts down the part of the target's brain responsible for rationality, which in turn makes the target reckless and headstrong, increasing their stupidity by at least 500%. This makes them ridiculously easy targets as they just walk straight into range.
Shadowsteel:
Kharn materialises a blade or other metallic object out of thin air. It can be moved about using a variant of telekinesis, giving unmatched manoeuvrability. It's power scales with the strength of dark emotions nearby. It will always be relatively potent due to Kharn's own hatred, but it would be huge, sharp and lethal if Kharn were duelling another with similar traits.
Bolt Strike:
A powerful jolt of lightning fries any single target. The shot is generally slow to charge though, even in his ancient tongue, as it involves concepts so complex that even the ancients didn't bother making words for them. It works best on a target that has been prevented from moving.
Darksleep:
The target is sent into a deep and nightmare plagued sleep in which they will often get up and do things, like sleepwalking, only it usually results in them walking into a dangerous situation. Like a barfight.
True Chant:
For some reason, when Kharn uses his True Chant, he loses memories, mainly ones which are related to some sort of happy time in his life. This leaves him as a wreck of a character and also led to him forgetting how to physically speak. In return, he temporarily becomes an avatar of rage, his body becoming enveloped in a shroud of darkness and his anger being expressed through involuntary bolts of electricity and plasma which incinerate, vaporize and disintegrate everything within range.

 

[Bitterblue]

Name:

Emma

Age:

20

Gender:

Female

Race/Heritage:

Human

Appearance:

Personality:

To those who know her, Emma is a sweetheart She is a kind, generous person. While she has a great talent for chanting, Emma uses her gifts for good, most of the time. If she feels threatened, or any those she loves or cares about is threatened you better watch out. She is loyal almost to a fault. She likes meeting people like her, although people like her have become rare these days. She's also very stubborn, in that once she makes up her mind about something, there's almost no changing it. She has learned not to trust very well, but if you gain her trust, it can almost never be broken. But if you do happen to break it, there's no going back. She will never trust you again.

Skills:
​

• Sword fighting
  
  
• hand to hand combat
  
  
• survival skills
  
  
• Cooking
  
  
• music
  
  
• and much much more

Occupation:

Farmer/Gatherer, hunter, cook, whatever she can do, really.
Faction:

Wanderer, she's not really a part of a faction. She just goes around helping people, while on the run from those who are out to kill her.

Biography:

Emma was only a little girl of 8 when her family was killed. She has been on her own ever since. While she lived with close friends, she worked for her keep. She developed a very strong work ethic. She learned how to chant at the age of 4. It happened quite by accident, actually. She was just singing and plants around her started to grow, and her friend who was fatally wounded was healed. They were all astounded at her power, such power in one so young! She's been hidden carefully ever since. She's used to being nomadic in that she is on the run from those who hunt her and her kind. She has one close friend, but will never divulge her name, for fear of her being hunted and killed to lure her into a trap. Emma knows how to defend herself, even before her parents died, her father was teaching her how to use a sword, and hand to hand combat. She's been training ever since. Emma doesn't like crowded spaces, they give her a sense of unease, as if someone could guess who and what she is. She is a very well known chanter, and has been hunted all her life. It has been a hard life, but she always manages to survive.

Chanting abilities: If any:
Emma has around 2 or 3 abilities that she's discovered so far. They are Healing/life, and she can control water and fire (Fire element is not very strong at the moment). Emma sings her 'chants'. She has a beautiful voice that fills the air whenever she sings. It's hauntingly beautiful, and you would know it anywhere. She mainly uses her talents for good, but will defend herself.

Chants:​

• Healing-she heals a lot of people, some of them were minutes from death. This is her true chant, she can even bring back the dead, within about 5-10 minutes of their death, because their spirit is somewhere near. It takes her longer, but it is worth it. Her healing song could last for hours, if it needs to. Healing saps her strength and energy, if she does too much in one day, it could kill her.
  
  
• Life- so far, all she has been able to do is control plant life. She refuses try to take or control another sentient being's life, so it's unclear as to whether it's even able to be done.
  
  
• Water and Fire- she can control water, fully, but fire is only a small flame, enough to build a fire, that's it. If she tries to do more with fire, it would get out of control and the fire would rage, consuming almost everything in its path.

Patron God: God of life​

 

[Windstormugly]

Ok everyone, I must have made it far to unclear that I wanted you to give examples of the actual chants in your CSs. One of my examples is now in there. (and of course it doesn't have to have any specific rhythm to it.)

The Unspoken are a warmongering organisation that splits the scattered and hunted chanters of the known lands into three camps.
One that feels that the best course of action is to hide their powers and live among those not chanters.
One that wants to somehow come to terms with the belief...
And the Unspoken. Their main goal to give the belief the same treatment they have been administered for more than a thousand years. (There are diverse other goals in the organisation. But the view most people have of them is rampaging nightmare.)

They also have no qualms of killing of anyone they deem a security breach.
What I mean to say is that they arent exactly a nice bunch of people... lets leave it at that.
And I see that one of you got the pun in their name... Good job.

Now then:
@The Oddsman
I would really want a bio, and of course some chants written out.

@Raitoningu
Silent chants are a high risk working, the magic flows through your own body in another way, and the pain is sufficient enough to make most people lose consciousness. Not to mention the fact that almost none has the training or knowledge needed... I guess your char being mute as the reason is acceptable.

The language difference is a fundamentally useful thing (once I get around to make a language of my own the first thing Ill do is fix all my chants, verses, rhymes and myths), as you need to visualize the result, the meaning of the chant in your head with those words. Words you dont use in your ordinary life is a way to heighten the possibility of success.

It isnt the gods that grant the chants miracles, though they are able to make immensely stronger chants available. And prior to the beginning of the story, only months have passed since people, both chanters and non-chanters began waking up with the awareness that they have the attention of the gods.

@Bitterblue
Im unsure if the Unspoken is the right place for your character. I guess that my vagueness is at fault, Ill make sure to write their nature and conducts a bit better.

And finally, there will be more information appearing about all things, but as it stands now, there are a multitude of factions, and I approve of any ideas you have for a new one that your character is part of. But you dont have to be part of any (Ill write that out as well).

 

[Novum Genus]

Shhhhh, still working, didn't say was done...

 

[Windstormugly]

No problem then.
Thought Id not leave you out of the reprimands. Cant pose favorites just yet, (prone to pose favorites... shown by trying to kill said characters)

 

[Novum Genus]

Don't try to kill me; my character is support, not frontlines.

And I finished the bio, btw.

 

[Windstormugly]

Yes! Thats the kind of bio that fits this story.
Two questions:
How did he get to be a part of the Unspoken?
And do you feel like writing out one or more of the chants he uses? (not exactly obligatory, but if I have the feel of your characters chants, I get a better idea of how I want to change the outcome due to your patron gods.)

 

[Novum Genus]

Hmm, becoming one of the Unspoken will probably be an indirect way to get back at his parents' murderers, though if they were to come and capture him, he would probably just scream, flail, cry and beg. A different approach to characters, since usually I like being a dragon or a tank or something.

And his chants aren't specific lines, since I won't remember them xP
His chants are more feeling-based; he'll start chanting, but it won't be the specific chant that channels the magic or energy or whatever, but rather what he's aiming for and wants. He could say the same chant for one person, doing his best to give him strength, then switch and repeat the chant, and give the other person an increase in speed.

'Know wut ai meen?

 

[Windstormugly]

Yeah, thats a useful approach to the problem of having multiple chants in your head. But it makes it harder to make the right effect occur, a single stray thought and it may switch to an effect you didnt intent.

And the Unspoken are not really into the work of looking for any but the most violent and hate fueled chanters. Its a difference with certain individuals own conduct during their travels and missions. And the situations when people appear at their headquarters in Freeledge (however they found the place). But the Unspoken as a whole would not try to have him join them if they found him in a little cottage in the woods.

 

[Novum Genus]

Of course they would recruit him, if the cottage happened to be along a as-the-crow-flies route straight to one of the more Belief-heavy cities, with a good deal of supplies and such. That would make the cottage a good staging point, as well as a rest stop. It's unwise not to have contacts here and there for food, rest, and a place to hide out for a little bit. If they're only grabbing the most hateful of Chanters, then they're not going to be very effective. Part of waging a war is having the supplies and money to keep going.

And he's not human; he could have a much better focus than humans. He may, say, be able to kinda split his mind's focus; one part can monitor this guy, another part keeps the chants strong and steady, and another part monitors himself. That way, if he finds someone moving towards him, he can keep chanting the respective needed support type, while evading an enemy long enough for an ally to come help him.