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(The First Disgraces Flatsale: The Dogs of Hell Are Come)


Background
The world was called Myl'eao, and its greatest kingdom was Shuk Djal. The kingdom, nestled between the two lesser kingdoms of Verai and Ushuk Aem, was awe-inspiring, not for its militaristic power, but for the sake of the balance it struck with the world. Its advances in both the technological and arcane arts made it a force that the other countries could not compete with- and, while this created a certain amount of tension between it and the rest of the world, it also gave Shuk Djal the authority to keep the peace both inside and outside its borders. Shuk Djal was to the world as the beam was to a scale- without it, everything would fall apart into chaos.

Of course, it goes without saying that a country of such power had its enemies. Those who envied its greatness or coveted its strength were plentiful, but it wasn't until the kingdom of Verai had fallen prey to an unexpected palace coup that this dissent was given the shape and form of an army.

War was declared in earnest, and the soldiers of the new order of Verai marched for the land of their neighboring kingdom. Shuk Djal had had very little formal army assembled in that previous time of peace, merely pockets of soldiers to bring in for domestic problems; with their vast population, they could have no doubt raised a legion of willing fighters within days, but the inexperience of their troops would have still risked their downfall. Fortunately, Shuk Djal had a far greater defense than spilling the blood of enemies.

There were six stones- each stone was a shard of a greater stone, connected by perfect angles. Their colors did not vary, but were a perfectly uniform grey-black. Upon seeing one of these stones, about the size of a head, there would be no reason to speculate that there was anything especially unusual about them; not until they were taken from each other and exposed to a certain type of magic would their supernatural properties be revealed. Each stone was linked in perfect harmony to one another, and when all six were magically charged, they produced a dome-like shield that protected all that lay between them. This shield could be controlled only by one of the stones, opened only at the behest of one with control over one of the artifacts.

When Verai's armies arrived at the kingdom of Shuk Djal, the doors were effectively closed; solid to the touch, the shield held strong against the attempts of the soldiers to break past it. Persistant as they were, Verai set up camps along the border of Shuk Djal, waiting for the day that the shield would drop. Agents were sent by sea around Shuk Djal into Ushuk Aem, where they made their way into the enemy country and sought to sabatoge the stones and somehow gain control of the shield; ever vigilant, Shuk Djal defended itself against these lowhanded attacks as well as it could.

It was not quite good enough, though. Many years after the beginning of this so-far-bloodless war, one of the stones was critically damaged in a sabatoge attempt; the shield weakened, but did not quite drop. The armies waiting on the lands of Verai had grown, and the armies of Shuk Djal were still weak in comparison. An all-out war would not go well for the great country. After long deliberations, it was determined that the only option was to remove the shield and bring the damaged stone to one of the others and magically restore it to the shape of its brother, and then return it to its place and put up the shield before too many lives could be lost while Shuk Djal's army warded off the soldiers of Verai.

A small team was chosen for the mission- small, because they would have to travel in absolute secrecy. It was the dead of night when the shield dropped and the armies of Verai stirred- Shuk Djal took the initiative on the attack, and in the first spilled blood of combat, the unit of four soldiers that retreated from the scene with the damaged stone aboard a hovering caravan were completely unnoticed.

The four soldiers- known as the "Cwn Annwn"- travelled under spells of non-detection and cloaking devices; they stopped at no town for rest, and never laid foot on a road for fear of being spotted. Making their way cross-country towards the nearest stone, they knew full well the responsibility that weighed upon their shoulders and the need for haste. Their journey would take three weeks to and three weeks from their destination, barring any obstacles.

From here, we can only speculate what went wrong. One day, the soldiers were still believed to be in transit, perhaps three days from their destination... then next day, the damaged stone was sold off to Verai. The fates of the four soldiers were discovered within a few days- their bodies still littered the ground around the caravan, not even having been given a proper burial by their killers.

Shuk Djal fell within half a year, and with the greatest country under their control, Verai continued to build its empire across Myl'eao.

The souls of the Cwn Annwn, having failed their country and king and kinsmen, were banished into Limbo, never to taste any true afterlife that they might have thought to have earned. An indeterminate amount of time later, however, these four souls were found missing from the void....

The Finding
(roleplay in progress)

Flatsale Price: 9,000g



Navigation

1. INTRO
2. DISGRACES
3. RULES
4. FLATSALE BABIES
5. PROMPT
6. ENTRIES
7. LINKS
(Information)


(Sooo... I'm confused. What exactly are the Disgraces?)
The Disgraces, in a past life, were failed heroes; someone who tried to protect something, but failed in such a manner that what they had sought to preserve was destroyed. In death, the souls of these heroes were sent to Limbo, being unfit for either Heaven or Hell. However, something (or someone) has been bringing them back, causing them to be reborn on Gaia. These reborn forms are the Disgraces.

(Awesome! So, I get my own concept, right?)
Not if you're planning to get a Disgrace out of this flatsale. This is not a custom flatsale; there is a specific story behind the babies here, and while you would have a good amount of flexibility over the specifics of your Disgrace's background, there will be specific parameters you'll need to fit it in.

(Pssh... that's lame! I want a custom!)
Well, in this case, we decided to open up the first flatsale with a more interesting gimmick that will encourage a lot of roleplaying. You see, there are four children in this flatsale... and all of them knew each other in their past lives. In fact, they were very close....

(Really?... Hmmm... okay, I'll bite. What was their relationship?)
Tut-tut... you didn't read the first post, didja? In their past life, the four souls were members of a small military group called the Cwn Annwn- "Dogs of Hell" in English. While they were transporting a very important magical artifact which shielded their country from invasion, their party was raided by bandits and all four were slain. This led to the country's eventual ruin.

(... So... they were... uh... French?)
... Where the hell did you-- agggh, I get your confusion now. This story was not based on Earth, or Gaia; it's an original story based in a futuristic-fantasy universe. That means there's magic and lots of high-tech shiny weapons... though nothing too advanced, I should mention.

(Ohhh! Okay, that makes a lot more sense. So, what exactly happened to cause them to fail?)
Psssh. What's the fun if I say right off the bat?

(... You don't know, do you.)
D: You have so little faith! I know what happened- HOWEVER, after the flatsale, I'm going to give a quick vote among the winners to decide whether they want to create their own version of what happened or if they want me to GM the history for them. This will be a majority-rules sorta deal- one person can't choose to make up their history and the other three go with a specific one I make. Note, please, that it will require a lot of cooperation between the winners if they decide to write up their own history, hence why I'm offering this as a possibility.

(... Psssh.)
Yeah, yeah, screw you too.
(Rules)


(General Rules)
Read all of the rules before posting in this thread. Failure to do so will result in being grey or blacklisted, depending on the nature of the offense.
(1) You can never buy a preexisting Disgrace from its Sentinel. Just asking is enough to warrent a blacklisting, so JUST. DON'T. DO IT.
(2) Follow all the rules of Gaia Online. Don't flame, don't troll, don't spam, don't cyber, don't do anything that would get you in trouble with the mods. Simple as that.
(3) Do NOT message anyone about any issues concerning the shop EXCEPT (Disgraces). Period. Contact (Disgraces) about anything related to the shop; I'll be checking the mule once or twice a day for PMs, so please be patient. Unless an artist tells you that you can directly contact them about shop matters, don't do it. Seriously.
(4) You steal art, concepts, characters or storyline, and you will be banned from the shop and reported to a moderator. Doesn't even matter if its from our shop- we don't support art thieves of any form. Get yer own talent, biznatch.


(Flatsale Rules)
If you intend to enter the flatsale, please make sure that you read and understand all of the following rules. Failure to abide by these rules may result in disqualification!
(1) No sympathy trips. There's a distinct difference between expressing how excited you are about a flatsale and trying to guilt your way into getting an edge on the competition. While we'd love to hear how badly you want a Disgrace or whatever- seriously, it's good for our egos- going into a drawn-out sob story about how your cat just died and you came up with the PERFECT name for your future Disgrace that will honor its memory and help you heal? Yeah. No.
(2) Make sure that you understand the following things about the Disgraces: they are a heavy roleplay B/C-P. They *can* die. If you are gone for two months with no word, your Disgrace will be rehomed. You will not get a refund if it is rehomed. Only one Disgrace per person. If you have any questions about any of these details, you can get more information on the Disgraces` main thread.
(3) You- and you alone- are to write your flatsale entry! I cannot stress this enough! You can get friends to look over for spelling and grammatical errors, even to bounce ideas off of- but if they write your entry for you and we find out, you will be BLACKLISTED and, most likely, REPORTED. And if, God forbid, a cheating entry actually won, the Disgrace will be immediately rehomed- and NO, we do not give refunds for CHEATERS.
(The Cwn Annwn)


Quote:
User Image
(Baby 1)
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: White
Hair: Curly, light blonde
Eyes: Bright blue
Special Features: Scar on the left side of her torso
Burden: Metal collar with military dog tags
Past Life: This Disgrace was once the leader of the Cwn Annwn. She was not necessarily friendly, and demanded perfection from herself and those around her. When something went wrong, she'd be the one that everyone would look to for a solution; her quick-thinking and good judgement had kept the group out of many a disaster. She specialized in tactics and diplomacy, and was an expert in firearms as well as being adept in hand-to-hand.


Quote:
User Image(Baby 2)
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: White
Hair: Straight, blonde
Eyes: Dark brown, typically half-lidded
Special Features: Diagonal scar across the front of her neck
Burden: Metal collar with military dog tags
Past Life: In her past life, this Disgrace was the technician of the Cwn Annwn. She was the only one that wasn't strictly a combatant, though she was of course provided some basic training. Despite her sharp intellect, she found herself treated as the "baby" of the group, and was rarely taken seriously in anything outside of her direct area of expertise. Her specialties were in the upkeep and technical knowledge of the equipment used by the group, as well as operating the scanners and other various gadgetry used.


Quote:
User Image
(Baby 3)
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Black
Hair: Very dark and wavy
Eyes: Bright lavander
Special Features: Scar that cuts down across her left eye from just above her eyebrow to just above her chin.
Burden: Metal collar with military dog tags
Past Life: This Disgrace was the magical expert for the Cwn Annwn, and also considered the loose cannon of the group. She was a fun-loving girl who wielded her magic wildly and without care for the consequences, and who absolutely *adored* mischief. Though she was prone to be panicky and extremely excitable in times of stress, she was kept in line by the sharp tongue of the group's leader- who, naturally, was just about the only person who could bully her into doing something she didn't want to. Her specialty was magic and magic alone- recognizing and identifying it, casting it, defending against it, so on and so forth.


Quote:
User Image
(Baby 4)
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
Hair: Brown and straight
Eyes: Yellow and wide, innocent
Special Features: Scar across his chest
Burden: Metal collar with military dog tags
Past Life: This Disgrace was the only male member to the Cwn Annwn, and as such, was generally the one that got stuck doing the heavy lifting. He was often teased for being the only guy in an all-female group of soldiers- not only by his teammates, but by the other male soldiers. However, he was a mellow sort of guy with infinite patience and an almost puppy-like optimism, so this never seemed to bother him. His big size and sweet personality earned him the nickname of "Teddy Bear" among the girls. His specialty was in combat and being a complete pushover for his teammates- that is, being a total doormat whenever someone wanted him to do something for them- I mean to say, being a helpful and friendly teammate.
(Prompt)


The prompt will be posted Friday 24th, afternoon PST. It will run until Saturday 25th, evening PST. At least an hour's warning will be given before the chance to enter is closed, so no whining about lack of specific times.

Those who wish to enter may either put their entry up here on the thread or PM it to (Disgraces). No huge entry is necessary, just please make sure to title the entry so that we know you're making an entry. Editing is not allowed, and neither is making multiple entries. You get one chance and one chance only, so make it good!

(Note: if there is a problem for a winner to pay the flatsale fee of 9k, something might be able to be worked out, but such problems should be announced beforehand.)


Quote:
You're walking down the streets of Barton, going about your own business and safely in your own happy little world, when a strange sound from an alleyway catches your attention. After a moment of puzzling, you decide that you might as well investigate, so you head down the alleyway and start poking around. It doesn't take you long at all to come upon a stern-looking, black-haired woman wearing a peasant dress, who gives you a piercing look as you approach. Before you can so much as greet her, however, you notice something a bit more shocking than some lady in an alleyway; namely, the source of the noise. Which happens to be four little babies. Who are all stuck in a cardboard box. Which has the words "FREE TO A GOOD HOME" scribbled on the front of it.

Apparently deciding that you might be worth a shot, the woman speaks up. "Interested? Good. I am Special Agent Xemn with the Purgatory-Limbo Investigative Bureau, and these-" she nods to the squalling babies, "-are called Disgraces, and they need homes with mortals. So, tell me. What makes you think you'd be a good Sentinel for one of them?" She settles back to give you an unsettling look with those vivid red eyes of hers, waiting for a response.


How do you react to this scene? How do you convince Xemn that you would provide a good home for one of the children?



Judges: Arrien, Kyrianna, and Chirigami.
(Entries)


InaFaye | via PMs
Tisiphone | via PMs
ladyumbra | via PMs
All right- there're still some things that need to be fleshed out, but for the moment, the thread is considered open to posting. ^^

Shy Phantom

*perches on thread* ninja

Infinities's King

Aged Codger

*Tackles* I AM ONE OF THE JUDGES HEAR ME ROAR!

....
....
....

Mew.

Shy Phantom

I AM... I AM... What am I? confused
I...find myself entranced! I MUST - absolutely must - apply for my chance to play! *bounce* Consider yourself...with an entry! *skittles off to start writing her entry!*
Whoa... people showed up sooner than I'd expected! *figured no one would post until morning at least* ^^ Hey to Myst and Kyri, and 'lo to InaFaye! The prompt isn't up yet for the entry, but I'll be looking forward to what you come up with!

Shy Phantom

*perches on Arrien* What am I? gonk

Swashbuckling Sentai

*ninjas* O:

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