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 Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 9:06 am
Pariace: World Hiding in the Clouds
Rules:
1. Respect the ToS
2. Respect players.
3. Listen to the Moderator
4. Do not kill off player characters or important NPC’s without consent.
5. No introducing new NPC’s without clearing it with the Mod first.
The Background
High above the clouds – inaccessible to all but the righteous dead and those souls who’ve had the fortune to be born inside of its hallowed walls – is Pariace. It’s home to the Winged-Angels-as well as the stairway to the world of the Gods, separate and barred even from The Land Above. Ruled by the ten nobles of who make up the Hallowed cast, the every day life in the Land Above runs smoothly and efficiently, seeming to grow continuously to fit those who come in. There are ten cities that lay evenly spaced around a spire so immense that souls outside the gates of Heaven can see it clearly. That is the Creators’ Stair, the path to the world of the Gods. None but the Ten have traveled its height, and all came back changed. Beyond the cities is what seems to be endless acreage of landscape, everything from beautiful white sand beaches to forests of trees so tall and wide that their canopies hold civilizations of their own. It’s a land of constantly changing perfection, where the dead learn to ascend their earthly troubles and gain their Wings.
Story:
Nothing perfect lasts. It’s a rule of life, and of the after life. A stale world is flawed world. Change brings new thoughts and new thoughts bring new concepts of perfection. Life is not perfect in heaven, but while normally the trials a citizen of Heaven faces are minor tests handed down from the gods, lately, something has gotten everyone into a little bit of a panic. In Pariace, the names and images of the gods hold great power. They can be used for almost anything, depending on the god invoked. These powers have begun to fade, and the silence from above has begun to worry some of Pariace’s seers. While no one sees any sort of problem, gossip and rumors have spread among the people.
Is it a test?
Are the gods displeased?
These thoughts spread like wildfire, reaching even the ears of Pariace’s kings and rulers. A great forum is held to wonder, a great gathering of the greatest minds in Heaven. Around the forum a crowd grows, and the small city surrounding Coliseum Thought has become the campground for hundreds of thousands wanting to hear the news. Though the mood was somber to start, nobody, not even the gods themselves can keep the people of Heaven from enjoying the company of their distant brethren. Its become a party like no other, a festival grounded on the relief of fear and a determination to smile, even when things seem to be heading for the worst.
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Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 9:08 am
Important information for Heavenly Characters
|When making a character in Heaven, please consider the following information! Thank you!|
Choose a rank below.
It will help solidify your character, and help me by knowing how characters (Npc or otherwise) should be treating you. Also, if you want to be anything greater than an Winged, please PM me so we can discuss.
This is not just a Christian Heaven.
Heaven has existed forever, and the gods all have their own idea of what's good and evil. Pariace was created by all of these gods, and the dead of all religions live here. It is not always a place of perfect harmony, but it is all according to a plan greater than all.
There is no Death. (Not exactly)
All characters in heaven are dead, but the rules of 'engagement' vary wildly from place to place. In the Northlands, a death is a minor inconvenience. You simply wake up a day later, healed and unharmed but for a mark. In the East, dying forces you to go on a quest of introspection before returning to your 'body.'
A character's background means a lot!
Thinking out your character's life will make it a lot easier to act out his new one. As everyone's soul is different, their appearance in the afterlife is as well. Where they live in heaven and whom they worship are all generally reliant on what they did as humans.
Pariace is run in a sort of caste system, based on age and power. It has many small intricacies and nuances of rank that would trail on forever, but these are the broad strokes in the manuscript, starting from the bottom of the pole and rising to the top.
Tyro: A title given those who have just ascended from life on Earth and passed through the gates of Pariace.
Acolyte: The second step up the ladder of enlightenment, souls begin to lose their earthly form as it grows into something more befitting of their inner selves and the environment around them. Upon reaching this cast, you are allowed brief visits to the world below, often on orders from a Judge or Exalted.
Winged: Watching an Acolyte gain its Wings is the greatest achievement most will ever see. It involves an elaborate ceremony, presided over by one of the Exalted and ending with a giant ceremony. Those achieving their wings are no longer human and their appearance reflects perfectly their inner self.
Judge: Judges are ancient creatures, risen beyond the concept of mortal conscience. They know the rules and they obey these rules to the letter. Within their order is a great power, held in pieces by each of them. This enables them to do miraculous things for those who have earned their favor and bring justice down on the heads of the foolish.
Hierophant: Not everyone is fit to be a judge, and choose the life of the Heirophant as instead. Hierophants become Avatars for the God’s they serve, traveling to the earth in times of great need to promote the agendas of their individual God or Goddess. Their appearance varies wildly from massive creatures seemingly chiseled out of rock to barely visible beings whose sole existence was light. In the modern day, they are often taken for other super-natural creatures.
The Powers: The most powerful, clear sited Winged raise to the rank of a Power, inheriting the strength of ten cities and the sacred duty of protecting Pariace in times of trouble. They are a small number, but they exude such an aura of strength and command that is easy to make them out to be much more than they really are. They aren’t called the Powers for nothing.
Exalted: The tiptop of Pariace’s ranking, these Winged have served as judges, powers or hierophants for so long that they seem to have evolved yet again, their personal power swelling and making an entirely new being. Becoming Exalted is a lot like going into a cocoon. The incubation period is ages, but when a new Exalted awakens, all rejoice. These proud few stand just below the God’s themselves, ruling as the right hand of the Ten.
The Ten: The rulers of the ten cities are the only Winged to ever have climbed the stairway to true heaven. What they received at the top is a mystery, but they returned changed, distant, with their eyes focused on some far away thing as if their sight was more than just the here and now but the then and there and the when and will be. The Ten are very rarely seen. Some of the newer entrees into Pariace doubt that they exist at all.
Special Information: (This category will be added to and subtracted from as players advance and explore the world above.)
Dead Societies: When an entire civilization dies, not only do its people transfer over, the place where they died transfers as well.
Atlantis: Atlantis was once a part of the set of Islands around Australia. It was a land most attached to the sea, similar in culture to the Aborigines on the mainland. They were not, however, a nomadic people. Atlanteans were a social people, living in groups, sleeping in groups, and dying in groups. They were also rigid in their religious practices. Their gods are nameless, worshiped only by the things they represent. The Atlanteans, almost to a whole, are crystal like people. Their collective idea of perfection comes in their diligence and respect for ritual and devotion. It makes them very noticeable, and not always in a good way.
Pompeii: Though they died by a volcano's eruption, the current version of Pompeii in Pariace is stretched up onto the volcano's sides. They celebrate their killer with a huge celebration every year as it erupts and runs down the path they've carved in its sides to the moat about the town, slowly building a wall about them. They are a rather free spirited people, though most of its original folks have taken up some sort of trade to occupy their infinite amount of time. Pompeii is a city of commerce, a place where trade brings folks of all walks together. (They also have some pretty killer bath houses.)
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Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:33 pm
What had started as a somber affair had quickly become another party. The sea of tents and camp circles were decorated with whatever had been handy and many clothes had been drafted for a new purpose as banners and flags. Always in the mood for a party, Grirewia and his seemingly endless legion of servants have taken to creating small sanctuaries amid the camps devoted to dancing or other festive activities. Inside the coliseum proper, however, the initial somber mood hadn't lifted in the slightest. The world's greatest minds sat around a massive round table, talking softly to one another.
Grirewia sat with his head perched on his hand, staring off at the alternate wall. He was trying to make out the details of the wall's embossing in the darkened room and trying not to listen to the repetitive chatter going on around him. The parties outside, he thought, must be much more productive. The bored king nodded to an Atlantean scholar and mumbled in something like agreement, barely stopping himself from sighing.
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Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 4:44 pm
The Winged Bookworm (for that is how he referred to himself), AKA Kanra, made his way into the colliseum, through the flowing party people to a table filled with food. Though he wasn't there for the food, he picked up a stack of plates and shifted them over to create room for a scroll he just picked up. "Ah, the genetics of the Gods of D'rahvd, sweet gods above. With this, we might gain insight in our new neighbors." He spotted Gri boredly listening to some stupid scholars and smirked. The information imparted from that man will be severely underrated by the chance to meet the new information from Kanra's scroll. Catching the leader's eyes, he waved his scroll and pointed to a quiet alcove where they could talk alone.
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Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:59 pm
Grirewia almost ended the talks then and there, as Kanra waved. It had to be some god’s mercy. Excusing himself from the table with an earnest apology and forced himself to walk slowly towards his vassal. Eager to leave the building for a while, Grirewia waved the boo kish winged to silence and wrapped a slender arm about his shoulders. The pale king manhandled the smaller angel through the hallways at a fast walk in the general direction of where Grirewia assumed the exit was. It took him a few tries but soon enough they were out in the open air and the noise of hundreds of thousands washed over them like a tidal wave.
“Delicious.” Grirewia mumbled to himself, his skin warming and taking on a healthier hue. He walked slowly though the crowds with his head up, taking deep breaths of the heavily fragrant air and obviously delighting in the energy. His own tent was situated in the middle of the festivities, a monstrous affair more akin to a circus big top than a camp house. Inside was just as lovely, a mid-eastern inspired home with brightly colored pillows and low tables thrown about. There were people sitting in groups around the tables, smoking out of tall, slim necked bottles. Most waved and some offered spaces at their tables but Grirewia, ever eloquent, refused them and promised that he would visit later. The back of the tent was separated from the rest by a wall of canvas and through the flap Grirewia pulled Kanra, dropping down on his cot as gracefully as he could manage.
“Oh, this is much better.” The king sighed contentedly, smiling at Kanra. “Thank you for the excuse, child. I was getting pent up in that room, and I’m sorry I pulled you away but I really did need to get out of there!” He laughed and nodded, clearly meaning for his vassal to speak.
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 2:13 pm
Kanra smiled and gave a half-bow. "It was my pleasure. I remembered your parties before, and this one didn't exactly look like those did." He laughed, handing the scroll to Grirewia. "I just picked this up from a source, hopefully it will gain us some insight on our neighbors, the D'ravhd." He paused and poured himself and his leader a glass of amber liquor. "Much though I am not involved in politics, if it could ease your mind, I would most likely be able to find more scrolls on the topic, and we could try to open up negotiations with those Priests." He sat on a cushion, flexing his wings and legs. The noise outside was muffled through the tent material, but he could tell the party still went on. Kanra grimaced, "It's nice to know that parties don't rely on the host to keep people drunk and dancing."
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Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:01 am
“I’m not sure what we’d be negotiating about, really, unless you know something I’ve missed?” Grirewia took the scroll and flipped it open onto the cot beside him with a grand gesture, turning and tucking one bare foot under his thigh. He glanced at the words then looked up at the scholar. "By the by, Kanra, who was your source?" He asked with a perfectly trim eyebrow raised, fiddling with the ring in his lip again. Sources without names were hard to trust, and harder to find. The king wondered then, about this new academy. Had their rise in power been parallel to the silence? It was a worrying thought, and not one he wanted to dwell on any longer than he had to. Swigging the drink Kanra had poured, he shivered and glared at the bottle. It was mead, and sweeter than normal. His teeth fairly ached at it. Grirewia was a fan of honey only while it was in tea or spread on his toast.
“Bluh.” He complained with a sour face, downing the rest with a muttered suggestion to himself to check what he was drinking before he drank it.
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Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 10:56 am
Kanra shrugged, his wings gracefully floating and settling with his shoulders. "I don't know. Maybe something like trade agreements, like the light weapon's agreement we have with Lynn's, I mean, Mikiela's clan. Speaking of which, you may want to send an envoy to her, just to make sure our agreements will be upheld. I've met the chit before, she's pretty much the same as Lynn." His eyes wandered to the far side of the tent. "My source is not to be named, though I have trusted her for many years, often with my life. She is trustworthy, loyal, brave, and efficient at what she does." His eyes took on stars as he sighed. "Unfortunately, she's already engaged, or I would have asked her out." Kanra took a sip of the mead and hunched over his cup. "There's not much out there that can part me from seeking knowledge, she and you are pretty much the only things. I hope you realize that."
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Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 9:01 pm
Aelith approached the coliseum slowly. He knew that after his last visit to the mortal world the Judge he had gotten his assignment from would not be happy. It had not gone well...not by any means. He had been instructed to follow around a beggar that had shown he was worthy of the ascension to Tyro after death, but after a miscalculation in his prepping, the beggar died unfaithfully, losing himself to the greed that overtook his life.
Aelith shook off the cobwebs that would haunt him for the next few nights and strode towards the forum that was being held. He entered through the doors into the room where the party was going. He saw many different Tyro and Acolytes there from the different houses, but he was seeking the Judge to give him the bad news.
He looked around slowly, passing many faces that only nodded in his direction. He was lost, no idea where to start looking or even how he would be dressed. He had been gone for 3 years down in the mortal world, why this forum was happening, he had no idea, only visions of being lost and swept up in this mess clouded his mind.
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Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 5:33 am
((revival of another character, hooray!!!))
Serimar, covered in soot as she was, deemed the party not worth going to. Instead, like always, she stayed in her forge, strengthening shields and welding chainmail together. Hmph, ever since I went on that adventure to reclaim Yuri, I hate going outside. Parties? Hah! Just a waste of time, and those tent poles look shot every time they're put up. Horrible creations, those. She sighed and straightened up, wiping her brow with the corner of her apron. "Not much happens up here, not with everyone divine and all."
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Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 6:59 pm
Grirewia & Kanra
"Then that's that, then." The king dismissed the issue with a soft smile and cavalier shrug. Looking up for a moment with a thoughtful expression he chewed gently on his lip ring. He snapped and nodded again giving Kanra a cheerful grin.
"I'll send Guitaya and Bayse to Mikiela and someone to the D'ravhd. I shall send him, yes. Him. What his name is though, I've not a clue. Drat." Gri paused and looked at Kanra with a frustrated expression on his face. "I can't stand it when I forget a name. I do know that it does start with a vowel, however much that helps, yes?" With a grumble Grirewia reached into his pocket and pulled out a book at least three sizes too large for the space it came out of. He placed it on his lap and flipped through it page by page, seeming to be no closer to its no matter how many pages he turned.
"Here he is...I think. Kanra, would you please find the Acolyte Aelith and instruct him and say...Vholin..do you know Vholin? Well either way you will. Instruct them both to hoof hoof hoof flap, or whatever it is they do...to the priests. I'll admit...you've made me curious..." With that, Grirewia went back to flipping through his book, making short notes and humming softly to himself.
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Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 1:10 pm
The scholar laughed, "Hoof hoof flap? I have no idea what that means, and I'm around dictionaries all day. But, yes, I will go and be your herald, messenger, diplomat, and page. Ah, so sad to be alone in the world, where a friend must be a servant at all hours of the day for his lord. Off I go, to make my mark in the world!" Sketching a cheeky bow, he headed back to the main party to find Vholin, hoping to bump in to Aerith along the way. Speaking of which, was Aelith even back? He'd been gone a long time...
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Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 11:17 pm
Aelith continued to search the party for the man that gave him the orders, Kanra. He found plenty of people that would give him a fake smile and a nod, those were the ones biding for Exalted status. Those were the ones that would not get it. Aelith knew just from looking at people that they were destined for greatness....and yet he found that most of the people at this party were nothing great.
Almost literally, he bumped into Kanra. If not for his exuberant wings, he would have indeed. Tapping him lightly on the shoulder to beckon his attention, the great angel turned and nodded to Aelith. "I bring news back from the mortal realm. Unfortunately the man you asked me to keep on the path of the light......he strayed.....he was not able to ascend to Tyro, but succumbed to the inner depths. I am most sorry about this failure today in light of this....'great' party." Aelith put a heavy emphasis on great, in the sentence. "How is master Grirewia this evening? I arrived just as I saw you two float off together." There was no hint of sting in his voice, only curiosity
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Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 12:51 pm
"Ah, Aelith. I am glad you have returned, even if it is failure. This great party will not be affected by your news even so, for even had that man ascended, he would not have been able to join in the drinking and dancing and revelry and useless chatter that we call a great party." His eyes danced as he delived the words with a straight face. He put his hand around the other's shoulder and confided, "Gri might be floating a bit right now from all the mead I gave him. Gods, but it was amusing to see how he reacts with sweetened alcohol. Other than that, the master is fine, in good health and spirits, and has an insane assignment for us all. Apparently you are going to be a diplomat, Vholin's going to be a diplomat, Guitaya and Bayse are going to be diplomatic at sword- or knife-point, and I'm going to be instructing you lot in how to 'hoof hoof hoof flap' which I have no idea what that means. Good luck to us all!"
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 9:46 pm
Aelith raised a concerned eyebrow at the mention of 'Hoof Hoof Flap Flap' and shook it off in a haze. "What ever master has to say about....well....that mess, hopefully he says it a little more clearly then he might have first lead us on to think. A diplomat? Indeed I have training now for that, but a diplomat to who? Or what rather?"
Aelith had always been a little skeptical about proposals about this, but at the mention of diplomacy by knifepoint he shivered. He was trained in hand to hand combat, but the thought of using it was sickening. He was not ready to have it come to that, but if it did he would.
"Will we be able to talk here? Or would you liken to fill me up with a little bit of sweetened mead and speak of this hoof hoof flap flap, then?"
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