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Nine hours of midnight - survival contest
in Sagas
Nine hours of midnight
"Survive! Survive - at any cost possible."
The night is coming. The red night, the long night, the endless night, the last night.
With it comes a midnight so long.
A midnight that brings a painful coldness.
A midnight that brings a blinding darkness.
A midnight that brings an raging storm.
A midnight that brings monsters from the beyond.
A midnight that won't pass for most.
A midnight that won't spare the weak.
A midnight that won't spare the strong.
A midnight, nine hours long.
The night does not not spare humans, animals, beasts or even the creatures of the night.
Man was once about to lose to the creatures of the night, to die out, to go extinct - but one of the creatures allied with the humans. He took them as slaves cattle, pets, children, workers, citizens.
The creature would end up killed by his former brethren, but the world had already begun to change - and a child would be born in pure daylight. A prime lord of the night, untouched by the rays of the sun, an impossible crossbreed.
More and more creatures joined the crossbreed, they joined with the humans. Most still saw man as barely anything more than useful pets that could be devoured when they disobeyed. Some saw them as an effective class of workers in their new society. Some would see them almost as equals, maybe even begin to... fall in love with them. Some would never obey the crossbreed, never accept man as anything more than prey.
Laws would be enforced to bring order to this new world.
But before these laws would bring order, they would bring hate, conflict, disobedience, war.
The prime lords of the night, the brethren of the traitor lord, declared war against the crossbreed child. A war that was thought would be over quickly against a weak hybrid.
The war was not over quickly. It was long and carried a heavy price for both sides. Then it would end when the hybrid lord dragged the strongest of the rebelling lords out into the bright light of day. There something would happen that had never happened before. Before the skin of the lord of night had turned to ash and his blood was spilled upon the hot cobble stones, the crossbreed had bit into his neck and drained him dry, absorbing all his might leaving a dry ashen corpse.
The prime lords would no longer deny the true nature of the crossbreed as they bowed to their new king lord.
Not all of the prime lords of the night who had declared war against the hybrid, thus not all of them had bowed to this new king. One of these was the one who had killed the traitor lord. The most powerful of the prime lords, the lord of the endless midnight.
The sun is slowly descending towards the horizon lending its last dark orange light to the town of Eitnaheim. A clocktower stands tall in the middle of the courtyard just outside the church. A man dressed in a battle ready attire of steel and black leather looks upon the clock as it begins to ring. 9 Pm - three hours until midnight. He lowers his head and pulls out a special made clip pistol from his belt. He draws a deep breath as he looks at the masterly crafted wood and steel. The gun is already loaded with four bullets - but their targets are not any monsters. He puts the pistol back into his belt and walks away from the clocktower.
The streets are getting calmer as people are finishing barricading their homes before locking themselves inside. Soldiers dressed in gambeson and chain armor with halberds or rifles in their hands are marching through the streets towards the church. As they approach the courtyard the captain orders the soldiers to stop and turning towards the man. They give a salute before continuing their march. The man proceeds his walk down the street through the marketplace, which had been emptied of supplies, and the wagons were being used to build fortifications. The man walks past a couple of soldiers who are lending out rifles and lead bullets to the civilians who have decided, or were forced to, join in the defense.
In a fortified corner, three soldiers and a war alchemist are mounting a flame sprayer onto an old wagon. On top of the roofs, guards armed with rifles are resting, waiting for the last hours to pass. Above the town, balloons carrying alchemists and riflemen have taken flight. As the evening grows late more strange people have begun exiting the houses, equipped with long narrows swords and pistols similar to the man. The man stops at a cage. He looks inside at a man hiding beneath a cloak, he looks up for a moment revealing yellow animal eyes. The man checks the look to see that it is weak enough to break when the time comes. Then he continues.
Corpses has begun to appear across the city streets. The man suddenly stops once again. He stands at the entrance to valley where he looks at two women sitting at a staircase. One is shaking uncontrollably. She is holding the hands of child who lies in the other woman's embrace. The girl's skin is pale, and stains of blood is reaching down her neck. The other woman puts aside the lifeless child to embrace the mother. After a calm moment she bites into her neck draining her of blood. The young vampire's eyes glows red like they never done before. Her eyes grows in size as she sees the man. What she is doing is illegal, but this evening carry many exceptions. It is not of desire that she has ended this woman's and her child's life. It is out of mercy to them as they would rather have their life taken in peace by a vampire than by the midnight.
The vampire lowers the dead woman's body to the ground before she stands straight facing the man. "Sir Kayne. I only fulfilled their wishes. I would never-." Kayne held his hand up. "There are no crimes this night, Selina. You have given them mercy - which only a few will receive tonight. In two hours I want you to show up at the clocktower. Don't be late." Selina nodded before Kayne disappeared down the streets.
To request a vampire to end one's life was not uncommon this night, neither was to have one's throat slit open by soldiers or the act of suicide - all to avoid facing the midnight. The bodies of the dead would then be thrown to the dogs, the werewolves or into the river. Anything more was not possible. Soldiers armed with silver, and civilians arm with whatever they could find, would soon be the only people outside. Vampires armed with long swords would often take the command. Manmade beasts would be let out of their cages so they could help in any way possible.
Soon the clocktower would ring for midnight and then for nine more hours it would ring every hour without the hands ever moving away from their up reaching point. Time will be stuck at midnight for nine hours - and the terrors of the midnight will be released upon Eitnaheim, every hour worse than the one before.
"Survive! Survive - at any cost possible."
The night is coming. The red night, the long night, the endless night, the last night.
With it comes a midnight so long.
A midnight that brings a painful coldness.
A midnight that brings a blinding darkness.
A midnight that brings an raging storm.
A midnight that brings monsters from the beyond.
A midnight that won't pass for most.
A midnight that won't spare the weak.
A midnight that won't spare the strong.
A midnight, nine hours long.
The night does not not spare humans, animals, beasts or even the creatures of the night.
Man was once about to lose to the creatures of the night, to die out, to go extinct - but one of the creatures allied with the humans. He took them as slaves cattle, pets, children, workers, citizens.
The creature would end up killed by his former brethren, but the world had already begun to change - and a child would be born in pure daylight. A prime lord of the night, untouched by the rays of the sun, an impossible crossbreed.
More and more creatures joined the crossbreed, they joined with the humans. Most still saw man as barely anything more than useful pets that could be devoured when they disobeyed. Some saw them as an effective class of workers in their new society. Some would see them almost as equals, maybe even begin to... fall in love with them. Some would never obey the crossbreed, never accept man as anything more than prey.
Laws would be enforced to bring order to this new world.
But before these laws would bring order, they would bring hate, conflict, disobedience, war.
The prime lords of the night, the brethren of the traitor lord, declared war against the crossbreed child. A war that was thought would be over quickly against a weak hybrid.
The war was not over quickly. It was long and carried a heavy price for both sides. Then it would end when the hybrid lord dragged the strongest of the rebelling lords out into the bright light of day. There something would happen that had never happened before. Before the skin of the lord of night had turned to ash and his blood was spilled upon the hot cobble stones, the crossbreed had bit into his neck and drained him dry, absorbing all his might leaving a dry ashen corpse.
The prime lords would no longer deny the true nature of the crossbreed as they bowed to their new king lord.
Not all of the prime lords of the night who had declared war against the hybrid, thus not all of them had bowed to this new king. One of these was the one who had killed the traitor lord. The most powerful of the prime lords, the lord of the endless midnight.
The sun is slowly descending towards the horizon lending its last dark orange light to the town of Eitnaheim. A clocktower stands tall in the middle of the courtyard just outside the church. A man dressed in a battle ready attire of steel and black leather looks upon the clock as it begins to ring. 9 Pm - three hours until midnight. He lowers his head and pulls out a special made clip pistol from his belt. He draws a deep breath as he looks at the masterly crafted wood and steel. The gun is already loaded with four bullets - but their targets are not any monsters. He puts the pistol back into his belt and walks away from the clocktower.
The streets are getting calmer as people are finishing barricading their homes before locking themselves inside. Soldiers dressed in gambeson and chain armor with halberds or rifles in their hands are marching through the streets towards the church. As they approach the courtyard the captain orders the soldiers to stop and turning towards the man. They give a salute before continuing their march. The man proceeds his walk down the street through the marketplace, which had been emptied of supplies, and the wagons were being used to build fortifications. The man walks past a couple of soldiers who are lending out rifles and lead bullets to the civilians who have decided, or were forced to, join in the defense.
In a fortified corner, three soldiers and a war alchemist are mounting a flame sprayer onto an old wagon. On top of the roofs, guards armed with rifles are resting, waiting for the last hours to pass. Above the town, balloons carrying alchemists and riflemen have taken flight. As the evening grows late more strange people have begun exiting the houses, equipped with long narrows swords and pistols similar to the man. The man stops at a cage. He looks inside at a man hiding beneath a cloak, he looks up for a moment revealing yellow animal eyes. The man checks the look to see that it is weak enough to break when the time comes. Then he continues.
Corpses has begun to appear across the city streets. The man suddenly stops once again. He stands at the entrance to valley where he looks at two women sitting at a staircase. One is shaking uncontrollably. She is holding the hands of child who lies in the other woman's embrace. The girl's skin is pale, and stains of blood is reaching down her neck. The other woman puts aside the lifeless child to embrace the mother. After a calm moment she bites into her neck draining her of blood. The young vampire's eyes glows red like they never done before. Her eyes grows in size as she sees the man. What she is doing is illegal, but this evening carry many exceptions. It is not of desire that she has ended this woman's and her child's life. It is out of mercy to them as they would rather have their life taken in peace by a vampire than by the midnight.
The vampire lowers the dead woman's body to the ground before she stands straight facing the man. "Sir Kayne. I only fulfilled their wishes. I would never-." Kayne held his hand up. "There are no crimes this night, Selina. You have given them mercy - which only a few will receive tonight. In two hours I want you to show up at the clocktower. Don't be late." Selina nodded before Kayne disappeared down the streets.
To request a vampire to end one's life was not uncommon this night, neither was to have one's throat slit open by soldiers or the act of suicide - all to avoid facing the midnight. The bodies of the dead would then be thrown to the dogs, the werewolves or into the river. Anything more was not possible. Soldiers armed with silver, and civilians arm with whatever they could find, would soon be the only people outside. Vampires armed with long swords would often take the command. Manmade beasts would be let out of their cages so they could help in any way possible.
Soon the clocktower would ring for midnight and then for nine more hours it would ring every hour without the hands ever moving away from their up reaching point. Time will be stuck at midnight for nine hours - and the terrors of the midnight will be released upon Eitnaheim, every hour worse than the one before.
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Comments
This is a saga contest and will have some similar traits to other sagas such as Tournament of champions and Planeswalker's journey. You will create a legendary character who will face the challenge given by the contest.
The real differences is that here failure is punished with death.
There won't be any significant growth to the characters. No rewards or upgrades such as additional cards or higher cmc will be handed out. You could say that instead of character growth, this contest is about character decline.
There won't be a real limit either to the amount of cards one can make for one's characters or their story.
Joining the contest
To join this contest you will have to create a mortal character or "character group":
Mortal in this instance means a character that can die from violence. So no gods, elementals (unless they can die). Immortal as in won't die to natural causes is allowed.
- Each cardsmith creates one or multiple legendary creatures with a reasonable converted mana cost that is true to their character and nature. (Recommended max is 7 but it can be higher if it seems reasonable.)
- Each cardsmith may describe some personality and background for the chosen character(s).
- Each cardsmith may provide some general traits, skills, abilities and other quirks which their characters posses.
- Each cardsmith may create cards in addition to their character cards to represent equipment, abilities, spells and companions.
-Each cardsmith distribute attribute points for their characters. This is important to evaluate the effect of certain choices and the consequences of different encounters.
You have 50 points which you can distribute how you want in the attributes below which represents your character group. You can put anything from 0 to 10 in each attribute where 0 is the worst and 10 is the best:
Strength - Pretty straight forward. The general strength of the character both in and outside of combat.
Combat Skill - Similar to dexterity. The skill the character possesses in combat, with or without weapons.
Endurance - Stamina. How long the character can endure combat and physical stress.
Intelligence - How fast and good the character is to understand new things, monster behaviors and changes.
Knowledge - How much gathered knowledge the character have about common monsters, plants, poisons, illness and such.
Psychology - Endurance for the mind. How long can the character endure having their mind tested by the midnight.
Vitality - Toughness. How much beating and harm can the character endure before breaking.
Magic prowess - Pretty straight forward. How good is the character with magic.
"Specialty" - This trait can be renamed to whatever you feel is the characters specialty. For example - alchemy or camouflage.
Health - This is not an attribute but your health bar. It begins at 100% and will decline as your character gets wounded, sick, poisoned, harmed, have their mind cracked and more. If this reaches 0 the character dies. Having it at 100% does not ensure survival but the chances are better than if it would have been at let say 40%.
Starting location: Choose a location on the map where you want your character to start. In addition to the sections on the map you can also start in the sewers. You don't have to provide a location until your first story segment, but you must give a location before the end of the first hour.
Starting consumables: You may start with a couple of items in your possession. Choose up to three of the following or make your own. These are consumable items (limited use) which are not part of your basic equipment.
- Healing potions: Recovers 15 - 33 of health to the character. The amount depends on multiple things such as if the character is sick or poisoned. If the character using the potion (on themselves or others) has knowledge in healthcare or similar. The surroundings. A safe environment provides better healing than the heat of combat.
- Antidote: Heals sickness, poison and illness.
- Minor elixir: Prevents infection, poison, sickness, illness, confusion, distress.
- Bandage: Stops bleeding and prevents infection. Can provide minor healing.
- Bomb: Can blow up enemies or structures.
- Smoke bomb: can be used to cover an escape. (Does not work against all kinds of enemies)
- Poison flask: Can be used to improve weapons or thrown at enemies to cause an effect.
- A handful of ingredients: Can be used to create mixtures of different kinds, the better the character's knowledge the more and better the mixtures.
- Make up your own items and what they do. No miracle items though unless it makes sense and is limited in use.
Death - Don't bring a character that you want to keep alive. This contest will almost surely kill everyone. The only question is when and how.
Open or closed death - If you want to you can declare your character's death as open or closed. If it is closed I will only mention if and when your character die. If you choose open, there is a chance that your character will be killed in real action from the view of Kayne, Selina or another PoV character.
This contest takes place during the nine hours. You will have control over your character during the two hours before the midnight to build connections, gather information, equipment, items, knowledge and whatever else you consider important. For when the night begins, it won't cease its assault.
Every hour will be one contest cycle or one week long.
Every Friday the passing of hours will happen.
- The last hour will end - It is no longer guaranteed that any story or cards that you submit is taken into consideration for the result. (Until the next hour)
- I will post a short story with the PoV characters about any highlights from the last hour and the beginning of the next hour.
- The result of the last hour will be revealed. Who died, who got wounded and how severe. Infections, illness, items found, etc.
- The setting, the monsters, events and some other things about that hour will be presented. (Less information will be given later in the midnight, specifically the 7th to 9th hour. If you make it that far) That which was a secret during last hour will be revealed.
Example: You have survived the 7th hour where a monster has been unknown. At the end of the hour you will be shown what this monster was or is if it still remains.
The new cycle has now begun and you are free to continue writing stories that fit with the result. How did your character end up wounded? What did they do after they got wounded? Did they get sick but managed to heal it before the hour was over? Did they move to another section of the town or seek shelter in somewhere because the building they were hiding inside was destroyed? And so on.
Creating cards is a way to visualize and materialize the storytelling so it is highly recommended. Remember that you got no card limit.
You can give your items, such potions and antidotes, to other cardsmiths if you are within the same town section.
You can move to another section which is connected to your current one. Some sections are connected to the sewers which can act as a risky shortcut. You can move one section per hour.
The result at the end of the hours will depend on some factors:
- Quality of the character card(s) and other cards.
- Quality and quantity of story segments.
- The characters actions from the last hour.
- The characters attributes, skills and abilities.
- location of the character and presence of other characters (NPC or Cardsmith).
- The character's health.
- Chaos of the night (dice roll)
- Bonus: Convenient success and unauthorized dominance. Powerful friends that will absorb the midnight and whatever. If you make your character boringly unstoppable, "perfect" and won't slow down when I message you, the result will be a huge target on their back. Something one should not want during the endless midnight.
In short - If your character story was a book. Would it be a praised book or best used as a door holder. How interesting and believable is your character.
Rules and important notes
- Don't break the rules of the forum.
- Don't spam messages. Don't write multiple comments that are basically background noise that don't achieve anything to a discussion, a question or similar. This is comments like "Ah" "Haha" "Screw you" "I like ice cream" and the like in repetition. If you write like this a few times is no big deal but try to avoid it. I have to backtrack through all comments later on and I appreciate if the noise is at a minimum.
Remember that you can always edit comments to add text if you want.
- Respect the story, the world and its rules or at least leave it alone. Don't try to tip the scales of power or take control of the night. You are only here to survive the midnight, not to change the world outside it.
- By joining this contest and declaring an open death, you agree to let me take control over your characters and do with them as I see fit during their last moment. It is important that you give me some instruction about your character. Personality, motivations, abilities and such. This makes it easier for me to keep your characters true to their intended image.
- Don't be afraid to make mistakes! We are all humans, and humans are flawed. Also - we are here to have fun after all.
The deadline to join the contest is the end of the first hour - 28th of October
(7:00 PM London time on the 29th)
Since this is the first time I make this kind of contest I will be working on improving the rules and the instructions. So I will surely update the information at some point.
Example character
My example character will be Selina Velintes, the young vampire which is mentioned in the first page.
Strength - 5
Combat Skill - 9
Endurance - 6
Intelligence - 5
Knowledge - 3
Psychology - 4
Vitality - 5
Magic prowess - 6
Vampirism - 7 (The ability to drain strength from the enemy by drinking their blood)
Starting location: Church quarter
Starting items:
- 2x Blood vials (Provides less health than health potion but grants temporary strength.
- Minor elixir.
Selina is 63 years old which is considered young for a vampire as she is younger than the crossbreed. When she came of age the world had already been changed, the night war had already been won by the crossbreed. She had thus never had the opportunity to drink blood in what to many vampires is considered to be the true way - to drink the blood and life directly from the prey.
She was born into the family of lesser lords so even though she never drank lifeblood, (which the last blood of someone is called), she always had access to good blood - maiden's blood and other similar high class blood. Being noble born she was also taught from young age the skill of combat and magic, of which she mastered only the combat skill. One thing she was never taught however was how to control her bloodlust, something which she would never have to - until she tasted lifeblood during the evening before the midnight.
(The town is supposed to be gothic victorian with roads of cobble stone and larger, but this was the best I could make.)
The town of Eitnaheim is divided into 11proper sections, but for this contest 17 will be used.
These sections are divvied as the following link shows:
https://i.imgur.com/YWQpvMT.jpg
Lore and world
Batiljmor is one of the Argentrabus worlds, thus technically being in the same universe as Avelaide. Batiljmor is darker and more grim than his sister world and the midnight is a catalyst for most of this grimness. Outside of the midnight Batiljmor is not much more grim than the ordinary vampire stories, but due to the story being focused more from the vampire perspecive it is more cold blooded.
Batiljmor is divided into a few different realms. All lore and other information, unless specified, is related to the biggest realm Nox' Baveleria. These realms are then divided into different factions, countries, kingdoms, dukedoms, nations etc. Some of these are singular provinces but most are mutiple.
In Nox' Baveleria the factions are either directly or indirectly ruled by prime lords. Under these, ruling over singular provinces, are ordinary lords. Beneath these are the minor lords who rule over regions or cities.
Not all prime lords are equal though.
The greatest of the prime lords are sometimes considered supreme lords. These are the lord of the midnight, the crossbreed (after the civil war) and the blood queen. The father to the crossbreed was also considered a supreme lord as well as some other characters that are either died or disappeared a long time ago.
The vampires are divided into different classes, just as the humans.
Some of these are based on authority and age while others are based on power. Vampires measure power in two ways - the power of their abilities and how powerful life blood they can drain. This is what diffirentiates the supreme lords from the prime lords. They have at least once succesfully drained the blood from another prime lord.
The midnight lord drained it from the crossbreed's father.
The crossbreed drained it from one of the enemy prime lords.
More about the blood queen another time. None of these three are full blooded vampires.
In general the class order is:
- Prime lord are pretty much just old and powerful lords (both in ability and authority). Most of these have drained blood from other vampires but not everyone.
- Ordinary lords are also old vampires with with power but not enough to contest the prime lords.
- Minor lords is just a title of authority over some land.
- Generals, commanders, politicans, bureaucrats, and other people (vampires) working directly beneath the lords. The highest position that humans can hold in most of Nox' Baveleria though at a lesser class.
- Blood maidens. (Humans) These are women with one simple purpose - to provide blood. There are male "blood maidens" but they are so rare so the title is considered female only. Males are often called blood givers or blood sellers. Blood maidens is a protected human class that sell blood to the vampires. Some have more desired blood so they sell it for a higher price, some have less desired blood so they sell for a lower price. The most desired blood maiden's blood is so expensive that most lords can't even afford it. These women in turn have such large fortunes that their authority can rival even some vampire lords. The greatest blood maiden of them all even surpasses the lords (though for different reasons).
- Ordinary vampires with little to no effective authority except from them being vampires.
- Alchemists, scientists, engineers, et. (humans) Titles does not give a human any authority. A human can't give orders to vampires, that is generally understood by everyone. Humans being the lesser and weaker creature have forced them to find other methods to surive and fight. These caused humans to create weapons, guns, cannons, silver coated weapons, flammable liquid, flame sprayers and so many potions and mixtures. Humans are weak, their authority laughable, their lives pathetic, their tools deadly. The last 70 years of unification between humans and the vampires have caused the humans to invent so many new weapons that if a war ever broke out they would pose a true threat to the vampires.
- Human soldiers: An expendible force that can use silver weapons and other tolls, and are born to follow orders. Then when they die in combat their blood can be used to satisfy their commander's thirst. What's not to like.
- Human workers: They farm, they take care of cattle, they make clothes, they build roads, bridges, houses. Once they were slaves to the vampires, now most of them are free workers. Children and elders are included in this class.
- Human waste: Blood, tools and work. That is what the humans should provide. If a human can't provide any of these or help in providing them then he is useless. Barely anything more than a bag of meat and blood. No one cares if these humans disappear in the night, so humans are quite good in finding work.
Due to limited space I can't include the laws, those that break them, and those that enforce them.
But in general. The rule is: No vampire shall kill a human for their blood.
Neck drinkers are vampires that break this rule directly but while maintaining an old standard.
Neck rippers are vampires that lust for blood without any kind of standards.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/klavor-priest-of-annihilation
@Jonteman93 You need to change the point system. There are 9 categories with a maximum of 10 points, and 100 points to spend. You can max out every stat and have left over points.
Strength: 6
Combat skill: 7
Endurance: 6
Intelligence:6
Knowledge: 5
Psychology: 9
Vitality: 7
Magic Prowess: 4
Speciality: N/a
Klavor saw his parents burn in a fire in his youth. It drove him mad. Now, Klavor preaches the doctrine of fire. He says only those who die in fire will reach a tolerable afterlife.
Whoops, sorry! I have fixed it to the intended amount where one can have average in all attributes and full in the specialty.
@IzItTru
Everything that is "alive", able to die and not a planeswalker is allowed. There is supposed to be tension for the characters' life after all.
So yes, double faced cards are allowed.
@MonkeyPirate2002
I have changed the description about mortal characters.
Yes vampires are allowed.
1. If we make a double-faced card, can we have the transform condition be contingent on an event in the story? i.e. getting bit by a vampire and transforming into a vampire, or dying and coming back as a spirit.
2. If our character dies, will it be possible for us to make a new one and continue to participate?
1. Cards should me made as to work in normal play. Having a card depend on an event which is not related to the game itself and thus useless in normal cases should be avoided.
Example: If the card depends on a vampire's "death kiss", you'd also need to make vampires with a death kiss ability.
Having your character die or "die" is important. You could have your character "die" in your story and turn into a ghost or something. From the perspective of the night they are still "alive." When killed by the night, it won't be possible.
Your character will then have lost the game and is thus out.
2. No. The night will successively get harder and harder to survive for every hour.
The rate of success will be depend on the time which the character has survived. If a character would just jump into the middle of the night it would be cheating.
Kethran Churchson was an orphan boy raised by the vicar of Tolund, a small village outside of the capitol of Kerand. The vicar was a quiet, soft-spoken man, but he'd always warned young Kethran: "When Midnight comes, protect the flock." Kethran never put much stock into that, but swore he would. Kethran served his church faithfully for many years, becoming the vicar after his father figure passed on.
One night, he was tending to a woman with a wasting disease, and was attacked by a vampire. He was turned, and when he came to, he saw that he had feasted upon the blood of the woman he was tending to. He was filled with a righteous fury at this, and sought his sire for several nights. He found the wretch feasting on a woman, and roared, lunging upon the vampire and killing it before he could feast upon her. The woman died from shock, and he retreated to his church, and sat in his office, praying to Lumena, the Lightkeeper for days, before his hunger began to overwhelm him. But he was blessed, for he'd found a vampire hunting in his village. He slew it, and drank of its blood, and found on its body a pendant that eased his hunger. He took the pendant for himself, and now Midnight approaches, and his oath rang true: "When Midnight comes, protect the flock."
Strength - 4
Combat Skill - 3
Closed Death, btw.
This is Alio, currently he’s desperately trying to make it to his dealer. Alio is pretty normal when it comes to beggars. Pretty normal except for the hallucinations. They’re not real, the blood, the violence, the colors. They only happen in his brain, and the moon dust makes it so they happen nowhere. But he’s only got a little moon dust left, and thanks to its not so legal nature the stuff his hard to come by. He’s got a dealer though, that’s where he’s going now. With any luck he’ll make it before midnight hits.
Personality: When he has his moon dust Alio is a calm levelheaded, if very unsocial person. He hates attention and does his best to avoid it. Without moon dust he’s a manic mess and has a hard time thinking clearly. He is a werewolf (Something he’s in an incredible amount of denial about.) and somehow the moon dust keeps the lycanthropy at bay (and definitely doesn’t have any negative side effects like making his werewolf side more bloodthirsty and desperate.).
Useful Skills: Alio is very stealthy, He still has a few connections from his Thieves Guild days, and he is useful in a fight thanks to the unnatural strength lycanthropy provides.
Strength - 7
Combat Skill - 9
Endurance - 6
Intelligence - 6
Knowledge - 4
Psychology - 4
Vitality - 7
Magic prowess - 0
(Specialty) Stealth - 7
I’ll go Open Death for him, do whatever you want when he inevitably dies.
This is the poor soul I’ve cobbled together for this night of horror. Hope this wasn’t to much to read.
Now a solitary mercenary, he cares little for anything but strength and coin and roams the land in search of some meaning for his life, wondering if he could find it when midnight hits.
Personality: He is an unscrupulous person, who could be hired for almost anything as long as he is paid. However if he is paid, one can count on his secrecy and loyalty as long as the job goes. Despite quickly losing his temper, he is just as quick at calming down in times of emergency. Battle hardened, he doesn't hesitate to use dirty tricks to win. He is a solitary person, however he doesn't shy the masses and occasionally cooperates with others, but he lacks at coming up with plans or complicated strategies and often is not able to perfectly adapt to thers due to his years in solitude.
Stats:
Strength: - 7
Combat Skill: - 7
Endurance: - 7
Intelligence - 4
Knowledge - 4
Psychology: - 7
Vitality: - 7
Magic Prowess: - 7
Specialty: - N/A
Open Death is fine for me.
Lysandre, Mad Mechanist
Lysandre was born into a harsh society with even harsher rules, but he still climbed to the top of it and became one of the most important inventors in the town. He became a genius mechanist who became enraptured by his creations to the point of near insanity. He also discovered a way to enhance his machines using life essence. Eventually, the leaders attempted to overthrow him out of fear and send him to an asylum, but he revolted instead, already having planned that this would happen and attacked them in return. He escaped but not without injuries. One of his eyes was wounded and had to be replaced. Now, he wanders the underbelly of the city learning more secrets and preparing for midnight.
Stats
So what if I like Monkeypirates format. Also open death
Aoria, Vessle Of The Mind
Aoria was but a simple human child born to a peasant family in her tiny yet uneventfully boring village of Netselvar. From a young age of three the lass displayed a profound latency for magic which granted her the villages admiration as the miracle child, a blessing which would soon turn to a curse.
At the age of three Aoria showed profound intelligence and she was able to from base but mediocre somatic spells, at which her parents decided it would be great to enroll her on the school of thaumaturgy in which she herself sought to be a pyromancer. Rumor spread fast of this arcane prodigy, rumors that would threaten the current king's daughter's title as the arcane prodigy. At the age of four, when she was alone, the king sent a group of bandits to kill her, all though their attempts failed she was with a broken spine and her dreams of joining a school for magic died that age.
Even though she lacked physical prowess she would later delve back into the arcana and study the psychic arts, and she was able to form and sustain her first umbra resembling her first pet, a little blue ringed octopus which would aid her movements far more flexibly than the wooden wheelchair she used.
Over time she has grown stronger and adapted various umbra's to her repertoire, she has also mastered astral projection as well as some manifestations, but her quest for knowledge is never done. What she lacks in physical prowess, she more than triples in mental prowess.
Personality: As most can easily guess, Aoria is not one from hand on hand combats, she depends on the power of her mind to get things done. This often makes people mistake her for a helpless damsel in distress, but rest assured, she is no damsel nor is she in distress.
Stats
Smh; Had to edit anyway, minor fix to my character card
Strength ~ 2
Combat Skill ~ 4
Endurance ~ 4
Intelligence ~ 8
Knowledge ~ 8
Psychology ~ 5
Vitality ~ 6
Magic Prowess ~ 3
Alchemy ~ 10
I wrote a lot for this character in an attempt to outline his main traits and abilities as clearly as possible (especially since he's open death). His full character sheet is compiled over here. Please let me know if I need to dumb it down for the purposes of the story.
Current objective before the midnight begins:
(I'll turn this into a proper story segment later.)
P.S. : @KorandAngels, I noticed your character has 53/50 points distributed.
The first hour will "begin" this Friday. You will then receive information about what monsters will appear, and from where. What events will happen and some other things.
You can thus write stories about what your character does before the first hour to prepare for the upcoming monsters and dangers.
Technically. The hour only begins for me in a sense. For you the first hour as a story setting begins the next Friday (29th).
Also! I have changed and added some quite significant information to the instructions above. (2nd and 3rd segment) 1st and 4th are just lore so read them if you want.
Read through them, please.
If anything is unclear, please ask.
Otherwise this should be the final template.
Should I add an indication that there is a sewer system? It is supposed to be mysterious, and most parts be blocked out. A map would not really work for it, and half of the entrances are hidden, blocked or forgotten.
Maybe I should divide it into two parts - the open and known one, and the unknown mysterious one.
Kethran watches out his window, looking at the sun as it sets, Midnight approaching. He says one quiet prayer, and then goes to strengthen the wards around his church, hoping his faith and natural talent for this kind of sorcery would help the structure last through the night, cheek twitching slightly as the light pours through his spells. Anyone he saw, he greeted jovially, and offered shelter in the vicarage if they needed it.
But should I encounter any issues, I have insured to carry some antidote and Bandages along with that crown you gave me. Mother, I know to you, and many others that crown is a normal crown, but to me it means a lot, in many ways than one. I carried it because it calms my nerves and helps me focus. Besides how many nights have we been through, and I have always pulled through. Please, I urge you and father once again to stay safe.
Best regards Aoria."
Aoria contrary to what she said will not be staying at anyone's manor. She is fully able to brave the night on her own. She just might not be the weak child her mother has always known, or the useless child that her father looks own on. He may never say it, but she knows it deep down.
The crown really is a normal crown and in no physical way is it special. Its second ability more reflects on it's calming ability on Aoria's mind when she has it on. It helps calm her mind, and in times of peril, gives her something to focus on in order to overcome adversities. Its actually more of a placebo effect if you may, and the power is actually her own.
Alio footsteps slowed as he arrived at the market. Unlike the empty streets the market writhed with life. Citizens and merchants alike making last minute preparations for the coming trials.
He felt his heart rate increased with every step. The sounds of the frantic people around him agitated his ears.
“Where is he?” Alio scanned the crowd, no sign of Marcus. “It’s alright, I’ll find him and everything will be alright.” He started pushing his way through the crowd to the fish cart Marcus owned. But Marcus wasn’t there, only more hopeless souls gathering all they could in the last hour they had. “No no no no no”
Alio dashed to the cart, pushing his way through the crowd. He started desperately digging through what he left looking for any hidden bounty. Maybe Marcus left some moon dust behind for him. His hands swept aside another pile of old fish. Nothing. His heart started beating faster, his vision blurred for a second.
“Alio what the hell are you doing!” A short and slender human man emerged from seemingly nowhere. Marcus!
“You’ve got the stuff right! You told me you would have some in time." Marcus held up a finger,
“Not hear idiot! Follow me.” The two figures slipped into an alleyway out of sight. Alio’s heart beat slowed. It was going to be alright, he would get the stuff and get out. Marcus checked the alley. “You got the money?” Alio pulled out a bag, the loose coins inside jangled against each other. Marcus smiled and snatched the payment, he started counting it out. “Looks like enough, here ya go.” He reached into his vest and pulled out a small pull string bag. “Pleasure doing business as always Alio.”. Alio caught the bag and inspected it as the dealer turned to leave.
“Wait”
“What now?”
”This isn’t the regular amount.” Alio held out the moon dust. Marcus shrugged,
“Sorry bud, we’re in short supply. Turns out the arrival of night horrors is bad for the smuggling business. Don’t have enough for everyone.”
“But I need more.” Alio’s felt his heart thump even quicker now, pushing against his chest.
“Well there’s nothing I can do about that. Listen I shouldn’t even be hear alright. But I like you so I’m risking this for you. See you next time.” The dealer started to leave. But Alio was faster,
"No!" I an instant the knife cut across Marcus' leg grounding him instantly. He let out a scream, but Alio didn't care. He was to busy searching to see if Marcus had any more.
"I told you, that was it! You're crazy you know that!" Alio held the knife up to Marcus's throat. His heart continued to thump, it was louder now. A wild rhythm that only brought more anxiety.
"Were did you get it from!"
"Some old creep who lives in the Old Town! Blue roofed house! I can show you!" That was all Alio needed to hear. He sheathed the knife and ran, heart still pumping.
"It's alright, it's okay, you can get more. You'll get more before it's to late." He kept on running, heart still pounding. Eventually he collapsed in a heap a ways away. "Have to calm down, can't think like this." He took out the bag and had some of his bounty. The moon dust's effect was almost instantaneous, his heart rate calmed returning to normal. He felt clarity return to his mind as pulled himself of the ground.
He had just stabbed Marcus. Did that really happen? Did he really do that? He checked the pouch. The shortage was real. The amount he had just bought might not even last him the night (During the Night Survivals he usually has to take more.) much less the week. He stashed it next to his Knife, Lockpicks, and Money "I'm going to need more than just a week long supply. I'm probably not on speaking terms with my only source right now." Wait, the old guy that Marcus was talking about. Could he be real? "Only one way to find out..."
Alio is currently headed to Old Town.
Caronte was a normal human guard. He had made it through midnights before, but three before went mad. Or rather, not mad, but quixotic. He had seen something in the night, something that had made his mortal mind into a weird mass. He started to focus on the shadows harshly, demanding to constantly have two lights around him. He would often mistake a flicker of torchlight for a foe. Worried for him, he was released from the guard duties regularly. In that time he started building devices feverishly, convinced that they would save people. Most of them were junk, but he kept them around. The next elongated midnight, he took his contraptions and a torch and went out into the dark on his own. The rest of the guards took it as a form of suicide, and thus were shocked to see him when dawn broke.
But Caronte's tale did end that night. He no longer was Caronte, although he kept that name and the associations. He seemed renewed and right in the head again to his friends, and to his mother who was his only living relative. But he wasn't Caronte.
He was now Stixes.
Stixes was. It couldn't tell you what it was. It just was. In the prolonged midnight, it's host had died, and it needed a new one. Caronte had come stumbling down the pathe into it's way, and it eagerly did what it did best. It took him as his. Now Stixes was a he. A... human. A guard. A poor soul who had looked into the darkness one night and watched it wink at him. A person with a mother who he loved so dearly. A person with friends who missed his serious facade and dry humor. Stixes had a host. And that host had a mind with space. Space for Stixes' memories, space that could be filled and then cleared.
Stixes was a Caronte.
So this Caronte did what he could to survive the rest of the hours. It was a mixture of blind luck and the combined knowledge of the two, but it was enough. He had done it. In the end, he had run out of his junk toys and only had one thing left. A small, silver flask on a silver chain. To be fair, it looked more like a pocketwatch than a flask. No more than two ounces of liquid could fit in it. He had been welcomed back into the guards when they had seen his survival, and when he said he didn't want to talk about it, they didn't push him too hard, as such an experience isn't one to take lightly.
The last long midnight Caronte had played it safe. He had helped in the suicide of the citizens, and not taken any risks. His flask was heavy by the end of the night, but he was fine.
Caronte has been the perfect body for Stixes, lasting him much longer than any other. Styx feels comfortable, and doesn't want to get Caronte killed because it would be truamatizing now that he's invested and because it'd be hard to find another host.
The first thing that comes to mind is does Stixes follow the rules for mortality. I think it does. Caronte is killable easily, he is a fairly average human physically. Stixes is killable too, being able to be done away with by magic easily enough, contained in that same flask that is carried around by him, and while I don't easily see a way for physical force to kill Stixes outright, I'm perfectly willing to accept him being kicked out of the body as a death if Jonteman wills it so. After all, the odds of someone coming along that he can claim is incredibly low on a long midnight. Additionally, if someone tries to revert Stixes back to his original form, he'll become a fairly weak vampire... I'll deal with that lore if and when we get to it though.
Stats:
Strength - 4
Combat Skill - 6
Endurance - 5
Intelligence - 5
Knowledge - 6
Psychology - 7
Vitality - 4
Magic prowess - 4
Possession - 9 (lmk if this isn't viable Jonteman, but I'm trying for something like me either being able to temporarily do things with NPCs or perhaps me moving from Caronte to someone else... I might need to drop the 9 down a bit depending on what it represents.)
Starting Location: On he assisted suicide duty at the man-town
Starting Equipment:
One (1) flask full of the souls of those he has allowed to avoid the night, which he can drink similar to a health potion. It can be refilled if he kills more people, but he has to catch their souls.
One (1) set of bandages, standard issue.
One (1) antidote, standard issue.
Death: Open
There are no issues but I would say that your character is in some grey zone.
I'll take this opportunity to give some more information about the midnight(s).
The midnight(s)
In Batiljmor, and Nox' Baveleria it is common that monsters roam the land in the night.
These monsters are mostly only a concern for traveling people, almost exclusively humans. A couple of zombies or some wolves won't accomplish much against a vampire or a werewolf. There are greater monsters however such as fell beasts, wargs, shadow walkers and more. There are tales of mad demons roaming the land but those often cause less harm than the other monsters due to the lords considering them as significant problems for the population. So they are often quickly dealt with.
The danger of the wild various greatly from time to time. Sometimes it can go months with the most dangerous monster witnessed being a single zombie or even less. Other times the land outside of the main roads are closed off because they are considered too dangerous.
The danger of the beasts is like a wind. Sometimes it's calm, sometimes it's a lught breeze or windy, Sometimes it's even strong breeze or a gale.
Then at rare occasions a storm blow out - or even a hurricane.
When the power of the shadows grows stronger, like the wind grows into a storm, then even the order of day and night is disturbed. The core of the night, the midnight, grows longer. The weakest of these "night storms" are the three hour midnights. These are not very uncommon, They are feared as they are more dangerous than almost any location in the wild even in the night. But they are not very hard to survive, though the survivors are often shaken and haunted with midnights for weeks afterwards.
The stronger night storms are to no surprise the six hour midnight. These are very dangerous, and the survivors are few. Those that manage to survive these nights almost always suffer from ptsd and often other psychological illnesses as well. Even vampires are not immune to this but they are generally better at hiding it.
Then of course there is the nine hours of midnight. The hurricane of the night. "Only a fool would even hope to survive the nine hours of midnight." The 7th hour of midnight is often called "the hour of terror". The hour when hope dies. Survivors are extremely few. There are more nights documented than there are survivors of these. Those that actually do manage to survive are haunted by nightmares to terrifying that they are indescribable. Most of these people end up committing suicide within the few weeks. One man is documented to have hit his head into a stone wall while crying out for the nightmares to end. He did not end until he was died. No documents mention any survivor that did not commit suicide. So if anyone actually did survive is unknown to all but a few.
There is said to be an even longer night - the twelve hours of midnight. It is said that during the twelfth hour the master of the midnight himself will arrive. It is said that it has only ever happened once, and that it was when the master of the midnight killed the crossbreed's father. Some say that a new twelve hour midnight will happen again one day when the master has found a reason or the strength to finally kill the crossbreed.
Some say that the twelve hour midnight is a hoax, a lie, propaganda and stories to scare off those that might want to join the crossbreed. That the master has no intentions in killing the crossbreed. Some even say that the master is too weak and that he knows it.
The documents are either convoluted or contradictory. Almost everyone agrees that the twelfth hour would belong to the master, but they are all in disagreement about the 10th and 11th hour.
The most accomplished theorist writes:
"It is not possible. How can there possible be the 9th hour, the 12th hour and then two more hours between them. They would either have to be completely empty or just the 9th hour prolonged by a factor of 3 which is not how the midnights work. It is impossible."
Additional note:
The midnights just like storms can be predicted to some degree. It is fairly easy to predict when a midnight will occur and where. The accuracy of the length however is not very easy to predict. A 9 hour midnight might actually be a 6 hour midnight. A 6 might be a 3 and so on. A 9 will not be a 3 however, like a hurricane won't end up being a strong breeze vice versa.