Rayalia

The Iron Princess had watched towards the end of a frightful battle, burdened by grievous wounds and shielding her injured son, as Ser Elerríon invoked his second chance. She had known, of course, what the Templars did, how it worked, what would happen, and yet... she didn't recognize it until it was too late. She'd never witnessed such a thing before and, when the man's flame flickered from existence, she'd stood there, staring frozen at the spot where that man, that which had so recently come into their lives, had turned to naught but a ghost of a memory. "Seregon? You mean Elerríon Seregon?" The first time she'd met him, he'd seemed like a legend. Up the chocolate tree, to her office (truly, just a cover-up, an excuse to eat sweets in the middle of the day) had she brought him, never one to miss an opportunity to show off the centerpiece of her garden. Her father had taught her about the houses of olde, once. Seregon. A Haelun'orian family until their matriarch and patriarch converted to Canonism and took upon the Númenedain names of Lady Caliene and Lord Elerríon. The royal knew, then, that this man was the very same; he whom had abdicated his title to become a hedgeknight early within her Grandmother's reign, how his daughter had been the last to deal with the Seregon fiefdom before it was left abandoned, how their home had been used as a seat of power for the Delgorthadrim during the civil war. She had thought him dead, only Ser Caliene and Nerium outliving him. And yet, there he had been, standing before her, staring bewildered at the chocolates he had been surrounded by. He had sought a purpose, and a home. It had felt like the old days, he had once said to her. Angrenost felt like something familiar to him. The thought had pleased her, for what was this place if not somewhere to call home? That's all she had ever wanted it to be, for herself, for her family and her friends. All the politicks and bullshit, the catering and pretending and walking upon glass? That wasn't allowed here. Just... community. Safety. Comfort. A future. He was old and worn and she had wanted that for him too. He was becoming a fast ffrind, one she didn't mind bantering with, or speaking openly with, or spending time with, or inviting him to live within one of the lordly rooms of her Iron Tower. She reserved those offers only for those that she trusted; only those she knew would protect her children and her husband. He'd wished to serve them, to guide and teach them. She'd been all to happy to gift him the chance to do so; to have him take up the mantle he wished to brandish, to watch him grow as a Knight of Angrenost, as a Silver Stag, to let her children and the youths of the Viscounty pester him as a mentor. "Do you wish to go scouting sometime, Lady Azruphêl?" Ser Elerríon, she had decided, was a rare soul that she could reminisce about the past with and utilize her 'Kids These Days' with fun jape. No, she had not grown with him in her life; they had lived in two separate times. But there was enough kinship there, even in the short time he'd been with the Mithrenionath, that could be found solely in experience. In similar experience. It was refreshing and she'd been looking forward to hearing more about his histories, about his adventures, where her people had come from. The lost art of storytelling. The bygone eras of word weaving. It would be weeks after his death that the Royal would find herself sorely lacking in a collection of tales to remember him by and the grief would reply tenfold. "Athaenis, Elerríon," she had beckoned, the two she had trusted most in the moment, regardless of their statures as Templars. "Walk beside me." And they had. Athaenis on the left, Elerríon on the right. They gave her the strength to face horrors from her past. The battle didn't go the way she'd planned - but then, they never do, do they? The child they sought to save got lost in the fog, their stance beside each other crumbled in the chaos, her fury at the Wick blinded her logic. Death stank the air like a toxin, her front doorstep made a bloodied, disjointed warzone. The child they sought to rescue, killed. Comrades they fought beside, killed. Her newest and yet one of her most trusted knights, killed. Her son... Her son. She would attribute, in the later hours, their survival to Ser Elerríon, once Patriarch and Lord of the House Seregon, once Wandering Hedgeknight of the Realms, once Silver Stag of Angrenost, once Mentor, Ffrind, Father, Husband, and so much more she might have learned him to hold title of. Tacked upon the end, she would add one more. One more that her family would come to know him of, the first of his kind. Hero of Angrenost.

The original lore, prior my proposed amendment, has a druid unable to cast sealing for a full week and the druid is unable to cast any spells for a full 2 days. That, I didn't change. What I did change was that where some ST have told me my druid can fight, others have told me they can't after casting sealing during events over the past few years. Giving back passive communion for those two cooldown days and the ability to defend and bolt in CRP and only if the ritual is successfully completed is more than I have been allowed to do during some sealing rituals, and less than I've been allowed to do during some. The former is rarer, but this amendment seeks to try and leave no room for doubt so that differing calls between differing ST and ET are no longer made. I sought a solid medium for clarification, so that ST and players stop bouncing back and forth. It is meant to act like a containment field and the spell is non-combat, unable to be thrown up to block spells and abilities in crp (which, also, has been unamended, as May original wrote the lore). Even if it was a combat ritual, however, I don't think any three druids would be able to complete the ritual, given it's 5 emotes long and even 1 of three druids failing it would make the ritual fail too. I have added a redline that when shotcallings are made on various lore pieces, ST should update this piece, so hopefully those with better knowledge on various lorepiece and how they interact with blight healing will be able to clarify all this in the future. This redline is, ultimately, the same as the original redline in May's current blight healing lore, just with the added clarification that blight that is able to be healed can also be sealed - which we could do anyways, prior, it just wasn't technically mentioned in this spell before. For why one would seal it instead of cleaning it, I don't know (maybe a scientist druid wants to study blight long term without it spreading? Maybe a blight healer teacher finds some blight and gets folks to help them seal it, so that they can plan a group lesson on blight healing with multiple students without letting the blight fester in the meantime?), but the option is there, and thus, it has been plainly stated. Just trying to find a way to let the Sealing Barrier be broken, so that ST are less averse to it being used outside of events and Antag Players aren't so angry with druid players "instantly stopping antag rp". If you have any suggestions on how I might tweak the redline, I am open to suggestions! It's the one redline I was very iffy about when writing this, but figured I'd give it a go anyways. At worst, if ST deny this amendment, I'll hopefully be told why and if this is one of the reasons, I'll be able to fix it and try again with this amendment in the future. Thank you for the feedback! I highly appreciate it ^-^

I was, certainly, considering this while making this amendment, but then thought about the OOC mechanics of it: t5 enchantments take a full week to be removed via auric oil, which brought on a plethora of questions - if the sealing ritual is outside, would rain wash away the auric oil before the irp year is up? How does one track this when it's not an item in a vat? To combat Auric Oil with enchantments, one just takes the item out and the removal fails, should I find a way to add that to the redlines for this? And so on and so forth. I figured (during my impulsive and abrupt attempt at amending this) that it would be simpler to have the Auric Oil act instantly and try to have enough oil in quantity to cover the span of the seal itself instead of having to track everything and be forgotten about due to other ST reqs. But! If the Auric Oil is the problem in this amendment, this is definitely a direction I wouldn't be opposed to working on.

Original Lore: Sealing [Non-Combat][Ritual] - T5 [Once per one IRL week] Sealing is a ritual in which allows blights to be sealed into one area if it is not capable of being cleansed, druidic energy infused into a ring around the blighted or damaged area the force while draining the druids performing the ritual also prevents the further spread of the source. Proposed Amendment (Most of the spell has been rewritten or clarified even though the spell remains relatively the same. Thusly, for ease of being able to read the proposed amendment, I have not used strikethrough nor bolds to show changes): Sealing [Non-Combat][Ritual] - T5 [Once per one IRL week] Sealing is a ritual performed by a minimum of three druids in which their combined druidic energies form a ring, permanently enclosing a blighted or damaged area while simultaneously draining the druids of their energies. Acting akin to a barrier and identifiable by the permanent swirl of energies left in the area, this ritual prevents the further spread of the original source. Purpose: Sealing has always been the pinnacle of Blight Healing and, up until recently, ST ruled that voidal tears could be closed with this ability despite the spell never claiming to have been able to do so. To rectify this, instead of enforcing the spell’s true purpose, Sealing was made into an Event Only ritual. With the proposed amendments, I seek to find a solid compromise between the lore’s original intent and fix what I believe the ST and general player base outside of the Druid Community (and some within) hold problem with. The main thing I have focused upon is retaining and clarifying the spell’s original use of keeping blight from spreading - be it whatever form it may be in - while giving those that create the blight the chance to nullify the spell’s effects. I have brought back the use of sealing voidal tears and added in the use of sealing voidal hollows (the latter at ET discretion) in lieu of PKing a druid to have any effect on the latter, as was the case way back in Almaris. In doing so, I seek to maintain cohesiveness with this spell’s history and prior rulings while adding the ability to both see the effects of this spell (in the form of a freeform appearing barrier that appears akin to the individual druids’ mists) and being able to nullify them via the three proposed options: Thanium (which to my understanding, nullifies most spells anyways) 3 auric oils (of which if this number is the only reason this amendment does not go through, ST are free to adjust it to more or less auric oils to pass this; this number is just my suggested number, as 1 alchemist can make this many in a day, and considering auric oil only affects T3 spells or lower, an oddball exception might be made to equate 1 auric oil for every minimum druid required for this spell. I acknowledge this does semi-break Auric Oil’s own lore, and so suggested alternatives should the original suggested amendment not pass are: 1 auric oil splashed on the barrier, or 3 slashes to the barrier with an auric oiled blade, or to remove the use of auric oil entirely from these redlines. The intent in adding auric oil was, entirely, to quell the complaints from non-druid players that the sealing ritual instantly destroys evil rp), or the original azdrazi fire hitting said barrier. In addition, I have clarified what the spell does to druids themselves upon completion of this ritual. Because of the already 2 day ooc cooldown, which I have not changed, aside from adding T5 passive communion back to the druids, and the new abilities to nullify the barrier’s effects, I see no reason to punish druids if the ritual fails, nor punish them any further than they would have been prior this amendment. In fact, I may have even added an additional downside to this spell, in adding that druids can no longer outright CRP for these two days rather than just not cast spells, in my attempts to balance out and appease the use of this spell outside of events once more. This part of the amendment was specifically made so that it, too, can be removed without affecting the other changes I have suggested and returned to its original redline if it is weighing down this entire piece during ST review. Lastly, I have rewritten most of what the original spell was just to make things a little clearer rather than change the spell itself; phrasings, punctuation and repeats have been mostly cleaned up, and redlines have been HIGHLY specified (compared to prior) so that the vagueness of the spell itself no longer exists, leaving clarity for both players and staff, while giving stability to druid players and a base to work with while in control of their own personal events to ET and ST.

Politely, I'm not a huge fan of this rewrite. It doesn't feel like transcendence anymore. Personally speaking, it has none of what I originally got the feat for within it aside the original 'summon dead druid every once in a while (I guess)' and 'go to the fae realm ST event'. The pacting and the added spells and the taking away of many of the current Transcendence traits/spells makes it far more in line with your Vex's of the Vein denied lore instead of something fun and whimsical and freeform in deisgn that holds a touch of every day use and a dose of full throttle "this is my duty as a druid" druidism. I get your reasoning for the changes, but as someone who has actively sought to roleplay my druid respectfully and flavorfully with the current transcendence lore, this rewrite is very disheartening to read through. Some of the spells you added are fun but I'm struggling to see how this is transcendence magic instead of sprite magic (which, hey, I would love to have a few whimsical spells added to the current lore, but I don't want the whole theme of the current lore changed). Perhaps I'll just miss my druid's fun design I spent a few months on, or her independent summon, or being able to have the option of being a full bard/housemage while being a fully fledged druid, or the way I have utilized every aspect of the current lore to its fullest extent to expand my druid's story and personality and design. Should this go through, it will destroy years of build up for my character which - yes, fair, the lore changes, I agreed to this when making my character a druid (but that doesn't mean I shouldn't voice my opinion and personal experience when potential changes come around). If it goes through, I will be forced to change and redesign my character so dramatically and in multiple ways that she won't be her, because what I most utilize from the current lore holds a deep impact upon her character and simply won't exist anymore. -1 from me. Again, just a personal take, doesn't mean it's right or wrong. I haven't seen many transcendence players comment on this though, so I thought I'd give my 2 cents. New Treelord submission submitted in tandem is kinda cool though.

In rp, in response to literally any pun Feanor makes despite it being far to overused: that was very SLYvaeri of you. ALSO HAPPY BIRTHDAY :D :D :D

"Aspen is dead." Nenar had been a staple throughout nearly all of Phaedra's life. There hadn’t been a day in which the woman lacked influence upon her. At first, it was as one of Nevaehlen's leaders when she had once been nothing but a small girl bolting past the red head without a second thought, playing pranks upon the woman or outright ignoring her - for adults were boring, and boring wasn't worth the energetic child's time. She was an aunt, but one that was removed, distant from the child’s life, remembered only in the gifts she’d been given as a baby - a time in which she didn’t even remember. "Nenar will kill you if she finds you, you must run." Then came her mistakes. Her idiocy as a teenager that followed her into life as a young woman. She was banished from her home with the knowledge that the druid would slay her without mercy. Years, decades passed with that belief, always present at the back of her mind even when the danger simply wasn't there. Conflict with others, those that reminded her of the Aspen Druid, kept her from approaching, grew resentment and anger and hatred. Hypocracies turned to fuel for discontentment and terror and fury. But time changes all things, and both had learnt and grown. She’d grown sick from illness, both of the physical and mental. Escape from one life led her to another, guided to a land by the sea. Illivira became home to her amidst her dedicancy, amidst attempts to save her own life and soul. She hadn’t known Nenar lived there until after she'd moved and settled in. And then the both of them were forced to confront each other due to proximity alone. Nenar thought Phaedra hated her. Phaedra thought Nenar wanted her dead. A single conversation was all it took to begin mending things; for apologies to take place and bonds to start repairing. Something fragile formed. And then she was attuned. And when her teacher disappeared, left her ("you were just a project", she would later come to find. Not a sister, or a niece, or whatever weird family dynamic the two had once had-), it was Nenar that picked up her teachings, filled in the gaps. Infusion. Blight healing. Phaedra owed her abilities to heal blight to the red head and none others. The skill, the magic, became her most used tool. It was what she was sought out for, what she held experience in. Step by step she was guided and through it all, Phaedra’s protection was offered in turn. It wasn’t much, but she’d long since known of the treelords and she took up the burden of watching over the other’s true form. It was of love and of duty, mixed and melded into one. Nenar needed to know she was cared for, and Phaedra needed to be assured that she deserved the love she’d been given. In that time, they’d talked. They’d come to know each other, of the failures and successes, hopes and dreams, regrets and desires. Adventure uncovered the Voidal Eldritch. And for twenty years within Númendil did Phaedra fight, side by side with Nenar, just the two of them. There were others of course - mostly Númendillians, as Phaedra so cheekily called them, as well as some (rather foolish, she had thought) Druid and Druid-adjacent despite her better wishes - but Nenar was a constant. They saved each other's lives more than Phaedra cared to count. Phaedra had healed the treelord of blight on more than one occasion, and the treelord had saved the Drui from a bolt or two, as well as kept her from insanity after the brief encounter she’d had face to face with the beast. They had travelled to the fae realm, or somewhere in between, and succeeded in sealing off the creature’s influence. They had nearly died. Nenar had died, but it had only been her vessel. Her tree had still stood, and so she had returned. Allies were crafted. Mistakes were made. Battles were won. It took years and a great deal of effort and risk, but the creature, Delgorthad, was eventually slayed by the Númenedain, aided by the two Druids, and things began to go back to normal. Mostly. The effects of a long war took their toll, just like all do. Their relationship strained. Ebbs and flows, back and forth, as it always had. And yet, the bond remained, even if weakened and, in the end, they worked their differences once more and settled into a comfortable relationship; aunt and niece - one that had always been there since Phaedra had been born but only truly felt so in the latter half of the woman's life. Stolen hugs. Mended wounds. Love without its words. They continued to fight together, though not so consistently, not like they had against the Delgorthadi; some battles had more success than others but they had both always made it out the other side. Whether it was in war or it was in life, Nenar was always there. "Oh." The Hummingbird takes over. Phaedra, she who would mourn, gets shoved to the back of the Druid's head, disallowed a single tear. There’s no time for that. There is no need for sadness or pain. The Aspen is resting now, after all her hard work. But she is not. She has been lax in her presence and in her duties. She wasn’t here to help. She wasn’t here to guard her, as she once always had been. "Someone let them in. Draoi." The curse of the elven, she ponders, to live such long, arduous lives. There would be plenty of time to remove the filth from their ranks. Plenty. She holds no fear in forgetting this. No. This isn’t some benign event and Nenar is no benign lady. They ripped away an important part of the world, of her world. It was planned. It was on purpose. And for the first time since she’d been attuned, The Hummingbird Druid doesn’t wish to walk along the brightness of Kholibrii’s wings, but rather the wicked, terrible shadow that everyone, everyone forgets the chipper avian hides away. There is no desire to spread new life or hope. No. She wants to see it all burn. She wants to see them burn. And when she finds out who them is… …not even Kholibrii’s light would save them from Her Wrath.

MC Name: Rayalia Discord: Rayalia Image: Description of Image: Two mice catching fireflies. Dimensions: 1 wide, 2 high

MC Name: Rayalia Discord: Rayalia Image: Description of Image: A group of fairies wandering home after a day of adventure Dimensions: 1 wide, 1 high

MC Name: Rayalia Discord: Rayalia Image: Description of Image: Whale flying through flowers with a golden moon behind it. Dimensions: 2 wide, 1 high

MC Name: Rayalia Discord: Rayalia Image: Description of Image: A whimsical scene of fae and nature. Dimensions: 1 wide, 2 high

MC Name: Rayalia Discord: Rayalia Image: Description of Image: A whimsical painting of small critters crossing water Dimensions: 1 wide, 1 high

unpopular opinion perhaps? Misread post, maybe? I gave a mildly distracted read through and so I preface the below with a “I don’t actually know anything, this is just my interpretation and I am not opposed to trying new stuff out”. Thoughts below are scatterbrained and attempted constructive critiques. I’m hyped for a food addition but… I’m also just tired of the constant grinding. Maybe I’m not reading the post proper but it seems like this is just going to be another spiral into consuming time through mechanical means. I don’t want to spend 1 hour grinding for food so that i can spend 3 hours grinding for metals but I run out of food along the way because I didn’t grind enough to make a full stack of food despite spending so much time on it and my foodbag is glitched so I have to spend another hour grinding for food and then- oop, gotta log. Perhaps I’ve read the post wrong but this seems like a lot of mechanical work for little output unless you’re a dedicated chef rper, in my opinion - which… I suppose is actually the point. But the non-food specific changes affects the whole server, not just cook rpers. I’m aware that vanilla food will still be able to be crafted but the animal husbandry and farming being affected makes me wary considering it affects everything (though without it properly being implemented yet nor experienced I leave humble room for being incorrect). Animal drops are either for pvp stuff or rp items. pvp gear is already so costly (and therefore requires time to collect materials) and we can’t make rp armor/weapons without making the pvp equivalent and nerfing it. I might be making a mountain out of an anthill but every mechanical change this map has made me ever so wary. I’ve never spent this much time before NOT rping so that i can prepare for rp. I’m all for a recipe plugin, I would love to see something that lets characters make cookbooks of their own; save an item to the page so that if you have the associated Minecraft item, you can copy and produce it with a simple click, and then you can share that cookbook with others so that they can make those items too. Pvp perks included akin to potion effects, requiring further mechanical items that delve deeper into the grinding process, always leaving it an option. A good blend of making rp items, needing necessary materials, and encouraging creativity while making it easier and more on theme with niche food rp without imposing anything on the folks of the server that aren’t interested in my opinion. But!! I also love the development of the cooking bits themselves as seen in this post! I think that’ll be quite fun once you do have the necessary materials. I just hope this isn’t being taken a step too far to become detrimental to rp rather than elevating it.

Like so many missives sent by those she loved, this, too, gets placed with a heavy heart in the Iron Princess' desk drawer. The poor thing barely closes, bursting with parchment after parchment of evidences: conflicts and reminders of the present and past, those that send pangs of hurt through her heart. Some scripts - her own - pile up entirely unpublished, for she herself had never had the strength to let her own words be truly known; not like how her Marsyr-cousin had, not this, not compiled rather than in small outbursts. The new piece to her collection draws some ease to her, however, alongside a minute release of resentment paired and mixed with a dash of guilt. How often she pictured what could have been if more had simply stayed and tried, if she'd been successful in convincing them to. How lively and wonderful the small safe-haven of Angrenost might have become; a relic of history mixed with the brightness and whimsy of the future, where one's word meant oath and oath weighed the quality of the soul. Iron on the outside but a bleeding heart within, the royal would endeavor to thank Arthur in the coming days. For what, exactly, would remain only for the two of them to know.

Upon the edges of the Eryn Gîl, the forests which encompass Angrenost's walls, had the plight of the beasts brought atrocities to the small Lordship. For years, now, the flourishing recruits of the Iron Guard had fought valiantly against terror incarnate, and despite the bubble of fear that had clawed at their throats, they stood bravely in the face of snarling muzzles and ripping claws. Not a one had backed down. Not one had drawn back, even as limbs and lives were lost, taken without hesitation or remorse. Their Lord stood proud of them for it, had watched and partaken in guiding their prior trainings and lessons, observed their growth with a great satisfaction... and she would have continued to do so had she not been so devastated by the loss which she and her people had endured. For the past several months, beginning to creep upon a full year, had the Iron Princess spent weeks on end searching and scouring through the Autumn Isles and beyond for traces and signs of the missing Knight and his Squire. The guard, the people, and the visitors of Angrenost rarely saw her, and when they did, it was as if a ghost had passed beneath the branches of their gardens; a hollowed creature that offered the bare minimum in order to hold the Lordship together. Lessons were still taught, items still crafted, diplomacy still attempted. Life continued on but she did not. The Royal stood stuck between defeat and desperate hope, flip flopping with each day passed. Paranoia ordered refusal of permission for the guard to go searching for the missing duo, for most of the guard remained mere recruits despite their growth; to lose more at this stage would only weaken Angrenost further, devastate its people even more. Hypocrisy and torment had her returning to the woods between infrequent naps, sparse meals, and interludes of caring for the fiefdom proper. Angrenost would find them, of that she knew. Of what state the Commander of the Iron Guard and her Niece would be in she did not. And the outcome? Regardless of what was found, the beasts that had attacked the Lordship relentlessly across the years would soon be put down like the dogs that they were.