hex37

*A woman clad in pale blue robes hurries about city after city, plastering posters onto message boards. The posters speak of something new- not of rebellion, not of war, nor politics, nor murder. It expresses an odd, unique concept: Healing.* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx5y97wK6u4 The Berkano Healers “The most obvious Truth is hidden deep within, and only you will ever know it.” =Who are the Berkano Healers?= The Berkano healers is a non-violent collection of healers spread all across Anthos operating with a similar purpose in mind- Make this sick, sick world a better place to live, one patient at a time. The Berkano healers are meant to be an organization dedicated to healing selectively, curing only those who are good and righteous, and refusing care to those who are not. Through healing only the worthy, they hope to make the world a better place as a whole. =The Oath of the Berkano= I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone. I will give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked, nor suggest any such counsel, save administering to a woman pessary, to cause an abortion. I will preserve the purity of my life and my arts. In every house where I come I will enter only for the good of my patients, keeping myself far from all intentional ill-doing and all seduction and especially from the pleasures of love with women or men, be they free or slaves. All that may come to my knowledge in the exercise of my profession or in daily commerce with others, which ought not to be spread abroad, I will keep secret and will never reveal. I will be the judge of all who come under my needle, and will never heal those that I deem evil or malevolent in nature. I will not meddle unduly in the affairs of others. I will not harm another member of the Berkano, nor will I influence others to do as such. I am allowed and indeed encouraged to go against each and every tenant of my oath, so long as I have good reason for doing so. Reasons for the 9th tenet: Rules are binding things, and there is always an exception. The Berkano are not necessarily a tight-knit order, and what’s right and wrong is usually left up to the healer in specific. Despite this, a Berkano healer has to agree with the tenants in concept, at the very least. As Matron Nienna put it: “Don't meddle, but if necessary break the rules good and hard.” =The Ranks= There are only three ranks in the Order: The Matron, the Teacher, The Healers and the Initiates. The Matron: The Matron is the organizer of the Berkano. She manages the blacklist, decides where and when the group will meet, and sews the robes needed to become a member. The current Matron is Nienna Calm, the founder of the organization. Put simply, she is one nether of a healer. The Patron: When a healer becomes prominent enough, The Matron will deem them fit for taking on initiates. They will be charged with finding new members for the Berkano, and teaching proper medicine to those that they find. The Healer: The healers are, predictably, the largest portion of the order. they are the ones who wear the robes, and they are the ones who represent the Berkano when about in Anthos. The Matron may organize the group, but the healers are not led by anyone- it goes against common nature, and besides, the Matron forbids it. Healers are ranked unofficially and in order of seniority, the most senior and skilled being considered Patrons. The Initiate: Below healers are initiates. They are the understudies of various healers that decide to show pupils the ropes of their art. Initiates report directly to their patron healer, and only them. They’re barely even considered initiates, really, just “people.” =Qualities of a Berkano Healer= A Berkano Healer, when looking for initiates or even members, looks for select qualities in others that make them worth joining. “A need to help others”: First and foremost, a healer has to want to help the wounded, and those who need assistance. This quality should go without saying, but The Matron, in response, stated that “It’s definitely worth mention. Quacks are everywhere.” “Oddness”: According to the Matron, good healers have something that sets them apart from society. Something unique to them that allows them to view society from a detached perspective. By being detached from society, one can properly view it as a whole, and, in doing so, judge without bias. “Self assurance”: A healer cannot panic. On the grand scale of things, healers are only useful when leavings have met the rapidly revolving blades, and as such they must know how to act, at all times. You’re a healer, your job is to save lives. Uncertainty is for other people. “A Sense of Right and Wrong”: Healers need to know what is good, and, more importantly, what is not. One thing that many healers do not realize about their job is that the people they cure keep living after they’re healed. If they are malevolent people, they might go on to cause more harm than good in the world, all because they healed without thinking. =The Robes= All healers wears garb of the Berkano healer. It can be of any color, but it will always have the same shape and white trimming, and must have the symbol of the order on the arm of the healer’s sleeve. The outfit is made to be practical. They come with a hood, face mask, Leather gloves with iron vambraces, Iron-toed stompers and a messenger bag, for holding medical supplies. Male: Female: ((Skins by Arzota & Hex37~)) =The Blacklist= A Healer of Berkano is their own judge of right and wrong. This doesn’t, however, mean that they don’t have help deciding. If a healer in the guild finds a person not worth their needle, they are to place their names on the guild Blacklist, along with a reason as to why they were denied. THis way, the Berkano can judge the wounded better, and expand our understanding of the world around us. It is strongly recommended to adhere to and to take the blacklist seriously. =The Berkano Conventon= Healers stick together, and, for one week a year, (each sunday) they show it. Berkano healers from Anthos-over will gather in the chilly city of Vaerhaven at the annual Berkano Convention. Here, they will drink tea, discuss medical advances, gossip about latest events, expose initiates to the order, and review people being added to the blacklist. Healing is a very high-stress occupation, being around other healers keeps you grounded, and more importantly, relaxed. That’s what the convention is for, letting healers unwind. =Joining= ((Recruitment is done in RP, and only in RP!)) When a Patron deems their pupil ready, will come before a large group of Berkano Healers during the Convention, and be judged. Healers present may ask any question they wish, and the initiate must answer truthfully. At the end, if the Healers deem that the initiate passes muster, the Matron will have the initiate recite the Berkano Oath, and are to follow this for as long as they are members. It is also possible to join the order as a healer as well, but they may only become a member if they are sought by the Matron herself beforehand. Like an initiate, however, they will still take the Oath before joining. After taking the oath, newly accepted healers will be presented with robes. Healers are supposed to wear these robes at all times. They are a mark, a message to the world that you are a part of a group of true, proper healers that are above the rank-and-file of your typical Orenian quack doctor. =Leaving and Expulsion= Leaving the Berkano willingly is as simple as handing in your robes. They will be burned. The last thing the order needs is people impersonating them. As for unwilling disbursal, there three things that could cause a healer to lose their position within the order. 1: A Healer of the order loses their way, or breaks tenants repeatedly and without reason will be discussed at the convention and elsewhere, amongst groups of the healers. Word of this will invariably reaches the Matron, who will finally deem them unfit for the order. The ex-healer in question will be sought out, and he or she will be asked to return their robes. If they do not, the robes will be stolen from them. 2: A healer of the order doesn’t attend the convention 3 times in the row will be considered to be a “Lost” Healer. They, for all intensive purposes, will not be considered a part of the order, until they present themselves before the Matron, and have their status reviewed. 3: An initiate can be booted from the order at any time by their Patron. That’s just the way of things. =Members= The Matron Nienna Calm (Hex37) Patron Arzota Kameki (Arzota) Patron Jacque de la Croix (Althallos) Healer Bear Druid Isabella (TheEpicFiend) Healer Naviarion Shayaian (TheRealKiru) Healer Elphaba (Kizumachan) Healer Sathoro Shadeleaf (Balluffip) Initiate Fimble Feathertop (Fierco) Initiate Celairil (Fuzumz)

Is this... Is this from the RP event Nienna, Gauldrim and laenry had? We had an event detailing a honey-like growth on a tree that induced sleep about a week or two ago. In that one, we had it originate from a black fungus growing under the bark. Beyond that, I like the lore.

I did, but the entire lore post, and a lot of other stuff was archived by order of a GM, and the FM who archived it refused to put it back. That said, New lore thread~! The original thread:http://www.lordofthecraft.net/forum/index.php?/topic/79584-the-alabaster-seabird-new-species/

((Hello! Welcome to my first lore suggestion. Feel free to comment, or, more importantly, suggest additions and changes. Thanks for giving my humble post a read, and enjoy.)) The Alabaster Seabird A Physical Description: The Alabaster Seabird is very large, and very old, Seafaring bird. Weighing in at an average of 30 pounds, and equipped with a stunning 17 foot wingspan, it is easily one of the largest flighted birds in the world. Its beak is quite unusual. It is blunt and thick, with growths on the inside of the bill that form pseudo-teeth. Though it's wingspan is wide, it's legs are short, stubby things with webbed feet, for paddling in the open ocean. Its feathers bear a notable oily coat that allow it to safely dive into the water for brief periods of time. They live for about 10 years in the wild, but can easily live to 30 in captivity. Positive and negative characteristics: Alabaster Seabirds are by no means a fast; their large wings may grant them lofty heights in the air, but it greatly restricts their speed. More often than not, they are more content to glide in the air, rather than flap about wildly. These seabirds are amazingly intelligent, insofar as a bird can go. Though they might have no proper sense of smell, it often can identify one from another easily with its eyes alone. Another thing of note is that they are quite noisome. They have a tendency to squawk regularly, especially at new things. It can become nearly unbearable for new trainers to handle. Temperment and Training: Despite it's size and intelligence, this Seabird is, quite curiously, a cowardly animal. Mostly, this is because it is absolutely useless in combat, it's barbed beak good for little more then catching fish. Another reason, however, is its personality, The Alabaster Seabird is often called the high elf of birds. Put simply, they loathe new things. Even whilst possessing profound intelligence for a bird, the alabaster seabird is hindered by a remarkable and utter lack of curiosity concerning anything and everything that doesn't, at some point, involve a fish. It is for this reason that training an adult seabird is an impossible task. An adult seabird, if approached with food, fish or otherwise, will invariably refuse the the meal, even if on the brink of death from starvation. A hatchling, however, is remarkably easy to train, even for novice falconers. Once it pieces together that finding a certain person will reward it with fish, the training process becomes naturally easy, and it can make it an ideal bird for sending messages between two people, so long as the falconer has fish, naturally. Seabirds, unlike most other birds, have next to no sense of smell. Instead of sniffing their recipient out whilst delivering messages, the alabaster seabird will typically resort to using their profoundly good memory and sight to identify a recipient by face. It can be ordered to look for a specific person in a specific area, and if this person and the place he is located coincide, it can search that area for the person. While smart for a bird, it is unfortunately not smart enough to understand a brief description of a person, and normally will have to be shown the person first before it cab actually fit them to a name. Creating a roost for a bird is easy, so long as you have the room to create a nest for him. Alabaster seabirds will attempt to create a nest, it's a natural trait that will cause it to reject and possibly even die in most conventional cages. Hunting: As you might expect, the seabird is very clearly a water fowl made for hunting fish in the ocean. Having quite the keen eyesight, the alabaster seabird typically hunts by spotting fish near the ocean's surface whilst in the air, tucking itself into a dive and crashes into it, using it's pseudo-teeth to grip the prey as it plunges headfirst into the water. It is quite a theatrical sight to behold. Nesting and Roosting: Alabaster Seabirds may hunt in the ocean, but are known for making their nests far inland, typically in sheer areas, such as mountains and cliffs. Nonexistent Biologists theorize that the thin air in these precarious places is why the Seabird's wing span is so long. They lay there eggs on these rocky slopes as well, to improve their offspring's chances of survival on their first flight. Nests made by the alabaster seabird are unmistakable from afar, as they are quite massive, and require very specific conditions in which they can be built. Seabirds will nest every summer, when the mountains are the warmest. Mates are typically met while hunting. Once a suitable one is found, they will travel back to the nest for mating. In accordance with their rather unchanging attitude, Seabirds mate for life, and will repeat this process together every summer, in the same nest, for the rest of their lives. Purpose: ((OOC: I found that a bird styled like this would be a more believable way for birds to be sent, as currently the IC method of trading contact info (giving scents to birds, who are supposed to have a horrible sense of smell to begin with) sounded very, well, suspect to me. Smart, yet insentient birds seems like a much better idea in my opinion. The nests of the birds themselves would make a good way to fill up some previously unused mountainsides, and finding and stealing eggs would make a good chance for RP. Overall, It's a funny and awkward bird that is easy to train and believable to use while still being unique and flawed in nature.))

If accepted, I would love to use this plant in alchemy as a strong fire symbol, if you'd allow it's use for such a thing.

I love the idea. One thing that irks me, though, is it being treated as an individual being that can be smart. A huge group of souls sounds more like a mob than anything, and seems more akin to being something simple of mind, but incredibly malevolent in nature. I bet if it were to be treated less like a entity, and more like a huge number of weak ghosts being coordinated by a kind of hive-mind. More like a swarm of ghosts that haunt the area around the pillar when the apparition isn't angered, doing minor things to scare away visitors, and acting as if they're stuck in time. Then, when it feels threatened, they'll come together all at once and form the Apparition. It would also make sense if they're bound to the place where they were formed, without it, the combined souls bound there would lack purpose there. Personally, I'd have them haunt an area indefinitely, going so far as to haunt the rubble of the place when it is destroyed.

I'm loving this so far. Keep working on it, and best of luck!

Don't forget to add Drilltongue to the herbs! I'm going to be getting more alchemical herbs in my Tundra-Biome garden to show off to Gauldrim eventually for addition, I'd encourage other alchemists living elsewhere to do the same!