Morigung-oog

An ancient elf welcomed into the Uialbens in ages since passed grinned menacingly, rummaging through her collection of crowns.

A frenzied 'aheral awoke from her fitful trance with a groan of exasperation, her features paled and dark rings underlining her eyes. The material plane had become rife with bad omens-- perhaps she would have been better off remaining in Sulith, where the tea was hot and the company didn't want to kill her... mostly.

Valindra drooled at the mere mention of Minas.. The chaos goblin longed for some action… Though in Arthur’s case, she’d make an exception…

From beyond, a faithful stirred…

Word had reached Valindra, despite the secrecy surrounding the death of Scrisa. Words echoed in her mind, a promise made to Scrisa's mother, her best friend Ruina before her soul was torn asunder by the Voidal Hollow of Ando Alur. "I will watch over your children. I swear it." There came a sharp twitch of her frame, a choir of sobs quietly erupting from the fennic renegade's lips. Tears rolled freely down her cheeks in quite possibly the first show of genuine sorrow in decades. At first, she'd blame herself, undoubtedly, for in her mind Scrisa was still a helpless child in need of protecting. She had failed. "... You've forced my hand, girl." That mali hissed out with a slow shake of her head. Her words carrying a cold bite seldom used against those she truly cared for. "All you had to do... was let her die."

Valindra carried mixed emotions regarding the death of the Cerusil. Lingering in her estate, she recalled their brief friendship. On one hand, a potential threat had been erased from her presence. On the other, Lanre never showcased any inherently malicious intent towards her. The magus's paranoia was rampant, and thus when word reached her of the demise of not one, but two of her once allies, at first her lips pulled into a wicked smirk. Alas, later, sense returned. Reflecting on their past interactions, she exhaled a quiet sigh to herself. ".. You would not have failed if you had chosen less powerful enemies." And with that, the ex magister mourned, if only for a brief time, for another had been lost in the struggle.

A note promptly returned, To his holiness the Pontiff, As stated to the good monk, I’d be more than happy to explain my reasonings behind my writings, as many of them were incomplete at the time of submission. It fills me with sorrow that one would think I’d abuse my position, though I can understand the concern. If you seek to meet to hear my justification, you need only request my presence. Sincerely, Valindra

A note promptly followed, arriving to the good monk with a black wax seal embellished with a silver Lorraine encased in an eye. To mine brother in faith, the good Monk Matsuda Sakuraba, Your concerns are entirely valid, and I by no means wish to downplay or invalidate them. Them void is a dangerous tool in the wrong hands. However, I would gladly explain my reasoning behind my verdicts if you would be willing to meet me as there is far too much to explain in one mere letter. Sincerely, Valindra

Valindra, the devout and quite possibly one of the only accepted scions now smiled the sun's smile.

Ever a devout canonist and despiser of undead, Valindra dropped to a knee in the chapel of the Petran monastery and prayed heartily for the salvation, safety and wellbeing of both the Haenseti innocents, Valdevian zealots and all true canonists. "May those devout who fall find solace in the seven skies.."

A certain individual cursed with truesight readied herself for potential adventure!

Infiltration is one of the best parts of spook rp.

I used to see no issue with aurum testing; this was years ago before I took on a character at one point who was susceptible from aurum testing as well as establishing ties with many communities who have to deal with it as a threat on the regular. Overall, there does need to be a material that counters dark beings. However, it is currently being used to generate very poor roleplay that isolates hidden dark magi, even ones who are careful, from roleplay communities. A character gets darkspawn tested. If they're found to be darkspawn, they die. The quality of combat that follows is generally poor as a result of white knight rpers. Metagaming tends to set in too, I find, when it comes to aurum testing. If you see a character you know has a dark MA, they almost always become the target of 'random' aurum tests, even if they show no signs of being a darkspawn and have never showcased their magic to anyone present. Gold being used as a weapon in crp against darkspawn I'm fine with. I think the brittleness of gold compared to its dark creature hurting factors is a fine way to balance it out. [Until you get cringe slayersteel rpers.] But using it to outright oust covert darkspawn, denying them an avenue of roleplay and possibly entertaining narratives for others is something that no longer sits right with me. I've seen too many people who happen to hold MAs get tested 'just because'. IRL, yes, it would definitely be something that would be used regularly, but this is a roleplay server. We are here not to live perfect rp lives, we are here to contribute to a fun and entertaining story that allows for the cultivation of all sorts of niches, both light and dark and constant darkspawn testing does not necessarily help foster a healthy balance. It is good to remember that not all darkspawn are outright raiding, pillaging undead goons. Some prefer to hide in plain sight. Disguised frost witches, mystics, necromancers are all indistinguishable from regular descendants visually. Frosties in particular are centred around hiding in plain sight, though I can understand why they get the most attention from darkspawn hunters as they literally kill and eat people. In more recent times, most dark CAs and MAs have been given non-lethal sustaining abilities. Frost witches have really drawn the short straw on this end. Edit: If I stood in the shoes of a dark mage player, I don't want to be confined to only my lair rather than generating entertaining RP in active nations. I can't imagine it'd be very fun. I think that if non-darkspawn gold testers spent a day as darkspawn only to be rigorously tested and denied rp because of an unfounded test, they'd get pretty pissed pretty quickly. I have no idea how dark magi are so patient rn.

[Music to set the mood..] “I am nothing.” A notion that had come to Valindra all too long ago, though for entirely different reasons. Where once, she stood within the safety of her quarters, she now stood flanked by vast rows of bookshelves, knowledge in its infinities. Even above, they lurked, floating far above her head, and below into a bottomless abyss. Her fingers lightly grazed but one of those shelves, her star-speckled gaze panning over the numerous volumes on display, some recognisable, some in languages truly incomprehensible to the mali even with her centuries of life. An infinite land of all knowledge, from the common, to the esoteric to the outright forbidden; it all awaited the prying eyes of the ‘aheral. “But a speck of sand in a ceaseless desert...” Amidst the endless founts of knowledge, there lingered an air of obsession; an obsession to see all, to know all, for all was contained within this infinite plane. Amidst her wonder, the mali had been all too quick to let down her guard, the sensation luring her in with more efficiency than any siren’s song. She drew closer to the shelf, a gloved hand reaching forth to pluck one of the many volumes stacked within. Her fingers deftly flicked through each page as it was thoroughly scoured for its fruit of wisdom. Reading proved an enjoyable pastime, a welcome break from the horrors she faced back on the material plane. Sweet respite, peace. “... A snowflake in an endless tundra…” And there she stayed, at first, each book returned neatly to its place, though as hours turned into days and days into weeks, her insanity gave way to her methodical nature. Upon completion, each book was promptly thrown onto a mountainous stack, some stained with the rations she’d occasionally partaken in. Sleep had been replaced with the scion’s trance. Four hours of meditation on the knowledge ingested per day, though she rested only when she felt exhaustion loom. Within Cognos, day and night seemed all but foreign concepts. Pages were torn from novellas, pocketed if even the most useless of phrase caught the 'aheral's eye or shredded by gnashing teeth if deemed even slightly irrelevant. "...Or a lone star in the infinite void..." Her stack of rations shrunk to a scarce luxury and then to simply nothing. Eventually that stack of perused journals grew so colossal. it overbalanced, tipping aside and falling away into the abyss, lost. Starvation loomed on the horizon. Her lips became chapped and sore. Her once silken locks frazzled and laced with grease. Death would have been inevitable, if not for an unlikely savior. A final book was frantically yanked from the shelf, though the elf’s scrutinous, near feral glare only grazed the title before it was hurled full-pelt into the darkness below. She let out a shriek of disgust, hurling her head over the end to expel the contents of her stomach with a series of gurgled wretches. “No- begone! I shall not be privy to a realm that houses such horrendous volumes!” A circle of salt, a few scratches of occult nature carved desperately into the wooden floor, and with a sudden leap into the starry rift created, and that elf, grounded by an unlikely hero, vanished back to the material plane. Discarded even when it did save a life, the book tumbled through the dark. Nobody would ever know of the heroism of the inanimate object known as: Bronzesmithing Volume I, by Quavinir Thriceborn

Toxposters done did got to tawkin

A former landser, a pale elf who was known for her drifting, mourned the loss in her own way. Many an hour was spent praying for his safe passage and reflecting upon memories shared; foes vanquished and obstacles overcome. While their time together had been brief, and their paths had diverged, the death had been acknowledged and even felt by Valindra Nullivari, the scion on the eternal path to redemption. For the humans, it was merely an "Until we meet again." But for the woman with a fractured being and pointed ears, it was an eternal and rather permanent "Farewell."

There are way too many nations and vassals. RP is so divided that I've spent well over an hour at a time running between nations as a player trying to find roleplay. Sadly, the only way to remedy this is to cull most inactive or less active nations and settlements, and it feels kinda off to do that without IC justification. The Vale also directly avoided the consequences of their warclaim by packing up, leaving and running to Norland. It all really feels a bit meh.

RIP Treerp

Valindra was blissfully unaware of her once-friend's death.

Accepted.

"He's still alive?" Valindra queried, her brows knitting together as she read further into the public letter. "... He has SIBLINGS?"

Valindra stood outside the city, cackling maniacally over a pile of burning carpets.

Valindra Nullivari, subjugator of penguins and gremlin of the realm prepared to line the teeth of the penguins with Null Arcana... .... .... .... For legal reasons, this was a joke.