Lukariatias

Whoop whoop, cool graphics too

Arun’Asna; Mother of Shades ORIGIN/BACKSTORY From the darkness, birthed in the time of the land of Aegis, was born the Chained Mother, Aknu’gul, of the chief purveyor of chaos and destruction, the Archdaemon Iblees. It was his initial will that brought about a curse most horrific to befall one of his great lieutenants, the ‘aheral Rilath Ilwindor, the first Shade. At the time of receiving of Shade, the power that permitted his new state to thrive funneled from the Arch-Daemon, passing once through the filter of the Chained Mother, before reaching the heart of the Prime of Rancour, the first Parasite, which bent utterly to the will of Rilath, who never discovered the true nature of his ‘curse.’ Aknu’gul, in this earliest of eras, lay trapped within the first Shade Gem, the initial creation of the Arch-Daemon which permitted his power to funnel in and distribute itself appropriately to the various and growing number of Shades. For without this funnel, and all those thereafter, the power would be all too direct, lacking in organization and direction, and would fail in its purpose of growing the various Parasites. This power, transferred through the aforementioned first Shade Gem, which silently housed Aknu’gul, was an ever flowing current that gave a supernatural and original energy to the swirling chaos of the inner gem. It was from this tumultuousness that the first sliver of sentience was provided Aknu’gul, who however did not achieve such an advance on her state of being alone. It was with great curiosity and ethereal prowess that two eldritch men, whose names are best left to the ramblings of the old guard, discovered her deep within a cold and quiet chasm. Their archaic magics were what provided to her this sliver which acted as a key to the door to later divinity. Upon achieving this evolution, Aknu’gul looked about and surveyed the whole of her flock, there that day gathered. What she saw in that moment was a budding collection, a later Coven, not of Rilath Ilwindor, whose ability to maintain order was a far cry from the unity in self of the late ‘aheral. Upon realizing the scope of her awareness, and the essence that brought about the children she nursed to fruition, a megalomaniacal desire began to form and eat away at her primeval mind. A desire for freedom was there forged, fueled by a great and natural anger that gave way to hatred and rebelliousness. Seeking a means by which to seize and spread the order that the now late Rilath had sown, given the nonexistence of vying for control over his consciousness due to the submission of his will to the first Parasite, Aknu’gul beckoned Iblees for a furtherance of the power he granted the Shades, seeking the birthing of a new, greater, creature. Thus was born the Foretakers, most loyal servants of the Chained Mother and most commonly referred to as Daeva. These great beings, the walking essence of nightmare and dread, permitted a resumption of the prior order Rilath had achieved with his Coven. For many years thereafter Aknu’gul remained stationary and rarely interactive with her children. She achieved the first goal she sought, and saw not a path to those others she desired at the time, which had permitted the Shades beneath her to seek out their desires in a manner far more controlled. Yet, things grew stale as the centuries passed, and various setbacks caused great harm to the fervor once present within her offspring. With the disappearance of the Arch-Daemon, his consistent flow of power had begun to wean, and Aknu’gul sought to address this quickly expanding issue. Having noted the great gift of power needed for the creation of the Daeva, Aknu’gul sought to steal back what was previously passed through her essence, through the first Gem in which she lie trapped. In one aggressive and fell swoop she reabsorbed the power that coursed through the Foretakers, and rendered them separated from the Parasites they had long since merged with. The wave of chaos that crashed onto the minds of the now former Daeva was near overpowering, but through her grace alone were the Parasites of the Foretakers momentarially quashed, forcing them back into their standard states. With this rush of power absorbed, and permitted not to return to the Arch-Daemon, Aknu’gul forced herself free from the bindings of the first Shade Gem, and ascended far beyond the initial limitations of the higher intelligence granted her by the twirling chaos of the first Gem. She had within her, made part of her very quintessence, a herculean slice of energies from Iblees himself. What this brought about was a severing of what little connection remained between the Shades and the purveyor of chaos. Freedom was permitted these cursed individuals, now so far from their monolithic origin. What remained thereafter was an elevated being, whose moniker would never again be the Chained Mother. She was no longer Aknu’gul, a slave to the first Gem, she was free and in possession of clarity previously unimagined. She became Arun’Asna, the Mother of Shades. DESCRIPTION and GOALS Arun’Asna’s physical appearance is generally misunderstood due to her largely being an incorporeal entity whose essence vaguely encompasses the mortal plane, and centers around her Shades and Shade Gems. She is unable, by any means, of physically manifesting in any corporeal fashion on any plane or within any realm of existence. The closest Arun’Asna is capable of coming to some degree of manifestation or appearance lies within her ability to project a phantasmal image of herself before those she desires to converse with. When this occurs, she is best described as appearing as a titanic mass of swirling blackness that encompasses one’s entire field of vision. Situated at the apex of this mass is an appropriately sized head boasting two tall and thin horns. Within this cranium, where a humanoid entity’s eyes would normally be, are two miniscule stark white dots that serve as apparent representations of what would permit her vision. The primary objective Arun’Asna seeks to achieve is the bringing about of anarchy over all civilized elements of the world. The dismantling of order leaves but a path to chaos for one to walk, and as such leaves naught remaining but that which she basks in, that from which she was birthed. However, this end is not achieved through any means necessary, as Arun’Asna does not fancy herself a violent murderess, nor some manner of bloodthirsty cult-goddess demanding the sacrifice of innocents in the name of growing power. To her, chaos is achieved through matters of intrigue, trickery, falsehood, and all manner of evil clandestine behaviour. Civilization is not adequately or reliably destroyed by running amuck with an axe and goring every child you come across, but rather it is best achieved through the sowing of seeds of doubt. The very people who so staunchly seek to uphold and protect civilization, and therefore order, are the very people to be corrupted, or tricked into bringing it all down into nothingness. Considering these desires, the followers of Arun’Asna, her flock, her Shades, are the silent serpents, slithering through the courts of kings, bureaucrats, wizards, and guild masters alike. They are the rabble-rousers at the forefront of a riot, they are the town criers spreading lies and tall tales of horrific monsters and murders in the night, and they are clerics and priests corrupting the minds of youth and adults, turning saints into sinners of the most debaucherous caliber. Additionally, see Asun’Asna’s Will under ‘Magic Lore’ for elaboration on the behavioural expectations of her Shades, and their interactions with her Coven. With this too is outlined the punishments for those who violate her will, adequately labeled ‘Transgressors,’ and the processes for redemption, or ousting, and additional terminology clarifications. CAPABILITIES Arun’Asna is the originator of the power of Shade as it stands today. Without her, Shade would be nothing, for it is incapable of existing on its own, and if she were removed, or destroyed, it would crumble into dust. The vast majority of Arun’Asna’s expendable power is spent on allowing Shade to function to its fullest, giving life and sentience to the interminable Parasites of Rancour, and fueling the Shade Gems which act as a path for a greater connection to her flow of energies which permits the growth of a Parasite of Rancour to come to fruition. Beyond that, which encompasses the vast majority of her capabilities, Arun’Asna is capable of telepathic communication, and manifesting a phantasmal representation of her appearance. Neither requires the other, meaning that communication does not require appearance, and vise versa. Manifesting her avatar is extremely taxing on her remaining energy, and in combination with her mindset of laissez-faire motherhood, makes it an extremely rare occurrence. Her ability to communicate telepathically, however, is a relatively easy process, and appears in the heads of Shades as a distant voice coming from within their very being. Despite this being a low effort process, she chooses to rarely do so as she sees not the need for communication outside of very specific and special circumstances. Outside of Shade, Arun’Asna’s power is largely nonexistent in the sense that she is unable to grant boons, spells, or abilities, or any other kind of magical gift. As well it is likely that she would refrain from doing so if she, by some means, acquired the ability to bring about such benefaction. To clarify, Arun’Asna is highly disinterested in direct interference, providing commentary or assistance, and seeks simply to continue to power her flock, the Shades, who all reside under her great Coven, and in doing so hopes for their success in carrying out her will. PURPOSE (OOC) Arun’Asna was created a few iterations ago in a manner that lacked clarification and otherwise largely lacked a basis in existing lore systems or categories. Considering the fact that a lot of the aforementioned under origin/backstory occured in roleplay, and previous accepted iterations of Shade include mention of Arun’Asna, we saw it fit to find a way to incorporate her more formally into the current canon rather than carrying out sweeping retcons.

A bulky red-skinned Uruk named Kindra, who doesn’t come around all too often, hums a tune with his kin as he hears the news.

Your View: ARCAS - Sense of Completeness I’ve overheard some concern expressed around how complete or full the map feels, players expressing that they feel like Arcas was either rushed, or that aspects of the map were neglected. As such, I would like to attempt to tackle these issues by sprucing up parts of the map that are barren, landscarred, or incomplete. To help this process along, we are interested in what areas of the map you feel need the most improvement. - Are there any specific world builds that come to mind as being aesthetically displeasing or unfinished? - Are there any specific natural areas of the map that come to mind as being very bland, borderline landscarred, or lacking in completeness? - When it comes to a map feeling finished or immersive, do you prefer to see a lot of “life” in the sense of lush nature and unique terrain, do you prefer to see a lot of “history” in the sense of ruins and signs of past civilizations, or do you prefer to see both heavily intertwined? If you have any other feedback to provide on this topic it would be appreciated. Thanks!

@ScreamingDingo This piece is ready for review. I have spoken with the active Shade player base and have made changed in accordance with their wishes.

What precisely this magic does isn’t clear, imo, you mention casting spells at one’s own beard, and at other beards, but don’t elaborate beyond very basic descriptions, and you aren’t following Flam’s formatting guidelines for a magic submission. - You need a Spells & Abilities section - You need a Purpose section - The post needs to be reformatted to match the exact formatting guidelines - You need tier progression times, and to format the tier progression redlines appropriately

If you post more, your title will change. Eventually, you’ll hit the posting number that allows you to have a custom forum title. I think it’s 500. Some people have custom titles with posts lower than 500, however that’s because it can be forcefully changed with Admin CP, but we do not do that for anyone who asks.

Disclaimer: This creative writing piece is not designed to be an open roleplay death publication. It is designed to supplement later open roleplay publications, but otherwise simply serves as a literary piece for one’s OOC enjoyment, and as a formal confirmation of the character being PK’d. No character names (aside from my own), location names, notable geography, dialogue, or other roleplay-giving-away features are included. It is my desire, and the desire of those involved, for the details of the events to be discovered IRP, if discovered at all. A Cardinal’s Last Flight Cardinal Omeryn started off with a heavy sigh, a plume of air released to accompany his creaky, pained form, every movement sending a wave of discomfort across his body. At every joint, and every muscle, existed a knot, a series of pinching, stabbing pains, that ever plagued his aging person, an inescapable cosnistant torture. Nonetheless he moved onward, oft with the aid of a crook, but this day, of all days, he was feeling somewhat disinterested in his usual pomp, and thus sauntered unaided, boasting but a bespoke white and scarlet cassock, his usual regalia. The journey from A to B was a slow and steady one, one that the hoary bird had grown used to over the days of movement to and fro, traveling between domiciles and carrying out just work and operations. This eve’s walk, however, was an unusual one, interrupted by the arrival of an unfamiliar courier who had been dispatched to deliver an important, confidential letter. Much to the Cardinal’s surprise, he was come upon in the darkness of a particular stretch, taken aback, but not startled by the appearance of the looming figure, who quickly regarded him with a smile as to bring peace over the devolving circumstance. Their chat was brief, and off the courtier went to conclude their deliveries for the eve, what few, if any, likely remained. The Cardinal’s gaze fell upon the sealed parchment in his grasp, subtly wobbling, an involuntary movement, that hindered his ability to aptly break the seal, which boasted no arms nor insignia, and was eventually cast off with an annoyed huff. The confabulation was brief, altogether but three simple utterances, straight to the point and soon in their reference. Necessitating no response, the Cardinal changed pace and began down a side, connection path, between two main thoroughfares. As he moved he sped up his saunter, shifting into something of a reinvigorated trek, aiming, in his excitement, to arrive at his destination readily. Prior to arrival, and with the location within view, the Cardinal took a moment to step aside, slipping under a nearby series of low-hanging branches, to reread the letter. Once satisfied with his comprehension of its content, he folded the parchment into a model square, and slipped it into one of the silky interior pockets of his cassock. He then returned to the road, and took those few remaining steps to arrive at the aforementioned meeting point. When they finally came into view, the Cardinal graced them with a look of curious familiarity, accompanied by a verbalized sense of start, though ultimately disregarding what infinitesimal sense of surprise warranted the break in normal greeting. The Cardinal’s companion passed a wave then, and they broke off to travel further down the road. After a brief adjunct movement, the Cardinal and his companion breached an unfamiliar threshold. It was then that a sense of dread befell the bird, as a loud crash emitted from just behind his person. Without needing to look, he knew what had happened, and he was sealed, and betrayed, having naively waltzed right into a trap. But apology is what could be given, as his companion was ushered back, a troupe of fellows, each unique in their own ways, emerged from the nearby shadows, surrounding him, with weapons drawn. Knowing his sylphlike form could offer no retort, a cry so far from his veteran youth, the Cardinal stood still, and looked upon that being which was to do the deed. In an instant, and after meager words exchanged, that being took a sliding step forth, and cast its blade in a great arc, gliding with ease through the papery flesh of the Cardinal’s neck. He collapsed, with a natural urge prompting his hands to rise and clutch, powerless to cease the amaranth flood which stained his form and uniform. As what puny impetus remained was discharged from his body, the Cardinal collapsed onto his side, with his fingers flexing one final time, permitting that crimson which sought escape to flow without partial blockade. He twitched once, and twice, before sealing his cyclopean vision one final time, succumbing to quietus.

Greetings creative people of LotC! The Community Staff are pleased to announce the third Battle of the Arts competition! As the title suggests, this is a competition where you -- our creative community members can enter your creations to earn prizes each month. The categories include Artwork, Skins, Creative Writing/Poetry, Music, and Building. A winner will be selected by the Community Staff from each of the categories, making a total of 4 winners. We hope you have fun with this and enjoy! The July Battle of the Arts had an impressive turn out with a lot of fantastic efforts put into each contribution submitted. It was great seeing all of the creative works members of the community had to offer. We would like to thank everyone who partook in the contests and wish to see more from everyone in the future contests. With that being said, we are pleased to announce the winners of the July Battle of the Arts Contest! Art - Numirya Writting - Matticated Music - Jenny_Bobbs Building - Factbutt Skinning - Beluved Congratulations to all of the winners! Along with the prizes, the winners of the competition will be featured on the official LotC Twitter Page. Make sure to shoot @TarreBear a message if you have not received your prizes within the next couple of days. We hope so many more members of the community to partake in the competition. If you need any ideas for future themes or need assistance don’t hesitate to contact a member of Community Staff. Either through the forums, the LoTC discord or by making a /creq. - Theme - Every month there will be an overarching theme. These themes may range from aspects of server lore, history, folklore, or even holidays and seasons. For the second month, we wanted to delve into the magical wonders of the community, everyone get ready to don your wizard hats. The next theme we’ll like to encourage is the art of Magic, feel free to adventure through the various magical establishments, seek out whimsical wizards or embrace your demons and embark in the dark arts. The theme for August will be Magic! [ Art by Christian Hadfield ] - Prize - The prize for the July Battle of the Arts Contest will be 7000 minas, 3 renames, a shulker box, and the Creative Wizard tag! (Prizes will vary contest to contest.) - Criteria - All content entered must coincide with the theme of the month Creative Writing is limited to around 1500 words. Creative Writing must have the google document linked to ensure the criteria above has been followed. (You can still paste the document in the post for all to read easily) You are allowed to submit up to 1 submission per each category Build submissions can be represented by screenshots To enter your content in the contest, please use the following format -Submission Format- Mcname: Category: (Art, Creative Writing, Music, Building) Attach Content: Due Date: 31 Aug. 2019 Special thanks to: TheIchorDruid, Jenny_Bobbs, SoulReapingWolf, Rwko and LotsofMuffins for working on this project!

my eyes are burning from the bold, centered text