NSWRPF Archive The Jade Lance

The Jade Lance: A His Dark Materials RP

Twenty-five years ago, a man named Asriel, by most accounts a rich, idealistic troublemaker, did the unthinkable. In a world dominated by a powerful theocracy known only as the Magisterium, he made a bold move towards personal freedom. Risking everything, he took a small hole in the fabric between worlds and turned it into a doorway. From there, he gathered an army and struck down the Authority and all the misguided angels of the Kingdom of Heaven, birthing the Republic of Heaven. Asriel gave his life for his cause in that fateful war, destroying the Authority's most trusted and powerful servant, the Metatron, an act which by its own audacity sent tremors through the fabric of space and time to the most distant corners of every world.

Few worlds have felt these tremors so much as this world in which our story begins. In the centuries leading towards Asriel's crusade, Christendom reigned supreme, as the Magisterium, controlling the world with an iron grip. Try as they might to quash the heresy of God's death, the rumors have spread, crippling and disuniting the Church. Recently, the Councils have become desperate. No solution is too ruthless for them...
IC: Silas Moore
The Council of Venice

Silas flattened the creases from his robe as he stood to address the thousands gathered in Venice. He looked out at the crowd, holy men of every rank from Deacon to Cardinal, and almost as many lay people. Amantha, his black widow dæmon hung from his left ear like some grotesque earring. He cleared his throat.

"Gentlemen and ladies, peace be with you. I bring glad tidings from the Ministry of Signs and Wonders." The Ministry was a newly formed branch of the Magisterium, designed to enlighten or eradicate those who disagreed with the Church, a new, subtler Inquisition, one might say. "Four years ago, I stood before you in Geneva, and asked permission to look into these issues we now face. You acceded, and the Ministry of Signs and Wonders was formed under my command. Two years ago, when the Council met in Lisbon, I promised you I had a solution, but that I could not share it until it was ready. You have all been most patient, and now, in Venice, I stand before you, prepared to unveil my methods for saving our beloved Church.

"A quarter of a century ago, a heretic named Asriel did near irreparable damage to the Church. He proved undoubtably that Barnard and Stokes were correct." The Barnard-Stokes Heresy: The terrible heretical belief that there were multiple creations, perhaps even with multiple gods. "He waged war against Heaven and left us to pick up the pieces.

"The old will no longer do, as the War demonstrated. In my studies, I have learned of several items of great power which, in the right hands, will restore our Church to its former glory, not just in our world, but in all the other worlds whose existence we can no longer deny.

"Despite his sins, Asriel showed us how the bond between man and dæmon can be used to shatter the barriers between the worlds. In so doing, he has done us a great service. The first phase of my plan is to return to Cittàgazze and learn the secrets of the Subtle Knife and how to rebuild it, which will lead us to the items that will save our Church. Our experimental theologians have been quietly building an army, beings of unsurpassed strength, man and dæmon fighting as one, and we will soon have enough to lead the armies of the faithful on their Crusade to save the Faith."
IC: Lyra Silvertongue
The Botanic Garden

Anyone passing the Oxford Botanic Garden would be hard-pressed not to stop and marvel at the middle-aged woman sitting alone on a bench babbling and sobbing to herself. Her Marten dæmon did nothing to console the woman, running around as though interacting with some invisible dæmon.

"I broke our promise, Will," she sobbed, "And now nothing's right. I got married, y'see? And I kept trying not to compare him to you, like we promised, I just kept saying 'He en't Will. He never />/>

Two main GM characters

Name: Silas Moore
Age: 53
Race: Human
Appearance: A skinny, sinister-looking man with graying black hair. His black widow dæmon regularly crawls around on his face.
Personality: Silas Moore's lust for power is poorly hidden behind a wall of Magisterium rhetoric, which he happily recites from memory to dislodge accusations
Job: Head of the Ministry of Signs and Wonders
Bio: There is little in Silas' personal history that would surprise anyone who knew the kind of person he was. As a boy, he was more than happy to obey rules, knowing that one day he'd be the one making them and would expect others to obey his rule -as they say, "Do unto others..."- and once he was educated enough in Experimental Theology and classical mythology, he joined a Magisterium seminary and began his rise to power.

Dæmon
Name: Amantha
Form: Black Widow
Personality: Amantha rarely speaks in anything more than a whisper while hanging from Silas' ear, making her disposition difficult to gauge. However, it is known that Silas seems to appreciate his council.
Name: Lyra "Silvertongue" Belacqua Helsmuth
Age: 38
Race: Human
Appearance: Pretty, not terribly aged, but very disheveled
Personality: The loss of her son, Will, has caused Lyra so much grief to the point that it has effected her everyday life. She spends much of her time sitting alone in the Botanic Garden talking to herself, or just crying.
Job: Housewife, amateur scholar of experimental theology
Bio: Little known to most people -excepting the witches who had prophesied her exploits millenia in advance, and the few who survived the war, like Iorek- but Lyra was central to the events leading to the War. During the War, she fell in love with a young man from another world, but the were forced back to their respective worlds.
Upon returning to her world, Lyra tried to do as was expected of her. She attended one of Oxford's colleges for women, and after learning a small amount of experimental theology -most of which, she had learned firsthand during the war- and eventually got married and had a son, Will. He joined the army, and lost his life on a secret mission. News of this caused Lyra to become the distraught shell of her former self she is today. Rumor has it, she owns an Alethiometer which is hidden somewhere in her Oxford home.

Dæmon
Name: Pantalaimon (Pan)
Form: Marten
Personality: Always the cautious one, Pan is at a serious loss in terms of how to comfort Lyra after the loss of Will. He regularly cycles through a wide range of possibilities to try and help her./>

Being that, I am, in fact, partly GM, I am guessing that it is acceptable to post my own character sheet. Presenting, approved by myself, Marshall Connelly:

Name: Marshall Connelly
Age: 28
Race: Human
Appearance: Tall and ragged looking. He is very muscular and shows it off. He is garbed in hunter?s clothes; an open vest with no other shirt, moccasins and leather pants. He has furs for extreme weather. He has copper hair and bright blue eyes. He has a full beard, shaved low, to stubble.
Personality: Outspoken and controversial. Marshall has many opinions, but waits for the right moment to dish them out. He is very clever and intelligent. Marshall is creative and dangerous. He is impulsive and will use even those he loves for his goals. He is very stubborn and will protect himself indefinitely.
Job: Hunter
Biography: Born in Ireland, Marshall was always an independent child. He hated the thought of control and the Magisterium. He loved the outdoors and taught himself to survive alone. Marshall left home at sixteen with the hopes of becoming an aeronaut. Unable to accomplish the goal, Marshall settled with hunting. He is constantly traveling and sells furs and skins for a living.

Dæmon
Name: Kyana
Form: Lynx
Personality: Kyana is aggressive and powerful. She is large for a lynx and uses her size and ferocity to overcome even larger Dæmons. She is very intelligent and crafty. Kyana is quiet and observant, watching her surroundings intently and reporting to Marshall.

Expect a sheet soon, Sephy.

GM APPROVED



Character Sheet
Name: Sam Black
Age: 32
Race: Human
Appearance: Sam Black
Personality: Soft spoken and reserved, doesn't hesitate to speak his mind. A cold killer, Sam doesn't think twice about putting a bullet in someone that angers him. Despite these traits, Sam is fiercely loyal.
Job: Mercenary/Bounty Hunter
Bio: Sam doesn't talk much about his life in Texas, where he was born and raised, but it is known that he hasn't been back in Texan territory since he left when he was 20. Since leaving, he had travelled the world as a Mercenary and Bounty Hunter, working a lot in Mejico and though out the western world.

Weapons: Schofield Quickshooter, Fighting Dagger, Custom .30-.30 rifle

Daemon (if applicable)
Name: Jessi
Form: Cougar
Personality: Reserved and stealthy with a calculating stare, excellent judge of character and quick to anger

Character Sheet
Name: Nina Marnell
Age: 22
Race: Witch
Appearance: Slender, with long brown hair and blue eyes. Like all witches, her clothing is made of black silk. She carries a bow and quiver of arrows, and a pair of daggers.
Personality: Modest and soft-spoken, and though not afraid to ask questions when necessary, she is not overly inquisitive. While she is comfortable in the company of her clan mates, she occasionally prefers to be alone.
Job: Not applicable
Bio: Still very young by witches? standards, Nina Marnell is a member of Serafina Pekkala?s clan. And though she is learning from the clan, she is still inexperienced in the witches? magical arts.

Dæmon
Name: Arion
Form: Crow
Personality: Though watchful and cautious when the occasion calls for it, Arion is more free-spirited and playful than his quiet, almost-too-serious witch counterpart. Many times he attempts to get her to loosen up, without much success.

GM Approved

Name: Eugene Matthews

Age: 26

Race: Human

Appearance: Tall and lanky, Eugene Matthews is not a very handsome man. He has unkempt and neck-length red hair with freckles dotted sporadically across his face, and a rather long nose that is actually quite useful in holding his small circular spectacles, which he always wears. He is normally found wearing loose and baggy clothing, except for when he is inside a science lab, where he is usually adorned in tighter garbs concealed by a white lab coat.

Personality: Eugene is a very good-natured person with a big heart, though he's always seemed to lean towards the clumsy side of the spectrum. He is quite intelligent, receiving top marks all throughout his education, though this often becomes a harmful quality. His tendency to prove his words with proven facts irritates many people that he comes across, mostly bounty hunters and mercenaries. Still, he is quite useful.

Job: Personal Assistant to Alastor Blake, a famous scientist

Bio: Eugene Harrington Matthews the Third was born to a wealthy family in the eastern portion of the United States. His father was a world-renowned chiropractor, and his mother was a children's dentist. This resulted in Eugene growing up with strong bones and healthy teeth, as his parents made certain. His older sister, Ariel, went on to become a popular author, while he excelled academically in school, which developed friction between himself and his classmates. Thus, he grew up without many friends, though it didn't bother him much. He never found friendship to be a particular necessity in life, besides that of his loyal Dæmon, Isaac.

In the latter portion of Eugene's education, a well-known scientist by the name of Alastor Blake took an interest in the young man. He found Mister Matthews' knowledge of science, particularly the study of microbiology, to be extraordinary in someone of such young age, and immediately following the conclusion of Eugene's education, he offered him a job as his personal assistant. Eugene, a long-time fan of Blake's work, humbly accepted.

Eugene has continued this line of work to this day, consistently impressing many scientists throughout the world with his contributions to Alastor's theories and experiments. He hopes that one day, it will lead him to something grand in life.

Dæmon

Name: Isaac

Form: A small, short-haired black and white cat.

Personality: Isaac has always been very curious, often discovering ways to get into things that he shouldn't be. He is very loyal to Eugene, though like his owner, is often quite clumsy in his good-natured ways.

GM approved
Name: Edwin Huet
Age: 24
Race: Human
Appearance: Edwin is a tall young man with dull gray eye's and a bright smile. His brown hair is cut short and usually always combed to one side, Edwin is the embodiment of a prep school graduate.
Personality: Edwin is a usually sarcastic, funny person, he tries to make jokes often but can be rather tactless when it comes to people's feelings. Edwin is also easy to annoy especially if you regard him as stupider then him, an unacceptable term. He is also finds manners very important, thanks to a strict upbringing.
Job: Just graduated student
Bio:
Born into a family of scholars Edwin was raised among intellectuals and went to the finest schools where his parents were friends with the professors and head masters. This put him in a unique position, while not rich and therefor should be the brunt of mockery, Edwin was a friend of the professors and therefor to be approached lightly with teasing.

However Edwin proved to be a popular kid, funny and rather sport like he tried to fit in with the other kids and did so as well. And so that is how Edwin has lived his life, going from one school to the next, usually making friends, but now he has graduated and Edwin is a little lost as to what it is he'll be doing for the rest of his life.

Dæmon (if applicable)
Name: Bryana
Form: Ocelot
Personality: Unlike Edwin Bryana is mostly serious and rarely speaks to anyone but him, she is usually arrogant and condescending, always willing for action and adventure.

GM Note: Not speaking for the rest of the GM staff for The Jade Lance, I would appreciate a few children. They really are the future generation and how can you expect to keep an interesting game going with out those meddling kids? If you are looking at this game and are wondering what kind of character to make, think about a child.

Sent my CS, waiting for a reply. The character is young, but not single digits, he's 12.

Character Sheet
Name: Chandler Billings
Age: 12
Race: Human(Gyptian)
Appearance: Young, silver eyes, black hair, baggy clothes.
Personality: Energetic, curious, intent helping people, regardless his age.
Job: n/a
Bio: Born to one of the major Gypsy groups he is a young litle trouble maker. He does however possess a special ability to finding the simplest and most effective solutions to the problems of those around him. He also has a Dæmon by the name of Morgana, though still unsettled she tends to take the form of both a falcon, mouse, and serpent. He was one of the few children to escape the capture of the Gobblers, thanks to Morgana. He now hunts for those that were stolen, and also works to see if he can't continue where Lord Azriel left off, and tear down the oppressive power of the Church.

Chandler's Dæmon

Dæmon (if applicable)
Name: Morgana
Form: Unsettled
Personality: Just as wily as her companion Chandler, she is protective and ingenuative.

GM's OOC: Thanks Nick. I didn't want to try to force anyone into the role, since I always hate seeing "I need x of these characters and y of these characters, no more, no less", but the source material really revolves around children and their innocence etc.

Also, I'm a bit surprised not to have seen an bears yet. I'd expected at least one. Oh well.

Probably another week-ish for stragglers and for us to start figuring plot stuff out, then we should be able to start. Thanks again for your patience in letting us plot out this RP.

OOC: I'm going to go ahead and up this.

GM's OOC: Hey everyone, sorry about the wait, but communication between the Co-GMs and I has been unexpectedly slow, and one seems to have dropped off the face of the earth. We're trying as hard as we can to get the game started, but I'm gonna need you to bear with us. If all goes to plan, we should be able to start by the end of next week. Also, I'd like to get a show of hands of who all is still here and will still participate when we get it launched.

OOC: Still here and waiting eagerly!

OOC: Ready and able.

I hope it's not too late to join?

GM OOC: Excuse me, if you meant myself, Seph. Of course not, Moon, we are always willing to accept new players. Unless we say that we aren't excepting any more players.

GM's OOC: Nick, sorry, I sent you a PM and never got a response. Peng and I are discussing the finer details of the story.

GM Approved!

Name: Bria Filtayn
Age: 11
Race: Witch
Appearance: Shaggy brown hair, light brown eyes. Small for her age.
Personality: A dreamer with her head in the clouds, figuratively speaking, most of the time. Bria is also stubborn and has a strong sense of curiosity - which gets her into trouble sometimes. Tries to go barefoot whenever she can. Most importantly, Bria can't wait until she can fly.
Job: n/a
Bio: Bria is a member of Serafina Pekkala's clan at Lake Enara and has lived there all her life. She doesn't really know her mother, a witch who spends most of her time as an envoy to the outside world (the humans or other witch clans or something, Bria's never sure); neither does she know her father. Mostly her eighteen-year-old brother Derrin looks out for her, and it makes her sad to think that eventually she will have to watch him grow old and die.

Dæmon (if applicable)
Name: Tarquin
Form: Unsettled
Personality: Tarquin, or Tarq as Bria calls him, is an eternal optimist and very inventive, a useful trait in keeping Bria out of trouble (or rather, keeping her from being caught). Frequently changes forms, mostly cycling through a variety of birds.

GM's OOC: My apologies again about the slow progression of the game. School and the emergence of a previously non-existent social life have kept me busy, and an opening post is a large investment of time. Luckily, though, after this point, my job will be a lot easier, since I can shove all the work I can't afford to do onto Nick and Peng Without further ado, the game:
IC: Silas Moore/> The Council of Venice

Taking a breath after the end of his speech, Silas again spoke up moments later, "I am sure some of you are wondering what our research has wrought, what I mean by a statement like 'Man and dæmon fighting as one', and I will happily show you. Behold, the shock troopers of the Ministry for the service of the Magisterium: Send in Orias!"

A...creature marched into the auditorium. It was shaped like a human, though it bore scales like a crocodile and an elongated snout filled with sharp teeth. "Private Orias was a Saharan soldier before he was transferred to the Ministry of Signs and Wonders' Experimental Theology department. His dæmon was a crocodile named Aries. Through a process known as Corporeal Contranimusion, CC for short, we combined his dæmon with his own body.

"Understandably, the product is not likely to be fully appreciated. Some of you are probably aversed to this concept. We have kept that in mind, and we are limiting their use. Only a few thousand have been CC'ed, and will operate exclusively at the Magisterium's pleasure for very specific purposes."

Amantha whispered something in Silas' ear, and he seemed to cringe as he realized he would have to except their critique and process as they judged his creation right there in the center of the Council's Auditorium. "Any questions?"

Tag: Peng
Oxford Market

Rupert, or as all the kids knew him, "Bones", surveyed the scraggly group of kids arrayed before him. Gyptians, merchants' kids, a few of the kids of craftsmen who lived in the outskirts of Oxford. Rupert knew he didn't have much longer as a kid. In probably a few months, Liarra, his dæmon would be settling, and then he'd be a young adult. What a horrible thing to be. All the expectations of an adult with none of the freedoms. If he could, he'd be a kid forever.

When he'd first grown old enough to spend the majority of the day playing outside his house, he'd gotten in with the older kids, the ones who kept the history and the running tallies. Among Oxford's youth, there had been war for as long as anyone could remember. No one died or anything like that in the wars, but there were still real casualties, the biggest being respect.

The outsiders hadn't always been in charge. Sides changed. Years ago, before any of the current outsiders were around, the college kids, the children of the workers in Oxford's many colleges, had been dominant, under the leadership of a firey girl named Lyra, but as always happened with the leaders, her dæmon settled, and she had to move on. Since then, the outsiders had been gaining members, Gyptians and other merchants.

Under "Bones", they were doing pretty well, but leaders were apt to be forgotten when they grew up, and "Bones" wanted to be remembered. It would be a consolation prize, since the freedoms of youth couldn't last forever.

"'Kay, listen up. I'm gunna hafta step down on accounta growin' up soon. Hate ta say it, but it's the truth. We all gotta grow up. So, long's this could be my last victory any day, I'm gunna lead us on one big battle. This en't just some mud-war. This is a gig that's gunna keep the outsiders in power 'til I'm so growed up that my kids can join the outsiders and tell the story of what their poppa did when he was a kid.

"'So's,' yer askin', 'What's we gunna steal?' Well, rumor's that somewhere in Oxford's a rich old lady who's got one of them Truth Measurers. We's gonna steal that, and the college kids en't ever gunna be able to top a score like that. The rumors is gunna start, and before's too long past, there'll be a dozen 'f us fer/>/>

IC: Marshall Connelly
South of Trollesund

Marshall picked at a nail on his left thumb, with his long knife. He turned the finger and looked at it, with the light of the fire. Satisfied, he lowered his arm to his knee.

"I fear something awful may happen once again, and I fear we may once again bear the burden of the Magisterium's greed and lust for power."

With a small whistle, he brought the knife into the wood with a thud. Ever since he was, but 11, Marshall had hated the Magisterium. The name brought a shiver to his spine, as he thought of the monstrosities they had created. The pain they had brought. He spoke out, loudly.

"There has been talk, at the markets, of the creation of further evil, from our governing body."

Marshall spat the last two words, like the most poisonous venom. Kyana hissed along with him, she circled the fire restlessly, feeling the discontent of her body. Marshall looked around, at the inhabitants of the clearing.

"We cannot allow the Magisterium to threaten humanity, again."

Kyana padded back to Marshall. She leaned up to whisper in his ear and then lay at his feet. Her claws dug lightly at the dirt.

Tag: All

Sorta "NPCing" Bria's brother, if that's okay. I'm just thinking that an eleven-year-old is probably not going to be going to a big gathering unsupervised.


IC: Bria Filtayn

Several miles south of Trollesund

Bria had never seen so many beings in one place before. Every sort of living being imaginable was crowded in the small clearing around a roaring fire, from humans to arctic foxes to two armoured bears and their huge king. In fact, there were enough beings present that, close as she was to the fire, she could not see the speaker floating above it even if she stood on tiptoes.

"Can't we get any closer, Derrin? I can't see anything -"

Bria's brother, who had insisted on holding her hand, even though she was eleven now and not some little kid, shushed her. For good reason, too: Serafina Pekkala, their clan queen, had risen higher above the flames and begun to speak in a clear, carrying voice. She spoke of the Magisterium and the immense feeling of unease that had preceded its rise, and - more important than the history lesson about stuff everyone knew - that she had been feeling something similar once again.

Derrin's grip tightened. Like Bria, he was too young to have experienced the Magisterium's evils firsthand, but they'd both grown up on the stories. How they kidnapped children. How they experimented on them, cutting them off from their daemons. How the severed children had died, unable to survive alone. At eighteen he was too old to be a test subject, obviously, but Bria wasn't.

Which meant that right now, he was thinking about being an overprotective big brother. Again. Bria glared at him; her daemon Tarquin, attuned as always to her mood, shifted from a sparrow to a puppy and leapt up into Bria's free arm. "Nobody's separating us!"

Derrin's daemon Xerias, a wildcat, hissed at him. Pretending to be scared, Tarq shifted into a mouse and ran up Bria's sleeve. The girl giggled.

The panserbjørne king said, "I know no better than you. Perhaps the humans here at this conclave know better than we do what may come. Perhaps they can contribute. They are already conveniently near the speaking fire..."

"There has been talk, at the markets, of the creation of further evil, from our governing body," yelled one of the men closer to the fire than she was. "We cannot allow the Magisterium to threaten humanity, again."

Who was that? Bria craned her neck, but to no avail - all she got for the effort was an eyeful of people's backs. With a huff, she rocked back on her heels.

TAG: Sephy, Nick, Darth_Vaders_cousin, JediMasterAnne