Prepare for the #LodanRespawn2024 Existing characters may choose to be displace from/have memories of different timelines, thereby allowing returning members the option to retcon their whole character. These changes are the result of the "Unnatural Fog" plot device that is running between now and the Respawn. The plot is simple: no matter where your character is, that place is shrouded in a thick fog that suspends time, but not thoughts or memories, so even if they're repeating the same day over and over again, they continue to remember, so each time feels like a new day. For those retconning OCs; this is where new versions of themselves have the opportunity to replace the old versions. Official lore and tree updates will be announced asap
Post by Stephen Leland on Sept 7, 2015 14:33:07 GMT
Stephen thought about her question as he petted the small kitten in his lap. He understood why CAEsAL was around but he did not exactly know how or why it had originally emerged nor if it had the same goals as the CAEsAL now. "Not particularly," he admitted, settling down to hear about something that he really should have known given his position in the guild.
Post by Edelweiss Fjäril on Sept 7, 2015 16:14:15 GMT
"Well, the sincerity is appreciated." She stated with a bit of a smile and no traces of sarcasm. At least he didn't try to pretend knowing more than he did for this, she could mentally name a whole list of people who would. "CAEsAL was founded at the end of Lodan's Civil War, but its proper origins come from way before that. Before the previous Queen's disappearance, the city thrived with a system of 10 guilds rather than the 5 we currently have---"
"Ma'am, 'got all da stuff ready. Wher' ya want me ta drop it all?" A voice coming from the door interrupted what she'd been saying, and Edelweiss turned her head to look at the person who spoke. A male teenager, dark skin and hair falling all over the face, glowing red eyes, loose clothes damp from the rain, and reeking of 'Hovel brat' by all meanings. He was holding a large cardboard box filled with books and avulse papers, both folded or rolled up.
"Leave it here and you can go dry up, thanks." The redhead nodded, and once the box was placed nearby and the teen left she pulled out a couple of the rolled up papers and unscrolled them over the table top for Stephen to see. The one currently left of top of the others had been scribbed over in blue, marked areas that divided the city in smaller cojointed octogonal shapes like in a kind of circular honeycomb. "...As I was saying, there was a system of 10 guilds back then. Each of them had a 'territory', though some kind of blended into a blurry line: Engineers, Merchants, Hunters, Military, Pirates, Thieves, Andersweltlers, Magicians, Entertainers, Assassins. Might sound a bit odd nowadays, but while some already had more... subtle activities and schedules, all ten were known and recognized by the Queen."
Post by Stephen Leland on Sept 7, 2015 19:55:56 GMT
The noble blinked, surprised by the amount of guilds in the past. It was hard to fathom anything other than the five guilds currently in Lodan now but Lodan had a history that he just recently had become a part of. It struck him how very little he knew of the city; all that he really knew was that there had been a war and these guilds had emerged at the end of it, new and old. As the small boy interrupted Edel he flicked his eyes over to study him. Did this kid work for CAEsAL as well or was he just a helper of Edelweiss. Where did she find all these kids anyways. Well, he knew the answer to that: the peasant hovel - a place he tried to stay out of most days and only went there if he had to.
She presented him a map as she went into further detail about the old guilds. Apparently the Queen back then had recognized them all, which was quite the surprise. "Did some of these guilds join together after the war? There seems to be some similarities between a connection of some of these older guilds and the ones here in present times."
Post by Edelweiss Fjäril on Sept 7, 2015 21:06:29 GMT
"You guessed well. The 10 merged in pairs and formed the current 5 we have." Edelweiss picked a marker of different color from the box and started scribbing over the honeycomb map, marking larger sections that envolved the smaller old ones.
"Oficially, the Magicians, Andersweltlers, Thieves, Pirates and Assassins guilds all were destroyed or dispersed during Civil War. Well, being where we are now, that's obviously not the truth." She mentioned while giving him a half-smile. "The Thieves gathered around the docks and air ports along the Pirates, forming the Brotherhood of Rogues (or 'BoR' for short). They absorbed the old Magicians Guild territory, while the Magicians moved out to the outskirts of the city and joined the Andersweltlers to form MI. The Merchants and Engineers merged territories, forming the Mingos Mechanics while the Hunters and Military guilds moved to the area closer to the Queen's residence and got unitted under the flag of EIRAL. Lastly, we have this area:" She tapped the map with the marker tip, indicating where their own guild was located. "CAEsAL was born from the fusion of the Assassin and Entertainer guild." Unlikely at first, but those two factions had more things in common than first met the eye. "We settled over a mix of merged territories and taking over borders of the surrounding ones, except for the Central Square, which became a sort of neutral territory for all."
Before making a small pause to check his reaction, Edelweiss gave him a bit of an amused smile. "You actually know all the current Leaders already, Stephen. May you name them?"
"All power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." - John Dalberg-Acton
Post by Stephen Leland on Sept 10, 2015 2:32:22 GMT
"Originally Commander Skye was in charge of the E.I.R.A.Ls but due to his recent incarceration Alistar is now in charge with Andronikos as his second," he thought for a moment more then went on "Lasair is the second in command of M.I. but I know nothing of their leader. Amon is the leader of M.M., Viktor is the second. I believe Ikuze is the second of BoR but i am not entirely sure about the head of BoR."
Post by Edelweiss Fjäril on Sept 10, 2015 2:54:58 GMT
"Faolan Skye is currently among the BoR ranks. He's not up to date with everything but is still a nice source of intel about EIRAL and their thought process." The redhead nodded for the first part, but ended up chuckling as Stephen went on.
"Mingos' second-in-command is actually called Gabriel Sinnett, though I do know Viktor is one of their most 'versatile' members. As for the BoR Leader, it's the infamous Queen of Rogues (and sweet Baroness on the side) Caitlin Cockfoster; Cait is the actual founder of BoR as much as I am of CAEsAL and also an old friend, which makes it so relations with BoR tends to be pleasant in general though our guilds aren't declared allies per se. And about the leader of MI... they have switched leaderships more than other guilds, to speak the truth. It's hard to keep track of them." She knew one of the former ones who's still alive, Elowyss, but they never had been personal acquaintances. "The current one is Danny Ravensdale."
Post by Stephen Leland on Sept 13, 2015 4:29:34 GMT
Ah, his mistake on thinking that Viktor was the second in command. At least now he knew better. At the mention of the leader of the BoR's his eyes widened some. Well, that was unexpected, but not entirely unbelievable. It made sense in a way. The leader of the M.I.'s completely through him for a look. "Danny Ravensdale? As in the small fellow who writes journals on shadow monsters," he asked incredulously. How long had it been since he had last seen him? Weeks? Months? Years? It felt like almost forever ago since he had delivered that glass flower from Danielle to him.
Post by Edelweiss Fjäril on Sept 13, 2015 4:42:35 GMT
"Yes, though not exactly 'fellow'. There's a blond girl under those googles and scarf; she disguises it well though." No sarcasm there. "Didn't you even date her at some point? Before Ikuze. How did you never notice that, Stephen?" The redhead shook her head, amused. She really didn't understand how he had never noticed Danny's gender after having dated her, but either way it was a bit funny.
"On a sidenote though, Danny knew you were an assassin, before I talked to her. Considering how that knowledge didn't spread I don't think there was any problem with that, safe secret and all, but I'm curious as to how she found out... Also, the BoR know about our own web of info and about CAEsAL having informants, but they don't know about the assassin part of our trade. Just a tip to avoid letting too much spill on accident."
"All power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." - John Dalberg-Acton
Post by Stephen Leland on Oct 18, 2015 22:13:53 GMT
Stephen just stared at her, not sure if he had heard that right, "Pardon? Danny is..... Oh God." If what Edel said was true - which was usually the case - then he was the biggest fool in Lodan - nay, the world. How many times had he conversed with Danny about Danielle, never knowing he was talking to the very woman herself?!
Post by Edelweiss Fjäril on Oct 18, 2015 22:27:43 GMT
Edelweiss figured she should give him a moment to let the information sink in his mind, so as he spoke she simply nodded and after a moment of silence stood up and circled the table to give him a few pats on the shoulder. "Need another cup of tea?"
"All power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." - John Dalberg-Acton
Post by Stephen Leland on Nov 8, 2015 20:14:34 GMT
"That... That would be greatly appreciated," he muttered as he offered his empty cup, still utterly embarrassed and shocked with how unobservant he really was. Shaking his head he turned back to the topic at hand; he could fret over this later but now he needed to focus on her question. "Danny... Danielle?..." he threw a hand up in exasperation, "However she wishes to be addressed, caught me completing on of my earlier missions for CAEsAL. It was a terribly ignorant mistake on my part and could have very well cost me my life but through sheer dumb-luck she did not rat me out. I failed to take into account that someone from above would be watching and have taken measures to fix my mistake so as to be more observant of my surroundings." He sat silently, still angry with himself for pulling such a dim-witted move back then. At least he had not freaked out in the tavern when she had informed him that she had witnessed the murder; that would have drawn a lot of unwanted attention to himself and also give Scarves a chance to rat him out in public. It was just so annoying how he would not shut his drat mouth afterwards! Queens he was an idiot.
"I am half hoping you will fire me on the spot for being such a dimwitted fool," he grumbled sadly as he petted the kittens in his lap. If his life was as simple as a cats: he could eat, sleep, and lounge about to his hearts content. Then again, that was if he had a good owner and he highly doubted anyone would want him if he was a cat; if someone did and he somehow managed to charm them with his unplesant behavior.. well he certainly would be a very, very luck feline. "Do you have anymore questions for me?"
Post by Edelweiss Fjäril on Nov 8, 2015 21:11:17 GMT
Edelweiss raised an eyebrow, in doubt whether she should smile or not at that. "I certainly would 'fire' you, if you had tried to lie to me after so long." She picked his empty teacup, refilled it, then held it out to him. She also hoped Stephen knew what happened to any assassin who was 'fired' from their positions, since it was fairly different from simply retiring. And she definitely didn't want to fire him. "But you don't - it's one of the reasons I like to have you around. You at least understand that was no small mistake, and since lady luck smiled at you and your only witness was Danny - who cannot delate us without running equal risks - I'll let it slide. And you also should; don't repeat past mistakes, but wallowing in self-deprecation will bring you migraines and nothing else.
She rested a hand on the top of his head and lightly ruffled it for a couple seconds before retaking her seat across from him, as if he actually was a cat. He pretty much was a human version of Stephannie anyway, so had he been a literal fluffy critter Edelweiss would simply have two identical grumpy cats rather than just one. "I actually do. I'm assuming by now you're more aware of movement above your head, and how people (of other guilds as well as ours) use the roofs as shortcuts and observatory points. Your phobia of heights doesn't let you make use of that, but there are ways to lessen the invonvenience it causes." She pulled another roll of paper from the box and spreaded it over what was already on the table. This was also a map, but the marks over it had been drawn on green crayon and were such a mazy mess of lines it looked like an angry toddler attacked the paper. Gesturing to the green lines, she looked at Stephen with a bit of a smile before asking: "Do you know what these are?"