Second Recess Thingy - Citadel Edition

[Anora Frollie]

With every passing day, Anora found herself falling into a routine. During the day, she was at Silk's side, playing the dutiful secretary to the Secretary. She took notes, got beverages, arranged his schedule, anything that was needed. She tried to be good, too, though every once in a while, an item would go missing from the Secretary's visitors when she wasn't thinking. Really, people kept the most interesting items in their pockets. She did get caught once, though she managed to weasel her way out of it, stating that it had been dangling from their pocket and she was just trying to push it back in. Silk didn't believe it and very sternly informed her that she had to stop while she was acting as his secretary or else. Knowing who he worked with helped her try and quit, but it wasn't easy. Not easy at all.

In the early evening, she would take lessons with a member of the Assassin's guild, teaching her how to better handle a dagger. Her nimble fingers from pickpocketing helped, but she still cut herself a few times when she got cocky. More than once she had to wear long sleeves as summer swept in. It would have been difficult to explain why she was sliced up when trying to appear the sweet, innocent assistant. She also showed her how to better disguise herself, using makeup and changing her voice to gain a new persona. In the middle of the night, she crept her way down to the Temple of Pan, continuing her lessons in the sensual arts with Vanir, though it was only for a little while. She soon found herself too tired after her assassin lessons, collapsing down on the bed and sleeping through the night. There is a time when everyone must sacrifice something. Her decision was to sacrifice sex. Which left her sometimes with way too much nervous energy, which made her hands itch to steal something, which would, of course, earn her the ire of her boss.

While Anora had always thought that the only thing she got from her father was her lack of height, it seemed she had also been blessed with restless feet. So, after a lenghty discussion with Silk, it was decided that she would go to Roque d'Ancourt to study with one of the higher members of the Assassin Guild. She would take on a new identity, learn the craft of political murder as well as hone her thieving skills, before returning to the Citadel to take up the position of Silk's bodyguard/assistant. Thus, on Wydday, the 23rd of Jygust, she set sail. It felt good to feel the salty air against her skin again, feel the rocking of the sea under her feet. At least, it did until the sudden storm came out of the south, brutal and harsh, on the 25th. Anora was climbing up towards the crow's nest, to see if there was any sign of land, when a sudden gust and jolt of the ship caused her to loose her grip. She was tossed out over the sea, but not quite far enough. Just before hitting the water, her head hit the side of the ship, knocking her unconscious. The sailors, having seen her plummet, left her for dead, concerned only for themselves and the ship.

But she wasn't dead. The small girl floated, unconscious, for a few days, before being picked up by a passing merchant ship. She came to on the 29th. When asked her name, she began to speak, but nothing came out, because she had no answer. Who was she? Where was she from? She didn't have any answers. Her knock against the ship and caused her memory to be blocked. She had no past that she knew of, no history at all. It was a girl with no name and no past who wandered off that ship onto the dock at Aveas, armed with only a small pouch of coins they found on her person and a borrowed dress that was three sizes too big from the captain's wife.

Stars

Smaller blades-***
Disguise-***
Intimidation/Thuggery-**
Beautification-**

[Valya Nix]

Prancing Blithely Towards the Future: or, Not Without My Hairbrush - The Valya Nix Story

Not long after her arrival in the city Valya received the letter she knew, dreaded, and half-hoped would come. Her mother had immediately forgotten (or never really processed) Valya’s decision to set out on her own. Slowly, however, she began to notice something different about the household and had lapsed into hysterics when Valya failed to show when summoned for tea two weeks after her departure. The letter, written by Helena the cook in absence of Lailya Nix’s wits ran something like this:

“Dear Young Miss,

You willful child! Yer poor mother is in some kind of pet over what ya’ve gone and done. I’ve smoothed it over with her now but you should thank the Mother that we don’t order you home right now. I don’t know how we ever gone and raised such a bad girl and howcome you never thought to…” The letter continued in this vein for some time before setting into Helena’s real intention. She warns Valya severely against acting imprudently in the city, hinting darkly that her mother’s family was all for ridding themselves of her presence after her mother’s own youthful indiscretion. She admonishes Valya to try to make something of her life so as to distance herself from her stigmatized origin.

Valya read her letter alone, sitting on the shore as she was her habit when she had some thinking to do. She reflected a bit, and wept a bit as well, but eventually she posted a reply promising her obedience and good behavior. For a long time afterward she carried the letter, much creased, in her pocket. It troubled her to think of her illegitimacy and her future but the growing maturity of her mind would not allow her to dismiss it easily. Along with the letter Valya received a small stipend from her mother which neatly solved the problem of funds which she had characteristically failed to plan for in advance. Not least of all, it allowed her to buy a decent hairbrush.

Aside from that serious business, Valya set herself to having as much fun as semi-humanly possible. She became a fixture of the Citadel nightlife, using her good looks, charm, and unfailing presumptuousness to explain her presence at fashionable coffees and balls where credentials and chaperones were more proper. But she really had fun at the less formal dances where her vivacity and confidence put her center stage, outshining other girls more attractive but less…magnetic. She soothed these wounded egos with genuinely friendly overtures and extravagant compliments. She sharpened the foil of her flirtations and repartee with young men and old, learning when to be outrageous and when to hint demurely. It was her chief pleasure to neatly turn a phrase or perfectly stick a bon mot, reveling in the appreciative laughter of these refined (and, let’s be honest, occasionally not-so-refined) new friends. She also delighted in dancing with any man who might ask (properly with respect, of course!) whether he might young, old, handsome, or homely. This impartiality earned her a reputation of unpretentiousness and sweetness, though some might think her merely silly and green as summer grass.

Yet, despite all these delicious new flirtations she returned to her room alone each and every night. Ever since their meeting on that oh-so-fateful day at the University of Magic Valya has nurtured a secret affection for Ketch deep down in her girlish heart. His boyish flippancy attracts her, challenges her sense of the chase, and ultimately thwarts her at every turn. She strives to appear the heartless coquette and show him how devastatingly popular she is, but…some sort of womanly intuition shadows her heart with bleak hopelessness in his case. Possibly, she thinks, he might already have a woman much more mature and desirable than her. In her less level headed moods she simply tries to convince herself that he must secretly be attracted to men. How else could he fail to notice her numerous charms?

The rest of her time Valya spends deeply engrossed in the tales of magical beasties and creatures in her almanac. In the humble tome she has discovered a compendium of folklore gathered from generations of native Citadel women and the immigrants that create the cross threads of the national makeup. Often times she can be found sitting by herself on a lonely beach, hair still damp from a swim, paging through the book with a look of comically deep concentration.

In truly lucky break for Our Girl Val she is introduced to Mistress Rosalie, fashionable lady-about-town, in late Jaym. Noticing Valya hanging around the Dragon for increasingly indolent periods of time inspired Val’s new friend Yosie to drop a word in an ear about a charming young country lass looking for respectable work. Seeing as Rosalie was unfortunately lacking a personal maid and companion it was agreed that Valya might fit the bill. Pleased with her newly heightened social status, Valya is extremely taken with her new mistress, thinking her the final word in just-too-much-ness.

The one thing that truly shadows the spring and summer for Valya is the unceasing repetition of evil dreams, night after night. Something about the stories she reads combined with the uneasy atmosphere of the city has invaded her mind and makes her every sleeping moment a torment. In a futile attempt to avoid the dreams Valya begins to stay out later and later, dancing, drinking, with a desperate and mad-edged merriment. Yet nothing seems to stay the dreams. In her wide, warm eyes a heady undercurrent of terror begins to lurk. Her healthy summer flush seems to be increasingly marred by shadowy hollows under her eyes, gained through nights of brokenly sobbing through the horror of her dreams…

Oral History [Folklore] - ***** Basic
Dancing *
Repartee *
Seduction *
Swimming *
Literacy *

(Wealth to Basic)

[Elvin Motricé]

OOC: Also posted in Sierra

Chyril – Moving House
Chyril was a busy month, a visit to Pax, a search for the Libre, the disappereance of the University. In the last two weeks of Chyril Elvin was finally able to set his new plans in to motion. The Shadowstar needed a larger base of operations and more information. And so he took to the streets of the Citadel disguised in a small glamour and obscuring black robes, and let it be known that information would be paid for. But only for correct information, bringers of false information would find themselves never to be paid or trusted again. He set up a complex system for delivering information so that no one would ever know who received the information eventually. Most contacts of deliverers of information were, in those first few weeks, the mage himself in disguise. He used the current turmoil in the criminal part of the Citadel as a way to pull of his scheme, grasping those strands that had as of yet escaped their attention to build his own network of informants. Some of the information he could acquire (if any) he delivered to Lord Ginneke, the Imperial Thaumataurgist, hoping to strengthen their partnership and extending it beyond the search of the Libre.

The translocation of the University posed a new problem for the Adhiel Professor; he had classes he needed to teach, as well as his work in the Citadel. Using his status as Hero of the Demon Hunt he tried to purchase a small house near to the single standing spire of the University. He intentionally chose a place apart from the University as he needed some privacy.

During his frequent visits to Sierra he learned what had caused the University to teleport to Sierra. He was infuriated by Ashtallion’s ambition and his sheer carelessness and stupidity. In one of his conversations with Peckerton Elvin told him the few things he knew about the Book of Creation and the divination he had attempted on it.


Jaym – Birthday, Non-Spatial Dimension Theory
Jaym started with preparations for Elvin’s birthday which was on the third, he invited a few students (Becca and Morgan among them), some faculty staff (Peckerton, Durell among them) and a few of his close friends (Ulder and Elaine who couldn’t attend due to their responsibilities in Pax).

He had met the Dark Adhiel Professor Durell after one of his students told him about the interesting applications of magic Durell talked about. The Adhiel was so fascinated that he went to pay the Dark Adhiel Professor a visit. That discussion went on, from Elvin’s part, to offering an exchange of knowledge, to discuss the possibilities of Dark Adhiel studying at the University and to inquire how mages were trained in Gulunadur.
The remainder of that month he started working on cleaning his notes on portal research, summarizing them into one decent text titled “Crossing the Veil: on Portals, space and time”. His frustration about his disability to read Human grew during that time as many reference works were written in the Human tongue so he painstakingly started to study the language, determined to make something of it.

Excerpt from publication:
In all science the point of reference was the existence of a three-dimensional space and a fourth dimension of time. When these four dimensions are combined in a manifold (a structure defined by these four but more complex and dependent upon one another then up until now).

Normally time is treated as universal and constant, being independent of the state of motion of an observer. In relativistic contexts, however, time cannot be separated from the three dimensions of space because the rate at which time passes depends on several factors, among which the strength of intense gravitational fields which can slow the passage of time).

Due to expirements it is confirmed that time slowes down at higher speeds and that matter changes the geometry of spacetime. We define an event as a point in spacetime specified by its time and place.

For two events separated by a time-like interval, enough time passes between them for there to be a cause-effect relationship between the two events. This is, however, not an invariant system (an invariant is something that does not change under a set of transformations).

When a space-like interval separates two events, not enough time passes between their occurrences for there to exist a causal (denotes a necessary relationship between one event -called cause- and another event -called effect- which is the direct consequence, or result, of the first) relationship crossing the spatial distance between the two events. Generally, the events are considered not to occur in each other's future or past.

In a space-time the concept of distance is defined by the space-time interval between two events which occur in two locations at two times.

The Tether is defined by a space-time continuum whereas the Aether cannot be described by this manifold as time has to physical meaning and the pull of Aetheric energies can be seen as a flux that can be compared to a rapidly changing gravitational field that slows and speeds up time.

Portals do not exist in the space-time continuum as they work as a space-like interval.

A small letter, written both in a halting Human as in more fluent Adhiel, was deliverd to Ulder and Elaine later that month.

Dear friends

It is with regret that I have to inform you that I can’t return to Pax for some time. My responsibilities as University Staff prevent me from spending too much time away from the University at the moment. Please let me know your whereabouts, when I do find the time I will visit you.

Best regards
Elvin

The research left the Adhiel feeling frustrated and without an outlet for his physical energy so he took up the habit of training against some of the Battle Mage staff members in early morning sparring matches. Elvin usually practiced his martial arts in the confinement of his room but he noticed that his expertise grew faster when he was defeated by others. Against more inexperienced staff members he was able to fight on par at the end of the month which gave him great satisfaction because his martial arts were a link to his early beginnings, a link back to his past that he had left behind but still remembered dearly.
The remainder of his free time was spent helping the staff to get the University back in running order while his nights were often spent in the Citadel, waiting for information or researching some of the rumors about the strange murders.

Jygust – A Wedding Remembered, A Link to the Past, The Council
On the second of Jygust Elvin refused to leave his room, this was his wedding day and he spent it alone, reliving part of his past and writing a letter to the Kislovan court explaining his history on Kislovan (as well as his function as a Professor and one of the Heroes of the Demon Hunt) and the fact that he, as an Adhiel who had lived among the Humans and had been well know in the area around Caliboirneabh as apprentice to the healer Whisper, offered his help in negotiating with the Humans might they have need for someone that the Human population might trust. The Professor did not expect to receive a reply. He just felt obliged to his deceased wife to try this, to help build a lasting peace. In reality had feared he had been away from Kislovan far too long to actually be remembered nor was he important enough to actually be heard by the Royal court of Kislovan.

He intensified his search for the Libre, looking for clues, working together with Ginneke and searching for practitioners of the dark arts in the University. It was during this time that Elvin decided he’ld try for a position on the Council. It would give him an opportunity to look around in places where, as a normal staff member, it would arise suspicion. It was also an optimal opportunity to solidify a position for higher circles. And as a bonus he would get to help lead guide the University, his first home in over twenty yahren.
He talked with Peckerton about his plans and manipulated the conversations with other staff members so that when his name would pop up, others would nominate him. It wasn’t his style to nominate himself. Either he was chosen for his skill or he wouldn’t take the job. But pushing people in the right direction couldn’t hurt… He also volunteered to act as a liaison between the University and people of prominence in the Citadel, trying to get them to unofficially see the benefit of having the University around, even though it’s buildings were on another isle…
And the days passed by, some of them in the University, some of them in the Citadel. Until, on the morning of the 30th, found himself walking through the Portal from Sierra to the Citadel.

----------------------
SKILLS
New skill: Literacy [Human]
Martial Arts (to Apprentice+ ****)
Shielding [Sorcerery] (to Apprentice+****)
Knowledge [Sorcery] (to Apprentice+***)
Age to 101 yahren


CREDITS
Portal and space-time continuum theory is an adaption of space-time continuum theory largely taken from Wikipedia

[Gerrard MacKaree]

Eastern Empire

Late Chyril

During the last week and a half of Chyril Gerrard spent with Kazumi and her daughter. Mainly to have her do her healing things, since they seemed to keep his mind free from the voice for a tide and sometimes two at least. He helped her and her daughter around the house and in the garden to repay her for what she did to him. He also taught the young girl more of his own language, so she could understand what he and the healer were talking about, having no secrets for either of them. The time he had left he spent talking to the inhabitants of Long Danh to learn more about the culture and, more specifically, their language. Often he was accompanied by Kazumi to have her translate since most of the Easterners didn't speak the trade language. Of course by gestures, context and learning words from Kazumi he could guess quite some words and do simple conversations with them himself. At any time he would take into account their customs towards one another, as the healer woman had taught him too. Some people he regarded almost as friends, but knew that one day he had to leave them again.

Jyam

In the following month he resumed his visits to Kazumi and the people in the village. The typhoon however made stuff a bit of a problem. Everyone seemed consumed with the fact they lost their houses and what else. He had been treated kindly and as a guest all the time since he washed ashore. For this, he felt he needed to repay them. He helped them rebuild their homes, do some simple jobs for them where needed. He hoped that by helping them they would show him some of their secrets of their cooking, because he had noted it was quite different from what he had known from his own culture. While it tasted quite different, he did develope quite a love for it. Sure it was different, but it was good. Definately something that he could make money out of when he got back home to the Citadel someday. Same went for the clothing of the upper class civilians here. The pajama's the workers wore weren't really something to write home about, but the tight fitting dresses were real opportunities, quite unlike the dresses he had known for years now.

Jygust

He had talked a lot to Elvira about leaving the Empire and they seemed to be close to be doing so. There were some thing though that he would need to do before that. One of them being to see the Lady if she'd let him. In that meeting he would ask her if he could hold a lone trade agreement for jewellery, silk, jade, clothes, food and beverages between the Eastern Empire and the rest of the world. Of course, he knew a lot about the Empire by now, of their customs and language, and would take care of matters in a fitting way, always trying to do business in their mind... with a bit of more profit for himself of course, after all he was a businessman, but they wouldn't have to know about those differences. He hoped that the Empresses would approve of this after all he had done to integrate into the Eastern society. Of course he had already drafted a contract which gave him a trade monopoly for the goods mentioned, to be signed by the representative of the Empresses. Hoping Elvira wouldn't mind this business venture at least, since he was developing a good bond with her, even though they bickered more than he had ever done before. He liked her, yet could not show it to her. Or he didn't know how to at least.

Roque d'Ancourt

Jygust

Upon return to his parental home things got really grim. The caretaker of the building, Dieter Angelos, who settled in as to make sure the property wasn't taken by the city, notified Gerrard of the death of his parents. His mother, terminally ill, was left without a cure after his old man got killed by one of the criminals he worked for. No one knew the exact facts, but that is how it was rumored to be. After that, his sister had left, "searching for her brother" as she had proclaimed. However, never had she sent a letter or what else.

Trying to leave this grim part of his recent history behind as best he could, he opted for a small two story house in the merchant quarter. The ground floor would become his visitor's area as well as his office, living space on the second floor. He took Dieter in to take care of the house and paid the man enough to take care of his family.

It was then that Gerrard started writing his first drafts for the letters he'd have to send to various people in the Citadel and Roque. Every change of the plans in his head would, however, change some of the letters too. It took him long, but finally, at Jygust 30th he could send them by portal to their respectful recipients.

He made sure Elvira would have his address and told her she would always be welcome for a drink and something to eat.

Citadel

Jygust

Gerrard, knowing that for his plans to succeed he would need more money than only that of the Long family, made a few travels to the Citadel in the first week of his return into the world that he knew best. He visited some of his former employers, asking if they could give him any names as to who would be a good idea to talk to about partially funding a business that would change the world as it was. He never had any problems with them and had done his work the best he could, so he had good hopes of getting one or maybe even a few names. He also sold his house, now that he had started his new life back in Roque. He would leave all behind to start afresh, again.

Skill updates:
Language [Noi Long] +**** to Basic ~ ****
Business Perception + **** to Basic ~ ****
Bartering / Haggling + ** to Basic ~ **

[Meridiuz]

With all the time Danomel spent in the taverns and in the shadows on the streets, he learned to gather his information more quickly than before. Where it had taken him five or six steps to get to the right person before, it now took him only two or three. Another effect of the taverns was his body yearning more and more for the sweet taste of mead, wine or any other beverage that contained alcohol.

On his searches he found one lead to the dead man in the sewer. There were no direct hints to be found, but one woman was mentioned in several of the conversations. It seemed interesting enough to check out. Her name was Claire Rochard and she was a regular guest at the Burping Dragon.

The time spent outside of the taverns was spent on gaining information about the Verleaux Manor. Like Morgan, he didn’t find a lot of information about the Manor and as he studied the layout of the Manor, it seemed to look as a regular manor from the outside. Not many people came and went. On one occasion Danomel spotted two men coming out of the back entrance of the Manor, carrying large bags. Unfortunately he lost them two streets further. There was one other guy who showed up several times at the back entrance, on most occasions he came with a bag and left without it, but there were a couple of occasions where the man left with a different bag. Unfortunately there was no consistency to be found on his visits. On one of the most recent nights Danomel got lucky though, being able to overhear a conversation. The man said something about seeing the other guy at Pier seventeen on the 30th late Eveningtide.
OOC: Skills added!

Rosalie kept her ears open for any information on the resistance in Kislovan. She found out that a member of the Brotherhood of the Wolf was in the citadel and acted as contact for the leader of the rebels. The contact was known by the name of Silvertooth and hung around in Jardin Clois.

The transfer of her hold over the Embassies went rather smoothly and the new Councilor, Agostino di Duccio, requested an audience with Rosalie to discuss foreign affairs concerning the Citadel and Aveas. Her interests in narcotics lead her to a meeting with Thomas Crane, who was quite keen on discussing the possibilities with her.

Back at home Lucienda and Eisolf seemed to be away from home more and more, spending even less time and attention to the family than they had used to.
OOC: Skills added!

For Fialessa and Vanir things started to become quite busy at the temple. There seemed to be a continuous influx of new Panlings arriving from Aveas. Surprisingly enough, Eilish also returned to the temple and she took on her role as high priestess again. Soon after her arrival regular orgies were held at the temple, all arranged by Eilish who claimed that the orgies were the way to fix the Altar of Joy. When not involved in the orgies, she seemed to be rather tired and pale. The new influx of Panlings greedily joined in the orgies and the more Fialessa didn’t join and showed interest in other religions by having regular contact with Hagen, the more the other Panlings thought she was rather cold. On a different matter, one of the new Panlings at the temple said that she was from Kislovan and that one of the human rebels from the brotherhood of the Wolf was staying in the Citadel. His name was Silvertooth and he hung around at Jardin Clois.

Fia wasn’t the only one who felt more distant from the other panlings. Vanir felt it too. As he spent much time preaching about Pan’s Blood, he found three willing and able apprentices who wanted to devote themselves to the path. He also managed to set up meeting with the people from who he wanted information. Barret could see Motley and him on the 30th and lady Isis agreed to meet him for lunch at the 32st of Jygust.

The work on the bathhouse went well and the workers expected it to be ready by the 32nd of Jygust, so they could plan their unveiling any time after that.
OOC: Skills added!

Anora’s practice with the dagger went smoothly and her work was going great. Yet she felt restless. Silk noticed this too and together they thought up a plan to send her to Roque. The ship left and it took a couple of days before Silk heard the word that Anora had fallen overboard. The sailors had tried to rescue her, but they had failed. Anora was dead.
OOC: The rest of your recess will be reviewd in Aveas. I have added your skills.

Zenith was practicing hard and she could be seen all over the city when she was running or throwing her daggers. She was noticed by Andrew and Marny de Simon who thought she seemed quite skillful. They approached her to ask if she would be interested in a job as a guard. Andrew and Marny had several children, but with the recent killings of the Seaside Slayer they had become worried about the safety of their two young daughters, Jane and Laura de Simon. They offered Zenith a job in acting as their guard, protecting them from the serial killer who was still at large.
OOC: Skills added!

Valya’s popularity reached new heights as she was seen in the night scene more and more frequently. At first she became quite popular and well known in the Burping Dragon. Her popularity there earned her a membership of club Risque and soon she was one of the most popular guests there. She attracted a lot of attention from the young males, but more recently she began to receive small gifts from the same person, yet he always signed them with “Secret Admirer” and nothing else so his identity remained a mystery to her.

In Jygust she was able to get a job as the maid of Rosalie Marcada, a job that fitted her perfectly. Her dreams kept haunting her however and one of them was especially frightening. It seemed to be a street in the citadel although Valya couldn’t recognize the exact location. She was walking through the street in the middle of the night when she saw sudden movements in a dark alley and heard a woman scream. As she walked into the alley she saw the body of a girl lying on the street. Her body was covered with blood and her eyes were completely white. The screaming got louder and louder yet the source was unclear. As the screaming reached it’s peak, Valya woke up, bathing in sweat.
OOC: Skills added!

Elvin finally bought a house in the citadel which wasn’t too expensive and suited his needs perfectly. He tried to gain as many contacts as possible to get information on the Liber. Even though he was able to get more and more information, it wasn’t getting him closer to the Liber. The information he did get however, he shared with Ginneke and that made their partnership stronger.
As expected he doesn’t get a reply back from Kislovan.

OOC: The rest of your recess will be reviewed in Sierra. Tristam will add your skills too.

[Meridiuz]

Gerrard's search for some contacts turned out to be quite fruitful. One of his former employers gave him the name of the Marcada's. They had a long tradition on investing in several business ventures. He said that Rosalie Marcada was probably easier to get a hold of than Baron Illish Marcada. Another employer gave him the name of the De Simon family. They were of newer money, but they seemed to be interested in ways to expand their wealth via investments.

OOC: since the citadel part of your recess is only a small part, I assume that your skill updates will be done by one of the other mods. Please contact them to make sure that my assumptions are right on this one

[Lir Calysta Markby]

Chyril
It was amazing how time flew by when a person was busy. The position of Imperial Scout did interest Lir the more Silk mentioned it but it seemed that Silk's decision was going to be overthrown by the Caesar. The politics tend to get quite overbearing, but Lir did what she could to turn herself into a pliable lady for Silk. She understood that there were invisible lines drawn between the Caesar and Silk which she filed away in the background.

Seeing that she did not have a job to keep her busy, Lir decided to visit the Mother Temple to volunteer her services as well as broaden her own skills of healing. She learned their methods and also incorporated her own knowledge.

Jaym
During the next couple of weeks, the dark-haired ex-ship healer had undergone a transformation. It was the first step of her disguise. Instead of looking unapproachable, she worked with Daniel to soften her appearance. Her clothing even changed to skirts and dresses mostly jewel tones. Her hair was often plaited down her back but with soft tendrils to caress her face. The black patch that once covered her eye was removed and her skin was dusted to hide any blemishes.

In the privacy of what she now called home was when she wore loose fitting clothes to practise her other training constantly honing her skills of throwing daggers and martial arts to keep her body conditioned. Stretching and meditation kept her mind clear and her body limber as well as flexible.

Every step that was presented was accepted openly. She knew all of it was necessary. A hungry student always willing to learn more but the key was not to lose herself into the character that she played.

Jygust
It was in the month of Jygust that she began to assist Silk even more but it came to her as a surprise when Anora stated she was leaving for more training. While Anora prepared for her travels, Lir learned about her new position as assistant to the Imperial Secretary. Arranging meeting, contacts were only a few duties that she did for Silk.

As a healer, she had a comfortable knowledge of the anatomy of a body and an odd request was presented late Jygust. There were a rash of murders that were on going that most people knew of but rarely paid attention to. It was announced everywhere that the Guard had captured the Seaside Slayer but others whispered that they might not have the right man especially when the murders continued several weeks later. Was it a copy cat or did they capture the wrong person? Then another serial killer moved in to the Citadel with a completely different design for death which had Silk interested in gathering more information on both. A meeting was arranged for her to question and pull information out of the Offical investigator of the guards. She had no idea what sort of person this investigator was and did not have any idea how to prepare herself for the interview. She would keep to her disguise. A soft, impressionable woman gathering information for her boss. Hopefully, it would not make the investigator look down to her, but if it was necessary she will use Silk's name to find out all that she needed to know. These murders needed to stop. Of course, this did not stop her from her own duties as Silk's assistant.

Stars addition: (I hope I did this properly)
Disguise ~ Basic+**
Healing (Non-Magical) ~ Apprentice+**
Martial Arts ~ Basic+*
Smaller Blades ~ Basic+**
Throwing Weapons ~ Basic+**
Wealth ~ Basic*

[Meridiuz]

At the temple of the Mother, Lir's work was highly appreciated and she was always more than welcome, whatever she needed. Even Mother Abeaja who had grown quite fond of Lir and she had taught her some healing tricks herself.

The change in Lir's appearance was quite successful and Lir noticed that people started to respond to her differently, with a different kind of respect and she found herself to be flirted with by the more noble men. At the temple of the Mother, they didn't know what to think of the change yet, hoping Lir would not stray too far from the path of the Mother.

Her work for Silk, which started in Jygust, went well. When the murders began to pick up again Silk had already started his own investigations, but he wanted to know what the official investigators knew as well. He saw a perfect job for Lir here and he sent her off to have a meeting with Michael Ranier, Provost Marshal of the City Watch on the 30th of Jygust. Under the cover of just having the meeting to gather information for the Imperial Secretary, she would have to find out as much as she could from the Provost Marshal.

OOC: Skills added! Since the wealth skill doesn't count for the 10 stars, I upped it to wealth ~ basic +*** and assigned an extra star to throwing weapons, putting that one up to apprentice level. If you would like that star to be assigned differently, just PM me and I'll change it!

[Falco]

Looking up from the flickering light Falco rubs his sleep filled eye's the More books he reads in the library the more his mind drifts deeper and deeper in to the text opening his mind and eyes to more ideas and little bit's of insights. Shutting him self in to the UofM deep in his room with books and a little food Books of power are not what he seeks for he seeks primers for the rune magic as the teachers around the school seem to be occupied with the new UofM location though to him it is no different then the last though the wards are not as strong. For him needless to say he was taken back a when he returned to the UofM grounds to find them void of.... Well everything. He was more annoyed about the loss of notes with in his room and the use of the library then he was overly worried about the UofM as he felt the burst of energy on the other side of the citadel he had not clue what it was at the time though when he went back to head to his bed he was a little miffed and intern he spend the next few day at the dragon with just enough on him to keep him full and warm.

Starting starting the next morning to sell him self as a scribe to copy scrolls and books using the last of his coin on a chance that worked well as he lucked out after chasing a lead or two down he found and older gentleman that wanted his services pay was not that great but it meant he would have his name out there even though the man was just a merchant. It was better then he was making right then and needing money it worked well. Giving him a few coin's to pay for his meal's and room Falco enjoyed the work his reading was not the best in human or Adhiel though his copying of notes was mirror perfect of the texts and numbers his slender, agile hand,and sharp eye's. Though sometimes he would also use the flows of energy to move the ink on the sheets as well, going a lot faster though not always the flawless texts that he prided him self and his name upon as there would be a few letters a little off or the odd time a page wrecked. Mostly he risked it on ledgers or orders that did not need a crisp hand. Though one of his payments was a little different as we was working for a known merchant the merchant told him about a trade path that may or may not get him a few extra coin's if he was willing to invest risk money upon it. The plan sounded like a fair chance to Falco so he headed off to chat with a the ship captain that the merchant told him was a reputable and one he traded with often. Thinking it over for a day Falco took the portal to Aveas where the ship had just pulled in 2 day's before. Tracking down the captain and buying him a few drinks as they talked shop. Meeting the captain the next day as he purchased 2 more crowns worth of coffee with Falcos coin's. The next pick up would be in Dort where the captian would sell all coffee stock and reinvest all coin made in coffee sales in to Alcohol for shipment back to the citadel where he would meet the captain and Talk with him about a future investing with him if Falco made a nice return on his investment, Falco will plan to portal back to Avea and meet the captain there to invest again in two leg's of the trip again if he gets a fair return on his investment.

Sitting down at a desk after paying his two crowns to the captian he smiled at a small idea he got and at how how simple it was. With a neat crisp hand. Magi looking for instruction upon the art of rune writing leave message at the Burpin' Dragon care of Falco. Smiling at the note Falco channeled a little energy into it to give it a finger print of energy. Copying over 40 notes down and giving each one just a touch of energy he grins at his work as sweat dripped off his nose. Taking a few of them to the runes of the basilisk he pushed them in to the wall's and a few around the temples in the open so people could read them each note was written in Human as well as Adhiel on the same page. Copying texts he found was a fair side job for now as it gave him some free time to wander in the city checking on his fliers and in at the inn of the dragon between that and being locked in to his room at the UofM looking up little bits of oddity's that he could find and track down and having the library of the UofM at his finger tips meant his day's where full. As he did try him self to get out of any mentoring he could though would never refuse any he was given. He spent most of his time away from everyone though he did talk to Professor Peckerton often about research in to the dark art giving him any interesting peaces Falco thought that my spike his interest as the books Falco had access two where great in some aspects and a few did not read as they gave him an uneasy feeling holding them... so he would save them for latter. Though they did not really tell him anything that he found really of interest although he still had not gotten to the books deeper in the library yet.


Literacy [Elven] give it 3
Literacy [humon] give it 2 please
Manipulation of Energy: Sorcery 2 please

Theory of Balanced Energy 1 please
Theory of Energy Focus ~ 1 please
Theory of Sacrificial Enhancement ~ 1 please

[Meridiuz]

Falco's job for the Merchant Cassilas turned out quite well. It gave him a small, but regular income and the man had hinted him to a good investment. Captain Largos had no problem accepting the extra two crown. He was used to making slightly bigger deals, but since Falco worked for Cassilas, Largos accepted the investment. He told Falco he would be back with the return on the investment on the 30th. He would meet Falco at Pier Seventeen at Trade Tide to give him the return and discuss any further options.

OOC:

You are free to start a thread at Pier Seventeen to talk to Largos or at Casillas' mansion for work, although I will have to write a description of his mansion first.

I'll let Tristam review the UoM part of your recess.

The stars that you can spend for the Recess can only get your skill up to Apprentice level (so that means Apprentice + ****). Since Manipulation of Energy is already at journeyman and Theory of Balanced Energy as well as
Theory of Energy Focus are on Apprentice+****, you can't spend stars on those skills. That means you still have 4 stars to spend! Please PM me on how you would like to spend those stars.

Edit: I actually deleted the theory skills and replaced them with Magical Rote [sorcery] at Apprentice+**** since the theory skills are obsolete.

[Andolin]

I. Politics:

Andolin appeared quite eager to be friendly to each and every member of the Council. His strategy was always to appear sympathetic to the concerns of the Council.

Wooing support of the UoM, he supported their independance from the Margrave of Sierra, giving them their own Imperial Charter for their promise to leave mages to defend the Citadel and for their support on the Council, voting for his bills before the Council that did not involve magic.

Though he paid great piety to the High Priestess of the Mother and Illuminatus, the return of Eilish to the Citadel found Andolin falling back into the camp of Pan. A firm adherent to Pan's Joy since the passing of Isabella. He allowed her to instruct him as necessary (as she did for Anochrim) as he needed Pan's aid. Did he not have a necklace of Pan that would bring him luck? As such, he demonstrated more piety than in the past, if nothing else, to keep Pan's blessing. Eilish also had a coveted vote on the Council that he needed if he was to make himself into a true Caesar.

Dort, Kislovan, Trothgard, Muchelise, Gulandor and Amun Rah delegates to the Council were wooed with offers of marriage to cement the island to him. As will be described later, only Kislovan, Trothgard, and Gulandor responded favorably, whereas the others promised support in other ways.

An attempt to befriend Hector and Sosa met with only limited success given Sosa's distrust of Andolin. Still, he was successful in working her to a point of neutrality following a frank conversation.

As for Silk, he played the dutiful pawn until he was ready to move. Silk was led to believe that Caesar would name Silk's puppet as the new Head of Scouts. Thus, he did not oppose Andolin's naming himself as Admiral of the Empire. Already the Head of the Army, Andolin argued that greater efficiencies would be gained by having one voice over both the army and the navy. The Council did not object and Andolin picked up a new office and a second vote on the Council, Naming the obvious Silk candidate for Head of Scouts caused a planned backlash. The Dort, Gulandor, Kislovan, and Trothgard votes sided against the candidate and then supported Andolin's candidate Kitlanya. Silk realized that he was outmaneuvered by Andolin and bowed with the defeat, promising himself to watch Andolin more carefully.

II. Foreign Relations

Western Kingdom: Andolin's strategy was to promote independence for World's Mouth, Dragonskeep and Roque. Agitators were sent to Pax and Brie to help cause political strife so that King's Court would have a harder time asserting its authority again.

Adhiels from Ta'Quar arrived and Andolin promised them support. He held out the prospect of marrying the missing princess Elevie, should she be found (as it will give him a claim to the adhiel throne).

An emissary was sent to Dragons Keep to see if Count Drakedoder was open to marrying his homely daughter, Phelissia, to the Caesar. She would be invited for a visit to meet the Caesar to consider the possibilty. Andolin has hopes of asserting control over the castle should her brother die.


World's Mouth. The city was racked by civil war as the Magisters Gabrielle and Octavio fought it out for supremacy. Unbeknownst to the mercantile families, an embassy arrived from the nobles in World's Mouth. Long had they chafed at being powerless in the city and wanted to reassert power now that the mercantile families were weak. They appealed to Andolin as supposedly a fellow member of the nobility of WM.

Andolin promised to support the envoys of Octavio, Gabrielle, and the nobles conditionally. His price of support was two airships for the Citadel. Whoever would delivers him the ships would gain some military support.


Eastern Empire. An emissary arrived from the mysterious Empire and an offer of a marriage alliance was offered. Andolin had heard of the four Dragon Empresses, but apparently they are not human. Though preferring to marry an Empress, he expressed a willingness to negotiate a marriage with the most eligible of Empire ladies. He assured the Emissary that he only wanted peace and trade.


III. The Caesarii Game

Erwin refused Caesar's request to wed his daughter for reasons only known to the Duke. He encouraged, instead, that the new Caesar wed his kinswoman Lady Vlast Devir. Disappointed, Andolin argued that he should marry the Gulandur Queen Serra' Quine instead. Lady Vlast approached Andolin to make her case. Knowing of her dark background, Andolin challenged her that if she arranged the deaths of three persons he would name to her that he will take her as a wife, rather than insist on her Queen. Taking it as a way to send a message to the Caesar, she agreed. The first two names are Lucinda and Eisolf Mercada. They know of his past and needed to be eliminated.

Amun Rah. The Rafao sent word that he has no female relative, other than Isis, so he had no one to offer as Caesarii. However, he made the Caesar a gift of a favorite pleasure slave. Not able to decline, the disappointed Andolin is left with accepting an Amun Rah spy into his household.

Trothgard. Trothgard, in no position to negotiate, agreed that Aesa (Kona) would marry Caesar; but, in a setback to him, she negotiated to be free to take other husbands if he takes other wives. In return, she waives her right to be First Caesarii (since she cannot stay permanently in the Citadel and may take other husbands). Reluctantly, he agrees, but gains agreement that any daughter of their union will be the next Kona and that he shall be given lands in Trothgard to award to his faithful. The lands are largely worthless tundra and barren rock, but they would provide a basis for title creation of many baronies.

Kislovan. Having especially close relations with the Kislovans, Andolin learned that the Queen offered an adhiel princess. She is out of favor with the Queen for having a human lover, much to the shame of the Queen. Finding her daughter tainted already by humans, she is the one that was offered. Andolin accepted her when the dowry included tracts of land of marginal utility in Kislovan and a series of ancient scrystones is included in the dowry. The master stone would be given to Andolin and one given to the Kislovan Queen so that they can immediately communicate. There are six other stones. Given the princesse's dishonor, the Queen granted permission for her daughter not to be the first wed.

Other Candidates:

Ashari proved herself to be a preferred companion of the new Caesar and it is openly whispered that she is his mistress. Given the tradition about choosing a Caesarii that is loved by Caesar, Andolin considers whether Ashari would be a worthy candidate. Her humble origins give him pause, but decides to wait until Jygust when his various brides are due to start to arrive.

Etain and Ygraine. Etain throws herself at Andolin in an attempt to be named a Caesarii (encouraged by her father), but Andi resists. The same is true for Ygraine. Fearing that her "friend" Etain will succeed in becoming a wife to Andolin, Ygraine "helps" Etain appear naked in a palace bedroom to await the Caesar. Instead, Ygraine's cruel brother Agravaine appears and rapes her. It had been his father's plan to have Agravaine wed Etain anyway (to get access to the Clos du Bois fortune), so the Haut Ledoc plan was to taint Etain so that Andolin would not marry her, leaving only Ygraine (of the three Citadel ladies) to vie for the shared throne with Andolin. Ygraine had crawled into Andolin's bed more than once herself.

Andolin is unhappy but makes the most of a bad situation. He makes peace between the two rival families by giving Lord Clos du Bois and his two sons membership in his new Imperial chivalric order and brokers the marriage between Etain and Agravaine. Agravaine gets the rich dowry, but Etain is to stay at the palace where she will be Andolin's Mistress of Protocol, reporting directly to Andolin and under his "protection." The marriage will be mostly in name only as Agravaine would continue his wenching anyway. Lord Clos du Bois could take solace that Etain's son would be the heir to the House Haut Ledoc (so that the two Houses would be joined under his grandchild. Lord Haut Ledoc was forced to agree to fund Etain's needs and support Andolin's bid to take control of the underworld of the Citadel away from the Cranes. Lord Guihelm accepts that his daughter, Ygraine, is not to be a wife (in part to punish her and to calm the upset Lord Clos du Bois), but Andolin offers to keep Ygraine at Court as a "Lady in Waiting" and a not so secret spy. Ygraine, though thwarted in becoming Caesarii, accepts that she might wield considerable influence through Andolin to further her own schemes.

The Etain-Agravaine marriage occurred early during the recess and Andolin has kept Etain close as a mistress ever since. His goal is to place his own child in her womb so that he might come to lead House Ledoc.

Kitlanya. Given up as dead or insane, late in the recess, Andolin is visited by Amchi (her godfather and Andolin's scrying trainer) who reveals that Kitya is alive. She had been driven insane by the demon that possessed her and had killed family servants as a result. It had taken months and powerful potions to cure her.

Andolin, when he was Master of Protocol, had planned to marry either Kitya or Etain. Now that the redheaded beauty had returned, it complicated his life. Though Etain loved Andolin out of delusion naivete and even a charm he had placed on her, Kitya had loved him more completely. He, likewise, had feelings for her.

They met, at last, nearing the end of the recess. They did not resume their affair and spoke of more important things. He needed her help and wanted to give her something that she could do to "redeem" herself in the eyes of the Empire. So, they plotted for her to become Master of Scouts as a way to get a loyalist in that position and to deny it to Silk. It would also give Kitya resources to defend herself from rivals should Andolin wish to later marry her. No promises were made on that score, but Andolin found Kitya as a potential rival to Ashari for his affections.

[Deianeira Saitheria]

Gone was the fire her eyes. Gone was the lustre from her hair. Deianeira's quest for a place of her own in a world where she was the still very much a child at heart, had bruised and left cuts on the tender hearted young achadiel.

The once somewhat shapely form had become somewhat slimmer and while not 'less attractive' persay she was more ill looking. The one job she'd managed to hold-her stint as a waitress in a small cafe- had come crashing down around her when she'd be fired-not for doing poor job- but for being to friendly far too many times.

Her loss of job had left her exhausted day after day. Her family had done their best to help, brothers and their wives pitched in to feed her, but she seemed to eat only a little and then be on her way after thanking them.

Her world had changed one day, not drastically or magically, but simply changed. A few people of Citadel's upper eschelons had heard from Lyricala-Deianeira's mother- of the young woman's dreams and desires, in one of Lyricala's parties. An Achadhiel with a desire to step into the the world above the gritty streets to the glistening world of noblity? Perfect.

The small group young lords- had watched the young woman, not themselves -their hired eyes and ears. They watched her kept tags on her, were curious about her, and in the end attempted to approach her, making friends and steering her towards their goals- give her a chance to step into high society. To change her from a well a whore's daughter to a lady-or perhaps someone who could passs as a lady.

This was the beginning of a new chance. One of the young gentlemen, had brought to her attention the fledging Rocky Island Guild.

[Meridiuz]

Politics
By giving the University of Magic support for their independence, Andolin attracted Erwin's attention. The University was willing to promise to defend the Citadel and giving him their vote on the Council. Erwin, however, felt that he was cutting short in this deal. He wanted something to gain as well. Therefore he arranged a meeting with the Caesar on the Tradetide of the 30th of Jygust to discuss the matter.

Andolin found Eilish to be a surprisingly welcome adviser. He could see that she had changed, she had grown less flighty and was more focused. She helped him focus and taught him much about the ways his body and soul worked, giving him an easier time to remain his calm in the busy life of a Caesar.

Silk did not make any overt moves against his rebellious pupil, but whether he was fine with the changes and lack of success remained to be seen.

Foreign relations

(The agitators are sent to the Western Kingdom, I'll leave it up to the mods of those locations to fill in what they exactly do there)

To the surprise of Andolin, no emissaries from Ta'Quar came. There was no word from the country whatsoever.

Count Drakedoder was willing to give the hand of his daughter Phelisia to the Caesar. She would be arriving in the Citadel on the Eveningtide of the 30th of Jygust where she was expected for a meeting with the Caesar.

All parties in World's Mouth were eager to listen to the offers Andolin had to offer, however none of them saw much to gain from his demand to give him five airships. They were rather annoyed by that high demand and they decided that they would send someone themselves to discuss this matter in person. They would arrive on the 31st of Jugyst.

Although arranged marriages were quite common in the Eastern Empire, they were cautious with giving away their women to foreigners. They were willing to negotiate however, having their own points of interest, like what knowledge would be available to them and the oath of the Caesar to protect dragons and to end the barbaric practices. They also requested to send a couple of scientists along to have an archaeological expedition on the Rock city.

The Caesarii Game
Lady Vlast agreed to take on the mission and kill the three persons. She would go after Eisolf and Lucienda first.

The Amun Rah pleasure slave would be brought to the Palace by Isis herself at the end of Jygust. The Rafao was pleased with the acceptance of the Caesar, although Isis had her doubts.

Aesa agreed to the arrangement that any daughter of their union would be the next Kona. Since she was allowed to have multiple husbands and she would not be around the Caesar a lot, the chance that there would be any offspring from their union was minimal. The land would be given to Andolin once the agreement had been finalized and they were officially wed.

The Queen of Kislovan agreed to give him master stone right away so that Andolin could communicate with her. She agreed to give four others, instead of six. They would be given when the actual wedding had occurred. This included the dowry as well.

Andolin's plan to marry Etain off to Agravaine works, but after the rape, Etain is unwilling to to have any intimate relations with neither Agravaine or Andolin. She is very emotionally unstable. The times when she tried to be intimate, she couldn't help herself and started crying and screaming, quickly leaving the bedroom. At the end of Jugyst she seemed to be slowly finding her way again, although there hadn't been any intimacy between Andolin and Etain.

The idea of being the Master of Scouts intrigued Kitya and after their first meeting, she wanted to see more of Andolin and asked if she would have time for him on the 31st or 32nd to have another meeting and discuss things further.

[Meridiuz]

The young nobleman that had brought the Rocky Isle Guild to Deianeira's attention was Miles de Simon. The de Simon family were a rising star into the Citadel's nobility themselves and Miles saw the potential in the young girl. He figured the Guild would be a great place for her to learn all the skills that she would need. It would also be a great place for her to get acquainted with the other girls who would be getting connections in the elite society. It was always a good idea to have a lot of friends to build an extensive network.

Next to the teaching she could gain from the Guild, Miles had a plan to introduce her to the society himself. It was always a good idea to keep your high potentials close. For that reason he invited Deianeira to club Risque on the eveningtide of the 30th of Jugyst. It would be a good opportunity for her to meet some interesting people. Miles would make sure that she would be on the guest list for that evening.