Ursa Etheria recess summaries-Kanthrop players please read!

[Brytan]

What goes up...

Etherial isle, crashed from the heavens but tides before the War of the One struck a solid foothold on Pan's Isle. It's inhabitants, mostly unscathed by the initial impact, needed time to adjust to their new surroundings, them not consisting of 100% air at that point. Breaches were strikken in the natural defenses of the island. On the eastern side a large gap formed where once the Skymyst mountains defended the lush isle from harm. In the middle, the impact caused much of the lower rock to push upward creating a new rigid peak in the middle of Gnilwoh forest.

In the moons passing the crash, which has become known amongst the Kanthrop as "The Collapse", the Kanthrop have rebuilt Valley Village to much of it's former glory. A brand new wall of wood now graces it's outskirts though, as the forest again known as the Howling Forest is no longer safe. Nightmarish creatures have taken a foothold in the Cryers' Peak, the pinnacle of rock which now rises looming over the treetops, leaving the forests only at night to attack the inhabitants of the once peacefull training grounds. No one has yet determined where these creatures came from. There have been stories of mysterious disappearances, visitations by the Kin to unsuspecting kanthrop. Needless to say, after dark the isle is not what it used to be.

The Skymyst Passage has become a fortified stronghold of the Kanthrop. A detachment of hunters under the leading vision of Oni Swifttalon has taken up residence there to bar the entrance from unwanted trespassers coming in from Pan's Isle.
The rigid command structure of the Kanthrop, unsettled by the loss of their leader, the Council of Owls is still looking for a replacement, or for word of Analor Goldenback. The ways and traditions of the Kanthrop still hold strong, and contact with outsiders is avoided as much as possible still.

Recently, the Council of Owls has voted the isle to receive a new name. No longer floating the name "Ursa Etheria" seemed rather obsolete. In a village meeting a new name was chosen, to be among the Kanthrop people "Insula Ursa", or more commonly "Isle of the Earth Mother" or even just plain "Ursa".
[hr][/hr]
OOC: All players with existing approved kanthrop characters (started play before the recess) Are allowed to award the 10 skillpoints as per the directions given to all players, to all skills per the same rules. This includes the Inner Animal skill.
Along these lines, provided they post a detailed description of the warp, players are allowed to buy the skill "Shapeshifting - Kanthrop". This allows players with active kanthrop characters to begin play anew with a kanthrop enabled to shift shape to their chosen form.

It is ofcourse possible for Kanthrop characters to begin play after the recess in another area of Tazlure. Since after their warp and after the collapse they are no longer bound to the island. Please detail the journey and then feel free to progress to the chosen area. For questions regarding skill distribution, feel free to contact me directly.

Timestamp is Chyril 22nd.

Enjoy!

[Niamh Windwalker]

Months passed, as one by one, her year-mates shifted and changed and moved on to the tasks assigned by the village Elders. Yet, alone again, Niamh struggled to find the key to that moment - the moment where she could meet with the creature within and harness abilities and minds as one. The creature within beat an angry counterpoint to her heartbeat, sending emotions pulsing, blood charging, it hovered within her at all times, though it faded in and out of the kit's awareness.

There was a bleakness that seemed to hang over the clan, despite the new-built village and protective enclosure, for the nightly attacks were wearing on them all. As Chyril approached, and even Kaila had taken to avoiding the kits gaze, Niamh retreated from her interactions with her clan-mates, withdrew herself to her burrow and tent or to the more dangerous wilds that seemed to thrive beyond the newly-constructed wall. She stood guard as assigned, but spoke little, and positively ignored her abominably arrogant trial-mate, Culwago. All other times she was seen, revolved around the occasional solitary meal at her own private fire... and some evenings she did not return at all. The resulting lack of Niamh-induced frivolity, rather increased the gloom of the camp, for there was no sign of the kits prankish behavior, and while annoying, it's sudden cessation left a dearth of laughter in its wake.

Oddly enough, despite the heavy finality others seemed to place on her apparent failure, Niamh found the independence somewhat freeing, and found a modicum of peace away from the assessing and disappointed gazes of her kin. However, the weight of unfulfilled expectation returned and weighed heavily the moment she returned from her excursions. Despite the warnings of those responsible for her well-being, she could not be restrained to the village. For her own part, she meandered the length and breadth of Insula Ursa, memorizing the new patterns of the land, finding her own pathways and silent steps as she meandered briefly in the deeps of the valley, and later, along the peripheral heights of the mountains, and as close to the newest central peak as she dared investigate - mainly during the day. There was an almost reckless attitude in her restless trespass, for though she took every precaution to be aware of what might come upon her, there was a defiant inner voice that spurred her onwards. Discover... it whispered, prove... it hummed, be free... it occasionally shrieked, accompanied by the familiar struggle for control and awareness. Despite her other failures, Niamh found solace in the thought that, perhaps, there was one means of redeeming her obvious failure. There was a slim thread of certainty twining within her soul, that she make herself useful in discovering some source of the local unrest. What did the Cryer's leave behind, when they sought to over-take the village?

At the beginning of Chyril, she found her silent steps circling in on Cryer's Peak, her senses heightening with each measure of land she covered. The inner animal within fought strangely with every step that brought Niamh within the Peak's bounds, the spirit within furious and fearful. Yet, this aroused awareness within her heightened her senses: Sounds seemed to echo loudly in her ears, shadows seemed transparent to her searching gaze. The movements and the mannerisms of the forest itself seemed open to her. As Niamh's determination grew, the creature within slowly seemed to resign itself, it's own sense of self-preservation giving Niamh a sensitivity that had her steps constantly hesitant as she processed the new influx of information from her heightened awareness.

Curiosity, duty and unshakeable determination were her companions as she began to scale the peak for her final foray, moving slowly, taking her time so as to move unnoticed. There was a finality to her determination, for being half a Kanthrop made her less than those that should be her peers, and if she could not find herself a use... well then, what use was this half-life? It seemed as if all her senses were alive, as if the creature within had also been caught up, almost despite itself, in the game of seek and pursue, it's interests piqued, though unsettled by the Kanthrop female's all-or-nothing demeanor. No surges of instinct, urges to flight, or inner fury could stay her course. This latest foray began the morning of Chyril the 22nd, and induced a nearly imperceptible shift in the young Kanthrop. For the first time, the sense granted by the essence of who she was elicited immediate reactions. Rather than the delay of assessment and thought, her response to noise and any threat of discovery (whether real or imagined) resulted in instinctual action as she began to trust and accept what senses revealed. Fingers grasped, her body climbed, she rolled and squeezed her way along, feeling the quickening of blood and exhiliration in her veins. There was a sense of approval within her, the hunt... it murmured occasionally, eagerly, as if its fear had been outweighed by Niamh's own focus and steadiness of mind. The day passed with the counting of her heartbearts, and the sounds of the whispering breezes and the strange scents carried from beyond Insula Ursa, tainted with salt and damp and unfamiliarity, even months after the island had come to rest.

Her movements carried her through the tides, steady and purposeful, her senses retaining what information she could and noting what importance they could for reporting later to her Clan.

The routine of movement, reaction, and hesitation carried her quite a distance, and as dusk began to fall, the young Kanthrop darkened her skin with the smudging of dirt in damp palms and tightened her weapons about her.
A break in tree and stone revealed a partially hidden crevice, that would both hide her from sight and allow her a quick retreat it necessary, as it curved through an outlip of rock to a steeper face that led upwards along a more strenuous climb.

The exertions of the past days (from her inner fighting to the outward exertion) pressed heavily on the Kanthrop, and much as she strove to remain awake as the light began to fade, the silence and calm lulled her to a light doze. It had been several evenings since she had returned to the village, and her sleep since had not been deep.

Some quality of the silence awoke her later, something deeper, colder ... intimidating. Without knowing quite why, she felt a spurring deep within, a sensation of warmth and fire that seemed to tingle slowly into her limbs. A primal fear grew within her breast, had been growing within her as she dozed, as her restless fingers shifted from stillness to growing unrest, twitching and spasming where they lay.

Something approaches. Niamh knew this suddenly with a certainty she would not gainsay, and knew also that the heavy silences seemed to be passing before her, a vague whisper as they carried a coldness and breeze that seemed at odds with the suddenly still air. From her hiding place, she waited in silence, though the flesh began to pucker as her senses screamed for flight. Not yet... was her furied response, determined to wait the passage of the creatures. I... must... see... As far as Niamh knew, no one had yet traversed this far, no one had yet observed the creatures before they emerged on the offensive. Her limbs began to quiver with a mixture of trepidation and satisfaction.

You want to see... The voice within wound up within her brain, mingling with her thoughts, assessing, the instinctual patterns flowing and meeting with the intellectual. To see... and suddenly, without conscious effort... those mingling patterns suddenly fused, twining together as Ivy might around a living tree, forming the first symbiosis...

A falcon, climbing into the air... and darkness... and a glowing, brilliantly pale crystal that burned blue... The flickers of a dream months past, and one relived, charged through her mind. A dream that always ended with disappointment And yet, in this waking dream, something had changed, shifted, as the crystal clutched in Niamh's dream-hand throbbed and pulsed. A light sprung from it and pierced the chest of the falcon opposite her, traveling also along Niamh's own arm, tracing her bones as the two eyed each other, dark eye meeting the dark eye of it's twin. There was respect in both for the other, now, a sense of common purpose in the last restless months, the last restless path to this moment. There was understanding...

The firey sensation within her limbs drew Niamh back to the present, droplets of sweat beginning to ooze from every pore as her very bones seemed to protest the restraint forced upon them. The nothingness out in the outcrops of forest seemed nearer, but she couldn't focus on the thought as her body tensed and loosed erratically. A wracking gasp shook Niamh's form as her bone sockets seemed to burst, her body curving inwards in pain as structures shifted alignment with agonizing slowness over several long burns.

Each tendon, each strand of muscle, seemed to be condensing, seizing, realigning, breaking apart and binding together in stripes of liquid fire. The mental ivy and tree grew, flowering and full-leaved. Niamh tried to focus on that growth as the pain grew sharp and intense, the unfamiliar arcs of her limbs curving and shortening. Each bone seemed to be twisting, breaking, bending in on itself, forcing an unknown framework into a body that curled and spasmed as it slowly shrunk in on itself... feathers sprouting and lengthening...

The passage of the Cryer's went nearly unnoticed as the shift passed over and through her, realigning her form in that of the creature within: the Peregrine Falcon. Her mental eye traced the inward transformation, but the process caused so much agony she could not rejoice in its unexpected arrival. As the last burn passed, a loud human scream of unbearable pain surged forth into the night, before beginning to fade into a hoarse, challenging shriek of something... no longer resembling human speech.

As that last burn passed, the stilled form of a falcon lay in a puddle of fabric, blinking, stunned, movements in disarray as it adjusted and floundered amid unnatural sensations that seemed surprisingly natural. Time was unkind in this return to awareness, as senses screamed an alert to sudden danger. Fly! her mind screamed, but Niamh could not identify whether the voice was her own or that of the inner animal. Niamh relaxed intellectual control, allowing instinct to tense muscles new but suddenly familiar, trusting in the newfound partnership.

The sense of a cold, dark presence grew overwhelming as wings flapped once, twice, taloned legs bending for a flicker before... the falcon launched herself furiously into the air, wings beating furiously and intensely as a wave of something furious passed beneath and... for a split second... through.. her. That moment of intense pain, however, could not compare to the difficulty of that first shift, and Niamh's wings faltered for but a brief instant before continuing to propel her upwards. An angry scream passed beneath her, but she did not take the time to note it, reveling in the close call, the power of her wings, the new awareness and freedom found with this new understanding. For a moment, the Kanthrop circled the area, gazing down as wingbeats and updrafts allowed her to poise in the air, watching, assessing the disarray below. Beneath her, more shapes moved, charging into the space she had occupied not burns before, shredding the remains of her clothing and littering them about the slope in futility. A few of her heavier possessions seemed to shake free, rolling and tumbling down the hillside until they launched into the air, dropping to plummet below the ridge. After a few moments of watchfulness, hackles raising with a sensation of further danger, her wings tightened to her sides, and she dove, rising moments later further up the peak, only to disappear into a slowly lightening sky... a kit, no longer.

6 Inner Animal- Kanthrop Only ~ Basic+*** + (** -> Journeyman)
10 Soundless Movement [Forest] ~ Basic + (***)

New Skill: Polymorph-Kanthrop ~ Basic (*****)

[Brytan]

As we discussed, a nice recess post. Bit on the edge, but it has some very nice hooks to work with. Skills have been adjusted as per your request, so feel free to start posting. We'll play out a few things you describe in your recess post there and then.

Enjoy your time in Ursa post-recess Niamh.

[Elvin Motricé]

Many things had happened since that faithful day when the Ursa had crashed down from the skies. Yes, it was had been a truly confusing time for all of them. Catherine had taken up her task in helping to rebuild the village. Many had been wounded and some even killed. The stable and safe life that the Kanthrop had once known was gone. It was a chance for Catherine, she had been training to go into the outside world and work with other races. Now that she had a clear goal of what she wanted to do for the first time in her life she spent all her spare time in preparing.

She was a Kanthrop and if she was going into the world outside she would in control of the Animal that was part of her. She’ld prowl to the world, seeking to forge alliances for the Kanthrop. Yes, it was all so simple, so clear to her. But the young woman was realistic enough to know that it wouldn’t be that easy, especially with all the cruelty in the world. Enough stories had filtered into the Kanthrop community to know that some sort of fight was going on out there. And they were sitting here, helpless, trapped...

It was difficult to control the aggression of the beast within her at such moments, as her affinity grew, her emotions and senses became more intense as well. It was difficult to come to terms with this awakened part of her and she spent days on end trying to find some solitude. The forests of the Island were no longer safe and her animal instincts longed for a place to run free. Eventually she could no longer contain that desire, she had to go…

Inner Animal – Journeyman (5 stars, no apprentice level)
Polymorph - basic (5stars)

[Brytan]

OOC: Skilling done as requested. Feel free to start a new thread for yourself on the synch, or join the existing thread with the others if you please. Should you have any questions, be sure to let me know.