Post Yer Past

[Moonitic]

Yeah, it's a huge thing to ask (especially for some of us), but we've got to start somewhere! Longtime members, we especially need yours. Where did your character come from? How did they get to Arconia?

Arconia is considered, for better or for worse, a haven. What drew your character to this haven?

There...now I've given you something to THINK about!

[Iwant2bafencer]

Pssh thanks a lot Moon. Make me think on the weekend. I mean the nerve!

[Moonitic]

I'm sorry...I could have thought of something so much easier, like "make a pig fly."

If you want, I'll think too!

[Iwant2bafencer]

Oh ok! As long as I'm not the only one thinking.

[Darion McNair]

(We should make this a Sticky after everyone gets their characters up here)


Darion McNair is from a rather small country in the far north west of the continent called Bosconia. He was blessed enough to be born the son of nobility and was brought up with a significant amount of schooling in the arts and the political workings of the country. As the firstborn son of the family, he was expected to take control of his family’s merchant business. His father, Elias McNair being an ex-military officer demanded that Darion be schooled in the art of war. Boconia had quite a few enemies for while it was small, the country was quite rich. Elias knew this and wanted his son to be able to defend his homeland if needed. He began to be schooled in tactics, strategy, and combat techniques by the best in Bosconia as soon as he was able to wield a sword.

Darion showed great promise as his combat training continued. He assimilated moves like a sponge and what’s more, knew exactly when to use them. His teachers taught him to blend them all together. Darion was taught to treat the weapon as if it were an extension of his arm. With intensive training, he was able to move the blade and the point as easily as if he pointing a finger. His moves blended beautifully and his speed increased far beyond anything Darion himself thought possible.

First Blood competitions were held annually in Bosconia and Darion began entering these. Once he grasped control of his potentially wild emotions, the young nobleman was unstoppable. Even the Bosconian Prince was defeated at Darion’s hands. In commemoration of this event Elias had a unique, personalized weapon forged for his son. The weapon was a Bosconian rapier. It was different from other rapiers in that its blade was sharp both at point and edge, light as a feather but strong and unyielding to an opponent’s blade. It was given the name Halcyon by his father. Darion thought it strange that his father would choose a peaceful name for an implement of war but war was the exact thing his father did not wish his son to go through.

Years went by and the McNair business flourished. Their merchant company grew to such an extent that the McNair family was one of the wealthiest families in all Bosconia. Such wealth brought the McNair clan happiness, but Darion seemed longing for something more. The money did not satisfy him and Darion began looking for something more fulfilling. His searching drew him to a spiritual practice known in Bosconia as The Way. The Way was a way of life that the lower class held dear because they had little and the upper class ignored because they had much. The practice of The Way was monotheistic and involved worshiping the Holy One, the creator of the universe. According to the Scriptures of the Holy One, He actually had unconditional love for all humans. The lower class held tight to this ideal, being labeled the Burden of Society in rich Bosconia garnered them very little love from anyone of higher social status.

Much to the McNair family’s chagrin, Darion began practicing The Way. Getting spiritually closer to the Holy One and in turn showing The Holy One’s love to others. He also learned that the Holy One had many characteristics other than love: justice, faithfulness, omnipresence, and omniscience were a few that Darion grew interested in. His father had instilled in him a great sense of justice and Darion was pleased that the Holy One also prized such a virtue.
The relationship between Darion and his family grew tense because of his newfound spirituality, but the relationship still remained. The tension continued until the very thing that Elias feared came upon them all: war.

The larger kingdom of Dion to the north grew greedy of the Bosconian riches and sought to make war against Darion’s homeland. The need for soldiers was so great that Elias was called back into service as a 1st Captain. Using family funds, Darion bought a commission as a lower 3rd Captain in charge of merely 100 men. The war raged, with the Bosconians far outnumbered. Darion was devastated when in the first engagement, his father fell. It grieved the young Bosconian that his father’s body was never found. By the third engagement, the Bosconian forces were badly worn and outnumbered. They fought with valor but futilely nonetheless. The battle degraded and the retreat was sounded. Darion led his unit into hiding as the rest of the Bosconian military was captured or killed. He knew that those captured would soon be executed.

Being schooled in strategy and tactics came in handy as he launch a year long guerilla warfare campaign against the Dionesse. He watched from the dark as his people were put in work camps and made slaves to harvest the vast riches of Bosconia. His own mother was killed at the hands of a slave driver. Darion stole her body away in the cover of night in order to give her a proper burial.

He and his men grew to be masters at the unseen and the subtle. They were given the name Shadow Men. No one knew the Shadow Men only knew the carnage they inflicted on the Dionesse forces. Darion could sense the winds changing among the Bosconian people. His attacks were gaining popularity and he soon decided on a bold move in an attempt to begin an uprising. He hoped through this his people could regain their country. He and his Shadow Men launched an attack with the intent of assassinating a regional magistrate in charge of a work camp. As they launched the attack on the fortress they succeeding in killing the magistrate but they were unexpectedly cut off by a cavalry unit and trapped.

Darion watched from the fortress tower where he killed the magistrate as his men were being slaughtered. His spirits sunk and he slipped away, killing the few Dionesse soldiers that challenged him. He spent the next few months evading the patrols and bounty hunters that sought his head. Darion was the last surviving Captain of Bosconia and the Dionesse wanted him dead as a symbol of their sovereignty. Heading southeastward he found his way to Arconia by the blessing of the Holy One.

[Zelda]

Ick, history, it makes my brain hurt.....
Ok, lets think......(didnt we have a thread like this somewhere right near the beginning of this whole shebang?)

Name: Queen Zelda of Arconia.
Born: Zelda of Pirates Swoop in Tortall (read the Alanna books).
Parents: George Cooper and Alanna Olay.

Zelda was born to George and Alanna one cold autumn day. Her mother was the kings champion, her father king of the rogues.
Growing up she was given every chance to learn and study the fighting arts, as her mother taught her all that she had learnt as a page and squire in the royal household. She also learnt the art of deception from her father, and diplomacy from her paternal grandfather.

When she reached 16 she was presented at court. She did not particularly like court, finding the girls generally quite dull and boring. She was much happier in the saddle, or with a weapon in her hand. After a few months the fippery and gossip of court, as well as the swooning of the ladies at all the eligiable gentleman started to really annoy her, so she returned home, much to her mother chargin.

Those who remeber the early threads will remember Zelda got a message from a stranger at one stage which caused her to have hysterics. The mesage refered to her first adventure outside Tortall, when King Jonothan sent her as a royal courier to a neighbouring country with some very important documents. While delivering the documents she killed someone in self defence. Unfortunately the county in which it happened did not look too kindly on murder (even in self defence) so the Tortallan Royalty arranged for her to "disappear" to Arconia as a diplomat, then under the rule of Arcons father.

When Zelda arrived in Arconia, the first person she met on arriving at the stables was Arcon. It was love at first sight. Their relationship blossomed until eventually they were married. By this time Arcons father had passed away and Arcon was king, thus Zelda became queen.

(right that my imagination melted, though airports seem to be good for inspiration!!)

[Moonitic]

(ed. note: thanks for making this a "sticky")

Okay, this is REALLY redundant, but here's some of the story of the royal twins...

Princesses Buffy & Ken-Dall were born to the King & Queen of Schoolcraftia, a moderately sized kingdom made rich by their agriculture. Though the girls were twins it would be evident that their lives would take different courses, though no one knew just how different until a fateful night in a summer home...but I digress. In their early years, the mischevious twins got along well together with nary a squabble. Yet deep down, a terrible rivalry was beginning to bubble. Princess Buffy, being several minutes older, would be the choice to marry off first someday. Yet she preferred to run & play with a certain Prince Arcon & his friend Lochinvar, rather than attend the lessons that would groom her to be a proper wife...& possible queen. She was, & remained, incredibly passionate, loving the arts. Especially the written word. Ken-Dall, on the other hand had the qualities of a wife; patient, reserved, & talented in the kitchen & at the loom. However, she lacked her sister's love of the finer things. Both were beautiful & intellegent, yet both were constantly compared to one another. The jealousy began to burn.

It was a Christmas morning that caused the rivalry to come to a nasty head. Ken-Dall had wanted an "Easy Kiln Oven," yet her sister received it. Buffy wanted books, Ken-Dall received that instead. The parents had their reasons (quite valid) for giving these gifts to the girls, but the children's relationship was doomed from then on. Ken-Dall was banished from the kingdom when she allegedly tried to burn the summer home down, Buffy sleeping inside. Reports of her eventual death came in.

Several years later, when Buffy became of legal age to marry, a parchment arrived from the King of Muu. It was very simply put: If the King of Schoolcraftia did not give his daughter's hand in marriage to Prince Henry (Angelo), Muu would attack. With the help of Willow, her best friend & lady-in-waiting, Buffy ran away on the morning of her wedding. They ended up in Arconia, where her childhood friend Arcon reined. She took on a new name, & became royal scribe, enjoying other pursuits such as writing & fighting as a knight.

Ken-Dall, on the other hand, lived on the run for most of her life. She stole, swindled & did whatever she could to live, taking odd (& also dishonest) jobs whenever she could...always hating her sister for her unfortunate life. When she received word that the King of Muu had put a price on Buffy's head for her failure to marry his son, she found out that the princess was in Arconia, kidnapping Willow & stealing Buffy's diary in order to turn it over to the Muuvian King's man. She failed, only to return to Arconia later after her sister's disappearance & possible death...posing as her sister herself.

The rest, as they say, is history.

[Crin Dalmeiier]

Crin's parentage is unknown, mostly because the Zarconian government keeps the childhood files of all of its Elite under lock and key. She and her twin brother were taken at a young age to a government training facility and put into an extensive program that spanned ten years. By the time that she and Trey were twelve, they had graduated into a much more advanced program known as the Elite, joining sleeper agents of all orientations. Although each could practically read the other's mind, both worked best alone, establishing reputations in different areas of the field. Trey was known for his hunter-like pursuit of a target, and Crin was known for her invisibility.

As the years passed, Crin and Trey worked their way to the top. Human emotion could be shut off like a valve, the training always came first. They had each other and they had their assignments—beyond that, there was nothing. When they were eighteen, the two were given very different orders. Trey was to tail Zarcon and keep him from doing anything stupid and Crin was to travel to Russland and eliminate the High Priestess. Both trained for their missions with single-minded vigor, going through every training simulation the Elite had handy. Crin had an easy time of it until she attempted the prison simulation.

As was typical for an agent, she went into the simulation with only a buck knife and her wits. The buck knife was taken away from her when she was thrown into the prison cell. They left her in the cell for eight days, feeding her no more than a crust of bread and a sip of water each morning. She did well for the first six days, but in the last two, she started to slip in to a trance that worried the men running the simulation. They’d purposely left her in four days longer than most agents, to see how she would react. When the halflings, a group that worked for the Zarconian government, raided the “prison,” Crin managed to survive and escape the simulation, but she came out of it a different person entirely. Still, she took the mission in Russland and was successful in infiltrating the High Priestess’s chambers. By that time, she was exhausted from both the training simulation and the long boat ride over.

However, the mission she trained up for so long failed when she didn’t take extra bodyguards into account. Her glancing blow to the High Priestess left a wonderful scar, but Crin nearly spilled all of her organs for it. Crin is rescued by Falcour on her plight from the guards. The desire to get out of her own skull, as well as the pain, was sufficient to suppress all of her memories. She lived with the gypsies for over two years, falling in love with Falcour and finally cementing her attachment to him. Unfortunately for both of them, what happened was enough to jar the memories, but not return them fully.

Dazed and a little more than confused, she fled from Falcour with his brother and her best friend, wandering aimlessly about the northern continent, trading for money and living with mercenaries. She was nearly killed several times, but a sixth sense always seemed to save her, puzzling both Crin and Talmour. When they arrived in Arconia, Crin spotted fellow agent Rayen, who she believed to be her sister in her delusion, and made contact and then went on to try and save the queen from assassins. However, she and Talmour arrived too late and were instead thrown into the tower…

And you all know the rest.

[Swordsman]

The parentage of the Swordsman is unknown; they are presumed dead. The circumstances are also unknown - which was human, which elven, and whether the conception was voluntary.

Three of the children being sheltered in the Convent of Salar, deep in the capital city of Nova Servaya, Russland, found a child starving, naked, and nearly frozen to death in the trash beside the street, and brought it back with them to Salar. She took him in as she did with all orphans she came across, regardless of race, naming him Nækos - a relatively uncommon name, but not unheard of.

Three things became immediately very clear in Nækos: First, he was obviously a halfling - crossbreed between human and elf. Second, he was by nature a fighter. He excelled at it from the earliest skirmishes in the basement of the convent, and would jump at any opportunity to fight. Third, he was in love with the legends of the Swordsman, the one prophecised to overthrow the Church.

When he was approximately twelve, word somehow got out of the region of the convent, and to higher authorities, that elves and even halflings were being sheltered there. A force of Church Guard raided it; Nækos killed them in defense of his fellow orphans, but could not save Salar, who was herself killed, him blamed.

Nækos escaped, fleeing to the trading town of Nova Zemblar. Here the Aiovus family, who owned a small inn, took him in, exchanging basic janitorial/waiting services for food, shelter, and training under Master Torsten Aiovus, the resident expert with a blade. After a year or two of this, however, Nækos went up into the nearby mountains to find the elusive Talruum - minotaurs whose skill with their special crystalline weapons could not be matched by any other race. Inadvertantly rescuing a tribesman against one of the rogues (males who leave the clans, usually warring against them), he became the first outsider to be accepted by the Talruum, and ended up spending summers training with them. When he returned to the village for the winter, he was far better than Master Aiovus, or anybody else, for that matter.

Prejudice and fear against the Talruum could not be overcome, however; suspicions grew, until Nækos' friend and co-worker, a girl named Kinkado, was abducted and murdered one night. Upon returning from an unsuccessful attempt at her rescue, Nækos found the inn ablaze, the owners lynched in front, and a mob waiting for him. Two Talruum came down from the mountains to assist, but Nækos was the primary one responsible for the slaughter of the entire mob, leaving the street ankle-deep, curb to curb, in blood. He was given a Talruum sabre, wished luck, and advised to escape.

From there, after recovering from near death in a nearby town, he began traveling all over, never staying in one place long enough for his bad luck to catch up to him. Slowly working his way eastward, he eventually rounded the edge of the Great Sea, and began working westward again, across the Northern Continent - all the while building a following, and a reputation. Eventually reaching the Western Wilderlands, the westernmost border of settled land, he had no further to go. As it happened, he was at that time in Arconia. Offering the services of himself and what he dubbed the Strike Force Aiovus, in honor of his first blade-master, to the crown, he finally began to settle in, building a small cottage in a clearing on the edge of the wilderlands. Upon the arrival of a refugeee princess from a neighboring country, he took her on as his personal charge to protect. Additionally, he spent the majority of his time out in the outlands of the kingdom, working in teams of two or three, bringing justice to where the king's authority did not easily reach. One day, however, news of the kidnapping of his charge forced him to call the Force back in to mount a rescue raid...and the rest, is history.

[Moonitic]

Posted with permission from the Royal Muuvian Archives. Copyright sometime in the distant past.

Prince Henry, who later became Angelo, was born to the King & Queen of Muu. He is the eldest of two boys, with Prince Meekal being born two years after. The Muuvian king saw great promise in his eldest son, the future King of Muu. He also saw that he was quite gullible, & obeyed his father's commands without a second thought. Prince Henry became the head of his own military command, & later destroyed an entire village. He found out afterward that this village was innocent of all of the charges his father brought upon them. This incident fueled an intense hatred for his father & the kingdom, which thrived on war & violence. Yet he still did his "duty," someday hoping for a way to escape the hatred.

His opportunity came when he was informed by his father that he would marry the Princess of Schoolcraftia, which would unite his father's failing army with the large Schoolcraftian treasury. Angelo would not stand for this. On the road to retrieve his bride, he disappeared & sought refuge in Arconia.

Though most of his Arconian missions were successful to date, nothing more is known. He disappeared at the time of the tournament to find the new king.

[The0ne]

The ravenous horde, as they are called, are a species of man-eating butt-monkeys, from the continent of yourbutt. They like pina colada's, dancing in the rain, and eating people.

[Swordsman]

Why don't you go away?

[HillBilly]

Right
Hillbilly is a nerdly boy, born in vermont, raised in chicago, reached adolescence in oregon, and is writing from vermont (again)

Long, but concise...

[mrbiggs]

(123? BC-223 CF)

Mrbiggs was raised by a cup of coffee.

No, seriously, mrbiggs was raised on a quiet farm in what would soon become known as the breadbasket of that section of the earth, which is where he learned Greek.
After graduating from a secondary school/colledge, he attended a university where he learned much from a steryotypical scientist, who was unfortunately unable to complete the course. On the other hand, that was where he first met his wife, although she only introduced herself at the time as Mrs. Fett.
Things were going kinda well for mrbiggs until an experiment went awry. Awry awry awry. Great word.
Anyway, and experiment went awry, and one of his coworkers started growing these HUGE multicolored noodles out of his head. Fortunately, a monkey was heroicallly able to put out the resulting explosion-fire. .
Of course, it's not a very good idea to be going out with someone named "Mrs. Fett", and history soon caught up with mrbiggs. One day, Boba came home, and was surprised to see mrbiggs and his wife in bed, making sweet, sweet, hot, cups of coffee on the fire. As a result, Boba Fett beat the junk out of mrbiggs, until his head was disfigured into a square. . Mrbiggs was still smiling, though, because Mrs. Fett makes really good coffee.
Mrbiggs never learned to fence, until he came upon a grumpy old hermit living near post-Reconstruction Canada who taught him the basics of arguing with people who have authority over you. The hermit taught him such things as the "oooooooooooo" when a director says something wrong, and how to pump your fist if it's a difficult call. From then on, mrbiggs was a fencing master, before he even got into his first ultratight knickers (with suspenders!).
As of now, mrbiggs and Mrs. Fett still get together occaisionally when isn't looking. Sometimes they bring along a Jawa. "The more the merrier" is his feeling when it comes to a cup of coffee.

The end.

[ThornOfTheBlood]

Thorn, who, by birth was named Mortimere Platageus, though all through his infancy and adolesence, was dubbed "The Thorn in My Side." Thorn's father was a blacksmith, so naturally, he was exposed to many types of people, more or less about everyone that lived the capital of Arconia because they all needed something some time or another that needed forged, and they all heard Mortimere being called "The thorn in my side." So as he grew older, the name just...kind of stuck to him with his friends, and so the name Mortimere was never mentioned in his mother's household, well of course that is unless he was acting out line, which happened quite often.

When he was six, his father took him to the forge one day, and began to teach him the tools of the trade. Thorn was only about 2 and 1/2 feet tall at the time and quite skinny for he didn't eat a whole lot.

Nothing really extraordinary really happened during the firt 15 years of his life, and he soon became a tower mountain of muscle from working the forge each and every day. He had developed a love of smithing and had become quite good at it.

His social life was at somewhat of a nill because from the time he was 12 he had been required, by his father, and finanncially to work full time at the forge.

At the beginning he use to be frequented by his friends and he would occasionally steal out to play, but when he got back he would get such a beating he only ever dared to leave once more.

Then, after year after mind numbing year, Thorn's father got a request to visit a house in the woods, because he had received note of an iron vein found in the earth, and Thorn was whooping with happiness, but just as he was walking out the door with his father, his mother had dropped a boiling pot on her foot. Needless to say he was required to stay and look after his family.

When his father got back, everything resumed as normal except that his mother had gotten an infection in his foot from the blisters of the pot, and had her foot amputated. It was not as bad as it seemed, for she could peg around quite well, but she refused to do anything and soon, later, was found dangling from the kitchen ceiling beams, she had commited suicide.

Everything was in mass mayhem at the forge, Thorn was crushed, as was his father, but whereas he cried, his father pounded the snot out of the metal until all his stock had been ruined.

One day Thorn woke up rather angry with himself for being so weak, but was looking forward to the forge, something to calm his nerves.

He went out to see what had been cooked for breakfast, his father had been quite a failure at it, but atleast it kept the two alive. Instead of oats and fresh milk, he found a note reading: Son, I am gravely sorry but for reason unknown to me, and quite beyond your understanding, I must leave, and I fear you'll never hear from me again.

Thorn was outraged at this, his idol, his hero, his father, who he had considered invincible, was a weakling, and a coward. He had fled and left evwerything to his 15 year old son, who had nothing left in life, to gain or to lose.

Thorn continued to work the forge, but had sold nothing. He lasted about 4 days before he decided, like his father, he would leave, though not to abandon, but rather, to find himself, or die somewhere honorably. He had always admired the soldiers, and the dualist amongst the arenas that occasioned the city, but his thought had been quickly bashed by his parents who claimed they needed him to work. So after a while, he too considered it foolish.

From his last day in the city, he vowed he would die an honorable death, but of course at the time he didn't really know what honor TRULY was. All he took when he left was a small bow for hunting game, and his father's forging hammer. He loathed his father but he did raise him for 15 years, and he had somewhat of a twisted "love" left in him.

For two years Thorn has lived north of Arconia in the forest, and occasionally ventures to the eastern woodland realms as well. He has grown much in the ways of experience, and a new task is at hand. He finally found how he could honorably die, he would die fighting dragons, he had heard rumor of them around, and he was ready to die, though he knew nought what was in store for him.

[Zelda]

WOW! Thats great! I think we have a kindered spirit here with Swords girls.....now we just have to get to the group somehow.

[Salazar]

Apparently Human Male, age unknown
Relative Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Trained With: Gladius, throwing knives, shortbow, quarterstaff, dagger
Battle Cry: "Once more, right to the end."

Salazar is something of a wanderer, never staying in one place very long, unless delayed. He will appear in town one day, completely enshrouded in a faded black cloak that drags a little on the ground. When he does remove the hood of this cloak, underneath is a world-weary face that feels older than it is. Salazar's eyes are dark, his skin bears a large scar running from above his right eye to below his right ear. His hair is dark brown, and hangs to just above his neck in the back. On his head there is a military-style beret, green, bearing a silver fleur-de-lys insignia on the front, and symbol of his old occupation. Other clothing includes dirty, gray travelling pants, a black polo shirt, a pair of leather work gloves, and a pair of sturdy hiking boots.

Salazar doesn't remember where he was born, only that he lived with his brother Izlude until he joined up with a group of bandits. When an army from another kingdom invaded the one in which he lived, Salazar led these bandits, of which he was now the leader, into battle, driving the invading army back to their own territory. Shortly after, he left the kingdom to wander on his own for awhile.

Over the course of the next few years, he met and wed a girl named Emerald, and they had two children: Damiazar and Annaria. Salazar was reunited with an old friend of his, Murdock the Crusader, and together they hunted down a dangerous monster in the mountains near Salazar's home. They killed said beast, but both were gravely wounded, and lay in their prey's lair for a week before Gideon of Exodus found them and healed their wounds. Salazar sent word to Izlude to tell Emerald that he was going to help Gideon track down a dangerous Drow wizard.

When they finally did find the wizard, who was called Vrenik, they realized that they were outmatched, and fled to Salazar's manor (a good thousand miles away from where they met Vrenik, just so you know). Vrenik came anyway, and the Knights of Exodus, as they called themselves, met him in glorious battle in the mountains. Salazar, Murdock, Gideon, Emerald, Damiazar, Annaria, and Izlude all went to battle, but Salazar was the only survivor of that terrible day. Vrenik dropped him here on this world, half-dead, to wander until he either came to terms with his horrid past, or killed Vrenik.
__________________________________________________ _______________

"Well, I can't tell you who I am because I don't know that. But I can tell you this: if you don't move, I'll pin you to that tree there with this here sword of mine. Is it really worth your life to defend these people? I think not."

-Salazar, to Mor Keth (Racewarkingdoms reference)

[Moonitic]

Gosh, I'm going to seem like such a meanie with some of these posts...

New writers, this is incredibly important: Are your characters based/named/etc. after any already written characters? Particularly those already published? This is incredibly important, because there WILL be books coming out of the Arconian saga, & we can't tread into copyright infringement or plagerism.

As an FYI, Craig owns what we write on this board. It's ours as well, but he has given us permission to take what we have & novelize it. Just so you get the big picture, & our ultimate goals. You may not share the goals, & that's fine. We can try to work around that, but it's best you know what the more established writers are thinking. We really do have a POINT to all of this! lol

[Zelda]

Ick, thanks for the reminder Sweetie - Oi gotta change the Queens past a bit oi do!

[Swordsman]

Another note to new writers: You have to be serious. We are too far along to have new characters popping in for a bit, then disappearing. If you want to write with us, we need a commitment - we need to know you'll stay around for a while. Otherwise, we really can't let you have more than a minor character.