Enter Eden (new open RP)

[Lordxana0]

Imagine a world where magic is real, monsters stalk the night, and the woods contain untold dangers around every bend. This world is Eden. Since the beginning of time humans have lived in fears of the endless Forest that surrounded the area, living only out of small Glades where the Forest cannot grow into and the monsters that hide in the woods cannot enter. The Glades all differ in size and shape, believed to have been carved out by the Gods of the world so that humanity could live in relative safety. The smallest is the size of a small town, while the largest is large enough for an entire city to have sprouted from it. But even as humans innovate they are still bound to the Glades. Any damage done to the Forest breaks the barrier of the Glade, allowing the horrors that stalk the Forest to enter into the Glade and destroy until the barrier is resealed by whatever ancient magic binds it.

However the Glades cannot exist separate from each other. Supplies need to be moved, messages sent, and people need to move between them in order to survive. To help with this process three of the Glades were set up to act as training grounds for humanities best and brightest, more commonly known as Woodsmen. Woodsmen would be picked from the strongest, smartest, and luckiest of those among the Glades for the future task of protecting the people from the dangers of the Forest.

Glades

Origin- The largest Glade, and theorized by many historians to be the first one. Within this Glade there are three large cities, Alpha, Beta, and Omega. Alpha contains the royally family who regulates trade and dispatches guards. Beta is typically home to wealthy traders and their families. Omega is the city were most people who produce goods reside; building the Stone Seeds that grow into the houses many live in.

Hope- The second largest Glade, home to many farms that produce about eighty percent of all of the food for the various Glade’s. Always on the lookout for new edible foods from within the Forests. Can suffer attacks by criminals and Rebels and are known to hire Woodsmen to get food to the various Glades.

Ironpeak- This Glade surrounds a massive mountain that can be seen from almost any point of the world that isn’t covered in trees. The snow and ice at the very top are known to be valuable trade committees to the other Glades. Within its many caves also rest a number of hidden magic runes which can be used to cast magic. It is the only known Glade to contain Monsters, beasts that live within the various caves but stay away from the human towns surrounding the mountain. Also contains a number of mines used to harvest valuable materials.

Waterpoint- A Glade containing a massive fresh water lake that contains a staggering number of fish. No one is quite sure just how deep the lake really is, but it is known that at a certain point the water becomes so thick it is almost like a jello. Provides water to the other Glades that don’t have enough people who know magic to produce it for them.

Drylands- A desert Glade that contains a number of small towns who use the ore depoists there to make their living. A known resting place for Bandits who prey off the towns mines. They are combated by both the Royal Guard and the Rebels to protect the many towns. Known to hire Woodsmen for both delivery and protection.

Sanctum- A smaller Glade that contains the Academy for Woodsmen who wish to become Vanguards in the future. They also are the only Glade that cuts down the trees in order to harvest wood. The breach in the Glade’s defenses allow future Woodsmen to test themselves.

Ancient- A smaller Glade that contains the Academy for Woodsmen who wish to become Rune Casters. The Academy within the Glade contains books filled with information that is said to go back hundreds of years. Due to its ability to produce people with the knowledge of magic they haven’t need to create a set economic good, allowing their students spells to create objects to sell.

Parish- A smaller Glade which contains the main centers of prayer to the Greater Gods of the world. Woodsmen are occasionally trained here to become Paladins and spread both the message of their deities and serve the world. It is thought by many that their prayers to the Gods keep the barriers of the Glades strong.

Rest- A medium sized Glade home to the city of Ramshar, a place that is said to always be awake. Many a vice can be found within this Glade and it is commonly known to hire Woodsmen to hunt down monsters for its richer staff. There are some smaller villages around the Glade, through most of them only exist for the working staff of Ramshar that can’t afford to live within the city walls.

Outreach- A only recently discovered Glade which lies further away from most of the other Glade’s. It is said that those who have rebelled against the ruling class have begun their own city in this Glade, through most people of the Glade choose to simply ignore it, since it is too far off the trade with safely of effectively.

Deities:

After many years of research and stories handed down throughout the ages many believe that the world was created by a divine creature who wished to fill the nothingness that came before with reality. After creating this reality the divine creature realized that it was too powerful to safely exist in the world, so it split itself into billions of lesser creatures. It is said that each bit of the divine creature’s body became a deity that watched over various parts of the world. One might say there is in fact a deity for everything that exists.

The Three that are worshiped the most among the Glades are-

Luikia- Goddess of Light, Victory, Battle, Hunting, Love, and Metal Smiting. Said to have crafted the Glade’s out of love for humanity.

Helious- God of Trickery, Protection, Anger, Pain, the Moon, and the Stars. Said to have crafted the barriers around the Glade’s as a gift to Luikia.

Valken- God of Death, Disease, Wine, Friendship, Stone, Medicine, and the Forest. Thought to be the creator of the forest and its creatures, also the father of humanity.

There is debate over how exactly one can worship the deities, as they are known to be neither good or evil. A bandit who murders many people might be considered good by Valken, through just as easily one who prevents death can be given gifts. It is known that those who follow their ideals for good or ill can sometimes call upon help in their most dire times and receive boons from them.

The Rebellion

Started thirty years ago by a man who had been known as the Lion of the King named Malice. He thought that the ruling class was asserting their power over the weak and despised seeing people being taxed in an unfair matter. He left Origin and has fought against the ruling classes for quite some time.

The Ruling Class

Not good or evil those in charge decide how trade should be regulated and how guards should be moved about. They also supply the currency that the Glade’s use and facilitate Woodsmen Guilds. Some see them as unfair, others as righteous.

Woodsmen

People trained to be the best of the best, capable of moving through the Forest without fear and facing that which awaits them. They are divided into three separate areas of schooling.

Vanguard- Trained within the walls of Sanctum to master their own bodies and reach a level of perfection rarely seen in most others. To aid them in this Vanguard’s will eat of a fruit called the Elder Night, a fruit that allows a human to train beyond the base potential of the body. Someone who was born small and thin can still become just as strong as someone born tall and thick with training and this fruit. When they graduate a Vanguard will have at least mastered a single weapon, and be strong enough to punch through a tree. As a tradeoff most Vanguard’s find other people to be weak and are known to fall into the trap of their own ego.

Rune Casters- These Woodsmen have trained for a number of years researching the ancient Rune’s of the world, which contain the knowledge to cast spells within them. A Rune Caster can carve Runes into objects to imbue them with special powers, or into their very flesh in order to cast their spells and pull directly from their natural energies. Any object imbued with a Rune will eventually wither away to nothing. Most Rune Casters craft staffs made of ancient wood which contains energy of the Forest and will deteriorate slower. A fully trained Rune Caster will have at least mastered five Runes to the point they have every bit of it memorized to the point they could draw it in their sleep. They are also known to be quiet wise due to their reading. Most are socially awkward around other people, years of reading and studying doesn’t allow for much contact with others that aren’t just like them, so dealing with people can be difficult at first.

Paladins- Woodsmen who use the strength of their conviction to battle the horrors of the world. Their faith in their deity of choice will grant them special abilities, putting them on a level below most Vanguards in terms of strength. They usually focus on a single weapon to master it, using the abilities of their faith which manifest in either defensive or offensive ways to aid them. Paladins will create strict guidelines in which they will live their lives, and will be unwilling to deviate from their path for anything. This can be greatly annoying to those who partner with them.

The Game

Players will start out as a group of freshly graduated Woodsmen that will be joining together in a Guild for their own reasons. They will go on missions to help raise their reputation in order to take on greater tasks with an end goal of becoming the highest ranked Guild in the lands. And of course getting money in order to build up an even better base of operations. Game can start with 5 people and will be run on a choose your own mission style format, where I as the GM will post various missions that players can pick and team up on. Certain missions will have a certain number of characters that need to go on it. Starting city will be picked once players show interest.

Character Sheet
Name:
Age:
Sex:
Main Deity: (If needed)
Political Standing: (Kingdom, Rebellion, Uninterested)
Class: (Vanguard, Rune Caster, Paladin)
Weapon(s): (Can be multiple for Vanguard, single for Paladins, and any equipment a Rune Caster has Rune’s carved into.)
Runes: (Rune Caster Only. Two elemental, think fireball or a water jet. Two defensive, shield or maybe something to prevent cold. One practical, maybe night vision or ability to memorize directions without a map. Also put if Rune is carved into object or tattooed or carved into skin. More Runes will be earned later)
Blessings: (Paladins Only. Defensive and Offensive. Defensive provides a shield that allows a Paladin to take a few blows before the enemy can directly hurt them. Offensive allows a Paladin to channel their faith into holy blasts of energy or other deity based attacks)
Bio:
Appearance:

[JRPictures]

I feel like doing some more RP stuff and this looks really interesting, so I'm in. Trying out Rune caster as a challenge since I've done such a character before, let alone one that does magic.

Name: Alister Sheppard
Age: 25
Sex:Male
Main Deity: Luikia.
Political Standing: Rebellion
Class: Rune Caster
Weapon(s): A Staff and a small sword.

Runes:
--------
Elemental:
Wind Gust: Can create a powerful gust of wind akin to that of a tornado that can pointed at any direction
Fire Ball: Creates a powerful fireball capable of burning a human being or monster to a crisp.
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Defensive:
Body Shield: Carved into his own body, it strengthens his body making it able to take multiple (and often life taking) blows from any weapon.
Heater: Able to heat up his and anyone else's bodies as a way of dealing with the cold at night or in the forest.
--------
Practical:
Photographic Memory: Can be carved into his body or on object of target, gives ability to perfectly memorise any detail of any object such as a picture, map, book etc.

Bio: Alister was raised in the Glade of Ancient where he grew up in a family of Rune Casters. While following suit in his family's legacy and traditions, he is also very morally strong, wishing to do what is right and save as many people as possible but often struggles with the concept of "the needs of many outweigh the needs of few". He is also an opinionated man, wishing for the ruling class to change or be overthrown, resulting his quick siding with the Rebellion much to his family's chagrin. Beside that, he very much enjoys the craft of Runes and has dedicated years to being fully trained in it, as a result he does not have many friends and barely made acquaintances with his fellow rune casters. Thus despite his various opinions and social awkwardness, he often hopes to make good friends and has become a hopeless romantic in terms of wanting a relationship.

Appearance: Rather tall, lean build, dark brown hair and eyes, olive skin. Frequently wears a large grey longcoat with largely brown and blue clothing beneath and leather boots.

[agoraoptera]

Character Sheet

Name: Enoch Root

Age: 28

Sex: Male

Main Deity: The Buzzing.

Political Standing: Nominally Kingdom, mostly Uninterested.

Class: Paladin

Weapon: A hand-and-half longsword.


Blessings:

Offensive: Invoking the power of the Buzzing, Enoch is able to unleash a swarm of bees from within himself.

Defensive: As a guardian of sorts, Enoch can propagate an organic honeycomb over his skin to form a living armour. He can also generate the beeswax growth on another with a touch, but may only protect one person at a time. The luminescent honeycomb is strangely resilient, a hexagonal protection few can penetrate.


Bio: My child, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste. So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul.

He heard us long before he knew of us. Listen to our voice- the prelude to a thunderous downpour. The static hiss of silence. Listen. Enoch saw us in the weird geometry of graffiti carved into trees, growing over each other like a cancerous hope. He heard us, but could not listen. We. Saw. Him. That night, we let him listen.

Quiet messenger, yellow and black, hum so gently into his snoring mouth as he sleeps- rests- hibernates- shuts down- lives- dies anew. It- we- it enters his pulsing, pulsating, undulating mouth and he panics- chokes!- cannot breathe- and sees. He listens. Our wisdom flows so sweet. Taste and see.

Then he knew that he was not to be Vanguard, but instead: Chosen. He heard, and we let him hear. He listened, and we let him listen. He knew, we let him know- he forgot, we let him forget- the unknowable- what is not meant to be remembered in waking. Paladin. Our Paladin. Out of the eater came something to eat, out of the strong came something sweet. Our sweet, wholesome Root.


Appearance: Pale and lanky, dressed in armour of a dull, yellow sheen. Black-haired and narrow-eyed, Enoch's visage lends itself to a constant half-smile, crow's feet permanently crinkled. With a sharp nose and sharper cheekbones, he tends to remain in the background of conversation, using his honeyed tongue and stinging wit sparingly. A honeycomb pattern is imprinted on his throat and right hand.

[AMimsyBorogove]

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[►] Aifa af Ilymnai fram Aston.

• The origin of this name is a corruption of a simple description of her heritage. "Fram" is essentially a butchering of "From," and "Af" is a butchering of "of." In short, it simply describes her as "Aifa, of House Ilymnai, from Aston." The oddity of this name is not its pronunciation - as older forms of linguistics are common amongst titles of nobility and similarly pompous institutions - but rather, that her name feels the need to explain her origins as outside of her House's territory, making it obvious instantly that she's not a natural born heiress, but rather an adopted one.
• Aside from her given name, Aifa does possess one other moniker. Due to the rather unnerving tendency for those around her to meet their unfortunate deaths, whether by her hand or another's, she has earned the derisive nickname of "Grim Reaper Fram," an epithet that also emphasizes her foreign nature, serving as a rather insulting reminder of her adoptive heritage. Ironically, very few people even know her given name, largely referring to her simply as "Fram." At the very most, she gets "Major Ilymnai," as her status as nobility has allowed her to obtain equivalent authority to that ranking in the Imperial Military.

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[►] It's actually kind of hard to tell. She looks somewhere between 15 and 19, but acts much older. Most people assume she's somewhere around 20 due her demeanor, but she can't possibly be older, due to her youthful - childish, even - appearance.

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[►] Female.

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[►] Rather offsetting to many, Aifa's patron deity is none other than Valken. Few would ever give praise to Death; even fewer would dare serve as his hand.

THEPHANTOMTEXTISREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.LＰσliтicαl Stɑɳɗiɳg

[►] Given that she's a member of a noble family rather infamous for having a hand in many of the affairs going on in Origin's Alpha sector, and holds authority equivalent to that of a Major in the Imperial Military, it's only natural to assume that regardless of whatever ideals or beliefs she might hold, she ultimately stands in favor of the Empire.

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[►] Paladin of Valken.

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[►] Although far from her only means of self-defense, Aifa's most iconic armament is a mid-length, dao-like scimitar, carried in a scabbard of expertly carved wood, adorned with a single yellow tassel to match the similar rank-indicating ornamentation on her uniform, and forged from the finest materials available, by the capitol's most respected smithy. While it is certainly flashier than the standard-issue sabers used by rank and file soldiers, it is far from the sort of decorative nonsense favored by most nobles. Foregoing golden decorations and meaningless baubles, it instead favors functionality just as much as form, resulting in an effective, yet elegant weapon.

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[►] Unlike most Paladins, Aifa's Blessings do not take on an active form, focused towards a specific effect. Instead, they're closer to being a part of her very being, which can shift "on" and "off" and serve different purposes depending on what the situation demands. As a Paladin of Valken, she lives on the border of life and death, and as such, no matter which realm she is currently occupying, she can always draw on what lies beyond the boundary of the void.

• Her first blessing is perhaps her most fundamental: namely, it constitutes the ability to separate her conscious awareness from her body, and to shift either or both across the boundary to the other side. By displacing her body to the Phantom World, but leaving her spirit behind, she is capable of becoming intangible, passing through solid objects, becoming unaffected by physical forces such as gravity, and temporarily making herself immune to harm. However, while in this state, she's incapable of exerting any sort of physical influence on the living world, becoming nothing more than a ghost. On the other hand, as the concept of "time" does not exist within the Phantom World, by passing her spirit over to the other side, she can temporarily enter a state in which she can analyze the situation and plan her reaction according to whatever decisions she might come to without worrying about the passage of time, allowing her to, for example, predict the course of incoming attacks and plan all her movements several steps ahead in the midst of battle by repeatedly displacing herself from time. Perhaps most useful, however, is her ability to displace both mind and body to the Phantom World, allowing her to move herself about freely, repositioning herself while time is "stopped" for her, and thus simulating teleportation, even though solid objects or the laws of physics might stand between her and her goal. However, although this ability is very useful, her ability of displacing herself has several limitations. Firstly, due to the careful balance she must maintain in order to avoid being pulled fully into the Phantom World, she cannot remain within it in any capacity for any more than about a minute of total exposure of either of her faculties - body or soul - within any short time interval. And, when fully immersing herself, she only has about 30 seconds before she has to pull out. These deadlines aren't independent of one another, either, meaning she must be very careful when using this ability. Furthermore, she can only enter and leave the Phantom World when her body is not restricted by any outside forces. So, for example, she couldn't phase into the Phantom World, phase her arm through her opponent's torso, and then pop back into tangibility so as to shatter their body from the inside out, nor could she enter the Phantom World while being restrained by another person, or impaled by a weapon, or some similar wound. Finally, since she exists so close to death, it's entirely possible that any damage to her body's internal or external aspects sufficient to significantly alter its shape would be enough to cause her body to "fall' onto the far side of the boundary. In short, a single severe wound might be all it takes to push her into a state of death.
  
• Her second blessing is less of a passive ability and more of an active manipulation. As a Paladin of Valken, she bears dominion over some lesser elements of his Authority. As such, she's capable of calling on Phantoms from the other side and manifesting them in the living world, using her own life as a tether for their otherwise unstable and intangible existences. Not limited to just once-living spirits, she can also call upon lesser recollections, such as objects, forces, or forms of energy. However, without exception, the things she can summon are limited to the things she herself has experience with. Spirits she knows nothing of, items she's never seen, or forces she's never experienced cannot be called upon, as she has nothing to connect them to her own being with. Furthermore, there must be a purpose for all things she summons, and once called forth, her conjurations can only fulfill that assigned duty, and nothing else. So, for example, suppose Aifa summoned a phantom "shield" to protect herself from a given attack, then was attacked again by surprise immediately afterwards. It would block the first attack, but the second would phase right through it as though it were intangible, because that wasn't what it was summoned to defend against. As her summons draw on her own life to sustain themselves, this is likely a mechanism meant to conserve power. Nevertheless, being selectively corporeal causes her summons' utility to be a little bit limited.
  
  Starting with the simplest group of summons available to her, phantasmal forces generally take the form of gleaming blue "ghost lights," as shown in the picture at the bottom of the bio. Whether it be fire, concussive pressure, or physical momentum, she can conjure it so long as its origin is her own body, and it is called forth for a specific purpose. However, due to the limited sustainability as vague things like forces, usually, the most she can do in this field is something like, say, commanding a force to push a locked door open, or to light something on fire. More often than not, she uses phantom forces to accentuate her own physical movements, drastically increasing her speed, and making up for the physical strength she lacks.
  
  Phantasmal objects, meanwhile, simply become transparent silhouettes of the items they replicate, constructed wholecloth from glowing blue light. For example, in the case of a sword, a side-by-side of the original and the Phantom might look like this. Note that the object she replicates need not be destroyed. It simply must be something that exists within her memories as a "phantom" to be actualized. Somewhat more versatile in their function, these phantom items must still be created with a given purpose in mind. Again using a sword as an example, Aifa might conjure such a weapon to fight a specific foe. And, indeed, it would work both to cut that target, and to defend against his or her attacks. However, it would be unable to defend against or strike back at other enemies in the case she summoned it using such a command. Usually, the items she creates are also rather fragile, having a very limited supply of energy on which they can exist. Once that runs out, they break and disappear. The more broad the command used to create them, the less focused her creations are - and thus, in the case of phantom items, the easier they are to break, a price that must be paid for increased utility.
  
  The final thing she can conjure is either part of or an entire once-living phantom. In this case, the only things she can summon are the specters of lives she has assumed the responsibility for ending, and thus bound herself to the life force of. Furthermore, she cannot summon these phantoms to act autonomously, as she doesn't have enough power to support two lives. Instead, she simply creates them as extensions of her own body. A phantasmal "hand" might overlay itself over her own, extending or retracting as she wills to grasp far away objects, but otherwise mimicking the movements of the limb it is covering. Even if full-bodied phantoms are usually not connected to her body, the same principle usually holds for them as well, as they usually mirror her body's actions perfectly. Furthermore, as usual, she still needs a purpose in mind when she summons these spirits, meaning that whatever she targets with them is the only thing towards which they will be tangible.
  
  Although its versatility is severely hampered by these restrictions, the most crippling among them is without a doubt its reliance on her own life as fuel. By using this power, she ensures that she'll be brought close to death regardless of what injuries she sustains if she's unable to take at least partial responsibility for the death of whatever enemy she should employ it against, as it is only through death that she can regain what of her life she has lost. Or is it? She certainly seems to possess some other means of "recharging" her powers, as when she makes small exertions for utility's sake, she seems able to recuperate afterward. But what that means is, only time will tell...

THEPHANTOMTEXTISREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.LＡppɛɑʀɑɳcɛ

[►] Rather petite in stature, Aifa's full height is only about five feet, four inches, contributing to her rather unimpressive appearance. With a very lithe, somewhat boyish build, and most of her body's already meager mass made up by her limbs, she looks rather like a marionette, with lean, dextrous appendages and a thin, rather rigid torso - an image which is only reinforced by her pale, uniformly pinkish-white skin. Although her physique shows some signs of maturity, largely she appears as though left behind by time in the earlier days of her youth, with little of either apparent muscle - this in spite of her rigorous military training - of fat to speak of.

However, despite her doll-like image, she's far from the elegant lady one might expect of a noble of her status. Her hair is short, straight, and rather plain in its black hue. With a dull jawline and gently rounding cheeks, her face looks rather childish for her apparent maturity, with her petite nose and ears doing little to draw attention away from what is perhaps the only truly unusual feature of her countenance - her bright azure eyes, which at times seem to gleam with the same ghostly light as her phantoms. With thin black eyebrows adorning a forehead usually furrowed in an ever-so-slight frown of contemplation and resolution, her gaze, at least, is thus made rather formidable despite her otherwise unintimidating presence.

Her usual attire consists of a modified military dress uniform. Although she retains the usual white blouse, black trousers and boots of the original, the customary white-on-dark-blue greatcoat of Imperial officers has been replaced by a similar design in a much lighter fabric that also adopts stylistic elements from the designs of qipao and furisode, with a high-cut side slit in the coat's dress-like lower half to allow greater freedom of movement, and rolled back but nevertheless long and flowing sleeves precisely tailored to run down just over her wrists, enshrouding her arms without actually getting in the way of her grip. This raiment is rather plain in ornamentation aside from a pair of golden "wing" insignia joined by a matching tassel across her chest, indicating her status as a noble, and the corresponding rank that it bestows upon her in the field, commanding the sort of attention that would otherwise pass right over such an unassuming individual as herself.

THEPHANTOMTEXTISREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALＨiรтσʀy

[►] Not much is known about where Aifa's homeland is. All that is known is that at some point in her childhood, she was part of a convoy moving to colonize a newly discovered Glade in the far east. The area around this place, known as Dawn due to the skies always seeming to be shrouded in eternal twilight there, was home to monsters the likes of which hadn't before been encountered. Although the caravan was well-guarded, the Woodsmen charged with protecting it were taken by surprise by a sudden attack and scattered, allowing several monsters to strike directly at the heart of the caravan. Very few of the settlers survived. Those who did all reported the same thing: a girl had struck a torch and taken it to the underbrush, starting fires that drew the attention, and the anger, of almost all of the attacking creatures. Rushing off into the forest, she'd led them away and disappeared, allowing the rest of the convoy to escape using this momentary lapse in the fighting. When a search party was sent out from a nearby Haven to look for survivors, they eventually came across her, unconscious beneath a tree. Although she was drenched from head to toe in blood, she appeared mostly unharmed, and thus was taken back to the city to recover. Since her identity was unknown, and her parents and family could not be found, she was turned over to the care of an orphanage run by a former noble family, the Aston House. It is here that records of her life become a little more solid. Apparently, after her awakening, she did not seem to grieve or to lash out at her situation. Rather, she seemed to take it all in stride without any sort of protest - or, in fact, any notable expressions of emotions at all. Most of her fellows at the orphanage avoided her completely, evidently frightened by her stoic attitude and reticent manner. Dedicated, serious, and calm, she did everything methodically, pursuing her studies regularly enough to show that she cared about learning, at the very least, but seldom reaching out to her peers or otherwise initiating any sort of interaction with them. Around this time, strange things started to take place within the orphanage, with some of its inhabitants abruptly falling ill, or experiencing strange and sometimes even lethal accidents. Whether or not she was actually responsible hardly mattered - in the eyes of almost all her peers, her emotionless attitude made her the prime suspect for being the culprit. Developing a reputation as a herald of death, she was shunned by her fellows, and thus kept to herself for most of her childhood.

It was around this time that she caught the eye of a noble family in decline: a branch of the royal house who had fallen out of favor in the royal court, known as House Ilymnai. Taken under the wing of the current head of house, Aifa's nature was explored and potential was realized when it came to light that she could keep on stepping in and out of the living world, and that somehow, she'd acquired the abilities of a phantom, presumably with the help of Valken himself. Training her in the arts of combat and aiding her in discovering the full extent of these abilities, her new sponsors used her as an assassin to eliminate rivals in the court. Leaving little to no evidence of her actions, these attacks were untraceable, and ultimately marked up to the work of some sort of monster that must have snuck into the barrier through some sort of unseen hole. And, in this time of crisis when none at the royal court were safe, it was none other than House Ilymnai who located the "hole," tracked down the "monster" and ensured "justice" was dealt. Their position thus secure, they adopted Aifa shortly thereafter so as to have her as a precaution in case they ever needed someone else dealt with. However, given that they soon found themselves in little need of an assassin, she soon fell out of favor with the family, as outsiders were ill liked in the capitol - least of all those with such an unsavory reputation as herself. Consequently, although she was never disowned, she soon entered into a voluntary exile from her new "home," entering into the military. Thanks to her family's newfound influence, she was immediately granted the rank of Major, and assigned to a small garrison in Sanctum. Quickly earning the approval of her superiors by improving the efficiency of patrols around the holes in the barriers there, she dealt with an unexpected incursion of monsters with a minimum of injuries and damage to the area, securing a foothold on the edge of the forest in what had long been monster-infested territory. However, despite these and other feats, she was soon unexpectedly reassigned to serve as the adjutant of a newly formed autonomous unit of volunteer Woodsmen, ostensibly to supervise their actions and serve as a liaison between them and the Imperial military. However, there's a distinct possibility that someone in the higher-ups is trying to sabotage her military career. A member of House Ilymnai, perhaps...?

MOARGHOSTTEXTLOL