Atlantic Roleplay Community Boards Forum Index Atlantic Roleplay Community Boards
Roleplay Community Forums for the Atlantic Shard

FAQFAQ SearchSearch CalendarCalendar LinksLinks WikiWiki  RegisterRegister
RulesBoard Rules MemberlistMemberlist UsergroupsUsergroups RSS FeedRSS Feed PortalPortal 
  ProfileProfile Log in to check your private messagesMessages Log inLog in

The Assorted Tales of the Gathering Shadows

Post new topic Reply to topic Atlantic Roleplay Community Boards Forum Index -> The Gallery of Origins
View previous topic :: View next topic
Author Message
Dante Darkheart
Journeyman
Journeyman


Joined: 12 Jul 2012
Posts: 161
Location: Jhelom and Red Fang Pointe

PostPosted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 11:36 am Post subject: The Assorted Tales of the Gathering Shadows Reply with quote

The following gives a brief physical appearance and vignettes that follow the eventual captains, lackeys, and investors up until their initial fateful meeting with Dante Darkheart.


Captains


Name: Gwen Ravenwood Race: Vampiric Human Age: 41 Height: 5’5” Weight: 132lbs Eyes: Green Appearance: A beautiful woman who is only just starting to show her years. She looks as if she takes great care in keeping herself looking her best. Her long black hair is never out of place and her fingernails appear to be perfectly manicured when not covered in long silken gloves. Her skin is pale and soft. She looks to have once had the body of a dancer.

Gwen Ravenwood, born Gwen Dagger, grew up the daughter of a talented tailor in Serpents Hold. She was well into her twenties (27 ) living off her doting father's limited wealth. In an effort to protect her younger kleptomaniac sister, Chelsea, after a botched grift their father sent Gwen away to be married off to a rich burgomaster of the tailor guild in Jhelom. Chelsea had been sent to tag along as well. The mans name was Rogal Ravenwood and he was far richer than Gwen could have imagined. Rogal was well in his late fifties ( 58 ) when they were married. Gwen never truly loved Rogal as he adored her. She often had blatant affairs with his business partners. She grew accustomed to the wealth Rogal afforded her over the years. By the time Rogal reached his late sixties ( 69 ) and Gwen her late thirties ( 38 ) Rogal had succumbed to a type of dementia. Gwen was hardly effected as she had assistants tend to the business and nurses tend to her husband. Gwen still carried on as she always had. Until she met Dante Darkheart.


Name: Rogal Ravenwood Race: Human Wraith Age: 72 Height: 5'6” Weight: 0lbs Eyes: Grey Appearance: A hunched over crippled looking shadow of a man hovers just inches above the ground stands before you. His robe drags along the ground hiding he fact that his feet never touch the ground. A crooked smile is always on his aged sickly face. His bare fingers appear to be stained black with lividity stains.

Rogal Ravenwood was the fourth generation of a self-made man. Born into the tailoring industry. Despite the ability to command a veritable army of tailors through complex business schemes, plans, and less than scrupulous business ethics he had little to no idea hope to sew or weave. He was a master of a financial universe and he coveted his money above all else until he met the woman who would become his first wife, Lisa Carpenter. The dark haired beauty was the heiress to the carpenter’s guild. She had little respect for Rogal who she saw as a younger version of her father. Rogal had not yet learned to balance his time between the boardroom and his home life. Lisa eventually strayed from her marital vows and was eventually caught, perhaps she wanted to be. In either case Rogal killed her and her lover in a fit of rage. An act he immediately regretted. He became withdrawn and over the years became more and more fascinated with the occult, particularly necromancy and speaking with the dead. Rumors passed between his assistants for a time that he was studying to become a necromancer in secret. They said he wanted to bring Lisa back from the dead. The rumors seemed to end after a major corporate restructuring following a second marriage to a new bride. The new raven haired bride was named Sonia and bore a striking resemblance to Lisa. However untrue, some whispered he had finally succeeded in raising Lisa from the dead. Still Rogal almost avoided the regular board meetings and spent nearly all his time with young Sonia. It all proved too much for Sonia who felt smothered. She took her own life by lighting herself on fire during an argument with Rogal. For a time Rogal went back to work in his boardroom. But after a few years past he again became more erratic and withdrawn from the business of the day. He locked himself away in his study pouring over the books of his occult hobby. He did however make time for the bi-annual board meetings where he met Gwen Ravenwood’s father. The two seemingly from two different walks of life hit it off quite well. Gwen’s father agreed to Rogal’s proposal for Gwen’s hand in marriage. Again, Rogal married a raven haired bride that frightenly resembled Sonia and Lisa before her. This time though Rogal allowed his bride to do as she pleased. He doted on her in a way her father always wanted to be could never truly afford. The two seemed to get along fairly well in public. Rogal bought her anything she wanted and even allowed her to see other men in private. Rogal attended to his business. All seemed well and balanced for nearly eleven years until Rogal began summoning ritual for his dead wife Lisa to possess Gwen. However something went wrong and Sonia had been summoned as well. The resulting dual of wills left Rogal the loser. Rogal was later found by an assistant who hid what Rogal had attempted from Gwen. Rogal remained in an apparent state of dementia for three years until Gwen finally met Dante Darkheart.


Name: Phillip Phaegenn Race: Human Age: 71 Height: 5'4” Weight: 136lbs Eyes: Brown Appearance: An elderly man with a pale grey tone to his wrinkled weathered face. His long black hair and long black beard are bushy unkempt and greying. He is extremely skinny. His arthritic hands have long thin fingers. On the back of his right forearm is a tattoo of a nearly full hour glass.

A childhood friend of Rogal Ravenwood's. He was the son of Rogal's nanny and often accompanied Rogal through their early lives. After Rogal no longer required a nanny she developed tuberculosis and eventually died leaving Phillip without any parents or money. He eventually fell in with a group of pirates. He grew quite adept at decoding maps and ciphers. He even devised many cunning traps for the treasure he hid himself. While never rising to the rank of captain himself he was grew widely respected in the pirating world for his knowledge of maps. He worked for many for the great captains of the day without betraying a single one. Because of his favored status amongst the pirate captains he officially retired from the proper pirating life and was nominated to be an arbiter amongst the captains. It was a position meant to divvy up territory and shipping lanes for each pirate captain. Rogal Ravenwood's tailors guild profited immensely due to Phillips new found status. However due to the high profile nature of Phillips position he was a highly sought after man by the authorities. Instead of hiring dozens of the best trained guards and living in some secluded castle Phillip, ever a man of the people, took on the disguise of a harmless elderly beggar. He wandered from town to town for years. Eventually he met a young girl, Chelsea Dagger a young child (5) who for some odd reason took a shine to a poor beggar. For years Phillip did not reveal his true place in the larger criminal world yet taught her what he knew of cartography and cryptology. It wasn't until Chelsea's (10) sister Gwen was sent to be married to Rogal that Chelsea felt truly lone and felt as if she did not have place in the world that Phillip had found his heir. Eventually Phillip was found by the law. Too old to put up a fight or run he willingly surrendered himself however refused to give any further information. Still through the use of cunning puzzles riddles and games he was able to communicate with the larger pirating world albeit a lesser extent. It was nearly 11 years later that Phillip was finally reunited Chelsea and her partners Holly Day and Anna Conda during a routine prison transfer. The caravan was sacked and destroyed by an orc named Dan'Tub. A few days later of laying low in the woods Chelsea, Anna, and Holly brought Phillip to Dante Darkheart.


Name: Magnus Singh Race: Human Age: 52 Height: 5'11” Weight: 147lbs Eyes: Grey Appearance: A tall skinny man with well weathered skin. He appears to be naturally bald. Celtic style tattoos arch around the back of his head from ear to ear.

Originally born and raised in Umbra to two prominent teachers at the Bedlam Academy. Unfortunately his parents died during the catastrophe in Bedlam and he was sent to live with his aging yet wealthy grandmother in Nujel'm. He grew up and became a legal clerk, then a lawyer, then judge, and finally he ascended to the seat of the viziers to the Sultan himself. He had achieved all this by the age of thirty five. But that was not all. In his spare time he honored the memory of his lost parents by studying the art of Necromancy. Even going so far as to recreate Mondain's spell that created the orcish race, albeit the spell only worked well enough to create one Orc which he named Dan'tub. Which he kept locked in a hidden cell beneath the debtor' prison. He tempted the Sultan with promises of an untainted immortality. This caused the Sultan to order his slaves to begin mining beneath the city for a particular gem called the Moon Ruby. According to his research the Moon Ruby had the ability to enhance many necromantic abilities provided the proper blood rituals. After years of toiling in the mines the Sultan amassed his fortune at least two times over in various precious gems. On particularly promising vein was being mined by a young slave named Elam Enoch. Elam a smart young man knew he was drawing the attention of the Vizier Magnus. He took it upon himself to try to spy on the vizier while having other slaves mine for him. He intern would mine their veins instead of resting. After days of little sleep and the exhaustion of spying on the vizier on his henchmen the purpose of the Moon Ruby was discovered. Elam finally took a brief rest. Upon returning to his vein dug more fervently to fine the Moon Ruby. He wanted to find it all the more so he could hide it knowing its purpose would be abused by the vizier. Unfortunately the vizier was wise to the slave's plan. He banished Elam from the mines as most of the work had been done the Moon Ruby was nearly uncovered. Its power pulsated just barely buried by other minerals and gems. Magnus ordered his personal slaves to finish excavating the giant geode of loadstone iron and ruby. Upon presenting the Moon Ruby to the sultan Magnus planned on binding the Sultan to Magnus' will via necromantic means. Instead Elam returned in time to sneak into the palace and stop the traitorous vizier. Magnus however managed to make an escape using illusions to Magincia just as it was being destroyed by demons. In the fray he was able to assume the identity of an unlucky yet more noble spirited warrior and made his way to Moonglow where he quietly worked as a clerk in the Lycanaeum for a few years. He later made his way to New Haven and offered his services to the Necromantic Academy leading field trips to the various graveyards of Britannia. It was here at the academy that he finally met Dante Darkheart.


Name: Dan’tub Race: Orc Age: 14 Height: 5'9" Weight: 213lbs Eyes: Yellow Appearance: an unusual albino Orc. His whole body is covered in burn wounds that have scarred over long ago. He has many piercings on his face and ears that tend to change each time you see him. He carries two crude hand axes. Several pouches dangle from his belt that smell of pungent potent herbs.

Created with great care by Magnus Singh using the same spell Mondain once used to create the Orc race. For an odd still unexplained reason the Orc was created as an albino, rare, almost unheard of, in the wild for the Orc race. He was kept beneath the debtor's prison in Nujel'm for the first few years of the orcs life and taught of magic by Magnus himself. Once the Orc started showing signs he could learn no more, which was much, Magnus cast the Orc off in a ship to create havoc in the world or die trying. Still the Orc was always under the influence of his creator even if Magnus did not truly understand it. Luckily enough Dan'Tub's ship finally drifted ashore not too far from the Cove Orc fort. He did not fit in well. He was often picked on for being too white and not having a proper "mudder" or a "fodder". He soon left. He tried hopping from roaming tribe to tribe. He seemed to be welcomed for his knowledge of magic but was soon ran off due to his appearance. He took to wearing masks and covering himself in mud. But soon the mask had to come off to eat or the rain would wash away the mud. He became quite adept at living on his own. He could raid caravans all by himself. His favored tactics involved walls of flame and sending fire elementals after his prey. One such raid ultimately freed Phillip Phaegenn, Chelsea Dagger, Anna Conda, and Holly Day. The four thanked the Orc and allowed the Orc to be part of their 'clan'. They took Dan'Tub to a man with an ominous name, Dante Darkheart.


Goons


Name: Chelsea Dagger Race: Human Age: 21 Height: 5’2” Weight: 112lbs Eyes: Green Appearance: A freckled young girl with chubby cheeks and a round nose. Her fingers always seem to be moving. Her bangs cover her eyes making you wonder how she can see. A roulette wheel is tattooed on the back of her left calve. On the back of her right calve is a tattoo of an empty hour glass. Several rose petals are tattooed cascading down her right arm.

Born the younger sister of Gwen Ravenwood by a full twenty years. Chelsea's mother had died in child birth. Gwen had actually raised her for the most part as their father took to drinking. Still Gwen like most young women in their twenties was quite selfish and left Chelsea to fend for herself. Even at the age of five she had a knack for solving puzzles and figuring things out. So much so that she caught the attention of an apparent local beggar named Phillip. Phillip taught her a great deal of how he created advanced puzzles and games he used as a street performer. In realty he was a well-respected man in the pirating community for being the arbiter. It was during Chelsea's sessions with Phillip that she even at such a young age had been tapped as his eventual successor. She was running her own game of trickery by the time she was 10. Still she was far from being a master and was accused of rigging the game by a patron. However, she was unable to convince the man he fairly lost and she took her money and ran to the roofs of Serpents Hold hoping to lose him. She was cornered but ducked and quickly crawled between the man’s legs. The man lost his balance and fell to his death. The man was a prospective business partner of Chelsea's father. Without payments from other sources his business was monopolized by Rogal Ravenwood. As a means to stay above water Chelsea's father offered Gwen's hand in marriage to Rogal. Chelsea was also ordered by her father to accompany Gwen the Jhelom. Shortly after their father died of unknown causes. Life in Jhelom has somewhat improved for Chelsea however she still kept up her usual tricks. She grew up fast often acting as a social spy for Gwen. This carried on into her early twenties when she met Dante Darkheart.



Name: Holly Day Race: Human Age: 21 Height: 5'3” Weight: 113lbs Eyes: Brown Appearance: A dusky young girl who appears to be a native of Jhelom. Her mocha colored skin looks soft and supple. Her frizzy hair is often sticking straight out in a near perfect ball. Still she wears a red ribbon just at her hairline. On the back of her right calve is a tattoo of an empty hour glass.

Born to two warriors of the Jhelom warrior pits she too grew up with the knowledge of how to fight. Still her parents insisted that she focus on her studies and try to meet a good man to marry. They even sent her to a relatively expensive finishing school that she hated. She often got into fights there that she should not have won. Eventually she was kicked out by the age of fourteen after breaking the arm of an older boy much larger than her. Soon after she returned home things changed. Father had been gravely injured and her mother had been mortally wounded. This was when she began to fall in with the wrong crowd. The group consisted of Anna Conda and Chelsea Dagger. Anna would act as a diversion. Chelsea would make the grab. And Holly's job was to be the look out and provide the muscle if their mark caught on. After a while Holly and Anna began a romantic relationship. This carried on for years until as if by some act of fate they were all arrested for various crimes and sent to the Yew Prison. Miraculously the caravan taking them was attacked by a lone Orc named Dan'Tub. The four newly escaped convicts convinced the Orc to flee with them. Chelsea suggested returning to the Jhelom where Holly later met Dante Darkheart.



Name: Anna Conda Race: Human Age: 21 Height: 5'1” Weight: 107lbs Eyes: Green Appearance: A petite young woman with a high pitched voice. She is reasonably toned form is quite attractive despite a lone scar that starts just below her left ear and traces down her throat. Amongst her many meaningless tattoos on the back of her right calve is a tattoo of an empty hour glass.

Born to an alcoholic mother and father in Skara Brae. Due to their small hovel of a home she had little choice but to watch or listen to her father beat and vanquish her mother. By the time she was ten after one such attack her mother finally died. A few months passed the father thought he would turn his predatory attentions towards Anna. Anna had little means to fight back against this monster. And so this went on for years. Shortly after turning thirteen she devised a plan to hide a knife in her bed. When her father came for her she stabbed him. Unfortunately it did not kill him. It only made him angrier. He took the blade out of his gut and slashed at her cutting from just below her ear down her neck. Luckily the cut wasn't very deep. The two wrestled the knife away from each other for several minutes. Eventually she bit his hand holding the knife. He dropped it. She grabbed it. She jammed the blade into his throat the tip coming out the other side. Even though he was now dead she continued stabbing him several more times. She didn't know what to do. She stowed away on a ship hoping to make a new life. The ship took her to Jhelom. Once there she found it hard for a young girl to make her way in the world. That was until she met Holly Day and Chelsea Dagger. The three lived with Chelsea in her apartment and took to picking pockets to make a living. After a few years Anna and Holly eventually began a romantic relationship. Chelsea had almost abandoned her friends to help escort a friend of her sister around the realm. This left Anna and Holly to attempt their grift without her. Unfortunately the two were caught and sent to the Yew Prison. On their way there they found Chelsea and her old friend Phillip. The caravan was attacked by a lone Orc. The four convinced the Orc to join them on their journey back to Jhelom. Once they arrived Chelsea introduced her friends to a man named Dante Darkheart.


Investors


Name: Kil'this Kil'tan Race: Moon Elf Age: 128 Height: 6'1” Weight: 152lbs Eyes: Green Appearance: A young eleven man. His shoulder length black hair is slicked back. His body is covered with hundreds of tiny tally marks scarred into his flesh. He has an assortment of various daggers and needles tucked into his belt bracers and boots.

Kil'tan is rumored to be the bastard son of one of the elders of Sanctuary though he doesn't like to speak of this. He grew up quick in the hostile halls of the refugee camp often having to sneak and kill his opponents before they killed him using ingenuously designed traps. By the time Sanctuary re-opened its gates he eagerly left for the peaceful life of a tinkerer in a busier city. He joined the tinkerer’s guild in Trinsic. He often recreated his devilish contraptions and sold them. He carefully handcrafted all the parts so they would intentionally be harder to take apart and put back together. Because of the fact that he made it impossible to reproduce his methods as well as having such unique and effective designs his work was highly sought after. After a while though he grew bored of simply letting his traps be used by amateurs. He longed to watch his victims look of surprise. Thus he secretly hired himself out as an assassin. Something that was normally forbidden by the Tinkerers guild. He surprisingly made a few successful high profile kills and built a reputation in the underworld. He made a point to never make a kill using contraptions of his own unique designs as it could too easily be traced. He eventually rose to the right hand of the burgomaster of the Tinkerers Guild. His technical skills always outmatched his business acumen. He grew tired of the business that made him rich and eventually retired from the guild. He continued his side business of assassinations and still maintained contact with the guild. It was during an inter-guild function with the Tailors guilds that he met Rogal Ravenwood and his new bride Lisa. A decade later he met Rogal's second wife Sonia. A decade after he met Rogal's third wife Gwen. The two began an affair that ended just as quickly. Still the two remained friends and a few years later Gwen would introduce Kil'this to Dante Darkheart.


Name: Rosette Storm Race: Human Age: 23 Height: 5'3" Weight: 102lbs Eyes: Blue Appearance: a beautiful young lady with sharp angular facial features. Her long shiny black hair is pulled into two tightly wrapped buns. She shares many distinguishing features with her twin Roman Storm.

Name: Roman Storm Race: Human Age: 23 Height: 5'9" Weight: 167 Eyes: Blue Appearance: A handsome young man. His face has sharp angular features. His shiny black hair is slicked back. Many of his features are mirrored in his twin Rosetta Storm.

Born bastard children to a noble woman of another shard and abandoned to a series of nannies. Rosette and Roman grew up with very little structure as their whims were the commands of their servants. The only servant constant in their lives was a shrewd but loyal lawyer and executor of the estate left to them when they came of age. Many of their nannies and teachers were sacked while a few unfortunate nannies were killed by the sadistic twins or simply went missing. In fact torture was really the only thing the twins truly and outwardly excelled at. Beneath the surface they picked up their lessons quickly and hid an intelligence and the guile of predators. The twins carried on like this for years living off the nearly endless wealth left to them. By the time they were in their late teens and early twenties Roman spent his time drinking expensive wines and tricking young girls into bed with him and sometimes outright bribing them. Rosette spent her time and money on buying the most extravagant garments. She delighted in taunting young boys to buy her gifts she could easily afford herself. Due to Rosette's contacts within the garment industry she was eventually put into contact with the Ravenwood family namely Gwen Ravenwood and Chelsea Dagger. It's wasn't long after that the twins were introduced to Dante Darkheart.


Name: Fangrol Race: Gargoyle Age: 43 Height: 6'8" Weight: 268lbs Eyes: Yellow Appearance: Muscular even by Gargish standards. Several sharp horns line his jaw line. Three approximately equal sized scars run down the left of his face, neck, and end just above his abdomen.

Raised as an aristocrat with in the Royal City of Ter Mur. Like his father and grandfather before him he too had been taught to advise Queen Zhah despite his services rarely if ever being requested or used. He was mainly ignored by the queen and the rest of her court as he nor his father before ever served the queens edict to eradicate the Void Plague. In fact the only person in his lineage to actually serve Queen Zhah in this capacity was his uncle who had been volunteered by his grandfather as punishment. Fangrol spent a great deal of his time hunting in the forests surrounding the city just as his privileged father had. One other hobby was frequenting art galleries. His family had bought their way into Queen Zhah's court by owning the Mason's Guild that maintains the cities walls. Fangrol has since found ways to incorporate more fashionable defenses rather than functional defenses in recent years by hiring more artistic masons. He had heard tale that an up and coming artist was making his rounds through the Sosorian cities. Fangrol could hardly resist meeting the new talent and sent word to his friend Gwen Ravenwood to send the artist to his neck of the the Royal City. Soon as requested a man knocked on Fangrol's door. That man was Dante Darkheart.


Name: Uriko Hamza Race: Human Age: 31 Height: 5'8" Weight: 147lbs Eyes: Brown Appearance: A small athletic man. Often wearing traditional Tokunoese garb. Two swords are often tucked into the back if his belt. On his right forearm is a tattoo of the Serpents Fang Ninja Clan with two scars in an 'X' over it. The rest of his arms, chest, and back are covered in scars as well. His black hair is often slicked back.

Born into the Serpents Fang Clan to two middle ranking members. He grew up learning the ways of the clan. While never truly excelling in his combative training he turned out to be quite that expert at espionage. It was while practicing his art he came across the master of the clan who turned out to be nothing more than a changeling named Travesty. Of course his ability to move quiet was not adept enough to deceive Travesty. She instead decided to use the boy as a messenger to her master Minax. Uriko did as he was ordered. He didn't see much choice in resisting. What he didn't factor in was that being the personal courier between Minax for Travesty would be lucrative as it came to be. Of course he had to keep his position a secret from his peers. Eventually Travesty’s favor in Uriko grew fickle. She had found a replacement. However, Uriko could not simply walk away with his fortune. He could not be allowed to walk away with the secrets he knew. The replacement's first task was to assassinate Uriko. Uriko managed the dodge the first few blows of the obviously better warrior. He knew he would have to fake his own death. He managed to do so by allowing himself to be kicked at the edge of a roof next to a river. He stumbled backwards towards to ledge and appeared to fall. He quickly grabbed onto the bottom of the ledge and held himself out of view of the assassin. By the time the assassin looked at the river all he could see was the scraps of wood from the broken railing floating down the river. This proved evidence enough for the assassin and he returned to fulfill his duties as courier for Travesty to Minax. Uriko soon left for Zento. Being Burakumin he didn't have many options despite the wealth. Still Uriko fell into a trade he didn't mind so much, tailoring. And over the years he used his wealth to buy a passage from Tokuno to The other facets to sell his exotic leather armors and riches silk garments. This brought great honor to the rest of his tailor’s guild in Zento. His business eventually led him to Rogal and Gwen Ravenwood who prized his work greatly. Gwen actually grew quite fond of him for a time and even had a brief romantic relationship with him. A few years had pasted when a stranger knocked on his door. The stranger alluded that Mrs. Ravenwood recommended that they should meet. That stranger’s name was Dante Darkheart.



To be continued in The Assorted Tales of the Meeting in the Shadows.
http://www.atlanticcommunityboard.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=186024#186024
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger
Display posts from previous:
Post new topic Reply to topic Atlantic Roleplay Community Boards Forum Index -> The Gallery of Origins All times are GMT - 4 Hours
Page 1 of 1

Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Ultima Online, ORIGIN, and the Ultima Online and ORIGIN logos are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. Game content and materials copyright 1997-2020 Electronic Arts Inc. All rights reserved.