User:Qmasterflex86/Project Dwi 01/Balance

OOC Note: The contents of this page are not in-game canon. They are meant for personal entertainment only. Full disclaimer here.

Opening

Event from Valiant

Message sent to everyone in the vicinity of Balance's Retreat

Valiant looked in approval at the disciples performing their daily activities with rare discipline. Many were meditating in well-organized neat rows and columns, all kneeling in the Temple, contemplating the complexities of what they sought to understand and to preserve. Some were outside in the courtyard, sparring with wooden staves in the crisp air surrounding the mountain fortress. Drums beating a constant rhythm kept a unifying tempo throughout Balance's Retreat, helping all the inhabitants live in constant harmony. A messenger stopped Valiant in his daily tour of the grounds, confirming the number of acolytes who had passed successfully through the Alley of Swords into Tranquil, and who were eligible to become full warriors of the Great Balance. The messenger also brought news of those who failed, either by dying or deserting. Valiant nodded in understanding as the messenger listed many more names among the dead and missing than those who had succeeded the test. He knew that the Old Masters had entrusted them with a grave task, a very serious duty. And though their duty was but an infinitesimally small one compared to that of the Old Masters, nonetheless, among mortal men such a burden was incredible. Only the strongest, in all parts of body, mind, spirit, and soul, would ever be worthy of becoming one of the Sentinels, the purest, most dedicated, and greatest among mortals who would upkeep the Great Balance that the Old Masters, having learned from their previous folly, sought never to disrupt again.

Valiant (Abbot of Balance's Retreat)

Roleplay from Warren

Message sent to everyone in the region Alley of Swords

A young man raised his arms and cheered upon reaching the fertile plains of Tranquil. The perilous path through the Alley of Swords had drained his stamina greatly, but reaching his goal had refreshed him enough to celebrate with a short victory dance. A young woman who had made it to Tranquil at the same time looked at the dancing apprentice. She shook her head disapprovingly. "Apprentice brother Warren, this is no time to be so careless. We have only passed our first test, and the true trials only begin now." "Oh lighten up Scia." Scia looked cross at the informal mention of her name. Warren quickly amended, "Apprentice sister Scia." And without missing a breath he added, "Lighten up. We just passed the hardest trial. It only gets easier from here." He gave a grin and a thumbs up to Scia. The girl returned neither the gesture nor the smile. She turned her back to Warren and walked neatly, with back straight and head held high, to join the other students who also passed through the Alley of Swords.

Warren (Apprentice)

Event from Glorious

Message sent to everyone in the vicinity of Alley of Swords

Scrolls that the apprentices had carried with them from Balance’s Retreat through the Alley of Swords simultaneously opened as invisible pens etched arcane script. Symbols of a long lost age appeared in deep black ink, chronicling the immense histories and passions of the scrolls now forming before the apprentices. None of the apprentices was versed in the language to know what the rituals written on the scrolls fully conveyed, but all knew that it was the ritual for Miracle. Only this one time would they get a scroll that described to them fully how to exact a true miracle. No more for the apprentices, as per the tradition passed along through many millennia when the Old Masters themselves defined the rituals. The scroll was more a symbol than a spell container. It displayed to the Keepers of Balance that the bearer displayed the attributes required to inherit the Old Masters’ will. Few passed the rank of apprentice, and fewer still lived to become the Sentinels, the greatest warriors mortal men could become. To date, none had ever triggered a miracle, preferring to die or let the scroll be destroyed than to use it, or even worse, let it fall into other hands.

Glorious (Grandmistress of Alley of Swords)

The Grand Balance

Event from Valiant

Message sent to everyone in the vicinity of Balance’s Retreat

Though the drums beat in harmony and the disciples continued their strict training regimen, Valiant did not sense the same harmony that had calmly surrounded Balance’s Retreat for several decades. He did not usually depart from the mountains to walk with men of the outside world, but he still knew the latest occurrences among them. This time, he heard troubling reports about the uniformity of faiths to the south. Valiant’s outward countenance did not change, for his stern face and focused eyes revealed nothing of the growing concern within. He knew that if the men of the south continued down their path, expanding their restrictive and intolerant doctrines, one among the many enemies of the Great Balance would arrive to prey on their delusions. In the silent chamber reserved for the Abbot, Valiant looked upon the banners hanging along the walls, large tapestries of cloth weaved with the inscriptions of arcane rituals. One was crimson and decorated with gold threads that weaved a story of the history and passions of the old masters who battled against powerful beings of fire. In the words beyond understanding, the inscribed banishment ritual described the tireless inferno that would consume all in its path. It told the legends of the few brave masters who learned how to call the dark clouds that shuttled the otherworldly abominations back to their burning planes. Another banner was black, etched with bright white threads that weaved a story of the history and passions of the old masters who battled against death itself. In an arcane script few mortals could read, the inscribed ritual of banishment chronicled the endeavors of the old masters to conquer death, and the horrors that they created in pursuit of such a goal. It told of the masters’ realization and wisdom gained, that death was a natural law of the world. With this understood, the tale told of the power of the world that the masters wielded to restore the balance of life and death, and to create unto dust the undying ones. Beneath the two banners were a sword and shield. The shield was immaculately silver save for black scratches upon its surface that formed ancient scripts. Within these scratches could be found the story of the history and passions of the old masters who battled against savage creatures. In tarnished silver the inscribed ritual of fear recounted the memories of the old masters’ war to establish a world guided more by reason than by instinct. No spells would send the monsters to their own world for their world was one and the same as the masters’. No spells would cause the world to correct the anomaly for the monsters of living flesh and blood belonged to the mortal world. The only shield the old masters had was found in courage. The story engraved into the shield warned that the greatest armor was not found in how much it could guard against attacks, but how well it could prevent any from occurring. And in fear, no beast dared to attack, granting the old masters their greatest shield. The sword was thoroughly rusted, yet did not break or decay. Along the length of the blade ran parts that were clean and free of any rust. Those areas of untainted steel told a story of the history and passions of the old masters who faced the only enemy they feared: themselves. Fear provided the shield, but humans had the gift of reason and choice, and even in the greatest abyss of fear, humanity could still strike. The old masters needed a weapon against themselves, to disarm those among them who would harm their own kind. The ritual of curse of rust found in the writing of white steel in dull red-brown rust told of the many battles among humans, the rise and fall of empires, and the lives and deaths of conquerors. But the bodies of men are weak, and so the old masters discovered that they relied too much on their weapons forged of the earth. Stripped of the strength of their steel, the humans had nothing but themselves. But what of the two greatest enemies to the Great Balance, the two perpetually warring extremes? Both were more conceptual than material, unlike the other enemies the old masters faced. But the answer was clear to Valiant, more than ever. He rose steadily from his meditation, and stepped outside his chamber, calling for the four Grands to convene the next day.

Valiant (Abbot of Balance's Retreat)