Loreron
Imperium Aeternum
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Loreron of the fallen Patria Ara
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Loreron
Imperium Aeternum
Ancient Aelyrian Combat (Wiki)
Ancient Aelyrian Combat is the style of combat adapted by the Ancient Aelyrians for their own use in close- and medium-range battle. Physically frail and lacking in the raw strength, stamina, and agility of mortal races, the Ancients use their natural gifts of flight and ethereality to do battle.Weaponry
The Ancients wield two primary types of weapons: falchion swords and quarterstaves. Other weapons are used, improvised with, and adapted to an individual Ancient's own personal preferences, but weapons heavier than an ebony quarterstaff quickly tax their physical reserves and are ultimately incompatible for Ancients to wield.Falchion
The Ancient Aelyrian falchion is a single-edged sword with a slight curve to the blade. Ancient Aelyrian falchion swordplay is an aggressive, fast stance of swordsmanship with flurries of sharp attacks directed at the weak points of foes. More advanced falchion wielders occasionally opt to adapt their style to the rarely seen Ancient Aelyrian falchetto, a narrower version of the falchion with a swordsmanship style emphasizing close-combat dueling techniques.Quarterstaff
The Ancient Aelyrian quarterstaff is a hardwood staff usually between six and eight feet in length. The quarterstaff in close quarters is wielded more defensively with an eye to deflecting blows and driving foes back to range, but on offense the staff acts as a focus for the Ancient to fire medium-range projectiles infused with raw magical force. More advanced quarterstaff practitioners may opt to advance to using the aetherpike, a specially designed pole weapon with a more focused, powerful, and longer-ranged firing beam also fabled to assist an Ancient with maintaining vital mental clarity and focus.Techniques
Ancient Aelyrian martial techniques rely on the natural advantages of the Ancients, using their wings to quickly propel themselves or take flight and using their inherent connection to the Ethereal to momentarily become intangible.Wing techniques
The Ancient Aelyrian Combatant uses their wings in combat to enhance their mobility in a way the ground-bound cannot match. Wing techniques can assist an Ancient Aelyrian not only in evasion but in charging in to a assault with momentum or even by using sharp downgusts of wind to confuse and disorient foes.Etherealization
Ancient Aelyrians can become immaterial for split second evasion of attacks, a technique more suited for them than the traditional dodges of other martial combatants. This immateriality is extremely brief and the Ancient only has a split second moment to evade taking damage before their rematerialize, and continual etherealization will quickly exhaust an Ancient physically, but the timing and stamina to use the technique more often will come with more experience in its use.Mental Fortitude & Focus
Ancient Aelyrians must take care to maintain their mental Focus, lest they fall prey to chaos and transform into Cyraxians. The mere act of being engaged in combat will take a toll on this Focus, putting the Ancient at risk of metamorphosis if combat or other stressful situations continue for too long. However, the continued experience of armed combat affects and hardens the mentality of an Ancient Aelyrian. In particular, there are two mental states that an Ancient Aelyrian can achieve when they focus on their combat abilities.Focused Combatant
An Ancient Aelyrian who reaches a level of prowess commensurate with the Elite level of skill is now a Focused Combatant, mentally hardened against the chaotic and stressful nature of doing combat. The Ancient Aelyrian no longer loses Focus simply for being in a stressful situation like combat, although Focus is still lost for casting spells.Presence of Mind
The extremely rare Ancient Aelyrian who reaches the level of Grandmaster in combat gains the fabled Presence of Mind mental state. The Grandmaster combatant, having focused on the path of martiality and the conquest of the inner self, is always at peak Focus and no longer loses their Focus when spellcasting to assist their combat techniques. Having eschewed the ultimate mastery of magic, the Ancient now has the ultimate mastery over their own soul and will never involuntarily fall prey to their race's ancient curse.
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Loreron
Imperium Aeternum
Ancient Aelyrian Magic (Wiki)
Background & Availability
The Ancient Aelyrians, founders of the Aelyrian Empire, were fabled for their amazing mastery of magic, performing feats of the arcane that remain unmatched to this day in the Empire. This was made possible by their instinctive attunement to magical energies across its many spheres, a bloodline capability unable to be taught or learned by any of the younger races.Focus & Restraint
Unlike mortal spellcasters, the Ancients are not limited by the constraints of vis reserves. Instead, the magical workings of the Ancients are constrained by shackles of their mental state. Focus, the most important measure of their mentality, ebbs and flows as an Ancient Aelyrian uses magic or exercises restraint. With every spell cast or every magical technique executed, a portion of their Focus depletes and draws them closer to the edge of a total loss of Focus. Only through the exercise of restraint and in rebuilding their mental fortitude can an Ancient Aelyrian stabilize or recover their Focus.Focus is not merely drained through spellcasting, however. It is, first and foremost, a state of mind. An Ancient under mental distress can be just as dangerous one who carelessly slings too many spells around. This can come from purely emotional turmoil, such as witnessing the death of a loved one, as well as physical pain or agony.
As an Ancient's Focus depletes, their spellcasting becomes more inherently unbridled and chaotic. Destructive energies are magnified and careful, fine control of techniques is lost. If Focus is entirely exhausted, then the worst fate for an Ancient arrives: transformation. Depleted of their orderly mental state and given entirely to chaos, the Ancient metamorphizes into a [wiki]Cyraxian[/wiki]
, a harbinger of chaos wielding raw physical force. New Cyraxians are aimless juggernauts that no longer distinguish friend from foe and revel in a fury of carnage that usually only is ended with their demise. Very few Ancients return once past this brink of insanity. (OOC: Any Ancient PC who transforms into a Cyraxian loses control of their character and is treated as an NPC in the context of the thread, controlled by the moderator.)
An Ancient's Focus reserves in combat tend to allow around the same amount of spellcasting as vis-using mages use, but this can be greater or lesser depending on mental stressors and other situational concerns.
Spheres of Magic & Special Limitations
Ancients Aelyrians are capable of wielding all known magical disciplines except Contractual magics, but each individual Ancient is proficient in only a few. For each level of mastery in their art of Ancient Aelyrian Magic, a new discipline is learned, up to a total of five spheres. Ancient Aelyrians are naturally attuned better to arcanic energies and so suffer a penalty to Spellcraft disciplines of an entire level of proficiency underneath their proficiency in Ancient Aelyrian Magic.For arcana spheres, Ancient Aelyrians do not have a set list of learned spells. All spells are constructed ad hoc through their imagination and visualization of their intended results, instead. Ancients can switch between spheres at will in an instant but only use one at a given time, without the hedgemage's proficiency for fusing magics.
Skill Tree
Much like other magical skills, Ancient Aelyrian Magic is divided into five ranks: Initiate, Journeyman, Adept, Master, and Archmage.Initiate
The Ancient Aelyrian Initiate is proficient at the Initiate level in a single Arcana sphere and has access to all spells and techniques an arcanist would have at this level. They may not yet learn Spellcraft.Technique: Arcane Vision - The Ancient Aelyrian Initiate is capable of discerning the original spheres of magic cast by others through their own attunement to the arcane, even those spheres they themselves cannot weave. This discernment requires the Ancient's concentration, however, and they cannot perform other actions in a combat turn if using their Arcane Vision.
Journeyman
The Ancient Aelyrian Journeyman is now proficient at the Journeyman level in their arcane workings and is capable of using two magical disciplines. They may now learn Spellcraft magics, but Spellcraft proficiency will only be at the Initiate level.Technique: Restraint - The Ancient Aelyrian Journeyman can spend a combat turn gaining back some of their Focus. The efficacy of this technique scales with level but is dependent on how uninterrupted the Ancient remains in using it.
Adept
The Ancient Aelyrian Adept is now proficient at the Adept level in their arcane workings and is capable of using three magical disciplines. Any Spellcraft proficiency, however, is at the Journeyman level.Technique: Stabilize - The Ancient Aelyrian Adept can perform spells that other mages requires a staff to cast, but at a price: their ability to Stabilize a spell requires an additional combat turn to cast the spell.
Master
The Ancient Aelyrian Master is now proficient at the Master level in their arcane workings and is capable of using four magical disciplines. Any Spellcraft proficiency, however, is at the Adept level.Technique: Overpower - The Ancient Aelyrian Master can bypass the requirement for magic that would require a staff to stabilize it if the effect is one or more levels beneath their own level, without need to Stabilize.
Archmage
The Ancient Aelyrian Archmage is now proficient at the Archmage level in their magical workings and is capable of using five magical disciplines. Any Spellcraft proficiency, however, is at the Master level.
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Loreron
Imperium Aeternum
Ancient Aelyrians (Wiki)
The winged ancients of AelyriaAbstract
The Ancient Aelyrians, also known as the Ancients, the Winged Ones, or the Chosen Ones, among others are a race of intensely beautiful but deeply flawed humanoids notable for their feathered wings. Though greatly powerful and hailing from a civilization of unparalleled advancement, the Ancients are blessed with superior intellect and a terrifying command over magic but cursed with unstable emotions and volatile personalities. Physically frail and psychologically scarred, the Ancient Aelyrians created the empire, conquered countries and subjugated nations, and after centuries of being believed to be extinct, have now returned with designs on the whole world.History and Origins
There are no records detailing out the believed origins of the Ancient Aelyrians, leaving it open for speculation among the common races.Physical Appearance
Aelyrians are humanoids, standing on average between five and seven feet in height, with extremes on both ends of the spectrum. While a majority of Ancients possess pale, light, and soft skin, there are significant numbers of Aelyrians with skin colors of different complexions and pigments. The skin and flesh of the Ancients is often branded with runes, intricate designs whose stunning luminescence is said to align their wearers with familial houses, as other races use coats of arms and personal crests. With stunning and piercing eyes, whose hues are dramatic and often shimmer with an inner radiance, their most impressive feature is their beautiful feathered wings. Mistaken by lesser races as gods or angels, most Aelyrians have ivory-white wings, but there are some who possess wings of different colors, though they constitute a minority. With long and flowing hair, most males keep it short whereas females tend to style it at various lengths.As the Ancients exist partially in the Material Plane but also have a presence in other Planes, there are additional quirks of their internal physiology, the most immediately obvious of which is that the Ancient Aelyrians do not usually require sustenance from food and drink like mortals do, but can partake of such to supplement the sustenance they receive from their astral tether or to maintain appearances and attempt to experience the mortal sensations of eating and drinking.
Culture and Society
The earliest historians made extensive study of the artifacts found upon Insula Coronae to gather a basic understanding of how Aelyrian society is organized, and since their return to the world, much has been done to unlock the secrets of how these great and tragic people relate to one another. A fundamentally egalitarian people who hold men and women in equal respect, the Ancients have very defined views on how gender influences decision-making. Most women are considered deliberative and judicious, and most men are considered decisive and controlling. Yet these are only social normative values and not physiological constraints; men and women among the Ancients have attained equal status and have shared in all things.Ancient culture and society are deeply rooted in the magic that they are capable of wielding. All Ancients must thus pay heed to their level of Focus - mental calm and stoicism - lest they fall into emotional turmoil and begin a transformation into a monstrous Cyraxian. The Ancients are supported by the crystalline Pylon Network, a series of pylons that radiate soothing, serene auras that assist in keeping the Ancients placid. The strongest pylon is housed in the Gianna Khrystalis, a massive statue in Aelyria Prime. Ancients are capable of traveling beyond the coverage of the network, but at great risk and peril to themselves.
Previously maintaining an advanced society upon Throneworld this immense floating island was brought crashing down by the Xet. Many Ancient lives were lost, and Ancient society as a whole hit a downward spiral. The survivors currently inhabit Aelyria Prime. With the pylon network essentially limiting where they can safely travel, many have stayed put and dared not venture forth beyond the limits of the city.
Notable Skills and Traits
Magic
Ancient Aelyrians direct their power in ways that mortals can not usually comprehend; they weave magical spells as if they were imagining an outcome and witnessing the circumstances simply materialize before them. Able to wield multiple magics without the aid of magical artifice or hedgemagery, Ancient Aelyrians are masters of the arcane.
Combat
Ancient Aelyrians, physically frail and lacking in the agility and stamina of the mortal races, are incapable of using the martial techniques developed and used by other races. Instead, they have adapted a fighting style more suited to their magical advantages, using their wings for mobility and their tether to the ethereal as a defense. Ancient Aelyrians who pursue the combat arts also possess greater mental fortitude than their magic-focused brethren.
Trades
Ancient Aelyrians can individually specialize and focus on particular professions or callings and can become experts in many different trades
Special Abilities, Weaknesses and Resistances
Ancients are blessed with great gifts and remarkable abilities, but they are also cursed with terrible maladies.
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