Board Thread:Custom Lore Development/@comment-26084195-20160212074202

This post will be regarding the lore I've been displaying in my recent blog posts. It will contain the character descriptions from earlier, as well as a new one for Slythe, the first three chapters of the story, and the brand new fourth one. If you have not yet read the character descriptions or stories, I highly recommend you read it all, it's worth it. Trust me. If you have read both my character descriptions and the first three chapters, feel free to skip to Slythe's character description and the fourth chapter. And people, please please comment! I really want to know what you're all thinking about it!

Jaukoehai Sky'ki, the hero, the outcast, the clone:

Our favorite (and only) Sarnakki paladin doesn't have much of an appearance in the story, but he is mentioned and alluded to several times. Here is his character description.

Quick history lesson: the downfall started a while ago. The 100 Year War started between Quinos (good guys) and Felkyah (bad guys). The clash quickly dragged others into it. They dragged others in, and before you knew it the entire world was at war. This war was costly, and many cities and civilizations and pieces of knowledge were lost. But it was nothing compared to what happened next. The Dragon God, believing it the right time, sent vast legions of Draconians and Dragons to destroy the world and recreate it in his image. The war that would later be called the Burning of the World destroyed nearly everything, and only the strongest bastions survived. But his army was defeated, and as the remains of his precious army fled back to the Skyfire Mountains in tatters, the Dragon God committed one last desperate act, and shattered one of the world's moons. The resulting tremor shook the Earth, and toppled even the ruins of civilization. This quake was later called the Great Cataclysm.

Many years later, civilization has climbed back through the ashes. Many peoples survived, though the world now has a mere fraction of the diversity and population it once had. However, there were those unique few who found the Great Tremor to be an opportunity. Namely, the Sarnakki.

The Sarnakki have been called many things. Honourable, civilized, intelligent, war-mongering, godless, and sometimes even downright evil. In order to better understand my character, you must understand the Sarnakki. First, an image of one. This is a Sarnakki. 

















they stand at about 7-8 feet tall, and their scales can be of many different colours, much like Dragons. In fact, they have a little bit of Dragon blood in them, allowing things like fire breathing and the ability to jump quite high. The horns protruding from the back of their heads can be of many shapes and designs. In an odd twist, female Sarnakki are, on average, bigger than the males.

The Sarnakki are, interestingly, an engineered species. A species unknown, presumably destroyed in the disaster period, used knowledge of magic and cellular structure to engineer the perfect breed of warriors to fight an oppressive empire. They hid this new species in stasis on an uninhabited island chain. Unfortunately, before they could be unleashed, the Hundred Year War and the Burning of the World occurred, and almost all knowledge of those who created the Sarnakki was lost. However, the Great Cataclysm, where it ruined other civilizations, awoke the Sarnakki.

They found themselves in a deep cave beneath an inactive volcano. By this time, the island had been inhabited by a species of tribal bird men called Aviaks. The Sarnakki attempted at first to live within the volcano with the Aviaks, in peace. But the Aviaks grew more and more paranoid, and eventually a group of vigilantes decided to take matters into their own hands, and they attacked the Sarnakki while they slept. Unfortunately, even with the advantage of surprise the Aviaks were no match for the Sarnakki. They defeated the vigilante group, then ascended through the volcano. It developed into a war of attrition lasting a few months, and ended when the Sarnakki broke into the nursery and stole the eggs, promptly using them as ammunition.

The Aviaks not only fled the volcano, but the entire main island. Within the volcano, the Sarnakki established a mighty fortress-city, one the Aviaks repeatedly tried and miserably failed to destroy. This city would be named Gorowyn, after the hero who led the assault on the nursery.

Accelerate ahead a century or so, and the Sarnakki have established bases and villages on all of the other islands in the tropical chain, and the Aviaks have become an endangered species, with only one holding left. The Sarnakki have made rapid advances in technology, even going as far as to construct a sort of steam powered spike thrower. Other civilizations quickly made to ally themselves with the Sarnakki. They allow any outsider to enter their city, so long as they don't cause any trouble. Those who do are usually burned until almost dead, then rolled down the side of the volcano. However, due to the fact that they only practice the darker, more evil side of magic, and are a generally war-like species, they are widely considered to be on the evil spectrum.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Now let's talk about their culture. Much like in feudal Japan, honour is everything, and they have a code very similar to the Bushido. Furthermore, basically everything in Sarnakki society is resolved through duelling. For example: if a prisoner wants to be freed, give him a weapon and allow him to fight another warrior to the death. If he loses, he obviously doesn't want to be free enough. Most duels aren't to the death, though. When choosing the new Arch-Lord, a sparring tournament is held. Only the strongest becomes leader.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">A Sarnakki unlike in feudal Japan, being captured is not the worst thing that can happen. If you are captured, your battle brothers in arms will work continuously to save you, and you can then redeem yourself in battle. The worst shame a Sarnakki can suffer is deserting the military, or anything really.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Despite being such a wwarrior race, they hold knowledge and the advancement of knowledge to be just second to war. They appreciate knowledge because they started out with none, just a bunch of Sarnakki in a cave with no memory of anything before that. They have many branches of science. Furthermore, they have no religion. The closest thing to that is that they believe that whenever a Sarnakki dies, his spirit waits to occupy a newborn Sarnakki.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">In terms of magic, they practice only the darker, more evil forms of magic. They believe that the nicer, more good magic actually weakens the form and the forms of those around you, and therefore practice of good magic is strictly banned.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">To a Sarnakki, the bonds with your fellow soldiers/scientists/engineers is the closest you can have, closer than even your family. In fact, family bonds aren't really all that stressed in Sarnakki society. Your parents are simply those who spawned you. Once each Sarnakki turns two years old, they are sent to live in a larger abode with their future squad.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Marriage and love for Sarnakki is considered odd by most of the world. In their society, not only is there no sexism (females are considered every bit equal to their male counterparts), but females are in fact the ones who choose their mate. This can be accomplished in any manner of ways, though the most common is for the female to gather candidates and have them duel, and then chooses the best. They mate for life, and it is a very serious offense to leave your mate.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Ok, I feel like I've gone on long enough to be able to tell you about my character.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">you see, after the Great Cataclysm, there was this hero named Jaukoehai Ironskin. Heroic guardian of Quinos, he was an impenetrable wall of steel between the innocent and those who seek to harm them. Beloved by the light and feared by the dark, he became a thorn in the side of the Overlord of Felkyah. So the Overlord went to his allies in the Sarnakki, and told them his plan. With their knowledge of how to magically engineer a person, they could make an evil version of Jaukoehai. So the Sarnakki invited Jaukoehai to Gorowyn, only to lock him in stasis and get some samples of his blood and skin. They then introduced it through magical means into a not-yet-born Sarnakki child. The idea being that this child would come out as big and as strong and as smart as Jaukoehai Ironskin. This child was given his predecessor's first name, and his father's last name. Jaukoehai Sky'ki.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Well, it worked. But it backfired. He was supposed to be able to do magic, thereby one-upping the hero he was based off of. But he couldn't perform magic at all. When he turned twenty, it was revealed why: Jaukoehai Ironskin was a little bit too far down the light path. Now, when Jaukoehai Sky'ki cast magic, it was only holy magic.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">This, of course, was a huge blow to him. He tried to suppress it, but the old Jaukoehai manifested himself in other ways, such as an inherent valor and desire to protect the innocent. He couldn't hide this forever. The situation reached a climax when he broke his twin out of stasis. He was then exiled from Gorowyn, and from Sarnakki society. He was initially quite depressed, until his twin took pity on him, and told him to come back to Quinos and become a paladin.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">And that totally worked... *cough cough*

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">He really didn't get along with any of the paladins, or Quinos, or anyone but his twin. He considered their ways to be weak and foolish and more complicated than necessary. He looked down his nose at basically everything, continually commenting on how Gorowyn did things better. Furthermore, he didn't really get the whole "protecting the innocent" thing. While the Order of Marr would go out and set up to defend a village, he'd go off on his own and lop the head off of whatever was attacking them. He has good in his heart, but he's really spiky on the outside.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Jaukoehai Ironskin felt pity for his twin, and went to Gorowyn. When he came back, he not only had all the materials to make his twin's quarters look like a room in Gorowyn, but he also brought a mercenary. Her name was Denva Loogei, and she was to become essentially Jaukoehai Sky'ki's paid squire. Only she refused to do squirely duties, and really the only thing she did was fight and gripe. She was a little slice of home, and Jaukoehai was forever grateful to his twin. And now, Jaukoehai finally had someone to gripe with instead of at.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Then came the fateful day when the last of the Dragon Emperors attempted to destroy Quinos, and Jaukoehai Ironskin was slain while delaying their army for three days and three nights. But we're not talking about him.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Jaukoehai Sky'ki was devastated for the second time. He and his twin had been like two sides of the same coin. The only steady point in his life at that time was Denva Loogei. She stopped asking for pay and started adventuring with him out of the camaraderie that Sarnakki soldiers have. So now he's in the only Sarnakki duo in a whole city, a city who's society he dislikes, who's been disowned by his species and had his twin, with whom he was so close they had a mental connection, taken from him.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">And yet he perseveres, as a Sarnakki should. He continues to fight for the light, fight for justice and valor and the light. He even pays occasional respects to the Tribunal, god of truth and justice, and judge in the Court of the Gods. Constantly searching for some way to be accepted back into Sarnakki culture and find any signs that his twin, against all odds, is still alive...

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<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Jaukoehai Ironskin, Defender of the Defenseless:

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Jaukoehai is the heroic and knightly protagonist of our story. Here is some information on the Sentinel of Quinos.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Jaukoehai Ironskin was born during the 100 Year War. His father was a Ka'leth (imagine if you gave a Human being the head, fur, claws and enhanced muscles of a tiger), and his mother was a High Elf. Such a union was unheard of. High Elves are terribly haughty and very few had ever mated with another species, let alone a Ka'leth! His mother was a duchess, and his father was a Paladin in the Order of Marr. His father, Fahrar Ironfur, was a rather well known explorer, and he often took leave from his duties as a paladin to indulge that habit. It was on a trip through the Faydark Forest that he met his soon to be wife. She had been captured by Orcs of the Crushbone Clan, and they were holding her for ransom. He managed to defeat the guards and rescue her, and they were married a short time later.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">The young boy, Jaukoehai Ironfur, was raised mostly isolated from everyone else in his mother's estate in the High Elven city of Tunaria. Unfortunately, his mother had died in child birth, and while his father visited as frequently as possible, his line of work made it difficult. Jaukoehai was kept in the house and mostly raised by service men, and treated as one, as his mother's family considered him a stain on their family name. The boy showed immense interest in following in his father's footsteps, and he began to wear a helmet most of the time.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">By the time the young hero turned ten, his father stopped showing up at all. Jaukoehai turned thirteen in the final year of the 100 Year War, and he took it upon himself to leave Tunaria and travel to Quinos where his father was. Not a moment too soon, as the city's population was completely turned into creatures of the night thanks to the Vampire Lord Mayong Mistmoor.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Upon arriving in Quinos, still helmeted, the young Jaukoehai discovered some very upsetting news. The Halfling home city of Rivervale had been corrupted by strange, other-worldly creatures from a place called The Void. Not much was known about them at the time, only that they were horrendous monsters born of shadow and evil capable of corrupting anything if given time. And his father had been there when the first attack happened. He had been captured and corrupted into one of The Void's enslaved servants.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Naturally, Jaukoehai wanted to go find his father, but then the Burning of the World and the Great Cataclysm occurred, and his hopes of doing so were dashed.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Jaukoehai refused to remove his helmet, and refused to give his real last name. He had it changed to Ironskin. He wanted to enlist in the Quinos Guard, but he was too young, so he started working at the docks. His bulging muscles and surprising endurance for his age made him quite useful at the busy port. They also got him noticed. By the time he turned sixteen, however, he had given up wanting to join the Guard for now. He used the money he had been saving up to buy a real helmet and suit of armour, as well as a sword, and he went out into the hills and mountains and valleys of Karan (the continent Quinos is a part of). With all of the recent destruction, many marauding creatures and unsavory things had taken up residence in the hills and mountains, and the villagers and the Quinos Guard was fighting constantly for survival outside of the city walls. Plenty of opportunity for Jaukoehai Ironskin.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Four years later, twenty year old Jaukoehai Ironskin returned to Quinos as a star. Many a tale had been told of the knight with no face wandering the hills smiting those who would seek to harm innocent people. There were even rumours that he had singlehandedly infiltrated an isolated valley where a tiny Dwarven garrison was besieged by a ruthless Necromancer, rescued the garrison, and slayed the dark sorcerer and all of his unholy soldiers.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Upon arriving back in the city, he was immediately allowed to enter the Quinos Guard. The Order of Marr would have gladly had him join them, but a Paladin must use holy magic, and Jaukoehai Ironskin cannot use any magic at all. Any within the city who doubted his strength and wits were immediately proved wrong, and he ascended to the rank of Knight-Captain in two years. Many wondered about his past, his race, his family, and how he had gotten to be so powerful, but he wouldn't tell.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">By the age of thirty he had become a world-renowned celebrity. His exploits were sung by bards in taverns all over the world. For not only was his martial prowess unmatched, but he was also a man of kindness and integrity. He was never one to flaunt his celebrity status, in fact he often shied away from it. But wherever there was a gloomy child in Quinos, he'd be there to brighten up its day. Wherever there was a family in winter that couldn't get a fire going, he'd be there (with a wizard in tow).

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Pretty soon, he was presented with a brand new suit of armour by the queen of Quinos herself. This new armour was not only thicker and more knightly looking, but it had also been treated with a special magical ointment to ensure that it was always highly polished (to the point where it quite literally glittered in the sunlight). The real kicker in terms of equipment, however, came when he discovered that the forces of Felkyah had set up encampments in a small forest on Karan, and this could only be precursor to an invasion. Desiring to nip this in the bud, the Quinos Guard gathered for an attack. As they prepared, however, something happened that hadn't in three centuries.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">The city of Quinos was founded by King Antonius Bayle, and he had a Claymore of untold strength, called the Quinos Claymore. This Claymore became a symbol of the strength and will of the people of Quinos. However, after Antonius Bayle died, the symbols on the blade stopped glowing green, and it became nothing more than a sword. However, when Jaukoehai passed by the safe where it was kept, it glowed faintly. The guards noticed this, and informed the queen, who informed Jaukoehai. She had him take up the sword just to see what would happen. Sure enough, the sword blazed to life once again. However, it began to warp and contort itself until it formed a tower shield, immense and powerful yet beautiful and elegant. Equipped with this shield born from this fabled weapon, he lead the Guard in a crushing victory against the advance army of Felkyah.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Accelerate forty years or so, and Jaukoehai Ironskin had shown no signs of aging or slowing down. By now, his twin had been born from the vats in Gorowyn. Jaukoehai Ironskin decided that it was finally the time to face his past and go looking for his father. He acquired for himself a small boat and no crew but himself, his twin and Denva Loogei, and a wizard named Firus Scorchtouch, who was there to deal with any enemies that Jaukoehai himself, with his total lack of magical prowess, would have difficulty against. Together, the four fought through the corrupted animals and Halflings on the once peaceful island that was now beset by a dark cloud. It wasn't until he made his way toward the source of The Void's invasion that be met hos father blocking the way.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">The duel was short yet gruesome. The son easily outpaced the father, and the Ka'leth in corrupted black and purple armour fell. But before Fahrar died he whispered something. Not even Jaukoehai's twin is sure what was said, but Jaukoehai immediately left and never returned to the island.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Then came the fateful day two years later, when the Quinos Guard learned that a host of NINE Dragons and an unknown number of Draconians were raving towards Quinos. One of those Dragons was the last of the Dragon Emperors. They were hell-bent on destroying Quinos, and the city didn't have the necessary time to set up their anti-Dragon defenses.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">And so it was that Jaukoehai Ironskin, alone, walked out of the gates of Quinos to delay the host. Naturally everyone thought this was suicide. Even he couldn't stand against NINE Dragons and a host of Draconians. And yet, he left anyway. And sure enough, the Dragon host arrived fourteen hours late, ample time to set up anti-Dragon defenses. Once the Quinos Guard had repelled the attack, they went searching for the hero who had risked his life to buy them time.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">They found him in the middle of a black crater. To one side of him, his hammer lay shattered. To the other, the Quinos Claymore had gone dark again, turned back into a sword. Nearby lay the corpses of five Draconian Warlords. Slightly further away lay the corpse of the Dragon Emperor and his second in command.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">They bore his corpse back to Quinos and layed him to rest beneath the statue of the Quinos Claymore, never once removing his helmet, as he had always wished.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">And there his body lays still. There are those who refuse to believe that he is dead. Most of them cite the fact that, though nine Dragons had come to attack Quinos, and Jaukoehai killed two, only six actually managed to make it to Quinos....

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<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Slythe, Tomb Raider:

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">In the story, Slythe is the mysterious and alluring Iksar in charge of a camp of renegades. However, strangely little is known about her history, but I managed to dig up some information for your benefit.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Slythe grew up in the underground capital city of Sebilis. She lead a rather shut-in life on account of her appearance. You see, where many species would consider her lithe, hourglass figure to be a boon, it is considered quite unattractive by other Iksar. She spent much of her time with her nose buried in books. She turned into quite the intellectual, but what job she held is unknown. What is known, however, is that she spent a lot of time in the archives. It is here that she learned a fascinating secret, the key to the downfall of the Sathirian Empire.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">You see, Slythe never did like Emperor Venril Sathir. He was far too cruel and eccentric, and he didn't care at all for the lives of his subjects. Indeed, he had even taken to using the occasional Iksar slave, as opposed to enslaving another race. He was uninterested in the middle class and downright oppressive to the lower class. But I could go on and on about how bad a being Venril Sathir is.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Anyway, Slythe decided to put her knowledge to work. She came up with a plan to take down Sathir. Of course, it required money. And that was something she acquired easily. Using her extensive knowledge of ancient lore, she tracked down and recovered ancient artifacts and sold them to the highest bidder. She made quite a lot of money off of this. Of course, it helped that she had spent just as much time practicing her flexibility and acrobatic capabilities as she had reading. She became more and more skilled in these areas, as well as acquiring the skill of stealth. Eventually, she felt that she had gathered enough funds and skill to go after the biggest prize of all: the City of Mist, the dead, cursed city where it was rumoured Sathir hid his most precious artefacts. And that's where the story begins.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Now, I attempted to draw Slythe. Here's how well that turned out:

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;"> <ac_metadata title="My custom lore: the complete evolving collection!"> </ac_metadata>