Roleplaying

Attention Newcommers!

Welcome to the Order of The Shard Roleplay! Don't worry, this role play is easy to jump into due to its flexable plot. I, or several others in our little community, will be glad to sum up the current events if you do not wish to read to our current posts.

Just remember, have fun!

"Hey, this way, this way!"

Silver paws ending in three inch talons crashed through the underbrush, not caring to avoid crunching sticks and dried leaves.

Not like her to be so careless. Well, it was not like her to run away either. This was an... Erm... Special case.

"Come on!"

The kind of special case where you're running for your life,

"Right up there, I see her!"

And you really, REALLY...

"Faster!"

Just...

"Hurry"

Need...

"Go!"

To...

"Almost!"

MOVE!

"Ha! We got 'er, boys!"

Rowan skidded to a stop. The forest had cleared abruptly... And she was two feet from a sottemless cliff. Well, it probably had a bottom... But it was too far down to see it. Te canyon was a good fifty feet across; she wasn't going to be jumping that anytime soon. And she had a messed up wing... So flying was out of the question. So was turning back... She could hear them just ten or so feet behind her. She was surrounded.

"He he... Well well, what do we have here?"

Rowan snarled. The man was tall and muscular, a gnarled, scarred pair of hands and a face to match. He had a large hunting knife and an empty drawstring bag.

Now, up untill half an hour ago, that bag had been occupied by a certian pendant. A thin gold chain, the pendant itself a flat diamond of gold, about an inch tall, with a blood red ruby in the middle. The same pendant that now hung from Rowan's neck. The same pendant that she had gotten caught in a rockfall, breaking a wing and beating herself up too much to fight to get. Then this idiot had taken it while she slept... She had simply returned the favor. And ended up getting chased through the woods by a pack of twenty something wolfhounds for her trouble. 

The things were too close to her cor her liking... Close enough that she could not slip between them and run back... But not close enough to the ledge that she could push them.

"Heh... You see lil' dragon, this is what happens when you try to take things that don't belong to you..."

He began walking closer to her, and the pack of dogs closed in. Rowan backed up untill.she could feel the edge with a back paw... Hear rocks fall and crumble down that cliff. The man was still moving... Getting closer... 

Suddenly, he lunged at her, a gnarled hand reaching for the pendant around her neck...

Rwan stepped back by instinct. Big mistake. Because she had run out of rock to step back on, and she slipped, her hindquarters dragging the rest of her down. She shreiked in terror, managing to latch on to the cliff with her forepaws. Darnit... She couldn't pull herself up, she was too tired... and she was slipping 

The man recovered quickly, laughing. He walked over to the ledge, tip of his boot teasing a desperate paw. Just as he reached down for her neck, Rowan let go. Hey, if she had to go down, she was going to go with her dignity. He was NOT getting the stupid pendant back.

She didn't even try to flap, it was pointless and would hurt. She was going to fall and die, but she was omay with that, because she had never been afraid of dying anyway, and besides, the man's shout of rage and despair at having lost was still fresh in her ears, echoing off the canyon walls and congratulating her on her victory.

In fact, she hardly noticed the flash of blue light...

What she DID notice, was crashing into a freezing river.

 

A sapphire figure tore across the dunes at a brisk gallop; contour obscured by a wall of dust, nostrils flaring, mouth foaming as a result of the dry air and sand. A dragest, a scaled horse-like denizen of a land so harsh it was simply known as the unforgiving sands. Her kind occupied an oasis, but this one—Tambia—could not abide the isolation, it made the fertile lands of the oasis feel like a prison.

It was a prison, as leaving was forbidden, a crime met with punishment and solitary confinement. The elders of her clan kept everyone on a tight leash; they controlled every aspect of life there. Tambia could not bear to live that, having her future decided for her felt like not having a future at all. Though all of her previous escape attempts had failed, she was at it again with single-minded determination. Undeterred by the fact that she may perish in the sands before making it to food and water, it was a risk she was willing to take to gain her freedom.

She turned her head just enough to see other dragest racing after her--they were enforcers sent by the elders to bring her back to the lands of her of the clan, it had taken the awhile, but they were catching up. This happened every time, it seemed that no matter what time of day she left or how careful she was to not be seen leaving that these jokers would be on her tail in no time, like they had extrasensory perception or something it was ridiculous. She couldn’t keep running like that, they would catch her soon, that sickening feeling of inevitability was all too familiar, all too draining.

She had failed again, and at this point she was just being recalcitrant; if she was going to be herded back, she was going to make them really work for it first. She lowered her head and dug in; kicking up billows of dust in the process and consequently feeling like she was choking on it. She coughed, her mouth felt so dry and the sand burned her eyes, but she did not relent, she`d run until she was too exhausted to take another step if she could make it that far without the others catching up.

Unexpectedly, a blinding blue light flashed before her filling the land with a piercing shriek. Startled, she dugs her heels vehemently into the sand, attempting to slam on the brakes; instead the prevailing suction of the thing pulling at her caused her own momentum to make her fall forward, flipping up her hind legs instigating her to summersault into the light along with a flurry of sand. After thumbing trough what felt like thin air she struck the ground with a thud head first.

She laid still in a daze covered in sand, world spinning, and head throbbing before standing up unsteadily and shaking off. What she glimpsed next caught her completely off guard, making her gasp. It was nothing like anything she had ever laid eyes upon; a verdant paradise, sweet aromas filled her nose and moist air wet her parched mouth—it was incredible. Just then she began to laugh giddily, at first softly but progressively louder.

She didn’t know how she got there, didn’t know where she was, and at that moment she didn’t care. The initial shock had died swiftly in light of the verity that she was alone there. No desert, no enforcers—she was free.

She suddenly burst into a triumphant dancing trot, dashing in circles “finally!” she shouted into the jungle to the top of her lungs “I did it!” she yelled victoriously whinnying stridently; a sound that was melodic, containing a resounding echo, before stopping and looking around again “I really did it” she repeated softly in grateful incredulity, seeming to be grinning. She then blinked, staring out ahead vacantly thinking ‘now what?’.

Cold.

It was cold.

So cold that it was like fire, burning her, chokeing her, robbing her of oxygen. 

Rowan realized what had happened too late, the river was fast and furious. She was normally a pretty good sswimmer, but this was a freezing, raging river, and she was tired and injured.

The water threw her around like a child's plaything, she felt with intensity every roch bruising and sometimes pericing her scaly skin. She tried desperatley to fight the water, to swim. but the best she could do was surface occasionaly for a fraction of a second. SHe was running out of air and energy... Much too quickly. THe cold was setting in...

In some desperate last resort, Rowan found in in herself to give a half scream, half roar of pure distress.

The river dragged her back down just after, and she went limp.

Qeo was licking the wounds on his feet as his vision had cleared and he was preparing to press on. The wounds hurt but they weren’t bad, and at least he hadn’t cut his pads. He was tense, eyeing the thick jungle all around him warily. He feared that he could be ambushed there from any side; he didn’t feel safe at all and what’s worse he had no idea what was going on, he feared that he had, had another one of those blank outs again… what had he done this time? He felt so confused, and wanted to retreat to someplace less exposed. Just then he heard a sound that made his whole body tense up; a voice, he wasn’t alone there, and whatever it was it had seemingly heard him, and sounded big—too big to want to confront. His eyes darted about wildly searching for a place to hide. He couldn’t tell what direction the voice had come from, but it was near, and the last thing he wanted to do was linger in the open. He slinked away into the underbrush, low to the ground, frills pinned back apprehensively. He heard something move just then. Too many things were happening too fast for him to absorb, and this sent him into a panic as he could imagine something chasing him, and that was enough to cause him to burst into a sprint. He wasn’t particularly fast or graceful, crashing through the underbrush clumsily and wide eyed.

Tambia walked along musing about her current situation; she would have loved to have seen the look on the enforcer’s faces when she just up and vanished. She could imagine it would have been hilarious, and it would be them getting the punishment when they went back to explain such a thing to the elders without her. She snickered quietly about that, and probably should have been more concerned about just popping up in a completely new place like that, but she wasn’t. Instead she was just thinking about what she should do with her new found freedom first, but before she could ponder that any further something peculiar caught her ear; moving water, a lot by the sound of it.

She moved off in that direction to investigate, only to step out to yet another shocking site—a river. Never had she seen so much water in one place, this made the ponds and streams on her clans lands look pathetic. Soaking the sight in with awe, something besides the water drew her attention; what looked like a silver dragon splashing around in frantic distress was swept pass her, “are you okay?” she called out concerned as she galloped along the bank trying to keep up, even though she could clearly see that it was in dire trouble. Suddenly it let out a cry and vanished beneath the gurgling waters. “Oh my gosh!” she gasped alarmed, and without thinking she plunged into the river. Even though the dragons of her world had never been very amiable with her kind, and some even ate them, she couldn’t bear to just watch someone drown like that. She hadn’t accounted for the sheer coldness of the water though; it hit her like knifes. She switched forms at once, trying to ignore the chill in her bones, and diving down into chilled depths that threatened to steal her breath, where she spotted the dragon sinking limply and grabbed it, fighting to get back to the surface. Her head burst out of the water, and she took a long gasping breath before taking her beast form again and situating the dragon onto her back with her nose, already starting to feel exhausted as the cold drained away her stamina. The current was stronger than expected and continues to force her downstream; she started to swim to the side, trying her best to avoid being swept into the rocks; attacking the water with vigorous strokes. She managed to reach the embankment, but it was far too steep to climb. She found some footing in the shallower waters by the bank and held her ground, stranded.

Having no desire to chance those angry waters again, she was lucky enough to have escaped with minimal bruising. So she stood there shivering and weighing her options, berating herself for being so impulsive. She turned her head enough to see the dragon on her back “hey are you alright” she asked bending her neck enough to allow her to nudge the dragons hanging forepaw with her nose. She noticed a lot of blood, which wasn’t a good sign, ‘please be okay’ she thought anxiously, she didn’t want to have to have risked her life for nothing, and she didn’t know a thing about resuscitating a drown victim either. Drowning wasn’t a thing in her land.

Loki followed his first instinct; fly up. His armor making a slight metal clinking, Loki flew higher, past the tree line and into open air. The atmosphere her was rich, he could taste the heave oxygen that was allowing this place to thrive the way it was. A river was running down the side of a mountain, twisting its lonely way down the rocks.

 

Loki noticed a flash of silver bobbing in the river, and due to his curious nature, he went to investigate. As he got closer, he saw a magnificent, giant reptilian floating unconscious. A second was dragging it to shore, where it hauled the unconscious silver lizard up a steep embankment and began to attempt to wake it.

 

Loki's caring nature took over, and he swooped in to help. His voice cut into the girl's (who now looked kind of human-ish) pleas. "Askinghekindlytowakeupisn'tgoingtohelp. Youhavetostimulatethebraintobegincoughingsoshecanexpelthewaterfromherlungs." He said, and he began pecking at the lizard's tongue to stimulate a gag reflex.

A sudden clumsy rustling came through the brush, heading straight for Sola. She braced herself for whatever was coming, unsure of how she should react. Mild concern found its way into her mind, worried that she shouldn't have said anything seeing that she had no idea what to expect from this new world

 

A small form was running towards her, its small purple and blue shape making Sola relax. It was running with young, blind clumsiness of a young child. It ran towards Sola blindly, though Sola wasn't sure what from. Instinct took over, and Sola stood in its way so that it ran into her. When it hit, she rotated onto her back so the small creature lay on her stomach; her front paws holding it there. Her wings wrapped around the creature.

 

She would never have children; she was denied permission back in her home. But she was good with them, she often helped at nurseries and daycare's. She could make the worst toddler behave; or the saddest child smile. She reverted to that state, cradling the small bundle with her body. "Shh, shh little one, its okay, I've got you. Its ok, its okay, your safe. Shh little one." She cooed encouragements and soothing tones, trying to get the young creature to calm down. 

Rowan coughed and woke up rather abruptly. Being the weird thing that she was, she panicked and fell off of.... Whatever.. She had been on.

Se.coughed up some water, shivering and slumped over, but sitting up and functioning, at least. Why... Wy was she all wet? She was in the desert mountains, she fell off a cliff, right?

Oh. Yeah. Blue light, cold water... Things made some more sense now. 

Well... Sort of. How had she gotten out of the river? She heard movement and whipped around. There was a humanoid.... And a bird. A girl and... A falcon? A really small one? Rowan was unfamiliar with both of the species in front of her. But... How had they gotten her out of that river? Surely they were both too small, that current was sin and she was the size and weight of a large dog.

"Um... Did you happen to see.... Who... Pulled me out of the river there?"

Tambia was surprised to see a talking bird, but only mildly, because in light of being sucked into a light and appearing at a new location nothing really seemed too strange after that; she was taking the whole thing rather well actually, in her mind the more interesting a thing was all the better. She shook her head bewilderedly “hey slow down there buddy… I have no idea what you’re trying to say” the bird seemed not to even take a breath between words, she had heard lungs anyway, “whould it kill you take a pause? and just who are you anyway” she wondered aloud, looking him over. She watched him peck at the dragons tongue and backed up a little, raising a brow ‘ookaay’ she thought incredulously “well I can see that you got this, so I’ll just stay out of your way” she declared, eyes fixed on the dragon hopefully.

The dragon stirred and sat up, causing Tambia to breathe a sigh of relief, the bird had known what to do after all she was grateful. It would have been terrible to having taken a beating in that cold river for nothing. She was still shivering and aching from that experience. She wasted no time strolling up to the dragon “I am glad you are okay” she said jubilantly, she cocked her head slightly at the dragon`s question “that would be me” she declared proudly straightening up “you`re lucky I was around too—just a moment more and you might have drowned” she grinned “I’m Tambia by the way” she stated gregariously, and offered her hand to the dragon “Tambia Astarasheymeian or the clan Dragest; pleased to make your acquaintance” she gestured at the bird “and this is” she paused “well I don’t know his name, but he seems nice.. He uh helped me save you…” she declared evasively, going ahead and giving herself the credit. “What’s your name?” She asked with interest, realizing that she was probably talking too much, but it had been awhile since she had, had someone to chat with, and it was tough for her to go that long without speaking, so it was just kind of pouring out.

The setting is flexible, and will change as the characters move from world to world.

 

Currently, the portals are leaving people in the middle of wild, untamed jungle. The forest around you is so thick, any sunlight that filters through is a dark, shadowy green. The weather here is unpredictable, raining one minuet and crushing its inhabitants with heat the next. To add to the treachery of the landscape, you are perched on the side of a mountain, challenging every step you make with crumbling stones and jutting cliffs. Beware of your surroundings, The Order of the Shard are not your only enemies here. This planet is inhabited by dinosaurs, as it seems the portals have dumped you into some sort of prehistoric earth.

 

Now, you have one decision; up, or down?

 

The space and time continuum has been thrown wildly out of order, causing portals from across the universe to rip open at seeming random times. These portals cause a violent reaction in the area around them, sucking in all near by beings through and dumping them into a new world, in a new time. It is up to you to figure out what is going on, and how to survive in this uninhabited and hostile world. However, you are not the only one in this journey. Creatures from all sorts of other worlds, some which you could not imagine, have been pulled to this planet as well.

 

The reasons for the disturbances are not as random as you may think. An organization, know as The Order of the Shards, or Shard for short, also inhabits this planet. They are led by a woman who goes by the name of Anthanaisia, who believes that her cause is the only way to save the universe. She is seeking out the seven split pieces of the Great Crystal, and with its power she plans to destroy all the current worlds and create a new, perfect one.

 

But the shards are well protected. It is up to you and the friends you make to find the even crystal shards. The Shard of Bravery, The Shard of Faith, The Shard of Sacrifice, The Shard of Will, The Shard of Passion, The Shard of Vitality, and The Shard of Hope. With these shards, you can restore the Great Crystal. With its power, you can stop Shard and return everybody to their proper times and dimensions.

 

But it is not as easy as collecting the pieces. You will be racing against time itself to find the shards before Anthanasia, or perhaps racing to gather them for her. These shards will test you in trails to prove you are truly worth the honor of possessing them. Will you be able to pass the ultimate tests of character?

There isn't a whole lot of history right now, as the history is made by the characters.