DeletedUser28032
It was in dark days of the kingdom, a time of civil war, of famine and plague that the Sentinels arose bringing salvation to the darkness despite such humble beginnings.
The king of Talamh Bui a great and wise ruler passed on to the next life leaving his sons Aeric and Calaine to govern his vast kingdom.
Aeric the eldest of the two brothers was pronounced king much to the disgust of his brother Calaine an arrogant man who believed his brother to be weak and unfit to rule, he secretly raised an army recruiting the Eorls sympathetic to his cause along the way and so it was with this mighty army that he attacked his unsuspecting brother stealing his throne from beneath him and plunging the kingdom into bitter civil war.
The skies were filled with banners and pennants as both sides rode to war, throughout the kingdoms fertile plains warriors clashed in battle drenching the fields with their blood, their cries of pain echoing across the northern mountains.
Never a natural warrior, Aeric found himself losing more and more ground to his brother’s brutal assaults, his army weakened and demoralised defeat was sure to follow if something wasn’t done soon.
It was whilst he out riding in the forests on the outskirts of the kingdom that Aerics fortune would swiftly change, for it was whilst he was isolated and alone that his bodyguard disillusioned by their king turned on him. Aeric surely would have perished had it not been for Beornoth the woodsman.
He watched from the shadows as the kings men drew their swords and attacked, armed with only a simple peasants bow and staff Beornoth ran to his king’s aid, two fell to his bow, his arrows finding the tiniest of chinks in their armour through which to strike, the other two he met in armed combat. With only a quarterstaff for a weapon and a leather jerkin for armour Beornoth attacked the two mail clad warriors, he fought like a wild man and though he was outnumbered and his opponents better armed and trained Beornoth was victorious.
Beornoth a veteran of a long forgotten war made an oath to the king that for as long as he could still draw breath that he would watch over the king and the people of Talamh Bui. It was this humble woodsman who would later form the Sentinels, recruiting its members from all walks of life and training them to become the guardians of Talamh Bui and its rightful king.
Three decades of peaceful rule went by even the casual raiding of the kingdoms neighbours ceased with the Sentinels watching the kingdoms borders. Aeric was to become a benevolent ruler and a caring father however it was when his eldest son Carfel was selected to join the ranks of the Sentinels that he was his most proud. Brash, arrogant and filled with misplaced confidence Carfel demanded to take the test early, pressurised by the king Beornoth against his better judgement agreed to allow Carfel take the test.
Carfel along with the other candidates crossed into Chasind territory in order to track one of the more violent tribes that lived on the kingdoms border. Unhappy to just to watch the enemy and track their movements, Carfel decided to lead an attack persuading the other initiates to follow him.
Outnumbered three to one the initiates didn’t stand a chance out of the original twelve only three of them walked out of Chasind territory alive, Carfel however was not among them.
Greif stricken the king and queen accused Beornoth of having the Prince murdered by the other initiates and so the Sentinels were outcast, never to set foot in Talamh Bui again.
40 years later
The king surveyed the grim faced nobles who sat within his hall and the empty spaces where fallen should have been, fighting men all of them forged in blood and battle.
The war was going badly, heavily outnumbered, his men as valiant as they were, were slowly being whittled away. Worse still Tristan had betrayed him taking his men across the river to join the enemy kidnapping his step sister in the process and holding her to ransom. “Eorl Turegor have any of our allies responded to our request for men?” the ageing king enquired, Turegor a dour man with a long greying beard arose from his seat at the council in order to address his king “Yes sire, The Franziskan’s have promised us five hundred men and the Breton’s will send a further two hundred” Seven hundred men is that all? How had it come to this, his father’s once mighty kingdom begging their allies for help “What of our northern neighbours? The Chasind?” A bark of callous laughter issued from Eorl Turegor in response to the king’s question “The Chasind are mindless barbarians I wouldn’t trust those savages or their heathen witches to come to our aid”
Wearily massaging his temples, long grey hair spilling from under a golden circlet across his shoulders the king contemplated what had been said “So what you are saying is that we are all alone?” Turegor grimly nodded his head once to confirm the king’s statement but would say no more on the matter.
“What of my daughter Isolla? What is being done to rescue her from Tristan’s clutches?” An uncomfortable silence resided within the cavernous hall, Tristan’s betrayal had been a blow that they had yet to recover from.
Clearing his throat noisily Turgeor calmly proceeded to speak the words that the other Eorls feared to voice “Sire, we do not have the men with which to rescue Isolla….We’re stretched thin as it is there is nothing we can do”
“There is one option still open to us” the Eorls turned to see who had spoken, desperate to know the plan that would return the princess to them.
An old man far older than even the king himself stood on unsteady legs, his beard was as white as winter snow and his eyes as pale as ice. In his parchment dry voice he continued “We can summon the Sentinels my king” a murmur spread throughout the hall, that name had not been mentioned in over forty years.
“My liege there is a reason that they were exiled, I would rather we found another option” Turegor spoke gruffly in response to the old mans suggestion, many of the other Eorls voicing agreement “what other options? You said so yourself we do not have the men available…No I refuse to consign my daughter to an early grave through inaction… Gideon!” a young boy scurried out from the shadows dropping to his knee’s beside he kings throne “Gideon have messengers seek out the remaining Sentinels I would seek an audience with them” “Yes my liege” Gideon jumped to his feet quickly scurrying back into the halls shadows in search of messengers willing to track down the remaining Sentinels “I only hope that they can help me” the king sighed mournfully.
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You are all members (or Initiates) of the Sentinels, an order created to protect and serve the kingdom of Talamh Bui and its rightful king.
Although they are a military order the Sentinels rarely take to the field of battle but instead lead daring daylight raids, scout deep into enemy territory and infiltrate enemy strongholds in short they are a kind of special forces group. It is for this reason that the Sentinels recruit its members from all walks of life; from fierce warriors to devout priests all have skills that will benefit the order.
Although completely fictional I have based Talamh Bui and the surrounding kingdoms loosely around dark ages Britain (Vikings, Saxons, etc) to give you some idea of the setting in which the story takes place.
Below is a modified version of Alawa’s character creation mechanism (I have changed the skills to better suit a medieval/fantasy setting).
All the normal rules apply, if I don’t like something you’ve written I’ll let you know via a pm conversely if you have any questions feel free to ask me and I’ll try and answer them. Other than that I hope you enjoy it.
------------------------------------------------
Attributes are broken into Physical, Social, and Mental.
PHYSICAL: The core movement abilities of your character
Strength: Brute physical power
Dexterity: Familiarity with your bodies capabilities in motion
Stamina: The combination of physical and mental fortitude
SOCIAL: How well you character interacts and is perceived by others
Charisma: How well you present yourself to others
Manipulation: How well you can garner response through deceit and trickery
Appearance: How attractive you are to others
MENTAL: Your mental capabilities
Perception: Conscious and intuitive capabilities to notice details
Intelligence: How smart you are (duh)
Wits: Mental reaction to given situations
Abilities are broken down into three categories
TALENTS: A listing of talents, most are self-explanatory
Alertness: Recognizing specific details
Athletics: Running, climbing, jumping, swimming
Brawl: Fighting with your fists
Dodge: Not getting hit by stuff
Empathy: The understanding the emotions of others'
Expression: The ability to convey meaning through written word or oratory
Intimidation: The ability to gain information or action through threat
Intuition: Gut feelings
Leadership: The ability to motivate through force of personality
Streetwise: Understanding the vernacular of the underbelly of society
Subterfuge: Lying
Performance: Ability to entertain audiences
SKILLS: A listing of skills, most are self-explanatory
Animal Ken: Understanding animal behaviour
Crafts: The ability to construct or repair
Tracking: Your ability to track people or animals using only the signs they’ve left
Riding: Your ability to ride a horse (Or similar animal)
Shooting: Your ability to use missile weapons such as Bows, Crossbows and Javelins
Melee (Small Weapons): Your Skill with single handed weapons such as Swords, Axes, Knives, Clubs etc
Melee (Large Weapons): Your Skill with Large two handed Weapons such as Spears, Glaives, Two Handed axes and swords, etc
Thievery: Your ability to pick peoples pockets and crack locks without being caught
Stealth: Sneaking and hiding
Survival: The knowledge required to adapt enough to continue breathing
Discipline: Your ability to stay focused on the task at hand despite the distractions all around you
KNOWLEDGES: List of knowledge’s, most are self-explanatory
Academics: (Can Read 1, Fully Literate 2, Formal Schooling 3, Academic 4, Scholar 5)
Herbalist: Your Knowledge on plants and how to create potions, poisons and poultices from them
Enigmas: Ability to solve puzzles
Trade: How to get the best deal when buying or selling things
Investigation: Combination of formal investigative procedure and common sense
Sorcery: Your ability (Or Perceived ability) to cast spells and/or resist there affects.
Linguistics: How quickly you can pick up and learn a foreign language
Medicine: Healing
Occult: Knowledge of the supernatural, legends, and myth
Research: How to find a sought answer
Science: The application of science (this is medieval science, think Alchemy)
Ok all... that's the list of attributes (which can not be altered) and Abilities (which can be within reason. I know I couldn't list it all)
Attributes and abilities are ranked 1 through 5. As a general belief the numbers can be described as such; 1 poor, 2 average, 3 good, 4 exceptional, 5 outstanding.
Attributes: All categories begin with a base of 1. You are given the following breakdown of points to allocate between the three main attributes (Physical, Social, Mental). They are 7/5/3. That means you can put 7 points into one main attribute, and then 5 in the second most important to you, and finally 3 in the least important. As an example;
I have a soldier. I believe physical, mental, and lastly social to be how I rank importance. I spend 7 points in physical. I have 1 in each category already. So I spend 2 in strength, 3 in dexterity, and 2 in stamina so my final categories would be Strength 3, Dexterity 4, and Stamina 3. Then I would spend 5 points in mental, and lastly 3 in social. Hope it makes sense.
Abilities: All three categories start with nothing in any of the ranks. You can spend the following 13/9/5. Just like attributes, take a moment to look at all the available abilities and rank your categories in order of importance. Your most important logically should have 13 points spent in it, then your second 9, and finally 5 in the least important. There are several abilities that do not require any specialized knowledge to use, Athletics being the first I saw. I can run, but have never been formally trained in real nuance, so I'd have just base dexterity to fall back on. There are others that you have to have at least one rank to perform. Medicine seems to be a good one to use as an example. If you have no training in first aid... you can leave my dangling broken arm alone until somebody who does know what to do comes along thank you very much.
Pretty complex no? It's easy once you grasp the process. Ok... two last things. First, you can only have one rank of 5 on your entire sheet. I don't care if it's attribute or ability. You may have two ranks of 4 anywhere on your sheet. All other ranks must be 3 or less. Second... you get 11 free points to spend wherever you want on your sheet. Attributes cost 5 points each rank. Abilities cost 2 points each rank. So, example, you could pick two attribute ranks, or five abilities, or one attribute and three abilities.
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Name: Your name
Gender: Male/Female
Age: How old you are
Occupation: Your job (warrior, thief, nun, mage, etc (Not Sentinel that’s a given))
Equipment: The things you are carrying
Description: what you look like
Background: your characters back story, who are you? Where have you been all these years? etc (feel free to write as much or as little as you like)
The king of Talamh Bui a great and wise ruler passed on to the next life leaving his sons Aeric and Calaine to govern his vast kingdom.
Aeric the eldest of the two brothers was pronounced king much to the disgust of his brother Calaine an arrogant man who believed his brother to be weak and unfit to rule, he secretly raised an army recruiting the Eorls sympathetic to his cause along the way and so it was with this mighty army that he attacked his unsuspecting brother stealing his throne from beneath him and plunging the kingdom into bitter civil war.
The skies were filled with banners and pennants as both sides rode to war, throughout the kingdoms fertile plains warriors clashed in battle drenching the fields with their blood, their cries of pain echoing across the northern mountains.
Never a natural warrior, Aeric found himself losing more and more ground to his brother’s brutal assaults, his army weakened and demoralised defeat was sure to follow if something wasn’t done soon.
It was whilst he out riding in the forests on the outskirts of the kingdom that Aerics fortune would swiftly change, for it was whilst he was isolated and alone that his bodyguard disillusioned by their king turned on him. Aeric surely would have perished had it not been for Beornoth the woodsman.
He watched from the shadows as the kings men drew their swords and attacked, armed with only a simple peasants bow and staff Beornoth ran to his king’s aid, two fell to his bow, his arrows finding the tiniest of chinks in their armour through which to strike, the other two he met in armed combat. With only a quarterstaff for a weapon and a leather jerkin for armour Beornoth attacked the two mail clad warriors, he fought like a wild man and though he was outnumbered and his opponents better armed and trained Beornoth was victorious.
Beornoth a veteran of a long forgotten war made an oath to the king that for as long as he could still draw breath that he would watch over the king and the people of Talamh Bui. It was this humble woodsman who would later form the Sentinels, recruiting its members from all walks of life and training them to become the guardians of Talamh Bui and its rightful king.
Three decades of peaceful rule went by even the casual raiding of the kingdoms neighbours ceased with the Sentinels watching the kingdoms borders. Aeric was to become a benevolent ruler and a caring father however it was when his eldest son Carfel was selected to join the ranks of the Sentinels that he was his most proud. Brash, arrogant and filled with misplaced confidence Carfel demanded to take the test early, pressurised by the king Beornoth against his better judgement agreed to allow Carfel take the test.
Carfel along with the other candidates crossed into Chasind territory in order to track one of the more violent tribes that lived on the kingdoms border. Unhappy to just to watch the enemy and track their movements, Carfel decided to lead an attack persuading the other initiates to follow him.
Outnumbered three to one the initiates didn’t stand a chance out of the original twelve only three of them walked out of Chasind territory alive, Carfel however was not among them.
Greif stricken the king and queen accused Beornoth of having the Prince murdered by the other initiates and so the Sentinels were outcast, never to set foot in Talamh Bui again.
40 years later
The king surveyed the grim faced nobles who sat within his hall and the empty spaces where fallen should have been, fighting men all of them forged in blood and battle.
The war was going badly, heavily outnumbered, his men as valiant as they were, were slowly being whittled away. Worse still Tristan had betrayed him taking his men across the river to join the enemy kidnapping his step sister in the process and holding her to ransom. “Eorl Turegor have any of our allies responded to our request for men?” the ageing king enquired, Turegor a dour man with a long greying beard arose from his seat at the council in order to address his king “Yes sire, The Franziskan’s have promised us five hundred men and the Breton’s will send a further two hundred” Seven hundred men is that all? How had it come to this, his father’s once mighty kingdom begging their allies for help “What of our northern neighbours? The Chasind?” A bark of callous laughter issued from Eorl Turegor in response to the king’s question “The Chasind are mindless barbarians I wouldn’t trust those savages or their heathen witches to come to our aid”
Wearily massaging his temples, long grey hair spilling from under a golden circlet across his shoulders the king contemplated what had been said “So what you are saying is that we are all alone?” Turegor grimly nodded his head once to confirm the king’s statement but would say no more on the matter.
“What of my daughter Isolla? What is being done to rescue her from Tristan’s clutches?” An uncomfortable silence resided within the cavernous hall, Tristan’s betrayal had been a blow that they had yet to recover from.
Clearing his throat noisily Turgeor calmly proceeded to speak the words that the other Eorls feared to voice “Sire, we do not have the men with which to rescue Isolla….We’re stretched thin as it is there is nothing we can do”
“There is one option still open to us” the Eorls turned to see who had spoken, desperate to know the plan that would return the princess to them.
An old man far older than even the king himself stood on unsteady legs, his beard was as white as winter snow and his eyes as pale as ice. In his parchment dry voice he continued “We can summon the Sentinels my king” a murmur spread throughout the hall, that name had not been mentioned in over forty years.
“My liege there is a reason that they were exiled, I would rather we found another option” Turegor spoke gruffly in response to the old mans suggestion, many of the other Eorls voicing agreement “what other options? You said so yourself we do not have the men available…No I refuse to consign my daughter to an early grave through inaction… Gideon!” a young boy scurried out from the shadows dropping to his knee’s beside he kings throne “Gideon have messengers seek out the remaining Sentinels I would seek an audience with them” “Yes my liege” Gideon jumped to his feet quickly scurrying back into the halls shadows in search of messengers willing to track down the remaining Sentinels “I only hope that they can help me” the king sighed mournfully.
-----------------------------------------------
You are all members (or Initiates) of the Sentinels, an order created to protect and serve the kingdom of Talamh Bui and its rightful king.
Although they are a military order the Sentinels rarely take to the field of battle but instead lead daring daylight raids, scout deep into enemy territory and infiltrate enemy strongholds in short they are a kind of special forces group. It is for this reason that the Sentinels recruit its members from all walks of life; from fierce warriors to devout priests all have skills that will benefit the order.
Although completely fictional I have based Talamh Bui and the surrounding kingdoms loosely around dark ages Britain (Vikings, Saxons, etc) to give you some idea of the setting in which the story takes place.
Below is a modified version of Alawa’s character creation mechanism (I have changed the skills to better suit a medieval/fantasy setting).
All the normal rules apply, if I don’t like something you’ve written I’ll let you know via a pm conversely if you have any questions feel free to ask me and I’ll try and answer them. Other than that I hope you enjoy it.
------------------------------------------------
Attributes are broken into Physical, Social, and Mental.
PHYSICAL: The core movement abilities of your character
Strength: Brute physical power
Dexterity: Familiarity with your bodies capabilities in motion
Stamina: The combination of physical and mental fortitude
SOCIAL: How well you character interacts and is perceived by others
Charisma: How well you present yourself to others
Manipulation: How well you can garner response through deceit and trickery
Appearance: How attractive you are to others
MENTAL: Your mental capabilities
Perception: Conscious and intuitive capabilities to notice details
Intelligence: How smart you are (duh)
Wits: Mental reaction to given situations
Abilities are broken down into three categories
TALENTS: A listing of talents, most are self-explanatory
Alertness: Recognizing specific details
Athletics: Running, climbing, jumping, swimming
Brawl: Fighting with your fists
Dodge: Not getting hit by stuff
Empathy: The understanding the emotions of others'
Expression: The ability to convey meaning through written word or oratory
Intimidation: The ability to gain information or action through threat
Intuition: Gut feelings
Leadership: The ability to motivate through force of personality
Streetwise: Understanding the vernacular of the underbelly of society
Subterfuge: Lying
Performance: Ability to entertain audiences
SKILLS: A listing of skills, most are self-explanatory
Animal Ken: Understanding animal behaviour
Crafts: The ability to construct or repair
Tracking: Your ability to track people or animals using only the signs they’ve left
Riding: Your ability to ride a horse (Or similar animal)
Shooting: Your ability to use missile weapons such as Bows, Crossbows and Javelins
Melee (Small Weapons): Your Skill with single handed weapons such as Swords, Axes, Knives, Clubs etc
Melee (Large Weapons): Your Skill with Large two handed Weapons such as Spears, Glaives, Two Handed axes and swords, etc
Thievery: Your ability to pick peoples pockets and crack locks without being caught
Stealth: Sneaking and hiding
Survival: The knowledge required to adapt enough to continue breathing
Discipline: Your ability to stay focused on the task at hand despite the distractions all around you
KNOWLEDGES: List of knowledge’s, most are self-explanatory
Academics: (Can Read 1, Fully Literate 2, Formal Schooling 3, Academic 4, Scholar 5)
Herbalist: Your Knowledge on plants and how to create potions, poisons and poultices from them
Enigmas: Ability to solve puzzles
Trade: How to get the best deal when buying or selling things
Investigation: Combination of formal investigative procedure and common sense
Sorcery: Your ability (Or Perceived ability) to cast spells and/or resist there affects.
Linguistics: How quickly you can pick up and learn a foreign language
Medicine: Healing
Occult: Knowledge of the supernatural, legends, and myth
Research: How to find a sought answer
Science: The application of science (this is medieval science, think Alchemy)
Ok all... that's the list of attributes (which can not be altered) and Abilities (which can be within reason. I know I couldn't list it all)
Attributes and abilities are ranked 1 through 5. As a general belief the numbers can be described as such; 1 poor, 2 average, 3 good, 4 exceptional, 5 outstanding.
Attributes: All categories begin with a base of 1. You are given the following breakdown of points to allocate between the three main attributes (Physical, Social, Mental). They are 7/5/3. That means you can put 7 points into one main attribute, and then 5 in the second most important to you, and finally 3 in the least important. As an example;
I have a soldier. I believe physical, mental, and lastly social to be how I rank importance. I spend 7 points in physical. I have 1 in each category already. So I spend 2 in strength, 3 in dexterity, and 2 in stamina so my final categories would be Strength 3, Dexterity 4, and Stamina 3. Then I would spend 5 points in mental, and lastly 3 in social. Hope it makes sense.
Abilities: All three categories start with nothing in any of the ranks. You can spend the following 13/9/5. Just like attributes, take a moment to look at all the available abilities and rank your categories in order of importance. Your most important logically should have 13 points spent in it, then your second 9, and finally 5 in the least important. There are several abilities that do not require any specialized knowledge to use, Athletics being the first I saw. I can run, but have never been formally trained in real nuance, so I'd have just base dexterity to fall back on. There are others that you have to have at least one rank to perform. Medicine seems to be a good one to use as an example. If you have no training in first aid... you can leave my dangling broken arm alone until somebody who does know what to do comes along thank you very much.
Pretty complex no? It's easy once you grasp the process. Ok... two last things. First, you can only have one rank of 5 on your entire sheet. I don't care if it's attribute or ability. You may have two ranks of 4 anywhere on your sheet. All other ranks must be 3 or less. Second... you get 11 free points to spend wherever you want on your sheet. Attributes cost 5 points each rank. Abilities cost 2 points each rank. So, example, you could pick two attribute ranks, or five abilities, or one attribute and three abilities.
----------------------------------------------
Name: Your name
Gender: Male/Female
Age: How old you are
Occupation: Your job (warrior, thief, nun, mage, etc (Not Sentinel that’s a given))
Equipment: The things you are carrying
Description: what you look like
Background: your characters back story, who are you? Where have you been all these years? etc (feel free to write as much or as little as you like)
Last edited by a moderator:
Bio has altered, so please do read)