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Post by Toz76 on Jul 30, 2019 23:42:27 GMT -5
Here, you can post things you want to include in the story later for review and suggestions.
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Post by Toz76 on Jul 31, 2019 18:43:41 GMT -5
THE VEC INTRO
Please leave feedback, as it exists I feel like it's too "namedroppy" and not atmospheric enough, but I welcome all criticism.
Kniitwiit, Silent Night, The Duplicator, and The Cushion got out of their car and stared at the stone gate before them. “Is this really the place that Denim guy wanted us to go?” Silent Night asked. “No one lives on this part of the island.” The northeastern corner of New Furness has never been a very popular place to live. While the west, more populated side of the island is shielded from the full brunt of the Atlantic by facing the other way, the eastern side has no such luck. The Northeastern bit, however, has it worst of all, because the high cliffs above the water and dense pine forest made building a town difficult. Other than some loggers and a single patch of buildings about five miles back, this entire chunk of the island was no-mans land. The weather wasn’t much better. It frequently rained, and the high cliffsides coupled with strange ocean winds led to powerful storms forming over this section of the island for days at a time. One such storm was clearly brewing now. In other words, it was the perfect place for an evil lair. The four followed a small dirt trail in the grass, which sloped gently downward. After about half a mile, however, the path seemed to stop, running directly into a vertical cliff face with no clear way through. “This must be where the secret door is.” The Duplicator decided. “I’ve got the honey.” Kniitwiit pulled out a small bear-shaped plastic container and squeezed some onto the rock, arranging the honey into the shape of an ancient rune, the Old Magykkan rune for “horn”. There was a scraping sound and part of the rockface faded away, leaving a small tunnel in the rock wide enough for the group to walk single file. The Cushion took the lead, with Silent Night and Kniitwiit following and The Duplicator taking up the rear. “Wow…” breathed The Cushion as he emerged on the other side of the tunnel. Wow was right. The group had emerged on a narrow ledge on the edge of a cliff. The sides of the cliff descended some 60 yards below them to the sea below, angrily crashing against the rocks, and above them another sixty yards as well. But the really awe-inspiring thing was the odd shape of these cliffs. They formed a perfect semicircle with roughly a 500 foot radius, and rising out of the water in the middle of this semicircle was a massive stone tower. Diablo Tower. The only path between the ledge and the tower was a narrow stone bridge, and as the group started towards the tower, two men appeared in the tower doorway, wearing bronze-lined black suits. “Stop right there! I am Doctor Laser, and this is The General! And unless you surrender, we will be forced to obliterate you!” “Doc, your lasers aren’t actually…” The General muttered in a surprisingly squeaky voice considering his burly stature. The General sounded like he had inhaled the world’s entire supply of helium (don’t actually do this, there is a helium shortage in the world and it’s needed for medical equipment). Kniitwiit tried and failed to suppress a laugh. “Um… we were told that we could join the “Vile Evil Confederacy” here?” Silent Night volunteered. “Oh? Who sent you?” Doctor Laser asked, unconsciously twirling his mustache. “He called himself Eddie Denim?” “Ah, say no more! We’ve been expecting you! Come, the Cardinals are waiting!” The inside of the stone tower was surprisingly more pleasant than the group had expected. The stone walls of the tower kept out the wind, and there was a roaring fire in the center of the large entry hall. The best part, of course, was the elevator at the far end of the room. “Alright, Cardinal Meeting room, 47th floor…” muttered Doctor Laser to them as he ushered them into the elevator and sprinted back to his post. The Cardinal Meeting room was a massive room, with a massive curved desk taking up half of it. 11 spots were set, but only nine of those seats were occupied. The bronze throne in the center, as well as the chair to the left of it, were empty. However, the other nine spots were occupied by a very eclectic bunch. On the far left, a pale woman in black robes accepted a drink from a waiter that the group realized, with a shock, was clearly an animated corpse. Next to her, a sullen black-robed man fiddled with a small red object. On his other side, two slight-looking men were poring over some maps, deep in thought. The seat to the right of the empty bronze throne was taken by an intense red-robed man that somehow physically hurt to look at. Next to him, a bespectacled woman pored over a book, and the gaudily dressed woman on her other side tried desperately to amuse the horrific grey, winged creature next to her, who was more interested in a small blue gem it was holding. Finally, on the far end, a large yellow-robed man sat sullenly, as if disinterested in the whole affair. As the four nervously approached the bench, a green robed figure suddenly materialized before them, and spoke in a booming voice. “My fellow cardinals, I trust I am not late?” “Ah, Elvene! Wonderful! We weren’t expecting you to show up for such a mundane meeting.” The bespectacled woman said cheerfully. “I note I still do not have a desk. No matter. I shall hover.” Elvene floated in place in the center of the room. The red-robed man cleared his throat, and all discussion was silenced. “Now then, we are gathered today to potentially induct four new members into the noble order of the Vile Evil Confederacy. I am Bloodlust, second-in-command of this noble institution, and we are the 12 Cardinals Of VEC.” “Where are the other two?” The Duplicator asked. He wasn’t the brightest, but he could count to 12. “Ah…” Bloodlust sighed. “Our true leader, the Bronze Mage, and his apprentice, Silvestron, are busy with other matters. He sends his regards, though. And Silvestron sends this carrot cake.” Bloodlust procured a box and handed it to Elvene, who carried it over to The Cushion. “Uh… this is a trumpet.” “Well… Percy hasn’t quite got the hang of advanced magic like that yet…” “Or any magic…” muttered the yellow-robed man. “Can it, Honeybadger!” Snapped the gaudy woman. “Now, you there, with the green sweater. State your name and powers.” Kniitwiit stepped forward nervously, pulling out their knitting needles. “My name is Kniitwiit… that’s four I’s… and I can make pretty much anything you can think of out of yarn, simply by knitting it.” The gaudy woman raised an eyebrow. “Niche, but I like it. Why don’t you knit us a carrot cake, then?” “Well, I can’t knit food, miss, uh…” “Bloodsphere. Vivian Bloodsphere. And why not?” “Well, yarn isn’t edible. But I can knit a trumpet! Here, watch!” Kniitwiit pulled out a ball of red yarn, and after a couple minutes of furious knitting, managed to play a passable rendition of taps. “It’d sound better if I still played regularly…” they muttered, embarrassed. “That’s not half bad…” one of the slight men commented. “Yarn emitting tones comparable to that of a brass instrument… hmmm… I like this one.” “Shocking, Chessmaster likes the new recruit.” Honeybadger muttered. “Don’t have any powers of your own, so you latch onto all the weirdos.” “Horned One’s sake, shut up!” Vivian snapped. “Anyway, who’s next?” Bloodlust shouted, in a voice that made everyone’s blood run cold. The Cushion stepped forward. “They call me the cushion, and my powers are, well… I’m impervious to all physical damage.” “Oh? Priori, could you test that?” Bloodlust said, addressing the black-clad woman on the far end. “Eet would be my pleasure.” Priori said in a thick Russian accent. From behind the desk, two skeletons unfolded themselves and charged at The Cushion, punching and kicking him, but the Cushion didn’t even flinch. “It’s not just this. I can fall from great heights, be stretched out, and never so much as get a cut, or feel a thing.” The Cushion said. “Impressive…” The other slight man muttered. “Oh, can it, Mindreader! He’s not so tough! What if I froze him in place with my honey magic, huh?” “Honeybadger, if you speak out of turn again, I will not hesitate to make this a council of eleven!” Bloodlust growled. “Next applicant!” The Duplicator stepped forward. Or rather, someone exactly resembling The Duplicator stepped forward, while The Duplicator stayed in place. “They call me “The Duplicator” because I can, well, duplicate myself.” “There’s got to be a catch.” The bespectacled woman said. “Well, kinda… um, whatever-your-name-is.” “My name is Orator… anyway, what’s the catch?” “Well, these clones, these duplicates, they aren’t exactly very self-sufficient. They don’t quite have my staggering intellect or problem-solving skills.” “And here I thought we had a suitable supplement to my AIAC…” Vivian muttered. The demonic creature next to Vivian stirred. “I may have a solution.” It said in a voice that wasn’t quite sinister, and certainly didn’t have the same blood-curling effect Bloodlust’s did, but still filled the new recruits with dread in a more subtle, hard to pin down way.” “Oh? Xex, are you hoping to take this one on as a personal apprentice?” Mindreader asked. “Not at all. I simply wish to attempt something, and this one’s powers seem useful to that end.” “I see no reason why not.” Orator said. “I’ve always felt you needed to connect with us humans more anyway.” “And I’ve always felt that you mortal fleshbags are inferior, but you don’t hear me saying such things, do you?” “Excuse me.” Said the sullen figure, and the only one who hasn’t been named yet. “There’s still one more applicant.” Silent Night swallowed and stepped forward, nervously. “Hi… I’m Silent Night. My powers aren’t as flashy or anything, but… I’m very stealthy. Supernaturally so. I can merge with shadows, climb walls silently, all sorts of things. It’s some sort of shadow magic, I think. I don’t fully understand it, but…” “Say no more.” The sullen figure stood. “I want this one as my apprentice.” “This is a pleasant surprise.” Bloodlust noted. “You’re the last person I’d expect to ask for an apprentice… even Xex is more personable than you.” “Yes, well, whatever. I think I can help her unlock the full extent of her powers. Permission to begin immediately?” “I would allow it, I have other things to do.” Elvene intoned. “Very well, council adjourned.” Orator announced. Silent Night approached the sullen figure. “Who are you? Why do you want me as an apprentice? Why aren’t the other’s someone’s apprentice?” The sullen figure sighed. “In our organization, “apprentice” doesn’t mean that much. It just means you and I will be working closely together to unlock your powers. Not everyone needs more training, and the other three all have skillsets that are, let’s say, a bit niche.” “Okay, but who are you?” “I am known by many names. But among friends… I am the Blood Alchemist.” There was something about the Blood Alchemist, an intensity that even Bloodlust and Xex, the most terrifying people at the table, couldn’t match. And so as she followed him to the elevator, she was equal parts excited… and scared out of her mind.
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jan 5, 2020 17:15:43 GMT -5
Since I've been having a string of bad posts as of late, THIS time I'm putting it here first to see if it works before making it official canon.
......
Man In Black's shards grew even dimmer as he declared this; but of course he was so blinded by his quest for power, he failed to notice that the more he desired the power, the weaker his connection to it became. And yet, somehow, someway, he was not any weaker than he was earlier. He still remained a force to be reckoned with
......
Man In Blue couldn't take it anymore. What had gotten into the Blue faction? This wasn't like them at all. A Colorman or Colorwoman was supposed to be a Good, humble mage driven by a desire to protect his or her home and the people who live there; and here they were bickering over leadership? How could they allow themselves to stoop to such a level?!
"I can't take it anymore..." Daniel said as he embraced his two shards, "Spirit... help me!" He declared in tears.
"Very well Daniel, but to do so I must borrow your body for a few minutes" a disembodied voice declared.
"What? Who said that?" Daniel said, looking around, nervous.
"It's me, Daniel. And I am truly sorry for this, but in my current state it is the only way to compensate for the current status of the Prism" the voice continued.
"Wait, what?" Daniel managed to say before his eyes went blank and he entered a sort of trance. The two shards he was holding on to began glowing brightly, as they then began hovering around Daniel. Daniel himself soon began hovering too.
Noir Knight, who was not too far away and watching all of this unfold, suddenly felt the shard in his custody began to shake, and faster than he could react, it flew off of his person and headed straight for Daniel. The three shards, now all glowing of equal brightness, began spinning around him, faster and faster until it was almost as if a solid ring had formed around him.
Man In White was the first to break eye contact from the argument, looking him he was completely at a loss for words.
"Hey! I'm talking to you!" Woman In Gold screamed angrily. Man In White just kept starring. "Jeffrey, you little..."
"Guys, look..." Man In White said, pointing at Daniel. A steady chain reaction soon started as everyone began looking at Daniel. Eventually, the ring around him got smaller and compressed around him, and a fantastic explosion of light took place.
Everyone who looked was blinded, and shielded their eyes. It took a few minutes of eyes rubbing before anyone was able see what had happened. Everyone was startled to say the least... in Daniel's place there seemed to be a humanoid figure, almost composed of light itself. A head and face were discernable, as were fingers on the hand, but there was no distinguishable features... it was as if light itself had taken a form.
"Colorfolk of Ordos... it has been a while" the humanoid said as it began to somewhat hover towards the group.
"Do... do we know you?" Man In Gold asked, confused.
"I should hope so... I'm the reason your powers even exist in the first place" the figure said, its voice clearly not Daniel's.
It was Man In Silver who picked up on it first, before being the first one to take a knee, "Forgive me, it took a minute to register... noble spirit" he apologized.
"Spirit? YOU'RE the spirit of the prism?" Woman In Silver said in disbelief.
"But... but I thought you split yourself up across the shards or something when you when dormant" Woman In Blue said in confusion.
"That... is a partial truth" The spirit began. "I left a part of myself in each shard so that they could be better located, but the primary essence of my being is here, in the shard guarded by the Man In Blue lineage" The spirit began.
"Wait, THAT'S why the Daniel's grandfather had a shard?" Woman In White asked in confusion.
"Correct; a shard of such importance could not just be left in a random vault somewhere; this shard was guarded by the Progenitor line because of its importance. I only regret I have to borrow Daniel for the moment in order to fulfill his wish" the spirit said.
"What wish?" Man In Silver asked.
"He was desperate for my help. And upon scanning his memories... I can see why. I am deeply disappointed in you Melody. How could you betray the code of the Colorfolk!" The spirit declared angrily.
"It's not my fault! Without the safeguards of an intact prism many lines became ambivalent and some outright corrupted. Don't even get me started on the lost lineages!" Woman In Blue defended.
"Yes... I can sense that about 1/3 of the lines are gone; this could be a problem for the ancestral colorfolk but we'll start anew" The spirit noted, "but far more importantly, you should be deeply ashamed of yourself Melody, I blessed your faction as the rightful custodians of the shards and THIS is what you do with it? How could you let yourself sink so low? You are all supposed to be good, humble mages motivated by a desire to protect your home and the people in it, or have you forgotten that too?" The Spirit asked.
"But spirit, you are just as much to blame for this too! I don't know why you put those anchor curses on me and the Black lines, but those were unnecessary and..." Melody began
"What is this "anchor curse" you speak of?" The spirit asked, confused.
Now everyone was confused. "Didn't... weren't... my line was hijacked by all the blue stuff contained in the prism and his line the black stuff" Woman In Blue pointed out.
"What are you going on about? The Prism contained neither black or blue stuff" The spirit said, causing a collective gasp, and up in the sky, the clouds spelled out "EXPOSITION" as everyone was taken aback.
"What? But... but that's not possible!" Man In Gold insisted, "The Prism accumulated black or blue stuff based on impulses and..." Man In Gold began
"Being cut off from the archives and the telephone effect probably caused a lot of confusion, but stop and think for a moment... if I cursed Woman In Blue, why would I make her faction the rightful custodians of the shards?" The spirit pointed out.
There was a lot of "oh yea's" and "Fair point's" from that.
"Also, how could there have been any black stuff in the prism when it is violently incompatible with prism magic? If I stored even 20 Yernafils of the stuff in here it would cause a thermonuclear explosion" the spirit said.
"He's not wrong" Man In Gold agreed.
"But that goes against everything we know!" Woman In Blue insisted. "When we shattered the prism, it caused an explosion of evil/black stuff, and the anchor curses caused us to splinter and..." she began.
The spirit took everything in, and suddenly looked horrified. "There's only one being capable of what you are telling me" he explained.
"Who?" Woman In Gold asked.
"I didn't tell anyone of the Colofolk this because I thought he was long gone. But the true force behind the black stuff explosion you speak of and the anchor curse is the one behind the Colorfolk's suffering. The one being capable of corrupting the Colorfolk to such a degree" The spirit said.
"WHO?!" Everyone asked.
The spirit paused before finally admitting "...my other half"
There was a collective gasp before the spirit finally revealed the full story of his origin.
......
After the fall of the Roman Empire, the mages of the world faced persecution, and to ensure that magic would never disappear, many came together to ensure a "reserve" of magic would exist. They formed a special rock, one that would be sent into space, and proceeded to fill it with good-influenced magic. Eventually, it was sent into space, to return when the time was right.
But unbeknownst to many, some mages of a more... nefarious morality, sneaked their way into this task, and somehow, some way, managed to sneak evil-influenced magic onto that meteor. Fortunately the amount of evil-influenced was low compared to the good-influenced. And while the two did not mix, they were unable to destroy or corrupt one another.
Then, in 1095 the game-changing event happened. A strange rock that seemed almost glass-like came from space, heading towards earth at great speed. By astronomical odds, the Prism and Meteor collided. The amount of magic between the two object was so great, the unthinkable happened: the magic itself gained sentience.
As the two magics melded, two minds were born: from the good-influenced magic came one mind, and the evil-influenced magic another. But, neither side truly understood good and evil at this point, and thus for them, they instead would embrace ideas that didn't quite fit into the idea of morality.
As the Prism and meteor headed towards Earth, the two minds gained more awareness, and made a decision: to use the power to influence the world in a way they deemed appropriate.
But, the two minds had very different ideas. For the evil-magic influenced mind, he saw the power as a means to create what he saw as "entertainment." The power, in his vision, was to be used to cause chaos and hysteria; to make the world shake to its very core all for the sake of his own amusement. Thus, this mind embraced what humans would call "chaotic evil" and vowed, then and there, to become an agent of chaos and drown the world in his vision.
But the other mind, influenced by the good magic, became terrified by this vision. He saw the power within needed to be used responsibly and to the benefit of the world around it. He sensed, in the world beneath him, an island rich in magic that would be the perfect place to start his vision: share his power with those of a good-hearted, humble disposition, and use that power to protect others and the world.
The first mind, however, saw this vision as "loathsome and boring" and proceeded to use his magic to influence the highly adaptive Prism magic "his way." At first he was succeeding, and making the Prism fit his image. But in his excitement, he failed to realize something important: the evil-influenced magic was destabilizing the Prism, making its magic erratic and unpredictable.
The second mind suddenly had a horrifying vision: one of the prism crashing to earth, and "swallowing the world in a cloak of darkness that could never be shed." Determined, the second mind began trying to influence the prism to go its way. A fierce battle began ensuing within the Prism, with neither side truly gaining an edge. Until, at last, a miracle began happening... the prism began rejecting the being of chaos. The second mind realized that, at a certain level it didn't quite understand, it seemed that this "chaotic magic" was not compatible with the Prism. But... surely this Prism was a neutral source of magic? Indeed it was, but what the spirit did not understand was that in the very fundamental frequencies of the magics themselves, the magic of chaos proved to be out of sync with, and a poor match to the Prism's wavelengths, whereas the magic of this second mind... this "magic of order" as he did not know another term to describe it, had near-perfect synchronization with the Prism's magic. Emboldened by this revelation, giving him confidence that he could succeed, the second mind gave its all and in a great push, was able to take control over influencing the Prism. The first mind became enraged and tried to "consume" the second mind, but the second mind, now calling itself a "spirit of order" began pushing back, eventually forcing out the "spirit of chaos."
The Spirit of order succeeded, but at a cost... the spirit of chaos was now free to roam the world at its leisure, while the spirit of order was bound to the prism. But, unlike the spirit of chaos, the Spirit of Order was able to use its power to bless others with great magic power. The Spirit of chaos could do no such thing, instead using its power of its own accord.
"As the Spirit of this prism, I vow that its power will only be used to aid others. Yes, this prism shall be a force against that which breeds chaos into the world. But what is that which aligns with chaos and that which aligns with order? I see... if he has embraced that which the humans call "evil" then I must embrace that which the humans call "good." I know not what will happen, but of this I can be certain: as long as this Prism remains a force for order and used for good, it shall remain a beacon of hope against the forces of chaos and those who use it for evil"
......
"So you see, it is vital that the prism never fall into the wrong hands, for if it were to become a force for chaos, then it would be the end of everything" The Spirit finished.
"So then, this spirit of chaos, he's the one responsible for our darkness?" Woman In Blue asked.
"Almost certainly. For you see, the true enemy of the Colorfolk, the one who I feared would one day return... is the one who can not be named" The spirit finished.
"So he... doesn't have a name?" Woman In Silver asked.
"No... he chose a name so long and unpronounceable that legend says any human that attempts to say his name will be driven mad by it" The Spirit said.
"So he's Polish AND Welsh?" Man In White asked in confusion
.........
On a nearby hill, a dark cloud suddenly manifested and took a humanoid form. "Boo hoo, Spirit of Order, how dare you spoil my fun. Now that everyone knows me how am I supposed to make your lives miserable? No matter; for now that I have mastered the very thing that causes humans to embrace the chaos of the world... and I suppose "evil" as humans would call it" and the Spirit of Chaos manifested and began manipulating the black stuff itself as if it were water. "With this power in my grasp, I will create a paradise for chaos, and be entertained for all eternity! But first..." and suddenly, through some sort of viewing window, he began looking at Man In Black.
"Just a little more corruption for you... and then I will finally have something I have always longed for. Indeed, once your heart is fully corrupted, you will become... my pet."
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Jan 6, 2020 11:40:32 GMT -5
Spark notes version:
I started thinking what if “the” spirit wasn’t the “only” spirit born from the meteor/prism, and to make things more interesting, made morality secondary- instead of being a generic “good spirit and evil spirit” they were spirits of order and chaos; who instead of being outright good/evil, embraced that which aligned more with their nature, I.e. morality is not engrained in them outright
I also made it that the spirit’s “victory” over the spirit of chaos wasn’t as clear cut as a true victory; indeed it came around a cost for The Spirit.
Don’t get the wrong idea though- This isn’t canon yet, so if anyone has questions or problems I’m open to feedback
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