conversations: human
conversations:  Spoiler 
  History:
  In the beginning there was nothing. Nothing but a grey void.
  Until the 6 arrived.
  The 6 came from a place far from here, no-one knows where.
  They looked upon the grey, lifeless Void and were bored.
  So they Created.
  Helna created a Plane of Fire, introducing the Void to Heat.
  Kelo created the Plane of Water, letting Liquid into the Void.
  Nani created the Plane of Air, allowing Gas to permeate the Void.
  Jengi created the Plane of Earth, filling the empty spaces with Solids.
  Bela created the Plane of Evil, making Morality in the Void.
  And finally Cadi created the Plane of Good, giving Choice to the Void.
  
  With the 6 Planes radiating into the Void pieces began to form Planes of their own, and on the Planes formed life.
  Thus the Infinite Materials were born.
  
  Time passed as the 6 watched over the Mortals, until tragedy struck.
  A Mortal felled Nani and absorbed her Power. Using Arcane Knowledge to create a new spell, one that sucked the Lifeforce from slain beings.
  The Mortal was quickly set upon and killed but the damage was done. The Rite of Domination was born.
  
  The 6, now 5 gathered and tried to disrupt the spell but it was no use, the spell had taken a life of it's own, embedding into every living thing like a virulent virus and the only way to cleanse it was to eradicate all life. Including their own.
  But there was a hole in the spell. It could be adjusted, splintered into 3 forms.
  First the Rite of Succession, where only the most powerful of abilities are transfered, which also protects the Universe from losing one of the 6 Elements (Morality, Choice, Fire, Earth, Air, Water) as the 6 Gods fuel their Planes and thus their Element. Only the 6 are affected by this Rite and it is the only one that is not a Formal Duel.
  Second the Rite of Domination. Only by accepting to fight to Permanent Death will this trigger. The winner gains everything of the loser.
  Third was the Rite of Conquest. This Rite allowed select things to bet and prevented the death of the loser.
  
  So the world continued and one by one the 6 Original Gods were whittled down, until only Bela remained.
  But soon, even Bela fell. Killed by a General in an invasion by the Water Prime in an attempt to gain all 6 Lynchpins.
  
  The 6 Gods changed over time, Mortals rising up with powers and defeating them.
  
  The last change happened 100 years before. A party of adventurers quelling an invasion from the Fire Prime then the remaining Gods.
  There were 7 in the party.
  Pakli, the Retired: A regular Human Monk. One of the main fighters of the group. It is said that he beat the Lord of Hell solo using only his own body and was the most lethal of the 7. He gave up Godhood and retired to a secluded island before vanishing one day.
  Jevas, The Prime of Air: A Halfling Sorceror. She is a pacifist and specializes in negating Enemies rather than killing. She married Yorrick.
  Yorrick, The Prime of Fire: An Elven Wizard. Yorrick specializes in Area spells and taking on multiple enemies. Due to this he was the most naturally experienced but less powerful than the others. He married Jevas the Air Prime and had many children.
  Keclio, the Archangel of Heaven: A 1/2 Demon Warlock. Keclio is the teleporter of the group. His mobile attacks wreacked havok on his enemies.
  Mephisto, The Prime of Water: Tiefling Rogue. Mephisto is the sneaky one. All his abilities are geared towards never being seen until the last second.
  Arckanduras, Lord of Hell: 1/2 Orc Psion. Very intelligent being who uses his race's steretype to great effect. Seen as the least of 7 (despite being near the top) Arckanduras focuses on Buffs and Debuffs.
  Durnala, The Prime of Earth: Dwarven Fighter. Durnala is a Sword&amp;Board Fighter, though over the years she has picked up several innate abilities to aid her in her fighting style.
  
  
  The Worlds:
  Heaven: A world on the clouds. Light is always shining, the ground is fluffy and the gravity is Low. Good-Aligned Mortals are sent here and piled into stacks at the entrance. Slowly transforming into Celestial Beings.
  Hell: a never-ending Hall. Every one of the 7 Sins has their own rooms everywhere and the Demons and Devils (non-rescued souls turned into Other-wordly beings) have free reign.
  Ignus: A plane of heat. The surface is magma, is the buildings hewn from burning hot obsidian, the rain is lava. Only beings Immune to Fire visit here.
  Glacius: A plane of liquid. Nothing solid is naturally occuring here. people import their houses to live in the aquatic environment.
  Geos: Under the ground. An eternal mountain to dig through, caves and tunnels replace plains and roads. Entire kingdoms of people inside have never seen the sun, light simply emanating through periodically.
  Fugas: An expanse of nothing. Air is the only natural thing here. Buildings float and bump in the air. Gravit is chaotic, pulling one way while pushing 5ft away. Being able to fly is required for any visitors or tenants.
  
  Myriad Materials: Many, many Materials exist. Some unknown, some willingly closed off. while the majority do know of the 6 Gods, others do not, worshipping false Gods and ignoring any that do believe in the 6.
  
  
  Resurection: Is quite easy. Most people have some form of Resurection Ability (whether it's a Cleric Spell Level or an At-Will) and if not then just Planeshift to Hell or Heaven (proper name for the Planes of Evil/Good) and find the soul. Planeshift out and the soul regrows a fully functioning body.
  Souls cannot be resurected in any way if a full year has passed. Their souls being transfigured into a Demonic or Celestial being.
  
  Social Structure:
  There are 3 main tiers:
  Conquesters: Wealthy families who can buy dozens of common Abilities for their children and rarely participate in Rites except for politics or purchase.
  Mid-Tiers: Well-off families. Considered a jumping point into Conquesters or the beginning of the fall into Commonerhood. Many Merchant families are in this Tier, as well as beings from other Planes that are new.
  Commoners: The workers. Commoners are usually low-level with an array of weak abilities. They are the most likely to participate in Rites as they need more levels and Abilities if they want to advance.
  
  
  Coming of Age: Whenever a being achieves the age of 20 (or Racial Equivalent) they are eligble to come of age. They participate in the Gauntlet, which involves tests of their various abilities and several Arena matches. Many people in the city watch and evaluate their performance and many of the top competitors get offers for apprenticships and jobs immediately afterwards.
   
  
  
  It is the day of the Gauntlet! The day you become, not children, but men (or women in Lily's case).
  Masters of all disciplines are here to scout out the new group of potential apprentices and even the least magic-sensitive can feel the sheer number of Scyers watching.
  But what did you expect in Belsaris, the Apprentice Capital of the Planes. Many, many apprentices, and Masters, called this place home as children, before moving on to other things.
  The City Hall is bustling with near-adults. Even beings from different Planes are 'Porting in to achieve their adulthood ceremony with the biggest crowd possible.
  
  Ember:
  As you approach the City Hall you are grabbed roughly by a troll and thrown into another pack of near-adults being proccessed.
  He is gone before you can say a word, gathering up more tiny people to crowd together.
  Soon your group moves into the Hall, up to a bored clerk who asks a series of questions
  "Name, Race including mutations or mixed parentage, Fighting Style meaning Ranged, Magic, Close-Combat or Other? How often do you practise your powers, natural abilities or skills per 24 hour cycle? Do you live in Belsaris?"
  
  Alexander:
  The monks in your monastery waved goodbye to the leaving students, you among them, as the Planeshift triggered. Hurtling you all to the Gauntlet.
  A flash of light denotes your arrival and your colleagues disappear into the crowds. You are relieved of your entry forms (given by the monks) and guided into a small room. An elven female (you assume, elves are way to androgynous) in a robe arguing with a frog and a Dwarven bard plucking at his lyre.
  
  Krak:
  Frogmarched through the entrance along with several other beings you pass by the clerks and are shown a waiting room, inhabited by an Orc shining a longsword and 2 twins, one in red robes and studying a tome, the other in green and obviously a sorceror.
  
  Mathias: You are shown into a small waiting room completely empty. There are several chairs to sit down in and a training dummy to practice on.
conversations: Anecronwashere:
conversations: human
conversations:  Mathias ignores the dummy and instead to silently meditate. He would need to be free of any distractions if he were to win the Gauntlet, and meditation would be more beneficial that poking a dummy with his rapier.
conversations: Dire Reverend:
conversations: human
conversations:  Ember scowled at the clerk, he hadn't expected any questions.  Nevertheless he puton his best face and began answering,  Ember, mephling, magical."  He scowled again and with obvious distaste said,  "I live in Belaris."  He smiled again at the clerk and attempted to scuttle past.
conversations: the geekish one:
conversations: human
conversations:  "Whatever. Through here. First door on the left." Mumbled the clerk, filing it away.
  
  The first door leads to a small waiting area with some chairs and a training dummy. A human is meditating silently
  It's Mathias
conversations: Anecronwashere:
conversations: human
conversations:  Mathias looks up at the stranger, but says nothing.  If the others are arriving, it may not be worth entering a trance...  he thinks to himself.
conversations: Dire Reverend:
conversations: human
conversations:  He eagerly followed the 2 guards in flight to the waiting room, wanting to finally get to adulthood and get out into the real world. Once getting to the room he looked at the other three present and blinked for a moment.  "Is there a reason there's 4 of us in this room? Are we going to be going into the trials as a team?" 
conversations: soulsabre345:
conversations: human
conversations:  Ember surveyed the others briefly, before deciding that they weren't worth bothering with. He sat down in the corner to wait for something interesting to happen.
     I wonder how many will burn today?   he thought to himself.
conversations: the geekish one:
conversations: human
conversations:  Alexander waved to his fellow classmates as each of them received their destinations.   "May Faith guide your hands,"   he said simply with a smile. He sincerely wished them well and hoped that none of them would the test. He had trained alongside them for the past decade and it all lead up to this point. Honestly, it was nerve wracking. Taking a deep breath, he walked toward his assigned room.
  
  Opening the door, he was caught in the middle of a strange scene. Merely smiling, he walked across the room and sat down. He quizzically looked at the elf and the frog arguing with each other. While it did not seem serious, Alexander felt compelled to help settle the dispute.   "Hi,"   he said with a charming smile as he extended his hand between the two.   "My name is Alexander and I'm glad to be able to join you! I am not sure what you were talking about but I am sure there are better ways to go about a discussion. Come, sit down, and why don't we share our stories?"  
conversations: JKTrickster:
conversations: human
conversations:  Krak:
   "Some trials are teams yeah, but mostly they just throw us in anywhere. I hear some spectators bet on which room someone is blasted out of first."  The wizard says
  
   "I heard the first trial is some retrieval excercise. So my versatility beats your preparation sister!"  the sorceror taunts.
  
  "Aye, loks lik tis un ull be ta first." the orc mashes out, eyeing the two bickering sisters.
  
  -------------------------------------------
  
  Alexander:
  
   "For the last time I'm a partner not a familiar! Oh sorry, dearie. Just having a little bantering with my partner here."  laughs the frog, the arguement less serious than you thought, probably an in-joke between them.
  
  The elf all but pushes you down next to her and starts talking rapidly, seeming quite admiring of your looks.  "MynameisTyphonandthisismyfamiliarandwhatdoyouthin  ktheGauntletwillbelikeandyoumustbefromoutoftowncau  seI'veneverseenyoubefore." 
  The frog does a wonderous impersonation of a facepalm, despite it being physically impossible  "Sorry, she's like that with just about every pretty face." 
  
  ---------------------------------------------------
  
  Lily:
  When you arrive in Belsaris you are almost immediately swept into the crowd, and soon deposited on the desk of a clerk
  "Name? Race including signifigant mutations? Fighting Style, meaning Ranged, Close-Combat, Magic or Other? Are you native to Belsaris?"
conversations: Anecronwashere:
conversations: human
conversations:  Alexander smiled, glad that the two were only playfully bickering. It was actually rather cute how the witch and her familiar were arguing like that. he admired those who could share such close bonds with each other. Moving slightly backward from the eccentric witch, he nodded.   "Yes I come from a monastery that is off in the Alpine Mountains to the north. It isn't too far from here, about two weeks ride away. It is nice to meet you as well,"   he said as he offered his hand cautiously.
  
    "As for the Gauntlet you can't always be too sure,"   he said calmly.   "The Masters tend to mix things up every now and then and its never the same from year to year. But I'm sure you are prepared right? What spells do you specialize in anyway?"  
conversations: JKTrickster:
conversations: human
conversations:  "My name? Going by your nomenclature I guess Lily is the closest approximation, though a more literal translation would be "She who was born of the bewitched lily that lies dead in spite of life, oldest of the glade-born." though that may be a bit long.
  I believe you call us Petals and while I am different I cannot truly discern the cause or structure of my abnormality.
  I am not sure how to classify my abilities though the large branch that is magic most likely has a place for it.
  No I am not native to this place." 
conversations: Re'ozul:
conversations: human
conversations:  He nods at the three.   "Well I'll leave the casting to you two then, I'm more a thinker than a caster, a thinker who can outfire 3 men, but a thinker all the same. Nothing quite matches being able to teleport a small army away from you without spells though, the expression of their allies is priceless when half of their 20-man army has suddenly disappeared in the span of a couple seconds. That said, anyone know who we're fighting and if they are teleported out of the arena do we win by default? I don't have the teleporting arrows ready in case I'd get disqualified for using them. 
conversations: soulsabre345: