Beyond the Faded Lands - OOC thread located here (http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=180897.0)<br/><br/><hr/>Flora Nightsong (http://plothook.net/RPG/profiler/view.php?id=12649) in Laelith<br/><br/><hr/><br/><div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/jki1Vbg.jpg)</div><br/>The city of Laelith sat upon the water like a hunched jungle cat, taut and ready to spring.  The early summer temperatures on the continent of Mara meant that the weather had started getting quite hot.  And around Laelith, that meant damn hot.  Inside the tropical region of the world's southern hemisphere, A tropical jungle sat not far from the cities borders.  Laelith sat along the coast, the entire city being built upon a slope that rose upwards to the west, leaving the small bay at the east busy with the hustle and bustle of several ships.   Most of the ships in the port were docked and busy.  Countless men, women, and neutral warforged, or 'forged' as some of them prefered to be called, swarmed up and down the docks and over the ships.  They loaded precious gems, antiques, or cargo, bound for a return to the Faded lands and the eager buyers there who clamored for the treasures of this lost land.<br/><br/>Some small flat boats made their way west, up Laelith river.  The river wound up stream to the west, between an increasingly higher and higher set of canyon walls, taking explorers deeper into the jungle wilds beyond Laelith's small claim of civilization.  They would stop at the hilarious, and yet appropriately titled outpost at the very edge of the jungle named 'Fort Last Chance.'  The small outpost was last place for adventurers to prepare before heading out into the wilds of Mara.<br/><br/>Other boats in Laelith's docks were floating calmly anchored however, and showed no signs of moving.  At least one powerful figure made his home on such a floating pleasure palace, enjoying the benefits of the cities protection as well as the independance of a floating home.  In fact one such boat, with a semi permanant dock, was the sound of much laughter and racousness; Big Bronau’s Boat, the title of a riverboat casino at permanent anchor.<br/><br/>Around the city sat ancient walls, older than anyone could guess, but at least a thousand years old or more.  From the south walls one could, if one had a powerful spyglass, make out on the horizon the dead grey mists that marked the borders of the faded lands.  There beyond the mists lay an entire nation, no, several nations, of relative peace and stability.  But here, on this side of the mists, where Laelith lay, sat wild jungles, a savage group of pioneers eager to make their fortunes, and find the thing in this ancient wild world that would bring them whatever it was they were seeking.<br/><br/>This world was wild, there was no doubt of that.  Magic had s sometimes unforeseen consequences, and everyone who lived in Laelith for more than a few days found out about the travelers curse.  Some warping of reality caused the world to behave... strangely... at least in this area that people had explored.  Sometimes a path would travel a relatively straight line, and yet, other times it would twist and loop about, doubling back on itself.  A traveler who didn't know their way around could get lost, quickly and easily.  While the city of Laelith had seemed to be mostly immune to such strange magics, not a week went by when a traveler, new to the city didn't complain of it taking him half a day to walk around the block to the market or some other such odd tale.<br/><br/><div class="floatleft">(http://i.imgur.com/iqWFmYI.jpg)</div>Since Laelith was built on a hill, the town rose upwards, and the alleys and streets did too.  Space was at a premium as it was being reclaimed from the ruins of the ancient city, and people often build upwards, higher and higher, to find the space they wanted for their shops, businesses, or homes.  But one thing was certain, Laelith was a crowded city.  With travelers who came and went constantly, it's streets were packed and often alive with the feel of life.<br/><br/>Laelith's homes were often built right into the ruined walls of the cities ancient structures.  It wasn't uncommon to see a mix of architecture either.  Dwarven squat foundations sat below sturdy houses made in a human style.  Those homes sharing an ancient wall with an elven temple, graceful and curving where the home was blocky and firm.  Often too the homes had no distinct style, as people shored up the ruins and reclaimed more and more of the city with no feel for aesthetics.  Who had time to worry what the apartment house you were living in looked like, when there was ancient riches and ruins to explore beyond the cities walls?<br/><br/>Despite the cramped nature of the city, it actually remained fairly clean.  The tropical climate meant that there was at least one rain storm once a day, sometimes lasting only minutes, other times an hour or more.  The rain constantly washed any filth and dirt down into the ancient sewers of Laelith.  Sewers that the protectors of the city swore were finally secure.<br/><br/><div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/jLahvx0.png)</div><br/>But the rain never dampened anyone for too long.  It was too hot to stay too wet for long.  The brutal summer sun baked away moisture from the surfaces it touched after too long, leaving the humid heat of a city surrounded by jungle.<br/><br/>Every type of people were present in the city of Laelith.  The red skinned, horned demon people known as teiflings.  The metal and wooden people known as the forged.  The black skinned and white haired elves known as the drow.  Squat dwarves and tall humans, cunning halflings and wily goblins.  The angelic looking eldarin who shared blood with the earthy elven people.  There were gleaming scaled men and women known as dragonborn, and the sometimes feral, sometimes sensual animal people known as shifters.   There was even the odd person who defied any of these racial groupings, but suffice it to say that all had their place in Laelith, no matter what they looked like.  In fact, this story is about one such woman.  She was a shifter, or at least that's what most people would have told you.  But Flora was a very specific type of shifter.   She didn't know a whole lot about her sub race, but she was very sleek and sensual when it came to body type.  Her race was nearly a breed all it's own.  While she'd had feline looking shifter parents, it was obvious she was a little different.   They said that one out of every ten thousand shifters was born like her, a cat woman.  But she knew that no matter how many times she fucked someone, she never caught pregnant.  That is, the rumor was only a catboy that was like her could get her knocked up... a fate she was trying to avoid.  Which was only one of the reasons she'd come here to Laelith.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>The heavy handed sailor came up behind Flora and pressed his body against hers so that she was pinned to the railing.  He smelled of sea salt and sweat, and his human muscles rippled against her back as he trapped her.  He was clad in only sun bleached trousers, and it was obvious he was trying to impress the cat girl one last time before she disembarked in the new city.  He pointed up at the city that rose up the hill with one hand as his other came down to squeeze her ass, his fingers working close to her tail which could feel the semi turgid pole in his trousers as he spoke, "That's it my furry little girl, Laelith.  It's a pretty lawless place, ye shure ye don't wanna just stay here on meh boat?  I'll keep ye in cream."  He chuckled and let his fingers drift closer into her ass cheeks, dangerously close to the asshole that she had denied him the entire boat ride from the faded lands.