1 Attachment(s)
The Thayne Tantalus (Duffy Level 14)
Through trials that would break lesser men, we have succeeded. Through lives countless we have prevailed. Be it god or monster that tries to end us we emerge stronger and closer. Though we have come close to forgetting ourselves, we struggle on as kin. In ten years, the world has changed beyond recognition. Islands have fallen from the sky. Volcanoes have erupted. Homes have been lost. Free at last of the burden of self-imposed exile and overwhelming expectations, I have stepped out of the limelight to carry on the great work.
The legacy of the Forgotten Ones has been undone. Though not all by hand, they are shorn from history and the seal they placed on the future of the world has been broken. The Thayne of old are dead; or too weak to ever lay claims to mortal lives. The Tap, the pure, unfettered fabric of all life has been loosed, though it is course into our world may take centuries. Change is afoot. Old Gods rouse from their slumber. No longer driven mad by their defeat, the embodiment of nature returns the wheels of the seasons to motion. Man, in whatever form he takes is the master of his own destiny once again.
In this moment of rebirth of land and life I too have undergone a great change. We sang a song to scour our existence from history, so that we may at last have a chance of a ‘normal’ life. But out desire to be free of history nearly killed me. For a decade, though it felt an age I have slept in the Aria; the fragment of the Tap given form by the Thayne Tantalus. Not once did my sister forget me, her bond too strong even for the oldest and most powerful of spells. She gave birth to Duffy, or at least the version of me she remembered once Oblivion struck. He, hellbent on becoming a man, broke the laws of creation to find and free me. Where once one Duffy thrived, now there are two.
My younger self is every bit as impish and mischievous as I remember. Whereas I am heavy with regret and the burden of responsibility, he has the unending enthusiasm of youth bringing wonder to the mundane. Together we make quite the pair, though our time together is to be short lived. All these many battles were for a simple, universal end: to be the envoy for change. I am no longer torn between two worlds, and we can both live out the lives we wanted. But I must ensure that history does not repeat itself. That my divinity does not become a cage for minds that leads men to wage war with the heavens.
The Thayne were once all powerful. They feared their children so much they sealed the Tap; those left that could wield it but a fraction of the possibilities it unlocks. I will do the exact opposite. I will return the world to its pre-divine state. Give the Tap to the people. Let them be villain and hero and master and slave. Nobody will ever know my name. Nobody will ever build shrines to my deeds or mutter curses in fear of me. With the power of the Aria, my only legacy will be the songs you sing and the poems you recite for love, life, and laughter. People will think their lives are better because a young scoundrel and his troupe have visited their town. But it will be me, severing the last vestiges of regret and remorse sown by gods and their usurpers.
When the Tap is truly free, and the fate of the world is in their hands perhaps I too will fade into nothing. Forgotten even by myself. I still believe that what I did as a boy, the ideals I believed in are right. Though the hypocrisy is not lost on me, it is not power which corrupts, but the intent behind it that sets us apart. When the Tap can flow freely, there will be no chance of a stray idea growing into a gestalt consciousness. Every idea will roar with equal ferocity. If you are a god, or their disciple, you have been warned. I will cut out every heart, every ounce of piety left in the world and erase all memory of churches, chapels, and cherubs.
Eye Colour: Black
Hair Colour: Black
Height: 5’9â€
Weight: 76kgs
Age: 560 (Appears 29)
Race: Thayne
Alignment: True Neutral
Birthplace: Scara Brae
Home: Berevar
Skills: Duffy has amassed an impressive array of skills over the years. Although he possesses knowledge and insight into each, the fugue of a thousand cuts and deaths dampens his ability to apply them successfully. Because of his personality, he often finds himself with a plan that does not quite fall into place. Each skill, therefore, is not the be all and end all his experiences. Basically, he is a lucky bastard often.
Blade Master: Duffy is all but unrivalled in skill with daggers, short swords, and martial bladed weapons. He is especially proficient with Tooth and Nail and Lysander, and often, only trickery and magic can overcome his defences (or a bloody big hammer). Anyone who knows him knows better than to try and fight Duffy on his terms.
Thespian: Duffy is one of the greatest human bards alive. He can recite poems and plays and improvise to any occasion. He can dance, sing, and perform in a variety of Scara Braen, Raiaera, and Coronian styles. Whilst he is still a twat, he can help others to bring out the ‘inner thespian’ and incite crowds to rebellion and courts to mutiny with his oration and hips. Only Ruby has come close to matching him when it comes down to the wire.
Acrobat: Duffy is a street urchin at heart and can run prolonged distances and climb things that most men would throw up at the thought of. His acrobatics can be used defensively (represented in his abilities), and his speed and grace and gymnasts get him out of all sorts of scrapes and into all sorts of debauchery. He knows how to fall safely and use his speed and dexterity to maximise efficiency and keep drinking until dawn.
Historian: Lysander is scholarly when it comes to the history of Scara Brae, Raiaera, and Corone. Whilst it does not come out in a particularly eloquent way, ask him anything and he will get to an explanation eventually, despite its awkwardness and oft half-cut prattling. He can recount myths and fables and the histories of royal families like he was there (and probably was), and knows much about the flora, fauna, cultures, and traditions of the people who live and lived there. Lysander knows everything about the Thayne and their peoples, and has walked among the Illar, the first people of the world.
Abilities: Duffy’s abilities stem from natural talent and an affinity with the Aria – or the realm in which a mage finds the Tap. To a bard, the Tap is a wellspring of creativity, a resource containing every thought, song, poem, and spark of inspiration from across time and space. Without the limitations of spell books and archaic notions of spell craft, the Aria can be a place of sanctuary, revelation, and nightmares. All magical abilities listed below are instinctual and save for those ‘borrowed’ from his siblings, require no preparation but do require semantic or physical components to wield (as befitting of a blade singer).
Thayne: Lysander is a Thayne. He is immortal. He does not age. When he ‘dies’, his body reforms near one of the Reliquaries which house the body of the First Thayne Tantalus. If struck with the blade Lysander by someone wielding all these Reliquaries, he will die permanently. If all the relics are without an owner, Lysander will become dormant in the Aria until at least 4 are reclaimed by someone who believes in Tantalus.
Trapdoors: Duffy and Lysander can enter and exit the Aria at will, disappearing in a whirl of blue ribbons and a verse of a random song drawn from the rich history of Scara Brae. This ability allows him to travel great distances to places he, or any member of the troupe have acted or used the power of the Aria prior. It cannot be used in combat or any form of competitive engagement.
Props: All of Duffy’s artefacts, stage props, weapons, and resources can be produced from thin air. A small pocket vortex allows him to simply think of the item he requires, reach in, and pull it out. Props cannot be living, must be placed there when he legitimately owns the item in questions, and occasionally results in the bard plucking out something entirely inappropriate. In combat, he can produce only his own weapons, but other items can be used to improvise given half the chance.
Improvisations: Lysander’s link to his siblings is unbreakable. As the bard Wainwright’s understudy, and most talented of the troupe, he can use the abilities of his siblings a described in their biographies (including limitations) once per post. When he draws on the skills of his family, he does so at the current level of that individual +3 and takes on their affectations and mannerisms. Young Duffy does not have this ability.
Curtains: Duffy and Lysander are linked by fate. At will, they can swap places wherever they are in the world; each able to see and hear and feel through the sense of the other. Young Duffy is mortal, but has the same abilities as Lysander with appropriate reductions due to age, size, and skill (Young Duffy counts as level 5). They can never occupy the same space, however, or Lysander's presence will become known. People simply think that Young Duffy is a wizard/shapeshifter/freak. They have different personalities and different benefits/weaknesses to get around any problem.
Anxieties: Such is his awareness of his penchant for trouble, that Duffy is constantly anxious and alert. He hides it well, and it manifests as double the dexterity and reflexes of a physical fit human of his comparable age. He is quick in combat and can use these reflexes defensively, offering X3 evasion and inhuman senses – he is sorts of like an angry cat, without the fur balls and the clawing need to scratch things indifferently.
Method Acting: There is no role from Althanas’ history that Duffy can’t spoof or mimic. Just as he can use the abilities of his peers, he can, to a lesser degree, copy those of his enemies. Three times per thread, Duffy can use an ability listed in an opponent’s current profile but must suffer any side-effects and pay any costs associated with that ability. Any mimicry is done at the same level as the current profile, and this includes ability modifiers and semantic components.
Equipment: Lysander wields the seven Reliquaries of the First Thayne Tantalus. Artefacts which house some of the Thayne's dormant power. These items have been used throughout the history of the troupe and are collated here primarily for completion's sake. The combined power of the items, to sever soul from body or to cut a Thayne from the Tap are only to be used with prior agreement of all parties.
1. Wainwright’s Blade: Wainwright’s Blade is a steel longsword with a gold cross guard and spherical pommel. It is mundane by itself, but when wielded whilst wearing the rest of Wainwright’s artefacts it can cut the bond between body and soul. These relics are too important, and dangerous to use in battle. When the relics are combined, anyone suffering a fatal strike from the sword will die, regardless of immortality or magical prevention and such a blow will kill even vestiges of the Thayne.
2. Tooth: A short sword/dagger (depending on current form), that can slash with X2 strength of a normal masterwork steel counterpart. They are Lysander’s weapon of choice and the blade is engraved with the opening line of I Want to Be Your Canary.
3. Nail: A short sword/dagger (depending on Duffy’s form), that can penetrate at X2 strength of a normal masterwork steel counterpart. They are Lysander’s weapon of choice and the blade is engraved with the closing line of I Want to Be Your Canary along their blade.
4. Lysander: Lysander is a black handled elven katana, found and used in the war of independence between the Corone Rangers and the Empire. It is unbreakable and unwitherable against any non-magical weapon or armour. It conducts spell song with remarkable efficiency, and when Lysander is singing, the blade vibrates with the fury of a sun. It cuts as mithril when he is not channelling it and strikes with X3 strength when he is singing – it will retain this quality for one post after singing ends.
5. The Orb of Wainwright: a spherical crystal used by the first bard given royal ascent in Scara Brae and Lysander’s former mentor. It shows the bearer any performance of any play, song, or drama from the past, present, or future.
6. The Necklace of Faces: A spider silk hung silver necklace with an amber setting. When worn, it allows the wielder to appear like anyone they have ever acted and received applause for. This is an illusion spell, so can be perceived through by anyone with resistance to the school or with sufficient intelligence to see the truth.
7. The Amber Crown: a silver crown with seven shards of amber that glow with fiery light set into it. The crown has no power of its own, but when worn, allows the wielder to bind the Reliquaries together and use Wainwright’s Blade without being torn asunder.
Stage Props: All the troupe have access to a bewildering and growing range of props and costumes, ranging from the practical and mundane to the absurd and obscure. None of the items in the playhouse’s inventory are magical, and even the arms and armour are ramshackle and about as much use as a paper hat. He has access to food, water, alcohol, and household items and is just about as crazy enough as needed to put them to use in weird and wonderful ways to get into, and out of trouble. Items cannot be sold or bartered.
