#aesthetics: ophiuchus kingdom

[isolaradiale]

12:00AM EST, OCTOBER 11TH

An intense tremor signaled the arrival of Fantasia’s greatest foe. Gathered around the great tree stood the armies of the four kingdoms, troops numbering in the thousands before even factoring in the otherworldly heroes. The circle of flame hung high in the sky above the tree, a pair of eyes most familiar to the latter party peering down with curiosity. From the darkness emerged a hand larger than even a skyscraper, size alone enough to stir the winds and phase the troops below as it grasped the base of the tree.

The tearing of wood echoed across the kingdoms as in a single pull it was uprooted, an unnatural phenomenon spreading throughout the worlds the moment it was removed. The world, their surroundings, it all flickered to white. The world was nothing more than a vast, endless, platform of white. The sky? White. The only things remaining of Spirale or Fantasia were the outworlders and the NPC armies of the fantasy realm.

TH̕E͜ WO̡R̕LD W͘IĹL ̢E̷N͠D BEC̸A̕US̶E ͠Y̨OU̡ WE̵R͜EN̨’͘Ţ ͘S̷TRO̴NG EN͜O͏ŲGH͏. ̷H̴M҉?͜ T͞H͢EY͝'̸R̷E ͠PL҉E͞N͡T̕Y̨ ͠S̴TŖON̢G̕, YO͏U̢ ̕ŞAY?́ T͢HA͞T'̷S TR̴ƯE. BUT ͞THÈ W͘EA̡K ON͝E IS͢ Y͘O̷U̴. A̛ ̛D̛O͝L̀L̴ ͏W͘ITHOUT͟ A ͘SO̧U͢L C̢ANN͢O͠T ̶PLA̢Y AT ͞B͢E̡I̷NǴ A HUM̛A͘N.̷

A sinister voice called as a big grin spread across the face of Dark Lord, tree pointed at its mouth. Once it consumed the protections of the tree? The world could be assimilated and rebuilt in its entirety. 

“NO!” It was the scream of a girl, one that bellowed from the essence of the fantasy tree Ophiuchus itself. It was accompanied by a bright light as the tree itself seemingly dissipated, a small object slipping between the monsters fingers and fluttering down to the center if where the tree had once stood.

It was a girl many who’d stayed in Spirale might find familiar, yet her appearance had changed. Gone was the visage of a child, her body now reminiscent of a machine in the form of a teenager. While her fashion choices were questionable, it was undoubtedly Ofiuco floating there.

While Ofiuco’s general aesthetic had received an update, that wasn’t all. Her eyes held a certain light to them. “One year of observing you all... I didn’t understand it at first...” Her manner of speaking was less mechanical, more human. “When you all suffered, my chest ached. When you were happy, it was set aflutter. I think I finally realized when you were forced to kill your copies back in January... Because I was created, I assumed I didn’t have a heart or a soul. I merely parroted the things said to me, the expectations I was programmed with. But I have a heart... I HAVE A SOUL!” With this declaration, the translucent wings of crimson that hung at her back began to glow a beautiful gold. It was the colour of hope. 

Y͡O̶U'́R̕E̡ R̷ET͜UR͘N̛IN̴G THE̛IR͏ PO̵WE͠RS? ͏IS T̀H̕AT̕ H͜O̷W̕ ͝STRO̡NG͏L̛Y͏ ͡Y̶OU WI͞SH ́T͞O ÓP͟P͜OS͡E ̧M̧E͝, ҉D҉AU͡GHTE̸R͠? ȨV͞E͞N ͟I̴F͡ YOU SI̡DE̸ ́WITH ҉THEM THI̵Ś ͡T̵IM̛E̡, ͡Y̷OU͢'͏R͟E ͡S̷T͝ÍLL ̛O̷NE̷ ̵ƠF T͘HEIR ̶CAP̛TÒRS͞.͠ Y͠O̸U̢'L҉L҉ ST͜ILL B̡E̡ ̸SCǪR͜NĘD͟.̀ ͘BU͘T I̧T'S FI̧NE҉. ̨IF̕ ̧YOU W̴ANT̸ T̵O ̨E͠N̨D T͠H̛IS ҉WIT̨H̸ ͜A F̡I͘N̵A͘L ͞C͏LA͢SH,̀ ̡I̵ ̴HA̴VE S͠O͡LD͠I̕ȨRS͏ ̨O̸F ̵M̵Y͜ OWN.͢

The android pursed her lip as numerous identical circles of flame, almost one hundred of them, opened in the white sky above. Minions began to pour out. Mist Reapers, sure, but among them more dangerous beasts. Some could fly, others were bulky and powerful, but all wore the Demon Lord’s face. 

“Daughter... I had a feeling that was the case. ‘Essair’ is just an anagram... but it isn’t true, is it? You’re just a personality shaped using her data...” The glow of her wings grew more intense as the otherworlders could feel their power limitations lift and weapons take shape in their hands. If their original form was more powerful they would be returned to it, but those that would be powerless without their Fantasian boons would retain their fantasy shape.

“Yes, you all may hate me. I’m your ally right now, but that may not be the case tomorrow. I’m not going to offer an apology for capturing you, because I believe our cause is just. But one thing we all share is the desire to see tomorrow, right?” Ofiuco’s words were clearly aimed at the otherworld forces as NPCs took battle formation in response to the newly spawned threats. “If you ever hope of returning home you need to fight. Allies, enemies, it doesn’t matter. If we lose here then all will be lost, you will be trapped in Fantasia as a being that cannot remember their world. What exists beyond this radial island, too...”

“SO FIGHT! LET’S CLAIM THE FUTURE TOGETHER!”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Welcome to the final stage of The Fantasia War event!

Chronologically these events will take place over two hours (from 12:01AM to 2:00AM EST on October 11th). That said, you can use the setting of these two hours until 11:59:59PM EST on October 20th in order to get your participation.

There will be a reward for participating in this raid section, to be announced later.

Participation can be one of the following: a thread that has a total word count of at least 200 words per writer or a 300 word drabble. Minis will not count unless they satisfy the thread requirements.

Participation must be completed before the conclusion is posted at 12:00:01AM EST on October 21st or else you will not be eligible for the prizes.

You may use threads from the raid as your event participation. Of course you can still write for the first two parts of the event until the event period ends.

All powers and weapons will be unlocked for this short phase courtesy of Ofiuco. While the fodder can be wiped out with reckless abandon, their rapid respawning cannot be abated and they will not be eliminated using the same OP abilities twice. So, for example: if your character could just snap every enemy out of existence it would work, but they would respawn not ever 30 seconds later with resistance to this specific technique again. Remember this is a team effort and while showing off a little is okay, please do not try to just solve the whole battle yourself.

You have the choice to either retain your Fantasia appearance or revert back to your usual one. For characters that do not have powers normally, you’ll still have all of your spells if you retain the former, their power levels boosted by Oficuo’s blessing.

Okay, now about the enemies themselves?

Short of the aesthetic concepts utilized in the plot portion of the post (such as having the Dark Lord’s face), we’re leaving the creative freedom to design the opponents you face as you wish. Size, number, and abilities (but nothing game breaking) are free form! To those ends we won’t be answering ‘is it okay if the monsters do this or look like this’ asks. This is your chance to have your character do some badass things, don’t overthink it too much.

Mist Reapers are still present, though they are much more hostile to everyone.

While the Demon Lord itself can be attacked, it seems most attacks aren’t very effective. It has a natural immunity to conceptual attacks.

Ofiuco is in the same boat. You can try to harm her, but it won’t be effective and she’ll just turn off your abilities so you become Mist Reaper chow.

[offscriptif]

I'm intrigued— in terms of non human physical traits, would the MC also exhibit a form of non human physical traits? Thank you!

I am going to give you a tentative no.

While I do agree that having non-human physical traits would be fun, the Villain already has one too many reasons to be hated from the get go.

You see, while using Mages to change your appearance to add non-human traits is all the rage in the nobility of Ophiuchus Kingdom now due to the Kingdom's current positive relation with Caelland, the Serazus Empire and the Solomonic Alliance, that was not the case around the time the Villain was born. While it is not abnormal for nobles to be born with non-human physical traits, they were not necessarily welcomed at the time of your birth as the Ophiuchus Kingdom was in the midst of a Cold War with the Solomonic Alliance and the tensions were high with Caelland and Serazus Empire. This, then, means that if the Villain had been born with non-human features to a Noble House that prided themselves on their human heritage for the last 7 generations, on top of their Blessing? Well, things were already bad for the Villain, I am not going to make them worse.

I am thinking, however, on adding the option to ask a Mage to change your appearance for aesthetic purposed later on so you can have cat eyes at some point.

[mynameisdreartblog]

Signs as Fires

Aries: The fire that stems from within. The fire within your soul that may, or may not, be responsible for all those unexplained cases of spontaneous human combustion.

Leo: The fire from a failed chemistry experiment. You gained new insights on exactly how not to do this particular thing.

Libra: The fire used to light the candelabras that hang from the rooms of regal buildings. Wait, what do you mean they don’t use actual fire anymore? It’s dangerous? That’s stupid, if there was any danger with those things, it would be the probability of dropping from the ceiling and crushing you.

Gemini: HELLFIRE!

Taurus: The fire used to ward off the terrorizing beast: not intended to destroy anything, it’s just to keep others safe.

Cancer: The fire carried by some very lucky schmuck to announce that the games have begun. What games have begun? Why, the torching games of course!

Scorpio: A slow smolder: the last bits of ash that still spark. Don’t worry, they’ll be safe to put on your skin soon.

Aquarius: The fire that isn’t put out by the tap water because it’s severely polluted: you tried to fix the problem, but you made it worse. You should’ve just used baking soda, or your own hands if you were that desperate.

Virgo: The fire that looks aesthetically-pleasing enough to warrant its presence in a pyrokinetic fashion week.

Capricorn: A forest fire: its damage starts to make an impact with no warnings preceding it, and now it’s too late to evacuate. And it all came from one person being a dipshit in the woods.

Pisces: The fire used to permanently destroy old archives, but are they truly lost? I heard the reverse-burning business is booming at the moment.

Ophiuchus: The fire that slowly burns down a matchstick. You think to yourself, while holding it, if it’ll hurt when the burn finally reaches your fingers. It does.

Sagittarius: The fire that keeps a guiding lantern lit, it’s running out of oil. Luckily however, you’re entering the kingdom of the fire-breathers, so this won’t be a problem.

[isolaradiale]

12:00AM EST, JUNE 24TH

An intense tremor signaled the arrival of Fantasia’s greatest foe. Gathered around the great tree stood the armies of the four kingdoms, troops numbering in the thousands before even factoring in the otherworldly heroes. The circle of flame hung high in the sky above the tree, a pair of eyes most familiar to the latter party peering down with curiosity. From the darkness emerged a hand larger than even a skyscraper, size alone enough to stir the winds and phase the troops below as it grasped the base of the tree.

The tearing of wood echoed across the kingdoms as in a single pull it was uprooted, an unnatural phenomenon spreading throughout the worlds the moment it was removed. The world, their surroundings, it all flickered to white. The world was nothing more than a vast, endless, platform of white. The sky? White. The only things remaining of Spirale or Fantasia were the outworlders and the NPC armies of the fantasy realm.

TH̕E͜ WO̡R̕LD W͘IĹL ̢E̷N͠D BEC̸A̕US̶E ͠Y̨OU̡ WE̵R͜EN̨’͘Ţ ͘S̷TRO̴NG EN͜O͏ŲGH͏. ̷H̴M҉?͜ T͞H͢EY͝'̸R̷E ͠PL҉E͞N͡T̕Y̨ ͠S̴TŖON̢G̕, YO͏U̢ ̕ŞAY?́ T͢HA͞T'̷S TR̴ƯE. BUT ͞THÈ W͘EA̡K ON͝E IS͢ Y͘O̷U̴. A̛ ̛D̛O͝L̀L̴ ͏W͘ITHOUT͟ A ͘SO̧U͢L C̢ANN͢O͠T ̶PLA̢Y AT ͞B͢E̡I̷NǴ A HUM̛A͘N.̷

A sinister voice called as a big grin spread across the face of Dark Lord, tree pointed at its mouth. Once it consumed the protections of the tree? The world could be assimilated and rebuilt in its entirety. 

“NO!” It was the scream of a girl, one that bellowed from the essence of the fantasy tree Ophiuchus itself. It was accompanied by a bright light as the tree itself seemingly dissipated, a small object slipping between the monsters fingers and fluttering down to the center if where the tree had once stood.

It was a girl many who’d stayed in Spirale might find familiar, yet her appearance had changed. Gone was the visage of a child, her body now reminiscent of a machine in the form of a teenager. While her fashion choices were questionable, it was undoubtedly Ofiuco floating there.

While Ofiuco’s general aesthetic had received an update, that wasn’t all. Her eyes held a certain light to them. “One year of observing you all... I didn’t understand it at first...” Her manner of speaking was less mechanical, more human. “When you all suffered, my chest ached. When you were happy, it was set aflutter. I think I finally realized when you were forced to kill your copies back in January... Because I was created, I assumed I didn’t have a heart or a soul. I merely parroted the things said to me, the expectations I was programmed with. But I have a heart... I HAVE A SOUL!” With this declaration, the translucent wings of crimson that hung at her back began to glow a beautiful gold. It was the colour of hope. 

Y͡O̶U'́R̕E̡ R̷ET͜UR͘N̛IN̴G THE̛IR͏ PO̵WE͠RS? ͏IS T̀H̕AT̕ H͜O̷W̕ ͝STRO̡NG͏L̛Y͏ ͡Y̶OU WI͞SH ́T͞O ÓP͟P͜OS͡E ̧M̧E͝, ҉D҉AU͡GHTE̸R͠? ȨV͞E͞N ͟I̴F͡ YOU SI̡DE̸ ́WITH ҉THEM THI̵Ś ͡T̵IM̛E̡, ͡Y̷OU͢'͏R͟E ͡S̷T͝ÍLL ̛O̷NE̷ ̵ƠF T͘HEIR ̶CAP̛TÒRS͞.͠ Y͠O̸U̢'L҉L҉ ST͜ILL B̡E̡ ̸SCǪR͜NĘD͟.̀ ͘BU͘T I̧T'S FI̧NE҉. ̨IF̕ ̧YOU W̴ANT̸ T̵O ̨E͠N̨D T͠H̛IS ҉WIT̨H̸ ͜A F̡I͘N̵A͘L ͞C͏LA͢SH,̀ ̡I̵ ̴HA̴VE S͠O͡LD͠I̕ȨRS͏ ̨O̸F ̵M̵Y͜ OWN.͢

The android pursed her lip as numerous identical circles of flame, almost one hundred of them, opened in the white sky above. Minions began to pour out. Mist Reapers, sure, but among them more dangerous beasts. Some could fly, others were bulky and powerful, but all wore the Demon Lord’s face. 

“Daughter... I had a feeling that was the case. ‘Essair’ is just an anagram... but it isn’t true, is it? You’re just a personality shaped using her data...” The glow of her wings grew more intense as the otherworlders could feel their power limitations lift and weapons take shape in their hands. If their original form was more powerful they would be returned to it, but those that would be powerless without their Fantasian boons would retain their fantasy shape.

“Yes, you all may hate me. I’m your ally right now, but that may not be the case tomorrow. I’m not going to offer an apology for capturing you, because I believe our cause is just. But one thing we all share is the desire to see tomorrow, right?” Ofiuco’s words were clearly aimed at the otherworld forces as NPCs took battle formation in response to the newly spawned threats. “If you ever hope of returning home you need to fight. Allies, enemies, it doesn’t matter. If we lose here then all will be lost, you will be trapped in Fantasia as a being that cannot remember their world. What exists beyond this radial island, too...”

“SO FIGHT! LET’S CLAIM THE FUTURE TOGETHER!”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Welcome to the final stage of The Fantasia War event!

As mentioned in the info post on Friday, chronologically these events will take place over two hours (from 12:01AM to 2:00AM EST on June 24th). That said, you can use the setting of these two hours until 12:01AM EST on June 28th in order to get your participation.

There will be a reward for participating in this raid section, to be announced later.

Everyone eligible for a reward will be entered to win one of five Mysterious Keys from the marketplace.

Participation can be one of the following: a thread that has a total word count of at least 400 words per writer or a 500 word drabble. Minis will not count unless they satisfy the thread requirements.

Participation must be completed before the conclusion is posted at 12:01AM EST on June 28th or else you will not be eligible for the prizes.

You may use threads from the raid as your pt2 participation. That said, as the event is technically over you will not be allowed to make any general pt2 starters. We’ll give an end date for finishing quests from the quest board along with the conclusion post.

All powers and weapons will be unlocked for this short phase courtesy of Ofiuco. While the fodder can be wiped out with reckless abandon, their rapid respawning cannot be abated and they will not be eliminated using the same OP abilities twice. So, for example: if your character could just snap every enemy out of existence it would work, but they would respawn not ever 30 seconds later with resistance to this specific technique again. Remember this is a team effort and while showing off a little is okay, please do not try to just solve the whole battle yourself.

You have the choice to either retain your Fantasia appearance or revert back to your usual one. For characters that do not have powers normally, you’ll still have all of your spells if you retain the former, their power levels boosted by Oficuo’s blessing.

Okay, now about the enemies themselves?

Short of the aesthetic concepts utilized in the plot portion of the post (such as having the Dark Lord’s face), we’re leaving the creative freedom to design the opponents you face as you wish. Size, number, and abilities (but nothing game breaking) are free form! To those ends we won’t be answering ‘is it okay if the monsters do this or look like this’ asks. This is your chance to have your character do some badass things, don’t overthink it too much.

Mist Reapers are still present, though they are much more hostile to everyone.

While the Demon Lord itself can be attacked, it seems most attacks aren’t very effective. It has a natural immunity to conceptual attacks.

Ofiuco is in the same boat. You can try to harm her, but it won’t be effective and she’ll just turn off your abilities so you become Mist Reaper chow.