Moondrop
Prologue
Of Dragonflies and New Members
With intense fascination, two golden orbs observed the two mating dragonflies flying around her, thin slits narrowing in surprise when the pair landed on the pointed tail she was lazily swishing around herself and continued their activities.
For a moment, her full, golden lips stretched in a small smile, the more pressing concerns momentarily forgotten as she watched the beautiful act of creating life. After twitching its wings a few times, the dragonfly couple took flight, soon getting lost amidst the gleams of sunlight reflected from the soft ripples scattered across the calm surface of the lagoon.
Ambrosia Vivian sat cross-legged, suspended in the air few inches above the body of water. The sun rays made her S-shaped horns glint a bright shade of gold, nicely contrasting her ivory skin. The soft breeze was gently playing with her long, silver hair that were floating slowly all around the woman´s head.
She came to the homey pebble beach to give rest to her unease. She could feel the Unseen Gates shift again a few hours ago. She couldn´t sense exactly what was happening but movement in the Gates was never a good sign. She repressed a shudder and turned her face back towards the scarce sun rays that made their way over the mountain tops standing around the lagoon, secluding it from the rest of the region. The force field protecting the city was barely visible from down here, the hexagon pattern only making itself known if the sun hit it from the right angle.
I cannot tell my children yet.
The fact that her favorite mug shattered into pieces this morning did nothing to alleviate her concerns.
She was distracted from her musings by the sound of approaching footsteps.
"Here you are, Master," a young man in his mid-twenties said with a kind smile as he got within hearing distance. "I thought I might find you here."
The approaching fellow was Milo Reeves. He stood at almost six feet with his long, thin limbs. He had straight, chin length brown hair. His kind, hazelnut eyes were greeting Ambrosia from behind the rectangular rimless glasses.
Milo was one of the founding members that was with her when she established her guild about 15 months back and since then, he was irreplaceable in terms of support.
He crossed the remaining meters until he was standing right in front of the water, shrouded his body in a thin layer of light pink energy and continued in his tracks, straight into the water, then sat right next to where Ambrosia was floating.
"The Gates shifted again?" the man asked. Except it wasn´t as much a question as an observation. He didn´t even needed to look at the Master´s face to know, he could feel the steel blue tingling discharges of her anxiety in the aura washing against his side. His bionic right hand was absentmindedly tapping against the water.
Ambrosia nodded. It was no use hiding anything from Milo, he always seemed to know exactly what was weighing on her mind. "This time, it lasted longer than before and felt more stronger. Things aren´t looking so well for us. And I still haven´t made any progress in locating the Original." Her gold demonic eyes met his friendly hazelnut ones.
If Milo was unsettled by her statement, it did not show. He smiled again. "Well, whatever is coming, I´m sure that all of us can overcome it together. Just focus on searching for the Original for now," he said, flopping on his back into the water.
Ambrosia relaxed somewhat. No matter what was thrown that way, she knew that she could always count on her children.
"I almost forgot. The reason why I came here," Milo said. "A new member came to join Moondrop. I came for you so you can do the entrance test. Wouldn´t want to keep them waiting," he added lightly.
This perked the Master´s interest, her gloomy mindset changing into a more excited one. The prospect of accepting new members always energized her. "Then what are we waiting for?" She gracefully stood up and started walking towards the guild, leaving Milo to scramble up from the ground and follow her; the pink coating on his body vanishing as soon as he stepped out of the water, leaving him perfectly dry.
As she walked - or more accurately floated - Ambrosia´s bare feet were hovering about a feet above the ground. Her demonic heritage allowed her to literally walk on air. Even if she was about four inches shorter than Milo, she stood taller than him now. Milo had to make haste even with his long legs to keep up with the pace she set.
"So who´s our new member?" Ambrosia asked.
"I actually haven´t seen them yet. Cyan contacted me a few minutes back saying he saw an unregistered person coming in through the camera system, looking for someone who manages member admissions. I don´t know any details about them though."
Any person willing to join the family was always welcome, provided they passed Ambrosia´s entrance test. Ambrosia briefly wondered whether the new person would be a Mage or a Phaser, but it would make little difference in the end, as her guild made a point about accepting everyone who qualified and wanted to contribute, magic-born or not.
Moondrop was stationed in the outskirts of the city of Eraklyon, the fifth biggest city in the country. Despite its size, it managed to fit into a mountain pass and parts of it were stationed either underground or in caves carved out in the base of the mountains. There was no scarcity when it came to nature´s resources, except maybe for sunlight. The rocky ground was rich on oils and minerals and clean water was aplenty.
On their way up, they passed the doors of one of the other two guilds in the city, Entropy Rave. It was rather unusual for a single city to host three guilds, but Entropy Rave and Arcane Tome were science guilds that didn´t want to have anything in common with magic-borns, not to mention that their purpose was primarily research based, unlike Moondrop, whose main focus was carrying out the traditional mission requests.
Ambrosia smiled inwardly when her gaze landed on the Moondrop guild hall, a glass-and-steel fortress hovering good three hundred feet above the ground. Ambrosia herself had helped to design it so that it would keep up with the latest technology developments but looked impressive at the same time.
"Aaand we´re here." Milo´s voice Ambrosia out of her musings as they arrived at the ground station. "After you."
A quick palm scan was all it took to enter the elevator capsule that would lift them to the guild mainroom.
Ambrosia took the few seconds to check her reflection in the glass walls of the capsule and attempted to straighten out her clothes – a red silk v-neck dress with a tie around her waist - and made sure the lot of her colorful bracelets don´t cover the white henna tattoos over her arms, feet and tail. Finally, she made sure her ruby tikka headpiece was properly positioned in the middle of her forehead and wrapped firmly in place around her horns.
She gave her reflection a playful wink. There, now she looked presentable. Milo, pretending not to notice her sudden flurry of activity, subtly smiled to himself behind her back.
At last, they arrived at the guild´s main door. Ambrosia took a deep breath and stepped out of the elevator, prepared to greet the hopefully new addition to her slowly expanding family.
AN: Moondrop is set in the same universe as Lightningpanda´s Seven Lions. The two storylines will intersect eventually and the characters will meet. The credit for the overarching plot goes to Panda, I´m just a hired grunt to do the surrounding detail work :).
Now, at first, I want everyone to MESSAGE ME FIRST before actually sending a character. It´s all included in the rules so please read them.
Well, I´m looking forward to our cooperation on this story. I´m warning you ahead however, one hell of a year is ahead of me, yet I will try my best to not go on breaks surpassing one month.
All information below is also posted on my profile together with update on spots and restrictions.
MOONDROP SYOC RULES
1. If you already have a character in Seven Lions, you can have a character too in Moondrop. The character can be related somehow, but keep in mind that the two guilds are literally a continent far from each other.
2. For now, only one OC per person limit. You can however include minor characters like lovers or family members in the form of your main character, and these might make small cameos throughout the story.
3. When you send me your character, please label the PM: Moondrop – (character name)/(ability name)
4. I will accept reservations as to give everyone, even the slower ones, a chance. Haste makes waste.
5. Even if you want to send a character right away, please message me about your intentions first, so I can tell you if I already have too much of a certain character type. In your message, tell me the character´s gender and age, basic outlines of personality (just a sentence or so is fine) and a brief description of their magic or phase. That way, if you do happen to create something someone else already did, I will be able to warn you ahead of time and you won´t have to redo the whole form.
6. Only one magic per character. I will also accept one dragon slayer, although that person will have to talk about it with me prior to sending their character.
7. I´ll introduce a new concept called Phase. Phasers are basically non-magic-borns who utilize various means other than magic to do jobs that normally require magic. What a Phase can look like is shown below the rules.
8. Before you decide on making a character, please check restrictions I will be updating regularly as I receive characters.
9. Keys are the most powerful mages in the guild working directly under the Master. They are the only ones allowed to go solo.
MOONDROP OC FORM
Name:
Known As: (what the people call him/her or the guild. Optional)
Age:
Gender:
Reputation: (good, bad, notorious, etc. Describe why)
Rank: (look into rank descriptions. Make sure your desired position is still free)
Guild Mark Location & Color:
Occupation: (prior to joining Moondrop, if any)
APPEARANCE
Height:
Body type:
Eye shape + color:
Hairstyle + color:
Skin tone:
Other: (Accessories, scars, tattoos, noticeable features, birthmarks etc)
Default Clothes:
(For now, I won't pressure you on clothes for other occasions, but in the case I set your character in a setting where different set of clothing is required, I'll let you know ahead so you can think it up and send it to me additionally).
PERSONALITY
Personality: (DETAIL. To me, this is the most important part of the form. It should contain at least a solid paragraph, the more the better. Don't just list personality traits, explain how they manifest and what influences the manifestation. PLEASE BE CREATIVE. Think outside of the usual lazy geniuses, snarky smartasses and silent characters with trust issues. Try to create a balanced personality with both positive and negative traits).
Personality type (optional): (This is just my quirk. If you're familiar with any typology, for example MBTI, Enneagram, Big Five etc, you can say the type your character is here (please include what typology you are using). 4 letters or a few numbers can tell me more about the way a character thinks or what their motivation is than a few paragraphs :))
Manner of speech: (Do they stutter? Swear? Speak super politely?)
Likes:
Dislikes:
Fears:
TYPES OF PEOPLE THEY WOULD-
Fall in love with:
Befriend:
Hate:
HOW THEY ACT TOWARDS-
Romantic interests
Strangers:
Enemies:
Friends:
When under pressure/angry:
POWERS
Is your character a mage or a phaser? (Depending on your answer, choose either the mage or the phaser section and delete the other. Information on what are phasers phasers as well as examples are below this form).
MAGE
Magic Name:
Magic Color:
Magic Type: (Caster, Holder, etc.)
Magic Description:
Abilities: (if any)
Spells: (Try to fit into the 5-12 spells range. If you character has use-based magic, that is magic that relies on its atributes and abilities rather than different spells, ignore the spell section and instead just describe what the magic can do as accurately as possible. Speed Magic for example. Unless you have 8 spells for 8 different speed modes, you can just describe what is possible with it, like creating tornadoes, moving so fast everything appears slow etc, without having to name every single move. You should still add some general weaknesses.
Not every spell has weaknesses, but at least the stronger ones and those to be used in battle should have. Weakness can be anything ranging from high mana cost, long casting time to backlash or the need to have specific conditions to cast it.
Spells learned later: (Should aim for about 4-7)
PHASER
(Refer to the phaser examples to see what is expected)
Phase name:
Phase description:
Weaknesses:
ABILITIES
Abilities: (Skills your character possesses unrelated to their magic or phase. Can be everything from talents to skills acquired during their previous lives.)
Weapon(s): (if any)
Equipment: (if any)
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
BACKGROUND
Family: (Can include dead family members. Include name, ties to your character and what kind of relationship do the two have – especially if you want them mentioned at some point).
Hometown: (Name, location (don't forget that the story is set in Alakitasia, not Fiore!), brief description).
History: (You don't have to write an essay, but be descriptive enough to convey what shaped your character to who they are today. If a guildmember at the start of the story, include brief history with Moondrop. The guild has been around for about an year and three months).
Plot points: (Are there any situations you'd like to see your character in or problems/possible plot point you'd like me to focus on?)
STATS (Out of 10, try to be realistic)
Attack:
Defense:
Endurance:
Speed:
Intelligence:
Mana reserve:
Random stat:
EXTRA (all optional)
Opinions on Govt.?
Thoughts on Science vs. Magic?
Do they hold ill feelings towards the system/people that treat magic differently?
How does he/she feel about doing chores?
Living Expenses: (how much does your character spends on money: rent, bills, clothes, food, etc.)
Ideal Missions: (what your character prefers to take on missions)
Hated Missions: (what your character loathes taking in missions)
Exceed?
Pet?
Theme Song(s): (A song, with or without lyrics, that you feel describes the general feel of your character that I can listen to while writing them. Can have more J)
Other: (Anything I forgot)
PHASER EXAMPLES
Keep in mind that Phasers aren´t strictly restricted to technology. Wouldn´t want 10 hackers running around.
(These examples are courtesy of Lightningpanda) These are not actual characters, these serve to let you know how creative you can get with your character´s Phases since it´s a new thing never seen before.
1. Adele Reese 2. Tiger Huen Lee 3. Yasmine Cross 4. Griffin Valor 5. Sasha Aleksandra
Phaser: Potion Maker
Phaser Description: Uses arts of chemistry and mystic arts to create powerful potions that can range from simple healing to immortality. Some potions can contain elemental properties, such as creating illegal potions meant to cause amour or death. However, some potions can be used for offense and defense purposes. However, its arts aren't meant to be combat. Therefore it has a limited range. But the effects depends how powerful the user is to achieve the perfection of going toe-to-toe with an S Class mage.
Phaser: Exorcism
Phaser Description: Forcibly remove possessing entities (ghost, demons, etc.) from the body, object or the location they are possessing/haunting. Unable to use magic, but able to utilize special weapons made of holy blades and with the help of technology, able to utilize certain moves that is easily confused as magic but isn't.
Phaser: Computer Operations
Phaser Description: Has immense knowledge of computers, everything connected to them, including hacking, coding, programming, fixing bugs/viruses, cracking passwords, etc.
Phaser: Nanite
Phaser Description: Able to manipulate tiny microscopic machines that dwell inside his cellular structural into weapons, armor, and his body. Depending how far his imagination is, these microscopic machines obey according to how he imagines it so. Though it will be rendered useless if an EMP when off.
Phaser: Psybernetics
Phaser Description: Can create and manipulate technology that is powered by psionic power of Sasha, whether in part or entirely. Using this technology, he can augment or focus their psionic energy or can even utilize psionic means that can not be used without said technology.