Ple-Sen
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I hope I haven't forgotten anything.
Leaning tiredly against the wall, Alaria clutched an old issue of the "Reimian Chronicles" in her hands. The girl's gaze was focused not on the text of the Articles—she had read those back when this newspaper first went to print—but on a photograph. The photo showed participants of a beauty pageant held in the capital of a once-great empire. And it, better than any articles, allowed one to fully realize how much everything had changed over the last few months. Most of the girls in the picture met an unenviable fate: some disappeared without a trace, some perished, and the especially unlucky became concubines of the self-proclaimed "emperor"—Tiari Reim. And although Alaria managed to avoid any of these grim fates, and the usurper's tyranny had come to an end, it didn't make things any easier for her. Sonata Reim's ideals were dead, and the Tanarsian could not shake the feeling that part of the responsibility lay with her. Perhaps if she had shown more courage then, in Alfarad Asparagus's mansion, everything would have turned out differently? Alaria didn't know the answer, but guilt continued to torment her day after day. It was replaced only by a sense of hatred toward the inhabitants of the Empire, who had quickly turned against the empress they once loved.
Sighing heavily, the Tanarsian put the newspaper into her travel bag and, just in case, double-checked its contents once more. Staying in that hole that once bore the proud name of the Reimian Empire was unbearable for the girl. However, she didn't plan to move to Larian, the fragment closest to Sonata's ideals, either. Nor did she believe she deserved it. Instead, Alaria planned something that no sane person would ever do—she planned to travel into the territory of former Lytheia and find out exactly what had happened to the once-prosperous duchy. Naturally, the warrior didn't plan to take anyone with her; this journey promised to be far too dangerous. And Alaria did not want to be the cause of someone else's death. Moreover, although she loved to tell herself that this whole venture would not only be a good test of her skills but would also help her redeem herself by discovering the source of the Lytheian undead, deep down the girl understood that these were all excuses. In reality, she simply hoped to meet her death there, though she was afraid to admit it to herself.
Having ensured everything was in place, Alaria took one last look at the apartment that had served as her home for the past few years. Once, she had hoped to eventually acquire a more expensive and cozy residence—with a beautiful view from the window. What became of those hopes now? The same as the landscapes of Reim—once beautiful architectural monuments were replaced by smoking ruins. Shaking her head and smirking at her former naivety, the warrior slung the travel bag over her back and headed for the exit. She had nothing more to do here.
If not for a faithful journal, to which Alaria added entries every day, she would have long since lost count. The couple of months spent in Lytheia felt like an eternity, and each new day differed from the previous one only by how many and what kind of demons the girl managed to kill. At least until recently. In the last week, she hadn't even encountered demons—her eyes beheld beautiful but deserted landscapes. There was no sense of human influence here. There were no echoes of the recent war. This region of Lytheia brought peace to Alaria's heart and almost made her forget that hordes of undead were roaming the lands of the duchy.
The situation changed on the third day of the following week, when the warrior happened to see a small settlement in the distance. And although the girl didn't hope for much, as she approached it became clear that this place was not abandoned—human silhouettes, scurrying from side to side, were occupied with their own affairs. At least, that's how it seemed at first. Soon it became clear that these very silhouettes did not belong to humans: almost every inhabitant of the village could boast horns, at the very least, while some of them only remotely resembled humans, and some could easily be mistaken for living statues. However, setting aside their exotic appearance, they differed in no other way from the inhabitants of human villages.
Deciding that risking it and trying to talk to the settlement's inhabitants would be better than continuing to wander further through the wastes, Alaria headed toward the village. It didn't take long before the residents noticed her—the guards tensed up, while ordinary people began to examine her with a mixture of suspicion and curiosity.
However, after a few simple questions from the guard and the fulfilled request to surrender her weapons, the Tanarsian was allowed through. And finding someone talkative enough turned out not to be that difficult—as it happened, the locals were curious to know how things stood outside Lytheia. As a result, the girl received significantly more information than she had initially expected. Some of her suspicions were confirmed—the local residents had indeed once been humans, albeit altered by demonic influence, and Talassius Semis Dame was responsible for Lytheia's current state. In pursuit of a goal known only to him, the duke let Priscilla into this world, a powerful demoness who in a matter of days seized the east of the Empire and divided it into domains. And each of these domains was ruled by vassals appointed by her, one of whom became the former ruler of Lytheia, now called Eos. Alaria herself, at the moment, was in Kairos, the domain of Foliol—the demon of wisdom and philosophy.
The girl didn't know how to react to the answers she received—none of the mentioned demons had even been briefly mentioned in Tanarsian treatises. Moreover, they didn't even fit into the usual classification. As a result, Alaria only had more questions, which perhaps only Priscilla herself could answer. What was much worse, achieving her goal brought her no satisfaction—it only made her think once more about why she was actually doing all this.
The next morning, still unable to figure out how to proceed, the Tanarsian decided to take a risk and pay a visit to the local lord. Although the praise from the village residents was received by her with skepticism, it didn't seem that his rule was particularly despotic or that he encouraged his subjects to commit terrible things. It seemed as though he didn't care about managing the domain at all—the inhabitants of Kairos were left to their own devices and turned to Foliol only for advice.
The conversation with the demon of wisdom lasted several hours, which flew by for Alaria like minutes. She had the feeling that her interlocutor saw right through her and knew even her most secret fears and desires. And these few hours were enough for her to accept some things she had previously refused to accept. For example, the fact that Sonata's ideology had become, in many ways, a replacement for the Enclessian faith. While the former attracted her personally, the latter had been imposed from birth. No matter how much she followed them in words, personal interests always had top priority at the decisive moment. But strangely enough, this conversation really made the girl feel better, and that hadn't happened to her in a long time. As a result, after brief hesitation, she decided to stay in Kairos for some more time to better understand herself.
Crossing one leg over the other, the demoness sat by the campfire and intently examined the photo in the old issue of the "Reimian Chronicles". After more than twenty years of living in Kairos, the black-haired Tanarsian in the picture looked completely foreign and unfamiliar. A strange feeling. It was doubly strange to realize that right now this very girl should be celebrating her fiftieth birthday. Alaria didn't feel that age at all. On the contrary—now she felt much better than in her youth. She was stronger, faster, more enduring, and she wasn't worried about things inherent to mortals, such as "old age". One could boldly enjoy life without fearing that one day you would barely be able to move your legs, only to discover Alfarad Asparagus with dice around the next corner. Reflecting on this topic, the woman couldn't help but wonder, "What would that Alaria think if she saw me today?". "Nothing good," the demoness smirked, answering herself.
Crumpling the newspaper, a useless memory of such a distant past, Alaria threw it into the fire, stood up and picked up the heavy bag from the ground. Although staying in Kairos helped her get back on her feet and, however ironic it may sound, overcome her own demons, lately the local landscapes brought her nothing but boredom. Training had become tedious, as new faces rarely replenished the ranks of Foliol's warriors, and old ones didn't always survive the Empress's military campaigns. Visits to the lord of Kairos himself became much rarer—the warrior had long since figured herself out, and there was no longer a particular need for them. What she did feel a need for were new sensations and challenges. New faces and impressions. Besides, she simply missed human society that wasn't just a small village in the middle of nowhere.
Ultimately, Alaria made her choice: "Orion". Of all those few countries and organizations that didn't reach for their weapons at the sight of demons, Cassandra Dochire's group sparked the most interest in the demoness. Not least because Priscilla clearly had some plans for this organization, given the presence of one of her chevaliers in the higher echelons of power. And Alaria was curious to see personally how it would all turn out.
Origin:
Warrior of Foliol
Demon points +4.
+150% to health.
The character gains the ability to switch between two passive features—absorption and reflection.
Absorption (ranged attacks): reduces damage received by the character by (endurance)% (limit: 80%).
Reflection (melee attacks): reduces and reflects (endurance)% of damage back to the attacker. If endurance is over 100, then the reflected damage is correspondingly higher.
Conviction:
Master of One's Own Fate
Fate card of your choice (effects are determined randomly); ability to refuse one, several, or all cards; character survives one fatal wound.
Perk:
Body Strength
+10 to health for each unit of strength; +1% melee damage for each unit of strength.
Starting Item:
Some Book
A book, the reading of which will give only one character +1500 exp units.
Essence:
Humanity Points
1: humanoid mind;
5: humanoid appearance;
Demon Points
1: +25% to health
2: +20% to accuracy and evasion
3: Horns;
4: +20 to charisma, +20% to magic power and +20% to spell effectiveness.
Characteristics:
Strength: 65
Intelligence: 20
Will: 50
Dexterity: 50
Perception: 50
Wisdom: 10
Charisma: 10 (30)
Skills and Abilities:
Two-handed weapons (type 1)
— Fury
1. (Strength-30)/2=chance to deal double damage (2 DP)
2. (Strength-30)/2=chance to paralyze the opponent for one turn (2 DP)
3. Additional attack, +2% damage per unit of strength, +3 movement speed (4 DP)
— Enhancers
Minimum intelligence: 20
— Basic Training
1. Character can use enhancers (1 DP)
(3 HP in reserve)
Inventory:
"Dignity"
"Triton" +1
Mechanical watch
"Hephaestus IV"
Business suit [F]
"Night Sky"
Third-generation enhancer
First slot: ✧ Zephyr
Second slot: ✧ Restoration
Third slot: ✧ Aquilon
Fourth slot: ✧ Darkness
Fifth slot: ✖ absent
Some Book
Alaria Doran
Leaning tiredly against the wall, Alaria clutched an old issue of the "Reimian Chronicles" in her hands. The girl's gaze was focused not on the text of the Articles—she had read those back when this newspaper first went to print—but on a photograph. The photo showed participants of a beauty pageant held in the capital of a once-great empire. And it, better than any articles, allowed one to fully realize how much everything had changed over the last few months. Most of the girls in the picture met an unenviable fate: some disappeared without a trace, some perished, and the especially unlucky became concubines of the self-proclaimed "emperor"—Tiari Reim. And although Alaria managed to avoid any of these grim fates, and the usurper's tyranny had come to an end, it didn't make things any easier for her. Sonata Reim's ideals were dead, and the Tanarsian could not shake the feeling that part of the responsibility lay with her. Perhaps if she had shown more courage then, in Alfarad Asparagus's mansion, everything would have turned out differently? Alaria didn't know the answer, but guilt continued to torment her day after day. It was replaced only by a sense of hatred toward the inhabitants of the Empire, who had quickly turned against the empress they once loved.
Sighing heavily, the Tanarsian put the newspaper into her travel bag and, just in case, double-checked its contents once more. Staying in that hole that once bore the proud name of the Reimian Empire was unbearable for the girl. However, she didn't plan to move to Larian, the fragment closest to Sonata's ideals, either. Nor did she believe she deserved it. Instead, Alaria planned something that no sane person would ever do—she planned to travel into the territory of former Lytheia and find out exactly what had happened to the once-prosperous duchy. Naturally, the warrior didn't plan to take anyone with her; this journey promised to be far too dangerous. And Alaria did not want to be the cause of someone else's death. Moreover, although she loved to tell herself that this whole venture would not only be a good test of her skills but would also help her redeem herself by discovering the source of the Lytheian undead, deep down the girl understood that these were all excuses. In reality, she simply hoped to meet her death there, though she was afraid to admit it to herself.
Having ensured everything was in place, Alaria took one last look at the apartment that had served as her home for the past few years. Once, she had hoped to eventually acquire a more expensive and cozy residence—with a beautiful view from the window. What became of those hopes now? The same as the landscapes of Reim—once beautiful architectural monuments were replaced by smoking ruins. Shaking her head and smirking at her former naivety, the warrior slung the travel bag over her back and headed for the exit. She had nothing more to do here.
If not for a faithful journal, to which Alaria added entries every day, she would have long since lost count. The couple of months spent in Lytheia felt like an eternity, and each new day differed from the previous one only by how many and what kind of demons the girl managed to kill. At least until recently. In the last week, she hadn't even encountered demons—her eyes beheld beautiful but deserted landscapes. There was no sense of human influence here. There were no echoes of the recent war. This region of Lytheia brought peace to Alaria's heart and almost made her forget that hordes of undead were roaming the lands of the duchy.
The situation changed on the third day of the following week, when the warrior happened to see a small settlement in the distance. And although the girl didn't hope for much, as she approached it became clear that this place was not abandoned—human silhouettes, scurrying from side to side, were occupied with their own affairs. At least, that's how it seemed at first. Soon it became clear that these very silhouettes did not belong to humans: almost every inhabitant of the village could boast horns, at the very least, while some of them only remotely resembled humans, and some could easily be mistaken for living statues. However, setting aside their exotic appearance, they differed in no other way from the inhabitants of human villages.
Deciding that risking it and trying to talk to the settlement's inhabitants would be better than continuing to wander further through the wastes, Alaria headed toward the village. It didn't take long before the residents noticed her—the guards tensed up, while ordinary people began to examine her with a mixture of suspicion and curiosity.
However, after a few simple questions from the guard and the fulfilled request to surrender her weapons, the Tanarsian was allowed through. And finding someone talkative enough turned out not to be that difficult—as it happened, the locals were curious to know how things stood outside Lytheia. As a result, the girl received significantly more information than she had initially expected. Some of her suspicions were confirmed—the local residents had indeed once been humans, albeit altered by demonic influence, and Talassius Semis Dame was responsible for Lytheia's current state. In pursuit of a goal known only to him, the duke let Priscilla into this world, a powerful demoness who in a matter of days seized the east of the Empire and divided it into domains. And each of these domains was ruled by vassals appointed by her, one of whom became the former ruler of Lytheia, now called Eos. Alaria herself, at the moment, was in Kairos, the domain of Foliol—the demon of wisdom and philosophy.
The girl didn't know how to react to the answers she received—none of the mentioned demons had even been briefly mentioned in Tanarsian treatises. Moreover, they didn't even fit into the usual classification. As a result, Alaria only had more questions, which perhaps only Priscilla herself could answer. What was much worse, achieving her goal brought her no satisfaction—it only made her think once more about why she was actually doing all this.
The next morning, still unable to figure out how to proceed, the Tanarsian decided to take a risk and pay a visit to the local lord. Although the praise from the village residents was received by her with skepticism, it didn't seem that his rule was particularly despotic or that he encouraged his subjects to commit terrible things. It seemed as though he didn't care about managing the domain at all—the inhabitants of Kairos were left to their own devices and turned to Foliol only for advice.
The conversation with the demon of wisdom lasted several hours, which flew by for Alaria like minutes. She had the feeling that her interlocutor saw right through her and knew even her most secret fears and desires. And these few hours were enough for her to accept some things she had previously refused to accept. For example, the fact that Sonata's ideology had become, in many ways, a replacement for the Enclessian faith. While the former attracted her personally, the latter had been imposed from birth. No matter how much she followed them in words, personal interests always had top priority at the decisive moment. But strangely enough, this conversation really made the girl feel better, and that hadn't happened to her in a long time. As a result, after brief hesitation, she decided to stay in Kairos for some more time to better understand herself.
Crossing one leg over the other, the demoness sat by the campfire and intently examined the photo in the old issue of the "Reimian Chronicles". After more than twenty years of living in Kairos, the black-haired Tanarsian in the picture looked completely foreign and unfamiliar. A strange feeling. It was doubly strange to realize that right now this very girl should be celebrating her fiftieth birthday. Alaria didn't feel that age at all. On the contrary—now she felt much better than in her youth. She was stronger, faster, more enduring, and she wasn't worried about things inherent to mortals, such as "old age". One could boldly enjoy life without fearing that one day you would barely be able to move your legs, only to discover Alfarad Asparagus with dice around the next corner. Reflecting on this topic, the woman couldn't help but wonder, "What would that Alaria think if she saw me today?". "Nothing good," the demoness smirked, answering herself.
Crumpling the newspaper, a useless memory of such a distant past, Alaria threw it into the fire, stood up and picked up the heavy bag from the ground. Although staying in Kairos helped her get back on her feet and, however ironic it may sound, overcome her own demons, lately the local landscapes brought her nothing but boredom. Training had become tedious, as new faces rarely replenished the ranks of Foliol's warriors, and old ones didn't always survive the Empress's military campaigns. Visits to the lord of Kairos himself became much rarer—the warrior had long since figured herself out, and there was no longer a particular need for them. What she did feel a need for were new sensations and challenges. New faces and impressions. Besides, she simply missed human society that wasn't just a small village in the middle of nowhere.
Ultimately, Alaria made her choice: "Orion". Of all those few countries and organizations that didn't reach for their weapons at the sight of demons, Cassandra Dochire's group sparked the most interest in the demoness. Not least because Priscilla clearly had some plans for this organization, given the presence of one of her chevaliers in the higher echelons of power. And Alaria was curious to see personally how it would all turn out.
Origin:
Warrior of Foliol
Demon points +4.
+150% to health.
The character gains the ability to switch between two passive features—absorption and reflection.
Absorption (ranged attacks): reduces damage received by the character by (endurance)% (limit: 80%).
Reflection (melee attacks): reduces and reflects (endurance)% of damage back to the attacker. If endurance is over 100, then the reflected damage is correspondingly higher.
Conviction:
Master of One's Own Fate
Fate card of your choice (effects are determined randomly); ability to refuse one, several, or all cards; character survives one fatal wound.
Perk:
Body Strength
+10 to health for each unit of strength; +1% melee damage for each unit of strength.
Starting Item:
Some Book
A book, the reading of which will give only one character +1500 exp units.
Essence:
Humanity Points
1: humanoid mind;
5: humanoid appearance;
Demon Points
1: +25% to health
2: +20% to accuracy and evasion
3: Horns;
4: +20 to charisma, +20% to magic power and +20% to spell effectiveness.
Characteristics:
Strength: 65
Intelligence: 20
Will: 50
Dexterity: 50
Perception: 50
Wisdom: 10
Charisma: 10 (30)
Skills and Abilities:
Two-handed weapons (type 1)
— Fury
1. (Strength-30)/2=chance to deal double damage (2 DP)
2. (Strength-30)/2=chance to paralyze the opponent for one turn (2 DP)
3. Additional attack, +2% damage per unit of strength, +3 movement speed (4 DP)
— Enhancers
Minimum intelligence: 20
— Basic Training
1. Character can use enhancers (1 DP)
(3 HP in reserve)
Inventory:
"Dignity"
"Triton" +1
Mechanical watch
"Hephaestus IV"
Business suit [F]
"Night Sky"
Third-generation enhancer
First slot: ✧ Zephyr
Second slot: ✧ Restoration
Third slot: ✧ Aquilon
Fourth slot: ✧ Darkness
Fifth slot: ✖ absent
Some Book