Welcome to Surrender Dawn. Before starting your journey, make sure that you read everything that's on the Beginner's Guide Board:
First, make sure that you get to know the rules by which we manage our site and community.
For this, visit the Guide to Rules.
After that, it's fundamental to read all that there is to know about the world your character will be inserted into.
In order to do so, go to the Guide to Lore.
Lastly, please take a close look at all the mechanics that dictate our roleplay and its characters.
You can do this by checking out the Guide to Mechanics.
When you've done all of the above, you'll most likely be ready to start creating your character:
Create your Application Thread on the Character Creation Board.
To do so, follow the instructions on the Character Application Template Thread.
Once you're done, just copy the link of the thread and head over to the Grading Center.
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We hope you enjoy your time with us! Happy Roleplaying!
Updates
11/11/19: Open for Beta Testing! Feel free to explore the site and start creating your characters! If you have any doubt feel free to contact a member of the Staff Team.
The promenade was writhing with business that morning. Despite the bleak color of the sky, most folk had a generally good outlook in their eyes. Seasonal harvests were good and most people had food to eat besides the absolutely destitute. The people of the central part of the Wharf benefitted the most of course and Zera could see it a mile away. It went without saying that Zera had to spend most of his time in the Promenade-the center of activity here in the city-in order to further his own goals. His estate was still under construction which had tied up an enormous portion of his own funds. He had been careful in his spending the previous month and had just barely managed to piece together the appropriate amount to pay off a sufficiently talented freelancer.
You see, Zera had a problem. He'd been hearing recently about young people disappearing in the lower parts of the Wharf. Now the disappearances of individuals, while tragic, were not unusual in the Wharf. It happened all the time and no single person would be able to stop it from happening forever. Zera was many things, but he wasn't a fool. Besides, this particular string of disappearances had a unique take that had attracted his attention. All of them had been afflicted children, marked by the power of Vel they were outcasts simply by existing and their treatment was less than favorable. Now they were forced to endure even greater horrors if one could imagine that. Zera shuddered at the thought and focused on his surroundings, he needed to return to the present.
He was sitting on a bench watching the carriages go by. A majority were occupied and he was just a little too large to fit in some of the smaller ones with a fellow occupant. His build made it difficult for him to get transport without having to pay a bit of a premium. So he sat with a pile of notes in his lap, flipping through the material occasionally to refresh his memory. It had been days of work getting a list together from some of the folk in the lower area but he was certain he had a list of all the urchins who had disappeared over the past three months. His last order of business? Find a talented and willing hunter. That meant money. The very money he kept tucked against his breast at this very moment.
When a carriage finally came he was relieved to see that it was unoccupied. Taking this chance he boarded and asked to be taken to the center of the promenade. He would have walked but he knew enough about dealing with people to know that sweating during a conversation usually didn't help one's negotiating position. He needed all the advantages he could get if it meant convincing someone to help. In either event, he arrived at the small bar and tavern that served as one of the way houses for individuals who counted themselves among the enforcers, vagrants, and hunters. It was a nice enough place with dozens of tables, a billboard for jobs, and a reception desk to speak with a representative. He beelined for the rep and after she took a moment to take in the huge man who was looming over her she forced a smile.
A flash of gold howled like the wind between the many trees that dotted the landscape, whizzing past faster than the naked eye could see. A childish glee that felt almost intoxifying spread everywhere as the yellow blur of lightning sped along the foliage, spurred on by the freedom of the open fields. Regardless of how many years Yazmyn spent outside the many walls of the four great cities, she'd never get used to this feeling. The wind was at her back and the sun painted her way - nothing between her and the Wharf but the green of nature. A grin spread across her face as she gripped the reigns of Valeerah tighter, "Come on girl..." the black stallion neighed as if in response, her incredible muscles showing as she galloped between the trees.
"Let's go! Hya!"
They were away, racing through nature as if their life depended on it... yet both horse and rider, who shared an unbreakable trust, were enjoying themselves beyond a reasonable doubt. Valeerah, who had been left at the stables for nearly a week now, was relishing the opportunity to stretch her legs. Even if Yazmyn went to see her nearly every day when she could, the great stallion still missed the great outdoors. And Yazmyn, for her part, had gotten into a little trouble with Catherine... well. She had gotten into a little trouble with some... guy. She didn't really know what to call him. Suffice it to say Yazmyn was in the middle of one of her usual escapades, i.e. binge drinking and getting a girl back home, when all of a sudden some asshole decided he wanted her to take a dirt nap. Permanently. The encounter escalated into an actual fight where Yazmyn had been forced to use her Vel if she wanted to actually survive, and, well... by the time the Enforcer brigade decided to show themselves Yazmyn had already been quite cut up and the surrounding area had been all but destroyed. The assassin? Gone. Like the goddamn wind. And so, without any proof to her claim that it was self-defense, our twenty-five-year-old Huntress was thrown in a cell and left to rot for a couple of days. It looked like Cat believed her, but honestly there was no proof, so regardless of whether she believed the blonde or not - rules were rules. And rules were something Catherine followed religiously... besides, y'know, actual religion.
The second Yazmyn got out, she made a beeline for the stables. She mounted Valeerah - who, by the way, was beyond happy to see the Huntress - and the two of them were off into the grand nothingness of the Outlands, riding the winds wherever their eyes led them. By the Gods was it good to let loose a little, especially after being suffocated behind bars for what felt like a mini eternity. She'd been out for a couple of days now, having realized she ended up near the Wharf... not that she cared. She was out and about pretty much anywhere so long as civilization wasn't too far from reach. She'd need to stock up eventually, and while Yazmyn could definitely raid one of the many safehouses she'd established on the known map over the years, Valeerah needed some proper rest. The only reasonable decision was to actually enter the Wharf, and so she did. Smiling, the blonde left her black stallion in the care of the Hunter stables and went on towards the local bar in the promenade where she knew there were a few Hunters skulking about. Learning what was going on in the past couple of days that she was casually running around in the Outlands didn't seem like such a bad idea.
The second she entered she noticed a few familiar faces, offering them a casual salute and a quick explanation in regards to the reason she was there. Just out for a stroll, don't mind me, she said with a few casual nods. The blonde Huntress made her way to the bar and winked at the barmaid... who rolled her eyes and giggled, already familiar with the blonde's demeanor and, well... strategy, let's just say. That was one hell of a night, she had to admit.
"Gloria."
"Yazmyn," the waitress nodded back, crossing her arms and leaning against the bar with her hip. "What brings you to these parts? Girls at the capital not enough for you anymore?"
"Ow," she said, far too overdramatically clutching at her heart almost as though she'd been pierced directly through her chest. "Why must you hurt me so, my sweet sweet Gloria..." Yazmyn begun giggling when the barmaid rolled her eyes and waved her off, yet the smile never disappeared from her face. The blonde hopped on the bar and crossed her legs, hands on the knee of the raised leg, "So. Fill me in. What's been going on 'round these parts lately? Anything worthwhile I can check out? Oh, also, pour me a drink, would you lass?"
"The usual?" Gloria then asked, glancing at the entrance of the tavern when somebody entered, all while she reached for the bottle our horseback traveling blonde usually enjoyed.
"You got it!" Yazmyn's own lavender eyes quickly focused on the newly arrived male who made a beeline directly for the bar. He was... holy fuck he was huge. Yazmyn was already pretty tall - especially for a girl - but even she had to crane her head up just to be able to look at him eye-level.
Gloria, gave Yazmyn her drink - something that the blonde yelped happily to and took a quick sip. Gods the burn felt amazing, it immediately brought a small tint of red to her cheeks... not drunk content, no. Just happiness. A drink after a ride was bliss. The barmaid then proceeded to regard the newly arrived giant, looking up at him with a forced smile.
"How can I help you, sir?"
"I'd like to post up a job," he bellowed, his voice deep enough to wake even Yazmyn from her stupor. Blinking, she glanced at him, incredibly curious.
"What kind of unearthly job is there that a man the size of a mountain can't do himself?" She couldn't stop herself from asking. If Zera looked at her properly, he'd know she was a licensed Hunter... if not by how her body was build or the gear she had with her - said gear being a knife strapped to her hip and a metal right arm - then by the Hunter emblem of a hawk and a one star embezzled on the bicep of her coat.
Zera had not even noticed the young woman who was standing at the counter eyeing the barmaid and representative up. Admittedly, he had been so focused on what he was doing that nothing had really registered in his brain. That was normal for Zera; the man spent most of his time in his own head. Yet the moment he spoke the woman stirred from what appeared to be a bit of a stupor. Zera glanced down at her when she addressed him. She was blinking rapidly, a sign of confusion. Her eyes were on his frame and it was clear that she had made assumptions about him based on his build. It was reasonable to say, he was stronger than most people, but that did not mean that he had the authority or the skills to handle something like this. It was flattering for her to think so though.
She shot her question, blunt, very blunt. His eyebrows rose and he turned to her, resting an elbow on the counter. He reached into his shirt and pulled the sack of coins out, placing it down between them and in front of the barmaid. He hadn't caught her name. That was rude of him. He'd have to apologize when the conversation veered in an appropriate direction. He gave her a once over with his eyes, sizing her up. A knife strapped to her hip. Her arm... a prosthetic? He'd seen vanta prosthetics in his foster father's laboratory, he'd been investigating their application but vanta was so expensive it was dangerous to give to just anyone. The more important detail here, though, was the One Star Hawk emblazoned on the bicep of her coat.
His smile widened to one of absolute delight and relief. Thank the gods! He had found a licensed hunter. With someone chosen by the government and tasked with protecting the people he could rest a bit more easily. He beamed at her and looked her in the eyes with those glowing orbs of his own-
"Just the kind of person I was looking for! Zera Leigh, an absolute pleasure to make your acquaintance miss...?" He guffawed, thrusting out a shovel sized hand and shaking her entire arm roughly before slapping a hand on the counter and let out a laugh. His laugh cut short when his brain caught up with his good humor and relief and he realized he hadn't answered her question. "The Job! Right! Yes! The job..." He hesitated and then sighed before scratching at his chin and thinking about the best way to frame it all. Yes, Hunters were government employees but they often took bounties. Bounties meant time. Time that couldn't be wasted on smaller prizes. He glanced sidelong at the small pouch of coins he had to offer. He was oblivious, of course, to the fact that his name alone carried a little bit of weight, House Leigh was nobility after all.
His face grew firm; "Over the past few weeks there have been a rash of disappearances. Young people in the lower areas of the city. Children, Adolescents, Teenagers. It's becoming symptomatic," He began, nodding to the door as if the whole world outside as suddenly dark and dangerous. He glanced back at her, his eyes growing soft and sad; "I've been collecting the reports for some time, trying to find a pattern. These are all Vel Afflicted children," He rasped, a little bit of lump in his throat. He reached into the sack on his hip and pulled out a roll of papers. He put them down on the counter. A painfully thick pile of notes presented itself written in the neat scrawling hand of someone who'd been educated by a scribe. Name after name, vel afflictions listed, general appearance, orphanage or family of origin. All of them destitute.
"I need your help, and I am willing to pay this as a down payment. It isn't much, but my household is not yet back on it's feet. I am sorry I cannot offer more," He pleaded, gripping the counter but not breaking eye contact. She needed to see him, he absolutely had to show her that he meant every word he said. His blue eyes blazed with the light of the vel even as he pressed his lips together to keep from saying any more. He'd rambled on too long as it were. He only hoped she'd let him down easy.
Yazmyn, still sat atop the bar, could only snort as the giraffe of a man - which she could very rarely say due to her own height - began sizing her up. Amusing. She leaned back a little and crossed her arms, her usual air of confidence on full display, expecting some kind of jab or otherwise demeaning or borderline insulting statement... yet the blonde Huntress found herself having been taken completely for a loop. Before she knew what was what this massive bear - Zera Leigh, as he so aptly introduced himself - was laughing and shaking her whole damn arm, making her blink in an all too stupid a fashion.
"Uh... Yazmyn... Noir?" her own introduction seemed to show how confused she had gotten. With how the man had presented himself when he entered Yazmyn had half expected him to be this stern Enforcer-esque type of character. A man of few words, if you will. Little did she know he seemed like a humongous ball of not only muscle but excitement too. Huh. You really did meet all sorts of people out there.
The blonde remained at attention as she listened to Zera explain the situation. Her brows immediately furrowed at the mention of young people as she eyed the thick stack of papers laid out before her. The blonde Huntress downed the rest of her drink like it was nothing and promptly hopped off the bar. Seeming to lose any and all attention that she had previously directed at the large man, the woman focused on the stack of papers at hand, sifting through them one by one, silently reading through the contents to get an idea of the people who had been abducted. Indeed they were younglings, all ranging between the ages of eight and sixteen. She clicked her tongue; not this shit again.
"Keep your money," Yazmyn said without even looking at Zera, still sifting through the paperwork. "I'll do this one for free."
It wasn't the first time she had seen the Afflicted being abducted, let alone young ones. There had been a rash of these exact kinds of kidnappings back in Vantalux a couple of years back. She found out when one of the kids from an orphanage near her home had disappeared and, despite the warning of many an Enforcer, the young Huntress had dedicated all of herself to finding the abductees and who the hell was responsible. Regrettably she had ended up short with too much push back from the government and too few leads to go on. This, though - the MO - couldn't be a coincidence. It seemed like it was the exact same crime being committed. Even the way it was done was the exact same.
The Huntress glanced at Zera, a fire sparking in her eyes, "Tell me everything you know. Down to the last detail. I don't care how insignificant you think it is. Everything," she said, her tone almost cold and clearly filled with anger.... yet not an anger directed at the large man. No, this was directed at the piece of shit who she was definitely going to find this time around.
You must understand. In a world of the very strict separation between nobility, government, and religion, the world has moved in a direction where the only true capital is coin. Money is everything and for some people, it is the sole deciding factor in negotiations. It went without saying that Zera knew better than most the value of currency and how powerful it could be when convincing someone to take action. So it also went without saying that when she picked up the notes he had taken and flipped through, not even looking at the money he had presented, that he felt something in his chest ease that he did not even realize had gone taut.
He rested his arm on the counter and felt his powerful legs buckle, glowing blue eyes flickering a bit as weakness came with relief. He had been so worried that it would take more to convince someone. That the faith that he had put in humanity would have been wrong, again. That he would not find someone with a good enough soul to take on the challenge set before them. His quiet terror had been unfounded, clearly, and he felt oddly happy about being so very wrong for being worried-if a bit ashamed. He waved away the barmaid who had reached to help him when his legs gave out a bit and he smiled at Hunter Noir, rising back up to his full height;
The corners of his eyes crinkled and those blue orbs sparkled in his head. He nodded to one of the nearest tables when she spoke, feeling a small thrill go up his spine from the way she addressed him.
"Lets go sit over here," He said, cutting to the chase. He would have time to thank her later and she struck him as the type to get down to business on such a topic. That was good. He marched over to the nearest table and set out his notes, pointing here and there.
"The wide range of the age group indicates that the person doesn't need the children for one reason or another. There is some local folklore that says that the blood of inflicted younglings can be used for some kind of medicine. Macabre, yes, but some of these children are nearing adulthood. The age groups though also indicate that they aren't confident in their ability to subdue an adult afflicted,' Zera began, pointing at a pair of documents, "Apparently this has happened twice previously. Each time around the same number of children disappeared. Twenty on the first, nineteen on the second, we are up to seven disappearances that match the string," Zera put his hand on his hip, his glowing eyes casting over the papers.
"The situation was brought to my attention by someone who evaded a kidnapping. Their vel granted them a natural resistance to inhaled poisons. He told me that the rag used to secure him smelled like chemicals, not botanical toxins. A 'hot' odor. Zera continued, "This means someone who has access to more modern medicines and experimental chemicals. They have connections to Haven," Zera finished, stepping back and letting out a sigh. "You can see the area I mapped out there of where the abductions took place, but that still does not help us find where they have been taken..."
The young Lord let out one last breath and crossed his mighty arms. "Thoughts?'
After a quick nod, Yazmyn grabbed another drink from Gloria and went to sit down on at the table, right across from Zera. Leaning back in her seat and crossing her legs, the blonde Huntress stared him dead in the face as he spoke. She took the information in stride and her mind immediately began to digest it, trying to form a connection. She had heard of these encounters having happened before, but nothing concrete had ever been found. Just missing kids and no paper trail to go on for any reasonable investigation to keep being carried out. Her eyes narrowed but she kept the possibility to herself. It likely wasn't just connections with Haven that whoever was doing this had.
Yazmyn laid her glass down on the wooden table after another quick sip and proceeded to light a cigarette, clearly a sign that the Huntress was concentrating, trying to think of how to connect the dots she had. Staying quiet after Zera finished, the blonde woman quickly snatched up the files on the kidnapped kids, reading through them in an attempt to find more connections between them beyond them just being Afflicted. Honestly speaking it didn't seem like the kidnappers were all that picky beyond grabbing kids that nobody would really miss.
"Do you have... oh, there it is," Yazmyn sifted through another set of files - namely the ones of the series of disappearances prior to this particular occasion. Damn, this guy came prepared, she had to hand it to him. Files upon files upon files, all with information of the kids that were kidnapped too. She took a little while to sift through them all, smoking and drinking all the while. Gloria probably came around about four times to refill the Huntress' glass, yet it didn't seem like she was even phased by the amount of alcohol she had consumed already. Gloria, for her part, could only smile - this wasn't the first time Yazmyn had been enthralled by something like this to the point that even alcohol had very little hold on her.
"Think I got it," Yazmyn finally said, laying down the papers for Zera to see. "When you just look at the files of the kids, you won't really see a connection. They just seem like random occurrences, right? Just kids nobody's going to ask questions about, right? They've all been taken from all kinds of places in the city too so there's no real geographical connection, until..." she pointed at the history of one kid - "-this-" -then another- "-this-" -then another- "-this-" -and so on. "What do they all have in common? Somewhere, at some time, all of them had been reported living around the southern side of the Wharf having something to do with this particular orphanage that belongs to - you guessed right - that bullshit Savior sect. Or, well, some self-proclaimed saint horny for his made up God. Hell if I know."
"At first I thought this was just a wild coincidence. I mean, you can't really draw a connection between a place they've been in at different points in time, right? Yeah. That makes sense. But then, take a look at the previous incidents and you'll see the exact same thing. Some form of connection with that shit hole."
Yazmyn leaned back in her chair with a sigh. She took a long, long drag from her cigarette before pointing two fingers directly at the maps and files, "If you want my thoughts, that's where all of this crap is coming from, one way or another. Whether it's the whole 'church,' some asswipe pastor, a random serial killer that haunts the place, or even the entire fucking orphanage itself - beats me. But I never liked that sect to begin with. Too much shady shit around them. But my bet is that that place is ground zero."
"So, Zera the Noble," Yazmyn began, a coy smirk on her face. "Ready to bust open an orphanage?"
The opening to this is so open and free that it makes me smile. Sometimes a person doesn't need to have a destination in mind and they can just trudge off with an open heart! That's how I feel Yaz is sometimes. Lots of problems and lots of vices, but still willing to help out.
The setup up to this would have most definitely involved many heads being bashed in(rightfully so!) and I'm always down to see religious nutjobs get their just desserts. Sadly it wasn't meant to be, but what was given here still offered some brief insight into how dark the world can be and that not even children are safe. Very well done world building.
