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((Edit [DM] GD: This is excellent, however it has not been approved for Sundren canon.))
(( This is a Bio for the Warlock I'm applying to play. I figure I could make it into a post for the enjoyment of everybody to read. I figure whether he gets approved or not, may as well post it since, for some peculiar reason, people seem to kind of like my writing. :P ))
It was a long day for Johan Crowley. The experiments in the arcane laboratory were numerous, and as lead assistant and would-be apprentice to the Archmagus Thrax it was his duty to see that everything was in order. The beakers were set. The Arcane Sigils were well established. Thrax assured everyone that today would be a day that would go down in history.
Johan and his several assistants skirted about the lab preparing for their epic experiment. Thrax had done it. Thrax had found a way, he believed, to create a series of Sigils to create a permanent and stable portal that would allow travel to anywhere across any Plane and back again. Johan, he had never been the best or the brightest among Thrax' pupils, and yet Thrax insisted that he and several of the others join him in this endeavor.
Halruaa was a land of vast magicks. Magic took place every day, openly, in the streets without nay a care. Magical skyships flew over the city, transporting goods to all over Faerun. Merchants selling magical trinkets filled the cities and every house, even in the poorest parts of the city, had a smattering of magical trinkets and technological devices to aid in their day to day life.
To any citizen who showed the ambition, and the talent, they could submit to the Magi of the Halruaan Academy to gain a scholarship, to be sponsored by one of the High Magi to learn the Art so that they too could become a beneficial member to Halruaa. Being a Magocracy, the land was ruled by magic. Power WAS nobility, and Johan sought it desperately to bring himself and his family out of poverty and into a better life. So when Archmagus Thrax knocked upon his door that fateful day he kissed his wife and his son, packed his things, and away he went with promises of Gold, Education, and a better life for them all.
The experiment was nearly complete. The arcane sigils had been scribed, the Spell-circles checked, double-checked, and checked again for good measure. The Arcane Gateway that had been Archmagus Thrax' master plan spun around, suspended in mid-air, just waiting for the "Coordinates" to be entered.
Johan and the others, they trembled with anticipation as the Archmage stood before this massive monument of Metallurgy and Magic, and then it started to move. Magical energies collected from the spell circles began to fill the gateway, it twisted and contorted...and then it opened. But behind the gateway, there was not the fiery landscape of Hell, nor the golden mountains of Celestia. There were only....stars.
And a voice. A horrible voice, which spoke to them all within their minds.
"I am the Lurker at the Threshold.." said the horrible, ominous voice. As Johan felt it's telepathic influence speak to him, within his mind, he felt as though his very thoughts were being unraveled. He could feel his mind almost being torn from him as he gazed through the gate. Among the stars he saw motes of light and color, swirling about in an endless maelstrom of chaos, both beautiful and terrible in it's composition." "...who DARES to gaze upon Creation!?
"I dare!! said the Archmage, as he stepped towards the portal. "I have come to seek Ultimate Knowledge!!"
Upon his statement, the portal began to rumble and shake once again. This was no gateway to the planes. This was no means of Travel, like the Archmage had told his novice pupils.
This device was a conduit....to the Far Realm.
"If you desire Ultimate Knowledge....the Price must be paid. What do you offer!? echoed that horrible voice, the very light in the room seeming to dim with each utterance beyond the Gateway.
The Archmage smirked. In that moment, Johan did not see the kind, supportive father-figure that he had seen before. In that moment, he saw only madness. Madness, and a wanton lust for forbidden knowledge and power.
"I offer...." he said, as he looked to Johan and the other pupils that had been so eager to assist in this glorious experiment . "...I offer them, to do with as you please." said the villainous Archmage, a dark smile coming across his lips, followed by an eerie chuckle.
The portal stood silent, for several moments. In the quiet of those moments, it felt like an eternity. Johan trembled, in fear for his life, no, in fear for his very soul. What cosmic entity had the Archmage bargained with? What THING in the cosmos beyond the stars was about to reach forth and take him? The fear and the anticipation gripped the man as if he could feel the cosmic being itself tracing it's phantasmal finger down his spine. As he shook like a leaf within a hurricane, the cosmic voice finally answered..
"Fool....you cannot offer that which is not your own to give..." uttered the ominous being beyond the Door. "...so now SUFFER FOR YOUR INSOLENCE!!!"
In that moment, SOMETHING came through the Gate. Something horrible. Something out of a nightmare. A mass of darkness flew from the portal and wrapped themselves around the Archmagus Thrax, who began to scream for his life as they effortlessly pulled him into that starry void beyond the portal. Johan could only watch in horror as this THING tore him apart like a piece of tissue paper...and then it turned upon the others.
Tentacles flew out of the gateway, grabbing all of the others, dragging them into the portal screaming. They tried to run, but it was useless, the masses of tentacles were too fast as they almost instantly enveloped them, dragging them through. Johan...he began to panic. In fear, and in desperation, Johan ran to the Spell Circle that had been created to fuel the gate, and he jumped inside.
Johan was a bit of an expert on spell circles, he had been drawing them in the sand since he was a little boy. He was a bit of a spellcasting prodigy, able to cast minor cantrips from the age of 12, and having a natural affinity for magic. Johan thought, perhaps, if he could alter the spell circle that he could ward himself from this monster that was coming from him. But he realized something horrible....he had nothing to write with.
He was going to need ink. And so...he improvised. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out his Compass that he had used for designing blueprints for his creation, and in a moment of sheer panic and desperation he stabbed the pointed end of the compass into the palm of his hand, repeatedly, and he began to draw protective Sigils.
Sigils which came from his own blood.
As he completed what was, quite literally, the most jury-rigged spell-circle that he was able to complete in his panic one of the massive Tentacles began to fly in his direction, ready to grab him. Ready to drag him into the horrible unknown, to devour him, to un-make him. As it flew in his direction, however, it seemed to collide upon something! An unseen barrier at the edge of the Circle. It was then that Johan heard something....he heard the being LAUGH.
"You amuse me, Mortal...." said the Dark Entity. "Did you really think that such a pathetic circle is truly able to stop ME!? That which exists beyond TIME!? That which exists beyond SPACE!? That which folds the fabric of REALITY!!" the poor, poor cowering mage began to tremble. But then something happened. The voice spoke again....and this time the voice was calm. Serene. In fact, it was almost....friendly.
"You amuse me, but yet....you impress me. The others, there was only panic. Only fear. But you, you improvised. True enough, this circle can't stop me. But what matters is...you tried. In the face of certain doom, certain oblivion, you still attempted to best me with KNOWLEDGE. For that...I grant you a reward..."
In that moment the mass of tentacles began to move around Johan, to envelope him. Although it was not malicious, he could feel the tentacles seeming to reach inside of him, inside his mind, inside of his very soul, inside his very BEING. As they moved about him his eyes closed for just a moment....and then once again opened anew!! And he SAW IT.
Before him he saw an endless light. Such a beautiful thing. He could see forever...and what he saw was both beautiful, and horrible. He saw the very fabric of Creation itself. As he gazed out, into the infinite, he saw Knowledge. TRUE Knowledge.
It was then that his own genius mind began to work against him. His brain attempted to make SENSE of what he had seen, which was beyond words to describe. He saw equations floating about in mid-air, equations for everything from gravity, time, space, inertia, physics, the very BLUEPRINTS of SCIENCE itself!! This was the source! The source of all knowledge in all of creation...the very thing that Archmagus Thrax had seen fit to sacrifice Johan to obtain.
And at the center of all of this, surrounding this mysterious figure of Light and Color that deemed fit to show him all of this, even for a few moments, he saw something else. He saw...a name. But this was no normal name, not like the simple names possessed by man. A man could have written a thousand novels, and they would amount to a single syllable of this name. A name that described Birth and Death, Time and Space, Creation and Destruction, a name that described Entropy and Chaos given flesh. From this name Johan was able to pull forth the simplest expression that he, as a man, could give to such a thing."
"Yog-Sothoth...." muttered Johan. It was in that moment that the tentacles around him unraveled. It was in that moment..that everything went dark.
(( To be continued, pending approval. ))
(( This is a Bio for the Warlock I'm applying to play. I figure I could make it into a post for the enjoyment of everybody to read. I figure whether he gets approved or not, may as well post it since, for some peculiar reason, people seem to kind of like my writing. :P ))
It was a long day for Johan Crowley. The experiments in the arcane laboratory were numerous, and as lead assistant and would-be apprentice to the Archmagus Thrax it was his duty to see that everything was in order. The beakers were set. The Arcane Sigils were well established. Thrax assured everyone that today would be a day that would go down in history.
Johan and his several assistants skirted about the lab preparing for their epic experiment. Thrax had done it. Thrax had found a way, he believed, to create a series of Sigils to create a permanent and stable portal that would allow travel to anywhere across any Plane and back again. Johan, he had never been the best or the brightest among Thrax' pupils, and yet Thrax insisted that he and several of the others join him in this endeavor.
Halruaa was a land of vast magicks. Magic took place every day, openly, in the streets without nay a care. Magical skyships flew over the city, transporting goods to all over Faerun. Merchants selling magical trinkets filled the cities and every house, even in the poorest parts of the city, had a smattering of magical trinkets and technological devices to aid in their day to day life.
To any citizen who showed the ambition, and the talent, they could submit to the Magi of the Halruaan Academy to gain a scholarship, to be sponsored by one of the High Magi to learn the Art so that they too could become a beneficial member to Halruaa. Being a Magocracy, the land was ruled by magic. Power WAS nobility, and Johan sought it desperately to bring himself and his family out of poverty and into a better life. So when Archmagus Thrax knocked upon his door that fateful day he kissed his wife and his son, packed his things, and away he went with promises of Gold, Education, and a better life for them all.
The experiment was nearly complete. The arcane sigils had been scribed, the Spell-circles checked, double-checked, and checked again for good measure. The Arcane Gateway that had been Archmagus Thrax' master plan spun around, suspended in mid-air, just waiting for the "Coordinates" to be entered.
Johan and the others, they trembled with anticipation as the Archmage stood before this massive monument of Metallurgy and Magic, and then it started to move. Magical energies collected from the spell circles began to fill the gateway, it twisted and contorted...and then it opened. But behind the gateway, there was not the fiery landscape of Hell, nor the golden mountains of Celestia. There were only....stars.
And a voice. A horrible voice, which spoke to them all within their minds.
"I am the Lurker at the Threshold.." said the horrible, ominous voice. As Johan felt it's telepathic influence speak to him, within his mind, he felt as though his very thoughts were being unraveled. He could feel his mind almost being torn from him as he gazed through the gate. Among the stars he saw motes of light and color, swirling about in an endless maelstrom of chaos, both beautiful and terrible in it's composition." "...who DARES to gaze upon Creation!?
"I dare!! said the Archmage, as he stepped towards the portal. "I have come to seek Ultimate Knowledge!!"
Upon his statement, the portal began to rumble and shake once again. This was no gateway to the planes. This was no means of Travel, like the Archmage had told his novice pupils.
This device was a conduit....to the Far Realm.
"If you desire Ultimate Knowledge....the Price must be paid. What do you offer!? echoed that horrible voice, the very light in the room seeming to dim with each utterance beyond the Gateway.
The Archmage smirked. In that moment, Johan did not see the kind, supportive father-figure that he had seen before. In that moment, he saw only madness. Madness, and a wanton lust for forbidden knowledge and power.
"I offer...." he said, as he looked to Johan and the other pupils that had been so eager to assist in this glorious experiment . "...I offer them, to do with as you please." said the villainous Archmage, a dark smile coming across his lips, followed by an eerie chuckle.
The portal stood silent, for several moments. In the quiet of those moments, it felt like an eternity. Johan trembled, in fear for his life, no, in fear for his very soul. What cosmic entity had the Archmage bargained with? What THING in the cosmos beyond the stars was about to reach forth and take him? The fear and the anticipation gripped the man as if he could feel the cosmic being itself tracing it's phantasmal finger down his spine. As he shook like a leaf within a hurricane, the cosmic voice finally answered..
"Fool....you cannot offer that which is not your own to give..." uttered the ominous being beyond the Door. "...so now SUFFER FOR YOUR INSOLENCE!!!"
In that moment, SOMETHING came through the Gate. Something horrible. Something out of a nightmare. A mass of darkness flew from the portal and wrapped themselves around the Archmagus Thrax, who began to scream for his life as they effortlessly pulled him into that starry void beyond the portal. Johan could only watch in horror as this THING tore him apart like a piece of tissue paper...and then it turned upon the others.
Tentacles flew out of the gateway, grabbing all of the others, dragging them into the portal screaming. They tried to run, but it was useless, the masses of tentacles were too fast as they almost instantly enveloped them, dragging them through. Johan...he began to panic. In fear, and in desperation, Johan ran to the Spell Circle that had been created to fuel the gate, and he jumped inside.
Johan was a bit of an expert on spell circles, he had been drawing them in the sand since he was a little boy. He was a bit of a spellcasting prodigy, able to cast minor cantrips from the age of 12, and having a natural affinity for magic. Johan thought, perhaps, if he could alter the spell circle that he could ward himself from this monster that was coming from him. But he realized something horrible....he had nothing to write with.
He was going to need ink. And so...he improvised. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out his Compass that he had used for designing blueprints for his creation, and in a moment of sheer panic and desperation he stabbed the pointed end of the compass into the palm of his hand, repeatedly, and he began to draw protective Sigils.
Sigils which came from his own blood.
As he completed what was, quite literally, the most jury-rigged spell-circle that he was able to complete in his panic one of the massive Tentacles began to fly in his direction, ready to grab him. Ready to drag him into the horrible unknown, to devour him, to un-make him. As it flew in his direction, however, it seemed to collide upon something! An unseen barrier at the edge of the Circle. It was then that Johan heard something....he heard the being LAUGH.
"You amuse me, Mortal...." said the Dark Entity. "Did you really think that such a pathetic circle is truly able to stop ME!? That which exists beyond TIME!? That which exists beyond SPACE!? That which folds the fabric of REALITY!!" the poor, poor cowering mage began to tremble. But then something happened. The voice spoke again....and this time the voice was calm. Serene. In fact, it was almost....friendly.
"You amuse me, but yet....you impress me. The others, there was only panic. Only fear. But you, you improvised. True enough, this circle can't stop me. But what matters is...you tried. In the face of certain doom, certain oblivion, you still attempted to best me with KNOWLEDGE. For that...I grant you a reward..."
In that moment the mass of tentacles began to move around Johan, to envelope him. Although it was not malicious, he could feel the tentacles seeming to reach inside of him, inside his mind, inside of his very soul, inside his very BEING. As they moved about him his eyes closed for just a moment....and then once again opened anew!! And he SAW IT.
Before him he saw an endless light. Such a beautiful thing. He could see forever...and what he saw was both beautiful, and horrible. He saw the very fabric of Creation itself. As he gazed out, into the infinite, he saw Knowledge. TRUE Knowledge.
It was then that his own genius mind began to work against him. His brain attempted to make SENSE of what he had seen, which was beyond words to describe. He saw equations floating about in mid-air, equations for everything from gravity, time, space, inertia, physics, the very BLUEPRINTS of SCIENCE itself!! This was the source! The source of all knowledge in all of creation...the very thing that Archmagus Thrax had seen fit to sacrifice Johan to obtain.
And at the center of all of this, surrounding this mysterious figure of Light and Color that deemed fit to show him all of this, even for a few moments, he saw something else. He saw...a name. But this was no normal name, not like the simple names possessed by man. A man could have written a thousand novels, and they would amount to a single syllable of this name. A name that described Birth and Death, Time and Space, Creation and Destruction, a name that described Entropy and Chaos given flesh. From this name Johan was able to pull forth the simplest expression that he, as a man, could give to such a thing."
"Yog-Sothoth...." muttered Johan. It was in that moment that the tentacles around him unraveled. It was in that moment..that everything went dark.
(( To be continued, pending approval. ))