The peace that formerly reigned in Terra Nova has eroded, now little more than a memory. War ravages the continent. Disputes divide kingdoms; ideals divide families. The quest for power consumes absolutely and indiscriminately. None are immune to its allure.
Who will rise and who will fall? Only time—and ambition—will tell.
UPDATES
05.26.2023
2 month character creation hold for all existing members begins 6/5/2023. Ended 8/5/2023.
10.29.2023
Change in how times flows. Was 4 IC seasons, now only 2 IC seasons per 1 OOC year.
5 whole years of Heir Apparent goodness! When I started the site, I knew I was hunkering down for the long haul, but I never could have predicted the numerous twists and turns this roleplay site has seen. Hundreds of plots, characters, and members have come and gone, all leaving marks on the site. I am so very thankful for those who have invested. Because you keep coming back, keep getting on, and keep writing, Heir Apparent has the legacy it does today. Three cheers to us!
Dressed in her warrior attire, although only a hatchet on her waist, Revna made her way towards where the newest Neveremere troop had set up. With the other settlers, the infestation that had invaded the beautiful kingdom. Invaded her home, and it just wasn't going to be tolerated, at least that's what Isolde told her so it had to be true. The All-Mother spoke through her, and the all knowing would know how to lead them out of this dark time.
So if her job was to parade the witch around then she would do it with a polite smile as the priestess had. Showing poise and grace, at least she was going to try to. It was going to be difficult though, especially since this woman had been the type to incessantly ask questions and try to prove a kingdom that until recently had no love for their women.
Standing outside she announced herself to those outside before getting annoyed and shouting out. "Lady Norah?" Lady.... It was such a ridiculous term.
Revna wouldn't have to wait long. Though she wouldn't have heard a thing happening inside. Not the boiling of a potion or the crash of a vial breaking. With the entire home soaked in potions to allow no sound out, it was the safe place for all sorts of conversations to be had. But when she heard her name shouted, she practically laughed. Well, it seems that her chaperone of the day was already as thrilled about the job as she had seemed the night of the dinner.
With a flourish of light skirts and a tight corset synching the small waist of hers, she whipped the door open. Her short hair now falling just below her jawline in a sharp dark curtain. "Revna," she almost purred her name, stepping outside the hut and leaving Deimos behind with the potion. He'd be watching over it. She shut the door behind her and gazed up at the women. Was it natural for almost all of them to be so much taller than herself? "Good day to you."
Revna really didn't care what was going on behind the door. She had no reason to, that wasn't her task. So for now all that mattered was that the woman eventually stepped out of her temporary living place. All of it was temporary, so the All-Mother said, and so it would be.
It of course was impossible not to notice the woman's beauty, but alas, she was the worst. Everything that Cambria wasn't. So Revna straightened her hands tucked behind her and tried her best smile. "I hope you slept well Lady Norah?" The best option, because this wasn't a good day having to give an outsider a look at her home. As if she had some right to it.
The smile felt forced, a trained courtier stood before Revna was the one who could notice it. Yet leave it without comment. Her eyes however were lingering before she found herself rather surprised by the question that was asked. The slight lift to her brows would say just that. "Fairly," she tilted her head ever so slightly as if she could pick the question apart and try to find out what exactly the woman wanted to say and do.
"The beds are... different. But I find rest." It helped that Deimos tended to curl up on the bed and Norah used him as a pillow. Hearing the steady beat of his heart and feeling the even, quick breaths of him soothed her. Being a summoning and all, he had some strange habits that set him apart from any animal from their side of dimensions.
"Hopefully you won't find our trip extremely dull today." She commented as she looked down the path they'd travel along.
The beds were different. Honestly. Revna was pretty sure that this whole polite stuff was just a bunch of baloney to get the woman of Nevermere not to be the badass witches they were. Unfortunately she was probably talking to one of the people who fooled herself the most, why else would the king send her to spy?
"That is good to hear." This woman could not be more dull, frustrating considering her looks and the interesting creature that had lurked over her shoulder during dinner.
Almost as if on queue the woman made a boring bridge to the planned tour. "No, I'm sure we'll find a way to make in interesting." Cambria was a beautiful kingdom and by no means dull. It sparkled like a gem and anyone who thought otherwise was fooling themselves.
Had Norah heard the woman's internal thoughts, she would have been miffed to hear she was boring. She certainly had never lived a boring life, but it seemed the women of Cambria also didn't like to talk much. Judging by her earlier conversation with another woman, they wanted 'action'. But it couldn't always be about action, they couldn't go around just chopping off hands and branding people until they complied with whatever it was they called the 'goddess' that they worshipped.
With a small nod, she would wait for Revna to move forward and she'd fall into step beside her. Her legs making up the difference in stride almost gracefully unless the woman decided to run. "I've come to observe many things since I've been here." She said, conversationally, keeping her face forward as she watched the people that they passed. Mainly women of Cambria. "You have many warriors and also home makers," she passed by some women who were outside cleaning a fresh rabbit.
"Are you all born into what you do, or do you get to pick at your own free will?" She asked genuinely curious.
Maybe if Revna knew about the real life that Norah had lead she wouldn't have found her boring. Or maybe she would have asked why she didn't grow a pair and chop of Lord Carters balls societal rules be damned. Not something she ever planned to worry about and not something she would ever dare to guess about.
"Home makers?" That was certainly not a term that Revna liked or was familiar with. Cambria was there home, all of them sisters together in it. Sure there were those who threw themselves more into being a warrior than others. Some just split their focus, not something the valkyrie would ever understand.
Looking at the Nevermere woman she would start to walk. "We are all born warriors, but we chose to have children for the sake of a better Cambria." Some also chose to lounge around with a Nevermere man, a poor choice in the eyes of their All-Mother.
The disgust that came with the words made a small, almost musical laugh leave Norah. "Perhaps not the best word to use here," she mused almost to herself, even though she said them for both to hear. Maybe... just maybe if she played her cards right... she could get this one to slip just a little. "Those who tend to homes, the children, instead of being the physical force of Cambria. Just another strength," she said as she glanced towards Revna. Not wanting her to think she was calling the home makers weak. Often times... they were the strongest in the kingdom.
She found the irony of her words fascinating. 'We chose to have children for the sake of a better Cambria'. She might have seen the slight shift in Norah's eyes as she stared over at her. They chose a better Cambria, but were shaming those who did at the same time. "Without the children, Cambria would suffer. Which is why their wellbeing is so important." Because with the lack of men that had been there before... there was a reason why Cambria's numbers were still so low compared to others. One woman could be pregnant only 1 time a year... Men were needed to help impregnate many... and if they had always pushed men away...
Seems like it was their own fault really. But none of that was said. "Do you have children?" She asked conversationally.
Revna's mother had been one of the people that Norah was describing. Probably would have settled down real nice with one of the Nevermere men. But she died due to her slipping combat skills, a lesson any woman of Cambria should be taught. "We all help each other. And we are all the strength of Cambria."
Maybe this witch didn't realize how insulting she was being towards the ideals that the young warrior before her held. But either way it had snaked it's way under her skin, especially when it became clear she was in for some lecture from a woman who knew so little. "Exactly."
Her cheeks flushed slightly at the mention of children. The one duty she avoided more than most. "One, he's in Coheed." She didn't know where or with who, and really it didn't much matter. "What about yourself Lady Norah?" Probably considering how much she seemed to focus on children and their wellbeing or whatever.
She dropped the previous topic, slipping it into her back pocket for later. Norah was watching her with a sort of soft gaze, calculating and trying to see which thread to pick at that might give her something. Whether information or perhaps a bit of an ally. Or as close to one that she could get in a place like this. Because Norah would need anything and everything she could have in the coming times.
So a mother, but not one at the same time. A woman who had spent months creating and possibly loving a child who grew within her womb, only to have to hand him over at the end because he was born a male. Norah didn’t understand it. She couldn’t really, as she had never gotten to full term herself. And maybe it was also a bit of bitterness that was on her tongue, because her situation would have been ideal here. A girl was all she had gotten pregnant with… and it was all she had taken from her.
“No,” her word was breathy and there was a sadness she wished she could erase but couldn’t. Her eyes moving to the path they walked along. “I never carried for long.” She didn’t realize a hand had raised and rested on her lower stomach with the lightest touch. She didn’t offer why she didn’t carry for the full time. “I would like to ask you more… but I am afraid all I will do is offend you and you’ll want to break my arm more than you do now.” Her lips twitched upwards slightly to show she was partially joking, dark eyes cutting to the side to look at her.
Traditional motherhood was never something that Revna had craved. Apparently some women did, but it wasn't for her in the slightest. Unable to train for the last one to two months, it had been a blessing it was boy she could give away and never think about again.
Lady Norah on the other hand seemed to regret her lack of children. And while she didn't like the woman, she wasn't completely frigid. "Sorry for bringing it up."
Snorting at the woman's directness, that was far more interesting her eyes darting over to the woman. So she wasn't quite the stuffy woman of Neveremere, good to know. "I think you have a better chance of breaking me." She'd seen witch magic, and it wasn't something she ever wanted to be on the other end of. She could break unlike her Valkryie leader. "Do ask away though, I've been told I look annoyed all the time by many of your men." And she almost always was.
The apologize was met with a tight lipped smile, as if accepting the words but knowing that Revna had nothing to really apologize for. It was Lord Carter who had everything to apologize for, for every daughter that hadn’t been… would never be… it was a blessing in a way. Saving them from a fate Norah wasn’t sure of. Would she had killed him on her own if she hadn’t faced off against her mother and he was the casualty?
Glad for the distraction, she smiled. “Perhaps,” the lift of the word suggested it was a tease. Meant to not insult but amuse. But she was then given permission to ask away, as if any question was on the table for her to pluck and sprinkle a dash of it here or there. Seasoning their time together if you would.
“Some of those men are idiots, they say the same thing because they are intimidated by a confident woman. They just don’t know how to handle us,” she was looping the two of them together. For a long time, Norah was not approached by many. Because she was confident and held herself in a way that suggested she might not need anything from anyone. Which she didn’t. “They are afraid we bite.” She smirked, letting her eyes linger on Revna for a touch longer than appropriate before her gaze flicked back to the path ahead.
“The All Mother is your Goddess. Do all the woman of Cambria believe in her? Or only some?” She asked conversationally. Nevermere had a Goddess after all but not all people believed in her…
Snorting, Revna shook her head. ”Handle is the problem. No man will ever handle me.” She wasn’t an object or something to be worked over. That was always the problem with men, especially those of Neveremere and Coheed.
Raising an eyebrow as the woman’s gaze lingered she wanted to roll her eyes and toss something back at the same time. ”Well some of us do.” If the lady from Nevermere planned to drop the formalities she was in for quite the afternoon. And it certainly made the rest of this tour a little more appealing.
”All daughters of Cambria know the All Mother is true.” Some didn’t listen, and some had turned from the right path, but the All Mother was undeniable. Especially with their priestess clearly shinning a light.