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!
If Calanthe didn't know better she would have been sure that her fill in tutor was slightly biased against the shrine enchantment. Surely someone of her knowledge base wouldn't be so petty though? Of course she didn't know the lady so maybe that was exactly what she was like.
But still it was a good point that any hubris would be a faulty point. Luckily she wasn't in that point in her enchanting, and had time to learn otherwise. "A good thing to learn." Nodding her head she didn't need to scribble that down though. Her father had gone out thinking nothing could stop him and look where it got him.
"Was my name was that forgettable? Calanthe Beckett, nice to meet you...?" Shaking her head and laughing quitely she considering a second before answering. "The complex nature I think is what I like the most about it. I like how long it takes to puzzle it all out and enchant."
Post by Devi Talik on Jul 31, 2022 17:53:37 GMT -5
Slightly would have been something of an understatement. Devi Talik, for all her accomplishments, had never truly distinguished herself from the shadow cast by her mother, nor from the pall cast by her sister. Pettiness fed her. It nursed her ambitions and insulated her from her failures. It was the companion she chose, and the confidence she kept.
Eyeing her newfound student as she laughed, Devi was genuinely surprised to find that the girl had apparently already provided her name. She might have wondered when exactly that detail had been shared, but it was too insignificant a curiosity to articulate. Instead, Devi found herself considering the girl with new eyes. The answer she gave was predictable. Yes, yes, every aspiring enchanter fancies herself a shrine-worker at some point or another. What intrigued her more was—
“Beckett?” Devi repeated the name. “Would that be of the Blackwood variety of Beckett?” There were others, she was sure, but the most prominent were assuredly those attached to the Blackwood name.
Normally Calanthe didn't pay much mind to what other's thought of her. Because as she had been told many times, the only opinions that mattered where her own and those of her family. But this woman, who apparently refused to introduce herself, was clearly smart. So it was a good idea to take it into account yes? It only made reasonable sense.
The other woman clearly had other things she was focused on, like her name. Although she had apparently missed it before, now she had made the connection. "That would be correct." Certainly she wasn't going to go by Dimitri, so Beckett seemed the best option. Like her father before her, another thing for her to hold onto while he was missing.
"Blackwood someday. Just not there yet, hence the hours studying and apparently mixing up a tutor for someone just trying to be left alone."
“And your commitment to shrine-work, I’m sure.” Devi grinned, settling more comfortably into the crook of her chair. “We fallen aristocrats must all distinguish ourselves somehow, hm?”
She studied the girl with apparent amusement before finally closing the tome on the table and rising to her feet in a single, decisive movement. “Well, come along then. If we’re to make a Blackwood out of you, we’re not going to accomplish much sitting at a table.” Without so much as a backward glance, Devi turned on her heel, eyes already scanning the familiar stacks in search of less familiar quarry.
Calanthe raised an eyebrow as the woman said something about fallen aristocrats. It was even more confusing considering she still hadn’t introduced herself, so thoughts about the Talik family were impossible. Being the good student she was she tried her question again although slightly more direct. ”Pardon, but you still haven’t told me your name?” Couldn’t exactly dodge that question could you?
After watching the woman stand and start to move Calanthe realized it was sink or swim. With a quick and graceful movement she slipped out of her chair, following the stranger thought the library. She was right about sitting getting her nowhere, that was always her least favorite part about lectures. And something should come out of the afternoon besides some slight embarrassment. ”Do I get any hints about what you’re looking for?”
Post by Devi Talik on Aug 14, 2022 17:21:58 GMT -5
“Hm?” Devi heard the girl, but her mind was already elsewhere, reaching back in time in search of where she’d last seen the tome she sought. She turned to the right, eyes narrowing between two sets of labyrinthine stacks. After a moment of decision, Devi turned on a decisive heel, selecting the left.
“It’s Devi,” she called over her shoulder, finally making mental space for at least one of Calanthe’s questions. “Devi Talik.” There were all of five Council families in the whole of Arynn Frey, not that any of their names meant anything at all now. Once, Devi might have swallowed the sound of her surname with a grimace. Her sister’s treachery had left its mark on history and its stamp on Devi, but time was, as they said, a balm for all things. She could utter the name now without so much as a blink, which was precisely what she did, stalking down the length of a particularly lengthy row of shelves.
At the next intersection, she turned to the right, passing two more rows of shelves before delving into the next with a renewed certainty. “Here we are.” It had been years since she last perused these shelves, but the first set of spines were almost achingly familiar. She had been young once too, and there was something remarkably nostalgic about the texts that lined these shelves in particular. “Harden Growerfell,” Devi explained, taking a step forward to run her finger along one spine after another. “Horrible name,” she admitted, “but a brilliant scholar.” Her finger landed on a blue spin with a gold-engraved title: On the Durability of the Non-Human Soul. Plucking the book from the shelf, Devi turned it over in her hand once before extending it to Calanthe. “Every soul has its own unique tensile. Shrine-work is more sensitive to those tenors than most.”
Last Edit: Sept 5, 2022 10:00:50 GMT -5 by Devi Talik
A curious girl at heart, the mystery of this woman and their apparent similarities was driving her up a wall. Because, despite general polite guidelines, it was now apparent you could in fact dodge a question about your name. In this case by running away through the tomes of the library. Of course that only served to make her more interested in getting a name, although it seemed the woman had eventually tired of the line of questioning.
”I see, so that’s what you meant. It’s nice to meet you Miss Devi.” Not an entirely proper greeting, but Calanthe had hid her mothers last name for a long time until changing to Beckett. Maybe her new tutor didn’t feel the same, but she wasn’t about it take the risk. Especially after just finding out the name.
As the walked and turned, then finally came to a stop, Calanthe weighted with baited breath. Whatever this book was had to be good if they had traipsed through the library to find it. Not just some run of the mill textbook, but something special. Although she wasn’t quite sure how yet since it was mainly theory based. She listened though, snickering at the authors name before putting a hand to her mouth at the very unbecoming action. ”For example….” Trailing off she looked for an answer from Devi as she took the book, running her hand along the cover with and excited smile.
Post by Devi Talik on Sept 5, 2022 10:19:43 GMT -5
“For instance,” Devi relinquished the book, entrusting it to Calanthe, “the soul of a cat is, more often than not, a great deal more durable than, say, that of a cow.” The notion was one that ran contrary to what was generally taught from the pulpits of the great universities. It would be a rare occasion that required an enchanter to distinguish between the tensile strength of a cat’s soul compared to a cow. They were each lesser creatures, a rung below free-thinking humans and a step above crickets or cacti.
“The usual strata would, of course, beg to differ.” On average, the cow would obviously prove the more utilitarian choice. The sheer size of the creature would often yield more slivers for harvest than a cat. “But Growerfell makes a compelling argument: that the general wit or wisdom of a creature enhances the breadth and depth of its soul. For a shrineworker, that distinction—if, in fact, it proved true—could make for quite the difference.”
Pausing to give her lecture time to settle, Devi finally lifted her hand in a curt wave. “The real question is whether you intend to be the sort of enchanter who distinguishes herself from the crowd or if you prefer the anonymity of the general rabble.” Narrowing her gaze on Calanthe, Devi lifted a single, expectant brow.
Calanthe was lapping up all the information that she was given. She had plenty of time to formulate her own opinions later, through experiments, readings, and any other such things, so for now it was her job to listen. And she did so with an excited smile as she gripped the book tightly.
Nodding her head Calanthe laughed. "Always go for distinction, that's the core of enchanting to me." She was a Blackwood, and she would become the best of the best. It was not only to get the family name, but for her father, and most importantly for herself.
"So what about larger cats, like bobcats or mountain lions? Same cat smarts but larger harvest?" If Devi had expected the information to settle without first asking plenty of questions she was quite wrong. She had many other bubbling at the surface, but it was fascinating information.
Post by Devi Talik on Sept 25, 2022 19:24:06 GMT -5
It took a great deal to impress Devi Talik. In truth, she disappointed herself so often that being disappointed in others was something of a default for her. But the eagerness with which Calanthe seized upon not only her challenge but the information imparted to her was enough to elicit an amused smirk.
“All the tensile strength of a cat’s soul—more, perhaps,” she permitted, taking a thoroughly unfounded guess at the relative wit of a wildcat compared to that of the smaller, domesticated variety. “And presumably nearly as ponderous as a cow.” Or, at the very least, nearer in size to a cow than the housecat. “If we are to believe Growerfell, you’ve likely identified an ideal donor.” There was a hint of pride in her voice, nothing effusive, but a subtle current of well done woven into her observation.
“It sounds like you have some reading to do.” Dropping her eyes to the book in Calanthe’s hand, Devi pursed her lips to prevent her smirk from spreading. Whatever the girl’s intellect, her aptitude remained to be seen. Devi herself was better suited to her pens and papers than to performing the work she theorized. The same could certainly prove true of the aspiring young Blackwood.
Calanthe absolutely loved to impress those smarter than she was. And clearly Devi was smarter and far more experienced, so when she seemed to think that her words were smart? Well that was absolutely amazing and only proved to add to her smile. Applying what she had learned and taking it a step farther, it's what her father did, and what she would continue to do.
"Although I suppose only a test would really tell." Raising her eyebrows at the older woman with hope in her eyes. This had been far more interesting than what any stuffy tutor would have given her. And something she could continue to build off of.
Dipping her head in thanks she squeezed the book a little tighter. "I suppose I do, thank you a million times Miss Talik. Especially since I interrupted your afternoon." Taking a step back she waved. "Until next time!" And then she was off, ready to fill her head with more and more knowledge.
[END THREAD]
Last Edit: Sept 25, 2022 20:02:18 GMT -5 by Deleted