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!
Post by Grant Delaney on Nov 19, 2022 21:17:22 GMT -5
[Thread for @berengar]
After having come back from Dresmond, Grant was having a bit of a weird time. Introducing the Dresmondi to the king, finding out about his Uncle's death, debriefing.
But he had time off and was hungry, so once again he found himself heading to the mess hall, not thinking too deeply about what other weird shit was going on in his life. He hadn't seen anyone but Kennet and Regan ('debrief') yet and assumed at some stage he was going to have to report to Hadrian, but whence he last checked the Captain Commander was not at his office.
Presumably nothing crazy had happened whilst he was gone and more hopefully no one he knew would ask where he'd been! He meandered into the mess, towering over most folk as per usual. The more things changed, the more they stayed the same.
Eat. Work. Sleep. Repeat. Such was the life of a soldier. The days had a way of blurring into each other, but if Ber operated under the assumption that any excitement would be bad excitement, which he usually did, the repetitive nature of his days wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Indeed, the only notable part of today thus far had been the fact that the blanket of clouds covering Skia’s sky seemed to have settled over the city as well. A thick layer of fog had rendered this morning’s patrol practically pointless, given that he’d hardly been able to see a few paces in front of him.
Whatever. At least that was over with and the rest of the day was his to do as he pleased, and presently, that meant heading toward the mess hall to find something to appease his complaining stomach. A quick glance around the room as he entered showed the space blessedly void of any lieutenants, and soon enough, he fell into line behind an unfamiliar soldier, though the lack of recognition was hardly unusual. What was unusual, however, was the lack of movement after a minute or so of waiting. Ber poked his head out to peer down the line but couldn’t see anything of note. Crossing his arms, he waited another moment before trying to get the attention of the tall man in front of him. “Hey, do you know what the hold up is?”
Post by Grant Delaney on Nov 29, 2022 20:45:58 GMT -5
Grant twitched a little--not quite jumping but certainly surprised. He looked back at an unfamiliar face and then looked forward.
"I," Grant began, "can't say that I have any idea what the hold up is," he said, decisively. He looked around, trying to ascertain the same thing from his perch a head or so taller than his comrade. "Someone making a stink about the food, I'd guess?" he said, shrugging. "If it was something notable we'd be hearing crashing noises by now."
Some younger recruits of noble persuasions would sometimes bitch about common military food. Grant was never the type, even less so after eating whatever he found out in the field for an Aestas.
Oops. Ber hadn’t meant to catch the other soldier off guard, though he supposed that was the predictable outcome of speaking to someone when their back was turned. Oh well. The man still turned to see if he could spy the answer but ended up as clueless as Ber, though he offered a very likely explanation.
“Probably someone new,” Ber said, as if his single year of seniority over the newest of the new recruits really meant that much. Probably noble, too, He didn’t add. They were more equal than ever on the floors of the military wing, but that hardly meant his rather critical opinions toward nobles would be appreciated. “I mean, it’s not brilliant,” He grumbled with a shrug of his own. “But it’s edible.” On most days. Then again, Ber would eat almost anything put in front of him, so perhaps he was the wrong person to ask.
“Crashing noises would at least be interesting.” He resisted the urge to try to crane his neck to peer toward the front of the line, instead looking up at the tall soldier. “I’m Berengar Stormcrest,” He introduced himself a moment later, figuring that they might as well learn each other’s names if they were going to be stuck in line together.
Post by Grant Delaney on Dec 2, 2022 21:21:54 GMT -5
Grant shrugged a little. Probably somebody new! "Food's food," he said. Or, sort of. "Better than nothing, at least." Especially if you didn't have to capture or kill then subsequently cook it on your own.
Now Grant truly appreciated the work of chefs and would never speak ill of it again. Not after burnt rat.
He turned and smiled down at the soldier. "Grant Delaney," he replied, extending one of the big bear paws he tried to pass off as a hand.
“Definitely better than nothing,” Ber agreed, thinking back to a childhood spent stealing food to fill an empty stomach. Complaining about the quality of a meal was a luxury that most never recognized as such. This tall soldier, Grant Delaney, seemed to understand that, at least.
Ber shook his outstretched hand with a smile of his own. “Good to meet you.” Like anyone who spent any amount of time around the military wing, he recognized the last name and was rather relieved that he’d chosen not to voice his assumption as to the new person’s place in society. “I recently met someone who said he met a Grant,” He mused, thinking of the Alys-who-may-have-been-the-King’s-Witch and the mysterious Grant who had evidently been in Dresmond. “You wouldn’t happen to know Zevran, would you?”
Post by Grant Delaney on Jan 5, 2023 22:45:24 GMT -5
"Nice to meet you, too," said Grant, nodding. He looked forward and was glad for it because his poker face had been very poor lately. Of course he knew Zevran. But he was probably not supposed to say that? Shit. He collected the series of silly faces he made and turned to look at his linemate, trying to affect vague surprise.
"Uh, he's that Dresmondi that's around, yeah? I've heard of him."
Technically Grant had heard of him but he skipped over the 'escorting' Zevran and Kezia straight to Skia bit. That was probably need-to-know information.
Ber looked up at Grant as the other soldier turned back around. Even as he questioned who Zevran was, the Delaney was doing something strange with his face - an attempt at feigning surprise, perhaps confusion? Ber eyed Grant for a moment. Though the other man’s name wasn’t necessarily uncommon, he was also a Delaney, and Delaney’s had a reputation around these parts. If there was a Grant that was sent to presumably find a couple of Dresmondi, then it very well might have been the Grant standing in front of him.
And that faux surprise really wasn’t that believable.
Ber raised his eyebrows slightly. “Yeah, that’s the one,” He confirmed, torn between wanting to press for more information and the realization that, if it was this Grant, maybe the line in the mess hall wasn’t the best place for such a discussion. “He seems like a cool guy, has a little fox that follows him around. Told me a bit about Dresmond. Sounds like an interesting place. Have you heard much about it?”
Post by Grant Delaney on Jan 9, 2023 4:04:02 GMT -5
"Crazy," said Grant, un-fucking-convincing. He thought about the merits of if he had to kill his new pal in the line to get food. Probably a bad look. What might be a worse look was revealing state secrets, such as the existence of the Ranger program.
Maybe being a Delaney was harder for reasons than just having to knock up some other noble.
Either way, this fellow seemed to ease back. Clearly he bought into Grant's nonchalance. Yes, this was good. As insane as it was, that allowed Grant to relax more and just sort of go with it, as if he hadn't basically camped with Zevran et al for weeks, now.
"Heard?" he'd lived some--however. "I hear it sucks and the redhead bastards from Lorendale are all over it. I'd probably fuck off too, if I had the option."
Yeah, he would bet his next paycheck that Zevran’s Grant was this Grant. The question was: what was Ber going to do with this information? When it had come up before, Zevran had, probably rightfully so, taken Ber’s confused ignorance as an indication he had said too much on that matter. The Delaney was obviously similarly reluctant to talk about it, which only made the question of what he and possibly-the-King’s-Witch-Alys were doing in Dresmond all the more intriguing. The answer was almost certainly above the young soldier’s pay grade - not that that was saying much, since just about everything was above his pay grade.
That meant he probably ought to leave it alone. Plus, he didn’t want to get Zevran in trouble by accidentally revealing that he knew a little more than he apparently should have. And the lunch line was really probably not the place for the interrogation of stranger anyway.
Fine. They could at least talk about Dresmond, then. Maybe Grant would let something slip that would help him guess whether they would end up helping the conquered kingdom. Ber nodded. “Yeah, that’s what he said too. I don’t know, though - do you really think he just came here to escape?” He scratched his head. “I mean, Skia’s a long way from Dresmond. Wouldn’t it be easier to just… stop once you cross the border?”
Post by Grant Delaney on Jan 21, 2023 21:47:07 GMT -5
Okay being a Ranger probably didn't mean suddenly murdering someone in the middle of a line, intelligence leak or not. Was Zevran just.. wandering around, talking to people? Shit. Well. Grant would have to figure out how to wrestle with that one later, it was casual chitchat time now. He could do that.
Even if it was about Dresmond. Shit. Though Grant supposed he'd spent several weeks basically asking everything of Kezia and Zevran, so someone who ran into the man by chance would be curious.
"Probably," said Grant, surmising. That'd certainly be the ideal option, but Zevran wasn't that type. "Probably ran into some of our guys out there and they dragged him back here."
That was the truth, actually. Though there wasn't much dragging, but it would probably have gone like that had Alys and Grant not been involved.
"If I were running from those redhead monsters I'd probably try not making more enemies, too," said Grant, making a face. Yeah even if he didn't know how powerful Nevermere already was--and he knew, given that he was a Delaney--it'd be real stupid to flee one 'kingdom' and then start pissing off the locals whose lawn you were sleeping in.
“Do we have people near the border of Dresmond?” It was a genuine question; Ber had never left Nevermere. He was under the impression that the soldiers deployed to Coheed went to Gilead, which he thought was somewhere in the north, so it seemed to him that there would be little reason for soldiers to be wandering around the southern end of the continent. Border patrols, maybe? He didn’t know how these things worked.
He did find himself nodding along with Delaney regarding his later statement. “Yeah,” Ber agreed easily, though his own brow furrowed slightly. “It wouldn’t be good to get sent back because you irritated the wrong people.” The thought of knowingly sending a refugee back to a place where they were starving and branded and under threat of death every day did not sit easily with him.
Post by Grant Delaney on Feb 6, 2023 15:23:57 GMT -5
Grant blinked. Did they have people near Dresmond? Well, yes, Grant had run into said people while crossing back into Nevermere. They'd exsorted Alys, the Dresmondi, and Grant back to Skia, as a matter of fact. He then looked at his new pal, taking a good look.
Okay he looked young and probably wasn't as obsessive about the military as Grant himself. Also he wasn't a very big guy.
"Of course we have guys at the border," said Grant, eager to teach about military matters. And he had a captive audience that wasn't Regan, for once! "Look at it this way: what if it'd been redheads walking across the boarder? We'd be in a lot of trouble all of a sudden. Pays to have people at the gates, even if we don't think anyone's coming through them."
There was a pause in which Delaney seemed to consider Ber in a new light, and the soldier couldn’t help but wonder if he’d made some horrible mistake by asking that question. Then the taller man’s demeanor changed from being on the back foot to something closer to enthusiasm, which might have been a little strange considering they were discussing border patrols, but the Delaneys had their reputation for a reason. His explanation, however, did not concern a topic that Ber really cared much about.
And more importantly, he wasn’t quite sure how to try to swing the conversation back around to Dresmond.
Nodding his understanding, the younger man offered, “Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” It sounded like a really boring job, though, except for the days when Grant, two Dresmondi, and possibly the King’s Witch passed through.
Post by Grant Delaney on Feb 6, 2023 22:45:13 GMT -5
"Just like we have guys in Coheed, Cambria, and Lorendale," said Grant, prattling straight on now that he had a subject he knew a lot about and was willing to wordvomit even more about.
And this young man was trapped in the food line with Grant Delaney.
"The security of the Kingdom is paramount, and that means redundancies." Though the border with Dresmond wasn't a redundancy, really, given it was filled with horrible redhead demons and stuff.