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!
In possession of a magical necklace that wards off offensive magic attacks against him, a ring that allows him to suppress magic, and can turn into werewolf at will.
It was days after Alys brought the Dresmondi to Cassian, and only the day after Regan brought Othello to him. The entire day of the full moon consisted of edginess and itchiness for the three werewolves of Nevermere, but all successfully managed to keep from unleashing the beast.
When dusk came, however, the tug became more powerful. Soon, the draw would be irresistible. It was Regan's first moon, but Cassian and Alys had experienced many.
The king had both women sent to his study. Regan would likely arrive first, as she was closer, having resumed Royal Guard duties for the day. Alys had been given the rest of the week off, but was likely close now that the castle had become the home of her and her children.
Cassian waited within, finishing up reading reports. When either woman arrived they'd be let in by the guard outside, no need for knocking.
Post by Regan Lassiter on Jan 13, 2023 12:58:30 GMT -5
Regan hadn't slept. Coheed had shaken her confidence and made the full-moon restlessness even worse. She'd spent hour after hour counting, trying to keep the beast from snapping her bones and breaking through her skin. Because Regan wanted it to. How she wanted it to.
When word from Cassian came, Regan had to keep from breaking into a jog as she made for his study. She was shaking, vibrating with excitement as a child on the eve of a holiday. Regan entered and stood eagerly before Cassian's desk, a smile twitching at the corners of her mouth.
Regan's wolf form was impish and adoring. It wove around Cassian's with playful nudges and mischievous nips in a wild frenzy. That impulse made Regan's human form more complicated. The desire for closeness was powerful, so much so that now her nails dug into her palm in a clenched fist. Regan counted. 1...2...3.
Alys wasn’t herself. Would anyone be? She had tried to collect herself but her eyes seemed to always hold a shine to them, a light lining of water lingering as if ready to fall the moment she swore she heard a voice that was not really there. Or saw a shadow that could’ve reminded her of the man she’d never see again. But the full moon was barreling down on her, so she kept to her children, to her office. She would always stop if she passed Cassian in the hall, lingering near him until she could tell he was needing to go.
But tonight he was hers. And she was his. It was the simplicity she needed, she craved, so when the summons found her in her office, she wrapped up where she was on a cursed item she was working on before heading for his study. Upon arrival, she was let in after a small nod between her and the guard. Only for her to stop short inside, eyes locking not on Cassian but on her. The hair on her neck rose under those curls as some animalistic side of her recognized something that her human side hadn’t. That she hadn’t been told about.
Assuming he was wrapping up, she waited. Not as close, still just within the room, waiting for the signal for them to go.
In possession of a magical necklace that wards off offensive magic attacks against him, a ring that allows him to suppress magic, and can turn into werewolf at will.
Post by Cassian Rainecourt on Jan 15, 2023 13:07:19 GMT -5
The three of them were the first of their kind. The dynamics of a pack of almost-wolf-beast-humanoids had yet to be discovered, yet to be established. One thing was for certain: both women were used to being alone with Cassian, and tonight they would all run together.
Cassian didn’t look up at Regan. He didn’t need to to see how she bounced in anticipation, not just for the moon but for him. There was something endearing about her attentiveness, bordering on suffocating. Cassian had never known someone who was so willing to linger so close in his life. Usually his stony demeanor set a distance between him and others. Regan, however, seemed oblivious to it. It was both frustrating and refreshing.
Cassian did look up with Alys entered, if only for the atmosphere she brought with her. They were all in their skin, but they were all also the animal, too. Her tension became his, and no doubt Regan’s too.
Words. Such tedious things Cassian was all too eager to leave behind when his mouth became a snout and the human form of communication was replaced by the simple urges and sensory communication of the beast. If only he had it now to say for him, what he didn’t quite know how to put into words for her. After a sufficiently awkward pause, his hazel eyes on Aly’s , the entire time, Cassie, and part of his lips, and quietly intoned,
“We are not alone anymore.“ It was spoken with an underlying spark of enthusiasm, as enthusiastic as one will ever hear Cassian’s voice grow, but even as he said it, he had a feeling that the woman he said it to would not be as thrilled as he.
And what more was there to say? With that, he looked to Regan, eyes, confident, and then headed for the door. Upon reaching it he would put his port key into the lock and open it into the cabin in the woods that he’s been using ever since removing the suppression of his wolf form. Regan would we’ll be familiar with it by now, but for Alys it would be a relatively unfamiliar scene.
Post by Regan Lassiter on Jan 16, 2023 18:10:03 GMT -5
When the door opened, Regan turned, stepping ever so slightly closer to the desk—closer to Cassian—as she did. Alys. She’d known to expect her, but at the same time had been entirely unprepared. The human Regan bore Alys no ill will. In fact, she pitied her for Logan’s loss. But the same beastly fire that Alys had summoned before surged within the copper veins of her eyes. To the wolf, Alys was a stranger. A creature to be regarded with suspicion. Regan clenched her fist more tightly, still counting down in her head to keep her bones from snapping into a new form too soon.
When Cassian spoke, Regan’s eyes turned to him. Regan, oscillating between her human and half-shifted forms, grounded herself in the familiarity of his presence. Regan trusted Cassian, and Cassian trusted Alys. And so, after one last nervous glance at Alys, Regan would follow him through the door and into the cabin just as she had dozens of times before.
If Alys had felt on unsteady ground before, than it shifted now once again. Rocking her from one side she was becoming used to, to another side where she felt like a newborn pup learning to walk. Regan’s reaction to her almost had Alys bursting out of her human skin. Her control, something so carefully put together over the years was frayed lately, for good reasons. So the flash of copper almost had the King’s Witch launching herself between him and the unstable witch at his side.
But she was now there. They weren’t alone. It was a stab through her that she hadn’t been prepared for, because she had never felt alone when Cassian had been with her. And the fact that Cassian clearly hadn’t heeded her warning on Regan. If anything, a trickle of betrayal ran down her back. Once again, Regan had plunged herself between Alys and what she had considered hers. Logan. Cassian. Had her children been left to be supervised by her too in her absence?
Alys didn’t move, she watched Cassian with a look while he seemed fixed on the door and unlocking a portal into… someplace she never had wanted to be back in. The cabin where Cassian brought her and left her for five years. Regan and him moved into it unbothered, Alys took a step back. Even when the wolf pushed forward to follow her alpha, a power struggle happened with the one still in control. She hated that tears burned her eyes, hated that there was nothing that gave her a sense of normalcy now.
Pressing the heels of her palms hard against her eyes, she felt the shaking in her arms. She debated not going… on turning and finding her way to the forest herself. Even if it was just outside the castle. Why did it matter if anyone saw her now anyway? But she knew she wouldn’t make it down the hall, let alone out of the castle. So with a tense jaw and eyes that didn’t land on either, she forced her stiff legs to move and entered the hut only to burst out the front door of the cabin and shift with a pained and angry growl.
In possession of a magical necklace that wards off offensive magic attacks against him, a ring that allows him to suppress magic, and can turn into werewolf at will.
Post by Cassian Rainecourt on Jan 21, 2023 10:16:26 GMT -5
Silence. That was all he received, despite the effort he had made. Perhaps he should not have said anything. She would have figured it out. But Cassian valued Alys. She had been an asset to him and to Nevermere for many years now. As he stood at the door, waiting for her to go through, watching how she pressed her palms to her eyes, he distantly wondered if too much had changed. It was inevitable that Regan tipped the scales and a new normal needed to be established, but was it possible that Alys was unable to adapt?
He put the thought from his mind. It was dark and presently unhelpful. There would be plenty of time to ponder in the future.
She moved in and he followed, and before he knew it she was out the door and shifting. It was something he didn’t expect from her. His eyes found Regan’s. They were full of words he didn’t say.
Cassian then began to undress. He didn’t like disposing of tattered shreds, and the shirt he was currently in was one of his favorites.
Post by Regan Lassiter on Jan 21, 2023 10:47:02 GMT -5
Regan’s two halves were at war with one another. The first—the more human side—looked at Cassian with wide, uncertain eyes. She wanted this to go well. Needed it to. Regan couldn’t have one failure so closely follow another. Regan didn’t know the depth of Cassian and Alys’s history, but she knew that she was the outsider; the piece trying to click into what had already been made. Perhaps Cassian would discard her if he found she didn’t fit.
The second half—the wolf half—smelled weakness. The mischievous beast summoned by the moon bared its teeth and flexed its claws, eager to test its power. Regan counted, just as she’d been taught, burying her fear in favor of the adrenaline thrill that was close, so close to being hers.
Regan’s mouth pulled into a hesitant smile—one surprisingly gentle given her usually surly demeanor. When Cassian started to undress, her gaze lingered for a moment before she started to do the same. The whole time she counted, each time a little more quickly.
She’d wait for Cassian to go first. To lead her out into the full moon—the first of many.
Outside, Alys stood, her fingers brushing the ground as she breathed. Heavily, watching her breath puff out in the crisp autumn air. Something about the shift, about the burn of the cold air, had her attention enough that the pain that she had been in was slowly pushed away. It was almost as if wolf told her ‘let go, feel the moon… feel me… just be.’
Clothes forgotten, tattered and a problem for her later. While she could feel the newness of Regan, she also had the comfort of Cassian. A small whine beckoned to the others. More so Cassian, but it was there for Regan too. Even if she was unsure about Regan and what this all now meant, she couldn’t worry on it. Not as Alys let the wolf take the lead. The one who shook its head and looked back to the cabin. One even the wolf didn’t like.
In possession of a magical necklace that wards off offensive magic attacks against him, a ring that allows him to suppress magic, and can turn into werewolf at will.
Post by Cassian Rainecourt on Jan 25, 2023 14:00:53 GMT -5
Nakedness should have been a thing of shame or sexual tension, depending on the company, but with Regan it was neither. Nakedness was simply a part of the process. Cassian stood in the nude and found his newest wolf with his eyes, and when he ascertained that she was prepared, he would step out of the cabin and into the coming of the moon.
Cassian breathed into the shift. It hurt, it always did, but it hurt so good. The pain was a gateway to freedom, and so eager was he for that liberation that the pain was as forgotten as a mother in labor.
The brown wolf rose up from the form of a tanned king, raised its nose to the sky, and sang. It was a song of invitation. Tonight, they would run together. Tonight, the three would be one. One mind. One allegiance. One pack. Human things could be forgotten. Should be. Tonight it was only them and the moon.
Post by Regan Lassiter on Jan 25, 2023 19:54:35 GMT -5
Alys’s whine of invitation provided no comfort. The change from potential foe to apparent friend was too sudden to be trusted. Regan felt a prickle of alarm rising on the back of her neck. Regan hummed with a low, anxious growl as she broke her body apart and assumed her true form.
From the cracking pain of the shift emerged the sleek black beast, a creature adjacent but not altogether the same as her pack-mates. Regan spun in an excited circle then scurried toward Cassian, crouched low to the ground as a sign of deference. Tucked near his feet, she howled along with him, ending with a celebratory yip before moving to nuzzle Cassian. She was all too aware of Alys’s presence but was far more interested in Cassian at the moment.
Alys moved on instinct, her head throwing back just a few moments after Cassian's. Hearing the unfamiliar howl was uncomfortable almost, but feeling the ease in Cassian almost flowed to her. Her eyes squeezing shut for a moment before their howls trailed off and she looked at the two. She watched Regan and a low rumbling growl echoed in her chest, it was one of jealousy and an almost possession.
She shifted her weight, flicking her eyes up to Cassian as she looked between the two. Unsure if she ran, if she pushed Regan away, what exactly she should do as the two powers clashed within her. A small snip of her teeth towards Cassian was her way of asking, the small whine was almost begging, for him to tell her what to do. Because there was too much change. Maybe not for Regan... or Cassian... but for Alys.
It was this moment that would truly mean something to them, the duo now a trio. Cassian finally having the pack he longed for. Or the start of one. Her nose dragged the ground as she breathed deeply, dirt kicking up in puffs of dust before she settled again. Antsy.
In possession of a magical necklace that wards off offensive magic attacks against him, a ring that allows him to suppress magic, and can turn into werewolf at will.
Post by Cassian Rainecourt on Jan 30, 2023 12:44:11 GMT -5
Cassian heard it. He felt it. The jealousy. The confusion. It wasn’t something complex. It was base, natural. They were beasts with beastly natures and not one of them were impervious to the monsters within.
Cassian opened his eyes, his howl gradually dying in his throat, and he set his large yellow eyes onto Alys. It would only take a look to push the reality as the alpha saw it upon her: she was his. Not just a part of his pack, but something greater. She was the alpha female. The mate of his werewolf. Of him.
One step and the king had passed Regan and was at Alys, stooping to catch her chin with his muzzle and bring it up with him as he straightened. He nipped at her throat as he did so.
Post by Regan Lassiter on Jan 30, 2023 13:00:44 GMT -5
As Cassian moved forward, Regan shrank back, ears flat against her head. She paced at the edge, still low to the ground, not wanting to get too close to the unknown. A low growl hummed in her throat—not aggressive, but cautionary. Uneasy, and yes, jealous. Possessive, more like.
Her amber eyes never left Alys. They stared, glowing, unblinking, and suspicious as her claws dug into the earth beneath her paws.
The look he gave her filled her something that slowly grew and filled her with a new sense of pride, of ownership. Of possession of her own as he conveyed that while she wasn’t above him, she was as he was. The tip of muzzle rising her up, the nip at her throat letting a rumbling noise sounded in her.
Her eyes set on him, her nose pressing to his throat as she breathed him in with little noises of acceptance and her eyes closed as she moved to lick at his muzzle. Affectionate in her acceptance of him. Though she looked to Regan still with a bit of uncertainty. The two had met before, and it hadn’t been pretty. But with Cassian at her side, with him being so solidly a structure for her, she only waited a few moments before trusting him.
A soft yip, a beckoning noise as she pressed her head against Cassian again, though those brown eyes never turned from Regan. Cautious, but willing to try.