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!
Leading the way, Kat knew exactly where she was going. It was where she had slept during mandatory, and there was zero chance she was going to forget it. Her name was etched on the top post of the bunk, as well as a number of tally marks. Fights she had one in the slightly not so secret fight club that happened for everyone in their last year of mandatory.
"I know where I put it." With a last few strides she picked it up with a wolfish smile. Larger objects were a better idea though. The rest of the questions were a bit unnecessary and she had no plans to answer them. "Maybe should try something alive." Tapping her chin she looked up at the lieutenant, who while she wasn't under him, he was a superior officer.
Once they had arrived at their location - the female barracks for trainees in their mandatory six - Katerina successfully located the stone that had been tossed through. That was good, it meant the portal had been precise. But her following comment had him lifting a brow. Once again she had neglected to answer his questions, to the point that he was fully aware it was now intentional. Still, he was a patient man and one curious to see how this all ended.
He could talk to her direct superiors about her insubordination later.
"If you're suggesting we throw one of the other soldiers, or myself, through, I will have to decline until you have a more solid grasp on this magic. You don't strike me as someone who cares about the health of others, but we need all the soldiers we can get and I doubt Commander Hadrian would appreciate us maiming or killing any of them - or myself - in ignorance."
He glanced around, but could think of nothing in the barracks that would satisfy her request. Nothing in the barracks. "But we could try it on an animal. There are carrier pigeons. If we're on either side of the portal, I can throw one through and see if it makes it to you."
It took everything not to let out a frustrated sigh. Clearly the stone was fine, so why he was being such a Wet Wood Warren about this whole thing. It was just a portal test. But she could just do that on her own time. Surely she could find someone willing to step through one for a coin or two.
"What about one of the mess hall pigs?" Bigger, and if it died, well, it was supposed to anyways. Also wouldn't fly away, and she didn't plan on trying to catch a fucking pigeon. But a pig could only run around, and that was much easier to deal with. Plus bacon and ham sounded like a great meal to recover from the work.
Because while she wasn't going to talk about it, she was starting to get a little tired from the entire day of working with magic. Magic was a dark all consuming thing, and while she was fully prepared to give into the darkness, sometimes you needed to replenish.
Pig, bird, Warren didn't particularly care which. Either way, getting a living creature through the portal was the most important thing, so he nodded. "Fine, we'll do a pig. If you'd like to go back to the training yard and open a portal from there to the barn behind the mess hall, I'll usher one of the hogs through." He glanced around. "Probably best not to let the animal run wild in the barracks, but back in the training yard there would be far more soldiers there to wrangle it, assuming it got through in one piece.
With a single nod, he headed off toward the mess hall barn. Hogs were no easy creature to control - big, powerful, and stubborn, they didn't care for being lifted so it was often easier to slaughter them before transporting them somewhere else. But Warren grabbed a handful of feed and readied himself. When Kat opened the portal, he would use the feed to lead the pig out of it's pen and toward the swirling mass, only to toss the rest of it through the portal and watch the pig follow the smell.
Hopefully the poor animal would make it through without much trouble.
Kat would have preferred to make Warren go about catching the pig, but he was the commanding officer of the two of them. And he could just as easily drag her ass to Bex right now rather then let this experimentation continue. So instead she just nodded and said, "Yes Lieutenant Woodwick." But she still wasn't going to herd a pig.
So on her way she grabbed two young recruits, they didn't even need the threat of violence when she mentioned Woodwick's name. Handy to be dealing with a man that no one liked but everyone respected. So she had the two stand a few feet from where she would open the portal. Time to react to the pig and then get on it. And if they didn't they'd have to chase after it, because Kat certainly wouldn't.
Taking a breath Kat squared her soldiers and pictured the inside of the barn. "Here we go." Focusing on the image in her mind she started to open the portal, making it bigger and bigger, until it was slightly bigger than pig size. First a handful of feed came through, so the soldiers twitched, almost throwing them off before the pig came trotting through, seemingly unfazed. "Now then!"
The pair struggled and had to give a little bit of chase but they grabbed the pig all the same. Not that Kat much cared since she didn't have to roll around on the ground. So living things were fine. Good to know. "Oi Lieutenant it worked."
He watched as the pig headed through the portal. Part of him half expected it to snapped closed around the poor animal, making him the next mess hall meal a little sooner than expected. Instead, for a moment there was nothing, and then Kat was yelling from the other side of the portal that it had worked and the pig had gotten through successfully. If not for travel, at the very least, the portal could also apparently be used for communication. How much quicker would it be to open a portal and have a conversation with someone in another kingdom, rather than sending letters back and forth with carrier ravens or pigeons?
"Alright, I'll be there shortly," he said, clearly not willing to risk stepping through the thing himself even though the pig had made it. He'd be more than happy when she'd had a little more practice, but until then, he knew more than anyone how quickly a witches well intentioned magic could go awry.
Jogging from the barn, back around to the training yard, he only slowed when he saw the two soldiers passing by with the pig in tow, trying to usher it back toward the barn. He couldn't help but shake his head, amused by the fact that she'd somehow wrangled two newbies into doing her work for her. "Excellent job, Lady Winters. That was very promising. You'll be using that with ease in no time. Are you feeling alright?"