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 Aldrich Abbott on Apr 8, 2023 6:50:06 GMT -5
[For @berengar]
It was quite late. The sun had set and the courtyard was only illuminated by the moon and some torches on the walls. The palace was pretty quiet. Most of the soldiers were enjoying their time off, now their shifts had ended for the day, and the few that had nightly duties just did them in silence. He greeted a patrolling soldier that passed by the courtyard who was on his way to the front of the palace to stand guard by the entrance.
Aldrich had kept himself busy with going over training techniques and meeting up with the new officers to see how they were doing. Perhaps he'd soon sit down with the drill instructors too to see how they were going about training the recruits. Even the mandatory training had become even more important than it had been. They needed those young kids to want to become a soldier and fight for their kingdom. They needed more, strong and disciplined soldiers.
But for now, even his shift had ended. He had left his office to train a bit more before he would be heading home for the night. He preferred training when there weren't many people in the courtyard, so he didn't have an audience. The lieutenant picked up a real sword. He had gotten really tired of the training swords, and wanted to his his own. He'd be training with one of the older, almost completely broken down dummies. It didn't matter if that one got hit with a real sword a couple of times. It was a piece of garbage already anyways.
Aldrich Abbott wasn’t exactly the last person Ber expected to see enter the courtyard at this time of the evening, but he was certainly one of the last people he wanted to see. From his position off to the side, the soldier had paused in his stretching when the glint of torchlight off of steel caught his attention, and he watched now as the newly promoted lieutenant - because, apparently, someone had to fill place of annoying lieutenants now that Woodwick had become captain - began swinging at one of the dummies. Well, that was fine. Abbott could stay over there and mind his own business, and Ber would get on with his own training after warming up.
The healers had told him to stretch the muscles in his shoulder before exercising, and years spent following the drills run by more experienced soldiers had made running laps - regrettably - routine. So that’s what he did. Admittedly, his reassignment to staff duty had been met with some trepidation, but he found that he didn’t actually mind training by himself. Apart from missing out on some group training, he didn’t think he was necessarily suffering for it either; after all, being removed from the official schedule didn’t mean he forgot everything that he’d picked up while he’d been on it.
Ber enjoyed the relative solitude and quiet of running his own practices, but the general lack of oversight was the greatest part. No one told him what to do or when or how fast to do it. Everyone in the courtyard at this time of day was here on their own time. That meant that when he saw officers like Abbott, who had started swinging his sword at a wooden dummy that had seen better days, Ber could simply run right by them. So that was what he did.
Post by Aldrich Abbott on Apr 11, 2023 7:17:45 GMT -5
The downside of training at night was that whenever someone joined you in the courtyard, you were more aware of their presence than you would be at night. Aldrich had noticed the sound of another person, but didn't take the time to turn around to see who it was. Instead he kept swinging at the dummy until eventually a piece of the wood chipped and a part of the dummy came loose. It dropped to the ground with a dull thud. Aldrich took a step back, wiped the sweat from his forehead and put the sword back in its holder attacked to his belt. Just around this time, Berengar passed by the dummy. So it was the soldier that had been put on staff duty that was training at this hour as well. It was good to see that the soldier still trained, especially after he had been injured at the ball. Aldrich walked over to his canteen and took a big gulp of water. He then decided that he would break down the dummy and get rid of the remaining wood. The dummy served no purpose anymore now that it was completely broken. He started pushing and pulling at the dummy, taking it apart piece by piece while Berengar ran around the courtyard. Perhaps he'd say something to the soldier in a bit, but for now he was preoccupied with this dummy.
Once he actually started running, Ber didn’t really mind it. He found the even rhythm of his breathing and the steady thudding of feet on packed earth soothing, perhaps even somewhat meditative, in much the same way that swinging a sword was. Depending on the day, his thoughts could wander or his mind would become blissfully blank as he focused more on the physical demands of the exercise than whatever concerns plagued him. And because he now trained alone, he didn’t have to keep an ear out for any barked orders that would interrupt him.
In the end, the sound of splintering wood rather than a voice caught his attention, and Ber looked over to see Abbott breaking down the dummy. Bemused, the soldier slowed down to watch for a few moments - he didn’t remember learning that particular exercise during training - before he shook his head and carried on, back at a normal pace. After another handful of laps, he was back where he began, swallowing a couple sips of water from his canteen before grabbing his sword and heading off to find an intact dummy to practice with.
Post by Aldrich Abbott on Apr 12, 2023 8:14:39 GMT -5
Aldrich saw Ber slowing down in the corner of his eye but decided not to say anything as of yet. He was too busy getting rid of this useless dummy, and would only need Berengar's attention in a bit. So once the dummy was dismembered and the wood was put aside, the Lieutenant stretched and groaned, rolling his shoulder blades before looking in the direction of the young soldier. "Stormcrest", he said, less loud than he normally would be during the day. The night didn't care for loud voices, and neither did he at this moment. "Come help me set up a new dummy, if ya can." He was of course referring to the young man's arm with this last remark. He wasn't about to make the soldier hurt or give him a punishment, he just wanted a little help with assembling a new dummy.
Aldrich would wait for Berengar to stop running and come over to him before he would head over to the equipment shack where spare dummies were kept. They'd have to put the dummy on a stick and put it in the ground, and ideally Aldrich would want to put some cloth filled with hay around the dummy to withstand a sword a bit better so it didn't end up like the dummy he had just destroyed.
When it came from an officer, the sound of his name was not usually a precursor to anything good, so when Ber heard Abbott call out to him, he let out a long, quiet sigh and changed course accordingly. Sword in hand, he made his way over to the lieutenant at a pace that experience had shown him was slow enough to not subject himself to unnecessary time in the man’s company but fast enough to not be accused of dragging his feet. For a moment, the soldier very much considered using his shoulder as an excuse to avoid helping him put together a new dummy, but he already had a sword on his hip. If he could swing a sword, he could construct a target. While Abbott was many things, unobservant and stupid were unfortunately not among them.
Damn.
“Yes, sir,” He said as he drew near, obligingly falling into step beside the lieutenant when he turned away. Without the exercise to clear his mind, the creeping uneasiness and hyper-vigilance that had plagued him since the ball returned, and dark eyes glanced around the courtyard, peering into the shadows, as they walked toward the equipment shack. His mind had become particularly fond of seeing werewolves where there were none, where he knew there were none, but then who really knew what the shadows hid unless they went over to check?
Ber wasn’t that far gone, and with Abbott here, his pride would have prevented him from looking anyway. So he fell back on a different tactic that he’d learned could distract him from the prickling sensation of eyes on the back of his neck: talking. “Didn’t know any of you stayed here this late.” The soldier was, of course, referring to the officers, whom he assumed all had homes to return to at the end of the day in lieu of staying in the barracks like he did. Abbott was certainly old enough to have his own place. Just like he was old enough to not be affected by the curse.
Post by Aldrich Abbott on Apr 13, 2023 9:41:21 GMT -5
Ber follower him and the men arrived at the shack in silence. Aldrich was moving some equipment out of the way, making room to move the dummies around. He smirked on the darkness when he thought back to the night he had been at this very shack with Regan, but the soldier's voice brought him back to the here and now. The Lieutenant looked over his shoulder for a moment before shrugging. "The new orders take a toll on all of our free time. I've been busy all day with rethinking training techniques." He put another crate with wooden swords aside and lifted the dummy partly, gesturing towards the other end so that Ber would understand that he wanted him to help him lift it. "But now I have time, so I decided to stay a little longer before heading home." He had been sleeping in his office a lot too, but Ber didn't need to know that. Not that it mattered, but a bed was still beter than a worn down sofa. "How's staff duty?" he asked. If anything, the events at the ball had made him more likeable. The soldiers didn't need to agree with that statement, but it was true that Aldrich had started to talk to them more, just casual small talk, instead of being a pain in the ass all the time. "I'm glad to see you're moving again. You weren't exactly in great shape when I visited ya."
They said ignorance was bliss, and Ber was blissfully ignorant of the extracurricular activities that had recently taken place in the equipment shack. Instead, he was preoccupied with what Abbott had said about rethinking training techniques. When men like Woodwick and Abbott put their heads together, it never boded well for those who had to train under them… which technically didn’t include Ber anymore. His lips twitched at the thought. Huh. Imagine that.
Ber couldn’t quite say he was happy about the thought of officers staying later to train, especially when it meant their time in the training yard would coincide with his, so he made a noise of acknowledgement and said nothing. As they worked together to move the dummy, Abbott filled the silence by asking about staff duty. “Uh,” Ber responded, not expecting the question. “Well, it’s not especially exciting…” He kept his tone neutral and ended the lackluster sentence with a shrug in lieu of any other revelations.
The lieutenant’s subsequent words had a somewhat self-conscious, somewhat amused exhale leaving him. Truth be told, he only vaguely remembered Abbott’s visit, for much of that first day had been spent drifting in and out of unconsciousness. Still, he nodded and said, “Thank you, sir. Doing a lot better now.” Not that it took much to do better than that.
Abbott taking apart the old dummy and putting together the new one reminded Ber of Terach doing something similar not too long ago. The man had constructed a sort of makeshift werewolf, which in turn had the soldier thinking - again - about werewolves, though this time, his thoughts took a slightly different turn. “Hey, sir, what happened after I got, uh, hurt at the ball?”
Post by Aldrich Abbott on Apr 15, 2023 14:30:29 GMT -5
He wasn't surprised that staff duty wasn't exciting, but he was sure the boy had done something to be put on staff duty. He didn't quite know the whole story, but knew it had to do with the Dresmondi and the way Berengar had behaved at the ball. Hopefully the soldier would be dismissed from staff duty soon enough. The man was a good soldier and they could use him. Aldrich didn't respond, apart from an understanding nod. He then asked how Ber was doing. Apparently he was doing better, so once again that was good. It was surprising that his shoulder had healed like it did. He had been in pretty bad shape.
Then Berengar asked what had happened after he got hurt. Aldrich looked up from the dummy, and put it down again. "I'm not sure what you missed", he said. Did he have to tell him about Alys? He supposed he could, everyone knew by now, after all. "Lady Delaney turned into a werewolf herself and tried Octavius under control, but he quickly turned back into his human form." He scratched his head. "We got the people to safety in the meantime." It wasn't much, but it was basically what had happened. "What happened with the Dresmondi?" There had been quite some commotion.
So the rumors were right: the King’s Witch had turned into a werewolf. Setting the dummy down, Ber looked over at Abbott, but the man didn’t seem to be lying or trying to pull one over him - nor could Ber think of a reason why he would. It wasn’t as if Abbott had any stake in whether people knew Alys Delaney was a werewolf, right? Still, the confirmation of that knowledge sparked a whole host of other questions, though he doubted Abbott had the answers to all of them. After all, how could one tell just from looking how a witch had become a werewolf?
Instead, he asked a different question. “Was she like other werewolves when she turned?” Absentmindedly, he scratched his right arm, where the scars from the werewolf’s claws lay hidden under his sleeve. “Do you think she would’ve been strong enough to stop him?” If he hadn’t turned back into his human form, which was a little odd, too, now that he thought about it. Ber wondered if another witch had somehow turned him back because he doubted that the one who unleashed him would have such a change of heart.
Abbott, apparently, had his own question, and the subject matter had Ber pausing for a moment. After his conversation with the captain commander, he suspected that the officers might be keeping an eye out to make sure that he actually stopped talking to Zevran, so he was leery of seeming too interested in matters relating to Dresmond - or at least, that particular Dresmondi. “I don’t know, sir,” He said honestly, thinking of the ominous description Usher had given him. “I don’t think anyone’s seen him since the ball.”
Post by Aldrich Abbott on Apr 19, 2023 16:08:24 GMT -5
He thought for a moment at his question. "About the same yes", he said while shrugging to play it off as if it didn't shock and perhaps even concern him that the King's Witch was also the King's Werewolf. And worry him because it had been a secret. But then again, there was also Regan and whatever she had within her. "She's perhaps a bit taller than the average werewolf." He hadn't seen a lot of werewolves yet, but enough to kind of know what the average wolf looked like. "So yeah, she probably would have been able to stop him. Let's just be glad that he changed back before it came to a bloody werewolf fight."
He then asked Ber about the Dresmondi, someone he knew little about. He hadn't meant his 'what happened' to inquire about the Dresmondi's whereabouts, or to inquire the consequences of that evening. He had meant what situation had triggered the commotion in the first place. But he didn't rephrase his question after the soldier's answer. "Well, maybe it's best that he lays low a little while."
Aldrich would start to pick up the dummy again, ready to carry it outside.
Word of Alys Delaney’s transformation still spread through the barracks with no small amount of confusion, shock, curiosity, and even some envy, but Abbott seemed entirely unsurprised and unconcerned about the King’s Witch suddenly revealing herself as a werewolf, which made Ber wonder if he’d known something the rest of them hadn’t. Was that what happened when one became an officer: suddenly they became privy to the kingdom’s secrets?
Still, something was a little confusing to Ber. “If the King’s Witch changed and attacked the werewolf, then how did the Huntsman and everyone else get injured?” And the kid, Wilson Barr, get killed. He didn’t know where the others had been, but both Alys and Regan had been standing near Ber and Wulfbrand when the latter had been turned. If Alys had turned into a werewolf, it wasn’t like she would have had to go far to physically subdue him. “I know— I know you don’t need to be attacking a werewolf to get hurt.” Obviously. He was his own example for that. “But even a werewolf would defend itself from an aggressor before attacking a bystander, right?”
Ber’s ignorance about what had happened to Zevran was met with a platitude, to which he offered a slight shrug. “Yeah,” He said, tone carefully neutral. “Probably.” Even if Ber didn’t know anything - or maybe because he didn’t know anything - about Zevran’s fate, his response seemed to appease the lieutenant. His suspicion that someone was watching for any sign of continuing split loyalties grew, something for him to think on as he helped Abbott carry the dummy outside.
Post by Aldrich Abbott on Apr 22, 2023 12:12:36 GMT -5
Aldrich sighed. "I don't know what to tell ya, kid. Brekker turned Wildbrand into a werewolf and the next thing I know you're flying through the air. Everyone just tried to floor the werewolf before he could injure someone, and some people got injured doing just that."
Once the dummy was outside, he started trying to get it on a pole to put into the ground so the dummy would be more stable. He had thought about it some more and spoke again. "I don't think you should see these werewolfs as rational beings all the time. It's an instinct that takes over. Whether Wolfbrand was provoked or not, I don't find it too surprising that Barr got killed. It's a shame, if course, but I don't think the werewolf was thinking about who's a bystander and who's innocent."
That was fair, Ber supposed, accepting Abbott’s answer with a nod and silence as he helped the lieutenant with the dummy. Werewolves were hardly rational creatures - unless, apparently, one was the King’s Witch - so expecting them to follow any sort of logic was likely nothing more than an exercise in futility. With that dummy now set, Ber let out a quiet breath and glanced around before turning his gaze back to Abbott. “Will you need help with any other ones too, sir, or were you just fixing this one?”
Post by Aldrich Abbott on Apr 27, 2023 9:01:30 GMT -5
He patted the dummy on the back as if it were a person and shook his head. "Just this one for now. The other ones have a little more life left in them before they need to be changed." He cleaned his hands off by clapping them together a few times. The dummies became to dusty when they were kept in the equipment shack. "You know, Stormcrest, I can't help but feel like the werewolf transformation left a mark on ya somehow. I get that, I really do, but know that Wulfbrand is one of us. Normally, and ideally, he wouldn't attack his own kind." He wished he could understand what the men that were cursed by Sarilla went through, but he was also glad that he didn't have a wolf inside of him. All these younger soldiers were, on all levels except (sometimes) physical, a wolf. Woof.