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.
Our dearest and lovely admin welcomed her new baby boy, Jet, on Sept 7th! We're so happy for her and her family! Congratulations Mama!! Your boys are all so lucky to have such an incredible mom to love them! God bless!
Pietro had filled his mind with studying for the entire morning, studying the ways of enlightenment in order to reach that pinnacle of light when suddenly it would all make sense. But yet again, 9000+ days later, he was still in the dark when it came to enchanting. Most days he wondered if he would ever be enlightened and some days he felt too numb to give it much thought.
Feeling frustrated and the need to escape making him want to claw out of his skin, Pietro had left his lessons in the late afternoon and made his way to the beach nearest the capital city. Once on the sand he had immediately removed his shoes and shirt, exposing the lanky torso beneath with more definition of his ribs than his muscles. He dropped them in a pile on the sand and moved over to the water where he stood ankle deep in the water, feeling the sand pulled out from under his feet as the tide moved in and out.
He closed his eyes and let his mind settle as his focused on the feel of the water below him and the warm sun above him, the sound of the waves and the sea birds, and the smell of the salty sea air.
When the Arynnite wandered onto the beach, Kester and Walnut were already there. Sending wave after wave of simple happiness down his end of the bond, the river otter swam between the ocean waves, while Kester sat in the sand nearby, half watching her dyr and half staring out across the water, lost in thought. In her peripherals, she caught the motion of the man shedding his shirt and shoes, and she turned an assessing eye upon him as he strode directly for the water. Like most of the Arynnites she had encountered in Elyusian, he didn’t seem particularly threatening - the entire kingdom seemed more bookish than anything - and though that was enough to keep her seated for now, she kept a watchful eye on him. He was closer to Walnut than she was. He seemed to enjoy the water just as much as her dyr did, too.
The river otter in question also noticed the newcomer, but as always, his assessment of the stranger saw him as more of a potential friend than a potential threat. With his eyes just above the water, he swam over for a closer look. The Arynnite didn’t appear to notice him.
A burst of mischievous glee had Kester sitting upright and shouting in his head, Walnut, no.
“Walnut, yes.”
A heartbeat later found him flinging a little ice cube at the Arynnite, which, if it landed, would connect with enough force to catch his attention but not enough to cause any real damage. With rapt attention, he would await the result of his trick, and success would see him letting out a high pitched squeal of laughter. He would wave a paw in the air at the Arynnite before disappearing with a splash back into the waves, intending to swim closer under the surface.
On the shore, Kester let out a quiet groan and pinched the bridge of her nose between two fingers.
Pietro had been so focused on his need for release and escape that he had not noticed that anyone else was on the beach. With his eyes closed he was suddenly brought to his awareness of their presence when a piece of ice hit him against his chest. His eyes flew open in his surprise and he took a step back as he looked for the source of whatever had tossed something at him. He spotted the small creature as it let out a sound and then...waved at him? That was odd behavior for an animal.
His brow furrowed as the animal ducked back under the water and drew his gaze down along the shore to see if anything stood out. It was only then that he saw the woman sitting on the shore. It didn't take him long at that point to put it all together. The Dresmondi had been refugees here for quite some time and Pietro had learned a bit about them over that time, though had been too shy to actually approach any of them.
It really was a shame too because he had always been fascinated by people of other cultures and the ways they used magic too. This must clearly be a Dresmondi woman with her dyr. He lifted his hand up slightly to her in an embarrassed little half way. "I, uh, didn't see you there," he admitted remembering how he had taken off his clothes without a second thought. At least his pants were still on, he supposed.
Walnut, of course, was entirely unapologetic as he sped closer to the Arynnite under the cover of the waves. Curiously, he poked his head above the surface to peer up at the man, but he had already turned his attention toward Kester, whose lips had curled upward at the awkward wave that he had sent her way. Somewhat amused, she waved back.
Throughout her time in Arynn Frey, little moments reminded Kester again and again how different this kingdom was to her own – or rather, her own as it should have been. The Aestas sun was unforgiving across the plains of Dresmond, and in a kingdom where people habitually shared wagons with partners of all shapes and sizes, very few had any qualms about shedding some extra layers in an attempt to combat the heat. Despite the sheepishly apologetic admission he had offered, she hadn’t thought twice about this Arynnite doing the same.
Turning, she reached into the bag resting on the sand beside her and pulled out a quill and some parchment. With the items in hand, she rose to her feet and approached the newcomer, saying to the quill as she did so, “ You were distracted. I take it you like the ocean?” A gift from Prince Akagi himself, the quill would begin to write the words – spoken in her usual weak voice – on the parchment, which she would then show the Arynnite.
The woman and her dyr seemed friendly enough though Pietro forgot to look around for the animal again once the woman stood up and walked over to him. He watched her with fascination as she used what was clearly an enchanted quill to write down what she was trying to say. He read the note with a sparkle in his eyes and beamed a bright smile at the woman. "Oh, yes, I love it. It's...my place of escape," he tried to explain but quickly turned the focus back on the woman who he found far more interesting.
"Is there something wrong with your voice?" he blurted out as if unaware this might be a rude question to ask. "Did you get that quill from an Arynnite? How does it work? What kind of magic does your dyr have? What's it's name? What's your name?" he asked all of these questions very quickly and had to actually take a larger inhale to catch up after he'd finished speaking. His eyes were alight with interest and he didn't stop to apologize for the bombardment because he didn't realize that it usually came across that way when he got excited.
If anyone claimed an Arynnite’s best friend was anything other than questions, Kester would protest. Vehemently. The man before her seemed to have more of them than most – or at least, he didn’t space them out in quite the same way. Eyebrows raised as the inquiries tumbled over the next in a single, rather impressive breath, and despite the bombardment, his enthusiasm reminded her endearingly of Walnut.
In the brief silence that followed, Kester watched the man catch his breath and waited to see if there was anything else he wanted to ask. When it appeared that he had finished, at least for now, she skipped over the first question, figuring that it was rather self-explanatory, in favor of the others. “Yes, Akagi gave it to me. I don’t know; it just writes down what I say.” What else had he asked? A pause. Oh yes, names. “His name is Walnut. My name is Kester. And his magic is…”
“Oh! Oh! Let me show him!”
Fine. Kester glanced down at the otter. Don’t throw another ice cube at him though. That’s rude.
Okay, okay, I got this.
Somewhat concerned, the Dresmondi turned to see Walnut creating an otter-size slab of ice that bobbed to the surface among the lapping waves. He clambered to stand on top of it before the combination of the ocean and his magic – but mostly his magic – carried both it and him in toward the shore. Kester snorted, then finished her sentence. “Ice. And he’s a show off.”
“Am not!”
What would you call that then?
Ignoring the silent protests coming from his side of the bond, she turned back to the Arynnite. “What’s your name?”
Akagi! She had met the prince? The CROWN Prince even?! He wasn't sure how she managed that but he was instantly impressed. He had yet to meet the man in person though he had heard enough to know that he was very kind and generous. So it made sense he would be willing to make something like this for a dresmondi. But STILL!
He opted not to interrupt as he watched her answer the rest of his questions. Walnut and Kester. But the dyr's magic was shown instead of told to him and he laughed with delight as the otter surfed the tide on a slab of ice. He applauded the otter enthusiastically. "Oh he can show off to me all he wants," he said, obviously unaware that Walnut had protested against the title. "I'd love to see as much as you want to show me." He wasn't used to talking to dresmondi and so he looked back and forth between Kester and Walnut as he spoke, feeling a little odd to speak directly to the Otter but feeling weird to ignore the creature as well.
"I'm Pietro," he said with a smile. "Pietro Beckett," he added when he remembered that dresmondi didn't have surnames and thus she had given him her full name. He wanted to return the favor though until he earned the name of Blackwood his surname didn't mean much.
"You really met the crown prince? You must have made quite the impression if he wanted to created an enchantment for you!"
Kester refrained from rolling her eyes, though Walnut’s satisfaction at Pietro’s laughter and applause echoed through the back of her mind. His joy reminded her of Bowen’s and Akagi’s rather infectious happiness, except she didn’t view it with quite the same reservations that she did the other two men, whose positions in the government made them… tricky. Bowen’s childlike wonder hid a shrewd, observant mind that had tracked her and Kaveri down the minute they each set foot in Elyusian. Akagi seemed equally genuine, but intellectually, she knew that one misstep on her part would give him more than enough reason to make her and the other Dresmondi’s lives very difficult.
Then again, she didn’t know what this Arynnite did. He could be just like them: pleasant but dangerous all the same.
“Nice to meet you, Pietro Beckett,” Kester said, returning the smile. “And be careful. Walnut will never stop showing off to you with an open invitation like that.”
This time, the ice cube hit Kester harmlessly in the side of the head. Standing on his hind legs in an approximation of a man with his hands on his hips - his arms weren’t nearly long enough to accomplish this impression, so they mostly just stuck out - the river otter stuck out his tongue at her.
Kester, however, barely glanced down at him, focusing instead on Pietro. She nodded. “I didn’t realize it was him until he introduced himself.” And even then, the awe with which the Arynnite before her seemed to regard the Prince had been somewhat lost on her because Dresmondi did not live with such a hierarchy. His influence demanded cautious respect, but the admiration had to be earned. “He’s very generous,” Kester said, genuine. “You haven’t met him?”
Pietro chuckled again, his eyes sparkling, and his smile wide as Walnut tossed another ice cube, only now realizing it had been the same thing that had come at him from the ocean before. He had assumed it to be some kind of shell or stone before but now was putting it all together. He was absolutely delighted by the little dyr and his friendly nature.
"Oh, I haven't had the honor," he said at Kester's question. "I'm just a nobody. I have no business among royalty." And it was clear he believed that too. Regardless of his heritage, Pietro had earned nothing and he knew it. He was the lowest of the low among Arynnites. A man with no enlightenment. "But that is lucky that you were able to meet him!"
“Nobody’s just a nobody,” Kester stated with the same conviction that had colored Pietro’s words. When they had first come to Arynn Frey, the Dresmondi had found herself perplexed by the social hierarchy at which she now found herself near the bottom. Slaves, Dresmondi refugees, Arynnite citizens, royalty - none of it seemed natural. In their caravans, the Dresmondi had all coexisted as equals, freely sharing what they had with whoever they wanted. Here, however, unspoken rules clearly governed the behavior of the kingdom’s people.
If Pietro had no business among royalty, then he was probably a normal person. More like her than Akagi or Bowen.
It put her more at ease. “He was doing a demonstration of different fighting techniques,” Kester elaborated, shoulders lifting in a somewhat sheepish shrug. “The Drunken Arynnite, I think is what he called it? He saw me watching and wanted to talk.” A pause. “What do you do, Pietro?”
Pietro's cheeks flushed at her retort to his statement though he had a hard time taking it to heart. Society told him who he was and always had. He had no reason to believe it wouldn't be true. What did he have to show for his time spent breathing the same air they did?
"The Drunken Arynnite?!" He said with a burst of laughter. "I wouldn't have imagined that to be a very efficient fighting technique," he said, still chuckling. "My aunt would know more about that though. She tried to teach me for a while but combat was not my strength." Nor had anything else been his 'strength'.
He dropped his gaze down to his feet at her question, his toes digging in the sand a bit as he rubbed the back of his neck, trying to figure out he should answer. He cleared his throat to find his voice, "I'm still a student," was the best way he could find to explain. "What about you? What do you do with your time here? What did you before you were forced to leave your home?" he asked, his voice filled with sympathy for the terrible situation they had found themselves in. He couldn't even imagine it.
His flush was noted, but just as he had little reason to believe her, Kester had little reason to suspect that he wouldn’t. Despite their coexistence in the same kingdom, their realities still differed in some significant ways.
She echoed the laugh with a breathless chuckle of her own. “He looked like he knew what he was doing,” Kester shrugged, though word of his aunt had her tilting her head slightly. As far as she knew, she had met no other— But that wasn’t quite true, was it. Memory of an idle question asked long ago rose to the forefront of her mind. Calanthe Beckett, who had generously offered to teach Kester Arynnite sign language, seemed too young to be Pietro’s aunt - nor, if Kester was honest, did she seem like much of a warrior - but she had long since realized that the citizens of this kingdom differed from Dresmondi.
Still, he seemed rather sheepish as he first admitted to a lack of skill at combat and then to his status as a student. “Combat isn’t for everyone,” Kester offered in response to the first, even though she was a fighter herself. “We have caravans of people who don’t fight. They’re protected by the people who do.” As for the second? Not quite understanding the intricacies of enlightenment and social standing in Arynn Frey, she saw nothing wrong with Pietro still being a student, but before she could ask what he studied, he had already asked her questions in turn.
Now it was her turn to shift slightly. What did she do with her time here, now that she no longer had a kingdom to protect? Fight. Drink. Fuck. Waste time. Nothing productive, not like Kaveri whose skills at carpentry at least gave him something to do. With slaves performing every chore, including gathering food, no one had any need for a hunter these days - or a Dijila warrior. “A little of this and a little of that,” She hedged finally, glancing away. “I used to hunt for my caravan though, before everything. We were always moving, so we didn’t have the farms that you have here.”
Pietro had to admit he was relieved when the conversation turned away from himself and onto the fascinating woman in front of him. He could relate to the idea of doing a bit of everything and he didn't think twice about that for herself. After all, Arynnites didn't have typical 'jobs' like most of the other kingdoms. They learned and created things and lived their best lives while having to work for very little while the hard stuff was done by slaves. It was the way it had always been and Pietro had simply never considered that it might not actually be very kind or fair to the slaves. "What did you hunt?" he asked with increased interest and intrigue in her life. "Did you ever get tired of always traveling or is it harder to be stuck in one place when you're used to moving around?"
“Anything we could catch,” Kester replied, grinning at the Arynnite. Though a bittersweet haze now lingered over all of her memories of Dresmond in its glory days, she couldn’t deny the lingering pride that she felt in her ability to successfully provide for her caravan. Hard work and dedication had earned her the reputation as one of the best among the Dijila. “Dresmond flourished under the care of all of our caravans, so the plains were full of wildlife. Have you ever seen a bison, Pietro?”
A tug at her connection with Walnut dragged her attention downward to the river otter, who offered up an ice sculpture of the animal in question.
Kester eyed Pietro for a moment. “The shortest ones were about as tall as you, and they were big – and fast – enough to trample many men. A whole group of us would work together to catch just one. They would roam the plains in large herds.” A brief pause in which she glanced down to see Walnut running back toward the waves. “Just like us.” Her gaze returned to the Arynnite by her side. “I never got tired of traveling; it’s in our blood. Staying in a single place like you do is…” Strange. Unnatural. “Don’t you ever get tired of seeing the same sights day after day?”
Pietro was absolutely enamored with the conversation, he'd long been fascinated by other places and cultures. "A bison? No." He didn't even have the slightest idea what a bison actually was actually now that he was thinking about. Though he studied nearly every day, he wasn't all that familiar with various animals. He looked to Walnut as Kester did and saw what surely must be a bison forming out of ice.
His eyes widened when she stated that the smallest of them were as tall as him. He had seen only one particularly large animal before but it had only been from a distance when he had observed the dresmondi camp. He had only learned that animal was called an elephant when he had asked one of his sisters about it later. The idea of a whole herd of these bison was something he could scarcely even imagine. "That's...that's incredible, Kester," he practically swooned at the idea that this lovely dresmondi woman would be able to take down an animal of that size and speed.
"Oh sure I do," he admitted. "Most seem pretty content in what they do here, in focusing on their magic and the safety and privacy of our kingdom, but I've always been interested to see what else is out there and how it differs from our own culture." Another idea crossed his mind then. "Have you seen anywhere else besides Dresmond and Arynn Frey?"